[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 88
The child in white finally couldn’t hold back any longer, “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have taken it! I should have let you all burn to death!”
His outburst confirmed Shiliu’s guess.
“So that’s it! The places where you picked up the balls didn’t catch fire, only the ones you missed. That’s why the city has such a strange fire pattern.” Shiliu’s eyes lit up as she clapped her hands.
Realizing she had tricked him into talking, the child in white grew even angrier, puffing his cheeks and refusing to speak another word.
After that, no matter how Shiliu pressed him, the child remained silent. A flicker of impatience crossed Li Xuanci’s brow, and he raised his still-dripping sword, its edge gleaming ominously in the darkness.
Seeing the shadow loom over her, Shiliu, who was crouching on the ground, turned around like a radish stuck in its patch and wrapped her arms around Li Xuanci’s leg, urgently pleading, “I’ll definitely make him talk! Just give me another chance!”
She simply couldn’t bear to watch such a young child suffer before her eyes.
Li Xuanci looked down at Shiliu clinging to his robes like a decorative accessory, his expression unreadable. He let her hold on for a moment before, under her increasingly anxious gaze, finally sheathed his sword.
Having placated the truly willful one, Shiliu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She turned back to the child in white, crouching to meet his eye level, and asked in a whisper only the two of them could hear, “I’ll only ask you one thing now. After I ask, I won’t let him bully you anymore. Otherwise, the fire might not finish burning, but you’ll bleed out first.”
“Was this fire destined to be unquenchable from the moment the red pellets were scattered?”
A trace of reluctance flickered in her eyes, her dark, bright pupils tinged with a faint layer of sorrow.
The child in white met her gaze. The undisguised compassion in her eyes crashed into his still-childish, bewildered ones. He shifted uncomfortably but finally gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Shiliu sighed softly and stood up, addressing the others, “This fire can’t be put out. We need to find a way to evacuate the entire city. It’ll be difficult, but no one knows how far this fire will spread.”
He Chong looked worried. “That might be hard. Although there’s already a fire in the city, convincing everyone to abandon their homes won’t be easy. Plus, all our belongings were left at the inn—probably burned to ashes by now. Without any proof, it’ll be hard to pressure the authorities to handle this.”
Shiliu’s face wrinkled with worry, resembling a little steamed bun pinched in the middle. But she was like a charred bun, smudged with soot here and there, putting on an expression of deep suffering that made one’s laughter catch in their throat, unable to be coughed up or swallowed down.
Li Xuanci saw right through her thoughts and sneered, “Did a cat steal your courage?”
Then, he turned with his sword and left.
Shiliu was momentarily stunned, then quickly asked her senior brother and Jin Zhan to look after the child in white before hurrying after him.
They returned shortly after. Li Xuanci’s face still bore traces of blood, while Shiliu followed behind him, looking as pale as a ghost.
He Chong, seeing this, quietly asked Shiliu how it went when she drew near. Shiliu looked speechless for a long moment before finally spitting out a few words, “It’s settled.”
But the method had been utterly brutal.
They went to find the firefighters, and sure enough, the county magistrate had arrived from the government office to take charge. Without a single word, Li Xuanci went straight up and held his sword to the neck of the elderly magistrate, nearly scaring the old man out of his wits.
He didn’t give him a chance to lose control, either, directly ordering the authorities to evacuate the citizens—or else he would cut off the magistrate’s head and toss it into the fire to burn to ashes.
The poor magistrate, upon hearing this, was too terrified even to wet himself.
Shiliu knew Li Xuanci was fully capable of following through. Frantic, she rushed forward, claiming to be a Daoist from the Zhenyi Sect passing through. She explained that by observing the celestial signs, terrain, and fire, they had discerned that this fire was exceptionally strange and impossible to guard against. Thus, they had resorted to this drastic measure to prevent greater losses.
She also stealthily leaned close to the firefighter’s ear and whispered that the swordsman was her shidi, who had taken the wrong elixir, cultivated improperly, and gone mad. Yet, he possessed immense strength and was hard to control. If they didn’t obey him, the situation might become irreparable.
The firefighters were half-convinced, half-doubting, but Li Xuanci grew visibly impatient, on the verge of slitting the magistrate’s throat. The magistrate, who had been scholarly and proper most of his life, let out a shriek worthy of a slaughtered pig, so they had no choice but to comply and send people to evacuate the citizens.
After the firefighters dispersed, Li Xuanci tossed down the threat, “You have one incense stick’s time. If the evacuation isn’t complete, I’ll feed your head to the dogs.”
Then, he dumped the terrified magistrate on the ground, picked up Shiliu, lightly tapped his toes, and flew away, leaving the others unable to catch up.
This entire experience was something Shiliu truly didn’t know how to explain to her senior brother in detail, so she could only conclude it with “It’s settled.”
Having done all they could, the group couldn’t find a place to rest and had to temporarily settle under a few large trees in an open area.
They finally found three large banyan trees. He Chong used a spell to bind himself and the child in white together. Jin Zhan dutifully stood by his prince’s side. Seeing this, Shiliu automatically moved toward another tree.
Jin Zhan was standing properly when he looked up and caught his master’s inscrutable gaze, cold enough to feel like it was carving him out.
He initially wanted to explain that he intended to keep watch under the tree, but after glancing at Shiliu in the distance—spread-eagled, butt sticking out, getting ready to climb the middle tree—he instantly understood and voluntarily walked over.
He unceremoniously plucked the happily climbing “Brother Shiliu” from the tree, then scampered up the middle banyan tree faster than a monkey, his resolute face hidden among the uneven banyan leaves.
It’s my duty to share my master’s burdens.
Left speechless under the tree, Shiliu thought, This… is just too obvious.
But her ears burned with honesty.
Anyway, I’m being forced over. It’s not like I want to.
Shiliu walked toward Li Xuanci with red ears, thinking exactly that.