The Unruly Immortals

"Mom, wake up, please wake up." Sun Xiaoqin, in a daze, thought she heard her son calling for her.

She thought she was dreaming again, but when she rubbed her eyes and sat up from the lounge chair, she was surprised to see Li Huowang watching her from the bed.

"Son? Have you finally come to?"

Sun Xiaoqin quickly took out a calendar from beside her and started marking it down. "Son, look at this period, it seems like the intervals when you're lucid are getting shorter? Does that mean your illness is almost cured?"

Li Huowang looked at her, smiled, and nodded his head, "Yes, maybe I'm truly getting better."

"That's wonderful news, oh, are you hungry? How about an orange? Ah, when you were out of it, you talked nonsense all day, I didn't even know if you were full or not."

Sun Xiaoqin took a bag of sugar-coated tangerines from underneath the lounge chair, and picked one out, beginning to peel it.

"Mom, I'm not hungry. Have you been here with me all this time?"

Sun Xiaoqin sat beside Li Huowang's bed and, with her right hand fragrant with the scent of tangerine peel, gently touched his face with sympathy.

"Don't worry, mom's here, and Dr. Wang also said that having me by your side, seeing me every day, could help improve your condition."

"Don't listen to him; he's just a swindler," Li Huowang said, his voice trembling as he looked at his mother.

"Alright, alright, I'll listen to you. We won't ask for him anymore. Just look at how he has bruised my son's face. Once our family saves up enough money, we'll go abroad and get the best doctors."

Li Huowang's lips twitched slightly upon hearing the tone used to coddle a child, and finally, tears slowly streamed down his face.

"Son, don't cry, why are you crying? Did that scoundrel Wang Wei bully you while I was gone? Tell me, and I'll go sort him out!"

Sun Xiaoqin's eyebrows shot up instantaneously; that unyielding woman had returned.

Li Huowang shook his head vigorously, whether to deny her words or to fling his tears away was unclear. "Mom, my hands are a bit numb, can you help me untie them?"

"Eh! Of course, of course." Sun Xiaoqin immediately started to untie the wide cloth band on Li Huowang's hands.

As for the possibility of Li Huowang going crazy and attacking her, Sun Xiaoqin hadn't even considered it. Because he was the flesh that had fallen from her womb.

Regaining control of his freed hands, he massaged his numb wrists and wiped the tears off his face.

Then, Li Huowang reached under his quilt and slowly pulled out a gold box he had brought with him.

"Mom, here, this is all for you." Li Huowang, with a smile, softly explained as he pushed the gold box into his mother's arms.

"This... this..." Looking at the items in her embrace, Sun Xiaoqin was clearly flustered, her mind in turmoil, wondering where all this gold had come from!

Li Huowang took out a small Gold Ingot from the box, held it in his palm, and placed it in front of Sun Xiaoqin, his eyes filled with hope as he said, "Mom, look, with these, you can not only buy our house back, but you could even buy several more."

"You can also buy shops to collect rent, and then you won't have to work anymore, you'll have money coming in every month."

"And besides, haven't you always said you wanted to travel abroad after retirement? Now, you don't have to wait until then; you can go now. With this gold, you can travel wherever you want to go."

Having said all this, Li Huowang finally took out a pair of delicate jade earrings from his bosom and handed them over with both hands.

"Mom, these were the birthday present I owed Nana. Can you give them to her for me, and also, tell her..."

Li Huowang paused as he reached this point, recalling past memories in his mind, his expression starting to struggle. He took a deep breath, harshly suppressing the emotions that were about to burst forth.

"Mom... tell her that I'm sorry, Nana, and to not wait for me anymore."

When Sun Xiaoqin heard her son speak these words, she truly started to panic; he resembled someone who was settling his affairs.

She quickly placed the gold box on the bed and darted out the door, shouting into the empty corridor, "Doctor! On-call doctor, hurry over!"

Then she rushed back, her hands trembling as she clutched Li Huowang's hands, choking up as she said, "Son, what's happening to you? Did you run into some trouble? Tell mom, I'll figure out a solution for you! No matter how big the trouble is, I can solve it. Don't scare me!"

Li Huowang smiled as he looked at his mother in tears, his hands holding the gold box, placing it between them. "Mom, why are you crying? You should be smiling. Look at all this gold, our family is rich now," he said.

"I don't want the gold; I just want you to come back!" Sun Xiaoqin threw herself on him, hugging Li Huowang's head and bursting into loud sobs.

Hearing these sobs stabbed at Li Huowang's heart with pain. He even considered not consuming Black Taisui, so he could always stay by his side, allowing them to always be together.

But when Li Huowang remembered the swollen face of Bai Lingmiao that he had caused, he turned his head away forcefully.

"I can't abandon reality for a false illusion! I must take responsibility for my actions!" he thought.

"But..." Li Huowang wrapped his arms around his mother, feeling the strong emotions emanating from her. "So real... could it truly be fake?"

Right then, Li Huowang saw Wang Wei, dressed in white, entering the ward with his students.

Li Huowang looked at him and smiled, "Doctor Wang, I am leaving. I guess we won't see each other again. How about we make a bet?"

"You claim that this is reality, right? If you have the ability to make me wake up again, I'll acknowledge that this place is reality."

Holding his mother, after saying his last words, Li Huowang smiled and slowly closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the desolate Qingqiu. Looking at the azure sky and the verdant land, Li Huowang took another deep breath.

Once the others unlocked his chains, Li Huowang looked over each of their faces, stuffed the gold box into Sun Baolu's arms, and turned to walk towards the tent where Black Taisui was imprisoned.

Chun Xiaoman watched his retreating figure with a worried expression. He had just experienced hysterical fits, crying one moment and laughing the next.

"Hurry and follow him, keep an eye on him. I feel like today's Brother Li is different," she said.

Soon after they reached the tent, they saw their Brother Li, emotion running high, holding the flesh of Black Taisui.

"Brother Li, what's going on? Isn't it a good thing that eating this stuff can temporarily cure hysteria? Why is he crying?" Sun Baolu's words went unanswered.

Together they stood silently, watching Li Huowang start to bawl as he swallowed the flesh and blood in his hands, bite after bite.