Chapter 37: Mountain Road
After Li Si took off his clothes, he prepared to sleep. After checking under the bed earlier, his heart felt much more at ease.
Dong, dong!
Dong, dong!
Dong, dong!
A burst of night watch sounds came, and the night watchman’s shout also followed. “The sky is dry, things are parched. Be careful with fire and candles!”
Hearing the sound, Li Si also knew what time it was now. It was roughly seven o’clock. Sleepiness immediately rose, and before long, he fell asleep.
After he fell asleep, a pair of boots slowly appeared from the eaves, then the figure of the red-jacketed man emerged. The corners of his mouth split open, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.
The red-jacketed man crawled into the bedroom and stood by Li Si’s bed, staring at him fixedly with a pair of bloodshot eyes. His expression gradually became ferocious, and drool slowly flowed from the corners of his mouth, dripping onto the floor.
Like this, about half an hour passed before a sound came from outside.
Dong, dong!
Dong, dong!
Dong, dong!
Another burst of night watch sounds came, and the night watchman’s shout came from afar. “The sky is dry, things are parched. Be careful with fire and candles.”
Hearing the night watchman’s voice outside, the red-jacketed man’s ferocious face gradually returned to calm. He slowly walked to Li Si’s side and covered Li Si with the quilt, as though caring for a loved one.
Then he passed through the wall and vanished directly.
Li Si, lying on the bed, seemed to feel somewhat hot. His brows wrinkled slightly, and he turned over, pressing the quilt beneath him. Only then did he feel much more comfortable, and his wrinkled brows relaxed.
There was nothing else that night.
Before dawn, a burst of knocking sounded, and Luo Ye’s voice came at the same time. “Scholar Li, are you awake?”
Li Si was woken up. He looked at the window and found that the sky was still pitch black, then shouted to Luo Ye outside, “Wait for me a moment. I will get up right away.”
As he spoke, he put on his clothes and walked outside, opening the door.
Outside the door, Luo Ye stood there in fitted martial clothes, holding a lantern in his hand, only the lantern had not been lit.
“Brother Luo, this early?” Li Si yawned and looked at Luo Ye helplessly.
“It is not early. It is almost the Yin hour.” Luo Ye was somewhat nervous and kept looking left and right from time to time.
Li Si was secretly speechless. Almost the Yin hour meant it was not yet three o’clock, yet he had actually come this early.
“Brother Luo, come in. I will wash up, and after I finish, we will set out.” He led Luo Ye into the house, then went to wash up.
“Scholar Li, there is no need to hurry so much. It is fine to be slower.” Luo Ye barely pulled out a trace of a smile and stood at the side waiting for him.
While rinsing his mouth, Li Si secretly rolled his eyes. If there was no hurry, why come looking for him before the Yin hour?
One had to know that Wei had a curfew. If someone ran out before the Yin hour and was caught, they would be whipped and beaten thirty times.
Only after the Yin hour were pedestrians allowed to travel.
After rinsing his mouth, Li Si took the grain, rain cape, change of clothes, earthen jar, and other things he had prepared and quickly stuffed them into the book box.
He thought for a moment, then walked to the study, took down Black Sword, and tied it to the book box.
After quickly packing everything, Li Si shouldered the book box and prepared to go out with Luo Ye.
“Scholar Li, wait a little longer.” Luo Ye was somewhat nervous and hurriedly stopped him.
Li Si was somewhat puzzled and was just about to ask why Luo Ye had stopped him from going out when a sound came over.
Dong, dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
“The gong is struck to announce it. Sleep early and rise early!” The night watchman’s shout carried far through the night.
Li Si immediately understood. Luo Ye was waiting until the curfew was lifted before going out. He also knew that Luo Ye had more or less calculated the time, rushing over to his place right at the edge of curfew.
“It is the Yin hour. Scholar Li, let us go.” Luo Ye showed an apologetic expression, then took out a fire striker and blew on it several times to make it burn. Next, he used the fire striker with a small flame to light the lantern.
After the two walked out of the house, Li Si turned and was about to lock the door. At this moment, a hesitant expression appeared on Luo Ye’s face, and he said hesitantly, “Scholar Li, have you thought this through? It is too dangerous for you to go into the mountains.”
Li Si looked into Luo Ye’s eyes and said calmly, “Brother Luo, I have already made up my mind.”
Seeing Li Si so serious, Luo Ye shook his head and sighed, then said, “Then let us go.”
As he spoke, he walked toward the city gate, and Li Si followed behind him.
At this moment, it was actually no different from deep night, appearing extremely quiet. There were no other people on the street now. Only the two of them walked along the road.
When they reached the city gate, the gate was just slowly opening. Some vegetable farmers hurrying to the morning market entered the city one after another with baskets on their backs.
Among them, Li Si and Luo Ye seemed somewhat conspicuous, because only the two of them were leaving the city.
From time to time, vegetable farmers recognized Li Si and greeted him, and Li Si politely returned their greetings.
After leaving the city gate, the two headed southeast. Before long, they arrived at the edge of the mountains.
Luo Ye led Li Si to find a small mountain path along the mountain edge. After walking along the small mountain path for nearly two hours, Luo Ye abandoned the original mountain path, which was easier to walk, and chose an even more remote mountain trail.
This mountain trail led upward the entire way, and the road was extremely steep. Sometimes, they even had to grab onto trees to stay steady and avoid falling.
Luo Ye also explained that this small path could reach that cliff more quickly. Li Si said nothing and gritted his teeth, keeping up with Luo Ye’s steps.
After walking along this steep mountain path for some more time, the sky gradually brightened. The two were somewhat hungry, so they stopped and ate some dry rations.
“Scholar Li, if we take this mountain path, we can reach that area by the noon hour today,” Luo Ye said while eating dry rations.
“All right.” Li Si panted and answered. During this period, he had practiced The Black Tortoise Record. Although his body had not become much stronger, it was no longer that sickly body from before. But after nearly three hours of mountain road, he still found it somewhat hard to bear.
After all, the original owner’s physical foundation was there. It was impossible for him to suddenly become strong.
After eating the dry rations, the two continued setting out. Finally, when the noon sun was blazing, Luo Ye and Li Si arrived beside a large blue stone.
At this moment, Luo Ye stopped walking and stared blankly into the distance, motionless.
Li Si also noticed Luo Ye’s abnormal state and stopped as well, following Luo Ye’s gaze into the distance. At this moment, the sun was blazing, making his eyes blur a little. He walked to Luo Ye’s side and looked over there, only to see a large tree standing alone on the cliff wall of a distant mountain peak, with a corpse hanging from that tree.
That tree was the only one on the cliff wall, with no other trees nearby to block it, so one could see at a glance that a corpse was hanging on it, swaying back and forth.
“This demon tiger really has become a spirit.” Luo Ye’s eyes were somewhat red, and his teeth chattered as he spoke.
Wasn’t that so? This tiger even knew to use rope to tie a person’s neck and hang him from that tree. How could this be something an ordinary tiger could do?