The Unruly Immortals

The rumbling wheels of the ox cart, having rested for a long while, started rolling again, taking them towards the border between Liang State and Qingqiu.

On the road, Gouwa, his hand shielding his forehead, fanned his sweaty face continuously. "With the weather being this hot, Brother Li, why don't we just travel tomorrow instead?"

"Tomorrow will also be hot. What about the day after tomorrow? If it's hot then, too, shall we wait until autumn? If that place is so great, why did you come along? Wouldn't it be better to stay and herd sheep with Baolu?"

Hearing Li Huowang's sarcasm, Gouwa looked at the few remaining women and let out a sly chuckle before falling silent.

He wasn't that foolish. With a wife almost within grasp, why would he stay behind? Even if the meat was delicacy, would it be better than a wife? Besides, following Brother Li, he wasn't worried about lacking meat to eat.

Noticing Gouwa's gaze, the pear-faced woman glanced at Li Huowang before coyly rolling her eyes at him.

"Huff--" Li Huowang slowly unfolded the sheepskin parchment in his hands, examining the so-called 'Immortal Zhang's Binding Imprint.' This was one of the few unexpected gains from their journey through the depths of Qingqiu, aside from Black Taisui.

"Brother Li, what is this?" Zhao Wu, who was driving the ox cart, asked.

"A cultivation method for Divine Skills."

Li Huowang's words immediately drew the fervent gazes of the others. "Have you practiced it, Brother Li?"

"I haven't. I dare not. After all, I had to pry it out of its mouth. I fear not a ten thousand to one chance, but just in case there's an issue. Who knows if there's a problem with it?"

Tampering with a cultivation method was something Li Huowang was all too familiar with; it was by this trick that he had escaped from Qingfeng Taoist Temple. He certainly didn't want to end up like Master Danyang.

After toying with the Copper Coin Sword he pulled from behind him, Li Huowang reinserted it. "Hmm... I need to find someone to test this."

"Brother Li! Let me do it! I'll do it!" Li Huowang looked up to see the only surviving Taoist Boy, the eager Yang Kid, saying this with eyes full of yearning.

"Stick to your tasks, don't meddle in adult affairs."

This thing might have traps. Having one of their own try it was definitely out of the question. They needed to find someone whose position was just right, someone who wouldn't be missed if something went wrong.

"Brother Li, look what's this!" Chun Xiaoman reached into the tent, pulling out an agate- and jewel-encrusted gold box, inside which lay a strikingly familiar Gold Ingot.

Li Huowang paused; he recognized the item. It was the dowry of Sun Baolu's mother, surely snuck in by her last night.

He understood what the gesture meant -- it was no doubt her way of thanking him for restoring Sun Baolu's health; she had sent the gold as a reward.

He turned to look behind. The tents had long disappeared, leaving only swathes of green.

"Forget it, it is a kind gesture from someone. Let's not refuse it. We can use it as travel funds, and once we're in Liang State, we can establish a household."

In the following period, perhaps because Qingqiu was a land vast with few inhabitants, or perhaps because their string of bad luck had turned to fortune, their journey was uneventful and smooth.

This leg of the trip lasted over a month, and although the Dog Days had passed, the days only grew hotter.

An unpleasant bird call erupted from the sky. Li Huowang, who was looking at the sheepskin paper map, glanced upward at the blurred speck in the sky before turning his attention back to the object in his hand.

He handed the map to Bai Lingmiao next to him and asked her, "Can you understand this? Do you remember where your Ox Heart Mountain is?"

Although the map of Liang State collected from Qingqiu was not very detailed, its general outline was still marked out.

As they were about to enter Liang State, it was time to pinpoint the exact location of their destination.

"This... no, this isn't right... neither is this spot..." Faced with the various lines slowly winding across the map, Bai Lingmiao's expression was one of hesitation and indecision.

Trying to spot her hometown from those simple lines was obviously very difficult. It wasn't her fault, though, since even Li Huowang sometimes found the map confusing to read, given its crude draughtsmanship.

Li Huowang took back the map, thinking to himself, "It seems I'll need to buy a new map and ask the locals for directions to Niuxin Mountain once we're in Liang State."

"By the way, I remember, aren't you from Liang State? Where are you from?" Li Huowang turned his head to look at the boy called Gouwa.

"It's okay, I don't need to go back. I grew up on food from many households. If I don't return, at least I'll save some food for the folks back home."

Gouwa said with a grin, showing no longing to return home. His eyes were fixed on the woman with a pear-shaped face next to the horse carriage.

Li Huowang saw through it but chose not to expose Gouwa's feelings. He looked up at the sun in the sky and said, "It's about time for lunch. We'll slaughter a sheep since we're almost out of Qingqiu."

At those words, everyone's faces lit up with excitement, all unable to contain their joy. Even though they were not lacking meat in Qingqiu, they had been poor all their lives and could never have enough meat.

Li Huowang wasn't suddenly indulging; it was clear that Liang State didn't have as much grass for feeding sheep as Qingqiu. If they didn't eat the sheep now, they would grow thin once they reached Liang State.

"Baa~ Baa~" An old sheep was dragged out by its horns by Gouwa from the flock and driven toward the riverbank in the distance.

Having eaten sheep so many times along the way, everyone was already skilled in the process—bleed, skin, then disembowel—the steps were clear and efficient.

The white flesh of the sheep was rubbed with salt and spices, speared on a twelve-foot-long halberd and set to roast between two horse-drawn carriages.

If Peng Longteng saw his weapon being abused like this, he would probably be so angry that he'd come back to life.

Gouwa, licking his lips and laughing, said as he watched the drying sheep dung ignite below and the sizzling, oil-dripping roast whole sheep above, "Hehehe, this is, in a way, turning the old broth into new food, quite comfortable indeed."

After being slapped on the back of the head by Chun Xiaoman, Gouwa shrank his neck and turned to join the group of women gathering wild vegetables.

Once the roast whole sheep was ready and the wild vegetable and sheep offal soup on the other side was done, the greasy roast meat paired with the light vegetable soup was just right.

Everyone gathered in groups of three or five on the grass, indulging in the feast.

Gouwa, chuckling, broke open his portion of the sheep's head, pulled out the long tongue, and placed it into the wild vegetable bowl in the hands of the woman with the pear-shaped face. "Hong'er~ here, I saved something special for you, a sheep's tongue."

The woman named Hong'er blushed, cradling the bowl in her arms, and began to nibble at the long tongue with small bites.

As Gouwa moved his lean body closer, she showed no sign of objection.

Meanwhile, the boy named Yang angrily refused the round-faced woman who kept asking for his sheep's tail.

At this moment, Zhao Wu, sitting atop an ox cart, watched this scene with a hint of envy in his eyes.

But glancing at his own powerless limbs, Zhao Wu sighed softly and shifted his focus back to the wild vegetable and sheep offal soup in his hands.