“There…there…there’s…poop here!”
“I’m not blind, don’t get too close. Are you trying to eat it?”
“Doggie, be quiet. There are people on the road.”
“Haha, will do, Senior Brother Li.”
Soon, Lv Zhuangyuan saw those people walking out of the woods.
When he saw their appearance, Lv Zhuangyuan suddenly took a deep breath. No wonder his little son said there were ghosts; these people’s looks were too scary.
There was a skinny man with black and white patches on his face, a woman with white hair, a person with bow legs, and even someone whose face was covered in hair.
Lv Zhuangyuan had travelled far and wide and seen much, but still startled by the scene before him.
“Dad, I’m scared…” Lv Xiucai kept backing away.
“Scared? Don’t you think I feel scared too?!” Lv Zhuangyuan cursed his little son in his heart. If it weren’t for a handsome Taoist and a few normal-looking Taoist children among this group, he would have fled long ago.
Lv Zhuangyuan trembled as he bowed to Li Huowang, “May I ask, Taoist Master……are these strange monsters all tamed by you?”
（In the original text of the novel, it is “道爷”, which is a form of honorific title for a Taoist, but since it was directly translated as “Taoist Grandfather,” so i used “Taoist Master” instead.）
As soon as she spoke, she immediately drew a lot of unfriendly glances.
“What did this old guy just say? You looking for trouble?! Who are you calling monsters?!”
Lv Zhuangyuan saw the handsome Taoist wave his hand to silence the intimidating monsters and became even more certain of his thoughts.
“Excuse me, Elder.Could you please tell me where this road leads to?”
“To Wuli Hillock! It’s not far ahead, you’ll get there soon.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lv Zhuangyuan secretly burned the horse’s butt with his tobacco. The horse neighed and pulled the carriage quickly along the woods path.
“Hey! My horse! My horse! Catch up!” Lv Zhuangyuan pretended to be anxious and chased after the horse with the others.
They ran so fast that they left Li Huowang and those monsters behind in no time.
They kept running for two hours, until Lv Zhuangyuan’s little son vomited from exhaustion. Only then did he whistle to signal the horse to stop.
After they stopped, Lv Zhuangyuan didn’t pay any attention to his little son. Instead, he immediately went to check on the horse that was pulling the carriage,because in this troupe, horses were more important than people.
By this time, the sky had started getting dark and it was almost evening.
“My goodness, what on earth were those things? Scared me to death…” Lv Juren was sweating profusely and breathing heavily.
Lv Zhuangyuan kicked him and said, “Can’t you see it’s getting dark? Hurry up and go to the woods to find some firewood!”
Beside the woods path, a warm fire had been lit and everyone was eating soft mantou. The delicious taste of the food comforted their frightened hearts.
“Look at you guys, scared out of your wits. When you’re away from home, encountering strange things is nothing special. The more chaotic the situation, the calmer you need to be,” Lv Zhuangyuan said to the others.
“Dad, maybe they are not monsters. I think they look quite human, and that little Taoist even called you Elder,” said Lv Zhuangyuan’s daughter-in-law.
Hearing this, Lv Zhuangyuan shook the gourd bottle in his hand.
“What do we care who or what they are? Let’s just mind our own business. Remember this, when you’re away from home and want to live longer, it’s best not to get involved in things that can be avoided,”
Said Lv Zhuangyuan. This was his life philosophy, and it was thanks to this that he had lived for so many years.
Moreover, he also planned to pass on this philosophy to his sons. After all, when he got older, the theatrical troupe would have to rely on them to continue.
Passing the gourd bottle to his nephew, Lv Zhuangyuan looked at his granddaughter lying in his daughter-in-law’s arms.
Watching his granddaughter grinding a small piece of unleavened bread with her newly grown teeth, Lv Zhuangyuan felt more and more delighted.
He turned around and took out a salted duck egg from a round jar on the carriage, carefully opened a gap, and offered the oily yolk to his granddaughter’s mouth.
“Come on, Cui, eat this one. It tastes so good,” he said.
Watching his granddaughter suck on the duck egg yolk with great effort, Lv Zhuangyuan’s eyes narrowed into a line as he burst into laughter.
