Chapter 258: Big Village

Li Huowang walked alongside the carriage, pondering the information the lama had given him.

"What did he mean, 'don't let it happen again'?" Li Huowang's mind raced, recalling the Lion Dance Palace and the deceased Han Fu. He had seemingly only done these two things in Qingqiu.

Bai Lingmiao shook her head, her expression a little troubled. "I don't know. He just said 'don't let it happen again' and nothing else."

Li Huowang never did find out why the lama had suddenly left. More than that, he was concerned about the lama's identity.

"'Don't let it happen again'... 'Don't let it happen again'... Could he actually be from Qingqiu's Directorate of Heavenly Affairs? So this is what the Directorate of Heavenly Affairs is like..."

Li Huowang began to have a completely new understanding of this governmental body, which he had only heard about previously. He was almost certain that within this so-called Directorate of Heavenly Affairs, there were many other eccentric individuals like the black-robed lama. He just didn't know yet whether this information was good or bad for him.

Snapping back to reality, Li Huowang glanced up at the sun and told the others, "Everyone, get some rest. I'll stand guard."

At his words, everyone promptly took their quilts from the ox cart, threw them onto the ground, and lay down, instantly falling asleep and snoring. They had been running in fear for so long that their bodies simply couldn't take it anymore.

Li Huowang was also exhausted, but he forced himself to stay awake. Even though the lama had said "don't let it happen again," Li Huowang found it impossible to trust someone like that. When he felt himself giving in to exhaustion, he would use his torture implements to inflict a little pain, stimulating himself. Li Huowang was already quite adept at this.

Everyone slept until dusk. As they began preparing dinner, Li Huowang finally lay down on the ox cart and closed his eyes.

Exhaustion claimed Li Huowang, and he drifted off to sleep, but his rest was restless. Disconnected dreams flickered continuously through his mind.

Suddenly, Li Huowang sat bolt upright from his sleep. "Wait! That aura from the lama... I've felt it before in Baiyujing! The White Bodhisattva was covered in it! It's the aura of death!"

As he spoke, Li Huowang's body went limp, and under the watchful eyes of the others, he slumped back down, motionless.

The carriage wheels slowly rolled along the dirt road. The surrounding trees and farmland indicated that they had completely left Qingqiu and fully entered the territory of Daliang. This significantly brightened everyone's mood. At least in Daliang, there were no strange lamas.

Bai Lingmiao was undoubtedly the happiest, feeling that they were finally nearing her homeland. She chattered excitedly around Li Huowang, recounting tales of her hometown, from her parents and siblings to their neighbors and even the large goose that liked to lounge at the village entrance.

However, Li Huowang remained distracted, his mind still preoccupied with the black-robed lama. "No mistake, he carries the aura of death from Baiyujing. Down in the underground, using that giant cauldron to sacrifice the dead... that must have been their sect!"

Although he didn't know the name of their sect, their ability to manipulate death meant their power was undeniably formidable. It was fortunate that he hadn't come into conflict with the lama; otherwise, even if he had won, the cost might have been severe.

"Senior Brother Li, I'm talking to you. What are you thinking about?" Bai Lingmiao asked, half-complaining as she looked at Li Huowang, who had completely ignored her.

"Hm? What did you say?" Li Huowang turned to her.

"I said, with all this silver, we can build a new building! We can finally have our own place!"

"Oh, that's excellent." As Li Huowang gave a casual reply, he suddenly noticed that her eyes were uncovered again. He promptly took a silk ribbon from her hand. After covering Bai Lingmiao's eyes, Li Huowang interlaced his fingers with hers.

"How many times have I told you? You need to cover them when the sun is strong. If you keep using your eyes like this, you'll go blind before long."

After speaking, Li Huowang turned to look at the others around them. He had just noticed that they weren't alone on the road. Several thin, dark-skinned men were walking together, each carrying a pole with a quilt on one end and dry rations on the other. It was clear that these men were somewhat wary of a group wearing black conical hats and whose origins were unknown; they barely dared to glance their way. If it weren't for the normal-looking members of the Lu Family Troupe, they probably would have left already.

Li Huowang thought for a moment, then walked over to Lu Zhuangyuan, who was coaxing his grandson, and whispered a few words to him.

"Alright, little Daoist master, don't you worry." Feeling useful, Lu Zhuangyuan tucked his pipe under his armpit and cheerfully approached the men.

As Li Huowang removed the wool plugs from his ears, the distant voices of the men became clear to him.

"Haha, gentlemen, where are you headed?"

"To the threshing grounds."

"Oh?"

"It's almost autumn harvest season, so we're harvesters heading to the threshing grounds."

Through their conversation, Li Huowang learned that these harvesters were tenant farmers with little land of their own, taking advantage of the autumn harvest to cut crops for others and earn some copper coins. Lu Zhuangyuan, as expected of an old troupe master who had traveled far and wide, managed to extract the information he wanted from the honest man in just a few sentences.

"Little Daoist master, he said there's a large estate not far ahead. If we follow the road past the estate, there's a county town."

"I heard that county town is quite large, and many people from Qingqiu also bring their sheep there to sell."

Li Huowang nodded at Lu Zhuangyuan's smiling face. "Do they know where Oxheart Mountain is?" Li Huowang hadn't forgotten that one of the main reasons he had traveled all this way to the State of Liang was to take Bai Lingmiao home.

"Uh, they don't actually know that. They said that the area around Qingqiu is quite flat with few mountains, but the further inland you go, the more mountains there are."

Li Huowang showed no disappointment, as if their answer had been entirely within his expectations. "Since they're locals, let's follow them to avoid getting lost. Once we reach the county town and buy a map of Daliang, we can decide our next steps."

"Alright, then!" Lu Zhuangyuan, pleased to be of use, walked back with a wide smile.

They followed the muddy path until the afternoon. As they emerged from a bamboo grove, the scene before them suddenly opened up, revealing a breathtaking sight. Fields of golden rice, millet, and sorghum stretched out, an unbroken expanse like a golden ocean rippling gently in the breeze. In the distance, tiny dark figures, no bigger than ants, continuously swung their sickles, harvesting the golden expanse before them.

"This land in Daliang is truly fertile," Lu Zhuangyuan remarked, his eyes filled with envy. "In our hometown, we probably wouldn't see a harvest this good for years."

Regardless of what others thought, those harvesters, upon seeing this, seemed to envision generous wages. They quickly descended into the fields to find the estate owner and negotiate their pay.

"A good harvest means we can buy grain more cheaply," someone remarked. The small whip cracked against the ox's rump, and the carriage wheels slowly rolled towards the large estate.