The Unruly Immortals

On the left side of the room stood a Spirit Tablet Tower surrounded by white candles. Each spirit tablet was placed within a niche cabinet, and white couplets hung on either side of the tower. The first couplet read: Rituals Follow Ancestral Order; the second: Maintain Human Relations.

The grandeur of the surrounding decorations and the abundance of offerings made it evident that this place was of a much higher status than the ones before. Given Wang Changxu's presence here, his status in the Bright Wheel Hall was clear.

However, at this moment, there was no trace of happiness on Zhuge Yuan's face. He stood stupefied, two feet away, staring motionlessly at the item on the third offering to the left.

It was an animal head; to be precise, it was a head of an Evil Spirit—a cunning, malicious head.

The reason Zhuge Yuan could identify it so clearly was that back in the village, the grandmother who occasionally gave him meat to eat was one of these cunning creatures.

The beast's face from the past was always so kind and amiable, yet at this moment, it looked remarkably fierce and controllable.

Zhuge Yuan extended his hand to pick up the cunning creature's head, gently cradling it in his arms as he looked at the other offerings on the table.

Before long, he saw other familiar faces from the village. In a place like this, those familiar faces only made him feel a chill rather than any warmth.

"Zhuge Little Brother, what are you standing there for? Come quickly, this place isn't safe to linger." In the distance, Li Jinshu called out to Zhuge Yuan.

With a very complex expression, Zhuge Yuan walked over. "Brother Li, I know humans and Evil Spirits don't coexist, but why place these heads here? Do they serve some special purpose?"

While lighting incense, Li Jinshu was somewhat taken aback by the question, "Placing them here serves no other purpose than to show respect to the ancestors."

"But can't other things be placed instead? They all have consciousness and can speak,"

"Precisely because they have spiritual sense, that's why they're placed here. If they didn't, they wouldn't be qualified to be here."

"But... why?" Zhuge Yuan's eyes were filled with bitterness.

"There aren't so many whys, it's just the rules of the hall."

"But....." Before Zhuge Yuan could finish, suddenly, from the pile of spirit tablets, a skinny hand with a whistling sound gripped Li Jinshu's face, dragging him towards the pile of tablets.

Seeing him about to be pulled into the pile, Zhuge Yuan quickly took a few steps forward, forcefully grabbing Li Jinshu's arm and pulling him back.

At this critical moment, a third hand of Li Jinshu holding a pen tainted with green ink emerged.

As he lifted the pen, he quickly wrote a character on the back of his head. Starting at the center with a vertical stroke, turning to the right, intersecting, and then swiftly flicking upwards, the monstrous hand immediately released his face.

Dragge by Zhuge Yuan, Li Jinshu took two steps back, looking in terror at the pile of spirit tablets. "Elder Li, what was that?"

"I don't know either; it wasn't here before. The hand was warm, it looked alive."

But before they could take any action, the monstrous hand emerged again from the pile of spirit tablets, and this time it wasn't just one hand, but dozens of them. As the white couplets on either side swayed, the pile of spirit tablets seemed to come to life.

"Go! Something's wrong! Let's get out of here first!" Li Jinshu was about to turn around, but hands extended from above and below, forming a wall that blocked his path.

Seeing the situation deteriorating, Li Jinshu, with a serious expression, took out his pen with his three hands and began writing an incantation on the ground around him.

The spell was spirally arranged and carved deeply, growing larger as he continued.

A whistling sound erupted as the hand wall began pressing down on them.

Li Jinshu immediately grasped the edge of the spiral spell with three hands, tugging it into the air and slamming it down hard at the center. The spiral instantly flew over, imprinting on the hand wall.

The spiral incantation, accompanied by the sound of chanting, spun rapidly, drilling a hole through the flesh-and-blood wall.

But before they could celebrate, more hands stretched out, blocking their way once again.

Grinding his teeth, Li Jinshu picked up his pen again to draw against these hands. Although trying his best, it was obvious he wasn't a match for these supernatural hands, and soon the situation became precarious.

Zhuge Yuan wanted to help but found himself inadequate in such a chaotic situation. His meager skills were no match here, and his eyes filled with anxiety.

Seeing two of Li Jinshu's three pens already seized, Zhuge Yuan quickly looked around, then resolutely turned and rushed towards the pile of spirit tablets behind him.

"What are you doing back there? Don't go courting death!"

Just as Li Jinshu finished his warning, Zhuge Yuan reached the spirit tablets. He swiftly searched among the offerings.

As two hands grabbed his arms, threatening to tear him apart, Zhuge Yuan's eyes suddenly brightened, and he immediately picked up a large Evil Spirit beast head from the offerings.

With both hands holding the beast head aloft, he swung it forcefully. As the beast's left tusk sliced through an arm, the arm shriveled and turned black. As the right tusk passed through another arm, it flipped the flesh inside out, severing bone and muscle.

By using the power of the Evil Spirit head, Zhuge Yuan resolved his crisis.

He quickly picked a few more things, and took two long-haired snake heads from the offerings, hanging them on his sleeves, rushing towards the struggling Li Jinshu.

With the snake heads hanging from each side, his speed increased significantly. Perhaps he wasn't knowledgeable about many things, but he knew plenty about the various abilities of Evil Spirits.

Zhuge Yuan, with the beast head in hand, maneuvered nimbly amidst the swirling mass of monstrous hands, darting left and right.

With the beast head's hair and the snake heads' long hair fluttering, Zhuge Yuan moved like a lion dancing on high poles, flashing, pouncing, spinning, and leaping.

The monstrous hands extending from the spirit tablets had no defense against the beast's tusks and were quickly vanquished by Zhuge Yuan.

In no time, Zhuge Yuan, dragging Li Jinshu along, broke through the encirclement of monstrous hands and returned to the wall of heads. They had managed to escape.

Seeing the arms emerging swiftly from the head wall's gaps in relentless pursuit, Zhuge Yuan and Li Jinshu immediately pressed their hands against the wooden door, giving it a forceful push.

With a loud "bang," the door swung open, and outside stood an elder with a nonchalant yet commanding presence, instantly dispelling the tense atmosphere inside the room. Both the monstrous hands and Zhuge Yuan, along with Li Jinshu, froze at the spot.

"Put them back." With a gentle command from the leading elder in robes, Li Jinshu hastily took the snake heads and beast head from Zhuge Yuan, respectfully placing them back on the offering table.

"Ridiculous!" An angry rebuke, as heavy as Mount Tai, enveloped them, and Zhuge Yuan exerted all his strength to avoid kneeling down.

"Master Ancestor, I realize my mistake. I brought him here; this matter has nothing to do with him." Li Jinshu, straightforwardly, knelt and bowed.

Heavy footsteps sounded as the elder with white hair and beard stepped forward, lighting incense before the spirit tablets.

He didn't pay attention to the kneeling Li Jinshu but focused instead on Zhuge Yuan.

"Young man, not bad. Do you know that today's commoners' dragon and lion dances originate from the ancients who, like you, used Evil Spirit heads to defeat enemies?"