Chapter 287 - Blind

Within the dark shrine filled with the smell of incense, Li Huowang stood in front of the three clay statues as he struggled with himself.

Was that voice real or just a hallucination?

He had just entered the village, and rather than finding anything about the Sitting Oblivion Dao, he had managed to confuse himself instead.

Just as he was thinking about this issue, the door to the outside was suddenly pushed open. The shrine keeper poked his head filled with white hair into the shrine, using the light of a candle to illuminate the interior of the shrine.

With this weak light, he checked the interior of the shrine, especially the rafters. However, even after looking around for a while, he didn’t see anyone.

“That’s strange. There’s no thief here. Did the lock break?” muttered the shrine keeper.

The shrine keeper looked around one last time before using a hemp rope to tie the gate closed.

The shrine keeper was about to head back to sleep, but felt that it wasn’t safe enough. He went back, took a blanket from his home and decided to sleep in front of the main gate of the shrine. “I don’t think the thief would be able to enter now.”

Li Huowang would never have allowed himself to get locked in the shrine just like that; he had already sneaked out and was standing on the roof of a nearby building while observing everything that happened.

Except for the noise just now, everything looked normal.

If it wasn’t for the envelope that stated the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao were active here, Li Huowang would’ve simply thought that this was a normal village.

In fact, if he had just been traveling around normally, he too might’ve fallen for their tricks too.

However, when he thought back to the voice that he had heard, Li Huowang’s frown became tighter.

I can’t even trust my own senses now. Looks like I will have to bring Bai Lingmiao and the others in here to see if they hear the same thing that I do.

With this in mind, Li Huowang no longer hesitated as he turned around and started walking out of the village.

The village was quiet at night. With the exception of barking dogs, there weren’t any noises.

At this moment, Li Huowang was walking along a small path as fireflies danced around in the grass around him. The more he walked, the more he felt like something was wrong.

This feeling was not based on his observation or senses, but just his gut instinct.

After a while, he suddenly turned around and looked behind him; however, there was nothing.

Did someone notice me?

Li Huowang suddenly placed his back against a wall and hid himself in a corner. Then, he slowly made his way back toward where he had just been.

He continued to remain invisible, but moved swiftly. He was already holding his sword, ready to slash down at the person the moment he turned around the corner.

As he got closer and closer to the corner, Li Huowang’s heart started beating faster and faster.

However, when he turned around the corner while tightening his grasp on his sword, the only thing he saw there was a wall made from yellow soil.

As soon as he confirmed that no one was following him, Li Huowang felt his entire body deflating. It had just been an illusion.

However, just as he was about to turn around, a pair of hands grabbed onto him tightly.

Impossible! I’m currently invisible, so how did he manage to find me?!

At that moment, without waiting for Li Huowang to even say anything, the one holding him urgently said, “Sh! Be quiet! Keep attracting them! Let them come!”

The voice was very quiet, but Li Huowang decided to obey it and didn’t move. He didn’t know why he did that; he was too busy thinking about who the voice belonged to.

“Aiya, our luck is bad. They ran away,” said the voice.

When Li Huowang felt the hands holding onto him finally let go, he immediately turned around to see who it was.

With whatever light they had available, Li Huowang managed to see a blind man.

The blind man was quite skinny and wore a rumpled black cloak along with a pair of worn-out cloth shoes. He held a bamboo walking cane and carried a bamboo basket on his back. His eyes were completely white and he wore a black cap. His thick beard, which would normally make one look like a sage, instead made him look obscene.

As he looked at the man, Li Huowang finally realized why he was caught. The man was blind!

While Li Huowang was looking at the man, he too was ‘looking’ at Li Huowang; however, he was using his nose.

“The smell of blood on you is quite strong. Which army did you come from? My surname is Chen, so you can just call me Blind Chen. I’m a Ninth Pawn from the Surveillance Bureau,” said the blind man as he showed his identity plate to Li Huowang.

“No, I’m from the Ao Jing Sect. My name is Er Jiu, a Tenth Pawn. I greet my senior,” said Li Huowang, taking out his identity plate as well.

When he heard Li Huowang’s words, Blind Chen’s face lit up. “Oh~ So you are from the Ao Jing Sect. Since you are here, then you must be my reinforcement.”

As he spoke Blind Chen began to carefully knock his bamboo cane on the ground as he swiftly moved toward the exit of the village, “Let’s go. We can talk while we move. I arrived here earlier than you, so I will have to let you know about some things first.”

Li Huowang smiled and followed after him.

“Blind Chen, have you been responsible for this place for some time? Can you tell me what’s happening to the village and who are the culprits?” asked Li Huowang.

“I have no idea what that thing is either. That’s also why I’m still trying to think of a plan to use. All I know is that they move within the dirt. Earlier, I saw that they were targeting you,” replied Blind Chen.

“Is that so? The evil beings this time are so annoying,” remarked Li Huowang calmly.

“Exactly. Evil beings that can travel through the dirt are very annoying to deal with and we don’t even have any idea about what they look like; however, that’s also why the rewards from the Surveillance Bureau for this mission are so good. Oh, if you are here as my reinforcement, then do you have any powers that can be used for this mission?”

“Senior Chen, I don’t think there’s anything amazing about me. All I know are the regular tricks used by members of the Ao Jing Sect,” replied Li Huowang. He hadn’t let Blind Chen out of his field of vision throughout their conversation.

“Hoho~ You can’t say that. I know that the people from the Ao Jing Sect are powerful; it’s just that their techniques require massive sacrifices. Are you here by yourself?”

“Yeah, I came here on my own. Are you alone as well?”

“Oh, I’m alone as well. Hoho~” said Blind Chen. Then, he silently led Li Huowang out of the village.

It was only when both of them were at the exit of the village that the silence was broken.

“Senior Chen, do we really have nothing we can do against them?” asked Li Huowang.

Blind Chen sighed as he sat on a mossy rock. “To think that there would come a day when I would have to call for help. As you can see, I’m blind. On the other hand, those mud bastards are like catfishes. It’s so hard to catch them and even if I did, I could only ever catch them one at a time. Junior Er, do you have something to force them out?”

“As long as you can force them out, I will be able to kill them! Even though I’m blind, I’m confident that I’m stronger than them.” Blind Chen oozed confidence as he said this.