Chapter 42 : Chapter 42
Chapter 42: Paying a Visit to Granny Huai, the Demonic Being
Those two wagonloads of mixed pelts from before.
Not only had they exposed the problem with Li Fei and the others’ identities, they had also left a huge question mark hanging over Su Yue in Chen Guan’s mind.
Those Escort Masters had all been hired by her.
And as a merchant with twenty years of experience selling pelts, how could she possibly not understand the danger of “mixed pelts” in the wild?
By doing that, was she not effectively strapping an enormous thunderbolt to her own niece’s back, one that could explode at any moment?
Most crucial of all, those two wagons of pelts had clearly been the source used to draw the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes, because Chen Guan had sensed the apes’ aura within them.
One coincidence was one thing, but when several piled up in a row, it became impossible not to think more deeply.
Yet after carefully considering the past Luo Li had just described, Chen Guan again felt that Su Yue was too ordinary. She simply did not seem like someone who could hire a Demon King from within the Ten Directions Marsh.
Could it be... that those two wagonloads of pelts had been quietly switched out somewhere along the road without anyone noticing?
But then again, who could have done such a thing right under Chen Guan’s nose?
After thinking about it for a while, Chen Guan still could not make sense of it, so he simply cast the whole mess aside.
Whether Su Yue had a problem or not, he only needed to deliver this girl safely to Shangjing City. Everything else had nothing to do with him.
As the little boat continued onward, Luo Li noticed that the farther they went, the wider the reed beds ahead became.
More and more green duckweed floated across the water, as though they had entered a boundless sea choked with aquatic weeds.
At last, she could not help asking,
“Brother Chen, where... where exactly are you taking me?”
Without even turning his head, Chen Guan merely replied with four words.
“Into the Shallow Reaches of the Ten Directions Marsh.”
“The Shallow Reaches of the Ten Directions Marsh?!”
Luo Li’s heart jolted.
The so-called “Shallow Reaches” lay another thousand li deeper into the Ten Directions Marsh proper!
If the routes they had taken until now could be compared to the beach at the edge of the sea, then the Shallow Reaches were the equivalent of truly stepping into deep water.
The dangers hidden there were completely unknown.
From childhood until now, she had never once heard of anyone who had truly entered the Shallow Reaches and still come back out alive!
If she had not known Chen Guan’s nature so well by now, she might almost have believed he was deliberately trying to get her killed.
Even so, she could not suppress the fear in her heart and pressed him again.
“Chen Guan, we’re only trying to get to Great Zhou’s capital. Why... why do we have to split from Luo Tong’s group and head all the way into the Shallow Reaches?”
Chen Guan turned around and rubbed his arm, gesturing as he did.
“Smell yourself.”
“Uh!” Luo Li froze, then instantly understood.
Her eyes widened. “You’re doing this to... evade the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes?”
But then she felt something was wrong with that explanation too. If they simply wanted to evade the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes, then should they not just leave the Ten Directions Marsh and run faster, until they broke out of the apes’ tracking range?
Why go deeper into an even more dangerous place instead?
“That’s enough. Just follow me and stop asking so many questions.”
Chen Guan sounded as though he could not be bothered explaining any further.
As soon as those words left his mouth, he opened the system’s 【Route Map】 again.
At once, a blue map appeared before his eyes, visible to him alone.
At the upper part of the map, the little blue point representing the boat they were riding was slowly drawing closer to a striking red marker.
That place was his destination for this journey—and the key to solving the mark on Luo Li’s body.
Earlier, the system had already given him the two most effective methods for removing the Grudge-Bearing Demon Ape’s mark:
Either slaughter them all;
or make them lift the mark of their own accord.
Killing them all was, for all practical purposes, an impossible task.
Because Chen Guan had a feeling that the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes they had encountered earlier were no more than one small offshoot of the race.
The true main force was very likely entrenched deep within the Ten Directions Marsh.
Unless he could go into the depths, find their king, and kill that king himself,
there was probably no chance of ever solving this mark.
Even if he did have the strength for it, he had no interest in wasting that kind of time.
That left only the lesser option: the second method.
He would find another king—one who stood on equal footing with the Grudge-Bearing Demon Ape King—and try to go through the back door, call in a favor, and use a little pull.
And the red mark on the map ahead was the dwelling place of just such a Demon King.
