The Unruly Immortals

Li Huowang pulled the girl behind him and looked at Shou San, speaking every word deliberately, "Even if I die, I will never do such a thing!"

"Pfft~" A member of the Ao Jing Sect beside him couldn't help but let out a snicker. "Don't swear so mightily; you are Xinsu after all."

"What about being Xinsu? I may be crazy, but I'm not a beast without humanity like Master Danyang! I will never do something like he did!"

Shou San glared at the believer with a very unfriendly look. "Yan Liu, is this funny to you? Can't you restrain yourself in front of outsiders?"

The sect member seemed to want to say something, but quickly his facial features began to fuse together rapidly.

Not just his features, but also the gaps between his fingers and toes.

Before long, he had transformed into a worm, only capable of wriggling.

"Wrap him in a quilt, he is not to suffer any pain for a month."

Shou San was right; they were very good at healing.

No sooner had the man been carried away than Li Huowang, with a solemn expression, turned back to Shou San.

"Find me a place to stay in the cave; I'll figure out how to reach extreme pain on my own. Plus, I need this woman to serve me."

"Hmph, quite the tone you have there, I don't think you'll find any good method," Shou San said.

Despite saying this, Shou San agreed to Li Huowang's request and ordered his subordinates to arrange it.

Li Huowang was brought to a cave chamber that was neither too big nor too small. Although the walls were pitted and uneven, the cave was very well equipped with everything available, even a latrine.

And the girl from before was now silently following behind Li Huowang.

The curled-up Mantou crawled out from underneath Li Huowang's hem and ran into the cave, eagerly sniffing around.

Li Huowang, with a grave face, took off the Longsword from his back and placed it on the stone table inside the cave.

Although he had sworn confidently in front of Shou San, he had no clue how to achieve the extreme inner pain.

Without extreme pain, he couldn't summon Bahu.

If he couldn't meet the conditions of the Ao Jing Sect, they wouldn't help him eliminate Master Danyang. It seemed like a dead end.

Li Huowang paced continuously inside the cave, and as he did, his gaze fell on the girl at the entrance.

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Li Huowang's head.

He had an idea, realizing that some things didn't necessarily have to be done their way.

"Don't worry, with me here, they can't hurt you. Come here, I want to ask you some questions," Li Huowang patted the stone bench beside him,

But the girl standing at the entrance didn't come closer, instead she began to sob, her cries growing louder, as she slowly crouched down on the ground, trembling.

Listening to the endless sobs filled with injustice, Li Huowang let out a sigh.

It seemed she thought she was one of the Ao Jing Sect, but ended up being used as a tool and thrown out. It was natural for her to feel aggrieved, especially since she seemed so young.

Li Huowang walked over and helped her to the stone bench; looking at her choking back sobs, he persuaded her, "They don't see you as a human at all. Are you still planning on staying in this godforsaken place? You might as well help me. As long as you help me achieve my goal, I promise, if I can leave alive, I will never abandon you."

Hearing this, the sobbing girl's eyes showed deep confusion,

"After we get out, where else can I go? My home is gone... everything... is gone..."

"What happened to your home?" Li Huowang's voice became very gentle, he felt a profound empathy for the girl's current state.

"The town... down the mountain..."

Upon hearing these words, Li Huowang felt a tightness in his heart; this girl was probably one of the few survivors of that ruined, desolate town.

"My father, my mother... and my three older sisters and two younger brothers are all gone, they're all dead..." The girl lowered her head, while tears kept falling on her tightly clasped hands.

"What exactly happened to that town? Who or what destroyed the entire place?"

As soon as Li Huowang spoke, he instantly realized his mistake; bringing this up was like rubbing salt into her wounds.

"No place to go? No worries, just come with me. I've got lots of brothers and sisters, and we can all look for a way to survive together, then you can join us."

"Our group only has two girls, just too few, with more yang than yin. If you join, we'll have three, which might balance things out a bit."

After comforting her for a while and seeing her emotions stabilize, Li Huowang felt the atmosphere was right to ask, "How long have you been here?"

They didn't trust Li Huowang, and naturally he didn't trust them either.

Once bitten, twice shy, he did not want his experience at Zhengde Temple to be repeated. This time, Li Huowang was not planning to play by their rules.

If he could find a way to get the method to rid Master Danyang of the Ao Jing Sect, then there would be no need for any extreme pain, as he could deal with Master Danyang himself.

Hearing Li Huowang's words, the girl quietly nodded, still keeping her head low. "Four years..."

Seeing her start to talk, Li Huowang thought it best to proceed slowly and gradually.

"With so much time spent here, you must have learned a lot about this place, right? Can you tell me something? Anything will do."

The scarred hand kept twisting the hem of her garment. "The Ao Jing Sect, it originally was two sects, one worshiped the bull deity, the other Bahu..."

"Later on, the bull deity absorbed some of Bahu's power, and then the two sects merged..."

"Hmm? Is this a fact, or just speculation recorded in the scrolls of the Ao Jing Sect?"

At this moment, Li Huowang felt like he was listening to a mythical tale; the story felt very unreal to him.

"I don't know... I also heard it from others... When I came in, the two beliefs had already merged..."

The girl quietly lifted her head to glance at Li Huowang, then quickly lowered it again, not daring to meet his gaze.

"It's fine, keep talking, by the way, I haven't asked for your name yet."

"They... call me Ear Nine..."

Ear Nine, Shou San, and the earlier Yan Liu—why do all the members of the Ao Jing Sect have names consisting of human organs plus numbers?

Li Huowang found this a bit odd, it didn't sound like the Taoist names he was familiar with.

"What was your name before?"

"Jiang Yingzi..."

"Alright, from now on I'll call you Yingzi. In these four years, Yingzi, have you seen those people from the Ao Jing Sect heal others?"

Yingzi nodded lightly. "Yes... I've seen it a few times."

"Were they cured?"

"I suppose so, after all, they all left afterward."

"It sounds like these people really do have skills," Li Huowang thought to himself.

This was good news; at least they hadn't lied to him. The Ao Jing Sect did indeed likely have the ability to solve the issue with Master Danyang.

"Alright then, Yingzi, I have one more question. Besides the self-harming ritual of the 'Great Thousand Record,' does the Ao Jing Sect possess any other Cultivation Techniques or Divine Skills?"