Chapter 53: The Dragons and Serpents Have Awakened from Hibernation

Zhou Lu'er did not hesitate at all, saying happily, "Because I'm going to meet up with my family. If I don't change my name, Brother Fifteen says I won't have a good end."

"You're meeting your family? What kind of family?" Chen Tu narrowed his eyes, immediately sensing that this matter was definitely not simple.

Youzhou!

Heading to Chang'an, yet making a detour to Youzhou.

"Is your family from Youzhou?"

"Should be, and they aren't just any ordinary people." Zhou Lu'er was thoroughly honest, saying with a cheeky grin, "Brother Fifteen said our travel pass will be sorted out by my family. It's just that some people in my family might not be very good people, so I must absolutely not talk nonsense."

"Your travel pass was arranged by your family?"

Chen Tu gasped inwardly.

Pei Yunqun had offered to help Gu Liubai obtain a travel pass on multiple occasions, but had been politely refused.

Gu Liubai was a man who always planned thoroughly before making a move; the travel pass he wanted definitely had to withstand strict scrutiny, and the processing had to be done without anyone keeping a close watch.

What kind of family background was this?

How could it be connected to this skinny monkey?

"Right, once we reach Longlezi Town, I'll have to change my name too. Brother Fifteen said my surname will be Zou, the Zou with the ear radical on the side. My given name will be Zou Jianan, though my nickname will still be Lu'er. Anyway, Zhou and Zou sound pretty much the same, so you guys won't find it strange," Zhou Lu'er said with a grin. He genuinely loved chatting with people.

"The Zou with the ear radical?" Chen Tu's expression suddenly shifted.

"Brother Chen, why does your look seem off? You look like you ate something bad," Zhou Lu'er said, somewhat startled by his expression. "If you need to relieve yourself, please don't do it in the carriage."

"Who ate something bad?!"

Chen Tu looked at Zhou Lu'er, feeling only that the whole thing was absurd.

"Are you sure your Brother Fifteen told you it's the Youzhou Zou clan?"

"That's right, that's exactly what Brother Fifteen said."

...

Chen Tu fell silent.

Actually, upon reflection, only that Zou clan in Youzhou could possibly manage to secure the kind of travel pass Gu Fifteen needed.

The Youzhou Zou clan... a family of utter loyalty, a lineage that had produced two Imperial Censors. Even if none of them were currently serving as officials in Chang'an, every single official from the Censorate passing through Youzhou would first pay a visit to the Zou residence.

Those Censorate officials, who usually dared to argue fiercely with the Emperor, held the Zou family in absolute reverence, and many of them were disciples or grand-disciples of the two great lords of the Zou family.

Although the members of the Zou family no longer entered official service and had long since become a wealthy merchant household, they still received imperial rewards and were treated with exceptional regard by the officials of Chang'an. As far as Chen Tu knew, even the Xie clan of Chenjun might not necessarily surpass the Youzhou Zou clan in many aspects.

Zhou Lu'er?

Looking at the carefree, heart-dense Zhou Lu'er before him, Chen Tu doubted whether the boy even had the slightest inkling of the Zou family's true weight.

"Listen to me, Zhou Lu'er, once we arrive at Longlezi Town, you really need to change... and absolutely must not talk nonsense anymore."

For the first time, Chen Tu agreed one hundred percent with Gu Liubai's words.

"That goes without saying," Zhou Lu'er said with a grin. "I definitely have to listen to Brother Fifteen, because those who don't listen to Brother Fifteen usually end up getting buried very soon."

...

"Zhou Lu'er, what kind of person is He Heluo?" Chen Tu thought of Gu Liubai's ultimate trump card—He Heluo, who was lying in ambush atop the city gate tower to assassinate the Tubo leader, Zan Zhuo.

"Brother Heluo? I don't know him all that well." Zhou Lu'er figured that once he reached Longlezi Town, he wouldn't be able to speak freely anymore, so he seized the time to chat. "I only know he was saved by Brother Fifteen's mother, rescued right out of a wolf's den, almost eaten by wolves. When they got him out, one of his arms was completely gone. I heard Brother Fifteen say that he used to follow some monk, but somehow ended up in a wolf's den, and who knows what happened with that monk. Also, He Heluo is terrifyingly strong."

"He used to follow a monk, and he's terrifyingly strong?" Chen Tu immediately wondered if it had anything to do with the Buddhist sect techniques Gu Liubai practiced.

"Oh right, his head is also extremely hard." Unexpectedly, Zhou Lu'er added another detail.

Chen Tu paused. "How hard?"

Zhou Lu'er smiled broadly and said, "He can headbutt a millstone and shatter it into pieces."

"??"

Chen Tu stared blankly for a moment. "How thick and big of a millstone?"

"This big, this thick, the kind used for grinding beans," Zhou Lu'er gestured with his hands.

Looking at the thickness of the millstone Zhou Lu'er was demonstrating, Chen Tu fell into deep contemplation once again.

"He shattered a millstone that thick, and his head is fine?"

"Totally fine, not even a patch of skin broken. Right after, he went and chewed down two flatbreads."

"Then why did he headbutt a millstone?"

"Well, there was a group of horse bandits around Loulan. Back then, I didn't know Brother Fifteen yet. They had a disagreement in words and wanted to bully Brother Heluo. One of them was actually quite fierce and kicked a millstone flying from way off. Brother Heluo didn't dodge, and the millstone smashed right against his head and shattered, while he was completely unharmed. After that, those people suddenly became very polite when they spoke. Later, those folks did business with Brother Fifteen, got along quite well, and often sent a sheep or two for Brother Fifteen to eat."

Chen Tu fell silent once more.

Could they *not* be polite?

