Chapter 150
Chapter 150
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 150
>Chapter Title: Old Acquaintance
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Swanging limbs and trembling, retracting white fangs—these things writhed along with the rhythmic percussion and music.
The three people in the distance performing the Nuo dance gave Li Huowang, at this moment, the feeling that they were no longer human, but trees.
After twisting for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, some kind of high-pitched aria came from behind their wooden masks.
“ㄨㄛˊㄕㄣˊㄑㄨㄍㄨ~~”
This was a kind of singing Li Huowang and the others couldn't comprehend. The pitch rose and fell following the instruments' sounds, carrying a unique charm.
Li Huowang and the others didn't understand it, but the locals seemed to. Their eyes slightly closed, fingers tapping rhythms on their thighs, mouths humming along.
“ㄓㄨㄢ~ㄨㄓㄧㄡˇ！ㄙㄢㄗㄧㄨㄤˊ，~！ㄨˊㄦˊㄨㄟˊ，ㄧˋ！！ㄍㄨㄟˇㄩˊㄕㄧˋㄧˇㄙㄨㄟˋ……”
After listening for a while without making sense of it, Li Huowang lifted his foot and walked forward.
Whatever the weirdness, he wasn't the one putting on the big show anyway—it had nothing to do with him.
But after just a few steps, Li Huowang saw that Lv Zhuangyuan hadn't budged.
“No rush, you go on ahead. Hmph! I want to see just what this play's got going for it.”
Perhaps because rivals in the same trade, he seemed to hold strong animosity toward those performing the Nuo dance.
“Dad, how about another day? This place is all strangers. It's unsettling.”
Lv Zhuangyuan immediately widened his eyes and raised his pipe at his eldest son.
“Hey now, you telling your dad what to do? Street's full of people coming and going—what's unsettling about it?”
Taking advantage of their squabbling, Li Huowang had already led the others onward.
After walking another half-stick of incense's worth of time, they finally booked rooms at an inn with a wine flag hanging over the door.
In a rundown bedroom, Li Huowang set down the items from his body onto the table and breathed a sigh of relief.
Two swords, the *Great Thousand Record*, the stone-slab Heavenly Book, and the torture tools—these scattered things added up to quite a load.
He picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup of water, and drank. Li Huowang's brows furrowed at once.
Bai Lingmiao, who was straightening the bedding, noticed and walked over.
“What's wrong?”
“Try this—does the water taste off to you?”
Li Huowang handed over the tea in his hand.
Cupping it in both hands and sipping, Bai Lingmiao nodded in surprise.
“Yeah, really. It's got this earthy tang.”
“I thought I was just being oversensitive. Guess not—Hou Shu's water quality is downright bad.”
Li Huowang walked to the window and propped open the paper pane with a stick, letting out the room's stale air.
“Tomorrow, send everyone out separately to gather news on Hou Shu. Best if we can snag a detailed map—don't want to take any wrong turns.”
“Mm, got it. Whatever you say.”
Bai Lingmiao finished smoothing the sheets and reached out to untie Li Huowang's Daoist robe.
“When I was tending the horses, I spotted a well nearby. Got time now—I'll go wash the clothes.”
“Oh, right, Senior Brother Li—I remember one of the dead Dao attendants had family in this town. Should we deliver the ashes?”
Li Huowang's heart stirred. Only then did he recall hearing about this before.
“Who's holding the ashes? I'll take them.”
“Now? It's so late—why not rest first and go tomorrow?”
In the end, Li Huowang still grabbed the urn and, bringing Mantou along with Little Kid Yang, left the inn. He had no patience to delay such a minor errand.
The reason for bringing Little Kid Yang was that he'd been close with the dead Dao attendant and knew where the family lived.
Of course, there was another unspoken layer: fear that Li Huowang might lose it en route with no one to watch over him.
Li Huowang couldn't be left alone these days—having him there meant he could rush back to alert the others in time.
Hugging the urn, Little Kid Yang recounted tales of the deceased Dao attendant to Li Huowang.
“Back at Clear Wind Temple, we all called her Hairy Braggart 'cause she loved bragging—said her home was bigger than the whole temple, and they kept over a hundred sheep.”
“She'd say she was the only girl in the family, the most spoiled—whatever amount of mutton she wanted, her dad would butcher for her.”
Li Huowang glanced in surprise at the urn in his hands.
“This Dao attendant was a girl?”
“Yeah, Senior Brother Li. Don't you remember?”
Li Huowang shook his head. These Dao attendants hardly registered in his mind—he paid little attention to the diligent kids.
“Sigh... poor thing. She was so close to escaping Clear Wind Temple, only to drown.”
Li Huowang felt a twinge of regret.
“Saying that from your mouth—don't you find it disgusting? What gives you the right? Know how many you've strangled with your own hands?”
Hearing Jiang Yingzi's words plunged Li Huowang into extreme irritation.
“Shut your mouth!”
The outburst startled Little Kid Yang beside him. Though he and the others had witnessed Senior Brother Li muttering to himself countless times, it still felt off-putting.
Li Huowang's expression soured. He fell silent and trudged ahead with his head down.
Though Li Huowang tried his utmost to ignore the hallucinations, it was no easy task.
They veered further off the main path, heading gradually toward the edge of this Gobi town.
The sky had darkened a great deal, people on the road thinned out, most hurrying along.
Just as Li Huowang opened his mouth to ask whether this was the place, a delighted shout rang out from behind.
“Daoist! Daoist!! It's me!”
Li Huowang whipped his head around instinctively. Seeing who it was, delight surged through him.
It was the old monk he'd left behind at Zhengde Temple.
Compared to his clean temple days, he was back to his grubby, unkempt self.
“Monk, how'd you end up here? Weren't you staying at Zhengde Temple?”
Hearing this, the monk couldn't hold back his griping.
“Don't get me started—in that temple, I was bored out of my skull. Couldn't do good deeds, and they had me memorizing sutras to boot.”
“No way I could hack that, so I just up and left. Hey, where you headed?”
“Going... to drop off something. Come with—we'll head there together. The Zhengde Temple monks didn't hassle you on your way out?”
“Why would they hassle me? Far from it—they even gave me a bunch of money. Monks are all good folk, no bad eggs.”
“Heh.”
Li Huowang chuckled, too lazy to debate it.
Meeting an old acquaintance far from home lifted Li Huowang's spirits for once. Simple souls were always easy to get along with—he chatted freely and congenially with the monk the whole way.
Li Huowang deliberately dredged up bits from their shared past, and the monk kept up effortlessly.
Right as he was really getting into it, Little Kid Yang's voice pulled him back.
“Senior Brother Li... we're here.”
(End of chapter)