The Unruly Immortals

"Five Elements...missing the Five Elements?"

The moment he heard those words, Li Huowang reached for his belly, toward the spot where the five organs, tied to the Five Elements, should have been.

Instinctively, he remembered what he had done that day, how he had sought revenge on the Oblivion Path and deliberately courted death.

He had used the "Leap Place Five Elements" from the Great Thousand Record, sacrificing his five organs to Bahu.

If the so-called Five Elements had disappeared from his body, it must have been then.

Yet to say that missing the Five Elements made a noticeable difference, Li Huowang felt none whatsoever.

Li Huowang's hand slid beneath his blood-red Taoist robe, probing the ghastly scar he had carved across his belly.

However, to his surprise, the skin on his chest was smooth and slick, without a single scar.

Li Huowang tried hard to remember what had happened, but he didn't have the slightest recollection. "What the hell happened to my body? How did it heal?"

Bewildered, he looked up at the blind old crone in front of him. "Cui Xiangu, can a person live without the five organs and Five Elements?"

Upon hearing Li Huowang's words, the blind old crone exclaimed dramatically, "Missing the five organs and Five Elements? How can that still be a person? That's nothing but a dead man."

The instant he heard this, Li Huowang suddenly felt as if something in his head had snapped. A wave of pain began to spread from his chest, growing more intense by the moment, and he began to struggle to breathe!

"What's happening? Did she do something? Divine skills that follow the spoken word? Did she see that I am Xinsu and now plots to rob me and take my life?"

Li Huowang endured the excruciating pain and looked at the shabbily dressed Xiangu in front of him, who resembled an old village granny.

Just as Li Huowang's complexion turned ashen and he stumbled as if about to collapse, Cui Xiangu spoke again.

"However, you, being devoid of the Five Elements yet still living, should not be concluded so absolutely."

With those words, the pain in Li Huowang's body immediately vanished, and he clutched his chest, his expression shifting between light and dark, eyeing the old woman before him.

At this moment, he was somewhat unclear about the Xiangu's motives. If that sharp pain was her doing, then why did it suddenly disappear?

"If it wasn't her doing, then what on earth is wrong with my body?" Li Huowang wondered silently.

That bout of severe pain was definitely not trivial; it truly felt as though he was on the brink of death.

"But then, I would advise you to get your Five Elements back as soon as possible. If you don't, sooner or later, there will be grave consequences."

Li Huowang moved Bai Lingmiao behind him and asked with a mix of suspicion and probing, "Cui Xiangu, do you have a solution for someone like me?"

"I don't have a way, but others do. If you want to know, I can inquire for you. It's true, you really should recover your Five Elements quickly; otherwise, even if you can live, things won't go well for you."

"Inquire with whom?"

"I'm a rice diviner; who else would I ask but the rice?"

"Asking the rice? Is this something new?"

Soon, this so-called Cui Xiangu was brought back to their lodging by Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao.

After getting several pounds of rice from the head of the household, Cui Xiangu began what she called 'rice divination'.

First, she took out the items from the basket one by one.

A small copper mirror was placed in the center of the table.

In front of the mirror, she placed a clay incense burner the size of a palm, lighting thirteen incense sticks, each the length of a finger.

Then, she poured the borrowed rice into the basket and placed thirteen raw chicken eggs on top of the rice.

Facing the basket of rice and eggs, she poured a cup of wine, a pot of tea, and a bowl of rice.

Priestess Cui closed her eyes, covered the eggs with both hands, and began the incantation.

"May the Great Venerable Moon watch over our home, Master's grandmother, please come up, aye. Gods and spirits of all directions, we seek your protection together..."

While singing something in an obscure dialect, Priestess Cui grabbed a handful of rice from the basket and scattered it over Li Huowang's head.

"What kind of trick is this?" Li Huowang watched the mysterious priestess, his wariness increasing internally.

After so many experiences, he had become like a startled bird, viewing everything with a hint of doubt.

After chanting for a while, Priestess Cui suddenly stopped. She extended her right hand toward Li Huowang, tremblingly opening it.

Looking at that hand that resembled a chicken's claw, Li Huowang clearly did not understand, but fortunately, Bai Lingmiao got the hint.

She took out some silver fragments from her bosom and placed them in the other's palm.

With her eyes closed, Priestess Cui grabbed the silver, bit it, and a satisfied look immediately appeared on her face.

"Young man, don't be stunned, report your birth time and date."

"What? Birth time and date? I don't have it."

Priestess Cui sighed, pinched her fingers as she measured against Li Huowang, and continued chanting. Li Huowang still couldn't understand, but it was different from the last time.

Before long, Li Huowang tensed up as he sensed something and subconsciously glanced toward the pitch-dark doorway, then the empty beams above.

Something was coming over.

"Burp~" The sound of a hiccup turned Li Huowang's gaze back to the rice-selling woman in front of him, who began to shake her head and sway.

He could clearly sense that something was different about Priestess Cui in front of him; something had taken possession of her body.

"Why does it feel similar to a shaman's ritual? The shaman summons immortals, what does this rice-asking rite summon?" Li Huowang, still vigilant, stepped back a bit further.

"Who is below—what is your question—ah~~ burp"

An old man's voice, with a clear theatrical tone, emitted from Priestess Cui's mouth.

Originally, Li Huowang wanted to ask about his missing organs, but thinking it through, he didn't ask; if he truly had no organs, he would already be dead.

Though he did not know how Master Danyang helped him recover his organs, that was a concern for later. The current priority was to recover his missing Five Elements.

"Do you have a way to restore my missing Five Elements?"

"Hmm~? Who is below? Burp, state your—name!"

Priestess Cui took a deep breath, and the white smoke rising from the incense next to her was sucked into her nostrils.

"Li Huowang. Who, or rather... what are you?" Li Huowang, cautious, had just finished speaking when he instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword,

"Hmph~! I am—Golden Que—Nine Skies Monarch—Heavenly Venerable with Great Mercy and Forgiveness of Sins—little Xinsu—laughable—laughable indeed—burp"

Li Huowang's pupils constricted slightly—the other party had identified him as Xinsu!!

"Fear not—fear not—huahaha~~ burp" The other's laughter stirred up a sinister wind through the room.

"Clang!" The longsword unsheathed and a heavy aura of murder spread throughout the room, quickly dispersing the gloomy wind.

The incense in the black cauldron was extinguished in an instant,