Chapter 37: Mountain Path

After taking off his clothes, Li Si prepared to sleep. Having checked under the bed earlier, he felt much more at ease.

“Dong—Dong!”

“Dong—Dong!”

“Dong—Dong!”

A series of night watchman’s calls came, along with his shout: “The weather is dry, be careful with fire and candles!”

Hearing the sound, Li Si knew what time it was now, about 7 o’clock. Sleepiness came over him, and soon he fell asleep.

After he fell asleep, a pair of boots slowly appeared from the eaves, followed by the figure of the man in the red jacket. His mouth split open, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.

The man in the red jacket crept into the bedroom and stood by Li Si’s bedside, staring at him with bloodshot eyes. His face gradually became ferocious, and saliva slowly dripped from the corners of his mouth onto the floor.

This went on for about half an hour, then a sound came from outside.

“Dong—Dong!”

“Dong—Dong!”

“Dong—Dong!”

Another series of night watchman’s calls came, with his shout from afar: “The weather is dry, be careful with fire and candles.”

Hearing the night watchman’s voice outside, the ferocious expression on the red-jacketed man’s face gradually calmed. He slowly walked to Li Si’s side, tucked him in with the blanket, as if caring for a loved one.

Then he passed through the wall and disappeared.

Li Si, lying on the bed, seemed to feel a bit hot. His brows furrowed slightly as he turned over, pressing the blanket under his body. Immediately feeling more comfortable, his furrowed brows relaxed.

The night passed without incident.

In the early morning, a knocking sound came, along with Luo Ye’s voice: “Young Master Li, are you up yet?”

Woken by the noise, Li Si looked at the window and saw it was still pitch dark. He called out to Luo Ye outside, “Wait a moment, I’ll be up right away.”

As he spoke, he put on his clothes and walked out, opening the door.

Outside the door stood Luo Ye in tight-fitting clothes, holding a lantern, though it wasn’t lit.

“Brother Luo, so early?” Li Si yawned, looking at Luo Ye helplessly.

“It’s not early, it’s almost the Hour of the Tiger(03–05 am)” Luo Ye said nervously, glancing left and right occasionally.

Li Si inwardly sighed. Almost the Hour of the Tiger meant it wasn’t even 3 AM yet, and he had come so early.

“Brother Luo, come in. I’ll wash up, and we’ll leave after that,” he led Luo Ye into the house, then went to wash up.

“Young Master Li, there’s no rush. Take your time,” Luo Ye forced a smile, standing aside waiting for him.

While rinsing his mouth, Li Si secretly rolled his eyes. If there was no rush, why come looking for him before the Hour of the Tiger?

It’s worth noting that the Wei Dynasty had a curfew. If caught out before the Hour of the Tiger, one would be whipped thirty times.

Only after the Hour of the Tiger were people allowed to travel.

After rinsing his mouth, Li Si quickly packed the food, straw rain cape, change of clothes, and earthen jar he had prepared into a book box.

After some thought, he went to the study to take down the Black Sword and tied it to the book box.

Having quickly packed everything, Li Si shouldered the book box and prepared to leave with Luo Ye.

“Wait a bit longer, Young Master Li,” Luo Ye nervously stopped him.

Li Si was confused and was about to ask why he was stopping him from leaving when a sound came.

“Dong—Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!”

“Gong announcement, early to bed and early to rise!” The night watchman’s shout carried far in the night.

Li Si immediately understood. Luo Ye was waiting for the curfew to be lifted before leaving. He also realized that Luo Ye had timed it almost perfectly, arriving at his place just as the curfew was ending.

“It’s the Hour of the Tiger now, Young Master Li. Let’s go,” Luo Ye said apologetically, taking out his fire striker, blowing on it a few times to ignite it, then using the flaming striker to light the lantern.

After they walked out of the house, Li Si turned to lock the door. At this moment, Luo Ye’s face showed a hesitant expression as he said uncertainly, “Young Master Li, have you thought it through? Going into the mountains is too dangerous.”

Li Si looked into Luo Ye’s eyes and said calmly, “Brother Luo, I’ve made up my mind.”

Seeing Li Si’s seriousness, Luo Ye shook his head and sighed, then said, “Then let’s go.”

With that, he walked towards the city gate, with Li Si following behind.

At this moment, it was no different from the dark of night, very quiet. There was no one else on the street, just the two of them walking.

When they reached the city gate, it was just slowly opening. Some vegetable farmers hurrying to the early market entered the city carrying baskets on their backs.

Among them, Li Si and Luo Ye stood out, as they were the only ones leaving the city.

Occasionally, farmers who recognized Li Si would greet him, and Li Si would politely return the greeting.

After leaving the city gate, the two headed southeast, soon reaching the edge of the mountains.

Luo Ye led Li Si to find a small mountain path. After walking along this path for nearly an hour, Luo Ye abandoned the relatively easy path and chose a more remote mountain trail.

This trail led continuously upwards, very steep. Sometimes they had to grab onto trees to maintain balance and avoid falling.

Luo Ye explained that this small path could get them to that cliff faster. Li Si didn’t say anything, just gritted his teeth and kept up with Luo Ye’s pace.

After walking on this steep mountain path for some time, the sky gradually brightened. The two were getting hungry and stopped to eat some dry rations.

“Young Master Li, if we take this mountain path, we can reach the vicinity by noon today,” Luo Ye said while eating dry rations.

“Alright,” Li Si replied, panting. During this time, he had been practicing the “Mystic Tortoise Record”, and although his body hadn’t become much stronger, it was no longer the sickly body from before. However, after nearly three hours of mountain trekking, he was still somewhat exhausted.

After all, the original owner’s physical foundation was what it was, and it couldn’t become strong all at once.

After finishing the dry rations, the two set off again. Finally, when the sun was at its zenith at noon, Luo Ye and Li Si arrived at a large blue rock.

At this point, Luo Ye stopped, staring blankly into the distance, motionless.

Li Si also noticed Luo Ye’s unusual behavior and stopped, following Luo Ye’s gaze into the distance. The sun was blazing at this time, making his vision a bit blurry. He walked to Luo Ye’s side to look, and saw a large tree growing alone on a cliff face in the distance, with a body hanging from it.

This tree was the only one on the cliff face, with no other trees around to obstruct the view, so one could see at a glance that there was a body hanging there, swaying back and forth.

“This monster tiger, it has truly become a spirit,” Luo Ye said, his eyes reddening, his teeth chattering slightly.

Indeed, this tiger could even use ropes to tie a person’s neck and hang them on that tree. This was not something an ordinary tiger could do.