The Village of the Vigil

Creak. Creak. The cart wheels carved two thin ruts into the dirt.

Li Huowang sat on the driver's board, shaking the horse whip lightly to urge the animal forward. Li Sui, wearing a straw rain cape, sat beside him, curiously watching the sparrows on the tree branches through the black veil she had hung beneath her wide-brimmed hat.

Li Huowang reached back and knocked on the cart. "Miaomiao, you don't have to stay cooped up inside every day. It must get so stuffy. It's dusk now, you can come out and get some air."

Bai Lingmiao lifted the cart curtain, sat down gently beside Li Huowang, and removed the white cloth covering her eyes to look around.

Taking in her delicate profile, Li Huowang noticed she seemed different. If her eyes had been pink before, now they had turned a pinkish white. The implication of that was obvious.

He reached out and gently squeezed her hand in reassurance. "It's okay. We'll be in the capital soon. Once we get there, we'll definitely find a way to fix your eyes."

Out of the four things on his list, the problem of self-defense in Niuxin Village was temporarily solved. The most urgent matter now was Bai Lingmiao's eyes. It was very urgent, but fortunately, it wasn't as impossible as he'd imagined.

Having witnessed the battle between the Supervisory Heavenly Office and the Zuowandao, Li Huowang didn't think swapping a pair of eyes would be that difficult in this chaotic world.

"Senior Brother Li, why did you insist I come along?" Bai Lingmiao asked, her voice soft.

"You have to come, of course. We're treating your eyes. How can we treat you if you're not here?" Li Huowang replied with perfect certainty.

"Oh." Bai Lingmiao bowed her head and murmured in agreement.

"Tired? There's a village up ahead. We can find lodging there tonight. You won't have to sleep in the cart."

"Don't worry. At this pace, we should reach the capital by tomorrow evening. Then you'll not only be able to see everything clearly again, but you'll also be able to open your eyes during the day from now on."

"Mm. Okay, Senior Brother Li. I'll do as you say."

This wasn't Li Huowang's first trip to the capital; he was already quite familiar with the road. As the dying sun on the horizon began to vanish, a cluster of village houses appeared before him.

But as they drew closer, a look of concern crossed Bai Lingmiao's face. "Senior Brother Li, it's the same here…"

From a distance, it looked fine, but up close, the adobe houses were crooked and tilting, looking ready to collapse. Overgrown weeds and messy cobwebs showed that these houses had been uninhabited for a while.

Li Huowang's expression was grim, but not surprised. This wasn't the first time he had seen this. The Heavenly Calamity had been brief, but villages that weren't lucky had basically lost some people. Some villages were fortunate and nothing happened, but that was just an isolated case. This wasn't about one or two villages; it was the whole world. Heaven knows how many people died in the process.

"Who are you looking for?" A hoarse voice made Li Huowang's hand snap to his sword hilt.

But seeing that the speaker was an old man with only a few teeth left, trembling on a cane, Li Huowang let his hand fall from his weapon. A strip of black cloth was tied around the man's right shoulder, signifying a recent death in the family.

"Sir, it's me. Remember? I stayed here last time," Li Huowang said, walking up to him and snapping his fingers between the old man's eyes.

The old man stared at Li Huowang's face for a moment, then a look of sudden realization dawned. "Ah! It's you, little doll! Come on in, come on in. There's plenty of empty houses in the village now. You can stay as long as you like this time."

As he walked away, Bai Lingmiao quietly sidled up to Li Huowang. "Senior Brother Li, do you really know him?"

"No. Just a little trick. The old man's memory isn't very good either."

As the man led them deeper into the village, the other villagers gradually appeared before Li Huowang. Men and women, bowls in hand, were squatting or standing around a large banyan tree, eating and chatting while they still had some light.

Seeing Li Huowang's cart, they all turned to look. Those familiar with the old man would casually greet him. "Old Master Zhao, have some relatives come to visit?"

Their expressions were normal, but everyone had black cloth tied around their arms. It was the most Li Huowang had seen on a single trip.

Soon, Li Huowang was led to a clean, adobe-walled courtyard. "This was my youngest son's place. He died two years ago. You can stay here."

"Thank you very much, Elder Zhao. Sorry to trouble you."

"Oh, don't say that. It's just a place to stay. No trouble at all. No trouble at all."

Watching his retreating back, Bai Lingmiao's voice carried a trace of sympathy. "Senior Brother Li, it seems a lot of people died here from the last Heavenly Calamity."

Hearing this, Li Huowang immediately looked toward Zhuge Yuan. He was standing silently in the mid-air, far away, his back to them. The speaker had no intention, but the listener was moved. Knowing him as he did, Li Huowang was sure Zhuge Yuan would blame himself for these people's deaths.

"Forget it. It's all in the past. Don't talk about it. I'll go draw some water from the well and make us a hot meal."

Since they had to travel again the next day, dinner was a simple affair. After washing up, the two went to bed.

Li Huowang thought the night would pass without incident, but just as the third watch arrived, he was awakened by Li Sui, who had been keeping watch.

Li Huowang glanced at Bai Lingmiao, breathing slowly beside him, and asked Li Sui in the lowest possible voice, "What is it?"

"Dad, they're putting on an opera outside."

"Hm?" Li Huowang looked at Bai Lingmiao once more, then slipped quietly out of bed and pushed open the door to go outside.

Soon, beneath the banyan tree, Li Huowang saw a crowd of people forming a circle, dancing and gesticulating to something. It was the same villagers from before, including the old man who had led them in.

"Dad, what are they doing?"

"Shh. Don't talk. Let me see."

Li Huowang's brow furrowed. It seemed he had gotten entangled with a sect or school he didn't know. But what puzzled him was that when the old man had led them into the village, he had deliberately checked and hadn't sensed any malice from his ten emotions and eight sufferings.

"Could they be like the old nun… barely considered good people?" Li Huowang thought for a moment, then decided to wait and see what they were up to.

Whether they meant him harm or not, at least for now, Li Huowang wasn't afraid. Because of the distance, only fragments of what they were chanting reached his ears.

"Enduring infinite hardships, a myriad of things go wrong… Oh child-god… a hundred matters are unsatisfying… money cut off, grain exhausted… Oh child-god… clothes and garments all pawned away…"