The Unruly Immortals

"What's the matter, Immortal?" upon seeing Li Huowang this tense, he took a few steps back.

The black pottery jars in the distance appeared to be quite ordinary, exactly what you would expect from containers used to pickle vegetables; the only distinguishing feature was an inverted Fu character stuck on them.

Li Huowang kept his gaze on those jars without relaxing his vigilance, "Something just looked at me from there!"

"Looked... looked at you?" Jin Shanzhao's expression was one of hesitation, scrutinizing the jars in the distance once again.

"Could there be someone inside? But Immortal, those jars are too small to fit a person."

"I didn't say it was a person looking at me!" Li Huowang decisively spread out the "Great Thousand Record" on the ground. His bloodied fingernail quickly flew over and easily slashed the black pottery jars open.

With continuous "crash" sounds, the black pottery jars shattered one by one, and the brown brine mixed with pickled vegetables spilled all over the ground.

Li Huowang's heart did not relax his guard; he carefully walked over and used his sword to pick through the sherds, meticulously inspecting each one.

After a thorough inspection, Li Huowang found nothing unusual; these jars were indeed just vessels for pickling vegetables.

The noise attracted the attention of the people inside the house, an old woman with a crutch hobbled over, "You child, why did you smash our vegetable jars! Pay up!"

Li Huowang put away his sword, pulled out some silver fragments, and tossed them at her feet before retreating step by step with a watchful eye on her.

"Immortal, where are we going? Weren't we going to buy grain?" Jin Shanzhao hurriedly followed.

"Let's leave this place first; we'll buy from somewhere else!" Having gone through that experience, Li Huowang had completely lost trust in this village.

At such a critical time, Li Huowang would rather have been wrong than to be ambushed by something; he didn't want to suffer that kind of loss again.

As Li Huowang and his companion moved away, the old woman didn't stop them but instead leaned on her crutch, bent down to pick up the silver fragments from the ground, muttering toothlessly, as if cursing something.

After leaving the village behind, Li Huowang led his group forward, traveling until deep into the night.

They finally stopped in a bamboo forest, reasoning that whatever that gaze was, such a great distance should be enough to keep them safe from danger.

A campfire was lit, and the group began to prepare their meal. Despite everyone's weariness, they still had to eat. Otherwise, they wouldn't have the strength to carry on.

Li Huowang wasn't involved in these menial tasks; instead, he stood on the roof of the ox cart, using his exceptional vision to continually scan the surrounding area like a watchtower.

Mantou seemed to understand Li Huowang's thoughts as well and stuck his nose to the ground, sniffing continuously as he circled around.

However, even after they had eaten, no abnormalities were detected, as if the gaze back in the village had been but an illusion.

"Could I have been mistaken?" Li Huowang began to doubt himself. In truth, he had never trusted his own senses very much.

But quickly, he cast aside this unwarranted doubt; once an action is taken, there's no need for second-guessing.

"Brother Li, supper is ready; come and eat."

For today's meal, they had bamboo shoot noodles, which they made from resources found on-site. The fresh bamboo shoots were crisp and sweet. Even without meat, the thick layer of pork fat on the noodle soup was comforting to Li Huowang's parched stomach.

Moments later, the area around the campfire was lively with people eating heartily, with the sounds of soup slurping and the crisp snapping of bamboo shoots filling the air.

Once full, sleepiness set in, and the tired members of the group lay down in their blankets and closed their eyes.

It was Li Huowang's turn to keep watch tonight; this was a time when he couldn't trust anyone else.

Soon, in the bamboo forest, apart from the crackling sound of the burning campfire, there were no other noises.

All that remained was Li Huowang sitting by the campfire, gently stroking the smooth fur on Mantou.

But he was not made of iron, and he soon felt tired.

He shook his head vigorously, but when he felt that it did not dispel his sleepiness, Li Huowang took out a sharp awl from the hem of his garment and stabbed it directly into his palm.

Blood turned his Taoist robe even redder, and the acute pain made Li Huowang's body tense up, instantly revitalizing his senses, leaving no trace of drowsiness.

"Little Taoist Master, let me take over for you. The elderly need less sleep anyway."

Although he didn't see anyone, the sound of footsteps and that familiar scent of tobacco told Li Huowang who was behind him. "Band Leader Lv, go back to sleep. We still have to travel tomorrow. If you stay up now, you won't be able to handle tomorrow."

Top Scholar Lv sat beside Li Huowang, his face wrinkled, carefully unraveling three strands of tobacco from his pouch and mixing them with some dry leaves and debris from the ground before putting them into his pipe and lighting it up.

"Taoist Master, what do you think of my youngest son?"

"Hmm?" Li Huowang glanced at Scholar Lv, who was sleeping leaning against his brother and sister-in-law.

His impression of the boy was not great; not only was he timid, but everything he did was also hesitant and indecisive.

"Little Taoist Master, I know it's a wild and foolish wish, but this old man still wants to let go of his pride and ask if you could take him as your apprentice?"

"The lad's not really an actor, never performed in the opera. Don't look down on him. I don't expect you to teach him all your Divine Skills, even just one would be enough for our Lv family's ancestral graves to start having smoke rise from them."

Just as Top Scholar Lv finished speaking, he realized that the little Taoist Master had suddenly stood up.

"It's followed us! Everyone up!" Li Huowang's shout woke the others who had just fallen asleep, rubbing their eyes and reviving.

"Be on guard!" After giving the command, Li Huowang drew his sword and slowly walked towards the nearby Bamboo Forest, which looked particularly sinister under the cover of darkness.

It wasn't long before Li Huowang saw two white porcelain pots amidst the bamboo.

The pots were not large, roughly the size of a watermelon, with red strips of paper affixed to them, written on with brush strokes.

Deceased Mother: The position of the apparent mother, Yang Shi Feng Ling

Grandfather: The position of the ancestor grandfather, Li Gong Quan You

It was clear these were bone ash pots, and the traces of the sacrificial offerings before them proved as much.

Seeing these pots, Li Huowang hesitated. Did he really need to smash these ash pots? Who knew what would pop out in a moment.

After thinking it over, Li Huowang slowly retreated. The distant firelight also gradually disappeared; everyone began their journey in the middle of the night.

Who knows how much time passed before the lids of the two bone ash pots slowly rose, and two children's heads with faces covered in white powder peeked out from inside.

They were obviously not ordinary children, their heads were only as big as a typical man's fist.

The round pink blushes on both cheeks were particularly striking against their snow-white faces.

The little ones looked at each other and began to giggle. Then, their arms and legs, also smeared with white powder, stretched out through the ash pots.

Just as they were about to leave, they were blocked by a shadow that swooped down from the sky.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, his bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep staring intently at the two bizarre creatures in front of him.