Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 217
>Chapter Title: Contemplation
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Chapter 217: Contemplation
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> Ox carts were slower than horse carriages, but they could haul more, and in Qingqiu, there was no need to worry about feed for the oxen at all—plenty everywhere.
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> After leaving Rear Shu, Li Huowang and the others had a smooth trip, encountering no evil beings or bandits.
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> With Li Huowang's wounds steadily healing on top of that, smiles appeared more often on everyone's faces.
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> Beside the rolling cart wheels, Li Huowang limped along propped on his crutch, while Mantou wagged its tail and darted back and forth at his side.
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> “Senior Brother Li, why don't you go back to the cart and lie down? Your wounds aren't fully healed yet.”
Bai Lingmiao said worriedly from nearby.
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> The hair that had just grown back on Li Huowang's head swayed lightly side to side as he shook his head.
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> “Lying on the cart has left my limbs all numb. Walking's good for me. Besides, I'm recovering pretty well now—at least Mantou recognizes me again.”
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> Li Huowang still remembered how, right after he first climbed down from the cart, Mantou had barked furiously at him.
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> But he couldn't blame the dog; he had looked truly terrifying back then.
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> Fortunately, it recognized him now. If nothing else, his skin had fully regrown over his entire body, and the Great Thousand Record had been successfully buried in his back as planned.
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> “Senior Brother Li, we can rest now. After noon passes, just two more hours of walking and we'll reach Woman's Mountain.”
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> The local Sun Baolu said to Li Huowang, a constant smile on his face. The usually taciturn man had grown much chattier since arriving in Qingqiu.
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> “Old Sun, you really heading back? Why not stick with us? Save you from getting snatched again.”
Hearing Zhao Wu's words, Sun Baolu just smiled and shook his head.
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> “No, someone's waiting for me. I need to go home.”
As he spoke, a light seemed to shine in his eyes.
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> Li Huowang raised his crutch and pointed at the distant stream.
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> “Come on, let's go start a fire over there.”
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> Firewood was hard to find in Qingqiu—few trees around—but after digging up some dry shrubs, they finally got the flames going.
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> Some fetched water, some dug wild vegetables; the others made all sorts of noises, but Li Huowang, seated cross-legged on one leg, completely tuned them out of his world.
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> He looked up at Peng Longteng blocking the sunlight in front of him. Even after all this time, the thing was still there.
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> The only consolation was that she merely stood there, doing nothing.
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> Peng Longteng, imposing in her full heavy armor, was truly tall—even headless, she loomed over Li Huowang by a good margin.
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> Li Huowang figured that alive, she must have stood over two meters tall at least.
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> Some peculiar dragging sounds reached his ears, but Li Huowang didn't turn to look—they came from Jinshan Zhao's guts scraping across the grass.
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> “Why have these two turned into hallucinations following me?”
This question had swirled endlessly in Li Huowang's mind countless times, but it was destined to go unanswered.
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> Not just them—Jiang Yingzi and the monk from before were the same.
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> “Is this another Heart Elemental power? Can a Heart Elemental control the people they've killed?”
A fresh hypothesis bubbled up in Li Huowang's mind.
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> “How do I make them vanish? But that's not right—I didn't kill the monk. He might still be perfectly fine at Zhengde Temple, not dead at all.”
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> “But if their appearances aren't from Heart Elemental powers, then what's causing it? Could it be... I really do have mental illness?”
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> In his bewilderment, Li Huowang felt an itch creeping over his body. He raised his patchy white-and-red right hand and scratched inside his new clothes.
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> Spotting the motion, Mantou rushed over, squatted eagerly in front of him, and wagged its tail furiously.
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> Rip! A large chunk of blackened dead skin came off, which he flung far toward Peng Longteng.
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> “Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Mantou charged excitedly straight through Peng Longteng's body, scooped the dead skin onto its tongue, and crunched it down happily.
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> Once finished, Mantou wagged its tail, slipped under Peng Longteng's crotch, and obediently squatted before Li Huowang once more.
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> Li Huowang knew Mantou loved eating this; all his previous shed skin had ended up in its belly, including that severed leg.
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> He patted its bicycle-seat-like head over and over, his gaze fixed blankly on distant Peng Longteng.
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> After a long moment, he let out a deep sigh and muttered to himself:
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> “It's fine, at least. These two don't talk—not as annoying as the monk.”
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> “Taoist, am I annoying? I'm not, right? I haven't done a thing.”
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> Li Huowang gave a self-mocking smile but said nothing. Self-consolation was just self-consolation. Compared to these three hallucinations, he dreaded what might come afterward.
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> What if more such hallucinations piled up later? What if it ended like with Danyangzi back then?
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> Remembering the horrors Danyangzi had put him through—dozens, hundreds of hallucinations—Li Huowang shuddered hard.
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> “I need to figure out what's really going on and make them go away. If I end up like Danyangzi back then, I'll go completely mad for sure.”
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> The thought made resolving his Heart Elemental identity feel more urgent than ever.
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> “Baolu!”
Li Huowang's voice perked up Mantou's floppy ears. It turned, spotted Sun Baolu running over from afar, then shuffled forward on its paws and nudged Li Huowang's leg with its black nose.
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> “Senior Brother Li, you called me?”
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> Li Huowang sized up the young man before him once more. He looked the same as when they'd left Clear Wind Temple—no changes, still bundled up tight.
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> In truth, he'd stayed so low-key the whole journey that Li Huowang sometimes forgot he was even there.
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> “Are you familiar with Qingqiu?”
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> Sun Baolu nodded at Li Huowang's question.
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> “I know it pretty well.”
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> “You know it all?”
Li Huowang was truly surprised. He'd never heard any other fellow disciples claim that.
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> In this world, most people lived and died within a twenty-li radius unless something unusual intervened.
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> For Sun Baolu to say he knew it all made Li Huowang wonder if he was boasting.
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> “Senior Brother Li, folks in Qingqiu are different from other places. We follow the grass—where it's lush, that's where we go. From my grandfather to my father, our lives have all been circling Qingqiu round and round.”
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> Hearing this, Li Huowang got it right away.
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> “Oh, so you're nomads.”
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> Seeing the vast grasslands, Li Huowang could have guessed as much. Rely on the mountains to eat from the mountains, on the water to eat from the water—of course rely on the grass to eat from the grass.
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> “With the sun beating down like this today, you gonna take any of that off?”
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> Seeing the man just stand there smiling, Li Huowang dropped it.
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> “Alright, business then. Any esteemed experts around here in your eyes? Like existences on Danyangzi's level?”
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>(End of chapter)