The Unruly Immortals

The dim, pitch-black cave echoed with the sound, "Ring Ring Ring—Thud Thud Thud!" The ringing of bells merged with the beating of drums.

Accompanied by this cacophony, Young Master You, Second God, and the other brothers and sisters fought fiercely against the lion dancer.

Li Huowang didn't go to help because he saw the lion dancer that had been on the ceiling had also come down; he couldn't let this ghastly thing get past him and flank his comrades.

With a "clang," Li Huowang unsheathed his sword, carrying with it a killing fury as he charged towards it.

Underneath the lion's body, which was covered in white tassels, dozens of pitch-black bare feet ferociously moved, hurtling towards Li Huowang with overwhelming momentum.

Soon, both parties could see the murderous intent in each other's faces.

As they crossed paths, the lion's massive body, enshrouded in a putrid stench, heavily collided with Li Huowang, its white tassels scraping across his body.

But Li Huowang, who was struck, had no marks on his face, no sensation of injury; he simply raised his longsword and cut through the empty space beside him.

The two quickly separated, and the outcome was that Li Huowang was unharmed, while several bare feet had been left behind by the lion dancer, all severed by Li Huowang.

Just now, Li Huowang was merely an illusion; the lion dancer had never touched him. Before rushing over, Li Huowang had already switched between his physical body and the illusory one.

With Li Huowang unscathed, the lion dancer's huge lantern-like left eye gradually moved upward, revealing a dark, pitch-black hole.

Seven or eight withered, black hands like those of monkeys stretched out from it, draping over the eye socket like extended eyelashes.

Then a dozen eyes, large and small, filled the giant eye socket. The expression on the man's face became venomous as those numerous eyes fixed on Li Huowang's true body.

Li Huowang clenched his teeth and glared coldly at the thing before him; whatever it was, it was not a lion dancer. Absolutely not!

"Thump." Tossing aside his walking stick, Li Huowang stabbed his amputated foot onto the ground with determination, his eyes full of murderous intent as he glared at the creature before him. "Come on!"

With the longsword in front of his face, he steeled his heart and lifted his left hand, thrusting it onto the blade.

With a light swishing sound, two blood-soaked fingers flew into the air, growing larger and spiraling toward the lion dancer, their sharp bone spurs piercing through flesh.

The shooting fingers were too fast for the lion dancer to dodge, and soon, two bloody spots appeared on its huge round face.

Li Huowang's fingers, which had punctured the face, kept burrowing in, accompanied by the constant sound of tearing flesh; thick, black blood slowly trickled down those naked feet.

The person controlling the lion dancer was injured, yet they still didn't want to give up. The lion's body shook violently like a beast shaking off its handler, and the white tassels began to float towards Li Huowang.

Such a trivial matter was naturally no problem for Li Huowang. A cast-iron pliers appeared in his hand, which he stuck into his mouth and yanked hard, pulling out two of his molar teeth.

The white teeth tumbled through the air and exploded fiercely upon impact, effortlessly cutting through the tassels, which then helplessly fell to the ground.

The lion dancer's body was slashed by the fragments, its white body stained red with blood, a truly pitiful sight.

Sensing defeat, the lion dancer seemed to understand its plight. However, it made no sound, and the legs beneath it continued to move, attempting to retreat into the darkness with its damaged body.

Naturally, Li Huowang wouldn't let it escape that easily, and he inserted the pliers into his mouth once more.

Under Li Huowang's offense, the wounded lion dancer could not hold on much longer and was soon finished off by Li Huowang.

Li Huowang didn't even have time to catch his breath before he relentlessly helped the others break free. With his joining, that battle was also without suspense.

As Li Huowang leaped onto the lion's head and fiercely struck down with his sword, he carved a ring around the huge dead face's edge, peeling the entire skin off.

With its face gone, the whole lion dance collapsed. Accompanied by a loud "boom!", the giant lion fell heavily to the ground, and black, viscous blood began to seep from the lion's body, staining everything beneath it red.

Li Huowang, on the lion's back, drew his sword and leaped down, panting and looking at the others, who were still in shock. "Is everyone okay?"

"Nothing much, just that Gao Zhijian's left ear was touched by Bai Sui, moved down an inch. Those Bai Sui must be the same things that encountered Sun Baolu back then," Chun Xiaoman replied.

Looking at Gao Zhijian, with one ear higher than the other, Li Huowang nodded, then wiped the blood off his sword with the hem of his garment and sheathed it back into the Sword Sheath.

He turned around and surveyed the two extremely strange-looking lion dances again.

Behind the huge flat human face wasn't a Qingqiu Person holding up the lion's head, but a mass of bloated, indistinct flesh.

The whole lion was of one piece, whether it was the hands holding up the body or the feet that moved, all were part of a twisted and terrifying creature.

The bloody lion contained various organs hanging by blood vessels, perfectly confirming Li Huowang's suspicion.

Li Huowang didn't know if they were naturally like this or made to be this way, but either truth represented one bad outcome or another that was even worse.

What was even more chilling was that they didn't just exist in this dark underworld; they also appeared above ground in Qingqiu, accepted by the Qingqiu People as part of their lives.

And what made Li Huowang himself feel sad was that he realized he wasn't even surprised anymore.

"Oh my god, what is all this?" The frightened Dog Wa stood to the side, gaping in horror.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this... not like this..." Sun Baolu looked at the scene before him with a very complex expression, his decade-long beliefs overturned by this sight.

"Senior Brother Li, what... what is actually going on here?"

At that moment, Li Huowang, standing beside the male lion, couldn't care less about the issues of the Lion Dance Palace in Qingqiu. After all, he was just passing through, and whatever happened outside had nothing to do with him.

Right now, he was pondering a problem that was closely related to himself.

Li Huowang meticulously searched through the flesh and organs, seemingly looking for something.

"Senior Brother Li, what are you looking for?" However, the answer that followed left the one who asked, Dog Wa, somewhat confused.

"Looking for death."

"What?"

Li Huowang offered no explanation, his brows furrowed as he gazed at the enormous carcass before him and began to ponder.

"Something's amiss. Zhengde Temple worships the Flesh Buddha, so they use flesh, and the nuns at An Ci Nunnery have rotting bodies, so they make use of decay. However, the giant cauldron we saw before worshiped death, and this lion dance hadn't harnessed death just now."

With this thought, Li Huowang turned his head back towards the direction of the Giant Cauldron, "Could it be that there are other Sects beneath this lawn besides the Lion Dance Palace??"

The moment this idea crossed his mind, Li Huowang felt an inexplicable chill; this place was far busier than he had imagined.