Chapter 177: The Old Man Doesn’t Have Much Time Left

Lu Yuan’s voice was not loud, but each word sounded like a nail hammered into a skull.

He stared at Hu Huxu, at that round face reddened by the stove’s flames, at those narrow, expressionless eyes.

Lu Yuan was a little nervous now.

Hardly anyone knew that the old man had gone to pick a fight with the Commanding Ghosts Liu Family.

Except for himself, Gu Qingwan, the Deity of Beauty, and outside of that, only Celestial Master He Xun knew.

Who among those people would talk about it outside?

Absolutely no one.

Not even the people inside Zhenlong Temple knew about it.

Outsiders didn’t know where the old man had gone or how long he would be gone.

Why would Hu Huxu assume that?!

That left only one reason.

The Liu Family of Commanding Ghosts must know the old man was looking for them.

That made sense—after all, the old man had killed that fake Tan Jiji.

And he had asked Tianlong Temple for help in finding the Liu Family.

Having Tianlong Temple helping would make a lot of noise, so of course the Liu Family would realize they were being watched.

So...

The Liu Family of Commanding Ghosts had probably set a trap, waiting for the old man to come, to catch him like a turtle in a jar.

And the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp, one of the Ten Families beyond the Great Wall, should know some of the secrets.

Whether the two families had private ties or not, the Hu Family was close to the local “gods,”

Maybe those “gods” noticed something and told Hu Huxu.

It was like what happened to Lu Yuan at Heishui Lingzi—when Lu Yuan first arrived and hadn’t said anything, Hu Huxu already knew everything!

So...

The old man...

At that moment, Hu Huxu wasn’t looking at Lu Yuan.

He still sat on the edge of the kang, his neck hunched, staring into the stove.

He didn’t add firewood, didn’t speak.

Lu Yuan looked at that hand—thick and short, knuckles prominent, black dirt packed in the nail grooves.

The owner of those hands had just said, what if your master doesn’t come back.

He said it without even lifting his eyelids.

“Fuck your mother!!”

Lu Yuan kicked the small table in front of him over.

The brass lamp flew, hit the stove with a clank, the lamp shade broke, rolled twice across the floor, and stopped by the stove.

The bowl of water flew too, smashing against the wall, shattering, water splashing all over.

Hu Huxu didn’t move.

He hunched his neck, watching the flames.

The wind flickered the fire, it wavered and steadied again.

“Speak!”

Lu Yuan stepped to the kang and grabbed the collar of Hu Huxu’s padded jacket.

The gray cotton jacket had faded sleeves, an elbow patched with a scrap of blue cloth sewn crookedly.

He yanked him up from the kang. Hu Huxu lurched forward a little, then sat back down.

He didn’t struggle or dodge.

He just sat there, letting his collar be gripped, his neck hunched, looking at Lu Yuan.

The stove light shone on Lu Yuan’s face and on his reddened eyes.

Lu Yuan’s hand was shaking; the hand holding the collar trembled.

It wasn’t fear, it was rage he could no longer contain.

If Hu Huxu had been dithering earlier, Lu Yuan could have tolerated it.

After all, it was about Hu Tutu, Hu Huxu’s own daughter.

Even if a man treated his own daughter that way, Lu Yuan—though anxious and angry—could have kept his temper.

But now...

He absolutely could not!

That was the old man!

Arguably, he was the closest person to Lu Yuan in this world!!

“Talk, damn you!”

“What happened to my master!”

“What do you know!”

Hu Huxu still didn’t speak.

Lu Yuan gripped his collar, lifting half his body off the kang.

The gray jacket tightened, the collar pinched his neck, leaving a red mark on the hunched section of his neck.

He didn’t struggle or dodge; his eyelids drooped as he looked at Lu Yuan’s hand, at the knuckles whitened by the squeeze.

The fire in the stove popped, a little ash burst out, fell on the stove edge and slowly dimmed.

“Are you deaf?!”

Lu Yuan’s voice cracked through the low-ceilinged room.

“I asked you! What happened to my master!”

“What do you know! You—”

Hu Huxu moved.

He didn’t pull away. He only lifted the sleepy eyelids and looked at Lu Yuan.

The firelight reflected in his eyes, which were yellowish and cloudy, like lamps burned too long.

