Chapter 494
Chapter 494
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 494
>Chapter Title: Night Visit
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“Alright, get lost. Stop showing off here.”
Chun Xiaoman used the bamboo pole in her hand to push away the flaunting Gouwa and walked up to the broken man. After pondering for a moment and phrasing her words carefully, she slowly asked, “Why did you come to our village? Why did you kill everyone you saw in our village? When did we ever offend you?”
Faced with Chun Xiaoman's questioning, the man hurriedly spilled everything he knew, afraid that if he was even a little slow, that rope would touch his body.
“We... we were chased out by those soldiers on horseback. We ran out of food on the road while fleeing, so we followed the witch's orders to find a village far from the authorities to scrounge some food. And this place was the farthest from the county seat around here.”
“Soldiers on horseback?” Chun Xiaoman was utterly confused by the man's disjointed words. So they had come to trouble Oxheart Village for no particular reason at all?
“Who exactly are you people? Why were Great Liang's soldiers chasing you?”
“We're from the Dharma Cult!” As soon as he said this, the Dharma Cult believer immediately calmed down a lot, raising his chin high as if the name itself gave him some power to lean on.
“Do you call this having laws? Having heavenly principles? There are so many Buddha daddies and immortal daddies! They never spare us a glance, so why do those court dogs have a problem with our Child God?”
“Hmph! The great shaman who can communicate with the Child God has already said it! Don't think these Great Liang lackeys are so impressive now! They're like grasshoppers after autumn—they won't be hopping around for much longer!”
“Just a while ago, the Child God showed his miracle! That darkness was the Child God's divine power! When His Elder comes fully manifested to the mortal world! Heh heh heh! When that time comes, the Dharma Cult will be the state religion! Us Dharma folk will take turns being emperor! No taxes, no corvée labor! Eating fatty meat for every meal!”
“What's this guy babbling about? Is he crazy?” Gouwa stared at the man in astonishment.
Gouwa couldn't make sense of it, but the worldly-wise Lv Zhuangyuan saw something in it.
“Oh no, these guys aren't horse bandits after money! These guys are rebelling like the Offering King!” He anxiously slapped his thigh.
“It's over, it's over. We came all this way to escape the soldier unrest, but we haven't even settled down for a few days, and now chaos is coming again!”
“Rebelling? With those losers from just now?” Lv Xiucai said disdainfully, but when he recalled that strange little woman, the disdain on his face gradually faded.
He might not understand the rest, but everyone present understood the word “rebellion.” In their minds, rebellion meant war, death, famine.
The nervous Chun Xiaoman quickly crouched down in front of the man and continued asking, “How many people does your Dharma Cult have?”
“Of course! Just in the entire Jiangnan Circuit alone, there must be at least a million! And across the whole world, everyone is a child of the Child God! It's just that some have awakened early, while others haven't awakened yet!”
“You're the same! I advise you to surrender early and submit to our Child God!”
Though these words smacked of self-aggrandizement, they still stunned everyone present.
Zhao Wu's face looked rather unpleasant as he said, “We've killed so many of them—won't they come for revenge?” No one could answer this question, and a stone weighed on everyone's heart.
“Don't panic. Senior Brother Li took Miao-miao and left some time ago—they should be back soon.”
This immediately improved everyone's mood. In their eyes, Li Huowang was like an immortal.
As long as he was here, this bullshit rebelling Dharma Cult was nothing to worry about.
“Miss Chun, I think we should stockpile more grain. Never mind the autumn harvest—if the world really descends into chaos, that grain will be our lifeline.” The experienced Lv Zhuangyuan was thinking several steps ahead of the others right now.
“Mm. Zhao Wu, take out some of the gold to spend. Let's fill up the granaries first! We'll discuss everything else carefully once Senior Brother Li returns!”
“Zhijian, arrange for some village militiamen to take turns guarding at night, just like we did on the road. Better yet, bring along two dogs! There are things people can't see that they can.”
With Li Huowang away, the others began moving under Chun Xiaoman's command. Normally, the backbone Gao Zhijian would be more suitable, but he stuttered.
While Oxheart Village was lit up with lamps, in the capital, someone knocked on the wooden door of Li Huowang's small courtyard. “Is Mr. Ear home?”
Li Huowang, who had been having a nightmare, jolted awake, and his hand had already subconsciously gripped the weapon under his pillow.
“Is Mr. Ear home? Please open the door—my master requests your presence.”
Listening carefully to the night watchman's cries a few streets away, Li Huowang realized it was only the third watch of the night. He didn't know many people in the capital—who would come looking for him in the middle of the night?
“Senior Brother Li, there are twelve people outside the door, and a large sedan.” Miao-miao softly described everything outside.
“Get dressed, pack your luggage, and wait on the second floor. If they're hostile, we'll kill them and flee the capital under cover of night!” Li Huowang draped his red Daoist robe over himself, hid the purple-tasseled sword behind his back, and walked toward the courtyard gate.
Just as the fully focused Li Huowang reached out to lift the door latch, that faceless head from the Sitting Oblivion Dao suddenly popped out from the latch. “I checked for you. The one calling out is a eunuch.”
Li Huowang's eye twitched slightly. He reached his hand into the head's featureless face and pulled gently, opening the courtyard door.
His keen sense of smell immediately picked up a mix of fragrance and urine stench. Red didn't lie—the plump-faced, beardless old man before him was indeed a eunuch.
What surprised Li Huowang even more was that the old eunuch was cradling a very familiar jade cat in his arms.
“Heh heh heh~ Greetings, Lord Ear Nine.” The old eunuch hugged the jade cat and bowed deeply to Li Huowang, his voice fawning as he said, “Please board the sedan. My master invites you to his residence for a chat.”
It seemed the young emperor had recovered and remembered this minor figure.
When Li Huowang sat inside the sedan as large as a small house, eight sturdy sedan bearers lifted it simultaneously and carried him toward the Great Liang imperial palace.
Eight people carrying it, yet it was perfectly steady, giving Li Huowang the sensation of riding in a vehicle. He had experienced the highest class of sedan—the eight-man grand palanquin.
When the sedan entered the vermilion-red massive walls, it didn't stop but continued all the way to the emperor's sleeping palace. Only when it reached the palace entrance did they slowly tilt the sedan to let Li Huowang disembark.
The sleeping palace had a golden roof and red doors, its golden glazed tiles gleaming silver under the moonlight. On the similarly shimmering roof ridges crouched rows of glazed beasts, each wearing the mask unique to the Great Liang emperor.
(End of chapter)