Chapter 508
Chapter 508
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 508
>Chapter Title: On the Road
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“Fragrant incense fills the universe in response, lighting it pierces straight through the heavenly gates. Golden birds race like cloud-piercing arrows, jade rabbits shine like chariot wheels, hey!”
One foot propped on the carriage, the other dangling loosely, Lv Zhuangyuan was stuffing tobacco shreds into his long-stemmed pipe when he heard that familiar chant and couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
He followed the sound and spotted his youngest son, Lv Xiucai, by the campfire. The boy was bent over with his rear sticking up, holding a stick of incense and chattering away nonstop while scribbling something on a canvas.
“Hmph! Worships and chants every single day—not half as filial to his own father!”
No matter what Lv Zhuangyuan said, Lv Xiucai off in the distance kept diligently reciting the grand incantation.
“Southern Dipper and Northern Bushel shine across the sky, five-colored clouds riot in profusion. The sacred halls of the Purple Forbidden Palace open wide, peach garden jade maidens invite the immortals. Fragrance stretches a thousand miles to summon, flying clouds and galloping horses descend. We beseech the three benefactors of this altar, the eternal holy ones and the host of venerables.”
Only after Lv Xiucai recited it three full times with heartfelt gratitude did he carefully stick the burned-out incense into the soil.
He bowed to the canvas three times and was putting the painting away when Gouwa, lounging nearby, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and cracked them open.
“Xiucai, what’re you howling about every day? Woke me up at the crack of dawn. You never howled like that practicing the White Lotus Cult’s spirit possession.”
Lv Xiucai shot him a scornful look.
“You’ve finished the oral cultivation phase. Next up is the Second Spirit Diagram, so of course the technique’s different.”
“Even with those toys your master gave you to show off, that’s as far as you’ll ever get—stuck relying on crutches, not advancing a single step. Me? I get stronger every day. Give it a little time, and I’ll leave you in the dust!”
Gouwa waved him off irritably, like shooing a fly, and rolled over to go back to sleep.
“Yee-yee~ Ah~~ Ah~ Ah~”
The ragged warm-up voices of the Lv Family Troupe apprentices made Gouwa clamp his pillow over his head in agony.
Naturally, he couldn’t sleep through that. Glaring irritably, he shot to his feet and stomped off toward the stream to wash up.
The weather was warming up, and the stream water felt refreshingly cool—nice to stand in.
By the time Gouwa dawdled back, Luo Jinhua, Lv Juren’s wife, had breakfast ready: wild vegetable-soaked flatbread with salted dried radish.
With his eyes half-shut, Gouwa took a slurp of the soggy bread with some radish and shook his head.
“Leagues below the kid’s cooking.”
Luo Jinhua didn’t put up with his nonsense. After traveling together so long, she’d figured out Gouwa’s standing back in Oxheart Village. Total clown.
“Hey now, Lord Gou, this is Lv Family Troupe chow. Don’t like it? Head on back.”
“Hey, you think I wanna be here? Brother Li’s been gone forever. If the village hadn’t insisted someone scout for news, you think I’d be out here suffering? No grease or oil at breakfast—how’m I supposed to make it through the day?”
“Didn’t you rake in cash from those powder operas? All that earning and no spending?” Gouwa griped as he lifted his bowl and slurped.
Hearing this, Lv Zhuangyuan pulled a salted duck egg out of nowhere like a magician. He first plopped the runny yolk into his three-year-old granddaughter’s bowl, then dropped the white into Gouwa’s.
“Brother Cao, you absolutely can’t leave! Times are troubled with soldiers everywhere—this troupe’s counting on you and my boy for protection. You head back, and this old man won’t dare push on to the capital.”
At those words, Lv Xiucai sprang to his feet.
“Old bag of bones! Who’re you calling a dog, you bastard?!”
Seeing them about to brawl again, Gouwa sighed and played peacemaker.
He was only saying it, of course. If Gao Zhijian and Xiaoman found out he hadn’t even reached the capital before turning tail, they’d chew him out alive.
The meager breakfast wrapped up amid the racket, and the Lv Family Troupe’s three carriages rolled out along the dirt road toward the capital.
“The capital—emperor’s own city of Great Liang. They say it’s the biggest under heaven, way grander than Silver Mausoleum City.” Luo Jinhua’s eyes sparkled with longing. She’d heard the name since childhood, but it had always been just a legend.
Her comment sparked the whole troupe into a lively buzz, everyone chattering over-the-top tales about the capital they’d picked up from passing peddlers.
As Lv Juren trudged along silently like an old ox, hugging his daughter, his father sidled up.
“Juren, we’ve made a tidy sum in Great Liang. Once we hit the capital, let’s check land prices. If the debt’s not too bad, we’ll borrow a bit more from the little daoist priest and buy ourselves a theater—the biggest city in the world!”
The words “theater” made Lv Zhuangyuan’s eyes gleam. He’d lived his whole life for those two words.
Once a distant dream, but in Great Liang, hope was finally in sight.
“Once the theater’s up, we’ll move the ancestral graves here. By then, ahh~ just thinking about it’s pure bliss.”
As Lv Zhuangyuan basked in the fantasy, Gouwa leaned in.
“Ah, so that’s why you agreed so quick back in Oxheart Village. Not really about finding Brother Li, huh.”
“Cough—we’ll look for him too, sure. But the little daoist’s got godlike powers. No need to fret over him. Whatever stumps him, we couldn’t help with anyway.”
In Lv Zhuangyuan’s mind, Li Huowang was an earthbound immortal on the verge of ascension.
“Hey, you never know. Could be halfway there and having one of his episodes again.”
The group walked and talked, but their energy didn’t last. As the sun climbed overhead, the heat sapped everyone’s words.
Spotting a pond at the edge of a village, they rushed over—whooping with relief to splash their faces and guzzle water.
“Dad, we’ve finally hit a village. Let’s borrow a stove inside. Sun’s brutal—can’t stand cooking out here.” Luo Jinhua wiped her daughter’s face as she complained to Lv Zhuangyuan.
Lv Zhuangyuan thought it over and nodded.
“Yeah. No paying upfront—ask if they’ve got trades first. Might save us a meal.”
Much refreshed, they led the carriages into the village. It was a big one, with folks leaning in doorways, bowls in hand, pointing and whispering at the troupe.
Lv Zhuangyuan ignored them, quietly eyeing the doorframes. To score a free meal, hit up the richest house—dirt-poor peasants scraping by had no spare coin for shows.
After circling a bit, his eyes lit up. Inside one fence, bundles of tobacco leaves were drying.
He called to the old man inside, hugging a big bamboo water pipe and puffing away.
“What’s the price on your tobacco leaves, pops? Lemme buy some—mine’s all gone.”
“What?! That steep?! Sir, I don’t need you to cut it or dry it. I’ll handle it myself.”
After some wheedling and haggling, Lv Zhuangyuan scored a big handful of leaves straight off the plant—still not fully cured—for five coppers.
“Heh heh.” Lv Zhuangyuan cradled his prize, grinning ear to ear. Toss in some chili leaves, ration it out, and it’d last half a year.
“Dad! Dad! Something’s going on over there—sounds like gongs banging!”
(End of chapter)