The Unruly Immortals

"Thump~" The Young Yang closed his eyes and buried his head deeply into the clear, transparent river water.

After vigorously shaking his head a few times, he suddenly pulled it up, showing a trace of exhilaration on his face.

He had managed to wash up and drink water at the same time.

"The water here is really sweet."

Dabbing the droplets off his chin, Young Yang picked up a bucket of water, ready to head back.

The physical training of a long journey, coupled with no longer going hungry, had made his body no longer as skinny as when he was begging.

His body had gained some flesh, his complexion wasn't as pale, and he had grown taller as well.

"Brother Cao Cao, good morning," Young Yang greeted the dog who was circling around a woman.

Seeing that the dog was too busy to bother with him, Young Yang chuckled and walked towards the pot.

He wasn't a clueless kid, his precociousness made him understand why the dog was trying so hard to please.

There was no fire under the pot yet, as everyone else was still asleep. They needed to wait until everyone was awake before the noodles could go into the pot.

After setting the bucket down, he took a stick of firewood from under the pot and headed over to where Chun Xiaoman was earnestly practicing with her sword.

Standing beside the dancing cold light, he raised the stick of wood in his hand and began to swing it with proper form.

He was very focused, just as much as Chun Xiaoman was.

Upon seeing this, Chun Xiaoman flicked her wrist and thrust her sword toward Young Yang.

Young Yang flustered and fell backward in a hurry, crashing onto the soft grass.

Chun Xiaoman, holding her sword in one hand, said to Young Yang, who had fallen onto the ground, "Get up, continue practicing. If you want to learn, just practicing by yourself is not enough."

There was a time when Li Huowang used to spar with her, but now with his condition, it seemed unlikely.

Young Yang nodded excitedly and lunged forward with the firewood.

He was eager to learn swordsmanship and didn't mind the hardship, thinking that once he mastered it, even if he were to return to begging, no one would dare to bully him.

After a good while of practice, when he saw Bai Lingmiao emerge from the ox cart,

Chun Xiaoman retracted her hand, and the sword slid into its sheath, "Alright, go cook now, they're awake."

"Okay!" Young Yang rushed back excitedly. Just as he reached the pot, his face scrunched up in annoyance.

He found someone had taken over his job and was lighting a fire with the Fire Sickle.

It was a chubby woman, one of the women Li Brother had rescued from the bandits' den.

In fact, because of those horse riders, many had died, and she was lucky to have survived.

"Move!" He walked over, snatched the Fire Sickle, and reclaimed his spot.

The chubby woman wasn't upset and said with a shy smile, "Little fellow villager, you've arrived?"

Young Yang had only casually spoken a few words before, but she had started to claim they were from the same place.

He disliked these women; they were not righteous at all.

Rescued by Li Huowang, they had been eating and drinking at their expense for so long, and a few had even snuck away at the checkpoint previously.

More importantly, the remaining women always seemed to take his work away, intentionally or not.

This made him particularly annoyed with these women, especially the chubby one with a mole on her chin.

"Don't call me your fellow villager; I'm not from your place."

Heaven knows why it was such a coincidence that she was born in the exact place he had fabricated.

The chubby woman laughed, revealing a small dimple on her left cheek naturally.

She started to help Young Yang by her side, continuously trying to make conversation.

"Hey, little fellow villager, what's the name of that strong man? He's really strong," she said, pointing.

Young Yang turned and saw, far away, Gao Zhijian gritting his teeth and lifting the Giant Halberd, the veins on his neck standing out like blue snakes.

"What does it have to do with you?" Yang's voice carried a hint of irritation.

"Am I bothering you, fellow villager?" she asked with a smile, reaching out and picking at a stain on Yang's clothes.

"Don't touch me!" Yang suddenly bristled, causing the plump woman to step back and say with a hint of grievance, "What did I do to you? It's not easy to come across someone from the same hometown, I just wanted to get close to you."

"I was sold long ago; this is my first time meeting someone from home."

Seeing her like that, Yang swallowed the harsh words that reached his lips.

"Just stay out of trouble from now on, and don't take the work I'm doing."

"My benefactor is injured, I... I just want to help him," she replied.

Hearing this, Yang looked toward the distant ox cart.

Li Huowang was living there, and various incidents that had happened before suddenly flooded his mind, his heart growing anxious.

Brother Li was their mainstay; he absolutely must not come to any harm.

The sparks struck by the Fire Sickle ignited the dry grass in the pit, and the flames of the dry grass in turn set the firewood ablaze.

Yang stood up, tilted his head back and said to the plump woman, "You go fetch water."

The plump woman, being ordered around by someone so much younger, wasn't angry at all, instead she nodded vigorously and turned to grab a bucket.

Yang dusted off the dirt on his clothes, and with a heavy heart, walked towards the ox cart.

As he approached, he heard people talking.

"What exactly do you want to say? What exactly do you want in order to leave with Peng Longteng?"

Yang moved to the other side of the ox cart and saw Li Huowang leaning against the window.

Compared to his previous charred state, he seemed much better now.

But this kind of improvement was particularly horrifying.

Half of his head had skin, half did not, with occasional black scabs interspersed between.

The skin on his mouth was burnt, exposing two rows of starkly white teeth that snapped open and shut.

It would have been strange enough just by his appearance, but he also stared blankly outside at nothing, muttering to himself.

"Monk, do me a favor, ask him for me, ask if he has any unfulfilled last wishes."

"I know he's pitiable, I sympathize with him, but why does he cling to me?"

"Shouldn't he be clinging to Peng Longteng, the one who killed him?"

Suddenly, Li Huowang's one eye twisted rapidly, glaring at Yang.

This scene terrified Yang, his scalp tingling, and his legs almost gave way as he turned to run.

He now understood why Brother Li's ox cart was always deliberately kept so far from them.

Brother Li now was much more frightening than the Evil Spirit of the past.

"Is there something wrong?"

Yang was so scared that he didn't know where to put his hands.

"Li... Li ... Brother Li, are you okay?" he asked with fear and concern.

Then he saw Brother Li completely ignore him and continue talking to himself toward the empty space outside.

Yang, with worry written all over his face, looked back three times with each step as he returned to the side of the large cauldron, where he was held by the shoulder by a boy named Gouwa.

"How is Brother Li?"

Yang shook his head in disappointment. "I think Brother Li's illness has worsened. Maybe we should find a doctor to have a look."

"Hey, no doctor can cure Brother Li's illness. Even that leper could only suppress it," Gouwa said, frowning and worriedly pondering alongside him.

"That old leper fed him the Black Taishui; I still remember what that ghastly thing looked like. But where to find such a thing now..."