Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 74
>Chapter Title: Death
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“Senior Brother Li! What are you doing?!” Seeing Li Huowang harming himself, Bai Lingmiao rushed over in heartache and gripped his left hand, which was bleeding nonstop.
The agonized Li Huowang shoved her away. His eyes bloodshot, he roared hysterically.
“Why can’t you just let me have some peace!! Why does this damned place always have one thing after another happening!!”
He yanked the dagger out from his palm and viciously stabbed it back in. This time, it went straight through.
Bai Lingmiao froze in terror on the spot. After a few seconds, she lunged forward, snatched the dagger from Li Huowang’s hand, and flung it far away.
She then spread her arms wide and hugged the man in front of her tightly. “Huowang, don’t do this! I’m begging you.”
The instant he heard that voice, Li Huowang instantly calmed down. His eyes trembling shut, he slowly pulled the soft body into his embrace.
Gradually, Li Huowang regained his composure.
He slowly released her and looked at Bai Lingmiao again. After taking a deep breath, he said, “Alright, I’m fine now. What about the others? Have you seen the others?”
At his words, Bai Lingmiao nodded silently, her eyes slightly reddened. She pulled Li Huowang toward the shore.
Soon, at the water’s edge, he spotted the other drug primers.
There had originally been seven adults and five young Taoists, but now only six adults and three young Taoists remained—and not all of them could move.
The grief-stricken Bai Lingmiao trembled her frozen purple lips as she said, “Junior Brother Sun is a better swimmer than me. We risked our lives diving into the lake to fish people out, but we only found these few. And the Fool drowned too.”
Li Huowang stood before the group, gazing at the Fool’s face, swollen purple. Matching his complexion were another drug primer and one young Taoist.
Two missing, three drowned. In one trip, five out of twelve were gone just like that.
Li Huowang wasn’t close with these people, but no matter what, they were companions who had shared life and death together in Clear Wind Temple.
During breaks, he had heard them yearning for home, dreaming of the day they’d reunite with their families.
But now, it had all come to an abrupt end. Their deaths were utterly worthless.
Li Huowang’s face darkened as he paced along the shore, staring at the drowned corpses. The negative emotions from before had vanished without a trace.
“Thud!” Li Huowang kicked a mangled, bloody head viciously away. “Fuck!”
He had just lost his mind! To actually feel guilty for this bunch of murderers!
Li Huowang even wished he could revive these human dregs so he could personally kill them all over again, one by one!
“These scum deserved to die!! They should all die, down to their families!!”
As Li Huowang’s emotions began to destabilize again, the man who had always blended into the background stepped forward. His voice laced with guilt, he said to Li Huowang, “Senior Brother Li, I tried to grab the Fool, but he was too heavy. I really couldn’t hold on.”
Li Huowang knew him—he was the Senior Brother Sun whom Bai Lingmiao had mentioned as the best swimmer. His name was Sun Baolu.
Looking at the drenched, shivering man before him, Li Huowang furrowed his brow and said, “Don’t stay here anymore. Head to the village first and find the kitchen. Get a fire going.”
What was done was done—words wouldn’t change it. With so few survivors left, he couldn’t let the wind and chill claim any more.
The group, carrying and supporting their companions’ corpses, slowly made their way into the village.
The entire reed village was littered with blood, flesh, and bodies. Dark red blood pooled everywhere, making the ground sticky underfoot.
The others’ eyes darted about, as if they wanted to ask something, but Li Huowang had no intention of explaining.
After weaving through the houses and around another corner, Bai Lingmiao yelped in fright and ducked behind Li Huowang.
The once-imposing Yuan family ancestor’s head was impaled on a bamboo pole, its mouth agape, eyes wide with unfulfilled resentment.
“Did I skewer him there? When did I kill him?”
Li Huowang puzzled over it for a moment but recalled nothing. There were just too many dead.
After searching around, they finally found the kitchen. The iron pot on the stove was lifted off, firewood tossed in, forming a bonfire.
The group huddled around it, trying to let the flames’ heat drive away the chill from their bodies.
Li Huowang didn’t join them by the fire. He stood in the corner of the kitchen, silently watching those stiff, purple faces.
His gaze finally settled on the Fool’s square face. Li Huowang hadn’t expected even him to die—the loyal, simple-minded Fool.
His personality was pure; in truth, the young Taoists were more mature than the Fool.
“I shouldn’t have kept calling you Fool. At least I should’ve given you a proper name. It’d be easier to put on your tombstone.” Li Huowang murmured to the corpse.
The moment he said it, the rigid, purple body of the Fool suddenly snapped its eyes wide open.
“It’s a corpse coming back to life!!” Li Huowang jolted back a step in fright and immediately drew his sword again.
As the others saw this and scrambled in panic for weapons, the dazed Fool opened his mouth wide. “Urp~”
Foul-smelling black lake mud mixed with lake water spewed from his mouth in great gulps.
Once he’d emptied his stomach, the Fool rolled onto his side, gasping for air. His color quickly returned to normal.
“My god, Senior Brother Li, you can bring the dead back to life?! How’d you do it?” The ecstatic Gouwa rushed over and helped the Fool to his feet.
Li Huowang ignored him and rushed to the other drowned bodies to attempt resuscitation. Maybe someone else was like the Fool—passed out from choking, not actually dead.
Regrettably, the Fool was a one-off case. After Li Huowang’s frantic efforts, the others showed no signs of revival.
Still, one resurrection was better than none. The group gathered around the fire-warming Fool, fussing over him. The kitchen’s atmosphere wasn’t as oppressive as before.
Faced with everyone’s concern, the Fool held it in for a long while before blurting out, “I... I’m hungry!”
“Hungry? Got it! Then let’s eat meat! I saw they had pigs here when I came in!! I’ll go slaughter one right now.”
Gouwa snatched a cleaver from the chopping board and dashed outside.
Before long, the iron pot was back on the wood stove. Once the water boiled, big chunks of fatty pork were tossed in to cook.
Soon, after Xiaoman sprinkled in some salt, the aroma of meat filled the air.
After a night of chaos, it wasn’t just the Fool who was hungry. Li Huowang drew his longsword and speared a large hunk of fatty, lean-poor pork from the pot, chomping into it like fruit.
As he gnawed on the pork, Li Huowang’s mind wandered to other matters. “A bandit lair this big—it’s not just pork we’ve gained here.”