The Unruly Immortals

The ox cart was slower than the horse cart, but it could carry more, and in Qingqiu, there was no need to worry about the oxen's fodder as it was plentiful everywhere.

Having left Huo Shu, Li Huowang and his group had a smooth journey without any encounter with evil spirits or bandits.

Moreover, Li Huowang's wounds were healing steadily, and everyone had brighter smiles on their faces.

Walking beside the rolling cartwheels, Li Huowang leaned on a crutch, hobbling along, while Mantou wagged its tail, running back and forth beside him.

"Brother Li, you should go back to the cart to lie down. Your wounds haven't completely healed yet," Bai Lingmiao said with concern.

The freshly grown hair on Li Huowang's head swayed slightly from side to side as he shook his head.

"Lying in the cart makes all my limbs go numb; it's good to walk around. Besides, I'm recovering quite well now—at least Mantou has recognized me."

Li Huowang still remembered how Mantou had barked furiously at him when he first got down from the cart.

But it was not the dog's fault since he had indeed looked terrifying back then.

Fortunately, Mantou recognized him now, and if nothing else, at least the skin on his body had completely healed, and the Great Thousand Record had been successfully buried in his back as he had wished.

"Brother Li, we can rest now and after the noon, travel for another two hours, and we will reach Lady Mountain," said the local, Sun Baolu, with a smile on his face. Since arriving in Qingqiu, the usually silent Baolu had become much more talkative.

"Old Sun, are you really going back? Why not just continue with us? It would be a shame for you to get kidnapped again," Zhao Wu suggested. But Sun Baolu shook his head with a smile.

"No, someone is waiting for me. I have to go home." There seemed to be a light in his eyes as he spoke.

Li Huowang raised his crutch and pointed to a stream in the distance, "Let's go over there and light a fire."

It was hard to find firewood in Qingqiu as there weren't many trees around, but after digging up some dry shrubs, they managed to get a fire going.

Some fetched water, others dug up wild vegetables; the others kept making different sounds, but Li Huowang, sitting cross-legged with one leg folded, blocked out all these noises from his world.

He looked up at Peng Longteng, who was blocking the sunlight from him. After all this time, the apparition was still there.

The only consolation was that she just stood there, doing nothing.

Peng Longteng looked imposing in heavy armor, towering tall even without a head, still much taller than Li Huowang.

Li Huowang estimated that when she was alive, she must have been at least two meters tall.

Some particular noises reached his ears, but Li Huowang did not turn his head to look because it was the sound of Jin Shanzhao's innards dragging across the grass.

"Why have these two turned into apparitions and followed me?" This question had been tossed and turned over countless times in Li Huowang's mind, but it was destined to remain unanswered.

It wasn't just the two of them; there was also Jiang Yingzi and the monk for whom there was no explanation either.

"Could this also be a power of Xinsu? Could it be that Xinsu allows me to control those I've killed?" A new hypothesis emerged in Li Huowang's mind.

"How should I control them to disappear? But that's not right; I didn't kill the monk. He might still be at Zhengde Temple, alive and well, not dead at all."

"But if their appearance isn't due to Xinsu's power, then what could it be? Could it be... that I really have a mental illness?"

Li Huowang, a little lost, felt an itch on his body and raised his patchy red and white right hand, reaching into his new clothes to scratch.

Mantou, the dog, seeing the other's action, quickly ran over and eagerly sat down in front of him, wagging its tail incessantly.

With a "ripping" sound, a large piece of darkened dead skin was picked off and thrown towards Peng Longteng from afar.

"Woof woof woof!" Mantou excitedly rushed into Peng Longteng's body, rolled up the dead skin with its tongue, and started happily chewing on it.

After finishing, Mantou wagged its tail and passed underneath Peng Longteng's groin, and then dutifully sat down in front of Li Huowang again.

Li Huowang knew Mantou liked to eat this, his own shed skin had all ended up in its stomach, including that severed leg.

He patted its head, which was as large as a bicycle seat, continuously, while his gaze stayed fixed on Peng Longteng in the distance.

After a long while, he let out a deep sigh and muttered to himself, "Not bad, at least these two can't talk, won't be as annoying as that monk."

"Taoist, am I annoying? I'm not bothersome, am I? I clearly didn't do anything."

Li Huowang let out a self-mocking laugh, didn't say a word, and consoled himself, but it was just self-consolation. More than these three hallucinations, what he feared more was what would come next.

What if these hallucinations kept increasing? What if... in the end, he turned out like Shanyangzi had at first?

Recalling the terrifying experiences that Shanyangzi had been through with his body, the dozens, the hundreds of hallucinations, Li Huowang shuddered.

"I have to figure out what exactly is going on here, and then get rid of them. If I really end up like Master Danyang did back then, I will definitely go mad."

Thinking about this made Li Huowang even more urgent to solve the mystery of his own identity as Xinsu.

"Baolu!" Li Huowang's voice caused Mantou's drooping ears to perk up, and it turned its head to see Sun Baolu running over from afar. It moved a few steps forward on its forepaws and rested its dog head on Li Huowang's leg, nudging with its black nose.

"Senior Brother Li, did you call me?"

Li Huowang gave the young man in front of him another once-over. He still looked the same as when he had come out from Qingfeng Taoist Temple, no changes at all, bundled up tightly.

In fact, on their journey, he had been quite low-profile, so much so that sometimes Li Huowang would forget about his existence.

"Are you familiar with the place Qingqiu?"

Upon hearing Li Huowang's question, Sun Baolu nodded, "Generally speaking, yes."

"Generally speaking?" Li Huowang was legitimately surprised. None of the other disciples ever mentioned such a thing.

Most people in this world, unless in special circumstances, essentially spend their entire lives within a twenty-mile radius.

The fact that Sun Baolu could say he was generally familiar really made Li Huowang suspect he was boasting.

"Senior Brother Li, people from Qingqiu are different from other places, they mainly follow the grass, wherever the grass is lush, that's where we go. From my grandfather to my father, their whole lives have revolved around Qingqiu, time and time again."

Hearing this, Li Huowang suddenly understood, "Oh, you're nomadic."

Seeing the vast grasslands, Li Huowang could also guess as much. Relying on the mountains, one lives off the mountains; relying on the water, off the water; and if it's the grass, of course, one lives off the grass.

"With the sun so strong today, aren't you going to take some layers off?"

Seeing the other just standing there with a smile, Li Huowang didn't press the matter, "Alright, let's talk business. In this place, is there someone you regard as a master? Someone like Master Danyang?"