Chapter 194
Chapter 194
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 194
>Chapter Title: Pity
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Inside the Hall of Righteousness, Li Huowang once again examined the *Great Thousand Record* in his hand, his fingers lightly stroking it a few times.
When this thing was hung back on his waist, Li Huowang felt a trace of peace in his heart.
Though using the *Great Thousand Record* always came at a great cost, it had proven useful in critical moments time and again.
After all, enduring torment was still better than dying.
"Little Daoist! Little Daoist! You're practically our Lv family's living ancestor! Without your help, our whole family would've been done for here!"
"Before, I must've been possessed to run away! I... I deserve a beating! I deserve a beating!"
Lv Zhuangyuan, looking like a refugee, unhesitatingly raised his grimy palm and slapped himself hard across the face.
"Enough, enough. Are your people all right?"
Hearing Li Huowang's interruption, Lv Zhuangyuan sheepishly lowered his hand.
"That bandit leader called Big Golden Dragon—his mother liked opera. No one died, it's just... my daughter-in-law suffered a lot..."
Suddenly thinking of something, Lv Zhuangyuan jolted, his tone turning resolute.
"Little Daoist, from now on, we're not going anywhere—we're sticking with you! We'll never forget this life-saving grace! Now, the Lv Family Troupe is your personal theater company!"
"What do I need a theater company for? I don't even understand it."
Before Li Huowang could finish, the excited Lv Zhuangyuan dropped to his knees with a thud and kowtowed to him repeatedly.
"Enough, enough. If you want to follow, then follow. We can't stay here long—are your opera props still around? Pack up and let's go."
After spending so much time together, Li Huowang had long seen through the man's intentions—he just wanted him as a bodyguard. And conveniently, he'd need them soon enough.
Hearing this, Lv Zhuangyuan scrambled up from the ground and thumped his chest repeatedly.
"They're all here, all here! And I even know where their horse stable is! I'll go lead all their horses over right now!"
True to his word, Lv Zhuangyuan dragged his family toward the nearby cave entrance to prove his worth to Li Huowang.
After dealing with Lv Zhuangyuan, Li Huowang looked up at the cave where Chun Xiaoman had just rushed in, a flicker of complexity in his eyes.
He turned to Jian Dun beside him and said firmly,
"Go in and hurry them up. This is a bandit stronghold—not safe. Tell them to come out quick; we're leaving."
Jian Dun nodded, tossed aside his iron rod, picked up a nearby bandit's spiked club, slung it over his shoulder, and headed toward the cave.
But before he could enter, Chun Xiaoman and Bai Lingmiao emerged, their eyes red—they looked like they'd just been crying.
"What's wrong?"
Li Huowang's brow furrowed.
Chun Xiaoman bent down and tore off a bandit's clothes from the ground.
"Go see for yourself... These... these bandits aren't human! They're beasts!"
Glancing at Bai Lingmiao, who was doing the same, Li Huowang strode into the cave.
Soon, at the cave's end, Li Huowang saw several naked women huddled on the ground, trembling, their eyes vacant.
Nearby were X-shaped wooden racks.
From the ropes on the wood and the bruises on the women's wrists and ankles, it was clear they'd only just been untied by Bai Lingmiao and the others.
With help from the others, these women were draped in bandit clothes and brought into the brightly torch-lit Hall of Righteousness.
If the women robbed from Reed Reed Island still had some status, then the ones in this bandit lair were purely tools for venting lust.
And it didn’t end there—according to Lü Zhuangyuan, life in the mountain stronghold was suffocatingly dull, so the idle bandits treated these women as playthings.
Their fates were even more tragic—once broken, they were discarded for new ones. As long as they could raid, women were never in short supply.
Hearing those disgusting details, Li Huowang turned his head, eyes brimming with killing intent toward the collapsed rock face.
With a flip of his hand, the dao bell appeared.
"Ding ding ding!"
As the piercing bell rang out, the Wandering Lord, formed of lines, swiftly appeared before Li Huowang.
"Go!"
Li Huowang thrust his hand toward the rock wall.
The Wandering Lord nodded quickly, turned, and vanished into the collapsed wall.
Moments later, Li Huowang's sharp senses picked up faint screams from within the wall.
After about the time it takes to burn half a incense stick, the Wandering Lord emerged from the rock wall again, nodded once more to Li Huowang, and swiftly dissipated.
As the bell faded, Li Huowang turned to the women behind him.
"Rest easy—every last bandit is dead. Not a single one left."
Yet at this news, the women's faces showed no emotion—no joy, no sorrow, no relief. Only numbness.
Li Huowang looked at them with pity. The damage they'd suffered was too great—they were little more than shells of people.
"Wait—this is the feeling of pity?"
Li Huowang froze, then quickly pulled out the *Fire Coat True Scripture* from his robes.
Reciting its cryptic translated incantations with this emotion in his heart, the white wax swiftly coalesced into a burning centipede.
The thing crawled up Li Huowang's pant leg toward the wound on his abdomen.
With a sizzle, the hideous gash cauterized and sealed shut.
In that moment, the missing piece of his *Fire Coat True Scripture* was finally complete.
Jiang Yingzi's parting gift could finally be put to use.
This should have been a moment of joy, but now was not the time.
Li Huowang gazed at the dazed women, committing this emotion deep in his heart lest he forget it later.
After ransacking the entire bandit lair, the group departed under the moonlight, leaving the deathly place behind.
As Lv Zhuangyuan had said, the bandits had plenty of horses—and they even found blankets and grain in the caves.
Everything but silver, though. Their hiding spot must've been behind that collapsed rock wall.
No living souls remained in those caves—they'd be buried forever with the bandits slain by the Wandering Lord.
That night, the group pressed on without sleep, not stopping until noon the next day, far from the bandit nest, before resting.
While the others slept, Li Huowang and Mantou kept watch.
When they woke at dusk, Li Huowang immediately crashed.
When he woke again, it was early morning the next day.
Rubbing his eyes, he looked around and saw Bai Lingmiao ladling porridge to those women.
Sun Baolu and Gouwa's voices drifted into Li Huowang's ears from nearby.
(End of chapter)