Chapter 457: Natural Disaster

"The Heavenly Dog devouring the sun?" Listening to Zhuge Yuan's words, Li Huowang frowned, staring intently at the pitch-black sky above him.

"Could it be a solar eclipse?" Li Huowang guessed, confused.

But he quickly dismissed this possibility. He had been fortunate enough to witness a solar eclipse once when he was in the first grade of primary school. Even during an eclipse, the sun isn't completely black; there's only a halo of light left. It would never be this utterly dark.

The deafening clang of gongs, accompanied by Lu Zhuangyuan's almost sung shouts, echoed over Niuxin Village. "The Heavenly Dog is eating the sun! Quickly, beat the gongs and drums to scare it away!"

If the sound hadn't started, it would have been fine, but as soon as it did, panic immediately spread throughout the entire village.

Li Huowang braced himself with one hand on the window, jumped directly to the first floor, and followed the sound.

He hadn't walked far when he saw Lu Zhuangyuan and his group, carrying lanterns and vigorously beating the musical instruments used in their opera performances.

"Enough! Stop all of you!" Li Huowang snatched the gong from Lu Zhuangyuan's hand.

"Young Daoist Master, you might be skilled in other matters, but for this, you're not as experienced as I am. This is the Heavenly Dog eating the sun! My third grandfather once led an entire village in beating gongs to scare it away!"

The man's confident assertion made Li Huowang frown. "This is useless! Quickly, gather everyone in the village at the Bai family compound! Take a head count!"

"But if we don't beat the gongs, what if the Heavenly Dog really eats the sun?"

"Go now! If you talk any more nonsense, believe me, I'll burn all the things in your hands!"

Lu Zhuangyuan seemed about to say something else, but seeing Li Huowang's serious expression, he immediately took his son and apprentices to gather the villagers.

Watching them depart with their lanterns, Li Huowang finally had time to look up and question Zhuge Yuan in detail.

"Brother Zhuge, is this truly a natural disaster? Are you certain it's not something else?"

In this insane world, nothing else insane could surprise him.

Zhuge Yuan looked diagonally towards the top left, recalling. "It should be correct. I once recorded this dark, apocalyptic natural disaster in a small note."

"Brother Zhuge, did that small note mention anything else about this so-called Heavenly Dog devouring the sun?"

"No, it didn't. But Brother Li, the key isn't this natural disaster itself, but the timing. Do you remember when the last natural disaster occurred?"

"Last year, I think." Looking up again at the ink-black sky, Li Huowang recalled his experience with that previous natural disaster.

Last time, decay vanished, so everything in the world stopped spoiling or rotting. The process was neither fast nor slow.

This was why Li Huowang remained so calm now. Although it was called a natural disaster, his last experience, apart from the death of the abbess, had no impact on him whatsoever.

"Indeed. But natural disasters typically occur once every few decades. Why is there another one after just two years? Brother Li, when people are ignorant of the truth, disaster is bound to strike. When things are abnormal, there must be mischief at play!"

Hearing Zhuge Yuan's words, Li Huowang's heart sank. "Are you saying that at this moment, within the White Jade Capital..."

Before Li Huowang could finish, Zhuge Yuan, with a solemn expression, directly interrupted him. "Brother Li, since you are a Xinsu and have begun cultivating immortality, it's best to mention those things as little as possible from now on, lest..."

Li Huowang immediately understood what the other man meant and swallowed his words.

He stood thoughtfully for a long time until Lu Juren arrived with a lantern to report that everyone from Niuxin Village had gathered, without a single person missing. Only then did he stop pondering.

Li Huowang cupped his hands and bowed towards the air. "Brother Zhuge, regardless of what's happening over there, I think we should first safely get through this natural disaster."

"There's no need for me to consider those matters, because no matter what I do, I can't change anything."

"Not so, not so. Every man has a share in the fate of the world. Allow me to think about it carefully, to really think." Zhuge Yuan tapped his forehead with his folding fan and fell silent.

Noticing Lu Juren gasp and look at him with trepidation, Li Huowang offered no explanation, simply lifted his foot and walked towards the Bai family compound.

Upon returning to the Bai family compound, Li Huowang saw many people kneeling on the ground, frantically bowing towards the surrounding darkness. In such an environment, fear always made people seek something to rely on.

"Kid, is there enough food?" In this situation, Li Huowang had no intention of going out. He planned to shelter with them in the Bai family compound, waiting for this "Heavenly Dog devouring the sun" event to pass.

"Brother Li, rest assured, there's definitely enough. There's old rice from last year in the granary, enough for us to eat for two or three years. There's also a well in the courtyard, so we won't have to worry about food or drink."

Li Huowang nodded, took the Daoist bell from Chun Xiaoman's waist, and shook it sharply. The piercing sound instantly drew everyone's attention.

"Don't panic, everyone! This is just a natural disaster; it will pass in a few days. All we have to do is wait."

As Li Huowang spoke, the fear on the faces of the other Niuxin villagers, though still present, was significantly less than before.

Finally, when Li Huowang ordered Yang Xiaowa to butcher a cow for meat, their attention was instantly diverted to the choice of whether to kill the cow and eat beef, leaving them no time to think about other things.

"Boss Hongzhong is good! Boss Hongzhong is great! He's playing these people like a bunch of idiots!"

Li Huowang directly ignored the jibe from the illusory Zuowang Dao and spoke to Zhuge Yuan again: "Brother Zhuge, how much effort do you think the Surveillance Department will need to suppress this natural disaster this time?"

"Although the Surveillance Department claims to be fighting against natural disasters, I truly doubt if they have any methods to do so."

If the appearance of natural disasters represented the struggle among the Sages for the Heavenly Dao...

Then, having witnessed the astonishing power of Doumu, Li Huowang genuinely doubted whether a mere mortal organization was truly qualified to participate in it.

Or perhaps, all the claims made by this so-called Surveillance Department were just boastful nonsense?

"They do, but the Surveillance Department and the Zuowang Dao fought to a bitter end before, so I don't know if they can manage it at this moment."

Hearing this, Li Huowang felt very conflicted. In the past, his attitude towards the Surveillance Department, which disregarded human lives, was mostly one of rejection.

Yet, he never imagined that he would one day hope for them to resume normal operations as soon as possible.

After all, no matter how poorly they performed or how many people they killed, they were indispensable to the common people of this land.

"Brother Zhuge, regarding what you said earlier about the abnormality, with two natural disasters occurring so close together, the Surveillance Department will surely step in to resolve it, right?"

"While that's true, the Surveillance Department of Daliang is actually intertwined with the royal family. This humble scholar finds them somewhat untrustworthy."

"Even if Daliang is a sham, according to ancestral precepts, the Surveillance Department must not collude with any worldly powers and must never assist the royal family in seizing cities or strongholds. Those are matters for the military."