He stared at Lu Yuan for a long moment.

Then he shook his head.

Slowly, his neck taut against the collar, the motion laborious but clear.

“I can’t tell you.”

His voice was not loud; it sounded hollow, like something dredged up from the bottom of a jar.

Lu Yuan ground his teeth so his jaw bulged. Not this again!!

“The Ten Families beyond the Wall,” Hu Huxu said, shifting his gaze back to the fire.

“They swore an oath.”

He paused.

Lu Yuan felt the hand on the collar sweating, the palm slick, the rough cotton pressing against his fingertips.

“They will never betray one another.”

When Hu Huxu said those four words, his lips moved and his voice dropped, as if speaking to himself.

“No family among the Ten may speak of these matters.”

“If they do...”

He watched the fire; the flame lit and dimmed across his face, the folds on his round cheeks like cracked riverbeds.

“They will die miserably.”

He finally uttered those four words plainly.

Lu Yuan’s hand froze on the collar.

Hu Huxu didn’t look at him or pull away; he simply sat there.

His neck hunched, he curled on the kang like a stump set into the floor.

He raised one rough short hand, dirt lodged in the nail grooves, and lightly patted the hand on top of Lu Yuan’s that held his collar.

“Besides...”

“Even if I told you, what then?”

Hu Huxu didn’t look at him; his gaze returned to the fire.

“If you knew, then what could you do?”

“Could you storm the Liu Family and kill them all, or could you pull your master out?”

He lifted his eyelids to glance at Lu Yuan, then dropped them again.

“And there’s not much time left.”

Not much time left?

Hearing that, Lu Yuan stared at Hu Huxu in muddled disbelief.

If that was true...

The old man was already in danger?!

“What do you mean?”

Lu Yuan asked, his throat hoarse, as if sandpaper had scraped it.

“What do you mean not much time left?”

Hu Huxu didn’t answer.

He squatted by the stove, added a stick of wood, and watched the fire slowly swallow it.

He watched the flame crawl out from the wood’s bark, lick and bite, burning off the dampness into white smoke that drifted from the hearth.

The white smoke floated toward Lu Yuan and stung his eyes.

“What did your master tell you before he left?”

Hu Huxu finally spoke, his voice jarred and dry as if the stove’s heat had baked it.

Lu Yuan didn’t answer.

He stared at the back of Hu Huxu’s head, the hunched neck, the crease at the collar of the gray jacket made by Lu Yuan’s own grip.

“I’m asking: is my master still alive?”

Hu Huxu said:

“He’s alive.”

The two words came quickly, sliding out with no stumble or hesitation.

Lu Yuan’s chest heaved sharply, like a drowning man suddenly pulled free of water.

A lungful of air slammed in, making his Adam’s apple bob twice.

His lips moved as if to speak, but Hu Huxu kept talking.

“He’s still alive now.”

Lu Yuan picked out the word “still” like a needle, stabbing into the half-relief in his chest.

“But there isn’t much time left.”

Hu Huxu said it again.

He squatted facing the stove, his gray jacket wrinkled at the shoulders.

He turned his head to look at Lu Yuan.

“Your master walked into a path the Liu Family had already laid out.”

Hu Huxu continued:

“From the moment your master killed that fake Tan Jiji, the Liu Family began to prepare.”

“Tianlong Temple helping to search stirred up a lot of noise; the Liu Family saw everything clearly.”

“They’re not in a hurry. They’re waiting for your master to come to them.”

The room quieted.

The stove crackled as the wood burned.

On the kang, Hu Tutu’s breathing was shallow and steady, like wind passing over paper.

“You know now,” Hu Huxu said without turning his head.

“Knowing doesn’t help you.”

He stood up.

Having squatted so long his knees had stiffened, he swayed when he rose and steadied himself by gripping the stove.

His hand came away dusty with ash, which he didn’t wipe off; he simply turned to face Lu Yuan.

He was squat and thick-set, wrapped in the wrinkled gray jacket with frayed cuffs and crooked patched elbows.

He had to tilt his head up to look at Lu Yuan; Lu Yuan was nearly a head taller.

The yellow-cloudy eyes met Lu Yuan’s, expressionless.

“You want to go to the Liu Family?”

