The Unruly Immortals

"Use this one. Senior Brother Changming used it back in the day. This longsword is excellent, capable of slicing through iron as if it were mud. It's just that I've never had the chance to use it," Li Huowang said to Chun Xiaoman, who was holding his own sword.

Chun Xiaoman looked at the longsword in her hands in surprise. Although it was a bit heavy for her, it was still far better than any weapon she had used before.

"Thank you, Brother Li!"

"Practice your swordsmanship regularly. I've given you that Taoist Bell, but don't rely on Master You for everything. After all, summoning him costs three months of your lifespan every time. How many three-month periods does one have in a lifetime?"

Chun Xiaoman nodded in agreement. As she turned around, she came face to face with Young Yang, who had just entered.

Excited, she untied her own sword from her waist and stuffed it into Young Yang's arms.

"This sword is yours now. Come on! Let's go outside and practice!"

The next few days were rare peaceful ones. They didn't have to travel through wind and rain, and their days consisted of nothing more than eating, drinking, and watching plays. Except for the members of Lv's Troupe, the somewhat haggard faces of everyone else improved greatly.

However, after four days, they had to hit the road again. Li Huowang himself wanted to stay a few more days, but the sheep from Qingqiu were beginning to lose weight from not being fed enough. If that continued, they would have nothing left.

The bedding for sleeping and the iron pots were all loaded back onto the ox cart, as they started making their way towards the bustling county town mentioned by the wheat merchants.

"What happened to your face?" Li Huowang asked, looking at Top Scholar Lv, whose right eye was bruised.

"It's...it's nothing. I just fell accidentally while going to the outhouse at night," Top Scholar Lv said with an embarrassed smile on his face.

"Hey, that's not a fall. He snuck backstage at someone else's place to steal some tricks, but got caught by their band leader and got a beating for it," Doggie blurted out.

Top Scholar Lv's face couldn't hide his embarrassment, but he still argued defensively. "I... I wasn't trying to steal techniques. I just went to have a look."

Obviously, even he didn't believe what he was saying.

Eager to change the subject, Top Scholar Lv immediately threw his own son under the bus.

"Taoist Master, I know what the Scholar's boy did. I've given him a severe talking-to. You're a great man. Don't stoop to his level," he pleaded.

"What matter?" Li Huowang asked, momentarily confused before he realized what the other was referring to.

"Oh, you mean the apprenticeship issue? It's fine, I've already forgotten about it."

"I honestly can't teach the Divine Skills to anyone else. If I could, wouldn't I have already taught my other brothers? Then I'd have a few more helpers around me."

"That's good, that's good," Top Scholar Lv said, hunched over and nodding continuously beside Li Huowang.

"Band Leader Lv, did those wheat merchants say how long it would take to get to the county town from this village?"

"About four days' journey," replied Band Leader Lv.

Li Huowang nodded and quickened his pace slightly, thinking to himself, "I just hope this county town is big enough to have a map marked with Niuxin Mountain."

Li Huowang was eager to get there, but the road still had to be taken step by step, especially since they were traveling by ox cart. Though ox carts had strong carrying capacity, they were slow in speed. Not to mention comparing to horse carriages, even donkey carts were faster.

As the sun set in the west, the ox carts and the flock of sheep formed a wall, and everyone else started their dinner inside this barrier.

Today's meal was cornmeal knife-shaved noodles. Young Yang, whose stature was quite tall, skillfully kneaded the dough into a ball, holding the knife in her left hand and the dough in her right.

With flashes of cold light, strips of knife-shaved noodles were sliced into the boiling pot. Over this period, her swordsmanship hadn't improved much, but her knife skills had gotten much better.

When tender bamboo shoots picked from the bamboo forest were sliced and thrown in, a bowl of bamboo shoot and sheep fat knife-shaved noodles was ready.

"Junior Brother Yang, your cooking is really getting better and better. One day, you might become a chef," Dog Wa said, and then he and the red-faced girl beside him each scooped up a bowl of noodles and walked toward the ox cart.

Before they even reached their destination, they were feeding each other and having a grand time eating.

With a big bump on his head courtesy of his father's smoking pipe, Scholar Lv, holding a bowl, came to the pot, scooping up shaved noodles with resentment. "What's this anyway, once my dad buys the opera house..."

"Scholar Big Brother, what are you saying?"

Scholar Lv looked up at the young Yang who had spoken, and at the round-faced woman standing behind him, then coldly turned and walked back with his bowl.

After dinner, there wasn't much activity, so everyone went to sleep early. Scholar Lv and his brother were responsible for the first watch of the night.

Li Huowang slept well during the first half of the night, but just as it was nearing the third watch, he was awakened by a strong killing intent.

Throwing off his blanket and shoving Bai Lingmiao further inside it, Li Huowang rolled over and reached for the weapons stored on the ox cart.

However, of the two swords, he could only find the Copper Coin Sword. The Purple Tassel Sword given to him by his master was nowhere to be seen!

"Little rascal! What are you doing! Put the sword down!" The shout from Top Scholar Lv woke everyone up.

Li Huowang immediately turned and rushed toward the direction of the campfire, finally spotting his weapon amidst the surrounding members of Lv's Troupe.

At that moment, Scholar Lv was grasping the Purple Tassel Sword and clearly couldn't withstand its killing intent. His body kept arching backward, and he gasped for air with a ferocious expression.

The frantic Top Scholar Lv, coming up to Li Huowang, asked in panic, "Taoist Master, what's going on? Why has the little rascal become like this?"

"Hahaha! I have divine skills now! I can kill whomever I want!" Scholar Lv began to laugh maniacally.

When he saw Li Huowang approaching, Scholar Lv subconsciously pointed the tip of the sword at him.

Li Huowang grabbed the blade with one hand, and then with a lift of his right foot, he kicked directly into the soft belly of the youth.

"Ugh!" Scholar Lv knelt on the ground clutching his stomach, vomiting out all the bamboo shoots and shaved noodles he had eaten that evening.

After reinserting the sword into its scabbard, Li Huowang looked at his bloodied, lacerated palm, flicked the blood away, and said to Scholar Lv, "I'll say it one more time, I don't have any divine skills, and I can't teach you. This is the first and the last time. If there is a next time, you should leave."

"Why won't you teach me! Why does Dog Wa get to, but not me! I want to be a master too! I don't want to be a common person!"

"You wouldn't think that way if you actually possessed it. If I could choose, I'd want to be a normal person just like you."

"Stop gawking, go back to sleep. We still have to continue traveling tomorrow."

After dealing with this minor incident, Li Huowang took the Purple Tassel Sword in his hand and walked away.

Seeing that everything was over, Top Scholar Lv, wrapped in his clothes, and his eldest son quickly went to Scholar Lv's side.

"Look at the foolishness you've done! Why are you still on the ground! Get up!"

As he reached out to pull Scholar Lv up from the ground, Scholar Lv slapped his father's face, stunning him.

"Old man, get lost! You don't need to meddle in my affairs!"

The events of the night did not end there. When Li Huowang got up the next day, he saw Scholar Lv being hung upside down from a tree, whipped by Top Scholar Lv with a rattan cane.

Even though his face was covered in swollen bloodstains from the whipping, Scholar Lv still refused to submit, cursing at his father and his elder brother.

"Aaah! Just you wait, you dare to beat me! If you have the guts, kill me, or I'll kill you all! Aaah!!"