IWOL Chapter 234: ⏺

“What is this?” Ren Heming moved closer, frowning. He felt the dark miasma coming from below, and even the protective charm on his body was emitting a faint heat. As the heat intensified, an inexplicably cloying scent surged up, as if something had been rotting for a long time. Ren Heming covered his nose in disgust and said, “This isn’t good. Some evil spirits probably stayed here temporarily.”

The horses also seemed to sense something. They kept snorting and stamping their hooves as they tried to retreat but couldn’t pull away the reins. Dong Zheng naturally didn’t feel good about this too. He took a few steps away from the entrance of the cave and said, “Leave quickly. I feel as if something bad would happen.”

Ren Heming struggled to hold the horses that wanted to bolt and express their opinions in practical ways. They quickly moved away from the dark cave, leaving their fears behind.

Soon, the two of them threw the cave behind them and continued walking along the trail in the forest. They took the official route for trading caravans between the two counties. There were obvious traces of rut on the soil, and since the forest and bushes on both sides weren’t crowded, they were able to move swiftly along the path.

Although they had already left, Dong Zheng still thought about the cave. Did he regret not going down to take a look? After all, in the box, there could be many clues hidden among dangers.

But he had long learned not to regret the decisions he made. What’s more, this was a test given to him by Chaos Library. He couldn’t go wrong in being careful.

This was the border of Dashi. Dashi, the Islamic Empire established by the Arabs in the Middle Ages, had been a long-time neighboring country.

The talisman showed that the evil spirit fled all the way in the direction of Dashi. As they chased after the evil spirit, the noon sun gradually tilted from the sky to the west. After traveling for half an hour, they heard the sounds of horses and rolling wheels from far away.

Smoke and dust rose from the edges of the road, and soon a convoy of caravans appeared. Dong Zheng and Ren Heming slowed down, and the two groups met on the official road.

Ren Heming urged the horse to block the middle of the road, and Dong Zheng also pulled the reins, urging his horse to stop.

Seeing two men in Jinyiwei uniforms and wearing xiuchun swords at their waists, the caravans slowly came to a stop. The convoy was led by a black-skinned man wearing a turban. He got off the carriage, fisted his hands together at Ren Heming, and asked in a careful and fawning manner, “Esteem Official, what can I do for you?”

“Buy something.” Ren Heming took out a few pieces of silver from his pocket and tossed it at the man, saying, “We want water and dry food.”

“Of course. Two Most Esteemed Officials, please come with me.” With money in hand, everything was easy to handle. The man smiled and returned to the caravan. Ren Heming and Dong Zheng also dismounted. There were many Persians with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and deep facial contours in the caravans, many of whom spoke fluent Chinese.

The man took out a piece of dry food that was convenient to carry and asked, “Are you both crossing over to Dashi?”

“Yes.” Dong Zheng also intended to communicate with these NPCs in order to gather more information. He looked in the direction the caravans were coming from and asked, “You guys came from over there?”

“Yes, the situation over there isn’t very good. Unless it’s not absolutely necessary, the two officials shouldn’t try to go there,” the man responded with a grave expression. “A serious plague occurred in the village along the official road. Many people were dying when we passed through. They couldn’t find a cure and felt that they must have done something to anger the devil. As a result, they had no alternative but to sacrifice a small female child.”

Ren Heming also joined the conversation. “Sacrifice?”

“This plague came too suddenly. Except for an angry devil, they couldn’t think of any reasons why.” The man added fearfully, “The whole village was full of the stench of dead people when we passed by. There were no sounds of mourning, and even the crows sensitive to death were not willing to eat the corpses. We didn’t dare take a look at the situation. After asking a healthy villager a few questions, we quickly left.”

Dong Zheng asked, “You said they’re giving girls to the devil?”

“Yes.” After handing the prepackaged dry food to Ren Heming, the man sincerely answered Dong Zheng, “I didn’t ask much about it. Anyway, just looking at how strange the village seemed, it’s easy to tell that there’s absolutely something wrong with it. Esteemed Officials, you shouldn’t try to go there.”

Dong Zheng and Ren Heming looked at each other. Ren Heming nodded. “I understand. Thank you for reminding us. We also have official duties we need to take care off, so we’ll part here.”

Saying goodbye, the two groups moved in opposite directions. Dong Zheng got back on his horse and said to Ren Heming, “Senior Brother, what do you think?”

“I’m not sure.” Ren Heming looked up ahead in the direction of Dashi. Then he turned to look at Dong Zheng and said, “No matter what, we have to catch that evil spirit. We must catch up to it before it escapes to Dashi, so that we don’t have to enter the village where the plague broke out.”

The main task of hunting down the evil spirit definitely won’t change. Dong Zheng knew this in his heart. Behind them, the convoy of caravans had disappeared at the end of the path beyond the forest.

They not only passed by the village where the plague broke out but also communicated with the people in the village. It was unclear how the disease spread, and so this gave Dong Zheng a very bad feeling.

But this wasn’t his mission. Dong Zheng looked forward again, and they rode forward on horseback. After some time, they came upon a fork in the road.

The road was divided into two. The one on the left meandered into a distant valley, and the one on the right was wide and unimpeded. It was the direction of the official road.

Should they follow the caravan’s suggestion and avoid the village where plague was spreading by taking the path on the left? Or should they follow their original plan to hunt down the evil spirit and take the official road, which would allow them to move more expediently?

Ren Heming said, “Lao Qi, which way?”

Dong Zheng looked at both sides, and decided:

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