Chapter 615: Come Visitor

Li Huowang was naturally full of suspicion when confronted with the man who had suddenly appeared in Niuxin Village out of nowhere.

"Li Sui, help me find out more about him."

"Okay, Dad."

A few of Li Sui's tentacles flew over and quickly dragged the ragged man out of the kitchen. Moreover, these tentacles burrowed directly into his body through his seven orifices, thoroughly exploring his true nature from the inside out.

Under the newly risen moonlight, Li Huowang clearly saw the man's face. He was an unshaven man who appeared extremely haggard and emaciated. His ribs were clearly visible beneath his tattered clothes, and he clutched a small pumpkin and two sweet potatoes in his arms.

"Gagging," the man hunched over as Li Sui's tentacles slowly withdrew from his body.

"Dad, he's a human. There's nothing else in his body, and there are some clumps in his stomach. He seems to be just an ordinary person."

Seeing the man's pitiful state, Li Huowang, who had been completely on guard, finally relaxed. He couldn't believe someone would go to such lengths to sneak into Niuxin Village just to steal a few sweet potatoes.

Li Huowang re-sheathed the Spine Sword behind his back and immediately asked the man, "Why did you come to our Niuxin Village?"

"I... I'm a refugee! I have nothing to eat, I'm starving, venerable sir, please spare me this time. I'm truly about to starve to death; I'll never dare again." The man trembled on the ground, not daring to lift his head.

Seeing the others gather around, Li Huowang paused for a few moments, then pointed to Gouwa, who was watching curiously, and said, "Deal with him. After he's eaten his fill, whether he stays or leaves is up to him."

With that, without waiting for Gouwa to respond, Li Huowang retracted the tentacles back into his body and headed towards the Bai family compound.

Seeing Li Huowang confirm that the man was indeed harmless, Gouwa's courage immediately grew. With his hands behind his back, he approached the man, his face a patchwork of white and black, startling the man into a shiver.

"A refugee, huh? You must have suffered a lot on the road, didn't you?"

"Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm!" The man nodded repeatedly. He had just reached into his arms and pulled out a sweet potato, but as he was about to put it into his mouth, Gouwa snatched it away.

"Hmph, it's clear you haven't been starved before. If you stuff yourself like that, do you want to burst yourself? You need to drink congee right now! After two days of congee, then you can eat solid food."

Gouwa looked around, then pointed to two nearby village militiamen and declared with feigned authority, "You two, yes, you two, hurry up and go cook some congee! Didn't you hear what your godfather just said? This matter is under my jurisdiction!"

Hearing there was a refugee, the villagers immediately gathered around curiously.

Under the gaze of the Niuxin Village residents, the man drank three bowls of congee consecutively. He wanted more, but Gouwa stopped him.

"That's enough," Gouwa said, forcibly taking his bowl. "Any more and you'll burst." He then plopped himself down on a stool. "Now that you've finished eating, tell us, where are you from?"

The man looked somewhat fearfully at the others around him. When he saw the lard candy in Gouwa's woman's hand, he instinctively licked his lips. "I... I'm from Xi County."

"Xi County? Where's Xi County? Never heard of it. What disaster struck your home? Why did you become a refugee?"

Hearing this, the man's eyes immediately showed intense fear, and his body even began to tremble.

"A... a natural disaster! The Celestial Dog devoured the sun, and all the demons and monsters from the eighteen layers of hell in the underworld came out! They... they killed everyone they saw! I only survived by hiding in a temple."

"When the natural disaster passed, almost everyone was dead. To survive, I searched for food, but the land had been dry for three years, and there was truly no food left."

"There was no other way; I could only flee as a refugee to find a way to survive."

"Oh," Gouwa nodded understandingly. "So that's what happened. A natural disaster, right? I know about that; we had one here last time too. It was really scary, but luckily it only lasted a short while."

"A short while?" Hearing this, the man's voice changed, and he spoke with bitter indignation in his eyes. "Why! Why did it only last a short while for you, but for us, it lasted for dozens of days! Why?!"

As soon as he said this, the surrounding people gasped. If such a natural disaster lasted for dozens of days, it would indeed be unbearable; no wonder he had to flee.

"Aren't you from Great Liang? As far as I know, the natural disaster across all of Great Liang only lasted a short while," Zhao Wu asked, frowning slightly.

"What? Great Liang? Where's Great Liang? In just a short while, have I already left the borders?" The man had a blank look on his face.

"Aren't you a Liang native?"

"No, I'm not. I'm from Great Qi."

Hearing this, the crowd immediately began to chatter amongst themselves.

"Great Qi native? Where is Great Qi? Isn't Qingqiu to the west of Liang, and the sea to the east? Where would Great Qi be?"

"What about north and south?"

"I... I really don't know that, but it couldn't possibly be Great Qi. I only remember there was a dynasty called Great Qi a thousand years ago."

Li Sui, who had already put on her human skin, took these words to heart. Holding up her skirt, she walked towards her home.

"Dad! Dad!" As soon as Li Sui entered the room, she saw her father cutting open his own scalp to check how his head was recovering.

"Dad, there's a Great Qi person downstairs. The place we visited before was Great Qi, wasn't it?"

"What? A Great Qi native? Are you sure you didn't mishear?" At that moment, Li Huowang didn't even have time to wipe the blood from his head. He climbed straight through the window and rushed towards the kitchen.

Under the intimidation of Li Huowang's array of torture instruments, the man dared not conceal anything and spilled everything he knew. By comparing it with the Great Qi he knew in his mind, Li Huowang realized that the man before him was indeed a Great Qi native! He wasn't faking it!

"Great Qi natives have come to Great Liang... come to Great Liang..."

Li Huowang thought for a moment with a solemn expression, then pressed the man again, "Speak! How did you get here? Is there another heart-vine involved?"

"What heart-vine?" The man stammered, his face pale, "I... I just followed the path ahead."

"Take me to see!" Li Huowang dragged him along and headed towards the dirt road at the village entrance.

Soon, led by the man, Li Huowang arrived at a fork in the road at the foot of Mount Niuxin.

"I... I came from that path," the man explained. "I saw the woods were denser here, so I followed the wheel tracks and found your village."

"Go, keep going," Li Huowang said. He didn't know what this truly meant, but he had a feeling things weren't so simple.

However, they hadn't walked far before they stopped, simply because there was no path ahead; it was a dead end.

Seeing the gleaming torture instruments hanging from Li Huowang's lower garment, the man was on the verge of tears. "I... I swear to the Great King of Three Mountains, I really didn't lie to you; I truly came from this very spot."

Just as he was about to say more, Li Huowang, whose left ear twitched slightly, pushed him aside. Gripping his sword hilt, Li Huowang rushed into the nearby woods.

Soon, at the foot of a large tree, he saw a ragged old man with an unusually swollen belly. At that moment, the old man was desperately cutting at the tree bark with a sharp stone. After peeling off a large piece of bark, he carefully separated a layer of green, moist, and soft tender skin from its inner side. Then he opened his mouth, which had only a few teeth left, and with trembling hands and tears in his eyes, he shoved the tender skin into his mouth.