“You want to rescue your master?”

“With what right?!”

He shook his head slowly; the folds on his round face trembled like cracked riverbed in the wind.

“Listen to me, Daoist Lu.”

His voice changed suddenly.

No longer that jarred sound, but lowered and heavy, like a log sinking to the bottom of a pool and hitting mud.

“What kind of man is your master?”

“You know better than anyone. A man that formidable, if he’s caught, what use would you be?”

Hu Huxu paused.

“Tell me.”

He stepped forward.

“What makes you think that if you go, you can do better than him?”

“Are you more powerful than your master?”

“Do you know more than he does?”

“Or do you carry something I don’t know that will let you overturn the Commanding Ghosts Liu Family alone?”

Hu Huxu stood directly in front of Lu Yuan.

He was short and stocky, looking up at him.

The stove light cast his shadow across Lu Yuan’s chest, a dark blot spreading over him.

“Stop this nonsense. Stay and eat, rest, then go back to Zhenlong Temple.”

“What a pity, Li Xiuye waited his whole life for the Celestial Master robe and died without wearing it...”

Hu Huxu finished and shook his head, turning away with his hands behind his back toward the door.

He seemed about to call Hu Yangyang in for dinner.

But the moment he turned, Lu Yuan seized his shoulder.

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Tell me, where is my master now.”

Lu Yuan’s grip hurt. Pain flickered across Hu Huxu’s usually blank face.

When Hu Huxu blinked and looked back, he saw Lu Yuan’s expressionless face.

On the hand gripping his shoulder, the orthodox Daoist thunder technique’s lightning glimmered.

What?!

This was?!

A two-star Celestial Master?!!

Only a two-star Celestial Master could draw out thunder of this caliber!!!

There was even a hint of golden light inside the lightning—this was definitely the ability of a two-star Celestial Master!!

This kid?!

For a moment, Hu Huxu’s mind short-circuited.

Hu Huxu knew Lu Yuan’s situation better than anyone.

Everyone in the borderlands knew Lu Yuan—the youngest Celestial Master in the region!

With one-star Celestial Master strength, he had nearly driven the Grand Celestial Master Shen Jizhou to the brink!

Everyone also knew what Lu Yuan had done to Shen Jizhou at the Celestial Master Grand Ceremony.

But that was irrelevant now.

Important thing was...

Lu Yuan was a one-star Celestial Master, no doubt about it!!

This??

Only a few days ago!!

How did Lu Yuan... become...

A two-star Celestial Master??!!

What on earth did this kid do, what did he eat?!

How did he become a two-star Celestial Master?!

Hu Huxu looked at Lu Yuan utterly bewildered, unable to grasp why.

At the same time, Lu Yuan, now wrapped in the orthodox thunder technique’s power, had no time to waste with Hu Huxu’s dithering. He said directly, head held high:

“No more bullshit!”

“Tell me right now, where is my master!”

“And...”

Lu Yuan stared at Hu Huxu expressionlessly and added:

“You personally take me there!”

“You must know the tricks on the way, tell them to me while we travel!”

Hu Huxu almost laughed at Lu Yuan in disbelief.

Hadn’t he just spent all that time telling Lu Yuan everything, and this kid hadn’t heard a word?!

Putting aside whether Lu Yuan’s two-star strength could even help,

Hu Huxu had already made it plain:

The Ten Families never betray one another, or they will meet a miserable end.

He would never personally take Lu Yuan, and he certainly would not explain the secret methods en route.

Hu Huxu wouldn’t even tell someone the location of the Liu Family.

Now this kid expected him to lead him there?!

Was he insane?!

Watching Lu Yuan’s posture, Hu Huxu’s face darkened.

A two-star Celestial Master was formidable—especially one as young as Lu Yuan.

But thinking that a two-star Celestial Master could browbeat the head of the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp into submission was a ridiculous joke.

Hu Huxu was in a hurry too; tonight he had to take Hu Tutu away.

So he had no intention of lingering with Lu Yuan.

Just as Hu Huxu began to cultivate his inner zhenran,

Lu Yuan, expressionless, looked at him and said:

“If you help me with this,”

“I can bring your wife’s soul back!”

“Right now I can bring your wife’s soul back!!!”

Hu Huxu: “??????”