Chapter 283
Chapter 283
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 283
>Chapter Title: Voice
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“Senior Brother Li, quick, look! There are lanterns in the sky!”
Everyone who heard this voice looked up at the same time and immediately saw the specks of light floating in the air—those round, bulging paper balls drifting like jellyfish.
“Only Kongming lanterns. Nothing special about them.” Li Huowang picked up his bowl and took a sip of the incredibly fresh shrimp soup.
Kongming lanterns bearing surnames like “Fu,” “Miao,” “Zhao,” and “Li” slowly rose into the sky, blending in with the twinkling stars.
The people releasing the lanterns wiped away tears. It seemed to be some kind of mourning ritual in Great Liang.
“Not just in the sky—look over there, there are some on the river in the distance too!”
Specks of starlight appeared on the great river that ran through Silver Mausoleum City, swaying amid the flower boats.
“Great Liang sure has a lot of fancy customs.” Li Huowang gazed at the Kongming lanterns and murmured to himself.
He could feel how Great Liang was markedly different from other places. The depth of its heritage alone was leagues ahead.
“By the way, Miao’er, we’ve passed through Siqi, Hou Shu, Qingqiu, and now Great Liang on this journey. What country lies beyond Great Liang?”
“Beyond Great Liang? There’s nothing past Great Liang. It’s all ocean.”
Hearing this, Li Huowang felt a flicker of understanding. So Great Liang bordered the sea after all. He wondered if there were other different nations across the ocean.
“But even if there are, they probably...”
Just as Li Huowang thought this, an extremely faint voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. It was very muddled, yet interspersed with fragments of human speech.
“Hungry mouth... wood...”
The instant the voice appeared, every hair on Li Huowang’s body stood on end. He shot to his feet, face twisted in fury as he scanned his surroundings.
Li Huowang’s sudden movement was so violent that it sloshed some soup onto the table. The previously lively atmosphere fell silent in an instant.
Everyone at his table, along with those at neighboring ones, turned to stare at him in bewilderment.
“Senior Brother Li?” Sensing the worried gazes from his fellow disciples, Li Huowang shook his head slightly, sat back down, and forced his expression to calm.
“It’s nothing. You know how I get—my old problem acting up. Let’s eat.”
Hearing this, everyone relaxed and resumed their meal.
But Bai Lingmiao, seated to Li Huowang’s left, noticed his hand trembling slightly as he gripped his bowl.
After the hearty meal, they left the tavern and headed back to the inn. All the while, Lv Zhuangyuan wore a pained expression as he mentally calculated how many pigs that meal had cost him.
It felt good eating it, but watching his hard-earned silver slip away at checkout hurt worse than being killed.
“Senior Brother Li, are you really okay?” Bai Lingmiao clasped Li Huowang’s right hand, callused from years of swordplay.
“Don’t worry. Now that I’ve eaten the Black Tai Sui, my condition has stabilized a lot.” Li Huowang gave her a reassuring look.
Back at the inn, everyone retired to their rooms, chatting about the evening’s sights while freshening up.
Even after the inn’s doors were barred and the candles snuffed out, nothing happened.
In the dead of night, Li Huowang jolted awake on his bed. He glanced at Bai Lingmiao sleeping beside him, gently withdrew his arm from under her neck, threw off the covers, and headed to the inn’s rear courtyard.
As soon as he reached the cart holding the Black Tai Sui, Mantou—the one assigned to guard it—crawled out from underneath and wagged his tail at him.
Li Huowang yanked open the curtain and saw the Black Tai Sui bound tightly with ox tendons inside.
Staring at it, Li Huowang’s face darkened as he recalled the voice by his ear earlier.
For a time after eating the Black Tai Sui, everything had been perfectly normal—so normal that Li Huowang had even forgotten he was a heart elemental. But tonight, the hallucinations had returned.
Li Huowang stared at the Black Tai Sui, his voice quivering as he asked,
“Mom, can you call Doctor Wang over? I need to talk to him.”
After a moment, Li Huowang calmly looked at the Black Tai Sui again.
“Wang Wei, is that you? A few hours ago, did you drug me with something?”
In response to Li Huowang’s question, the Black Tai Sui showed no reaction, sluggishly inhaling and exhaling filthy, viscous fluid through the slits on its body.
“If it really was you, let me tell you—the medicine works. Try giving me a bigger dose.”
Li Huowang waited quietly for the hallucination to return, but nothing happened.
His breathing grew heavy as he eyed the writhing, tentacled monstrosity. Lowering his voice, he snarled with a savage expression,
“Cut the act! If you want me to believe that side is real, then have the guts to drag me back there completely!”
Amid Li Huowang’s shout, the Black Tai Sui writhed, straining to pull free its bound tentacles—but the tough ox tendons rendered its efforts futile.
“Huff... huff...” Li Huowang panted heavily. That sudden voice had thrown his mind into chaos.
He stood there in the stable, as if awaiting the world’s collapse.
He didn’t know how much time passed before the sound of bamboo clappers came from beyond the wall.
“Dong~ It’s dry this season~ Dong~ dong~ Watch out for fires~~”
Hearing the night watchman’s call, Li Huowang realized it was the fourth watch. He’d been standing here for hours, yet nothing had changed. Only then did his frantic heart begin to settle.
Li Huowang pulled a dagger from the torture kit at his waist and sliced off a chunk of flesh from the Black Tai Sui, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing vigorously.
As he chewed, Li Huowang suddenly paused. An indescribable sadness welled up in his heart.
He’d thought he’d let it go long ago, but when this ethereal hope resurfaced, Li Huowang realized he’d been lying to himself.
It wasn’t so easy to abandon the place where he’d been born and raised.
Especially when there was no comparison, there was no harm.
If he could choose, Li Huowang would much prefer for that side to be real and this one fake.
“Maybe... maybe it’s not about that side. Maybe I’m just sick again. Don’t overthink it—it was just a hallucination. Nothing big. Right, yeah, that must be it.”
No sooner had Li Huowang thought this than a stranger’s gaze instantly snapped him back to alertness.
“Who’s there?” Li Huowang slammed the cart curtain shut and whipped around, spotting a lone figure in the dim stable—a person wearing an enormous doll head.
“Someone sent me to check on you. They say you want to work for the Bureau of Astral Surveillance?”
A hoarse voice, much like Li Huowang’s own, emanated from beneath the hood.
(End of chapter)