Chapter 281: Sound

Chapter 281 Sound

"Senior Brother Li, look quickly! There are lights in the sky!"

Everyone hearing this voice looked up simultaneously, instantly seeing the dots of fire suspended in the air, the round paper balls floating like jellyfish in the sky.

"Just Kongming lanterns, nothing significant." Li Huowang lifted his bowl and drank a mouthful of exquisitely delicious shrimp soup.

Kongming lanterns bearing surnames like "Fu," "Miao," "Zhao," "Li," slowly flew toward the sky, blending into the scattered stars.

Those watching the lanterns wiped away tears; it seemed to be a form of memorial ritual in Great Liang.

"Not just in the sky, look quickly, there are some over the river in the distance too!"

Dots of starlight appeared similarly on the great river running through Yinling City, swaying among the flower boats.

"Great Liang certainly has many tricks up its sleeve," Li Huowang murmured, gazing at those Kongming lanterns.

He could sense the obvious difference between Great Liang and other places; even the cultural foundation was vastly superior.

"By the way, Miaomiao, we've walked all the way here, Four Qi, Later Shu, Qingqiu, Great Liang, what country lies beyond Great Liang?" Li Huowang asked Bai Lingmiao beside him.

"Beyond Great Liang? Past Great Liang, there is nothing but seawater."

Hearing this, a flicker of understanding surfaced in Li Huowang's heart; so Great Liang bordered the sea after all. He wondered if there were other different nations upon the ocean.

"But even if there are, I fear they would probably..."

Just as Li Huowang thought this, suddenly an extremely faint sound rang in his ear; the sound was very muddled, yet interspersed with occasional human phrases.

"Hungry.... Mouth.... Wood..."

The moment this sound appeared, Li Huowang's body hair stood on end instantly; he shot up from his seat, looking around with a terrible expression.

Li Huowang made quite a commotion, spilling some soup from the table; the lively atmosphere just moments before fell silent instantly.

Everyone seated together, and others at neighboring tables, turned their heads in shock to look at him.

"Senior Brother Li...?" Sensing the worried gazes of his fellow disciples, Li Huowang shook his head slightly, sat back down, and his expression quickly calmed.

"Nothing, you know me, old habits, eat, eat."

Hearing this, everyone put their worries aside and began eating again.

However, Bai Lingmiao sitting to Li Huowang's left noticed that the hand holding his bowl trembled slightly.

After filling their bellies, they left the tavern heading toward the inn; along the way, Lu Zhuangyuan, looking heartbroken, calculated how many pigs that meal cost equaled.

It felt comfortable while eating, but when paying, seeing the silver he earned spent, it hurt more than killing him.

"Senior Brother Li, are you really alright?" Bai Lingmiao clasped Li Huowang's right hand, calloused from long-term sword wielding, with both hands.

"Don't worry, now that I've eaten the Black Tai Sui, my illness is mostly stabilized." Li Huowang gave her a reassuring look.

Back at the inn, everyone returned to their respective rooms, discussing the evening's sights while washing up.

Until the inn closed its doors and extinguished the candles, nothing happened.

In the middle of the night, Li Huowang lying in bed suddenly opened his eyes; he turned to glance at Bai Lingmiao sleeping beside him, withdrew his wrist from under her neck, kicked off the covers, and walked toward the inn's backyard.

Just arriving beside the carriage where the Black Tai Sui was locked, Mantou, specifically assigned to watch the cart, crawled out from underneath, wagging its tail at him.

Li Huowang yanked open the carriage curtain with his hand, seeing the Black Tai Sui inside bound tightly with ox tendons.

Looking at this Black Tai Sui, Li Huowang, whose face had turned grim, recalled the sound from earlier.

For a period after eating the Black Tai Sui, everything was normal, so normal that Li Huowang forgot he was a Heartless, yet today, he experienced auditory hallucinations again.

Li Huowang looked at the Black Tai Sui before him, his voice trembling slightly as he asked, "Mom, can you call Doctor Wang over? I have matters to discuss with him."

After a while, Li Huowang calmly looked at the Black Tai Sui again. "Wang Wei, is that you? A few hours ago, did you administer some medicine to me?"

Facing Li Huowang's inquiry, the Black Tai Sui showed no reaction, sluggishly swallowing and spitting foul viscous liquid through the cuts on its body.

"If it truly is you, I tell you that medicine works, try increasing the dose for me now."

Li Huowang waited quietly for the hallucination to appear again, yet nothing happened.

Looking at this mass of tentacles writhing before him, Li Huowang's breathing grew heavy; he lowered his voice, snarling, "Stop these pretenses, if you want me to believe that side is real, have the ability to drag me back entirely!"

Amidst Li Huowang's shout, the Black Tai Sui's body writhed, straining to pull its bound tentacles free, yet the resilient ox tendons rendered its efforts futile.

"Huff..... Huff......" Li Huowang gasped heavily; that sudden voice had scrambled his heart.

He stood there in the stable, as if waiting for the entire world to collapse.

Unknown how much time passed, the sound of bamboo striking came from outside the wall, "Clack~ Dry heavens and dry earth~ Clack~ Clack~ Watch your candles~~"

Hearing the watchman's call outside, Li Huowang knew it was the fourth watch; he had stood here for hours, yet nothing changed around him, and only then did his somewhat panicked heart settle slightly.

Li Huowang pulled a dagger from the torture tool bag at his hem, cut another piece of flesh from the Black Tai Sui, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed forcefully.

Chewing and chewing, Li Huowang suddenly stopped; an indescribable sadness surged into his heart.

He always thought he had let go long ago, but when this ethereal hope reappeared, Li Huowang realized he was deceiving himself.

One does not easily abandon the place where one was born and raised.

Especially, without comparison, there is no harm.

If possible, how much Li Huowang wished that side was real, and this side was false.

"Perhaps..... perhaps it's not that side's doing, perhaps I'm sick, don't be suspicious, it's just a hallucination, nothing significant, yes, correct, it must be so."

Just as Li Huowang thought this, a strange gaze instantly cooled his thoughts.

"Who?" Li Huowang quickly closed the carriage curtain, whipped his head around, and saw standing alone in the dim stable a person wearing a large-headed doll mask.

"Someone sent me to check on you, saying you wish to serve the Sky Monitoring Bureau?" A hoarse voice similar to Li Huowang's emerged from beneath that hood.

(End of Chapter)