The Unruly Immortals

"Hey, you woman!" Dog-Wa grumbled as he saw Chun Xiaoman treating him like a pack mule.

But he only dared to mutter under his breath, fearing that if he raised his voice, the other party might cut him with a knife.

By this time, Chun Xiaoman had already reached Li Huowang, who was sitting cross-legged. "Senior Brother Li, why are we in such a hurry today?"

Li Huowang patted the ground beside him and said, "There's a hidden danger. Although it's just speculation, for the sake of caution, it's better to leave early."

He turned to look at the direction of the women's mountain again. From the current situation, no matter whether those from the Lion Dance Palace had the potential to be a force like Zhengde Temple, it was highly likely that they hadn't noticed him.

"Should we contact them and inquire about the matter of Oblivion Path's Bei Feng? ...No, such rash contact is too dangerous. If I want to break free from Xinsu, I must start elsewhere."

Mantou trotted over, placed the stone he must have picked up from somewhere beside Li Huowang, and continued wagging his tail as he looked at him.

"Senior Brother Li, you don't need to keep everything to yourself. You're already ill; keeping it in might really make you sick. If you tell us, we can all think of a solution together."

Li Huowang patted Mantou's head and turned to look at Chun Xiaoman, who had spoken to him, and calmly recounted his experience from last night.

"The hallucination beside you told you that the lion dancers had more hands than feet? Then you remembered that indeed, the lion dancers' hands outnumbered their feet?"

Chun Xiaoman, finding it utterly absurd, suddenly felt that what Sun Baolu had said to her earlier might not be wrong.

Li Huowang, with his keen perception, noticed her distrust, but he wasn't angry; he just sighed lightly with disappointment.

He looked at the three hallucinations of varying heights in front of him and muttered to himself. "See? This is why I always prefer to keep things to myself instead of telling others."

Some things, once spoken, don't increase others' understanding of oneself; they only make others think you're truly insane.

"Taoist, it's okay, it doesn't matter if they don't understand. Just talk to me, I'm on your side."

Li Huowang completely ignored him, tilting his head to look at Chun Xiaoman's empty sleeve. "Now that you've lost a hand, are you used to it yet?"

Chun Xiaoman's expression shifted slightly, "Losing a hand is nothing if it saves everyone. If not for your shelter, I would've been long gone."

After thinking it over, Li Huowang decided to offer an explanation. He put his hand into his left eye socket and touched the shriveled eyeball that had just begun to take shape.

"Actually, this ability of mine to regenerate limbs is not meant to be kept secret. It's just that you really wouldn't be able to use that method. You wouldn't be able to endure the process."

Chun Xiaoman nodded, "I know. If it were possible for me, Senior Brother Li definitely wouldn't have kept it from me. You're not a petty person."

After speaking, Chun Xiaoman seemed hesitant to say something. However, in the end, she remained silent and turned to walk towards Bai Lingmiao, who was picking wild vegetables in the distance.

She crouched down next to Bai Lingmiao and began picking out some weeds from the basket with her hands.

"If you really plan to spend your life with him, you have to find a way to cure his hysteria. It's seriously affecting daily life now."

Bai Lingmiao was still savoring the events of the previous day, smiling as she nodded in agreement,

Chun Xiaoman nudged her with her shoulder, "Did you hear me? I'm talking to you."

"I'm listening. Sister Xiaoman, honestly, whether he has the illness or not, I don't mind. As long as he is Senior Brother Li, that's enough for me."

Chun Xiaoman looked at the young girl beside her with a mix of frustration and resignation, "You just won't listen to advice. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't bother to care."

Smiling, Bai Lingmiao opened her arms and gently hugged Chun Xiaoman, "Thank you for your concern, Sister Xiaoman. I understand."

Looking at the exquisite face before her, Chun Xiaoman's heart softened all at once. "Alright, alright, the sun is so strong; hurry up and cover your eyes."

"I'm fine digging wild vegetables with my head down; as long as I don't look straight at the sun, it'll be okay."

It was almost summer, and many wild vegetables were poking up through the grass.

Half of them ended up in the bubbling dough pot, while the remaining were put into the ox cart to eat the next day.

The wild vegetable and highland barley flour meal, although a bit harsh on the throat, was still devoured with relish by everyone. After all, what was floating on the surface of the flour soup was pig fat.

After eating, many men went to the river in groups to bathe; the weather was getting hotter, and it was quite uncomfortable being sticky with sweat.

Once the men were done, it was the women's turn.

Bai Lingmiao, along with Chun Xiaoman, helped Luo Juannhua, who had a big belly, to the river, surrounded by a group of women who had been rescued from the bandits' nest.

So many women bathing bare-bottomed undoubtedly stirred the desires of other men.

However, Li Huowang sat there pondering like a stabilizer, which dissuaded others from even turning their heads.

At this moment, the scene by the river was completely different; the setting sun dyed the entire river red.

The bright red water was scooped up by delicate jade hands, followed by it slipping off the skin as soft and white as curdled sheep's milk, leaving behind sparkling and translucent droplets.

This sight made even Chun Xiaoman, a woman herself, lose herself for a moment.

Luo Juannhua, who was beside her, also saw it and could not help but exclaim, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, such moist skin; isn't your man going to rub you raw in bed?"

Bai Lingmiao's face turned red, and she covered her body, squatting into the not-too-deep water. "Luo Sister, what are you talking about..."

"There are no men here, what's there to be embarrassed about? When you get to my age, you'll understand. All that shyness is just for show for the men."

Then, holding her belly as if cradling a watermelon, she moved closer with gleaming eyes. "Hey, what's your man like in bed? Is he capable? How long can he last?"

Seeing Bai Lingmiao almost bury her head in the water, Chun Xiaoman came over with a helpless expression to intervene. "Sister Luo, the girl is shy, don't make it hard for her."

Luo Juannhua, with a look of regret, said, "I see she's clueless about that, so I wanted to teach her. If she doesn't want to listen, fine."

"Besides, we're making a mountain out of a molehill here. In the pond at the head of our village, all the women do the laundry and gossip about racy stuff; the talk is much oilier than this. When the old men hear it, they just turn their heads and walk away."

After speaking, she cradled her belly and, like a crab, walked toward a distant woman holding her daughter.

Chun Xiaoman extended her hand to help Bai Lingmiao out of the water, grasping her slippery arm.

"There, she's gone now. Come on, get up, be careful not to drown yourself."

Bai Lingmiao patted her chest, still feeling shaken, "I've never seen Sister Luo so open before; she scared me to death."

"Everyone gets like that at her age." Chun Xiaoman picked up the cloth in her hand and helped Bai Lingmiao dry off.

"When we reach Sister Luo's age, will we become like her? So embarrassing... to be able to talk about such things."

With her cheeks flushed with bashfulness, Bai Lingmiao looked at Luo Juannhua, who was holding her daughter and laughing heartily in the distance, and said.