Chapter 88: Rules

Chapter 88: Rules

"Don't move, nobody move!" As Li Huowang's voice echoed through the gloomy bamboo grove, everyone instantly froze in their tracks.

They stood perfectly still, heads tilted back to gaze at the rows of sharpened bamboo tips above, terrified that the deadly points might plunge straight down upon them.

"Nobody move," Li Huowang said, lifting his right foot to take a single step forward.

At the sight, the others' hearts leaped into their throats, but when the bamboo above remained unchanged, they all breathed a massive sigh of relief.

Li Huowang took a few more steps forward and circled the area, yet the bamboo remained just bamboo, showing no sign of alteration.

"Could it be... could it be that the bamboo in this wretched place just grows in this bizarre shape?" Gouwa asked hesitantly.

Regardless of the truth, Li Huowang dared not guess; instead, he began to ring the bell with one hand, and the line-formed You Laoye swiftly patrolled the perimeter of the bamboo grove.

After a while, when You Laoye returned to Li Huowang and signaled that all was clear, his heart finally settled slightly.

What reassured him was not You Laoye's words, but the disappearance of that strange, lingering sensation of being watched.

Li Huowang did not immediately dismiss You Laoye, but kept the entity with him as they pressed on.

Though the ringing of the bell was dizzying, it was far better than being ambushed by the so-called "La Yue Shi Ba."

"Stay close, we need to get through this grove quickly."

Speaking as he rang the bell and walked deeper into the bamboo grove, Li Huowang flicked the clasp of his leather pouch open with his finger, and the torture instruments inside swiftly spread out at his hem, gleaming with a faint, cold light under the glow of the luminescent stones.

At this moment, everyone gripped their weapons and held their breath, following closely one after another, terrified that falling behind would mean never catching up again.

As time ticked by, the bamboo tips overhead grew lower and lower, until they scraped against the canopy of the horse-drawn carriages.

The screeching, piercing sound of the bamboo tips scraping against the carriage roofs filled everyone with a suffocating dread, yet You Laoye still indicated no enemies in sight.

Traversing this eerie bamboo grove, everyone felt as though they were burrowing into the maw of some monstrous creature, with those bamboo tips serving as its jagged fangs.

In such an environment, Li Huowang had no idea how long they had been walking; the dizziness had somewhat robbed him of his sense of time.

Suddenly, he sensed a light in the distance—an exit!

Thrilled, he raised his sword, sharp enough to cleave iron, and swung it with all his might, felling a massive swath of bamboo as dazzling sunlight poured in.

The sun in the sky made everyone instinctively squint; it was far too blinding, and judging by the sun's position, it must already be afternoon.

As everyone recovered and looked ahead, their eyes widened in astonishment—they had actually spotted a village right behind this bizarre grove.

In the distance, houses with green-tiled roofs were scattered in an uneven, haphazard arrangement, no different from any other village Li Huowang had seen along the way.

By a crystal-clear pond at the edge of the village, some young women and wives were beating laundry while chatting and laughing about trivial matters.

"Senior Brother Li, are you sure this is the place? Could we have taken a wrong turn?" Xiaoman asked with a puzzled frown.

Quickly filtering through the location given by Abbess Jingxin in his mind, Li Huowang put away the Dao bell from his finger and took a step toward the distant village.

"Stay close and don't let your guard down; this might just be an illusion created by 'La Yue Shi Ba.'"

"La Yue Shi Ba... could it really be a village?" Bai Lingmiao murmured to herself.

Her words echoed the very thoughts in Li Huowang's mind; the only piece of information he had received from the Abbess about La Yue Shi Ba was that the fiend was red.

As Li Huowang and his group drew nearer, the women washing clothes naturally spotted them first; they gathered their laundry and walked toward the village, whispering among themselves.

The approach of such a large group wearing black-veiled bamboo hats clearly drew the villagers' attention, as clusters of able-bodied men armed with farming tools surrounded the village entrance, their eyes full of vigilance.

"Outsiders! What brings you to our Wu Family Village? Are you just passing through, or visiting relatives?" an old man with a goatee called out to Li Huowang from a distance.

Li Huowang's gaze swept across the faces of all the villagers, yet he found nothing amiss; on the surface, it truly seemed like an ordinary village.

"Could La Yue Shi Ba be here?" Li Huowang wondered silently.

When the village head shouted a second time, Li Huowang led his group over, cupped his hands in greeting, and unfolded the map before them.

"Elder, excuse me, is the location on this map your village?"

"What? Asking for directions?" The old man took the map and began whispering with those beside him.

Li Huowang stared intently at their faces, observing every subtle expression.

After discussing for quite a while, the village head handed the map back with both hands. "Outsiders, you've got the wrong place; the spot on this map is twenty or thirty li away from here."

"Got it wrong? We haven't arrived yet?" Li Huowang quickly calculated the distance from Anchici'an to here in his mind; Abbess Jingxin had said it was two hundred li, and since he was no machine, a slight margin of error seemed normal enough.

"Hehe, then I have been reckless to have found the wrong place," Li Huowang said generously, cupping his hands once more toward the people before him.

"However, Elder, the sun is about to set; might we trouble you for a night's lodging? We've been traveling for half a month and are truly exhausted."

"This..." The village head looked at Li Huowang and his group, his eyes clearly filled with suspicion.

"Elder, please grant us this convenience," Li Huowang said with a smile as he stepped closer, his long, elegant robe brushing against the old man's hand.

Feeling a slight weight press into his palm, the village head's expression changed instantly, and he pinched his fingers subtly.

"Alright, the west wing of my house is still empty, you can stay there, but remember, just for one night."

As the two carriages rolled over the moss-covered stone slabs into the village, Gouwa leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Senior Brother Li, didn't we get the wrong place?"

Li Huowang turned his head slightly, casting a glance at the villagers hiding behind the doors, peeking out.

"Maybe we didn't take a wrong turn? Maybe this is exactly where we're supposed to be?"

Having been out for so long, the most important lesson he had learned was to trust no more than three tenths of what anyone said.

Since La Yue Shi Ba could take any form, a complex village would undoubtedly be a perfect hiding place.

He didn't know if it ate people, but if it did, this village would also be a highly convenient feeding ground.

His gaze began to search, scanning the entire village for any trace of red, yet all the way to the village homes, he found absolutely nothing red.

Arriving beneath the archway at the entrance, the village head stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking at the outsiders before him.

"Let me say this first; Wu Family Village has many rules, passed down from the previous generation and unchangeable. If you want to stay here, fine, but you must abide by the rules. If you can't, you'd best leave now."

"Rules?"

(End of Chapter)