Faraway Wanderers Novel (English Translation)

Misfortune

Chapter 46.
                        

Trailing behind Ye Baiyi, the few of them circled around within the mountain range, wandering, until they ventured into a patch of woods. Upon entering the woods, Zhou Zishu’s whole body tensed inexplicably--he could not put his finger on what hidden treachery was present in this forest, but he instinctively sensed a hint of danger.

Wen Kexing, who had been annoyingly loud this whole journey, shut his mouth at this moment as well. Even Ye Baiyi’s expression grew serious; he stopped every now and then, extremely cautious.

Zhang Chengling was the only one who was still unaware of what was going on. He was celebrating internally, because it looked like he could take a day off today. One of his shifu’s hands was pulling at his arm--those fingers were long and slender but strong, and Zhang Chengling could almost feel the heat of his palm through the thick cotton of his sleeve. It provided a great sense of security, and Zhang Chengling obediently let himself be led, quietly overjoyed.

Ye Baiyi kept muttering something, and had to stop occasionally to write some calculations on the ground with a small branch. At first, Wen Kexing, very interested in what he was doing, stood beside him and watched for a while, but soon felt like his brain was turning into mush. Dizzied by his own incomprehension, he silently retreated to one side to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Zhou Zishu, and asked him a low voice, “Aren’t you going to look at what he’s doing?”

Knowing his own shortcomings well, Zhou Zishu replied, “What for? I won’t understand it anyway.”

Still, he frowned lightly, and too lowered his voice to ask Wen Kexing, “Rationally speaking...among the people I sent here, there were also experts on trap mechanisms and the art of the vanishing door. Why was not a single one of them able to find that Puppet Manor?”

Wen Kexing casually asked, “Didn’t you say that someone drew a map?”

Zhou Zishu replied, “Yes, he did. When he took the map he drew and brought people on a second trip to find it once more, not a single one returned.”

Wen Kexing cast a grave look at Ye Baiyi’s squatting figure, and lowered his voice even more. “If even…have perished here, do you think that this old glutton is reliable?”

Zhou Zishu was about to speak, but before he could even make a sound, Ye Baiyi had stood up and turned his head back at them, saying coldly, “The rest of this journey is treacherous. If you don’t wish to die, step in my footprints.”

Zhou Zishu scratched his nose. Ye Baiyi cast a look at him and scoffed. “An expert in the art of the vanishing door? If their leader is already this incapable, can his subordinates not be rice bins[1]?”

He turned and walked off immediately once he was done speaking.

The facial expressions of those three which included Zhou Zishu were very odd--anyone who had witnessed Old Senior Ye’s appetite with their own eyes, and then heard him call someone a “rice bin” with their own ears would have an odd expression on their face as well.

However, odd expressions were one matter; apart from Zhang Chengling, neither of these two adults were people who could not discern what was important from the trivial, and they immediately followed Ye Baiyi. Zhang Chengling glimpsed that there were more and more carcasses of various animals by the roadside, and felt that this place was gloomy and sinister. After walking for a while, he even saw a few sets of human bones, with the heads all separated from the bodies. They looked very terrifying, and, trembling, he asked Zhou Zishu, “Shifu, the person we’re looking for, why does he want to live in a place like this?”