Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 177
>Chapter Title: Speak
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“Clop clop clop.” The iron horseshoes kept striking the ground, producing a rhythmic, crisp sound of hoofbeats.
The carriage wheels behind slowly rolled over the hoof prints, followed by Gao Zhijian’s wide footprints.
The group continued following the carriage along the narrow path.
Everyone looked preoccupied, occasionally stealing glances at the leading Li Huowang.
In their eyes, Li Huowang had clearly died. Even without flies swarming, they had checked him over and over—he was absolutely, thoroughly dead.
Yet he had suddenly come back to life just like that. Everything felt utterly bizarre.
Of course, the strangeness didn’t end there. His body had abruptly emerged from the grave mound outside, he had muttered something about the world going mad, and then he had suddenly passed out again.
It had all happened so fast that they couldn’t process it.
If Senior Brother Li hadn’t still been his familiar old self, they might have thought something else had possessed his body.
The one thing that comforted them was that after waking up again, Senior Brother Li had sat there in a daze for a while before returning to his usual self.
When they asked what had happened, the only answer they got was that everything was in the past.
He said it was in the past, so it was. No one dared ask further. As long as he was alive, that was enough.
“Rest. Time for dinner.”
Li Huowang’s words brought the carriage wheels to a halt.
Some went to fetch water, some gathered firewood, and some picked wild vegetables. After so many days, they worked together seamlessly.
Li Huowang did nothing. He sat there, borrowing the fading sunset light to flip open the translated version of the *True Scripture of the Fire Robe*.
Yingzi’s handwriting gradually came into focus before Li Huowang’s eyes. With Danyangzi’s death, Li Huowang’s lost literacy had returned. He was no longer illiterate; he could now clearly read what was written.
This also proved from the side that Danyangzi was truly dead, not just pretending like before.
The *True Scripture of the Fire Robe* was phonetically annotated by Yingzi using characters. Through the translation, Li Huowang gradually grasped the uses of this bizarre book wrapped in wax.
But it wasn’t easy to learn. The text stated that when casting spells, one must harbor compassion in their heart.
To cast spells, one even needed to summon emotions. That was something Li Huowang hadn’t expected.
As Li Huowang chanted the vague incantation, the white wax on the book began to melt and gather into a lump.
However, he hadn’t practiced for long before he was interrupted.
“Senior Brother Li, heh heh~ Senior Brother Li? Busy?”
Gouwa sidled over, grinning cheekily with a few pieces of dry firewood tucked under his arm.
He glanced around and, seeing that Bai Lingmiao hadn’t returned from gathering vegetables, leaned in and whispered deliberately,
“Senior Brother Li, to honor you, I burned two paper effigies at your grave earlier when Junior Sister Bai wasn’t around. Female ones!!”
“Hm?”
Seeing Li Huowang’s brows furrow, Gouwa slyly looked around before leaning in closer to ask,
“Senior Brother Li, did you receive those two women over there?”
Gouwa’s words left Li Huowang utterly speechless.
“I didn’t die at all.”
“I know you’re alive now, but you were dead before, right? I figured if you received them, I’d burn a few more women for myself to keep me company.”
“I didn’t die before. There’s no receiving or not receiving.”
“But you had no breath at all back then. We even left you out for three whole days before burying you. How come Ox-Head and Horse-Face didn’t drag you to report to the underworld? Oh, right—what’s the underworld like?”
Li Huowang looked at him with clear impatience, wondering how to end this pointless chatter quickly.
“I received them.”
“Hey! That’s great!”
Gouwa’s face lit up with delight. He clapped his hands, practically bouncing with joy as he began scheming in his mind.
“Received what?”
The voice from behind startled Gouwa.
He turned to see Bai Lingmiao and Chun Xiaoman returning with their gathered vegetables. He laughed it off awkwardly.
“Nothing, nothing. Just chatting idly with Senior Brother Li.”
Tonight’s dinner was noodle lumps, simple to make and easy to eat.
Just mix flour with cold water into a half-wet, half-dry dough, then squeeze it through the crook of your thumb into the pot.
Once the noodle lumps floated slightly, Bai Lingmiao took out the lard jar, scooped in a big spoonful into the black iron wok, and finally added the tender green wild vegetables that cooked quickest.
Before long, the white noodle lumps and green vegetables were tumbling in the boiling water.
Seeing this and smelling the rising aroma, everyone couldn’t help swallowing their saliva. After the long journey, everyone needed to replenish their strength.
“Heh, who’d have thought I, Cao Cao, would have days of eating white flour every day? Where’s the justice in that?”
Gouwa said smugly, tapping his chopsticks.
The first steaming bowl scooped from the pot naturally went to Li Huowang.
Bai Lingmiao brought it to him. Watching him reach out with both hands to take it and wolf it down, her face bloomed with a joyful smile.
Her Senior Brother Li really hadn’t lied. That severed hand had truly grown back.
“Why are you staring at me? Aren’t you eating?”
Bai Lingmiao nodded and ladled herself a bowl too. She obediently squatted beside Li Huowang and started eating.
There weren’t many people in the group to begin with, but with big eaters like Gao Zhijian and Bai Lingmiao, they polished off the whole pot of noodle lumps without even a drop of broth left.
By the time the pots and bowls were washed, night had fallen. With nothing else to do in the evening, they lit a bonfire and went to sleep.
Tonight was Gao Zhijian’s watch, and with the sharp-nosed Mantou there too, Li Huowang had nothing to worry about. After washing up by the river, he lay down in the carriage and rested early.
He had just closed his eyes when he felt a soft body slip in from the edge of the blanket.
Li Huowang, eyes still shut, grabbed hold of her and gently pulled her into his arms.
Before long, Li Huowang felt her arms wrap around him, hugging tighter and tighter, as if trying to bury her body into his. Soon, he felt his chest grow wet, accompanied by pitiful sobbing.
“Why are you crying?”
Li Huowang’s hand slowly stroked down Bai Lingmiao’s silky hair along her back.
“My mom always taught me that a good wife has to be diligent, good at managing the household, magnanimous, good with words, and never interfere in a man’s affairs.”
“But do you know? I was really scared—so scared that one day you’d suddenly vanish like that day, and never wake up again…”
Silence fell inside the carriage. Li Huowang could feel her sincere emotions toward him.
Bai Lingmiao’s voice took on a sob.
“Senior Brother Li, why do you always shoulder everything alone? Why won’t you tell me? Am I really nothing to you?”
“Because I didn’t want you to get hurt. But since everything’s in the past now, I’ll tell you everything.”
Li Huowang leaned down to kiss Bai Lingmiao’s hair, let out a soft sigh, and began recounting the entire story from beginning to end.
He told her everything in complete detail, rambling on from Clear Wind Temple all the way to the Yak Gate.
But then he suddenly faltered.
“What happened after that? How did it end? Is Danyangzi dead? How did you come back?”
Hearing the crucial moment, Bai Lingmiao’s heart hung in suspense.
Li Huowang’s expression turned anguished. Pulsing veins appeared on his forehead as he involuntarily clutched his head.
“Those… those… things!! I… I don’t know how to describe them! I can’t describe them with words!!”
(End of chapter)