Chapter 271
Chapter 271
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 271
>Chapter Title: Fear
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Chapter 271: Fear
In the stunned gazes of Lv Juren and Luo Jinhua, Li Huowang's figure gradually rose from underground.
His expression grave, he glanced at the silver in their hands and spoke. “From the looks of it, he was threatened by someone. Alright, you're done here.”
With that, he turned, pushed open the door, and walked out.
Li Huowang pushed open the door, once more concealing his incorporeal form beneath the ground, and returned to the cook's room.
He was unchanged from before, still huddled under the quilt, trembling as he peered out at the surroundings through the paper windows, as if terrified of something.
Compared to the woman earlier, his most striking difference was the complete lack of any bloody scent.
As Li Huowang secretly observed, the cook suddenly raised both hands and thrust them into his cotton trousers, his face twisting into a grotesque grimace as he fiddled about.
Seeing this, Li Huowang's brows furrowed tight. He turned and left.
This time, he sought out the waiter again, but the man was jitterily wiping the table while repeatedly glancing toward the rooms where the Lv troupe was staying.
That fatty hadn't been wrong—the people of Pi County were all terribly on edge, and their complexions were indeed pallid.
Seeing no useful information to be found inside the inn, Li Huowang stepped out into the pouring rain.
Yet after just a few steps, an old man approached, clad in a raincoat, wooden clogs on his feet, and a bamboo hat atop his head.
When the old man looked toward Li Huowang, his eyes bulged wide. With a bloodcurdling scream, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious into the rainwater.
“He can see me? How can he see me?” In astonishment, Li Huowang looked down at his body and saw nothing but empty space.
Suddenly, it dawned on him—his incorporeal form had been shifted underground, invisible to the eye, but his physical body was still there, tangible and able to interact with things.
With rain falling everywhere else, his spot alone formed a rain-free human silhouette. It was far too bizarre.
No wonder the old man had been so startled. Li Huowang knew he'd have jumped in fright himself.
As he saw people on the street reacting to the noise and looking toward the old man, Li Huowang shrank back into the inn. “This won't do. I'll wait until the rain stops.”
Inside the Lv troupe's room, even after Li Huowang had left, they continued discussing.
“Oh my heavens! Little Daoist Master knows wall-passing arts!” Luo Jinhua's eyes went wide.
“Stop panicking—none of this concerns you! Behave yourself.” Lv Zhuangyuan's face was stern as he finished speaking and turned toward his youngest son, seated cross-legged on the bed.
He reached out cautiously and touched the boy's head. “Xiucai, you saw that, right? Such powerful arts. You must study them diligently. If you truly master wall-passing, what couldn't you do in the future?”
Rudely awakened, Lv Xiucai glared at his own father with a man-eating stare. Were it not for his elder brother nearby, the words would have burst from his mouth.
“Old bag of bones! Leave me alone! I'm busy!!” With that, Lv Xiucai closed his eyes again.
Gazing at his youngest son, whose temperament had utterly transformed, Lv Zhuangyuan let out a soft sigh. His expression desolate, he sat beside him and lit his pipe.
In the past, he'd always disciplined his youngest with beatings, but now that they no longer worked, Lv Zhuangyuan found himself at a loss for how to guide his son.
The rain in Pi County poured all night. By the next day, though the sky remained overcast, the rain had finally stopped.
Li Huowang, who had risen at dawn, donned a raincoat and left the inn, weaving through the sparse locals, all with sickly pallors.
Spotting Li Huowang, the people of Pi County still showed fear and hurried out of his sight.
Ignoring them, Li Huowang kept doubling back, heading toward the county's grandest residence—the yamen where the magistrate held court.
During the night's sleep, he had already chosen his target.
If anywhere was most likely to hold records of what had happened in Pi County, it was undoubtedly the yamen governing the entire county.
“I'm being tailed.” Unsurprised, Li Huowang caught sight of two bailiffs in blue uniforms behind him while turning a corner.
Their complexions were as poor as everyone else's, lips purple from cold, heavy dark circles sagging under their eyes as they stared fixedly at his back.
Pretending to notice nothing, Li Huowang turned the corner.
As the two bailiffs quickened their pace and rounded the bend, they stared in shock at the empty alley.
“Old Wu, we lost him. What now?” The younger bailiff looked troubled as he turned to the elder.
The older bailiff eyed the footprintless ground uncertainly for a moment before waving a hand. “Let's go!”
Perched invisibly atop the wall, Li Huowang watched them depart. Once their figures vanished, he flipped down and crept slowly inside—the wall's other side was his destination.
As far as Li Huowang knew, every county kept a county chronicle recording major events. That was his target.
In his invisible state, Li Huowang moved through the yamen like it was deserted and soon found what he sought.
“In the summer fourth month, Xin Si, of the Zi Chou year, great famine... the people traded children for food.”
“In the Shen Ji of Wu Wu year, Jingzhe, celestial dog devours the sun.”
Li Huowang flipped page by page until the latest entry, from two years prior, which bizarrely recorded a bumper harvest in the county.
“How is this possible? The whole county's terrified like this, yet the magistrate records nothing? Or is he deliberately concealing it?”
As Li Huowang pondered, a child's agonized scream pierced the air.
His heart tightened. He closed the county chronicle, returned it to its place, and cautiously followed the sound at a slowed pace.
His keen hearing picked up more clearly now—the cries mixed with a child's words. “Daddy... it hurts. Mommy... no.”
After a short walk, Li Huowang reached the firewood shed whence the sound came. By now, it rang out crystal clear.
“Daddy!! Don't pull! Don't pull!! Waaah~ Mommy~ It hurts! It hurts so much...” The boy's voice was utterly wretched, as if enduring torture.
“This must be the beating that old storyteller mentioned earlier?” Li Huowang crept close to the paper window, wet his index finger with saliva, and carefully poked a peephole.
When Li Huowang peered through the hole, his pupils shrank to pinpricks.
He saw a pitiful boy, naked and bound to a pillar, snot and tears streaming down his face.
Beside him stood a man and a woman. From their reluctant expressions and resemblance, they were surely his parents.
Reluctant or not, they gripped an iron clamp on the boy's lower body, trembling as they yanked outward with force.
Instantly, an ear-piercing shriek erupted as the bound body thrashed wildly.
The scene made Li Huowang's eye twitch. The pain must rival his own past torments.
(End of chapter)