Chapter 214
Chapter 214
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 214
>Chapter Title: Harvest
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Chapter 214: Harvest
Hearing Li Huowang's question, Bai Lingmiao nodded and said softly,
"That female general had a plaque. Gouwa thought it was gold at first, but it turned out to be copper and not worth much."
"Plaque? Bring it over for me to see."
Soon the item appeared in front of Li Huowang. It was some kind of square copper token. From the name and military rank inscribed on it, it was clearly something to verify Peng Longteng's identity.
"There's a tiger-head seal on the plaque. This should be a military waist token."
Li Huowang pressed his fingers into the tiger-head pattern on the plaque before telling Bai Lingmiao to put it away.
Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Maybe this thing would come in handy someday. Even if it didn't, it was just a plaque—hardly weighed anything.
Danyangzi's so-called Heavenly Book was far heavier than this, and it had never come in handy either, yet he still carried it around.
"Right, Senior Brother Li, she had a book on her too. None of us can read, so Gao Zhijian took it to look at."
"A book?"
Li Huowang, who had just relaxed his vigilance, tensed up instantly.
"Bring that book over."
Bai Lingmiao immediately lifted the curtain and walked over, but after a moment, she hesitated and came back.
"Zhijian says it's just a book of military strategy, nothing worth looking at."
"He's refusing to give it? Call him over. I'll talk to him myself."
Li Huowang's suspicions grew stronger. If it was just an ordinary military strategy book, what was he hiding?
Once Gao Zhijian, wrapped in bandages with a pale face, appeared before him, Li Huowang looked at him seriously and spoke.
"I know you crave that immense strength Peng Longteng had, and those divine abilities she knew, but some things come with risks. Handle them wrong, and you could lose your life. Do you understand what I mean?"
Li Huowang suspected the book recorded Peng Longteng's cultivation method, and Gao Zhijian was secretly practicing it.
After all these experiences, he had long since understood that in this deranged world, there was no such thing as gaining power through cultivation without paying a price.
To gain anything, you had to give something up. Every cultivation method was extremely dangerous. He didn't want to see the day when Gao Zhijian turned into another Peng Longteng.
"This is... ju-just... military strategy."
Gao Zhijian said, sounding a bit aggrieved.
"If it's military strategy, then why hide it? Let me see!"
After hesitating for a moment, Gao Zhijian finally handed over the book in his hands.
"Marshal's Garden."
That was the book's title.
Li Huowang flipped open the rough pages with his charred fingers, revealing the contents before him.
"In the art of using troops, the general receives orders from the sovereign and assembles the army. In ruined terrain, leave no shelter; in intersecting roads, unite; in desperate straits, leave no survivors; in surrounded terrain, plot; in death ground, fight. There are paths not to take, enemies not to strike, cities not to attack, grounds not to contest, and orders from the sovereign not to obey."
"It's really military strategy?"
Li Huowang was very surprised. He looked up at Gao Zhijian and flipped through it carefully again.
The content was obscure and hard to understand. Toward the end, Li Huowang struggled to read it, but after going through the whole thing, he confirmed it was indeed just a book of military strategy.
"Pa~!"
The book snapped shut. Li Huowang looked at Gao Zhijian in confusion.
"If it's just an ordinary worn-out book, why do you care so much about it?"
"Good... re-really good."
Gao Zhijian extended his thick hands and took the book back from Li Huowang.
At that moment, Li Huowang noticed blood seeping from his wounds again and quickly said,
"Hurry back and lie down. Read it once your wounds heal."
The grinning Gao Zhijian nodded, hugged the book to his chest, and turned to leave.
Once he was gone, Bai Lingmiao quickly grabbed a thin quilt from the side and draped it over Li Huowang.
"Senior Brother Li, you're hurt so badly. Don't worry about these things anymore. Your health comes first—rest."
Li Huowang wanted to sleep too, but the excruciating pain in his back from the Great Thousand Record left him without a shred of drowsiness.
He stared blankly at the ceiling of the cart, his mind empty, unsure what to think.
After a while, he spoke up.
"Miaomiao, help me up. I want to look outside."
Bai Lingmiao clearly didn't want to, but under Li Huowang's urging, she finally did as he asked.
The cart curtain lifted, revealing a refreshing expanse of green grassland outside that soothed Li Huowang's heart like a big gulp of cool water on a summer day. The grass undulated like silk in the gentle breeze.
"Is this Qingqiu? The scenery is much better than before."
Hearing Li Huowang's words, Bai Lingmiao nodded beside him.
"I've heard my dad say that Qingqiu is to the left of Liang Country. They say the horses here are good, and the sheep too."
Li Huowang nodded.
"I've seen the green, but where are the hills?"
Bai Lingmiao, who had never traveled far, clearly couldn't answer that question.
"Who among us is a local from Qingqiu?"
Li Huowang asked.
"Sun Baolu is, and... one junior brother, two Daoist boys, but they're all dead."
Li Huowang sighed.
"Find their addresses. We'll send them home to rest with their roots."
There had been too many deaths and injuries along the way.
"Mm, but I hear people in Qingqiu don't bury their dead in the ground. We can ask Sun Baolu later."
Bai Lingmiao chattered on for a while but got no response from Li Huowang. Puzzled, she looked over and saw him frozen in place, eyes wide.
It was as if he had seen something shocking, but there was clearly nothing outside except grass!
"Senior Brother Li, what's—"
She barely got the words out before she saw the heavily wounded Li Huowang grab his sword and leap out the window, crashing to the ground.
The impact caused his charred left leg to snap like a dry branch with a "crack," and cracks appeared all over his body.
But Li Huowang paid no mind to that. He raised his sword with one hand toward his left arm, poised to chop down at any moment.
The nearest Gouwa rushed up and grabbed Li Huowang's sword arm. Anxiously, he shouted to the others nearby,
"Quick, get the chains! Senior Brother Li's sick again!!"
Li Huowang stiffly turned his neck toward Gouwa.
"You really can't see it?"
"Huh?"
Gouwa looked baffled.
"See what?"
Hearing that, Li Huowang's body went limp, collapsing powerlessly onto the soft grass.
With his head against the ground, Li Huowang's single eye shifted upward. The headless Peng Longteng, visible only to him, stood there like a statue, her massive shadow engulfing him entirely.
Peng Longteng's armor was scorched dark red as if by fire, blood oozing from the gaps, exactly as she had been during their previous clash on the battlefield.
"Why has she become my hallucination? Why?"
Li Huowang kept pondering the question.
Just then, he noticed something moving behind Peng Longteng.
It was Jinshan Zhao—or rather, only his upper body. His rotting organs trailed from his abdominal cavity, dragging far behind him on the ground.
As his fellow disciples hurriedly bound him with chains and lifted him back toward the ox cart, Li Huowang saw Jinshan Zhao open his mouth, as if he wanted to say something to him.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Jinshan Zhao's expression was rigid as his jaw worked up and down, but no sound came from his mouth.
(End of chapter)