The Unruly Immortals

When he discovered that all these dead sheep might be transformed humans, he was utterly shocked.

But after the shock, new questions surfaced in Li Huowang's mind.

"What exactly are they worshipping? Just who are they?" These two questions incessantly circled in Li Huowang's mind.

He now felt it essential to clarify these two issues, for if such an evil cult still lurked within the depths of the cave, then he needed to consider whether he should continue venturing further.

Risking for Black Taishui was one thing, but it was not worth courting death.

Upon hearing this, Sun Baolu spoke up, "Brother Li, this isn't right. Look at the way these sheep, cattle and pig heads are placed on the dishes; they are placed upside down. These offerings are for the dead sheep."

"They're not worshipping... gods? But they are worshipping these sheep?"

Li Huowang, with furrowed brows, stood aside, his gaze shifting back and forth between the offerings and the dead sheep.

"Could it be... offerings to a sheep god? Old Sun, do you Qingqiu people have a sheep immortal?" Dogwa asked from the side.

"Sheep are livestock; why would we worship a beast as an immortal? Qingqiu has no such custom."

Upon hearing this, various forces Li Huowang had encountered flashed rapidly through his mind.

The lascivious Buddha of Zhengde Temple, the suffering Bahu of Ao Jing Sect, the Rotten Bodhisattva of An Ci Nunnery.

A sudden insight flashed through his mind, and the words burst forth unbidden.

"I understand now, they are not worshipping these sheep; the sheep are merely props needed for the appearance of the object of their worship. They worship death, they are venerating death itself!"

"What?" The others clearly did not grasp what Li Huowang was trying to say.

They didn't understand, but Li Huowang did.

He stood atop the Giant Cauldron, once again looking down at the sheep corpses below.

Some entity had herded hundreds, perhaps thousands of people here, and then transformed them into sheep.

Those that didn't succeed were cast aside, whereas the successful ones were gathered together, to be killed at the same time.

And at the moment of these sheep's death, their worship began; they were not venerating the sheep, but the very nature of the sheep's demise!

As he pieced together the details, he felt he fully comprehended the logic behind the actions of those beings from before.

Not only do Qingqiu's underground depths teem with all manner of evil spirits, but there's also a religion that worships death!

What's more outrageous is that Li Huowang doesn't even know whether the believers of this religion are human or something else entirely.

From previous experiences, since they worship death, these beings definitely possess some kind of power related to death. Just by simple deduction, Li Huowang knew how dangerous the opponent was.

Having fully realized what this implied, Li Huowang became anxious. He turned to look at the others around him.

"Let's go, you all get out first; this is no longer a mere issue with evil spirits!"

Having said that, Li Huowang lead the others towards the exit, but just after taking a few steps, the sudden "tap-tap-tap" sound of wood knocking abruptly resounded.

Startled, Li Huowang quickly gripped the hilt of his sword and surveyed the encircling darkness.

"Tap-tap-tap" The rhythmic sound of wood knocking, along with echoes coming from all directions, overlapped in such a way that Li Huowang could not tell from where it originated.

Unable to discern where the enemy was, Li Huowang dared not rashly charge forward, fearing a full-frontal collision with the enemy.

Li Huowang clenched his teeth and continuously twitched his ears, exerting all his energy to distinguish the direction of the sounds.

As the noises grew closer, Li Huowang's keen hearing finally came into play, and he identified the direction of the sounds.

"Found it! It's... above us!!"

Li Huowang quickly looked up at the pitch-black ceiling above and swiftly raised the Luminous Stone in his hand, tossing it towards the direction of the sound.

As the Luminous Stone lodged firmly between the cracks at the top, suddenly a face larger than a round table appeared before them, illuminated by the eerie green light.

It was a man's face, with extremely flat features, deathly pale complexion, mouth wide open, and red-and-white pupils, large as lantern holes, staring intently at Li Huowang below.

Behind the man's neck, there were no limbs or torso, just a caterpillar-like elongated body, with hands of various sizes rigidly propping up a piece of white cloth.

The constant wooden knocking sound, Li Huowang had found the source; it was coming from inside his elongated body.

That strange sound immediately reminded Li Huowang of the things he had seen at the Lady's Mountain.

"Is this a Lion Dance from the Lion Dance Palace? No, it can't be! Which Lion Dance tops their performance with a flat dead man's face instead of a lion's head?!"

"Is it them? Was that grandiose sacrifice ritual their doing? Could it be that they are not from the Lion Dance Palace but rather a Palace of the Dancing Dead?"

Regardless of what it was, seeing that large mass crouching on the rock ceiling, Li Huowang couldn't just pretend to see nothing; he decided to try making contact first.

After a moment of deliberation, Li Huowang slowly spoke, "Masters of the Lion Dance Palace, I, Xuan Yang, show my respect. I merely pass by this treasure land without any intention of offense. It is truly a matter of necessity."

In the blink of an eye, Li Huowang immediately found a new reason.

"I need a Black Taishui as a Medicinal Guide for my alchemy, and I heard that your esteemed land has one. If the masters could help me find one, I would be greatly thankful!"

Regardless of how he would give thanks later, Li Huowang had already said his piece; now, it was time to see how the other party would respond.

Unexpectedly, the lion dancer just hung upside down from the top, not saying anything, showing no signs, just like a stone lion hanging there.

"What does the other party mean? Could it be because the lion dancers are all Qingqiu People, so they don't understand what I'm saying?"

Thinking this, Li Huowang turned his head and ordered Sun Baolu to repeat it to them in the language of Qingqiu.

While Sun Baolu was speaking, Li Huowang suddenly tensed up, feeling danger, and subconsciously tried to lunge to the left.

But it was too late to move; just as he felt a pain in his back, his body was slammed out by a tremendous force.

"I've been ambushed; the lion on top was a decoy!"

Realizing all this, Li Huowang crashed into the darkness, and when he rose again, touching his body, he found that he hadn't suffered any injuries.

"What... what's going on?" Li Huowang instinctively reached behind his back.

When his fingers touched the Great Thousand Record beneath his skin, he knew that it had protected him.

Even though embedding the Great Thousand Record into his skin was extremely painful, fortunately for him, his back now effectively had an extra layer of thick armor.

Li Huowang's heart leaped with joy but quickly dissipated; there was no time to think about that now, as he hurriedly propped himself up with his crutch and rushed over.

He saw the thing that had ambushed him—it was another lion dancer, distinguishable only by the flat face, which belonged to a woman with a blood-red mouth and black pupils!