Chapter 219: Market (First Part)

Chapter 219 The Bazaar

Hearing Li Huowang's answer, the forked tongue slowly retracted into the bloody abyss of a mouth beneath the red bridal veil, and that maw lined with razor-sharp teeth curled upward slightly, revealing a faint smile.

Er Shen, lying upon the bed, nudged herself a fraction closer toward Li Huowang, who held Bai Lingmiao in his arms.

None of the three sharing the single bed spoke another word, and silence finally settled over the room.

As expected, Li Huowang overslept again the following morning, though fortunately, no one was pursuing them now.

"Senior Brother Li, here." A bowl of milky-white liquid was brought before the mobility-impaired Li Huowang.

"What is this?" Li Huowang noticed some white, solid bits floating within.

"Goat's milk steeped with milk tofu. I heard from Baolu that in Qingqiu, when a person is injured, drinking plenty of goat's milk helps them heal faster."

Li Huowang lifted the bowl and took a deep draught; it was neither particularly delicious nor explicitly foul, he simply lacked the palate for it.

However, Li Huowang was never one to be fastidious about sustenance, so long as it was not excessively salty or spicy.

Seeing that he had finished, Bai Lingmiao reached over with a towel, gently wiping away the milk mustache from the corners of his mouth.

"How are Sun Baolu's preparations for the provisions coming along?"

"He went out early this morning. He said the goats at that first place looked sickly and poor, so he wanted to check a few more vendors."

"What? Goats? I distinctly told him to buy grain. What is he buying goats for?"

Bai Lingmiao smiled. "I asked him the very same thing just now, but he said that in Qingqiu, live goats are the provisions. You can drink the milk, the dried dung can be burned as firewood, and moreover, live goats walk on their own legs, which is far more convenient than carrying dry rations directly."

"I see.... fair enough, then." In matters such as these, Li Huowang intended to defer to the local.

Setting the bowl aside, Bai Lingmiao tenderly cradled Li Huowang's calf in her arms, pulling back his trousers to carefully inspect the healing of his severed limb.

"Look, Senior Brother Li, it has already grown down to the ankle. In a few more days, it will be completely whole again." Seeing Li Huowang's body recovering, Bai Lingmiao radiated a joy that shone from the depths of her soul.

Gazing at her delicate visage, Li Huowang grew momentarily dazed, unable to stop his mind from drifting back to everything that had transpired the previous night.

"Miamiao, have you been keeping anything from me lately?"

"Hmm? What's wrong? No, nothing." Bai Lingmiao looked toward Li Huowang, tilting her head in confusion.

Regardless of whether she truly knew or was merely feigning ignorance, Li Huowang chose to be direct. "I mean regarding Er Shen."

"Has she influenced you at all? Or perhaps, have those immortal spirits threatened you?"

"No, she hasn't.... how could she threaten me? Our lives are bound together; if I die, she cannot survive either."

"Is that so?" Li Huowang studied Bai Lingmiao thoughtfully. "Remember, I am right here by your side. If there is any trouble at all, you must come and find me, understood?"

Bai Lingmiao nodded. Immediately after, she asked with a touch of caution, "Senior Brother Li, since there is nothing to do today, could we go out for a stroll?"

"A stroll? Why?"

"Just.... to go out and play a bit. I have never been to Qingqiu before, and when we entered yesterday, the outside looked so bustling." A rare flash of playfulness appeared on Bai Lingmiao's face.

Li Huowang re-evaluated the Bai Lingmiao before him; her image overlapped with that of Yang Na, who had once watched movies with him.

He suddenly realized that the girl in front of him was not that old, and she, too, yearned for respite.

She had always been so sensible in the past that he had nearly forgotten Bai Lingmiao was, in truth, still just a young girl.

A pang of guilt suddenly struck Li Huowang's heart for having completely failed to consider this.

"Alright, then let us go. We shall enjoy ourselves to the fullest today." Li Huowang took up the crutch beside him, stepping out of the rudimentary inn under her supportive guidance.

The moment they crossed the threshold, the sun beat down upon them, causing Bai Lingmiao to immediately frown and squint her pink eyes. "The sun is so harsh today."