Although it was a pity that she wasn’t a grandson, after all, she was his grandchild from the next generation, and he was extremely fond of this little granddaughter.
（Many Chinese elderly people prefer their grandchildren）
Feeling that this was a good opportunity, Luo Juanhua immediately said, “Dad, look, Cui is already so big. Shouldn’t she have some new clothes? Wearing theatrical costumes every day won’t be a good way.”
As soon as he heard his daughter-in-law mention money, Lv Zhuangyuan’s smiling face disappeared, and his features wrinkled together.
He was just about to refuse, but when he saw the loose and baggy theatrical costume on his granddaughter, his heart softened.
After taking a few puffs of tobacco, he walked up to the front of the carriage with more wrinkles on his face, and opened the box with his key.
After fumbling around inside for a while, he took out fifty copper coins.
“Don’t go to the town to buy cloth, it’s too expensive. Wait a couple of days until we get to Wuli Hillock and ask around for who weaves fabric there. Go to their house and buy some, make sure to ask around a few different houses to find the cheapest one.
（In ancient China, the way to purchase things was not necessarily through official or store purchases, but also through private transactions with money or items）
“Also, remember to buy cotton cloth and not sackcloth. Children have delicate skin and sackcloth can make them uncomfortable.”
“I understand,” Luo Juanhua received the copper coins with a smile and brightened eyes. She thought it was good enough to get money for sackcloth, but she did not expect Lv Zhuangyuan to be so generous this time.
Children are small, so they don’t need a lot of cloth for their clothes. Maybe she can save some cloth this time.
After seeing his granddaughter finishing the egg yolk, Lv Zhuangyuan distributed the remaining egg whites to the adults to taste the saltiness. Even though everyone only got a small amount, they were still happy. They rarely had the chance to eat salted duck eggs.
The day had turned dark, and after finishing dinner with nothing else to do, everyone listened to Lv Zhuangyuan tell a few old stories he had heard from somewhere,and they going to sleep.
Today’s night watchman was Lv Juren. He had been walking all day and was very tired, but he still forced himself to stay alert and keep the fire burning, preventing it from extinguishing.
“Son, you should go to sleep. I’ll keep watch.” Lv Zhuangyuan sat next to his son and began to smoke tobacco.
Lv Juren yawned and said, “Dad, I’m not sleepy. You should go to sleep.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, go to sleep quickly. I’m an old man, sleeping a little less won’t hurt me,” replied Lv Zhuangyuan.
Just as they were arguing in front of the campfire, Lv Zhuangyuan suddenly covered his son’s mouth with his hand and pointed towards the dark woods in the distance.
“Hehe~” A high-pitched and thin woman’s laughter suddenly sounded to their right.
Lv Zhuangyuan and Lv Juren looked instinctively towards the source of the laughter, but could see nothing but darkness.
“Hehehe…Do you think I’m human or an immortal?” The black woods began to shake as if something was about to emerge from inside.
Lv Zhuangyuan was instantly frightened and broke out into a cold sweat. Being experienced, he knew that this was something He knows that something is Petitioning him!
（讨tao封fen，This word is difficult to explain, it comes from folklore and stories, and there is even no official explanation for it, so it is not very easy to translate. This word means that animals like weasels, who want to become Immortal through cultivation, need to find a human to petition and ask if they are more like humans or Immortal when they are about to succeed. If humans answer that they are like humans, then the cultivated animals will lose all their previous achievements. If humans answer that they are more like Immortal, then they can become immortals, and in the future, they will repay the humans who answer them）
This is not a question to be answered lightly. A wrong answer might lead to disastrous consequences for them.
Right now, the question at hand is: what is Petitioning they from within the woods? The woods sways and rustles eerily.
（In this novel,神and仙have many different meanings and translations, and their expression methods are not many in Chinese and need to be judged based on context, but they are often very detailed in English,such as god/God/deity/divinity/spirit/supernaturalad/immortal/celestial being……Due to the limited number of occurrences of these in current novels, most of them have not reached the level of the God. Therefore, I will not provide a detailed list of levels for the time being. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask at any time）
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