Chapter 18 (1/2)

“Shoo shoo shoo, you are not a woman. Don’t you find yourself disgusting to smile at me for a day?” Lu Chen snorts. He casually sits on one of the chairs facing the counter and leans forward.

Old Ma stares at him. His frowns slightly and asks solemnly, “What happened?”

Lu Chen suppresses his voice and speaks. The voice is so hushed such that it couldn’t even be heard clearly even in the quiet tavern. Perhaps, only Old Ma who is at close proximity to him can hear those words clearly.

As Old Ma listens, his face suddenly darkens. He sits up straight and ponders for a moment. Then, he glances at Lu Chen and says, “Are you sure you didn’t see wrongly?”

Lu Chen replies plainly, “That incident that happened in there back then, what else would I have not seen before?”

Old Ma nods his head and continues asking with a hushed voice, “Of what tier is that secret message?”

Lu Chen frowns. After thinking for a short moment, he replies, “That is quite a weird location. There is a tree with two leaves on the secret message. At most, he would only be of the rank of a ‘xiangzhu‘ in the demonic cult.”

Old Ma’s expressions lightens as he says, “From the looks of it, they don’t seem to be looking for you? Could it be the remnants of the Three Realm Divine Cult sneaking into this location to recruit new members?”

Lu Chen humphs and says, “Isn’t this too coincidental?”

Old Ma nods his head and says, “I got it. I will investigate it thoroughly, so rest easy. However, didn’t the Thousand Autumn Doors kill a hidden remnant of the demonic cult just a few days ago, perhaps the members of the demonic cult are here for it?”

Lu Chen shrugs and replies, “I hope so. Anyway, be careful about this matter.”

Old Ma replies, “Rest easy.”

Lu Chen stands up and prepares to leave. However, just when he is about to step away, he stops yet again. He turns around to look at Old Ma, “There’s still another matter. Help me look into it while you’re at it.”

Old Ma says, “What is it?”

Lu Chen says, “There seems to be a young scholar who just arrived at the opposite bank of the stream. He has a handsome face and he is skilled in drawing. I have never met that person before. Help me look into the background of that man.”

“Oh”. Old Ma replies, “Got it, it’s just a small matter.”

The sky darkens and there is nothing but silence.

Yet another night has arrived and the small village descends into its slumber. It seems exceptionally cold and lonely under the embrace of the darkness.

Lu Chen lies on his bed in the straw cottage. The interior of the cottage is pitch black.

He closes his eyes, but he couldn’t fall asleep.

In silence, humans would tend to recall the past. This kind of thoughts isn’t something humans are able to control. Thus, even if it is memories which one wants to forget, it would be dredged up uncontrollably.

Despite not being a dream, the moment the eyes are closed, it feels like a descend into a nightmare that is hard to awake from. Sometimes there are screams of agony, sometimes shrieks of pain, sometimes the cold flash of a sword and sometimes the fearsome and excruciating pain. Of course, the one that conquers most of all is the furious dance of the black flames.

He opens his eyes in the darkness and shakes his head in an attempt to fling off those hateful memories. Turning around, a wind starts to pick up outside the straw cottage. That is the mountainous breeze which blows down from the mountain. It seems to be a little agitated in the night. Lu Chen concentrates for a moment and there seems to be some some distortions in the sound.