The Unruly Immortals

In the dim and oppressive temple filled with the scent of sandalwood, Li Huowang stood in front of three clay statues, contemplating the question in his mind. "Is the voice reality or illusion?"

He had just entered the village and the Oblivion Path hadn't appeared; instead, he had confused himself.

As Li Huowang continued to ponder this question, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside. The temple keeper with greying hair peeked out halfway with a lantern in hand, and the dim candlelight illuminated everything in the temple.

With the faint light from the lantern, he surveyed the interior of the Village Temple, paying special attention to the beams above.

However, after looking around, he didn't find a trace of anyone.

"Strange, no thieves, then how come the lock is broken?" After inspecting the area once more, the suspicious temple keeper took out a hemp rope and tightly wrapped it around the tiger head door handle.

He was just about to go back inside to continue sleeping, but after thinking it over, he did not feel reassured and decided to bring out a mat and lie down at the doorway of the Village Temple. "Ah, now I won't get robbed."

Meanwhile, Li Huowang, who was previously inside the temple, naturally could not have been locked inside; he had already sneaked out and was now standing on the roof of an adjacent building, silently watching the temple keeper's every move below.

But other than the noise from earlier, everything else seemed quite normal.

If it weren't for the letter stating that there were signs of the existence of the Oblivion Path here, Li Huowang would even think this place was just an ordinary village.

If he had passed through here on his previous journey, he would likely have overlooked it entirely.

Reconsidering the voice he had heard before, Li Huowang's brow furrowed even tighter.

"This won't do, I can't even trust my own senses now; it looks like I'll need to get Bai Lingmiao and the others to come in, to see if they can hear any voices."

With that thought, Li Huowang no longer hesitated and leapt down from the rooftop, heading toward the outskirts of the village.

The village was very quiet at night, with only the occasional distant barking of a dog, and no other sounds.

On the narrow path, fireflies danced up and down among the grass at the corner of the wall, and Li Huowang walked along this path, but the more he walked, the more he felt that something was amiss.

This feeling was not the acute sense of being watched but some indescribable sensation.

Glancing out of the corner of his eye, there was no one behind him.

"What's going on? Has someone discovered me?" While walking, Li Huowang suddenly leaned against the mud outer wall beside him, slowly moving toward the corner he had passed before.

His invisible form moved steadily but not slowly; his hand was already gripping the hilt of his sword, ready to slash at anyone coming around the corner.

Closer, ever closer, Li Huowang's heart was racing.

Just at that pivotal moment of turning, Li Huowang took a deep breath, pursed his lips ready to draw his sword, and a wall of dull yellow earth appeared before him.

Facing the wall, Li Huowang felt the frustration of his clenched fist hitting cotton.

Li Huowang was about to turn around when a pair of iron-like hands firmly held him in place.

"Impossible! I'm invisible right now! How did he find me?" Before Li Huowang could ponder this, a voice came from behind him. "Shh—don't move! Keep them distracted a while longer... draw them out a bit more..."

This suppressed whisper immediately made Li Huowang's heart leap to his throat. He stayed still as instructed, his mind racing to figure out the identity of the person behind him.

"Ah, bad luck, they got away again."

When Li Huowang felt the grip on his arms release, the first thing he did was turn to look at the person who had spoken.

By the faint glimmer of the fireflies around, Li Huowang saw a blind man.

This was a lean-bodied old blind man, dressed in a wrinkled black overcoat and worn cloth shoes. Besides the bamboo basket on his back, the wax-yellow bamboo cane in his hand was his last possession.

The white hair of his eyes was capped with a black melon hat, and the sparse goatee under his mouth did not bestow upon him any immortal aura. Instead, it added a touch of sleaziness.

Seeing him like this, Li Huowang understood why the other party had so easily noticed his presence—it was because he was truly a blind man.

While Li Huowang sized him up, the man was also observing Li Huowang, only not with his eyes, but with his nose.

"The smell of blood is heavy. Are you from the Military? My surname is Chen. If you don't mind, you can call me Blind Chen. I'm a member of the Astrological Bureau." An Iron Token just like the one in Li Huowang's hand appeared in his.

"No, I'm a cultivator from the Ao Jing Sect, Er Jiu, my rank is that of the bureau's lowest tier, Kai Rank. I've seen Chen Elder before," Li Huowang also took out his token.

Hearing Li Huowang's words, a flash of understanding crossed the other's face, "Oh, so you're those people from the Ao Jing Sect. Since you have come, you must be the reinforcement I was looking for, right?"

Having said that, he started tapping the stick in his hand repeatedly on the ground and quickly walked towards the outskirts of the village.

"Let's go. We'll talk while walking. I arrived before you, so I can fill you in on some things first."

Watching his retreating figure, Li Huowang followed behind him with a smile on his face.

"Elder Chen, were you the one dealing with the earlier incident here? Could you tell me what exactly happened to this village? And what were 'they' that you mentioned earlier?"

"Don't know what they are; that's what I'm trying to figure out. All I know is that those things can move in the mud. Just now, they saw you and planned to make a move on you."

"Is that so? Then, this Evil Spirit is somewhat troublesome," Li Huowang responded calmly.

"Who would say otherwise? These kinds of ground-burrowing Evil Spirits, heaven knows what they look like. But it's precisely because of these things that we get our reward."

"Right, kid. Since you're the reinforcement sent by the bureau, do you have any special abilities?"

"Elder Chen, you must be joking. What special abilities could I possibly have? Just the usual old tricks of the Ao Jing Sect," Li Huowang replied, his gaze fixed on the man's eyes without looking away for a second.

"Heh, you say that, but who doesn't know that people from your Ao Jing Sect are not to be trifled with. It's just that the catalysts required for your rituals are hard to find. By the way, did you come alone?"

"Ah, yes, I came by myself. Did you also come alone, Elder Chen?"

"Ah, yes, like you, I came alone. Hehe." After Blind Chen said this, neither of them spoke again, but continued walking towards the outskirts of the village.

It was only when they reached the outside of the village that they began to converse again.

"So, Elder Chen, you're saying that we still don't have a way to deal with them?"

Sitting on a moss-covered rock, Blind Chen sighed, "Who would have thought that Blind Chen would have to call for reinforcements one day? You know I'm blind. Those mud spirits are like loaches; you simply can't catch them. Even if you do manage to catch one, that's all you'll get."

"Ah, right, Er Jiu, do you have any method to force them out in this situation?"

At this point, Blind Chen's tone became very confident. "You just need to figure out a way to force them all out. Don't think I'm blind, but if they really want to face off fair and square, I, Blind Chen, am not afraid of them!"