Chapter 287
Chapter 287
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 287
>Chapter Title: Ganyuan (Extra for Alliance Leader morgenrote)
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A child was riding a cow, herding it out of the village along with his dog. Some young ladies and young wives were washing clothes by the riverbank. Everyone's expressions were perfectly normal—a world apart from Pi County last time.
If judged solely by its outward appearance, there was nothing special about this village.
Yet the more normal it seemed, the more abnormal it felt to Li Huowang.
Li Huowang took out the envelope again and examined it closely. It indeed mentioned signs of Sit-Forget Daoists appearing here, but it didn't specify what those signs were.
Recalling the horrors of Pi County, Li Huowang turned to the others.
"Since it says there might be Sit-Forget Daoists inside, I'll sneak in alone first to scout around. We don't want to alert them prematurely."
"Senior Brother Li, are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"
Bai Lingmiao hesitated, wanting to say more. She could tell from the subtle changes in her bedside companion that Li Huowang, who had been somewhat normal lately, was starting to act jittery again.
Considering those voices, Li Huowang offered no explanation. On matters like this, the more he explained, the more worried she'd become.
Li Huowang shifted his illusory body out of sync with his physical one and slowly crept inward along the narrow dirt path under the willow tree at the village entrance.
"Again... person... wind." The sudden hallucinated voices no longer startled him. He shook his head hard and glanced at the monk jammed in the tree beside him.
"What are you looking at me for? Wasn't me who said it."
"Shh." Li Huowang lowered the finger he'd raised to his lips and proceeded even more cautiously into Ganyuan Village.
His mind fully shifted away from the hallucinations, focusing entirely on the crisis at hand.
Soon, Li Huowang noticed that the entire village of Ganyuan seemed to be celebrating something. The couplets on the walls and the door gods on the doors had all been replaced with new ones, and even their clothes were brand new.
Perched atop a large tree draped in red cloth strips, Li Huowang silently observed everything below. So far, nothing seemed amiss.
But soon, the situation changed. The villagers, neatly dressed and having enjoyed a lavish noon meal, began heading toward the village end in small groups.
Along the way, the villagers—who appeared to be in high spirits—chatted and laughed with no abnormalities whatsoever.
Li Huowang followed them to the village end, stopping before a village shrine.
Everyone's voices grew much quieter. Any child who made noise was yanked over by their parents for a swift smack on the rear.
Everyone stood there, expectant.
Just as Li Huowang debated sneaking into the shrine for a look, a brownish clay statue was swayingly lifted out from the pitch-black arched doorway.
Judging by the treasure vase in its hand, it was clearly a Bodhisattva statue. A clay one, at that.
Yet the Bodhisattva's face held no benevolent expression. The clay figure looked as if it had endured a massive downpour.
Its facial features had completely melted, stretched into long strips dangling from its face, leaving only two irregular black holes.
"Oh! Oh!!" All the villagers of Ganyuan rushed forward to help the shrine keeper lift the Bodhisattva and began swaying it around the entire village.
"Clay Bodhisattva." Li Huowang, brows furrowed as he stared at the two black holes on the statue, murmured to himself.
From his vantage on the treetop, Li Huowang watched the villagers sway the bizarre clay Bodhisattva around Ganyuan Village, circle after circle.
With each lap, more red drapery adorned the Bodhisattva. By the time the sun hung high, it was swathed in thick layers of red gauze.
The red-draped clay Bodhisattva was carried back beside the village shrine and swayingly delivered into the temple.
But no sooner had it entered than shouts rang out, and it was lifted back out. Amid everyone's cheers, it was carried in again.
After three such comings and goings, they finally set the clay Bodhisattva down inside the temple and began burning incense and kowtowing in worship.
Li Huowang had wanted to slip inside for a closer look at the shrine.
But the villagers packed it so tightly that even the invisible Li Huowang had no foothold to squeeze through.
As the sun slanted westward, they finally dispersed contentedly to their homes.
When night fully fell and even the hunched-back shrine keeper locked up to sleep in the side room, Li Huowang slowly descended from the tree.
Moments later, with a crisp snap, the copper lock broke in two, and the tightly shut doors cracked open.
Moonlight filtered through the gap into the pitch-black shrine as Li Huowang gripped the hilt of his purple-tasseled sword outside.
If the Sit-Forget Daoists were truly up to something, this place was the most likely focus.
With a creak, the invisible Li Huowang pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The air inside was thick with the scent of sandalwood incense, and the featureless clay Bodhisattva loomed faintly in the darkness.
The shrine held more than one clay Bodhisattva. Both sides of the temple were lined with them—not Bodhisattvas, but the Eighteen Arhats.
The Bodhisattva was faceless, but the Arhats had faces—some furious, some hateful—their expressions strikingly lifelike. Standing amid them in the temple felt like being stared at.
The earlier lifted-out clay Bodhisattva sat squarely in the center upon a stone lotus pedestal.
The incense burner before it was filled with burned-out sticks. All the incense had been offered to the Bodhisattva.
Perfectly flanking the central Bodhisattva's left and right were two more clay statues.
These had features and, by their appearance and size, were clearly the attendant boy and girl beneath the Bodhisattva.
The shrine was small; Li Huowang quickly searched it all. Finding nothing, he finally turned his attention to the red-draped Bodhisattva.
The clay Bodhisattva wasn't tall—maybe two meters—but its high pedestal forced Li Huowang to look up at it.
In the dim, near-lightless shrine, this red-robed, featureless-melted Bodhisattva was utterly terrifying—especially since Li Huowang already suspected something was wrong with it.
"Should I just hack it with my sword and see?" The thought bubbled up in his mind.
As he seriously pondered this, he whipped his head toward the boy and girl statues flanking the Bodhisattva.
"Were they like that just now? Or did they just move?"
Gazing at these two mud statues staring straight at him, Li Huowang inexplicably felt a chill in the dark silence.
"You come."
"Who's there!" The garbled voice made Li Huowang spin around, but nothing was behind him.
"Wait—was that my hallucination just now, or... did something in this shrine make that sound?"
Struck by the question, Li Huowang froze in place. For a moment, he couldn't even tell the difference.
(End of chapter)