The Unruly Immortals

A child rode a cow, leading his dog out towards the edge of the village, while some young girls and married women were washing clothes by the river, every expression appearing utterly normal, a stark contrast from last time in Pi County.

From the outside, this village didn't seem unusual at all.

However, the more normal things seemed, the more abnormal they felt to Li Huowang's eyes.

Li Huowang took out the envelope again for a closer look, it did indeed mention signs of the Oblivion Path in this area, but it did not specify what those signs were.

Considering his previous experience in Pi County, Li Huowang turned to the others and said, "Since they say the Oblivion Path might be inside, I'll sneak in and take a look, to avoid startling the snakes."

"Brother Li, are you sure you'll be alright on your own?"

Bai Lingmiao started to speak, then stopped. She had seen the changes in Li Huowang and as the one who shared his pillow, she couldn't miss them. Li Huowang, who had been somewhat normal lately, was starting to act nervously again.

Thinking of those voices, Li Huowang didn't offer any explanations. In matters such as these, the more one explained, the more it would cause her to worry.

Li Huowang let his spiritual form shift out of alignment with his physical form and followed the sheep path beneath the willow tree at the village head, quietly moving towards the interior.

"Again....people......wind...." The sudden auditory hallucinations no longer surprised Li Huowang; he shook his head vigorously and looked at the monk stuck in the tree beside him.

"What are you looking at me for? I didn't say anything."

"Shh...." Li Huowang lowered his finger from beside his mouth and slowed his pace as he walked towards the center of Gan Yuan Village.

His focus shifted completely from the auditory hallucinations, concentrating instead on the current crisis.

Soon, Li Huowang could tell that the whole of Gan Yuan Village seemed to be celebrating something; the couplets on the walls and the door gods on the doors were all new, and even the clothes were all freshly changed.

Li Huowang stood on a large tree adorned with red cloth strips, silently observing everything below; so far, he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

However, the situation quickly changed. Villagers, dressed neatly and having had a hearty lunch, gathered in groups and headed towards the end of the village.

Along the way, the villagers seemed in good spirits, laughing and chatting carefree, with nothing amiss.

Li Huowang followed the people to the end of the village and stopped in front of a village temple.

Voices grew softer and any noisy children at that point would be pulled over by an adult, receiving a smack on their backend.

Everyone stood there in anticipation.

Just as Li Huowang was hesitating whether or not to sneak into the village temple to take a look, out from the dark archway, a brown clay statue was swayed out.

From the treasured vase shape in the clay statue's hands, it was obviously a bodhisattva figure, and moreover, a Clay Bodhisattva.

Yet, the Bodhisattva's face was not kind and compassionate; it was as if the Clay Bodhisattva had been through a torrential downpour.

The facial features had all melted, elongated into strips hanging on the face, leaving behind two irregular black holes.

"Oh! Oh!!" All the people of Gan Yuan Village crowded around, helping the temple aides lift the Bodhisattva, and began to sway around the entire village.

"The Clay Bodhisattva....." Staring at the two black holes on the statue, Li Huowang, with a furrowed brow, muttered to himself.

Thus, Li Huowang stood atop the tree, watching the villagers swing the strange Clay Bodhisattva around and around the whole Gan Yuan Village.

With each round, more red cloth was added to the Bodhisattva. When the sun was high in the sky, the Clay Bodhisattva was adorned in thick layers of red gauze.

The red-clad Clay Bodhisattva was carried back beside the village temple, swaying towards the interior of the edifice.

As soon as it was carried in, accompanying shouts prompted it to be lifted out of the temple again, followed by the crowd's jeering, they hoisted it back into the temple once more.

Just like that, carrying it in and out, after a total of three round trips, they finally set the Clay Bodhisattva down inside the temple and began to burn incense and kowtow in worship.

Li Huowang had originally wanted to go in and see what exactly the Village Temple was like.

However, the villagers had crowded the interior so densely that even the invisible Li Huowang couldn't find a spot to set foot in, let alone get close.

As the sun gradually moved westward, they all contentedly made their way home.

When the sky had turned completely dark, and even the hunchbacked temple keeper had locked the doors and gone to sleep in the side chamber, Li Huowang slowly descended from the tree.

Soon after, with a crisp snap, the bronze lock broke into two pieces, and the tightly shut doors were opened just a crack.

As the moonlight from outside shone through the slit in the doors into the pitch-black Village Temple, Li Huowang's hand was already gripping the hilt of the Purple Tassel Sword.

If Oblivion Path really intended to stir up trouble, then however one thought about it, they might use this place as part of their scheme.

With a "creak," the invisible Li Huowang pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Because of the incense, the entire room was filled with the dense fragrance of sandalwood, and the Clay Bodhisattva with melted features flickered in and out of sight in the darkness.

There was more than one Clay Bodhisattva in the temple, the temple's sides were full of them, all made of clay, but they were not Bodhisattvas, they were the Eighteen Arhats.

The Bodhisattva was faceless, while the Eighteen Arhats had faces, they stood there with expressions of anger or hatred, looking very lifelike. Being in the temple gave one the sensation of being watched.

The Clay Bodhisattva that had been carried out earlier was placed right in the middle of the temple, atop a stone lotus pedestal.

In front of it, the incense burner was full of burnt sticks. All of the incense had been offered to the Bodhisattva.

On the left and right sides of the central Bodhisattva were two more clay statues standing erect.

These two statues had facial features, and judging from their forms and stature, they were exactly the pair of boy and girl servants under the Bodhisattva.

The temple wasn't large, and Li Huowang quickly completed his circuit, finding nothing. In the end, he focused his attention on the red-draped Bodhisattva.

The Clay Bodhisattva wasn't very tall, around two meters, but because the base it stood on was high, Li Huowang had to look up to see it,

In the dim temple with hardly any light, a red-robed Bodhisattva with melted features—this scene could not have been more terrifying, not to mention that Li Huowang had long decided that there was something wrong with this Bodhisattva.

"Should I simply strike it with a sword and see?" A thought crossed Li Huowang's mind.

While he was seriously contemplating this, he abruptly turned his head to look at the boy and girl servants on either side of the Bodhisattva.

"Did they look like this just now? Or did they just move?"

Staring at the two statues that were gazing at him, Li Huowang, standing in the silent darkness, inexplicably felt a chill in his body.

"You... come..."

"Who is it!" The chaotic voice made Li Huowang spin around swiftly, but there was nothing behind him.

"Wait, was that just my auditory illusion, or... did something in this temple make that sound?"

When Li Huowang considered this question, he suddenly froze on the spot, momentarily unable to differentiate between the two.