Chapter 401
Chapter 401
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 401
>Chapter Title: Noodles
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Standing in the chaotic bedroom, Lv Xiucai stared dumbfounded at everything before him. He never imagined that this blind man would just slaughter Kui Ye and the others like that—all of them.
“Isn’t this guy supposed to be some enlightened master who punishes evil and promotes good? Why’s he killing good people? This doesn’t match the stories the old man told at all!”
Just then, Blind Chen suddenly turned his head toward Lv Xiucai. Even though he was blind, the gesture made Lv Xiucai break out in cold sweat instantly.
“Hey, how’s there still one left in the room?” As Blind Chen spoke, he raised his mirror toward Lv Xiucai.
With a splash, Lv Xiucai wet himself in fright right then and there. Trembling, he held up the copper coins in his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Don’t kill me! My master is Li Huowang!!”
Hearing this, Blind Chen stopped immediately.
Clutching at this lifeline like a drowning man, Lv Xiucai hurriedly pleaded with Blind Chen. “Master, you know my master, right? For his sake, spare me this once! I don’t even know those guys outside!”
Blind Chen walked over and took the copper coins from his hand one by one. “What Li Huowang? Dog Huowang or whatever—I don’t know him. But these five copper coins are pretty good; they’ve got some spiritual energy. Consider them your life-buying money.”
Blind Chen weighed the old copper coins in his hand, grabbed his white banner, and turned to leave.
It wasn’t until long after Blind Chen had left that a breeze blew through, making Lv Xiucai shiver and snap back to his senses.
Staring dreamily at the massive puddle of flesh and blood outside the window, Lv Xiucai realized that Kui Ye—who had seemed so powerful in his eyes before—was now dead and worthless. In front of that blind man, he wasn’t even fit to be an ant.
Blind Chen’s actions shattered Lv Xiucai’s smug attitude into pieces.
This was nothing like his master Li Huowang. Li Huowang might be cold and a bit erratic, but he never killed indiscriminately, just like the masters the old bones described. But that blind man was different—as long as he wanted to, he could take Lv Xiucai’s life anytime!!
The thought sent a wave of intense fear crashing over Lv Xiucai’s heart, making his body tremble uncontrollably. If he hadn’t had those five copper coins to buy his life just now, he’d probably have ended up the same as Kui Ye and the others.
After the fear came a surge of intense resentment from deep within. Why? Why was he worthless in others’ eyes? He wanted to become like Blind Chen!
He hadn’t learned that from Li Huowang, but he had from this blind man. Eating well, drinking well, playing with women—what kind of skill was that? Becoming as powerful as that blind man—that was real skill!
The idea of everyone’s lives hanging on his every whim made Lv Xiucai tremble with excitement.
“I’m going back to find Master! I’ll beg him to teach me his powers!!” Lv Xiucai clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and vaulted over the wall to rush outside.
—
“Hey, little pup, let this humble scholar quiz you. Who founded Great Qi? Bet you don’t know—let me tell you. When the Black Heavenly Calamity fell, it was Great General Qi Lu who led his clansmen across the seas.”
“Back then, this place was all wild frontier—Daoist states, Buddhist kingdoms, all sorts of chaotic nonsense everywhere. It was Great General Qi Lu who fought north and south, finally establishing the Great Qi capital at the age of ninety-five. His grandson Qi Heng unified the realm from there, and the Celestial Monitoring Division was founded by him too.”
“Woof.” Mantou, sprawled on Black Tai Sui, tilted its head as it looked at the clean-faced scholar in front of it. As a dog, it really couldn’t make heads or tails of what the guy was saying.
The entire carriage was filled to the brim: Black Tai Sui took up most of the space, and the rest of the gaps were stuffed with Zhuge Yuan’s books and scrolls. He didn’t mind, just sat amid the piles of books and rambled on endlessly to Mantou.
Yawning wide, Mantou stood up to leave but immediately spotted the strip of meat pinched in the other’s hand. It plopped right back down, tongue lolling as it listened to him continue.
Li Huowang, who was driving the horse, sighed helplessly as he listened to the voices inside the carriage. Zhuge Yuan wasn’t crazy enough to lecture history to a dog, of course.
He just knew Li Huowang didn’t want to hear it, so he was using the excuse of teaching the dog to lecture him instead.
For some reason, he was always eager to teach Li Huowang the history of Great Qi. If it wasn’t history books, then it was his calligraphy skills—he’d complain that Li Huowang’s characters were so stiff they hurt his eyes.
Zhuge Yuan loved playing the teacher, with that nonstop mouth of his. It really didn’t match his unfathomably profound strength.
The carriage wheels rolled slowly along until a little stall popped up by the dirt road, white steam rising from it. Looked like a food vendor.
“Brother Li, why not stop? We’ve been eating dry rations for days—changing up the taste would be nice.” Zhuge Yuan pulled back the carriage curtain and asked in surprise.
Li Huowang, gripping the reins tightly, frowned at the noodle-eating customers and the old woman serving them. “Not safe. These people could be Sitsforget Daoists. Might be a trap lying in wait for us.”
The Sitsforget Daoists hated Zhuge Yuan to the bone right now. To get him, they’d exploit any opening.
“Drugging a fake roadside stall? That’s too petty—even for the Sitsforget Daoists.”
“And Brother Li, aren’t you looking for the North Wind branch of the Sitsforget Dao? If you’re this paranoid, how will we ever find them?”
Li Huowang paused. Right—he wasn’t the one being hunted by the Sitsforget Daoists anymore. He was the one seeking them out.
He pulled the reins, stopping the carriage. Li Huowang, Zhuge Yuan, and Mantou got out and headed toward the stall.
“Young lads want noodles? Our fish noodle soup’s delicious—whole fish, scales, bones, meat, all simmered right in.” The kindly-faced old woman came to the table and explained to them.
“Three bowls of noodles.” Li Huowang stared at her face, enunciating each word.
Seemingly startled by Li Huowang’s demeanor, the old woman scurried back in a panic and whispered something to the old man boiling the noodles.
“Brother Li, easy now. Just eat without worry—they’re not Sitsforget Daoists.” Zhuge Yuan said as he wiped the chopsticks with a white cloth.
“Oh? Brother Zhuge, do you have some way to tell real Sitsforget Daoists from fakes?” Li Huowang eyed the utterly calm Zhuge Yuan with great curiosity.
“Heh, something like that. Since those Sitsforget Daoists cultivate the false, and I’m a heart’s anchor, if they were that close, I’d have spotted the threads on them ages ago.”
“Threads? What threads?” Li Huowang listened intently—this could make or break his future fights against the Sitsforget Daoists.
“The threads connecting them to their Si Ming.”
Zhuge Yuan’s words stunned Li Huowang. This flew in the face of everything he knew. “They have Si Mings too?”
“Of course. Without Si Mings, where would their powers come from?”
(End of chapter)