The Unruly Immortals

When the jar baby saw Li Huowang in front of it, immense as a mountain, its face smeared with white powder, it showed an expression interwoven with astonishment and fear.

"So you do know fear after all!"

"Clang," the Longsword was drawn, swung down with a surging intent to kill.

Accompanied by the sound of shattering ceramics, the two babies were decapitated in an instant.

What splattered forth from their ghastly pale bodies was not blood, but some kind of grayish-brown powder.

It was mixed with fragments of white bone; these two babies were molded from bone ash!

"Something's not right, these don't seem like wild Evil Spirits."

Li Huowang, observing the clear fingerprints on the porcelain jars, thought to himself.

"Rustle," the sound of bamboo leaves scraping against paper made Li Huowang quickly stand up.

Suddenly his face turned extremely ugly; this time it wasn't just two gazes.

Dense, numerous gazes shot over from all directions—he was surrounded.

Li Huowang soon saw those things, those beings dressed in paper shrouds.

They had no faces, but instead, each bore a white porcelain jar on their heads.

The ghostly pale jars had a strip of red paper with writing on it attached, staring at Li Huowang like eyes.

Their figures were intermittently visible in the bamboo forest cloaked in darkness.

They were moving, although Li Huowang didn't see how they moved.

But sure enough, they were drawing nearer in some unseen manner.

"Swish," the "Great Thousand Record" quickly unfolded on the ground, and Li Huowang readied a pair of pliers, prepared to reach into his own mouth at any moment.

Just then, something red waved into Li Huowang's line of sight.

The red object was like the Yellow Talismans from zombie movies, sticking to Li Huowang's forehead.

Li Huowang quickly reached up and took it off, shocked to find it was a broad red strip of paper with a line written on it: "Deceased Husband: The Place of Li Huowang."

Seeing the words on the paper strip, Li Huowang's mind became occupied by all sorts of chaotic information.

"Are they assimilating me? Am I becoming one of them? Who are they! No! I seem to have heard about them at Qingfeng Taoist Temple before."

In the blink of an eye, a name appeared in his mind, "Grandma! They are Grandmas!"

In almost that instant, Li Huowang raised the pliers again, but this time he didn't aim for his teeth, instead, he aimed at his left eye.

With a "pop," as his eyeball burst, a strange glow bathed the surroundings, and the Grandmas around him became enveloped by a viscous, hazy halo.

All the surrounding gazes suddenly disappeared at that moment.

Seizing the opportunity, Li Huowang rushed forward, returning to the roadside.

The others by the road had yet to grasp what had happened and stood idly yawning from boredom.

"Hurry, leave this bamboo forest; this place is dangerous!"

Perhaps intimidated by Li Huowang's bloody, dripping left eye socket, no one questioned him. They all began to run, exhausted bodies and all.

They didn't stop running until they had passed through the bamboo forest to the grassland beyond.

Everyone fled across the open grassland, not stopping until the sky in the distance began to brighten with dawn.

Jin Shanzhao, soaked through with sweat, staggered and threw his bamboo basket onto the ground.

He lay directly on the earth, gasping for air in heaving breaths.

With his right hand, he picked up some tender grass from the ground and looked at it, but too exhausted, he let it fall, panting, "Ha... ha... we're almost... ha... ha... we're almost to Qingqiu... ha..."

At this moment, Li Huowang once again stood atop the cart's canopy.

The open environment granted Li Huowang extraordinarily far sight, as he surveyed his surroundings with a furrowed brow through his remaining eye.

If things continued this way and those mysterious Grandmas could still follow, Li Huowang really had no choice but to take his chances with them.

Luckily, as the sun climbed higher, its warming rays dispelled the chill from Li Huowang's body, and no more gazes shot his way.

And in the bamboo forest they had left behind, there was no longer any trace of the Grandmas—suddenly, a stone began to speak.

"What to do, this lad seems tough to deal with, even the Grandmas we lured here couldn't stop him. Should we call for backup from headquarters?"

