The Unruly Immortals

"A horse bone? Where did you scavenge that from? Stop bringing random stuff, I've almost shed all my dead skin and have nothing left to feed you."

Mantou clearly didn't understand Li Huowang's meaning, drooping its head and nudging the horse hoof closer to Li Huowang's feet with its black nose. "Woof?"

Li Huowang patted it on the head with his hand and turned to look at Sun Baolu opposite him, "Alright, you've eaten enough, off you go. I understand that food varies from place to place, so just pick some local Qingqiu produce that stores well."

As Li Huowang gestured towards Bai Lingmiao with a nod of his chin, the white-haired girl handed over a money pouch she sewed together from scraps of fabric.

Sun Baolu weighed the pouch in his hand, stood up, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and walked out. "No problem, leave it to me!"

"It's getting late, let's rent a private room at the inn and rest. Staying outside all the time is tiring." Li Huowang said as he stood up leaning on his walking stick, but quickly encountered a new difficulty, without Sun Baolu, they didn't even understand what the Qingqiu People were saying.

After a lot of gesturing with help from the pup, they finally got a place to stay.

Mantou followed Li Huowang into the tent-like room, circled a few times, then sat down and started gnawing contentedly at the horse bone with its forepaws pressed against its mouth.

As he lay on the straw mat, Li Huowang took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let his body relax back, feeling a sense of relaxation in his tense muscles.

A pair of delicate jade hands gently lifted Li Huowang's head and placed it between soft thighs. Likewise, soft fingers rhythmically massaged through Li Huowang's newly-grown hair.

Taking in a breath of that familiar faint fragrance, Li Huowang was about to drift off to sleep.

"Wait, these nails seem a bit long." Li Huowang stopped the hands and slowly opened his eyes, only to find that it wasn't really Bai Lingmiao but Second God.

Li Huowang noticed from the angle at which he was lying, he could just manage to see under the red bridal veil.

It was dark under the red veil, and even with Li Huowang's excellent vision, he could only make out the faintly glowing eyes resembling those of a fox.

Only the number didn't quite match up, it wasn't the symmetrical pair of two eyes, but rather three, one large and two small.

Then something inside the red veil gently pulled, cutting off Li Huowang's line of sight.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Li Huowang asked, looking at her calmly.

Past troubles with Second God might have put him on high alert, but after all that had happened, her issues no longer seemed as important in comparison.

"Hehe..." Second God grabbed Li Huowang's hand, the one without a fingernail cover, and slowly drew it into her red bridal veil.

Li Huowang felt Snake Scales, beast fur, and also the painful prick of "hairpins" fastened tightly.

Suddenly, she grabbed Li Huowang's hand and swiftly pulled it downward, stuffing it into her bulging outfit.

Then she slowly bent over, with the red bridal veil coming closer and closer to Li Huowang's face.

Some things were becoming visible through the red veil, appearing faintly before Li Huowang.

There were skulls, animal skulls, and some other indistinct objects.

Looking at those things, Li Huowang said in a calm tone, "I don't know where exactly you come from or whether there's a conspiracy by the Immortal Sects behind you, but let me make one thing clear—if you dare lay a hand on Bai Lingmiao, there will be hell to pay!"

"Since you've been watching from the sidelines so many times, you must understand that I have the power to make good on my threat, even if... employing this power comes at a great cost."

Li Huowang issued his threat, then he waited for the other party's reaction.

Unexpectedly, Second God didn't show anger or fear in the face of his threat. She suddenly cried.

Her crying sounded like that of a female ghost, haunting and chilling. Although it was terrifying, Second God was indeed crying.

She leaned over and nestled herself against Li Huowang, continuing to sob.

Li Huowang looked under the red bridal veil and instinctively wrapped his arms around her, not understanding why he did so. It seemed to him that the one weeping in his arms was not Second God but that albino girl with whom he had shared life and death.

Li Huowang hesitated, then, after a moment of thought, he gently stroked her head, patting softly.

Amid the faint crying, the exhausted Li Huowang dozed off.

After a journey of sleeping rough, his body was indeed tired and needed rest.

"Brother Li, wake up, we've arrived at Niuxin Mountain, we're finally home!"

"Home?" Li Huowang opened his eyes and saw before him a huge mountain peak, as well as the small village below it, and vast fields of golden rice nearby.

Such a scene was so harmonious; it was almost on par with Peach Blossom Spring.

His gaze traveled upward, surveying the mountain. In high spirits, he asked in surprise, "This doesn't look like Ox Heart. How do you people come up with such random names?"

As he spoke, he turned around and caught sight of Bai Lingmiao's profile.

"I don't know either; my grandpa taught me, and it was my great-grandpa who taught him," Bai Lingmiao said with a laugh as she turned around, revealing half of her frightfully disfigured face to Li Huowang.

The green snake scales crawled like centipedes over the pure white fox fur, and the black spines that interposed among the hairs couldn't stop their movement.

However, the snake scales could climb no further once they reached the middle of the face because two eyes glowing an eerie green and jostling each other blocked their path.

"Brother Li, what's wrong?" Bai Lingmiao stepped forward while Li Huowang took a step back.

The keenly aware Li Huowang suddenly sensed something behind him. He spun around violently, and two more ghastly twisted beast faces loomed in front of him. "Husband, do you despise me looking like this?"

"Ha!" Li Huowang, covered in cold sweat, suddenly opened his eyes to see the dusty tent canopy above him.

Seeing Bai Lingmiao sleeping next to him, hugging her hands to her chest, and then spotting Jin Shanzhao and Peng Longteng standing in the corner, Li Huowang realized he must have been dreaming.

"How real that was; it's been a long time since I've had a nightmare like that." Li Huowang turned over, pulled Bai Lingmiao into his embrace, and closed his eyes again.

"That was a nightmare just now, so is this another new nightmare?" Li Huowang then shook his head, "No, this isn't a nightmare now, because Peng Longteng and Jin Shanzhao are here."

Before long, Li Huowang's eyes snapped open again, sensing someone lying behind him.

A bifurcated red tongue twisted out from behind, gently licking Li Huowang's neck, which was mottled white and red. "Husband, do you despise me looking like this?"

Li Huowang tightened his arms slightly, holding Bai Lingmiao closer to his chest, buried his face in her white hair, and spoke softly as he closed his eyes, "I don't despise you, but you're not Bai Lingmiao."