Chapter 257: Lama

It was completely dark. They took out the green glowing stones, which illuminated everything around them. Li Huowang didn't call for a halt, and everyone kept moving, their expressions tense.

Gradually, a sliver of a crescent moon began to rise and hang in the sky, its silver light spilling onto the land.

Li Huowang, standing on the cart's roof, occasionally looked back. He noticed that the black mass from earlier had disappeared at some point.

"Is it gone? What was that? What attracted it here? Was it me? Or... was it the newborn?" he speculated wildly, his mood unpredictable.

Just then, Li Huowang suddenly felt the ox cart beneath him stop. "Don't stop! Keep going!"

But, uncharacteristically, his command did not make the ox cart move again.

When Li Huowang turned his head to look forward, he finally understood why they had stopped: the black mass from earlier was now blocking their path!

At this moment, Li Huowang finally saw clearly what the black circle truly was.

The black mass was actually a large flock of black sheep. These black-fleeced sheep stood silently in place, motionless as puppets.

And an old lama, draped in black hide, stood silently in the center of the flock.

Around the lama's waist hung a waxy, yellow small drum. Around his neck and wrists were necklaces made of small bone fragments.

Beneath the rooster-comb-shaped lama hat were eyes with completely black pupils, devoid of any impurity. He was staring at Li Huowang with those eyes, his expression grim.

The lama's face looked strange, mottled with yellow and black patches. Only when Li Huowang looked closely did he realize they were age spots.

Just by looking at him, Li Huowang knew the visitor meant trouble.

Suddenly, the lama gently raised his bony right hand. An old vulture, with only a few feathers left and sagging skin, descended from the sky and landed on his arm.

For some reason, as soon as Li Huowang saw the vulture, he was reminded of the man-eating vultures they had seen during the sky burial on Women's Mountain with Bai Lingmiao.

"Brother Li, this lama..." Chun Xiaoman, with her unpredictable moods, took out a bell, her expression hesitant to speak.

"Don't panic. You all go ahead. Act as if he's not even here."

Under Li Huowang's command, everyone lowered their heads and slowly walked past the black sheep, following the cart.

Li Huowang stood on the cart's roof, intently watching the enemy before him.

As they got closer, Li Huowang saw more clearly: all these black sheep were old, toothless ones.

On the lama and the sheep, Li Huowang sensed an indescribably odd and uncomfortable feeling.

In a trance, Li Huowang's vision suddenly changed. Before him were not black sheep at all, but a group of white-haired, senile old people, draped in black sheepskins!

This feeling was fleeting and quickly vanished. The black sheep were still black sheep; nothing had changed.

Li Huowang found it hard to determine if that feeling was real or just his own hallucination.

"Meeeeh~" The black sheep around the lama bleated in unison. Immediately, corresponding to them, the white sheep on Li Huowang's side also started bleating.

Then, the sheep from both sides continued to bleat, their calls rising and falling, unsettling everyone.

"Enough!" With a roar from Li Huowang, his tongue pressed against his lower jaw, the bleating stopped.

Realizing that trouble, if it was to come, couldn't be avoided, Li Huowang looked at the old lama in the black flock and decided to speak first.

"Esteemed elder," he began, "I am Er Jiu, a cultivator of the Aojing Cult. I happened to be passing through this esteemed land. If I have caused any offense, I ask for your forgiveness!"

Regardless of whether it would be effective, Li Huowang decided to try using a false identity first. He gambled that the other party couldn't discern his Xinsu identity at the moment.

Moreover, this was also a veiled threat: he was from the Aojing Cult, not an unaligned rogue cultivator, implying they should think carefully before acting.

Hearing Li Huowang's confident words, the old lama remained still, showing no reaction.

Li Huowang's expression shifted. He waved his hand at the others again. "Go!"

He didn't know what the lama was thinking. In this situation, with the strength of both sides unclear, Li Huowang really didn't want to conflict with the lama.

The wheels rolled again, slowly carrying the others away from the black lama. For a while after, no one spoke, moving forward with trepidation.

Li Huowang felt a prickling sensation on his back. His body was tense, his mind racing through various possibilities.

Suddenly, that inexplicable aura reappeared. This time, it wasn't in the distance, but right behind Li Huowang!

Li Huowang stopped abruptly, turned his head sharply, and was stunned to find the lama standing only two meters away from him.

At this moment, he finally clearly saw the age spots on the old man's face. He had seen age spots before, but he had never seen them cover an entire face.

The lama seemed to have no teeth, or very few. His lips were sunken, like those of some elderly people in their twilight years. He looked as if he had aged to the absolute extreme.

With such a terrifying face appearing before him, Li Huowang almost brought his sword down. However, he forced himself to stop.

His gaze slowly moved downwards. Only then did Li Huowang realize that the lama's legs, which had been hidden among the black sheep, had no flesh; his entire lower body was made of bone prosthetics.

The strange sensation emanating from the other party continuously assailed Li Huowang, attempting to soothe him, calm him, and make him close his eyes.

However, Li Huowang simply couldn't do that. His hand gripped his sword hilt, his expression so grim it was almost ferocious. "Esteemed elder, I don't believe I've offended you, have I?" he growled. "If you continue like this, don't blame me for being impolite!"

As the sword was drawn, a dense killing intent instantly diluted everything else.

The old lama's completely black pupils narrowed slightly, staring at Li Huowang's cloth-wrapped sword hilt.

The tense atmosphere was suffocating everyone. Someone like Scholar Lü had already wet his pants in fear.

Li Huowang exerted force with one hand, just as he was about to draw his sword and fight this person to the death, when the standoff suddenly changed.

"Dong!" As the old lama struck the waxy, yellow small drum at his waist, a drum sound also rang out behind Li Huowang. It was the sound of the drum Bai Lingmiao used for her shamanistic rituals.

"Dong dong dong~ dong dong dong~"

The two drum sounds began to play simultaneously with rhythm, like an unusual duet, as if different entities were communicating through the drums.

After a while, the drum sounds gradually ceased. The palpable, heavy atmosphere in the air also dissipated.

As the vulture in the lama's hand soared into the sky, the black sheep in the distance moved over like a dark cloud, covering his terrifying lower body, and slowly moved him backward.

Watching the lama depart, Li Huowang dared not be careless and led the others to continue moving forward.

They traveled for the entire night. When the sun came out and Li Huowang called for a stop, everyone collapsed onto the ground, utterly exhausted. They gasped for breath, half from exhaustion and half from fright.

The lama from last night was truly terrifying. Though said to be alive, his appearance was more horrifying than a ghost.

Li Huowang looked around, seeing no trace of the lama. He turned to Bai Lingmiao, whose lips were pale. "Did that lama say anything to you with his drum?"

Bai Lingmiao nodded. "He said... he is from the Celestial Monitoring Department. He'll let it go this time, but there won't be a next."