The Unruly Immortals

Li Huowang grabbed the man's hair with his hand and lifted the whole corpse up, showing it off to the people from Pi County all around.

"Look closely! The ghost has been vanquished by me! It is utterly annihilated, both body and soul! From now on, there will be no more events of shrinking yang or yin in Pi County!"

The voice of Li Huowang echoed in the sky above Pi County, and after a while, with a "boom," the cheers and shouts of the people of Pi County almost overturned the heavens.

Every person present was in tears of joy, the exceptionally gloomy expression on everyone's face disappearing without a trace.

Quite a few people immediately reached into their clothes, pulling out ropes and chains used for tying things and flung them high into the air.

And even more people were kneeling on the ground, ceaselessly bowing to Li Huowang, who they had just doubted, mumbling words like "reborn parents."

The County Magistrate Yang Hongzhi, along with several arrest officers, came forward with their long sticks and propped up the ghost's body, and began parading it through the streets.

As these people went back and told their families, the news quickly spread throughout Pi County.

Subsequently, the status of Li Huowang and these out-of-towners was evidently much higher than before; everywhere they went, people stuffed their arms with food and vegetables, and many of the elderly with white hair would bow and thank them, grateful that they had saved their grandchildren.

That evening, the best restaurant in Pi County, Fengyang Tower, was booked by County Magistrate Yang to entertain esteemed guests.

Li Huowang, the savior of the entire Pi County, was arranged to sit at the host's seat, and people of slightly higher status in Pi County came up to toast him one by one, as if being able to offer a toast to Li Huowang was an honor of sorts.

The repression that had been weighing on every citizen of Pi County was gone, and the county, which should have been deadly silent, was gradually transforming into a normal town, with the desolate streets becoming incredibly lively.

At the bustling top floor of the restaurant, Gao Zhijian and the others were enjoying the best cuisine the restaurant had to offer, wishing they could swallow their tongues.

Even if it was the same dish, the taste of their own simple cooking was not even close to that of the best chef in Pi County.

"Scholar, you must study hard, do you hear? Only by studying well can you one day act righteously on behalf of Heaven like the little Taoist Master, and after that, be invited to such grand feasts!"

As he stuffed his mouth and ate ravenously, Top Scholar Lv did not neglect to educate his own son.

"Old bonehead, you know nothing. Eating can't even plug your backside!" The Scholar set down the chicken in his hand, grabbed some fine wine from beside him, and was about to pour it into Li Huowang's cup in front.

Before he could do so, Bai Lingmiao next to him took the wine cup away first, "Brother Li does not drink alcohol, he gets drunk very easily."

After saying that, she ladled some crystal-clear shark's fin soup and brought it to Li Huowang. "Brother Li, have some vermicelli soup. You have worked hard saving the entire county."

Li Huowang smiled reluctantly, showing a forced grin as he reached out and threw a big chicken leg under the table. Immediately there came the sound of Mantou chewing and swallowing.

Feeling Mantou's tail constantly rapping on his calf, Li Huowang's mood lifted slightly.

Looking at everything lively before him, Li Huowang finished the shark's fin soup in one gulp, stood up, and, pointing at the drunken Yang Hongzhi in the distance, said, "Keep an eye on him; don't let him get too merry and drink himself to death."

Amidst laughter and joyful voices, Li Huowang walked down from the brightly lit restaurant, compared to the lively establishment, the streets of Pi County were equally bustling.

The sound of firecrackers kept exploding, accompanied by crackling sounds, red paper scraps flew everywhere, tinting the streets and alleyways with festive red.

As the crackling ceased and the smoke cleared, a group of children dressed in new clothes crowded around, squatting and laughing on the ground, picking up unexploded firecrackers.

They might not fully understand what had happened, but they knew that they no longer had to undergo the agony of body puncturing and iron threading, and they could eat delicacies that were not available on ordinary days.

At the end of the street, a man wearing a huge doll head mask with red lips and cheeks held up a flower ball and led a green dragon dance past.

Following the dragon dance was the cheery tune of Suona horns.

A spectacle this grand immediately drew all the children's attention; forgetting to collect firecrackers, they joyfully jumped about, circling the dancing dragon.

Such scenes were commonplace throughout Pi County; on ordinary days, they celebrated as if it were the New Year.

With a stern face, Li Huowang wove through the crowd, standing out starkly amidst the revelry.

However, Li Huowang wasn't the only one out of place in this festive environment.

There were houses with green couplets on the doors and white cloth draped over, from which woeful crying sounds emerged. These were the homes of people killed by the ghost today, and their deaths had been particularly tragic.

After glancing at one of these dismal houses, Li Huowang continued on his way.

In the company of such incongruity, he finally arrived at the morgue inside the county yamen.

No matter how lively it was outside, a place like this was bound to be guarded at night.

Yet, the steaming pot of fragrant meat on the table, along with a black jar labeled with a character for 'alcohol,' indicated that the county had not mistreated the guards.

Upon seeing Li Huowang enter, the coroner and the constable in green hurriedly put their feet down and eagerly invited him to join them for a meal.

"Everyone out. This ghost cultivator has cultivated for a thousand years and is extraordinary. I must perform a ritual to completely eliminate any future threats," Huowang said.

Hearing this, the others didn't dare say another word, nodding and bowing as they hastily left the room.

In the deserted morgue, corpses were neatly laid out on the ground, each covered by a white cloth.

Li Huowang walked past the cold bodies until he reached the last one; grabbing the white cloth, he uncovered it to reveal the beggar who had been possessed by the ghost.

The man looked unkempt with a beard and tattered clothes, but curiously, he was not at all dirty, and lacked the distinctive odor typical of a beggar.

His features were unremarkable, the type to get lost in a crowd, with the most distinctive feature being his thick and bushy unibrow.

As Li Huowang scrutinized him, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes, locking gazes with him.

Seeing Huowang, who had crossed his arms, step back, the beggar reached up to remove the yellow talisman pasted on his forehead.

"Amusing, amusing, what is this talisman you've applied? What is its effect?"

"I don't know, I just slapped it on there, someone else drew it," replied Huowang, his answer eerily calm, as if he wasn't surprised at all by the person waking up.

The beggar with the unibrow flipped over, getting off the wooden board with a shake, sending a clear, metallic clinking sound echoing through the room.

"Esteemed immortal, how may I address you?" he inquired, bowing to Huowang with a calm gaze.

"Ao Jing Sect, Er Jiu," replied Huowang, who didn't wish to reveal his true identity and instead gave the alias of the long-deceased Jiang Yingzi from the Ao Jing Sect, "If I'm not mistaken, you must be from the Astrological Bureau, correct?"

The unibrowed man didn't deny it and said, "That's correct, I'm indeed a minor member of the Astrological Bureau. The immortal is truly perceptive; I gave you a signal earlier, and you immediately caught on."