Li Tongya stayed in the county for several days and finally heard that the people from the Tang Jin Sect had withdrawn. Anxious and distressed, he bid farewell to the people of the Xiao Family, boarded a carriage, and returned home through the ancient Lidao Entrance across the Mushroom Forest Plain.
Li Tongya had no coachman, and being of peasant stock, he could not ride a horse, but he could manage an ox cart. He had no choice but to drive the ox cart home alone. After travelling on the ancient Lidao for an hour, he couldn't help but cover his nose.
"What a strong stench of the dead."
It had rained just the day before, and the corpses piled by the road had swollen and bloated from the water, their skin ballooning into large blisters of greenish-black. The flesh inside was decomposing, emitting a foul and overwhelming odor, which only intensified under the morning sun.
"This is truly sinful."
