The Unruly Immortals

Shivering from the cold, Scholar Lv was woken up. He looked groggily toward the campfire and noticed that Fire Heart was almost extinguished, prompting him to cast an annoyed glance at the dog boy responsible for night watch.

He saw the thin-faced, monkey-cheeked fellow nodding off, head drooping, clearly already asleep.

However, Scholar Lv didn't dare go over and scold him, as his father had already given him a heads-up.

These people were to be his future bodyguards. If he wanted to continue following them, he couldn't have any conflicts and needed to be cautious in his dealings with them.

With dissatisfaction plastered on his face, Scholar Lv got up, added enough wood to the fire, then crawled back under the covers.

But just as he had closed his eyes and hardly dozed off for a few seconds, he felt his father prodding him with a smoking pipe.

"Hey thin boy, quickly wake up and fetch water from the river. Dawn is breaking."

Scholar Lv let out a miserable cry and pulled the covers over his head with both hands.

The next second, the smoking pipe was no longer prodding but knocking.

"Get to it! All you ever do is eat and laze around! Do you want to be a layabout? Not even a layabout can afford a bride!"

The sun gradually rose, and everyone around slowly awoke.

Bai Lingmiao rubbed her eyes and propped herself up from the warm embrace of Chun Xiaoman, looking around.

When she still didn't see that familiar face, a hint of disappointment crossed her face.

She then looked far into the distance and saw those cloud-wreathed mountain peaks.

According to Master Jingxin, that was where Li Huowang was headed. If they didn't run into him along the way, they would have to go inquire in the mountains.

She pulled her feet out from under the covers and began to put on her shoes and socks. They had to continue on their journey and couldn't do so on an empty stomach.

Relying solely on ready meals and eating up the provisions would not do. They had to economize from various aspects, adding to their side dishes was one way; with more side dishes, they could consume less grain.

She, along with Chun Xiaoman and Top Scholar Lv's daughter-in-law, went into the woods to dig for wild vegetables.

At the turn of spring and summer, the forest was rich with wild greens. It wasn't long before Bai Lingmiao's basket was filled with Solomon's seal, wild scallions, and wood ear mushrooms.

They passed a patch of mushrooms but did not pick any.

After days of practice, Bai Lingmiao could basically identify the wild greens.

But with mushrooms, a mistake could be fatal—she didn't dare to pick them, even though these mushrooms looked normal and seemingly non-poisonous.

When she returned to the campfire with the washed vegetables, she saw the noodle fish had already been cooked by the conscientious Taoist Boy.

Lumps of dough, like tadpoles, tumbled around in the boiling water.

"Young Yang, let the adults handle this sort of thing," Bai Lingmiao said as she tore the gathered greens into the pot handful by handful.

"It's okay, Sister Bai, I like cooking. Hehe."

Wild vegetables cook quickly, and with the last spoonful of white lard melting into the pot, a bowl of satisfying wild vegetable noodle fish was ready.

A group of people began slurping their bowls noisily.

When they first came into contact, they cooked separately.

But after a few days, they found that doing so was too troublesome and time-consuming. Eventually, Top Scholar Lv suggested they simply share communal meals, with each side contributing a meal's worth of grain.

With a "slurp," Top Scholar Lv sucked a delicious noodle fish into his mouth while chewing, he asked, "Miss Bai, is the Taoist Master headed this way? We mustn't go the wrong way."

"There is no mistake, Master Jingxin said Brother Li could only have gone this way, and there are no other roads," Bai Lingmiao replied with firm conviction.

She was the first to notice something seemed off when Li Huowang left.

When Brother Li spoke to her, his face was no longer gloomy; instead, there was a sensation as if he had suddenly seen the light—an unsettling feeling that scared her every time she thought about it.

That was why she had quickly retraced their steps with the others in tow, yet ultimately they still hadn't encountered him.

Therefore, she led the Lv's Troupe they'd met by chance, heading in the direction where Li Huowang had departed. "Brother Li, please, you must be all right…"

"As long as he is fine, as long as he is fine, I was just casually asking," Top Scholar Lv flashed a smile.

Although he smiled, inside he couldn't help feeling anxious. His confidence in escaping the calamities of war rested on Li Huowang, yet after they met up, he discovered everyone was there except him.

After walking for such a long time without seeing his reliable bodyguard, he was truly concerned.

A large pot of vegetable and fish noodles was quickly finished, not even a bit of soup remained; it would have been too wasteful to pour it away since the soup had some oil in it.

Full and satisfied, they began to hit the road again.

Traveling was monotonous, and the day passed just like that. Aside from the distant mountains becoming clearer, there was no change.

The dimming light of the sky made Bai Lingmiao aware of what appeared to be lights on the distant mountains.

"Have the people on the mountain already seen Brother Li? Master said these people are very dangerous. Could Brother Li have fallen into danger?"

That evening, Bai Linmiao, using the light from the fire, took a needle and thread to her shoes; traveling every day, it was natural for shoes to wear out.

Aside from Zhao Wu who was keeping watch, the others were asleep. Compared to the daytime bustle, everything around them had quieted down.

"Zhijian, your shoes are also torn, take them off and let me mend them," Bai Lingmiao said to the big man gripping a metal rod.

"Umm… Umm… Stinky!" Gao Zhijian retracted his foot slightly.

"It's okay, take them off. Look, your toes are sticking out. If you don't mend them, the shoes will fall apart," she insisted.

After stuttering an excuse, just as he was awkwardly removing his shoes, he suddenly gripped the metal rod with both hands and let out a loud yell toward the right side of the forest.

His yell startled everyone awake, and once they recovered, they immediately understood why Gao Zhijian had done so.

From the pitch-black forest, a sound emerged, a crunching, gnawing sound accompanied by ghost-like moans.

In the woods at midnight, the emission of such two sounds instantly made everyone's skin crawl.

"This… Have we encountered it again? Why am I so unlucky this year! Again?" Top Scholar Lv complained bitterly, his face a picture of misery, as he pulled on his clothes.

Then, he turned to Bai Lingmiao and the others with a polite gesture, "Ladies and gentlemen, you're also junior brothers and sisters of the Taoist Master, given the situation, you should be able to handle it, right?"

No sooner had he spoken than the sound drew closer, closer as if just separated by a clump of bushes.

The atmosphere suddenly turned tense, and everyone picked up their weapons.

Suddenly, the bush rustled, and a woman wearing a red veil and colorful clothes emerged from within.

"My god!! A female ghost!!" Scholar Lv yelled, scrambling to hide under the carriage.

"What's going on? What is that thing?" Bai Lingmiao cautiously asked Second God.

Second God did not say anything but lifted his right hand with long black nails, continuously waving it to beckon Bai Lingmiao closer.