Chapter 87: Forest

Chapter 87: The Forest

Hearing Gouwa's words, Sun Baolu plucked a card from the fan of long, narrow leaf cards in his hand and played it.

"I saw Senior Brother Li go looking for the village blacksmith, something about forging a tool. Oh, right, Gouwa, didn't Senior Brother Li tell you to gather information? Why are you still here playing leaf cards? Aren't you afraid he'll scold you when he gets back?"

"Gouwa this, Gouwa that! Call me Cao Cao!" Gouwa snapped, his expression deeply displeased as he flicked a card onto the table.

"This little village is so small, what effort could it possibly take? Besides, I had those two little brats helping me ask around, and we finished in no time. The village elders all say there's a giant serpent eating people in the western woods. They told us never to go near it."

"You're going there? You can't, you absolutely can't! Ten years ago, my mother saw a flying serpent coiling in the sky!" the host, who had been watching the game, interjected.

"Ah, it's fine! Senior Brother Li is incredibly powerful anyway. As long as he's here, no serpent could ever get close to him. Hey, wait a minute, who played that last card? I win! Hahaha. As agreed, all the eggs in your noodles belong to me now."

"Look, Senior Brother Li is back."

Whoever uttered those words, the others all turned their heads to see Li Huowang striding into the courtyard, a large leather pouch in his hand.

Surrounded by the group, Li Huowang placed the leather pouch on the table and opened it.

The inside of the pouch was fitted with rows of buttons, perfectly designed to hang the contents neatly inside.

He began to count the items hanging within one by one; they were a set of brand-new, gleaming tools coated in clear oil, all custom-made to his specifications.

Large black iron pincers, sharp awls, tiny shovels the size of a fingernail, and long needles barbed with hooks.

These bizarrely shaped instruments were deeply unsettling just to look at.

Picking up a spoon with an exceptionally sharp edge in his right hand, Gouwa toyed with it for a moment. "Senior Brother Li, what are all these things? They don't look like weapons, they look more like instruments of torture. Take this one, for instance—it's useless for killing, but for gouging out eyes, it's per—"

Gouwa's words abruptly ceased, frightened by his own utterance.

He was instantly reminded of what had happened on Reed Island, of the man who had used pincers to pull out his teeth and crush his eyes.

Li Huowang reached out and snatched the tool back from his hand. "How goes the information gathering I asked you to do?"

"G-gathered it. There's a serpent eating people in those woods. The locals won't go anywhere near it, and the beast is remarkably docile, never venturing out." Gouwa stared at the tools on the table, deep terror in his eyes.

Li Huowang took out the tiny shovel and held it against his fingernail for a moment, then slung the pouch over his back. "Let's go. We're moving out."

"It's already noon. By the time we walk there, it'll be dark. Should we stay the night and go tomorrow?"

Sun Baolu's suggestion was met only with a cold glare from Li Huowang. "I said we're going!"

The wheels of the carriage began to turn, rolling slowly toward the man-eating forest.

When the moon hung high in the sky, Li Huowang and his companions finally reached their destination after their long journey.

Before them lay an extraordinarily dense bamboo forest, with fireflies flickering in and out of sight within its depths.

A narrow forest path wound like a long snake, twisting and turning as it burrowed into the bamboo grove; judging by the overgrown weeds, it had been untrodden for a very long time.

Li Huowang did not recklessly charge in. According to Abbess Jingxin, the entity of the Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month was a highly mutable evil, and no one could know what form it currently took or what threat it posed to him.

He stood at the outer boundary of the forest, quietly observing the interior. As time ticked by, everything inside appeared perfectly normal. The various living creatures that should be there showed no signs of disturbance; Li Huowang could even see bamboo rats clinging to stalks and gnawing away.

It wasn't until the sky began to lighten with the first hints of dawn that Li Huowang finally ceased his observation.

Eating his hanging noodles, Li Huowang spoke to the others, "It looks like there's nothing unusual on the perimeter. Once we finish this meal, we'll go in. After we enter, I don't need you to do anything else. There is only one thing you must do, if—and I say if—"

Pausing here, Li Huowang's expression turned grave. "If my behavior becomes abnormal, you must watch over me and keep me from wandering off."

Yes, this was precisely why Li Huowang had brought them along this time.

As the effects of the Black Tai Sui faded, Li Huowang felt the space around him begin to turn unreal, those hallucinations ready to swallow him whole at any moment.

Just to be safe, it was imperative that these people accompany him inside.

Hearing this unusual request, the others exchanged glances before nodding in agreement.

"That period shouldn't last too long. Just wait for me to come back."

Having finished speaking, Li Huowang took a sip of broth. Just then, a fair, slender little hand reached over and gave a gentle tug at his hair, making his scalp sting.

"What are you doing?" Li Huowang asked displeasedly, looking at the hand's owner, Bai Lingmiao.

"There's a white hair that needs to be plucked. My mother said if you leave it, the white hairs on your head will just keep multiplying."

Li Huowang began to eat faster, burying his head and using his chopsticks to scoop up the noodles.

Bai Lingmiao sat beside Li Huowang with her legs neatly pressed together.

Her fingers reached toward the red bamboo scroll behind Li Huowang. "Senior Brother Li, you've been carrying this thing around—"

Before she could even touch it, Li Huowang abruptly stood up, drained the rest of the broth from his bowl in one gulp, and tossed the bowl into the empty iron pot. "Let's go. Into the forest."

Fully fed and watered, everyone followed Li Huowang toward the narrow path.

Though it was still early morning, the moment they stepped into the woods, the surroundings instantly darkened.

The dense bamboo forest stood like a barrier, blocking out the sunlight from above completely.

The blue-green luminescent stones were brought out once more, brightening the surroundings somewhat.

Yet as this light illuminated the surrounding bamboo, it made the naturally verdant stalks look as though infected by a disease, taking on a deeply sickly hue that made one profoundly uneasy.

As the glow flickered and swayed, it seemed as though something was lurking in the deep recesses of the dense bamboo grove, watching from within.

Li Huowang strained to see clearly, but could discern nothing; yet the moment he was about to turn around, that sensation of wheat awns pricking his back returned once more.

"Is this the Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month? Is it watching me from within the forest? What on earth has it become now?"

It wasn't just Li Huowang; the others felt it too.

The only sound left was the rustle of shoes bending the weeds; no one spoke another word, and soon the atmosphere grew heavy with tension. "Senior Brother Li... do you... do you feel like the bamboo above our heads is getting closer and closer to our heads?"

Hearing this, everyone slowly raised their heads, only to see that the surrounding bamboo had completely bent over, with dense, sickly-hued bamboo tips curving down from above, pointing straight at them.