CH 27

“Hehehe…Do you think I’m human or an immortal?”

The things in the woods kept shaking the branches, that voice sharper and more piercing.

“You look like a human! You look like a human, master! We are all poor and destitute, just trying to make ends meet. If we have offended you in any way, please forgive us!”

Terrified, Lv Zhuangyuan did not care about anything else and quickly prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly towards the woods.

After kowtowing for a while, he suddenly stopped because he saw at the edge of the woods,a pair of small feet wearing embroidered shoes standing there like two cones.

He raised his head in astonishment and saw a woman wearing a brand new flower cotton-padded jacket standing alone.

Her big face was very white, but her mouth was extremely small. Her eyes seemed to be set into her face and did not blink at all.

Her entire white face was hidden in the darkness, like a small balloon floating in mid-air.

“Hehe, you think I look like a human?” 

The woman with small feet covered her mouth and chuckled as her delicate feet began to walk towards the campfire. As she moved, twisting and writhing like she had no bones in her body, Lv Zhuangyuan’s last bit of hope was extinguished. He had encountered a real monster!

“Xiucai!! Xiucai!Wake up! Hurry up and pee childish urine!” Lv Zhuangyuan’s scared voice woke up the others. 

（Some people believe that child urine can ward off evil spirits）

Lv Juren grabbed a lit piece of firewood, trembling with fear, and threw it at the woman.

However, the attack had no effect. The firewood passed straight through the woman’s body without causing any harm.

As that small feet woman approached the bonfire, her body suddenly stopped and her big face twisted towards the woods to the east. 

The branches rustled,Li Huowang and others emerged from the woods, holding several glowing luminous stones in their hands.

“Hmm?” Bai Lingmiao noticed something. “Senior Brother Li, look! This woman is so strange! She doesn’t have a back of her head, and her head’s both sides are faces!”

“Clang!” The long sword was unsheathed as Li Huowang stared warily at the extremely eerie small feet woman in the distance. 

“What are you?”

“Hehe, I’m human. Don’t I look like one?” The woman’s extremely sharpe voice rang out as she wriggled her slender body like a centipede and began to approach her target.

Li Huowang naturally couldn’t just sit and wait for the woman to attack. He immediately reached into his waist with his left hand and pulled out a dented copper bell from his pocket.

“Ring Ring Ring~”

The piercing sound of the bell echoed out, causing all present, including Li Huowang himself, to grimace and cover their heads in pain.

Despite this, Li Huowang didn’t stop and continued to shake the bell forcefully, as he saw that everything in his field of vision was violently twisting and shaking, including that small feet womam.

Under the shaking of the copper bell, the woman’s new flower cotton jacket began to crack, and some black smoke was continuously emerging from inside. 

The copper bell was having an effect on her!

Suddenly, the woman let out a scream, and her disintegrating body wildly swung back towards the woods to retreat. In a moment, she disappeared before Li Huowang’s eyes.

The ringing gradually stopped, and Li Huowang looked down at the copper bell in his hand with some surprise. “Although I didn’t summon Master Wander, I never expected it to have this effect.”

Whether it was because it was dented or for some other reason, every time Li Huowang shook the copper bell he obtained from Dan Yang Tzu, the surrounding lines swayed chaotically instead of condensing into Master Wander as before.

As he gained more knowledge about the world, he became even more confused about what all of these miscellaneous things were.

“Oh master, oh master! Thank you so much for your help! I was truly blinded by prejudice despite having eyes.” 

Lv Zhuangyuan expressed his gratitude while bowing and coming towards Li Huowang, warmly pulling him towards the campfire to warm up.

Compared to the small feet woman from earlier, the monsters that followed this Taoist were much more pleasing to the eye. After all, with that little Taoist Master around, these so-called monsters could at most be intimidating, but that woman was really deadly.

“Ah! That damn beast! If it hadn’t gone crazy and ran away, how could I have neglected you, Master?” 

Lv Zhuangyuan pulled out his tabacco pipe and pretended to hit it on the saddle.

（The “master” mentioned by Lv Zhuangyuan refers to Taoist and mages with high magic power and mysterious strength）

After hitting it a few times, he turned around and shouted, “Juanhua, quickly get some food and water! Get a larger white flour bun! And also bring three… no, five salted duck eggs!!”

Lv Zhuangyuan’s sudden enthusiasm made Li Huowang feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Elder, thank you, but we don’t need these. I just want to ask you a few questions,” Li Huowang said.

“Sure, go ahead! Little Taoist Master, you just saved our lives! You can ask me anything!” Lü Zhuangyuan replied, patting his chest and promising eagerly.

As if he didn’t feel enthusiastic enough, Lv Zhuangyuan wiped his tabacco pipe, lit it again, and with a flattering expression on his face, presented it to Li Huowang with both hands.

“Um… thank you, Elder, but I don’t smoke. Do you know what that thing we encountered earlier was? What is it called?” Li Huowang pushed the old and dirty tobacco pipe away.

He knew nothing about this world at the moment, and in order to survive safely, he had to learn as much as possible.

Upon hearing the question, Lv Zhuangyuan looked puzzled. “What? Um, how would I know… Little Taoist Master, didn’t you drive it away? Don’t you know?”

Seeing his confused expression, Li Huowang realized that he was wrong to assume that this old man knew more than he did.

“I heard you mention using childish urine. Can it harm that thing we encountered earlier?”

“Um, definitely! Those demons and evil spirits fear impurities! I heard that throwing snot over them can also be effective, but the most effective one is childish urine. It has the strongest yang energy and is also impure,” Lv Zhuangyuan replied confidently.

“Really? Have you used it before?” Li Huowang asked.

Lv Zhuangyuan had been confident just now, but suddenly laughed awkwardly and his gaze became evasive. 

“Maybe it works. The old people in the village all say this. Since they say so, it must be right.”

Li Huowang sighed helplessly, thinking about the things Bai Lingmiao knew, which were also passed down from her ancestors. Were the people here really so backward in sharing their experiences?

“Alright then, Elder. Let me ask you this: have you encountered many things like this before?” he asked.

“No, how could one encounter such weird things every day? I have been out here for many years and have only encountered them four times,” Lv Zhuangyuan replied.

“I see…” Li Huowang looked around at the dark woods and gained a new understanding of this world.

Having stayed with Dan Yang Tzu for so long, Li Huowang had thought that things like the Black Ganoderma were everywhere outside, but now he realized that it was not the case at all.

These things were heard of by ordinary people, but they remained far from reach.