Chapter 300: Voices in the Fog

Chapter 300 Sound Within the Mist

"But the people from Ox Heart Village were taken away by the Heaven Monitoring Bureau."

Captain Cao's words sent a shock through Li Huowang's heart, "How is this possible? Why would the Heaven Monitoring Bureau take Bai Lingmiao's family?"

But immediately he regained his composure, "Wait, perhaps this isn't the real Heaven Monitoring Bureau, maybe someone else is impersonating them!"

Whether real or fake, neither outcome was good news for Bai Lingmiao's family.

Li Huowang had already witnessed it from Hong Da; these fellows from the Heaven Monitoring Bureau didn't care about killing a few extra people as long as the job got done.

As for impostors, needless to say, the ending could only be chosen between bad and worse.

"Which way did they go!" Li Huowang asked Captain Cao with a grave expression; now he could only chase as fast as possible, unsure if he could catch up.

"Seems like they went towards the Capital, I don't know how far they've gone,"

Seeing Captain Cao tremble as he pointed westward, Li Huowang planted a foot on the saddle, vaulted onto the horse, and galloped off in that direction.

Watching Li Huowang's receding back, Magistrate Wang finally let out a sigh of relief; then, the advisor beside him leaned over.

"My Lord, in my opinion, this matter is suspicious. You tell me, is there something going on between these two groups?"

Magistrate Wang wore an expression of impatience, "Suspicious is suspicious, what does the Heaven Monitoring Bureau's business have to do with this magistrate? Raise the sedan chair and return to the residence!"

"Clip-clop, clip-clop," the hoofbeats rang out continuously, Li Huowang rose and fell rhythmically on the horseback, his mind scrambled into chaos, various conjectures constantly surfacing from within.

"In case it's not the Heaven Monitoring Bureau, could it be again..."

"Heh... Don't startle yourself so easily, in my view, this doesn't look like the handiwork of another faction."

Li Huowang immediately turned his head to look at Hong Zhong beside him; at this moment, he was lying bored in mid-air yawning.

"In your view? Is half a word you speak true? Hearing you say that, I'm even more suspicious that this Heaven Monitoring Bureau is impersonated by the Sitting Forgetting Path."

"Don't believe it then, we of the Sitting Forgetting Path play tricks openly when we toy with people, there's never been talk of changing locations."

Hong Zhong sat up and stretched. "Hehehe, moreover, who said we never speak truth? Lying requires nine truths and one falsehood; if it's all lies, who would you fool?"

Li Huowang ignored him, buried his head and continued the journey, mentally preparing for whatever might happen next.

This run lasted several more days; although Li Huowang's body was tough enough to endure, the horse was merely flesh and blood after all, needing rest.

One evening, Li Huowang tied the horse under a tree, then flipped directly up into the branches and closed his eyes.

He didn't know how much time passed; he was woken by the whispering voice of Black Tai Sui. By the time he opened his eyes again, the sky was completely dark.

Shaking his somewhat groggy head vigorously, Li Huowang flipped down from the tree and patted the neck of the horse sleeping on its feet.

The sound of hooves rang out again, traversing far along the empty, gloomy dirt road.

Just as Li Huowang wondered how long this life of wind and dew would last, whether he could find them, he noticed something.

Borrowing the hazy moonlight, Li Huowang crouched by the roadside, looking at the dense shoe prints on the ground.

Observing the number and varying sizes of the shapes, Li Huowang instinctively felt these must be the people he was looking for!

When seeing traces of blood among these shoe prints, the excited Li Huowang pulled the reins, "Giddyup!"

Perhaps because there were many people, they didn't walk very fast; when Li Huowang chased wildly on horseback for an hour, the shoe prints on the ground became increasingly clear.

To avoid startling the snake by striking the grass, Li Huowang dismounted, blending his body color into the earth, and slowly crept forward.

The pitch-black sky gradually gave way to deep blue. When dawn was breaking, Li Huowang finally found a group of prisoners huddled together dozing in a patch of woods.

Here, regardless of gender or age, everyone wore a wooden cangue around their necks, looking exactly like heavy criminals in transit.

At first Li Huowang wasn't sure if these were the people he sought, but upon seeing a beautiful woman resembling Bai Lingmiao seven or eight parts, he knew he hadn't made a mistake.

Seeing that although these people looked haggard and ragged, their limbs were intact, Li Huowang's suspended heart finally settled slightly.

"Good thing, as long as they are alive, everything can still be salvaged."

Subsequently Li Huowang did not reveal himself immediately, but began circling these people searching for those escorting them.

If enemies, then fight; if the Heaven Monitoring Bureau, then negotiate; regardless, he must save this batch of people!

Li Huowang turned slowly a few times, yet saw not a single shadow of a person.

"It's impossible no one is watching; if no one was watching, the Bai family members would have all fled long ago."

Just as Li Huowang was puzzled beyond comprehension, he suddenly heard an extremely eerie clattering sound behind him, like something shaking inside a bamboo tube.

Li Huowang slowly turned his head, discovering that a hazy white morning mist had risen in the dim woods, and that clattering sound came from within the mist.

The creaking sound drew near; the sleeping Bai family members began to wake. Hearing that creak, fear flickered in their eyes, and some children instinctively began to cry.

Li Huowang could even smell a pungent fishy odor; he clearly sensed something moving inside the white mist, but he simply couldn't see it.

If it's fortune, it's not disaster; if it's disaster, it cannot be avoided. Li Huowang didn't want to sit and wait for death, gripping the sword hilt with one hand, holding his breath, he cautiously charged into the white mist.

When inside that white mist, the clattering grew louder; Li Huowang followed the sound.

"Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter." Accompanying this strange sound, from the thick white morning mist, a wooden man's head wearing a black watermelon hat with rouge on both cheeks drifted out swaying.

"Clatter, clatter." Every time that wooden head drifted, this extremely bizarre sound emanated from within it.

The instant he saw this thing, Li Huowang's hair stood on end, but he didn't attack immediately, for he could feel the wooden man wasn't looking at him.

"What kind of ghostly thing is this!"

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, hyper-vigilant against the round log head drifting closer. Suddenly, an extremely intense gaze descended from above, sweeping over his head, pressing him until breathing felt difficult.

Li Huowang jerked his head up; a huge face grinning bitterly, pale with a hint of sinister charm, slowly pressed down from that hazy thin mist.

When it fully revealed itself before Li Huowang, he finally saw clearly what it truly was.

(End of Chapter)