Li Huowang hastily untied the white silk ribbon wrapped around her wrist and draped it over her eyes. "This won't do, it must be tied up, otherwise it will damage your eyes too much."

"But..... this way..... I won't be able to see anything." Bai Lingmiao's spirits plummeted; it had taken so much to finally get an opportunity like today.

"Then you hold onto me. Whatever I see, I will describe to you, how about that?"

"Mm.... that works too!" A smile blossomed on Bai Lingmiao's face, and her hands gripped Li Huowang's robes.

"Miamiao, there is someone ahead selling young lambs. Come, reach out your hand and feel."

Bai Lingmiao extended her hand and instantly brushed against a furry head; a goat's tongue gave a lick from below, giving her quite a fright. She hastily withdrew her hand.

After a moment, she cautiously extended it once more.

"Come, let's keep wandering."

The one-eyed, one-legged Li Huowang leaned on his crutch, limping along and slowly leading the blindfolded Bai Lingmiao through the bazaar.

Through Li Huowang's descriptions, Bai Lingmiao gradually came to know every little detail of the entire marketplace, and she was truly happy now.

Even if she could see nothing at all, she could still feel that Senior Brother Li cared for her, that he was keeping her company.

Suddenly Li Huowang stopped, and Bai Lingmiao, unable to check her stride, bumped into his back. "Senior Brother Li, why have we stopped? What do you see?"

"Oh, there is a troupe of acrobats up ahead. They are breathing fire, and they are blowing it so high that it caught one person's hair on fire, and that man is leaping ever so high over there."

Bai Lingmiao giggled merrily at the scene Li Huowang described, and she was even tempted to pluck off the silk ribbon to steal a glance, though Li Huowang stopped her.

"And that man over there, he is impressive too, he can actually swallow swords. Three blades plunged straight down his throat, and he didn't even blink an eye."

Li Huowang shared the smile that radiated across Bai Lingmiao's face as he continued to narrate, his eyes sweeping over a row of people bound in chains ahead.

Those raggedly dressed slaves possessed vacant stares, having long since become thoroughly numb.

Evidently, the unique characteristics of Qingqiu did not merely consist of green noodles and tent inns; its dark underbelly was also distinct from other places—they were trafficking humans!

"Beside the acrobats, there is also a monkey show. That monkey is so clever, it is actually using a whip to lash its master," Li Huowang continued to narrate as he stared at a corpse whose head had been severed from its torso.

"Quickly, that monkey is running toward our direction, let us leave at once."

Limping along, Li Huowang pulled the sightless Bai Lingmiao away from that spot.

He continued to accompany Bai Lingmiao on her stroll, believing that what they had seen before was already substantial enough, yet he did not expect that a short while later, he would see a dead man upon a platform in the market—a dead man currently being disemboweled with a dagger.

"Senior Brother Li, what is over here?"

"Over here.... there are people wrestling. That fat man is very stout, he must weigh as much as two of you."

"Senior Brother Li, how could I be that fat?" Bai Lingmiao playfully and bashfully gave Li Huowang's arm a gentle punch.

"Then I was mistaken, let me rephrase. That wrestling fat man weighs as much as four of you."

Li Huowang suddenly raised his head to look at the sky; something had just obscured the heavens.

Those were vultures—dozens of pitch-black vultures dived down, directly blanketing that corpse. They began to tear at it frantically.

The vultures were numerous but the flesh was scarce; their contest was incredibly fierce, and by the time they dispersed like a swarm of flies after eating and drinking their fill, nothing remained on the ground save for a few scattered bones and hair.

People who had already been waiting stepped forward with small hammers, tapping gently against those remaining bones.

Once the bones were beaten into suitable shapes, they adorned them onto their own hair and garments.

Li Huowang suddenly realized where the bone ornaments on these Qingqiu people came from.

"Senior Brother Li, what do you see? Tell me quickly," Bai Lingmiao urged repeatedly, tugging at Li Huowang's clothes.

"Patter, patter, patter." Just then, Mantou trotted through the crowd with small steps, arriving before Li Huowang.

It placed half a human skull from its mouth down at his feet, wagging its tail as it sat there panting continuously.