The Unruly Immortals

Top Scholar Lv turned to his eldest son and continued to explain, "The Taoist Master is a man of great affairs; don't think he would care about these trivial offerings. But since he doesn't care, we people who work and make a living must have keen judgment!"

"Besides, this could be an opportunity for our Lv Family! Didn't you hear what the Scholar said, that the painted-face thin man was bestowed with divine skills by the Taoist Master? We have to be better than him, right? Think this over in your bed."

Lv Elevated Man's eyes widened as he looked at his father's old face, realizing that this was what all his roundabout talk had been leading up to.

"Ask less, do more! Stop daydreaming about things that don't exist." Top Scholar Lv grabbed his son and headed towards the carriage.

It wasn't long before Lv's Troupe took advantage of the free time to start warming up their voices and practicing their postures. The basic skills for performing their plays could not be neglected as the troupe was about to be set up again soon.

After lunch, everyone continued on their journey, heading towards Liang State with a touch of anticipation.

They still didn't know their exact location, but seeing that the grass on the ground was beginning to thin out and was being replaced by scattered bushes, everyone understood that they were nearing Liang State.

As the sun gradually leaned to the west, a cry of pain shattered the relaxed atmosphere among the ox carts, and everyone turned their heads towards the source of the sound, only to find that it came from Luo Juannhua, who was sitting on an ox cart.

She looked panicked as she clutched her belly and noticed her skirt wet with amniotic fluid.

"Quick! Help her onto the horse cart, Juannhua is giving birth!" Top Scholar Lv's voice hurried the others into action and brought the carts to a halt.

The women all went to assist, while the men kept their distance.

"What are you doing? You can't be of any help." Li Huowang asked Bai Lingmiao as he rushed to the scene.

Bai Lingmiao turned around, her cheeks flushing as she glanced at him. "I... I'm going to see how the birth is done, maybe this experience will come in handy one day."

Li Huowang stepped up onto the wheel of the horse cart, flipped over, and lay on the top of the cart, watching the clouds dyed red by the setting sun.

Listening to the chaotic sounds in the distance, Li Huowang closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly.

Without any illusions, it had been a long time since Li Huowang had felt such ease. He no longer had to struggle between reality and fantasy.

"Taoist Master, you haven't been ill for a while now."

Li Huowang turned his head and looked towards the Monk who appeared out of nowhere in the sky, along with Peng Longteng and Jin Shanzhao by his side.

Though the hallucinations were gone, these three beings were still constantly accompanying him.

"Hmm, Black Taishui is working. I don't have to fall into those illusions anymore. Hehe, do you know? Actually, by provoking Wang Wei that last time, I harbored a bit of hope, maybe it was all real. Unfortunately, an illusion is just an illusion."

As he spoke, Li Huowang stared at the cloud in the sky that resembled Yang Na, his expression blank and his voice filled with deep nostalgia as he said, "I actually... really hoped that it was real."

"Taoist Master, what are you talking about? I don't understand," the voice queried.

"Hehe." Li Huowang shifted his body to face the distant, solitary green hill. "If you don't understand, then don't understand. Don't speak, otherwise, others might think I'm sick again."

After a while, Li Huowang sneaked a glance at the rearmost cart. Quite some time had passed; how come the baby wasn't born yet?

He was unsure if this period was too long or too short, for he had never experienced childbirth before.

"Hopefully everything goes smoothly, but if it doesn't, there's nothing I can help with."

"No, that's not right. I once spent some time learning alchemy at Qingfeng Taoist Temple. It's a pity I don't even have an alchemy furnace at hand; I can't even make a Blood Moistening Elixir."

"....Hiss....." A barely audible sound made Li Huowang suddenly sit up, listening intently, only to find there was no noise around him.

Looking confused, he lay back down slowly, "Did I hear wrong? Where is that sound coming from?" After thinking for a moment, Li Huowang dug into his ear with his little finger and discovered something was indeed there.

With the continual scraping of his fingernail, he eventually pulled out a long blood scab from his ear.

The moment the blood scab was pulled out, everything around him became clearer; he could even hear the sound of the grass growing on the ground.

"It's really too loud; this won't do." Li Huowang took out a pair of serrated scissors, jumped off the carriage, sheared some wool from a sheep, and stuffed it into his ears.

"Hoo~ Much better." Li Huowang looked down and put the small scissors back into the torture tool bag.

"Hm? What's that?" Li Huowang gazed at a small black dot on the distant mountaintop, but despite his exceptional vision, the distance was too great, and he could barely make it out.

"Waah~ Waah~ Waah~" The full-throated sound of a baby's cry burst forth, causing Li Huowang to turn his head and, along with others, towards the ox cart.

Upon reaching the ox cart, he saw Lv Elevated Man laughing foolishly by himself, mumbling under his breath, "Hehe~ I have a son now, hehe~ I have a son now, hehe....."

When Li Huowang saw the crying baby boy in Bai Lingmiao's arms, he couldn't help but wonder if the child was suffering from some disease; the baby looked hideous, much like a scalded hairless monkey.

Chun Xiaoman, who was standing to the side and saw Li Huowang's expression grow serious, quickly offered clarification.

"Brother Li, all newborns look like this, different from us."

"Oh? Is that so?" After receiving a detailed response from Xiaoman, Li Huowang realized that he had misunderstood; the infants in his memory were at least three months old and had grown out of that initial appearance.

Just pulled out of the belly, they indeed looked that ugly.

When he saw Top Scholar Lv crawling out of the carriage on all fours, Li Huowang approached to offer his congratulations.

"Hehehe~ Joy for us all." Top Scholar Lv's wrinkled face now bloomed like a chrysanthemum.

He then bowed to the others who had gathered around, "Everyone~! My apologies! There are no eggs here, but as soon as we reach town, the red eggs will definitely be supplied!"

As others began congratulating him amidst a congenial atmosphere, a sudden tightness gripped Li Huowang's heart. He looked up sharply and scanned the distant grassland.

The grassland, which should have been dyed red by the sunset, now sported a small black circle. The small dot that had appeared on the mountaintop had moved closer!

"Something's not right!" The distant anomaly instantly made Li Huowang's face turn grim. "Get the sheep moving! We need to leave this place!"

Li Huowang's words shattered the festive mood, and although puzzled, no one dared to take his serious expression lightly.

Amidst Mantou's barking, the flock of white sheep began to move once more alongside the ox cart.

As time slowly passed, the sky darkened. Making the most of the last light, Li Huowang saw the dark shape coming nearer and nearer!