The Unruly Immortals

Since the Chief Escort had agreed, what followed was simple: open the bidding document, receive a deposit, press a handprint.

Watching those items being loaded into his carriage, Li Huowang turned his head to look at the Chief Escort standing nearby.

"By the way, Chief Escort," Li Huowang asked, "weren't there battles recently? Has business been affected?"

"How could it not be," the Chief Escort replied. "While it's true that our escort business can make more money in chaotic times, if the world becomes completely chaotic, then there's no money to be made."

"You know, armies ravage the land like a barber's razor. Those high-ranking soldiers don't follow any rules, but thanks to our founding master's blessing, the fighting has stopped."

Hearing this, Li Huowang was taken aback. "Escort Leader, do you know what happened? Why did the hostilities cease so suddenly?"

He remembered that many had died in the battles, it must have been more than just a minor skirmish.

Under normal circumstances, whether victory or defeat, the situation should not have ended up like it is now.

There must have been some reason that led both sides to halt the fighting, no, not just both sides, for the ones involved in the war were more than just two countries.

But it was as if they had all agreed, suddenly stopping; this was most unusual.

"How would I know that? If I did, I would be sitting on the throne of Siqi," the Chief Escort joked.

"However," he continued, "I have heard from people who were conscripted and returned, that at first, everything was fine, but then all at once, dead bodies on the battlefield stopped decaying, not even attracting flies."

On hearing this, Li Huowang's expression tightened, his thoughts circling back to the nun. This unexpected cessation of battle was apparently related to the mysterious stopping of decay.

"Could it be that in the eyes of those in power, the disappearance of decay is more important than conquering cities and seizing territories? Is that why the emperors agreed to cease hostilities, to work together to find a solution to this problem?"

"Could the cessation of decay lead to great change in the world?"

Li Huowang, musing wildly, turned to look at the other side of the street. The market of the small border town was bustling; carts pulled by horses, oxen, and even camels were constantly coming and going, unaffected by the cessation of decay.

The world seemed to be undergoing something significant, but it had nothing to do with him. Now, like the common people, he too was but an ordinary member of the masses.

The tall will support the sky if it collapses.

Perhaps in this world, the cessation of decay is significant, but ever since the nun passed away, it has had nothing to do with Li Huowang anymore.

Before he knew it, the goods Li Huowang was tasked with escorting were loaded; the two horse carriages were packed full, and he would have to sleep underneath them that night.

"My young friend, as long as you deliver these goods to the Fengteng Escort Agency in Ji City of Huo Shu, you will receive a payment of seventy taels," said the Chief Escort.

Seventy taels! Li Huowang was stunned by the payment. He knew that performing a Nuoxi play with Lv's Troupe had earned them merely ten taels. It seemed that indeed, doing business as an escort agency during troubled times was lucrative.

"Don't think it's too little. After all, it's your first time. If you prove skilled, our business will naturally continue to grow. Here is the escort document; please keep it close to yourself."

Accepting the escort document, which was a proof of the Escort Agency's responsibility, Li Huowang thanked him with a bow. "Chief Escort, until we meet again."

"Take care, and may your journey be smooth," the Chief Escort responded.

After leaving the Escort Agency and looking one more time at the small town he had traveled back and forth between, Li Huowang sighed wistfully. He had no more attachments left in Siqi; this would probably be his last visit to this place.

"In this vast world, where is my home?"

Once everything was ready, the wheels of the carriage began to roll again, and he set off toward the increasingly desolate region of Huo Shu with everyone's steps trailing behind him.

If you had to say how becoming a bodyguard was different from before, it was that they moved slower now. After all, they had more stuff, and the horses pulling the carts were tired.

To avoid revenge from the relatives of those who played Nuoxi, Li Huowang deliberately took a long detour instead of staying in the previous town.

So, after almost half a month's journey, upon seeing a village again, a dust-covered, chapped-lipped Li Huowang and company had no choice but to enter for a rest.

Not having water for washing and being scruffy was one thing, but eating dry rations every day really caused indigestion.

At this moment, a crystal-clear blister hung from the corner of Li Huowang's mouth.

"Oww~" Mantou, the howling dog, was gently patted on his smooth yellow head by Li Huowang's hand. "We're in someone else's place, keep it down."

While feeling Mantou's tongue licks, Li Huowang sized up the small Gobi village before him.

It seemed as if to combat the desolation of the Gobi outside, all the houses were plastered with a conspicuous red color. There was nothing else particularly special about them.

When he saw a man dressed in ragged sheepskin walking out of the village, Li Huowang immediately led his people to greet him.

"Excuse me—" Li Huowang had just begun to speak when he had to stop, all because of the man's thick snot, which stretched from his face down to his chest.

Its thickness was clearly the result of continuous drying in the wind.

"Huh? A stranger?" The man stood with pigeon-toed feet, tilting his head and grinning foolishly at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang tugged at the Copper Coin mask on his face, not quite sure if this man was genuinely simple or faking it, and stood there warily watching him.

"Simpleton, simpleton, the Wu family is having a celebration! Hurry over and help! If you do a good job, there'll be roast buns!"

Hearing the call of an old man in the distance, the man's eyes immediately shone, and he turned and ran towards it.

"What's all this about?" Just when Li Huowang felt completely baffled, Gao Zhijian at his side spoke up, "Village... village... Village Guardian!"

"What?" Li Huowang looked at him and, from his stuttering, learned what this term meant.

In some villages, there would be a simpleton, known as the Village Guardian, who people claimed was born to spend a lifetime without consciousness in order to help avert disasters for the village.

However, this was just a nice way of putting it. Most Village Guardians led difficult lives, suffering from hunger regularly and barely avoiding starvation.

Only when there was a celebration or funeral in the village, and they offered their help, could they expect leftover food and perhaps eat their fill.

Li Huowang nodded in understanding, "So that's how it is. I've never encountered this before; this is my first time hearing about it."

Just then, Li Huowang was suddenly taken aback and looked up at Gao Zhijian's honest face.

"You don't know anything about other matters, but how come you know so much about this? Don't tell me you... were a Village Guardian before?"

Gao Zhijian immediately started shaking his head like a rattle, "No... no... no! I... I... I... I... I'm not!"

Watching his frantic demeanor, Li Huowang nodded, "Alright, no need to explain; I know you're not."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the dog Wawa chimed in on the side. "Right, right, right, you're not, you're not."

"I truly... I truly... am not!" Gao Zhijian looked desperately flushed.