The Unruly Immortals

The Border Pass at Siqi was upon them before they knew it.

Not entirely unexpected yet somehow still anticipated, the checkpoint was manned by soldiers, apparently to prevent spies from infiltrating.

The entire Border Pass fortress was incredibly strict, with scarcely a smile on the faces of those entering.

However, under the influence of silver, both groups passed through the checkpoint smoothly.

Upon leaving the land of Siqi, with its many rivers and lakes, the surroundings became desolate, and the trees began to thin due to the erosion of the Gobi.

By the tenth night, not a single tree could be seen in any direction.

The further they traveled inward, the more desolate it became; Li Huowang had already guessed that this might be the true nature of Huo Shu.

"Huff~" Zhao Wu, on night watch, exhaled a breath of white air.

He rubbed his numb, cold hands together and breathed on them continuously to warm them up.

It was nearly summer, so it shouldn't have been this cold; but out in the desolate wilderness, even stones that blocked the wind were useless, and without any firewood to start a fire, it was naturally freezing.

Glancing over, he saw Li Huowang asleep, wrapped around Bai Lingmiao beside the carriage, and envy filled Zhao Wu's eyes deeply.

Looking down at his frail body, his eyes showed full-blown self-doubt.

He longed for a wife too, but being such a useless person as himself, no woman would ever wish to be with him.

He took a breath of the dry, cold air, dispelling the sleepiness in his heart, and he braced himself, practicing his writing on the ground with small pebbles.

Some of what he wrote had been taught by his senior brother Li; the rest he had diligently learned from Gao Zhijian.

"I must learn to read; I will definitely learn!" Determination filled Zhao Wu's eyes.

He was set on proving to his father that he was no waste!

Once he could read, in the future, he could, like the fortune tellers at the temple fairs, write letters for others to earn money.

As long as he learned to read and studied more, he could even sit for exams and achieve an official rank!

"By then..." Just as he was picturing his future, he suddenly felt someone behind him.

This unexpected change sent a chill down Zhao Wu's spine.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably, but as he steeled his heart to shout a warning to his fellow disciples, a nail-less hand covered his mouth. "Don't make a sound, it's me!"

The voice of Li Huowang quickly relaxed Zhao Wu.

In a voice lowered to a whisper, he asked, "Senior Brother Li, what's going on?"

Looking around, all he could see was the pitch-black Gobi; nothing else was there.

"Shh~ Something's approaching. I'll try to see if it's a living person," Huowang whispered, and then, clearing his throat, he shouted into the darkness, "Three elders and four youngsters rely on the road, a dragon emerges from the river with a commotion. What antics are these now?"

Li Huowang's voice traveled far into the empty expanse, waking others in the process.

"Will the spring court open or not?" a voice, even more hoarse than that of Li Huowang's, echoed from a distance.

"The spring's wide open!"

"Side by side, shall we cast the vine?"

Li Huowang bowed in the direction of the voice. "An Exquisite Pagoda! Facing the green stronghold, backed by sand! Hands clasped, casting the vine!"

"So it's Li True Person. Just passing through or waiting on something?"

"Just passing by, what's the honored surname of the shopkeeper?"

After Li Huowang spoke, there was no further response.

It wasn't until the sky began to light up that Li Huowang realized the person had long since left.

"Didn't think that the secret password taught by Escort Leader Zhao would come in handy so soon," Huowang murmured to himself.

Although he had keenly sensed the person's approach last night, he couldn't fully determine whether it was one person or a group.

Now, with just a few words spoken, if it resolved the conflict, nothing could be better.

After all, with these bandits of unknown origin, nobody knew whether they had any more tricks up their sleeve.

When Top Scholar Lv learned about the danger they faced last night from Li Huowang, he suddenly felt a wave of fear.

"My goodness, we haven't been here long, and we've already encountered an ambush. It seems the Huo Shu Kingdom is not a peaceful place."

Li Huowang packed up his scattered belongings and got up.

"Regardless if it's peaceful or not, we're just passing through. Let's hurry and leave. If we move fast today, we should be able to reach the town before dark."

The road after that was relatively normal; despite the desolate surroundings, at least there were no more ambushes.

While Top Scholar Lv was doling out compliments to Li Huowang, they finally saw signs of human habitation.

"Daddy, why does the horse look so strange? Why does it have two bumps on its back?" Scholar Lv asked.

"Are you stupid? That's a camel!"

"Ding ding ding~" The camel bells rang continuously as the caravan of camels stepped on the hard road and slowly moved forward.

Li Huowang glanced at the person leading the camels and noticed that his face was covered, seemingly to protect against the sand and wind.

The arrival of the camels seemed to be a signal, as more and more people began to gather quickly.

Finally, Li Huowang and his group reached the first town in the Huo Shu Kingdom before nightfall.

As they entered the town, Li Huowang immediately noticed the differences between the people of the Huo Shu Kingdom and those from Siqi, whether in architecture or attire, everything was much more rugged.

Perhaps as protection against the wind and sand, many people in town had their faces covered.

However, this also had its advantages; the other siblings wearing black veils and bamboo hats didn't stand out as much here.

"Let's go and find an inn to stay in. We've been traveling for over ten days; it's time for everyone to rest their feet."

The dusty faces of the others showed a look of relief.

Days without fire or water were truly not meant for humans.

The group followed others, blending into the flow of people in the town.

The fragrance of grilled food and the aroma of soup from nearby stalls teased everyone's taste buds.

Walking along, they came to an open space that seemed to be the center of the town.

The sound of drums and gongs instantly attracted everyone's attention toward the crowded crowd.

"Is this Nuoxi?" Li Huowang muttered to himself while looking at the three people hopping and leaping in the crowd.

Shaking heads, twisting bodies, squatting, winding wrists, stepping, leaping.

The three people, their heads wrapped in red cloth and wearing ferocious wooden masks, had an extremely bizarre dance, as if no human could have come up with such movements.

Along with the strange dance were the chaotic rhythms of gongs and drums.

There was also the occasional presence of an instrument resembling a horn.

The sound that came from the black ox horn resembled the wailing of a female ghost.

The sound of gongs, drums, and ghostly wails combined with the strange dance moves made it quite unpleasant for Li Huowang to watch.

Yet, the people around him didn't seem to think so; they were engrossed in watching as if enraptured.

"What is this? Can this even be called a performance?" Top Scholar Lv, who was traveling with them, expressed his disdain.

No sooner had he spoken than the three performers began to twist their bodies even more violently.

Along with the twisting, sharp white teeth trembled as they sprouted like growing roots from the mouths of the wooden masks.

It wasn't just one or two teeth growing, but a full sixteen,

These sixteen sharp teeth trembled along with their Nuoxi performance, clashing with each other in time with the rhythm of the gongs and drums.

"Is this... toothplay?"

The three performers were skilled in toothplay; Li Huowang watched the white sharp teeth retracting and extending from their mouths, almost believing these teeth were actually growing from within.