The Unruly Immortals

"It's... it's smaller..." The trembling voice of the inn's attendant cast the entire room into an eerie atmosphere in an instant.

Overwhelmed with panic, he didn't even bother to fasten his belt, but knelt on the ground and knocked his forehead against the floor in fear, looking around.

"Ghost grandpa, hey! I really didn't want to say it, it was him that forced me! You have your grievances and debts, please don't steal my life's root!!"

"If my life's root is taken by you, you can reincarnate! But I won't be able to reincarnate and will end up a lonely ghost!!"

His words so frightened Gao Zhijian that he immediately covered himself with both hands, while Li Huowang also instinctively looked down.

"Could it be that the so-called thieving ghost has arrived?" Li Huowang's face turned particularly unsightly as he swiftly surveyed the entire room again.

With his now heightened senses, Li Huowang was certain he would feel it if there were something in the room watching him.

But as he felt no one's gaze upon him, it meant one of two things: either the ghost was deliberately not looking at him, or the entity had no eyes at all.

"An invisible Evil Spirit? Could it be another one like from the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month?" Facing this sudden and unknown adversary, Li Huowang dared not let his guard down.

In this haunted place, Li Huowang didn't believe that an Evil Spirit capable of wreaking havoc on the area could only slowly steal from others.

Unnoticed by everyone in the room, Li Huowang's colorful ethereal form and invisible physical body had already silently shifted apart, and his right hand was now gripping the hilt of the Longsword behind him.

The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly oppressive. Just as Li Huowang focused all his attention on the empty space around him,

the inn's attendant lying on the ground suddenly stood up and dashed toward the door.

"Could it be that this thing can also possess people?!"

Li Huowang instinctively raised his Longsword, aiming to stab at the back of the fleeing attendant, when Gao Zhijian lifted the stone tablet from his chest and, with a whoosh, blocked Li Huowang's sword.

In a flash, the attendant had already bolted out the door.

Li Huowang's gaze, filled with the intent to kill, instantly shifted from the attendant to Gao Zhijian.

"Is this thing that difficult to deal with? It's already taken over Gao Zhijian's body so quickly?"

And Gao Zhijian, holding the stone tablet, looked at Li Huowang's aggressive eyes staring at him and immediately began to wave his hands frantically. "I... I... It's... It's me, ah. I... I... I... I am Zhijian."

However, at that moment, Li Huowang didn't fully trust him and scrutinized the other's honest face. "You say you're you, and that's supposed to be enough? Actions speak louder than hearts, and Gao Zhijian would never block my sword! Who exactly are you?"

"Li... Li... Brother Li, that person wasn't... wasn't... wasn't... possessed by the Evil Spirit!"

"If he wasn't possessed, why did he suddenly run?"

Li Huowang looked at Gao Zhijian's clear eyes and, after a quick thought, pointed his sword outside. "Fine, if you claim to be the real Gao Zhijian, then cast aside the Heavenly Book in your hands, lead the way, and find that attendant."

The sudden action from the other was extremely strange; whether he was possessed by an Evil Spirit or not, Li Huowang had to figure out what exactly was going on.

After Gao Zhijian threw all his possessions onto the floor of the room, he was escorted by Li Huowang as they left to find the suddenly fleeing attendant.

Finding him was easy; he had just been scared into wetting his pants by Li Huowang, so all they had to do was follow the trail of urine stains.

The urine had not spread far; it meandered within the inn itself until Huowang ultimately spotted the pantsless shop assistant hanging from a beam in the cookhouse.

A coarse hemp rope was looped around his neck, suspending his entire body, which swung gently from side to side with a creaking sound.

From the skewed half of the winter melon on the ground, it was obvious he had done this to himself.

As he had been hanged, the shop assistant's tongue was grotesquely elongated, his complexion turned purplish black, and his dead stare fixed disturbingly on Li Huowang.

"He... he... he..." Gao Zhijian pointed at the dangling body of the shop assistant, his face reflecting utter shock, at a loss for words.

The man who had just been fine was suddenly found hanging dead; it was all too sudden.

Li Huowang studied the shop assistant's eyes, filled with fear and desperation, and his hands tightly grasping his own, then turned his head to look at Gao Zhijian beside him.

"You were right; he wasn't controlled by an evil spirit. This lad decided to reincarnate while he still could, to avoid remaining a lost soul after death."

It was not a ghost that steals lives that had killed him, but his own fear.

Li Huowang, sword in hand, slowly paced in circles around the cookhouse, searching for the so-called ghost.

He had encountered many evil spirits in the past, but never before was he as clueless on how to start as he was now.

Not a single face had been seen, yet a person had already died.

Li Huowang's gaze drifted downward to the shop assistant's manhood, noting it seemed smaller.

"Taoist, what do we do now? We don't even know where the other is, and it looks like you're going to be stumped!" The monk's expression was panic-stricken as if he were truly anxious for Li Huowang.

Li Huowang glanced at him and in a deep voice said, "Don't panic. Since that thing spreads by speech, it is only targeting Zhijian and me for now; the rest are temporarily safe. Plus, with my physique, it's going to be too early for it to shrink me to death. As for Gao Zhijian... Gao Zhijian is fine too."

"Li... Li... Brother Li, what... what do we do?" Gao Zhijian, who was usually slow to react, now seemed quite flustered. He undid his trousers and fearfully reached inside, terrified that the thing might slip into his belly unnoticed.

Li Huowang stood in place, surveying his surroundings. The cookhouse, which should have seemed perfectly normal, now appeared alarmingly sinister to him. The chili peppers, the cleaver, the cutting board, the firewood—danger seemed to lurk behind each object.

Li Huowang undid his trousers for a look inside and instantly heaved a sigh of relief; for now, there was no change.

It seemed this shrinking of the privates was not an instantaneous affair but occurred in stages. He still had time to figure out a solution.

"Don't panic. As long as we understand how this thing came to be and what its weaknesses are, we'll definitely find a way out!"

Li Huowang inserted his longsword into the sheath on his back and turned to walk back into the inn.

"Gao Zhijian, keep watch over the inn! Have everyone stay put and not wander around. Don't tell anyone about this matter. I'm going to find a way to completely draw out whatever's in hiding!"

"Taoist, where are you going?" The monk, who was half-stuck in the wall, asked doubtfully.

"Since we know that everyone in Pi County is a victim too, they are on our side now. Therefore, there's no need for secrecy. To counter that thing, I need the help of the County Magistrate of Pi County!"