Chapter 300
Chapter 300
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 300
>Chapter Title: Oxheart Village
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“Dad! Mom! Where the hell are you!!” Tears streaming down her face, Bai Lingmiao searched tirelessly throughout Oxheart Village.
Behind her trailed Li Huowang. He followed along in the search, even though he could tell the entire village truly held no one besides them.
Just then, Lv Zhuangyuan approached cautiously with a fawning smile.
“What the hell happened here?” Li Huowang asked Lv Zhuangyuan, who had arrived first, his brows furrowed tight.
Lv Zhuangyuan looked utterly innocent. “Little Daoist, how should I know? I just got here, and the whole village was already empty.”
“I was puzzled myself at first. Thought maybe this old man got the spot wrong, so I searched several li around. But I scoured the whole Oxheart Mountain and only found this one place.”
Hearing this, Li Huowang said nothing more. He took a deep breath and strode toward Bai Lingmiao in the distance.
Bai Lingmiao kept searching the entire village over and over, yet still found nothing.
When Li Huowang saw her, sweating profusely in desperation, looping back to the village entrance to start from the first house again, he rushed over. He grabbed her shoulders with both hands and pulled her into his embrace.
In that moment, Bai Lingmiao broke down completely. She sobbed loudly against Li Huowang’s shoulder. “Senior Brother Li, my family’s gone! They’re all gone!!”
All that long-awaited hope shattered in an instant. Li Huowang knew exactly what that felt like—he could empathize deeply.
“Don’t cry. Maybe they just left temporarily. Doesn’t mean anything bad happened. Think positive.”
Lv Zhuangyuan chimed in from the side to comfort her. “Miss Bai, the little Daoist’s right. Maybe they fled the disaster just like us. When they come back from hiding, you’ll see them again.”
Seeing this, the others gathered around too, offering words of comfort in a jumble.
Yet these empty reassurances did little to ease Bai Lingmiao’s pain. She wasn’t a fool—the whole village vanished. This was no small matter.
Bai Lingmiao’s cries dampened the joy of reunion, casting a shadow over the village. By dinnertime, not a soul spoke a word.
After dinner, Li Huowang circled the village under the moonlight. He wasn’t looking for people this time, but for clues.
The villagers couldn’t have just vanished into thin air—they must have encountered something. Even if devoured by evil beings or tricked by the Sitting Oblivion Dao, there had to be traces left behind.
“Little Daoist, truth be told, when I told Miss Bai earlier that her family fled the disaster, I was just trying to make her feel better. From what I see, they didn’t flee anywhere.”
“Who flees a disaster without even locking their doors? And when we first entered the village, that pig in the backyard was starved half to death.” Lv Zhuangyuan trailed Li Huowang, chattering on.
Li Huowang crouched down, examining the patterns on the ground stones. “When you first came in, was the village messy?”
“Nope, not messy at all. Clothes still hung out to dry, cows and dogs all fine and dandy—everything except the people.”
“I even checked the wooden cabinets in every house. Not a single outfit missing. Clear as day they didn’t go far.”
Li Huowang’s gaze scanned inch by inch for details—and any lurking dangers.
After pushing open a door and finding no leads, Li Huowang removed the cotton from his ears, listening intently to every sound around him.
He circled the village thoroughly, even summoning a Wandering Lord to dig three feet deep.
But unlike past encounters, this place held no hostile gazes, no eerie abominations. Nothing at all.
When Li Huowang returned to the Bai family’s three-courtyard compound, he saw Luo Jinhua and Chun Xiaoman flanking Bai Lingmiao in the brightly lit main hall, consoling her.
The others stood around, murmuring in small groups. Spotting Li Huowang’s return, they all turned to look.
“You all go sleep first. Whatever it is, we’ll talk tomorrow.” At Li Huowang’s word, the others didn’t argue and dispersed in twos and threes.
Her eyes pink from crying now looked even redder. Bai Lingmiao gazed at Li Huowang with deep sorrow, choking back sobs.
“It’s late enough. Where’s your room? Go wash up and sleep.”
Bai Lingmiao pressed her lips together and stood, heading to the water jar in the kitchen.
After a stick of incense, the two lay wordlessly in a bedroom scented with faint fragrance.
The furnishings around, along with the white mosquito netting, made it clear this had been Bai Lingmiao’s old boudoir.
On the bed, Bai Lingmiao curled up face-down, her shoulders shaking as she stifled her cries.
The next moment, she felt herself pulled into an embrace, resting against a firm chest.
“Don’t cry. Trouble’s trouble—we solve it. We’ve got real powers now. You think we can’t find them?”
Bai Lingmiao’s trembling shoulders stilled. She nuzzled into Li Huowang’s chest, then suddenly broke free from his arms. She snatched the skin drum from in front of the copper mirror and rushed outside.
“Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong! Heavenly matters, flying immortals handle. Earthly matters, red and yellow rush! Underworld matters, invite the Sorrow King to help. I block the horse’s head to ask the kingdom’s name, tug the reins to seek the hometown—or Zhang or Wang, or Li or Huang. Zhao Qian Sun Li Li Cunxiao, Zhou Wu Zheng Wang Wang Yanzhang.”
Listening to the rhythmic drumming outside, Li Huowang slowly closed his eyes.
The next morning, when Li Huowang opened his eyes, he found the usually early-rising Bai Lingmiao lying silently on the bed.
“How’d it go? What did the immortals say?” Li Huowang asked as he dressed.
“They couldn’t find them,” Bai Lingmiao answered, forcing back her grief. “Even the immortals can’t find them, Senior Brother Li. Do you think my parents are really gone?”
Li Huowang walked over and patted her shoulder before turning to leave the room. “I’m heading out. While I’m gone, keep an eye on things for me.”
As Li Huowang turned, Bai Lingmiao flung open the door. Her red eyes wide in surprise, she said, “Senior Brother Li, where are you going?”
“Where else? If the immortals are no use, then I’ll figure out where the whole village went myself. You’re like this—how could I not care?”
Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her face to his back. Her tears soaked his clothes. “Thank you, Senior Brother Li.”
She’d thought from his cool reaction that he didn’t care about her family at all.
But he’d already planned it out—he just hadn’t said so.