The Unruly Immortals

Looking at the human skull Mantou had brought over, Li Huowang immediately realized that the other bone Mantou had been carrying was definitely also human bone.

"Could it be that Mantou has been fed my human flesh and has started to like eating people?"

Feeling very regretful, Li Huowang's face turned extremely unsightly as he stared at Mantou squatting there.

"Wu?" Seeing his master show no reaction, Mantou tilted its head in confusion and nudged the skull toward Li Huowang's feet with its black nose again.

Li Huowang reached out and repeatedly stroked Mantou's head.

"Swish!" Li Huowang quickly drew a dagger and sliced off a small piece of his own flesh, tossing it toward Mantou.

Right after, Li Huowang held the bloody dagger, constantly aiming it at Mantou's neck.

If the dog made any move attracted by the piece of flesh, he would stab it instantly.

Although they had developed a bond through their time together, he couldn't possibly keep a dog that loved to eat human flesh by his side, not just for his own sake but also for others'.

Watching Mantou, still lost in the pleasure of being stroked and not at all attracted to the piece of flesh, Li Huowang finally slowly put away the dagger.

Mantou hadn't turned into a dog that liked to eat people; it merely enjoyed carrying things around and pleasing him.

Mantou was just a beast, but compared to it, a person was far more suspicious.

If it was indeed human bone, yet Sun Baolu claimed it was horse bone, that was suspiciously problematic.

"Why would that kid lie to me?" Li Huowang's eyebrows gradually furrowed. Now, any contact they had with the Qingqiu People was through that kid. If he really had a problem, that could be a big issue.

"Li Senior Brother, what's wrong? Why aren't you talking? Do you feel a bit annoyed? If you're feeling a bit annoyed, let's head back," said Bai Lingmiao understandingly, sensing that something was off in the atmosphere.

"No, it's just that Mantou just dragged over a donkey's hoof. It's right before you, you can touch its head if you don't believe me."

When Bai Lingmiao touched Mantou's familiar head, a smile surfaced on her face again. "So it really is Mantou. I've noticed it's been fond of dragging things back lately, no idea where it picked up that habit."

Seeing that Mantou was about to lick Bai Lingmiao's hand with its tongue, Li Huowang pulled her hand away.

"It's indeed a bad habit, Mantou should go. Let's continue our stroll," Li Huowang said as he kicked the half skull away and spoke to the girl beside him.

This little interlude didn't disrupt the mood of Li Huowang showing Bai Lingmiao around the marketplace. They continued to stroll through the entire market.

They had to hit the road the next day, and he couldn't let some minor matters spoil Bai Lingmiao's good mood.

His suspicions about Sun Baolu were likewise concealed.

To prevent Bai Lingmiao from stealthily seeing those chilling things, Li Huowang tried to keep her away from those spots as much as possible. However, this meant that their path through the entire market was quite limited.

Latterly, many Qingqiu People watched as a lame man led a blind girl through the market, looping repeatedly through the same spots, yet the lame man's words were always different.

With Li Huowang's vivid descriptions, Bai Lingmiao saw a market far more interesting than reality, without the use of her eyes.

They spent the whole day strolling like this. As the sun began to set and darkness fell, with the temperature gradually turning cold,

"Miaomiao, it's getting dark; we should head back now," Li Huowang said as he reached out to remove the ribbon from Bai Lingmiao's face.

Bai Lingmiao's long, white eyelashes fluttered as she looked around with a bit of anticipation, but she was disappointed to find none of the vibrant scenes Li Huowang had described.

"It's getting dark, and it's normal for others to close their stalls; so let's head back," Li Huowang explained gently to her.

Looking up at the sky, Bai Lingmiao nodded in agreement. "That's true, let's go then. Today was really interesting," she said.

Seeing the bright smile on Bai Lingmiao's face, Li Huowang felt a twinge of heartache. Was she already content with this?

"Senior Brother Li, look, Mantou is following us."

Li Huowang saw Bai Lingmiao, who was scratching Mantou's chin, and said, "Stop touching it, dogs are very dirty."

"Not at all, Mantou is so clean. Whenever there's a river, it always jumps in to wash up," she replied.

Looking at Bai Lingmiao, who knew nothing, and Mantou, who was equally ignorant, Li Huowang ultimately didn't utter a word and limped back, leaning on his crutch.

Seeing this, Bai Lingmiao quickly put Mantou down, took Li Huowang's arm again, and leaned on him to help share some of his weight.

"Wang!" Mantou barked, tongue out, tail wagging lightly as it circled around Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao.

The serene atmosphere didn't last long before Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao saw a familiar face on the deserted street, Sun Baolu, who was herding dozens of sheep.

Upon seeing Li Huowang, he visibly brightened and came over with his sheep.

"Senior Brother Li, look at these sheep, how good and strong they are! I picked the whole day to finally choose such fine sheep," he exclaimed.

"Oh, and Senior Sister Bai, here's the Silver I had left after buying the sheep," he said.

Li Huowang looked back at Sun Baolu, who seemed perfectly normal, and calmly said as if he'd noticed nothing amiss, "Since that's the case, herd the sheep back. We can set off tomorrow. Hurry up, and you can reunite with your family sooner."

"Yes!!" Sun Baolu, not detecting anything odd in Li Huowang's demeanor, turned to start herding the sheep.

The journey was silent. Upon reaching the tent inn, Sun Baolu busied himself with carefully herding the sheep to the ox cart.

He bragged to Zhao Wu, who was watching the cart, about how well he had picked the sheep and how he had bargained down to the lowest price.

"Old Sun, you're just about home; is there any need to be this happy?" Zhao Wu, munching on a yellow cake, looked at the exuberant Sun Baolu in surprise. In his memory, Sun Baolu wasn't like this.

"I really wonder, you're different from the rest of us without any issues; why would that scabby-headed man want to catch you?"

Sun Baolu's expression stiffened, and he pulled his sleeve a bit closer, "Scabby-headed man catching people, what reason is there? The sheep are all here; count them. This is our food for later, be careful."

With Zhao Wu's full agreement, Sun Baolu turned and left the cart, heading towards his dwelling.

As he walked, a joyful smile spread across his face as he began to fantasize about seeing his family again after so many days. His light steps suddenly stopped.

Sun Baolu looked in front of him at Li Huowang, who was leaning against a wooden pillar. Huowang's gaze was a bit strange to him.