Chapter 253 - Baolu

Chapter 253 - Baolu

By the time Li Huowang woke up, it was the afternoon of the second day. He felt refreshed after having had enough sleep. After washing up and wearing his clothes, he exited his tent.

“Senior Li, where are you going?” asked Bai Lingmiao.

Li Huowang looked back into the tent and saw that Bai Lingmiao was sewing some clothes. “I’m off to bid Sun Baolu goodbye. Since we are done with everything here, we should take our leave now.”

They had found the Black Taisui and he had finished dealing with the Nascent Soul. There was no reason for him to stay in Qing Qiu anymore.

Li Huowang circled around amongst the tents before finding Sun Baolu on the grassy plains. Currently, he was riding a horse while his sister was flying a kite behind him. Both of them were having fun riding on the horse. Li Huowang could even hear their laughter from afar.

When he saw Li Huowang approaching them, Sun Baolu quickly asked the girl to keep the kite away while he leaped down from the horse.

“Senior Li, are you looking for me?” asked Sun Baolu, panting.

Li Huowang stared at Sun Baolu. “Yes. We have stayed here long enough. We will be leaving tomorrow.”

“So soon?” Sun Baolu was reluctant to part with them. He had traveled with them for so long that he had come to see them as part of his family. After all, Li Huowang and the rest had traveled so far away just to send him home, and they didn’t even ostracise him for how he looked.

“Senior Li, why don’t you stay for a few more days? Everyone is happy here,” suggested Sun Baolu.

“We can’t. It’s better if we leave soon. I would rather not have all of them get used to being here. Plus, your family keeps slaughtering lambs and cows for us. We can’t have you go broke because of us.” Li Huowang chose to decline politely.

“Don’t worry! The lambs of Qing Qiu are very cheap and much easier to take care of than the other places! If we finish eating our lambs, we just need to go to Women’s Mountain again to buy some kids[1] and calves. Soon, we will have another large herd!”

Li Huowang smiled. “It’s fine. Let’s talk about business for now. First of all, you must not tell anyone about what happened in the cave that night, especially the Lion Dances! You must treat them just as you have treated them before. Never reveal to them that you are aware of the kind of monstrosities they are.”

Since the Lion Dances had become a part of the life of those within Qing Qiu, Baolu had no choice but to keep quiet about it lest something unfortunate happened to him. After all, there was a possibility that those monsters living underneath the cave system were a proper sect here within Qing Qiu.

That night, another feast was set up. Everyone ate lamb and drank wine to celebrate Sun Baolu being cured.

Sun Baolu’s parents raised a toast, revering Li Huowang. The people from Qing Qiu were all treating Li Huowang with respect.

They had originally thought before that the man with the two swords on his back was different from others; when they saw him cure Sun Baolu, it confirmed their suspicions and rumors about Li Huowang spread amongst them.

“Senior Li, this is a nice place. Why don’t we settle down over here? The Liang Kingdom might not be great,” said Puppy while munching on an entire roasted lamb leg.

“You should focus on eating your meat in peace. You can’t even be quiet with a mouthful of meat. If you want, you can just stay here; I won’t force you to follow me,” said Li Huowang as he bit into a smoking piece of lamb.

Hearing this, Puppy started contemplating what he should do.

At that moment, a massive hand suddenly patted his shoulder. It was Gao Zhijian. Puppy turned around and saw how serious Gao Zhijian looked. “Don’t... don’t stay! Some... something... something is wrong... here.”

“Something is wrong? Sun Baolu grew up here. What’s wrong with this place?” questioned Puppy.

Gao Zhijian looked at everyone who was happily eating the roasted lamb as they munched on and swallowed the lamb meat laden with spices. “I... I don’t know... But something... something is wrong!”

“You can’t even talk properly and you want to advise others. How about you fix your stuttering first before trying to persuade us?” said Puppy.

Gao Zhijian saw Li Huowang staring at him, causing him to scratch the back of his head before sitting back down. Then, he drank his cup of ant honey in one gulp.

Since this was their last night here, the feast lasted deep into the night. By the time Li Huowang and everyone woke up and placed everything onto their ox-cart, it was already noon.

The wriggling Black Taisui was being tied down by strong ropes made from dried up cow tendons.

“Senior Li, I hope we will meet again!” Sun Baolu hugged Li Huowang, his eyes red with tears.

“It’s better if we don’t meet again. I feel like everyone who meets me gets bad luck.” Li Huowang patted his back and left with everyone else.

1. baby goats ?