"Clang—" The longsword collided with the Heavenly Book, issuing an extremely piercing screeching sound that made the other people in the room involuntarily cover their ears and step back.
"Not even a mark was left; Changming's sword is no good, huh? Isn't he a Sword Cultivator? This sword should be extraordinary." Li Huowang held the sword, pondered for a few seconds, then grasped the hilt with both hands and swung it down heavily once more.
He gritted his teeth and chopped several times in succession, and finally, a change occurred, but this change did not come from the so-called Heavenly Book, but rather from the longsword in Li Huowang's hands.
With a "clang," the blade split in two from the point of impact, and the good longsword became a broken sword.
Looking at the broken sword in his hands, Li Huowang was momentarily stunned; the weapon he had just acquired was gone just like that.
He glanced around, quickly walked a few steps, and snatched the sword from the dead Changren's hands. "Good thing there's a spare."
"Whoosh—" The longsword was sheathed, and Li Huowang circled around the Heavenly Book, wondering what to do next.
He had intended to destroy this so-called Heavenly Book, but now it seemed like the Heavenly Book really contained something special; it was hard to say it wasn't a treasure.
Since he had already resolved not to give up on himself, he naturally couldn't just discard something so valuable. "Anyway, I'll just take it with me for now; at worst, I can pawn it for some money."
As for the unrealistic idea of becoming an immortal through this item, Li Huowang had completely abandoned that notion. He had seen the outcome of those who had tried before him; he didn't want to be the next.
Li Huowang struggled to pick up the stone slab and weighed it; it was much heavier than he had imagined, but still within an acceptable range.
After wrapping the stone slab in cloth, he slung it over his shoulder and said to the others who were waiting, "Let's go, we're leaving this place."
The lamp oil was tossed into Master Danyang's musty cave, the flames spreading along the oil on the ground, igniting everything within that could be burned, including Changming, Changren, and Xuan Yuan on the floor.
The blaze was fierce, and it was only when Li Huowang saw what was unfolding before him that he realized human corpses were natural combustibles.
As they made their way back along the original path, they gradually set fire to all the rooms. The blazing flames swayed and began to merge, incinerating everything flammable within Qingfeng Taoist Temple, charring all that couldn't burn.
"Cough, cough—" The thick smoke began to make the others cough, and everyone quickened their pace.
After a short while, everyone stood under the sunlight, silently watching the smoke billowing out from the entrance of Qingfeng Taoist Temple.
The dense smoke undulated and rose straight up, enveloping all the darkness and evil within Qingfeng Taoist Temple and disappearing into the bright sky.
Li Huowang looked up, chuckled, and with the longsword and stone slab on his back, turned and walked towards the path in the distance that wound through the woods. "We're leaving," he said.
Those carrying supplies quickly followed, and before anyone knew it, Li Huowang had become their leader.
As he neared the small path through the woods, Li Huowang's mood was no longer gloomy.
"Ah, this place seems quite peculiar. Who knows what kind of people I'll meet and what sort of things I'll encounter in the future? I'm suddenly looking forward to it."
The sunlight shone on his face, and as he breathed in the fresh air, his mood began to shift for the better.
"Brother Li, wait for me, my eyes hurt," called out Bai Lingmiao.
Li Huowang turned around, and it was only then that he noticed Bai Lingmiao under the sunlight, covering her eyes.
He walked over, cradled her face in his hands, and looked carefully, surprised to find that he could see the blood vessels behind her pupils; a pinkish hue was the color of those vessels lit up by the light.
"This... must be some kind of defect," Li Huowang guessed to himself.
He wasn't a doctor and didn't understand these things, but he could guess some because he remembered that most of the elderly albino fortune-tellers and masseurs were blind.
It seemed that Bai Lingmiao's illness would cause her eyes to be defective, much more fragile than those of an ordinary person.
This wouldn't do, so Li Huowang cut off a strip of fabric from the hem of his blue Taoist robe and gently covered Bai Lingmiao's eyes. "From now on, whenever you are out in the sunlight, you should cover your eyes."
"But then... I won't be able to see."
"No matter, I'll lead you." Li Huowang grabbed Bai Lingmiao's soft right hand and, together with the others, rushed toward the forest at a brisk pace.
After stumbling a few times, Bai Lingmiao started to jog to keep up with Li Huowang.
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"Do do do~" Top Scholar Lv, his face full of wrinkles, was tapping his dry pipe forcefully against the sides of the prop box.
After he had knocked out all the clogged black tobacco, he dug out some fresh tobacco from the pouch and packed it in, lighting it with a match.
After taking a satisfying puff, he shouted toward the forest in the direction of the horse's head, "Hey, kiddo, are you done yet?"
"Almost there, almost there!" A young boy's voice responded from that direction.
"Laziness breeds more waste than work; even taking a dump is so slow for you. If someone didn't know better, they'd think I'm mistreating you, making you eat 'Goddess of Mercy clay'." Top Scholar Lv grumbled about his youngest son while leisurely smoking his pipe.
His gaze shifted toward the back of the cart, looking at the path through the woods where his entire theatre troupe was stationed. Besides a carriage loaded with costumes and instruments,
there were his eldest son's family of three and two distant nephews brought from the village. Despite the troupe's small size, it was the livelihood he had managed to scrape together over the years.
It was thanks to this small theatre troupe that his family could keep well-fed during these times of hardship.
"Dad, here's some water and bread." Lv Elevated Man brought some food and a water calabash to his father.
"Eat what now? It's not mealtime yet! Do you think food is just lying around for free? Do you know the prices of grain these days? Your daughter is already two, and you're still acting like a child yourself! Why can't you understand this!"
After being berated, Lv Elevated Man didn't get angry; he just chuckled sheepishly and retreated, allowing his wife to put away what he'd brought.
"How did it go, got scolded again, huh? You just can't help yourself, always seeking a scolding," Luo Juannhua said as she put the food back in the cart, then playfully tapped her beloved daughter seated on the box.
"A scolding won't cost me a chunk of flesh. If he wants to scold, let him. Ever since mom passed away, dad's been like this."
"Hey, as head of the family, did you talk to dad about what I mentioned last night or not?"
"Let's wait a while longer to discuss it; we haven't managed to book any performances recently, and dad's running tight on money." The subject made Lv Elevated Man's expression turn somber.
"Tsk! Are finances so tight that there's not even money to buy fabric for your granddaughter's clothes? She's wearing theatre costumes as it is," Luo Juannhua said.
"Theatre costumes... they can actually..."
"AHHHH! A ghost! AHHHH!!!" A terror-stricken scream interrupted the couple's conversation, instantly tightening the atmosphere within the whole theatre troupe.
Soon after, everyone saw a half-naked young boy, crying and screaming for his parents, bursting out of the forest and throwing himself into Top Scholar Lv's arms.
"Ghost? What ghost! It's broad daylight, no ghost is going to appear! Hurry up and put on your pants!"
Although Top Scholar Lv scolded his youngest son, he still shielded Scholar Lv behind him, gripping his pipe stem firmly and vigilantly watching the direction of the forest.
There was movement in there; it looked as though someone was coming.