Very few in this world knew where that Demon King lived.
Even Chen Guan had only heard of it because the old Escort Master who had first brought him into the trade once told him the story while drunk, treating it like a tavern tale.
According to the legend, deep within the Shallow Reaches of the Ten Directions Marsh, a thousand li to the southwest, there lived a being known as “Granny Huai.”
A Demonic Being. A locust tree spirit that had cultivated for a thousand years.
Though her strength was not among the absolute top tier in the Ten Directions Marsh,
she was said to have excellent connections and to know quite a few powerful Demonic Beings and Fiendish Beings throughout the marsh.
Of course, that was only a legend.
But on the system map, Chen Guan had actually found a place within the Ten Directions Marsh named “Huai Blossom Hollow.”
Since the place name contained the word “huai blossom,” it had to be connected to a locust tree.
That alone proved the old legend had not arisen from nothing.
So he had decided to take a risk and see for himself.
If he could successfully resolve the mark on Luo Li’s body, that would naturally be ideal.
And even if he could not, then at least he would have satisfied one of his curiosities. He could treat it as a shortcut that helped him avoid the deathsworn chasing them—a single move with two gains.
...
Luo Li sat at the bow of the little boat, propping up her chin as sleepiness weighed on her.
In her daze, she remembered the sight of her little aunt sitting in the courtyard before their departure, mending clothes for her.
Sunlight had shone across Su Yue’s gentle face, yet her eyes had seemed strangely distant, fixed for a very long time on the window facing northeast.
“Little Aunt, what are you looking at?”
Su Yue had come back to herself and smiled. “Nothing. Just looking at the little birds in the tree.”
But Luo Li clearly remembered that there had not been any birds in the courtyard at all.
She also recalled catching sight of her little aunt burning something in the courtyard by chance a few years before.
The flames had licked at the paper, and through them she had vaguely seen the words “timing” and “interception.”
“Luo Li, there are some things... that you’ll understand once you’re older.”
At the time, Su Yue had only said that one line lightly before changing the subject.
Luo Li shook her head, casting those fragmentary memories out of her mind.
How could Little Aunt possibly want to harm her?
Impossible.
Then she turned to look at the man beside her, her eyes moving slightly as she wondered what he was thinking.
After a long while,
the cool reserve on her face slowly faded, replaced by a soft, adorable look.
...
This crude little boat drifted across the vast reed marsh for two full days and nights.
Of course, the journey across the water was hardly smooth. The boat was smashed apart three separate times by passing Water Demonic Beings.
But in the end, every one of those witless aquatic fiends was cut down beneath Chen Guan’s saber and became travel rations for the two of them.
After paying out two taels of silver in utter unwillingness, Luo Li had finally gotten to taste fish roasted by Chen Guan’s own hand.
And after that first taste, she was completely captivated by that crisp outside, tender inside, richly fragrant flavor.
She wanted more.
The problem was that this fellow was truly far too stingy!
For a single meal of roasted fish, he actually charged half a string of cash!
Half a string of cash was enough to support an ordinary family of three for half a year!
Just like that, after eating it four times, the two taels of private savings she had worked so hard to stash away were gone.
For that alone, she spent two whole days and nights cursing him in her heart for being a miser.
“Brother Chen, how much longer until we get there? My legs are numb from sitting.”
Seated in the little boat, Luo Li let out a long sigh.
“Soon.”
Chen Guan turned his head and glanced at the girl.
All along the journey, she had worn a cool and distant manner. But ever since boarding this little boat, she seemed to have changed into someone else entirely.
She had become a gentle, adorable little girl next door.
And from time to time, she even tried acting cute with him.
The corner of Chen Guan’s mouth twitched, and then his gaze locked tightly ahead.
Because the boundless reed beds before them had finally come to an end.
A moment later, shaded green trees came into view, with the occasional wildflower blooming across the grass between them.
These were not towering ancient trees like the ones deep in remote mountain forests. Instead, they looked more like rows upon rows of trees that had been deliberately planted and carefully pruned, with an unmistakable air of daily life hanging over the whole place.
Of course, the Ten Directions Marsh was no human territory.
“If humans didn’t plant them, then they were planted by spirits among the Demonic Beings,” Chen Guan thought, his eyes gleaming with delight. “This trip wasn’t wasted after all.”