Having a massive stone millstone smash into one's skull, only for the skull to remain intact while the millstone shattered—what kind of tyrannical martial art was that?

With that kind of internal Qi cultivation, how many people in the current world could compare?

That horse bandit who could send a heavy stone millstone flying far away with a single kick—judging by Zhou Lu'er's description, that person's martial prowess was at least superior to his own.

"Then did you learn any formidable tricks?" Chen Tu suddenly snapped back to reality and looked at Zhou Lu'er.

The carefree Zhou Lu'er instantly turned gloomy. "I didn't learn a single formidable trick. Brother Fifteen said I'm not allowed to learn any fighting methods."

While they were talking, Chen Tu was suddenly startled. Zhou Lu'er casually pulled something out from his bosom to play with while chatting—which, damn it, was obviously a snake, and a highly venomous one at that.

"In the dead of winter, where on earth did you get a snake?!"

When Chen Tu clearly saw the patterns on the snake's body, his expression changed completely. "You've been keeping it warm inside your clothes this whole time? What happens when it thaws out and bites you to death?"

"I pulled its fangs out, so it's fine." Zhou Lu'er smiled cheerfully as he teased the snake, whose tail rattled. "Originally, I wanted to warm it up so I could scare the Tubo people, but I didn't end up needing it. Look, it's quite fun."

"You damn well play with snakes! Stay away from me." Chen Tu lost all inclination to pry any more information out of Zhou Lu'er; he was convinced there must be something wrong with the boy's head.

Yet Zhou Lu'er looked at Chen Tu's reaction and thought the man was truly lacking in worldly experience.

What was wrong with playing with snakes? These creatures weren't scary at all; as long as you were familiar with their temperament, it was simpler than anything else.

The only downside was that these creatures couldn't chat with him.

...

The regions inside and outside the Pass were starkly different.

Guarded by fortresses and protected by garrisons, the border towns of the Great Tang bore no resemblance to the chaotic lands outside the Pass.

Even the copper coins used were different.

Whether stepping out through Yangguan or Yumenguan, along the trade routes leading to the Uyghurs, Tianzhu, Persia, and even further places whose very names were unknown, the copper coins most widely accepted were Uyghur currency.

This directly reflected the fact that the Uyghurs held the greatest power outside the Pass at present.

Yet even in a border post like Longlezi Town, which was not particularly far from Yangguan, the absolute currency of choice was the Great Tang's Kaiyuan Tongbao.

Ordinarily, Longlezi Town did not receive many guests. A private courier station named the Longlezi Post House had, however, begun meticulously cleaning its guest rooms a few days prior because a party of travelers had yet to arrive, yet had already sent ahead enough Kaiyuan Tongbao to book the entire post house for half a month.

Three days ago, the guests arrived. The dozen or so carriages looked ordinary at first glance, but the materials used for them differed from those of standard carriages, and small characters reading "Harmony Brings Wealth" were carved onto the carriage bodies.

The distinguished guests who had booked the post house also possessed a demeanor entirely distinct from ordinary folk; as they came and went, they frequently distributed bountiful rewards, and even many of their daily utensils had been brought along with the carriages. If there was anything that made the master of the post house feel uneasy, it was that these esteemed guests were excessively solemn and hardly ever spoke to anyone.

They didn't seem particularly "harmonious" at all.

Just like tonight, these distinguished guests gave no word on whether they were heading out on business or leaving the inn for good. All the carriages seemed to be heading toward the northwest of Longlezi Town. The innkeeper had kindly reminded them that the area used to be a battlefield where the border army and some bandits had once fought a fierce engagement—not only was there no scenery to speak of, but it was also exceptionally prone to evil influences. However, his kind warning had only been met with a cold, stern rebuke telling him not to meddle in other people's business.

Having offered warm hospitality only to be met with a cold rebuff, the innkeeper naturally swallowed his words about how malevolent the spiritual energy was there, how prone it was to hauntings, and how heavily infested it was with wild dogs.

That place was called Wild Dog Ridge.

Nestled between several earthen mounds lay a vast, open expanse of wasteland.

Before the caravan, which had stayed at the Longlezi Post House for three days, arrived, a bonfire had already been lit in the wasteland.

Eight carriages were gathered in a cluster, the bonfire sitting some thirty to forty paces away from them.

The fierce wild dogs that the innkeeper had wanted to warn them about had already been slaughtered by the numbers, and He Heluo was currently roasting them over the open fire.

Watching He Heluo skillfully butcher a dog with just one hand—skinning it, removing the internal organs, and washing it clean—Chen Tu couldn't help but ask, "Do you eat dog meat?"

He Heluo replied, "I do."

Chen Tu thought for a moment and asked, "Then why didn't you eat mutton that time at Mianbai Slope?"

He Heluo answered, "Mutton is gamey; dog meat is fragrant."

Seeing He Heluo's expressionless demeanor and his reluctance to waste a single word, Chen Tu felt that chatting with him was far less entertaining than watching Zhou Lu'er play with snakes.

Thus, he turned his head toward Gu Liubai, whose single hand was wrapped in bandages like a rice dumpling. "Gu Fifteen, the wild dogs around here all have red eyes when they see people; I'm afraid they've all eaten human flesh."

Gu Liubai smiled and said, "Dogs also eat shit."

Chen Tu instantly lost his composure. "If you're going to say things like that, how is anyone supposed to eat dog meat anymore?"

Zhou Lu'er eagerly scurried over, a trail of crystal-clear snot hanging from his nose. "Brother Chen, how about I roast a snake for you to eat?"

"Get lost, get lost, get lost..."

The germophobic Chen Tu felt completely on the verge of breakdown just watching Zhou Lu'er pull that snake out of his bosom.