Chapter 616
Chapter 616
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 616
>Chapter Title: The Visitor
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Chapter 616: The Visitor
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> Facing the person who had suddenly appeared in Niuxin Village for no apparent reason, Li Huowang was naturally filled with suspicion.
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> “Li Sui, help me probe his background.”
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> “Okay, Dad.”
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> Several of Li Sui’s tentacles shot over, swiftly dragging the raggedly dressed man out of the kitchen.
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> And these tentacles burrowed directly into his seven orifices, probing him thoroughly from inside out.
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> Moreover, under the just-risen moonlight, Li Huowang clearly saw the man’s face.
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> This was a scruffy-bearded man, but he looked extremely haggard and emaciated. Beneath his tattered clothes, every single rib was visible, and he clutched a small pumpkin and two sweet potatoes in his arms.
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> “Urp~” The man hunched over as Li Sui’s tentacles slowly withdrew from inside him.
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> “Dad, he’s just a person. Nothing else inside his body, just some clumps in his stomach. He’s probably an ordinary guy.”
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> Seeing the man’s pitiful state, the fully vigilant Li Huowang finally relaxed. He didn’t believe anyone would go to such lengths to sneak into Niuxin Village just to steal a few sweet potatoes.
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> Li Huowang sheathed the spine sword in his hand behind his back before asking the man, “What are you doing sneaking into our Niuxin Village?”
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> “I-I’m a refugee! I haven’t eaten, I’m starving! Great Immortal, please spare me this once. I’m really about to starve to death. I won’t dare do it again.” The man lay trembling on the ground, not daring to lift his head.
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> Seeing the others crowd around, Li Huowang scanned the group for a moment and pointed at the gawking Gouwa.
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> “Deal with him. Once he’s eaten his fill, whether he stays or goes is up to him.”
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> With that, without waiting for Gouwa’s response, Li Huowang retracted the tentacles on his body and headed toward the Bai family estate.
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> Seeing Li Huowang confirm the man posed no threat, Gouwa’s courage immediately swelled.
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> Hands behind his back, he approached the man, his face smeared with white and black patches, startling the man into a shudder. “A refugee, huh? Must’ve suffered plenty on the road.”
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> “Mm-hmm!” The man nodded furiously. As he reached into his bosom for a sweet potato and shoved it into his mouth, Gouwa snatched it away.
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> “Hmph, bet you’ve never starved before. Stuffing that down like this, you trying to burst your gut? You need porridge right now! Only after two days of porridge can you eat dry food.”
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> Gouwa glanced around and pointed at two nearby village soldiers, throwing his weight around. “You two—yes, you two. Hurry and go boil some porridge. Didn’t you hear your godfather? This is my job.”
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> Word of a refugee spread, and the villagers crowded around like it was a show.
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> Under the Niuxin villagers’ watchful eyes, the man downed three bowls of porridge in a row, but Gouwa stopped him when he reached for more.
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> “Enough already, you’ll burst.” After yanking away his bowl, Gouwa plopped his butt down on a stool. “Now that you’re full, spill it—where you from?”
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> The man eyed the others fearfully. Spotting the lard candy in Gouwa’s woman’s hand, he instinctively licked his lips. “I-I’m from Xixian County.”
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> “Xixian? Where the hell’s that? Never heard of it. What disaster hit your place? Why flee?”
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> At that, raw terror flashed in the man’s eyes, his body even starting to shake. “A heavenly disaster! The heavenly dog devoured the sun, and demons and ghosts from all eighteen levels of the underworld came pouring out. Th-they kill anyone they see! I hid in a temple to survive that.”
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> “Once the disaster passed, almost everyone was dead. To stay alive, I hunted for food, but the drought had lasted three years. There really was no food left.”
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> “No choice, I had to flee, find some way to live.”
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> “Oh~” Gouwa nodded knowingly. “Gotcha, a heavenly disaster, right? I know about those. We had one here last time—scary as hell, but good thing it only lasted a moment.”
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> “A moment?” The man’s voice cracked, his eyes blazing with grief and rage. “Why! Why’d yours last just a moment while ours dragged on for dozens of days! Why!!”
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> The crowd gasped at that. A disaster like that for dozens of days? No wonder he fled.
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> “Aren’t you from Great Liang? Far as I know, the disaster only lasted a moment everywhere in Great Liang.” Zhao Wu asked, brows furrowed.
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> “What? Great Liang? Where’s that? In just a moment, I ended up beyond the border?” The man looked utterly baffled.
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> “You’re not from Liang?”
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> “No, I’m from Great Qi.”
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> His words ignited a flurry of chatter in the crowd.
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> “Great Qi folk? Where’s Great Qi? Ain’t Great Liang bordered by Qingqiu on the left and the sea on the right? Where’s this Great Qi?”
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> “What about north and south then?”
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> “I really dunno, but it can’t be Great Qi. I recall a dynasty called Great Qi a thousand years back.”
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> Beside them, Li Sui—now wearing human skin—committed it all to memory as she lifted her skirt hem and headed home.
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> “Dad! Dad!” Li Sui burst in to find her dad slicing open his scalp to check his brain’s recovery.
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> “Dad, there’s a Great Qi guy downstairs. The place we went before was Great Qi, right?”
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> “What? A Great Qi guy? You sure you heard right?” Li Huowang didn’t even wipe the blood from his head before vaulting out the window toward the kitchen.
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> Under the menacing array of torture tools at Li Huowang’s waist, the man dared not hold back, spilling every last bit he knew from his gut.
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> Comparing it to the Great Qi in his mind, Li Huowang confirmed the guy was the real deal from Great Qi! No impersonator!
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> “Great Qi folk have come to Great Liang, to Great Liang...” Li Huowang pondered gravely for a moment before pressing the man again. “Speak! How’d you get here? Got some other scheme?”
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> “What scheme? I... I just followed the road ahead.” The man went pale and clammed up.
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> “Take me there!” Li Huowang seized him and marched toward the dirt road at the village edge.
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> Soon, led by the man, Li Huowang reached a fork at the base of Niuxin Mountain.
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> “I-I came from that path. Saw the woods were thicker here, so I followed the wheel ruts to your village.”
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> “Keep walking.” Li Huowang had no clue what this signified, but it didn’t feel simple.
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> Yet they hadn’t gone far before halting—there was no road ahead at all. A dead end.
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> Seeing the glinting torture tools at Li Huowang’s waist, the man nearly sobbed. “I swear on the Three Mountain Kings, I ain’t lyin’! I really came out from here.”
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> As he opened his mouth to say more, Li Huowang—left ear twitching faintly—shoved him aside, gripped his sword hilt, and charged into the woods.
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> Soon he spotted a ragged old man with a grotesquely swollen belly at the base of a massive tree. The old man clutched a sharp stone, frantically hacking at the bark.
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> Once he peeled off a large chunk, he carefully stripped away the green, moist, tender inner layer from the tough outer bark.
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> Then he gaped his nearly toothless maw, hands quivering, tears streaming, and crammed the tender bark into his mouth.
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