The Unruly Immortals

This drawn-out invocation of the divine once spoken, the surroundings immediately fell silent.

Soon after, the great deity began chanting the Soldier-Supporting Decree, unlike Li Zhi's shouting style of chant, hers was fast and hurried.

"Boom, boom, boom! The sun sets over the western hills, darkness falls! Every household bolts their doors! Boom, boom, boom!

Traveling gentlemen rush to the inns, birds flee to the forests, tigers return to the mountains..."

Accompanied by the drumbeats, Bai Lingmiao's body began to tremble and hiccup. The red veil over her head shook like a waterfall's cascade.

Her body gradually hunched over, and something resembling the contours of wild animal skulls caused the red veil to bulge.

"Today the disciple summons the celestial child; the ill fortune resides right within this house."

"Southerly physicians prove ineffective; northerly monks and nuns lack success."

"Little can be done in many situations; thus, the ancient immortal is beseeched for help."

"Yin and yang align with the eight characters, threading through the seven orifices and twelve meridians."

"Inspecting each of the five organs and six entrails, troubling the ancient immortal to clarify..."

With the rhythmic drumming, Bai Lingmiao began to move towards the inside of the house.

Feeling someone approaching, the woman's eyes, hidden by white hair, showed a frightened look.

The next second, that fear transformed into an extreme hatred, "Give me back my son!!"

She opened her arms to pounce, but her body was bound by chains and she did not succeed. She remained stiff there, tensely strained.

A slender, beast-like snout under Bai Lingmiao's red veil bulged, sniffing incessantly towards the old woman, with low growls of a wild animal continuously coming from below.

"My child~!!" The old woman's expression turned from hatred to pleading, "My child, it's mother's fault, it's all mother's fault!!"

The red veil retracted rapidly from underneath, and then began to tremble again; a tail grew from the hem of Bai Lingmiao's garment, while the great deity outside changed to a different proclamation.

"Human souls return to human bodies, horse souls stay with horses."

"With the true soul, humans eat well; horses with true soul gallop joyfully."

"An Eight Immortals table set upon the ground, celestial banners and starry flags raised above."

Five-colored banners, five-colored flags, red, white, green, blue!"

With the drumbeats, Bai Lingmiao began to circle the old woman, stepping methodically, with paper banners folded from yellow paper being planted into the dry grass on the ground.

At this, the old woman suddenly became still, her body fell sharply to the ground, trembling incessantly, her expression filled with agony.

Watching this scene, Zhao Qin outside the door felt a great deal of heartache, but with the current situation, he dared not interrupt rashly.

Then the drumbeat quickened, and seven lit sticks of Purple Incense appeared in Bai Lingmiao's hands.

The smoking tips of the incense sticks pointed down, thrust directly down the old woman's throat.

"Hiss~" A collective intake of breath could be heard outside the house; the Bodyguards were all well-trained fighters who blinked not at common injuries, but this ordeal was almost too much even for them to bear.

"Ugh~" The old lady wanted to vomit but was covered by a red handkerchief over her face.

As everyone watched to see what Bai Lingmiao intended to do next, a deep voice echoed from afar.

"Xiaoman! Bai Lingmiao!" That was Li Huowang's voice.

The drumbeat suddenly became unstable, and the divine chant changed again.

"As you leave, I send you with three beats of the drum, to ascend to the ancient cave for Immortal Cultivation!"

"Across one ridge and then another, one mountain and then another!"

"Stop shouting curses and casting spells. If you don't leave now, I'll slap you! Bang bang bang!"

The drumming ceased, and the strange phenomena occurring to Bai Lingmiao immediately stopped.

Now back to normal, she clearly heard Li Huowang's voice, hastily removed the red cover from her head, and quickly stepped out of the house.

Snatching the drum from the deity's hands, she covered her head with the red cover again. Bai Lingmiao hurriedly approached Li Huowang, who was approaching with a large group of people.

"Brother Li, have you come down from the mountain? Have you finished your business?" she asked with a smile.

The attentive Lingmiao noticed that Brother Li now had two swords on his back.

"Yeah, almost done. I heard they said you came here to exorcise the evil spirit? How did it go? Have you finished?" Li Huowang said as he pulled Bai Lingmiao toward the crowd in the distance.

"Um... no, I thought she had collided with something else, but there was nothing. I've tried several methods, but I still don't know what's wrong with her."

By the time they returned to the house, Zhao Qin was carefully helping his wife stand up.

After softly calling her a few times with no response, Zhao Qin looked anxiously toward Bai Lingmiao.

"Miss, what exactly is happening to my wife now?!" he asked, his tone obviously irritated. However, that was natural, considering his wife had been tormented and was no different from before—it was natural for him to be upset.

Looking at the foolish appearance of the old woman and the tired expression on Li Huowang's face, he said to Bai Lingmiao, "Let's go. If she can't be cured, then let's not bother. We don't need that fifty patterned money."

"Wait!!" These two words burst out from Zhao Qin's mouth, and the people from the Escort Agency started to surround them with unfriendly looks in their eyes.

Li Huowang coldly watched everything happening before him, his hand slowly gripping the hilt of the sword behind him.

"Clang!" With an inch of the blade drawn from its sheath, everyone around felt their blood rushing as if they were in the center of a battlefield.

This unusual sensation turned Wang Chengxing's face pale instantly, realizing they were in big trouble.

Having been outside for many years, he had heard about a group of powerful individuals with unfathomable divine skills. It was hard to tell if these people were good or evil, and one had to be very cautious when encountering them; he feared they had now met these formidable people.

"Brother Li! Don't be like this, it's our fault..." Bai Lingmiao quickly grabbed Li Huowang's sleeve.

The sword blade returned to its sheath, and the indifferent Li Huowang turned to leave.

"Oh, my child... I am sorry…" At this voice, Li Huowang suddenly stopped and looked back at the old woman again.

Something about her seemed hauntingly familiar.

Seeing her hands bloody and mangled from the iron chains, a surge of unexplainable anger rose within him.

The old woman's expression changed again, and she grabbed Zhao Qin's neck with both hands. "Give me back my son! Give me back my son!!"

Li Huowang took the kid named Yang and walked over.

"I'll give him back! I'll give your son back!" He pushed Zhao Qin away and stuffed the dazed Yang into the old woman's arms.

From the moment she held Yang, the old woman suddenly calmed down, leaned in, and repeatedly stroked the boy's hair with her hand.

Li Huowang looked around the room with dissatisfaction in his tone, "Why are there no windows? Won't she be scared alone in the dark?"

Zhao Qin was momentarily confused as it all happened too quickly.

"My wife is already like this, why would she be afraid of the dark?"

Li Huowang drew another longsword and effortlessly cut the chains from the old woman's hands.

"Even if she is mad, it doesn't mean she feels nothing! She can still feel fear, she can still feel pain! She will feel lonely without anyone by her side!"

"Do you think she wants to be like this? She doesn't! But she truly can't help it!"