As soon as Stone's voice fell, the bamboo shoot beside him responded, "Why waste time doing that? Isn't Peng Longteng looking for this kid? Just tell her directly, and it'll save us the trouble."

"That's true, if anything goes wrong, we can just blame it on her, and if it's a success, then the three of us get a share."

After saying this, Stone and the bamboo shoot didn't exchange another word.

That day, Li Huowang and his companions rested in this place for the entire day.

They had no choice but to rest, after all, humans aren't made of iron.

Fortunately, during this time, apart from a few who happened to pass by, nothing unexpected occurred.

Bai Lingmiao, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, looked at Li Huowang, who was sleeping, with a pained expression.

Even in sleep, Li Huowang couldn't find peace; he was turning his head slightly and kept murmuring something under his breath.

Her fair fingers rose and gently touched the terrifying bloody hole on Li Huowang's face. "That must hurt a lot..."

With a "boom," the sleeping Li Huowang exploded into action, his hands already wrapped tightly around Bai Lingmiao's slender neck and squeezing.

This action scared everyone out of their wits, including Li Huowang himself.

Shaking with residual fear, he quickly let go and, after checking her over, found that Bai Lingmiao wasn't strangled to injury, and then he hugged and cuddled her intensely.

"Brother Li... others are watching..."

Li Huowang stopped, still shaken, and said, "From now on, when I'm sleeping, stay away from me."

"But... we've always slept together."

"Be obedient, be good. My nerves are a bit frayed these days. We'll talk about it after this period is over."

"Alright then. By the way, Brother Li, your... eyes."

"It's fine, this is better, it's a bigger change from before, which makes it easier to blend in."

After that, Li Huowang and his companions walked across the vast grasslands for three days and finally saw the pass around noon on the third day.

To call it a pass was an overstatement; the place was only surrounded by a low wall, and there were only a few frontier soldiers, leaning haphazardly against the walls, exhibiting extreme laziness.

"This is only natural, Qingqiu and Huo Shu have been allies all along, and there isn't much precaution between them," explained Jin Shanzhao, noticing the confusion in Li Huowang's eyes.

"Allies? The bandit forces won't reach Qingqiu, will they?" Li Huowang asked, surveying the bustling street before him.

"There's no way that'll happen. If the Huo Shu army enters Qingqiu, that would virtually mean declaring war on both sides. Such an event is far more serious than killing a few thousand people," Jin Shanzhao explained.

Hearing this, Li Huowang felt somewhat relieved.

Suddenly remembering something, he took another look at the elderly man before him. "Are you heading back home?"

Smiling, Jin Shanzhao gave Li Huowang a respectful bow. "My lord, until we meet again. I will never forget the debt of having my life saved."

"If one day this old man takes office, I shall repay you handsomely."

Li Huowang chuckled. "Let's see if you're up to it; if you're fine, then don't bother and just find a place to retire."

Hearing this, a rare serious expression came over Jin Shanzhao's face.

"A gentleman should strive to improve himself and bring peace to the world! I've spent decades immersing myself in the art of diplomacy; how can I not make use of it?"

"This old man must realize his ambitions and put an end to the strife between nations! To give the world a clear and peaceful order!!"

At this moment, a light seemed to shine in Jin Shanzhao's somewhat cloudy eyes.

Honestly, Li Huowang was somewhat moved by Jin Shanzhao.

This old man, who seemed a bit timid, harbored such grand ideals within his heart.

And judging by his manner, he wasn't just talking for the sake of it.

Li Huowang solemnly gave Jin Shanzhao a proper bow. "Then, I wish you success and fulfillment of your grand vision."

The smiling Jin Shanzhao returned the gesture. "Thank you, my lord. Then, this is where we part ways."

"Whooosh, whooosh, whooosh~" The sound of whooshing suddenly filled the air.

With a "slash," the smiling Jin Shanzhao was bisected at the waist by a giant halberd that suddenly flew through the air.

Right in front of Li Huowang, mere inches away, he was split into two, lively moments before.