The Unruly Immortals

Listening to two voices whose origin he couldn't determine, Li Huowang, who was almost crawling on the ground, made a slight movement with his eyes and began to ponder the meaning behind their words.

"Taoist Cultivation? Is this person a Taoist? Is he discussing the Tao with another person?"

"He doesn't seem like the Taoists I have in mind; at least, the ones I know don't cultivate in that way."

As Li Huowang was lost in thought, the discussion nearby continued, and the girl's voice carried a hint of disdain.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Your mother carried you for ten months, giving birth to a big chubby boy like you, and now you're casting off all that flesh again? Aren't you tired?"

"Not at all, not at all! Do you think the Seven Emotions and Three Corpses that we carry, as well as this mortal flesh, actually belong to us? Wrong! They all have owners! That includes our lives and deaths! All of this was given to us by others!"

"All have owners?"

"Yes! The pain in our bodies, the smiles on our faces, our past lives, and our future lives. They all have owners!"

"Imagine, carrying these things that have owners with us all the time. What good is there in that? They are bindings! So we should cast off all the things that have owners!"

"'The great Tao has fifty, the sky evolves forty-nine, humans evade one'; only then can we become the one."

After that, the girl's voice asked a question on behalf of the eavesdropping Li Huowang, "And what happens after one becomes the one?"

"Heh heh! After becoming the one, we owe no one anything; of course, we are free to go. Out of the Three Realms and not within the Five Elements."

"What are they... actually talking about? What has owners, and what again is the one." Li Huowang furrowed his brows, trying to decipher the meaning.

"All have owners? Is Bahu the master of all pain? The master of joy, the joy god?" Li Huowang immediately thought back to the Giant Cauldron. "So are they making a sacrifice to the master of death?"

After thinking for a while, Li Huowang shook his head vigorously, casting aside the jumbled thoughts.

"No, wait a minute, Li Huowang, don't get sucked in by their words. Maybe all of this is just their belief, and what they believe might not be true. Perhaps these two people are like Master Danyang, thinking they know a lot when in fact they understand nothing!"

"These aren't the things you should be considering now. What you need to consider is, having stumbled upon these two while lost, what should I do next to extricate myself from this predicament?"

"Should I just stand up and talk things through with them?"

That was almost the first solution Li Huowang thought of. But merely thinking about it was too reckless given that he didn't know their capabilities.

After taking another look at the darkness around him, Li Huowang had another idea. "Use my sensory abilities to follow them from a distance and leave with them?"

"No, this idea is even worse than the last one!"

Just as Li Huowang was considering how to use these two to free himself, he felt someone tugging at his sleeve. "Li... Brother Li!"

"Shh! Don't speak!"

At that moment, Li Huowang was immensely annoyed; if the two people in the distance discovered them, his only chance to escape this place would be lost.

"Brother Li, someone is grabbing my arm, but there's clearly no one to my left!" Sun Baolu was almost on the verge of tears at this point.

Li Huowang's heart skipped a beat and he slowly slid his left hand along Sun Baolu's clothes.

Following that, he felt an extremely rough hand.

Just as Li Huowang grasped the thing, the hand flipped over and pulled him towards the darkness.

With a "clang," Li Huowang instantly drew his sword and slashed fiercely toward it.

Feeling a stir beside him, Chun Xiaoman swiftly pulled out a luminous stone.

"Whoosh!" A greenish light illuminated the surroundings, yet there was nothing out of the ordinary. There was nothing around.

Just as Li Huowang's mood flickered, uncertain as he looked around, a young Taoist with sunken cheeks and dressed in a yellow robe stumbled desperately into the glow.

He wore a yellow Taoist robe, stepped in black cloth shoes, and above his head sat a Taoist crown emblazoned with a Tai Chi diagram.

In comparison to Master Danyang, this man looked much more like the Taoists Li Huowang had imagined.

Upon seeing each other, both parties were momentarily taken aback, but soon that Taoist, bearing rotten teeth, exclaimed, "Quick, retreat! The 'rope son' is about to catch up!"

Li Huowang recognized the voice—it was one of the voices he had just heard!

His appearance was far too young for his voice.

As the man rushed back into the darkness, Li Huowang and the others hastened to follow him.

Whatever this 'rope son' was, if mentioned in this haunted place, it was definitely nothing good.

In comparison to the man, Li Huowang and his group were evidently slower, as they still had to drag along the hundreds of pounds heavy Black Taisui.

Just as Li Huowang was contemplating whether this Taoist was using them as a shield, the man suddenly rushed back towards them.

Putting his fingers to his mouth for a fierce bite, the blood-dripping index and middle fingers of that hand began to trace symbols in the air, "Quick, put away the light!"

Watching his gaunt figure, Li Huowang hesitated for a second before signaling others with his eyes, and they promptly stuffed the luminous stones into their bosoms.

In complete darkness, the Taoist's chanting incantations reached everyone's ears.

This incantation sounded very peculiar, unlike Buddhist scriptures or Taoist decrees, as if it belonged to a completely different system.

"Om Barta Ah Baju Zhen Ji! Juru Tuo Zheng Guang Ji! Miao Ying Tong Ling Tian Jiang Ling Ji Ji Ji!"

When the incantations ended, a certain oppressive feeling came forth, and Li Huowang suddenly felt goosebumps all over, as if something indescribable was passing over him.

Immediately after, he felt his body temperature drop rapidly.

"Shh~" The Taoist's hushing sound made everyone freeze in place.

Li Huowang felt something furry wriggling between his legs, and knowing the trembling reaction, he recognized it as Mantou.

It was in fear, afraid of something approaching.

Li Huowang felt the ground begin to shake, as something massive in the darkness drew nearer to him.

Gradually, the tremors grew louder, close enough for Li Huowang to discern a massive silhouette through the dim darkness.

"Huff~" A hot breath tousled Li Huowang's hair, and the repulsive stench suggested it was from the nose of some creature!

Suddenly, a rusty scale weight dropped from the darkness above right in front of Li Huowang, followed by a cord that was tied to a pair of cloth shoes.

Cloth shoes? Just as Li Huowang realized this fact, the scale weight suddenly plummeted, dragging down the shoes with it.

"Swoosh!" A tongue extended, and a red-clothed female corpse with a horrifically tragic appearance suddenly dropped before Li Huowang.

The two were close, so close that there was only a short inch between their eyes.