The Unruly Immortals

Following the carriage, Li Huowang walked along, pondering the message delivered by the lama.

"What does he mean by 'this will not be taken as a precedent'?" Flashbacks of the Lion Dance Palace and the deceased Han Fu crossed Li Huowang's mind. It seemed like those were the only two things he had done in Qingqiu.

Bai Lingmiao shook her head with an embarrassed expression, "I don't know, he just said 'this will not be taken as a precedent' and nothing else."

As for why the other party had suddenly left, Li Huowang ultimately remained clueless about the reason.

Compared to that, he was actually more concerned about the other party's identity.

"This will not be taken as a precedent... This will not be taken as a precedent... Could he really be from the Astrological Bureau of Qingqiu? So this is the Astrological Bureau..."

Regarding this government office, whose name he had only heard of, Li Huowang started to have a completely new understanding. He was almost certain that there must be many more strange people like that black-clad lama within this so-called Astrological Bureau.

However, he still didn't know whether this news was good or bad for him.

Snapping back to reality, Li Huowang looked up at the sun above and said to the others, "Let's all take a rest. I'll keep watch."

Hearing this, everyone hastily took their blankets off the ox cart, threw them onto the ground, and lay down, immediately starting to snore.

Having run in fear all the way, their bodies really couldn't hold up anymore.

Li Huowang was also tired, but he had to brace himself. Although the lama had said 'this will not be taken as a precedent', Huowang simply couldn't trust such people.

Feeling truly unable to endure any longer, he created some pain with torture devices to stimulate himself, a method Li Huowang was well accustomed to by now.

All of them slept until the evening, and when they got ready to prepare dinner, Li Huowang went to the ox cart and closed his eyes.

Exhausted, Li Huowang fell asleep, but he did not sleep soundly, with various disorderly dreams continuously emerging in his mind.

Suddenly, the sleeping Li Huowang sat up abruptly, "No, that aura on the lama, I've felt it in the White Jade Capital, it was all over that White Bodhisattva! It was the aura of death!"

After saying these words, Li Huowang's body went limp, and under the gaze of everyone, he laid back down without another sound.

The carriage's wheels slowly rolled along the dirt road, and the nearby trees and farmlands confirmed that they had completely left Qingqiu and entered the territory of Da Liang.

This also made everyone feel a lot better; at least in Da Liang, there were no such odd lamas.

The one who felt the happiest about the imminent return to her homeland was undoubtedly Bai Lingmiao.

She circled around Li Huowang, continuously talking about stories of her hometown, from her parents to her siblings, from the neighbors around to the big goose that liked to perch at the head of the village.

But Li Huowang was always distracted, still thinking about the black-clad lama from before.

"I'm not mistaken, that aura on him was the same as that of the White Jade Capital, the one offered to death with the Giant Cauldron underground, it must be their sect!"

Although he didn't know the name of their sect, since they could manipulate death, their strength was definitely extraordinary.

Fortunately, in the end, he hadn't come into conflict with him. Otherwise, even if he could have won, he might have had to pay a severe price.

"Brother Li, I'm talking to you, what are you thinking about?" Bai Lingmiao looked at Li Huowang with half-complaint, who was completely ignoring her.

"Huh? What did you say?" Li Huowang looked towards her.

"I said, with all these silver coins, we can rebuild a new building! We can live in our own place now!"

"Oh, that's very good." Just as Li Huowang was responding nonchalantly, he suddenly noticed that her eyes were not covered with the cloth bandage and immediately removed the ribbon from her hands.

After covering Bai Lingmiao's eyes, Li Huowang gripped the other person's palm with his five fingers.

"I've told you so many times, when the sun is strong, you have to cover them up, if you keep using your eyes like this, they won't last long before you go blind."

After saying this, Li Huowang turned his head to look at the other people around him.

Since just moments ago, he had noticed that it wasn't just them on the road—there were also several lean men with dark skin carrying quilts and dried food, traveling together.

Clearly, they were somewhat afraid of this group wearing black bamboo hats, whose origin was unclear, and they didn't even dare to look in their direction.

If it weren't for the presence of Lv's Troupe, who looked fairly ordinary, they would have likely walked away earlier.

Li Huowang thought for a moment, then walked over to Top Scholar Lv, who was playing with his grandson, and whispered a few words to him.

"Alright, Taoist Master, don't worry," assured Top Scholar Lv, who felt useful. He tucked his tobacco pipe under his arm and approached the group of men with a smile.

As Li Huowang removed the tufts of wool from his ears, the distant voices of the men became clear to him.

"Hehe~ good sirs, where are you headed?"

"We're going to rush for the wheat harvest."

"Oh?"

"It's almost the autumn harvest, sir, we are wheat workers rushing for the harvest."

Through their conversation, Li Huowang learned that these wheat workers were tenants with little land of their own, taking the opportunity of the autumn harvest to earn some Copper Coin by harvesting for others.

True to his experience acquired from traveling far and wide, Top Scholar Lv, in just a few words, drew out the information he needed from the forthright men.

"Taoist Master, he said there's not far from here a large manor, and if you continue past the manor there is a county town," reported Top Scholar Lv.

"I've heard that the county town is quite large, and many Qingqiu People also take their sheep there to sell."

As Li Huowang looked at Top Scholar Lv's smiling face, he nodded and asked, "Do they know where Niuxin Mountain is?"

Li Huowang had not forgotten one of the main reasons he endured hardships to come to Liang State was to take Bai Lingmiao home.

"Well, they really don't know that. They say the area around Qingqiu is quite flat with no significant mountains, and the further you go inside, the more mountains there are," Top Scholar Lv explained.

Li Huowang showed no disappointment on his face, as if the answer was already within his expectations.

"Since they are locals, let's follow them so we don't get lost. When we get to the county town and buy a map of Liang State, then we can decide where to go next," Li Huowang decided.

"Eh~ alright!" Top Scholar Lv, feeling useful again, cheerfully walked back to the group.

Walking along the muddy path until the afternoon, when they emerged from a bamboo forest, the scene before them suddenly opened up.

The golden rice, millet, and sorghum stretched on and on, resembling a golden sea that rippled with the breeze.

Like tiny ants, the small black dots in the distance tirelessly used their sickles to harvest the golden field before their eyes.

"This Da Liang land sure is fertile. Back in our hometown, it would take years to encounter such a good harvest," Top Scholar Lv said, his eyes filled with envy as he looked at the scene.

Regardless of what others thought, seeing all this made the wheat workers imagine generous wages; they hurriedly went down to the fields to find the homeowners and negotiate prices.

"A good harvest is always good, it means we can buy grains at a lower price." The small whip cracked against the oxen's rumps, and the cart wheels slowly rolled towards the large manor.