Mutated Tao

Having returned their appearances to normal, Li Huowang’s group continued to travel along a muddy dirt path. At this point, it had been several days since they had escaped from that town.

Currently, all of them had weary looks on their faces; they had not been eating well and were not dressed properly, so this outcome was inevitable.

When they got to a slightly flattened area, Li Huowang used his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “Let’s take a break.”

Hearing this, everyone immediately sat down on the ground, panting heavily.

Bai Lingmiao carefully took out their last yellow biscuit and broke it into half, and kept one of the halves. Then, she passed the remaining half to Li Huowang, “Senior Li, have some food.”

Li Huowang looked at her and pinched her shrunken tummy.

This action made Bai Lingmiao feel embarrassed, but she didn’t deny him.

“Don’t hold yourself back; I know that you have a large appetite. Eat while you can, and don’t go hungry. I’ll figure the rest out,” said Li Huowang.

“I’m really not hungry. You can have it,” said Bai Lingmiao as she once again pushed the biscuit over.

However, Li Huowang didn’t bother to take it. Instead, he opened the map while trying to think of ways for them to re-stock. They were running out of supplies and needed to find ways to replenish them soon.

He had considered robbing those bandits, but dismissed the idea when he thought of the relationship between the bandits and the outlaw soldiers.

It was difficult to tell whether or not those bandits were acting as that woman’s sentries.

Given how difficult it was for them to shake them off earlier, he felt that it was not worth it to provoke the outlaw soldiers just for some food.

Robbing the commoners?

However, Li Huowang immediately dismissed that notion. He would definitely not do such dastardly things like his own Master. He was Li Huowang, not Dan Yangzi.

He suddenly found that it was indeed quite challenging to obtain enough funds and food, yet not rob the bandits or oppress the commoners.

At that moment, Puppy snickered as he walked over, and reached for the biscuit in Bai Lingmiao’s hands before being smacked away by her.

“Senior Bai, please give it to me. Senior Li is not hungry, but I definitely am,” said Puppy.

“No. There’s only a small amount of ration left. Eat your own,” replied Bai Lingmiao.

“I’ve finished mine,” said Puppy.

“Then you’ll have to go hungry for a few days. You won’t die from starvation so quickly,” said Bai Lingmiao.

Hearing this, Puppy dejectedly scratched his ribs under his clothing. He turned around to look at the others nearby. But this time, he didn’t find anyone else eating. Even the most accommodating Yang Xiaohai didn’t have any spare food for him. Gradually, his eyes focused on the group of women they had rescued from the bandit hideout.

“If I had known that it would come down to this, then we should have left these ladies behind. They don’t do anything besides waste our food. They are just a burden,” muttered Puppy.

Those words instantly caused the women to feel afraid as they huddled together helplessly.

“Are you even a man? Why are you so full of complaints?” said Chun Xiaoman, unable to stand his complaints.

“I’m just saying it as it is. Am I wrong?” retorted Puppy.

“Don’t… abandon us! We can be useful! We know a place where there’s food. It’s quite close to this place. We can take you there,” interjected one of the women.

Those words caused everyone to look toward the group of women.

The speaker was a woman with a big mouth. From the looks of it, she could easily attract the attention of the bandits, evidently not just because of her big mouth.

As she felt everyone staring at her, she drooped her head uneasily.

“Is what you are saying true? Can you really help us find food?” Li Huowang walked over and asked. He suddenly realized that he had been wasting his time and energy. With the help from this group of locals from Hou Shu, he did not even need a map.

“There’s a village nearby… And my fourth aunt has fields there… We can go and ask…” said the woman.

Hearing this, Li Huowang studied the map in his hands once again, but found that there were no markings close to their location.

“Hehe… There are too many small villages around here. I can’t mark them all,” Jin Shanzhao was embarrassed as he came over and explained himself.

“Why bother pretending if you don’t know. Don’t delay our Daoist’s matters,” ridiculed Lu Zhuangyuan.

Hearing this, Jin Shanzhao’s face turned red. “I’m not lying! Do you know how many such villages there are in Hou Shu?!”

“Alright, stop chatting. Let’s go over and see. Bring us to your fourth aunt’s place,” said Li Huowang, his words causing everyone to stand up.

The entire group followed the big-mouthed lady as she led them toward a distant rocky mountain. When they arrived at the barren foot of the mountain, she did not stop, and continued climbing up the empty mountain.

Initially, there was still a semblance of a path, but later, it disappeared completely, and they had to get on four limbs to continue climbing upward.

There were several times when Li Huowang wondered whether this woman was lying to them. After all, this place did not seem like it had a village.

After a lot of effort, when they finally reached the top, they were greeted with a paradise-like scene.

This was a flat-topped mountain, and there was actually a village at the peak.

More importantly, there were lush green fields, a rare sight in the barren lands of Hou Shu.

“Which lunatic… Did they have nothing better to do? Why would they build a village all the way up here? I’m exhausted,” Puppy complained as he rubbed his aching legs.

“I’m guessing that it’s probably to avoid heavy taxes, levies and conscription. There are quite a few possibilities,” conjectured one of them.

“Ah, when you think about it, the people suffer a lot. There are so many things to worry about,” said Puppy.

“Are the Hou Shu officials really so strict? They even force people up the mountains. Our officials are a lot more understanding, and they only collect half of the harvest each season. The farmers are also exempt from forced manual labor,” asked Lu Zhuangyuan. He found a cheap sense of satisfaction when he compared himself to others.

As they conversed, Li Huowang had already confirmed the location of the fourth aunt of that big-mouthed lady, and started heading in that direction.

This place appeared to be quite peaceful, and each house was bright and clean. It was like a paradise that was unaffected by the turmoil outside.

“Senior Li, our village is quite similar to this. Even though we only have a few people, they are all good folk,” said Bai Lingmiao. She seemed to recall something as a faint sense of joy appeared on her face.

When we finally settle down, living with others in a place like this seems like a good choice.

Li Houwang thought to himself.

At that moment, he heard noises coming from within the houses with his keen senses.

A big group of outsiders suddenly entering the village drew the attention, as well as hostility of the villagers. But as the big-mouthed lady accurately reported her fourth aunt’s name, the hostility on their faces lessened.

Things seemed to be progressing quite smoothly until they heard that this distant relative had come here to borrow food; as soon as they heard that, they refused to open their doors.

Seeing this, the big-mouthed lady stood before the closed door and pleaded with tears streaming down her face, “I… I don’t know… where else to go…”

On the other hand, the people standing around were starting to get impatient and frustrated. They had to continue to endure their hunger as they had nothing to eat.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

Here's Jin Shanzhao! Credits to 格子的乱七八糟 on douyin

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