The Unruly Immortals

"Clang" The pale blade was drawn, and Li Huowang positioned himself between Chen the blind man and those things.

"Kill them!" Following Li Huowang's command, the others turned their spears towards the entities hidden within the mud figures.

Li Huowang was confident he could handle them; since even Chen the blind man managed to deal with these beings, there was no reason he couldn't, especially after defeating Chen the blind man himself.

"Thump thump thump!" Gao Zhijian charged with heavy footsteps, barreling into them like an iron man, knocking down a swath of figures.

However, no matter how many times Gao Zhijian knocked the mud figures down, they would slowly stand up again, and even began to encircle him in return.

A group of people quickly rushed forward to relieve Gao Zhijian, but the situation did not improve much, no matter how many mud figures were knocked down, they would eventually stand up again, even Li Huowang's twin swords were ineffective.

"Help me up! Give me the mirror back!" Hearing Chen the blind man's voice from afar, laid out on the ground, Li Huowang executed a swift swallow flip and withdrew from the fray.

He first glanced at Chen the blind man, then kicked a bamboo basket towards his hands.

Chen the blind man immediately took the Bagua Mirror out of it, shoved his index and middle finger into his mouth and bit down, then hurriedly started drawing on the mirror surface with his bloodied fingers.

"May the spirit light shine eternally, the mirror holds the soul, the mirror dies the soul dies fearless and without dread, at my command, call forth, the righteous Qi of heaven and earth combines, forming shape in chaos, gold and stone cannot break, the essence is pure and sincere! Open!"

A blinding light shot out from the blood-smeared Bagua Mirror in an instant.

This light illuminated the entire dim surroundings, any mud figures touched by this light melted away as snow meeting the sun.

When those things had completely vanished from the ground, Chen the blind man, looking greatly depleted with a pale face, lay on the ground.

Li Huowang quickly and carefully helped him up, "Thank you, Elder Chen."

"You... you back off!! I still don't trust you!" Chen the blind man said this, but did not refuse Li Huowang's support.

By now, Li Huowang had noticed people peeking from the entrance of the alley and behind windows towards them; if they didn't leave soon, the entire village would be aware of them.

"Hiss, are you trying to jolt me to death? How are we to travel at night, quickly find a place to treat my wounds!"

While the villagers of Gan Yuan Village were bustling around the site of Li Huowang's recent battle, Li Huowang had already taken the injured Chen the blind man to an abandoned firewood shed to settle down.

Li Huowang carefully uncorked a small bottle and cautiously sprinkled the powdered form of the golden sore medicine onto Chen the blind man's wounds.

While treating him, Li Huowang recounted his previous experiences to Chen the blind man.

"So you mean? You too were deceived by the Oblivion Path? Heh! If it's true, the Oblivion Path certainly buried it very deep, probably starting with the debt swordsman's part being fake," said Chen the blind man.

Li Huowang sighed, stopped his hand, and put the cork back into the bottle, "Isn't that the truth, I don't know when I got targeted by the Oblivion Path, and I clearly didn't...."

Li Huowang stopped mid-sentence, realizing he couldn't casually mention his matter with Xinsu.

Chen the blind man, tilting his head, listened to Li Huowang's words; realizing that the latter had no further explanation after a long silence, he snorted coldly, "I still don't trust you! Come dawn, we'll go our separate ways! As for the truthfulness of your words, I have my ways of discerning it."

"Elder Chen, how can you travel with such injuries? Aren't you afraid of danger on the road?"

"Hmph! No need! Being with you is risking my life! You should see who inflicted these wounds on me." After speaking, Chen the blind man turned his back, presenting the back of his head towards him.

Li Huowang was ruminating over his phrasing, considering how to persuade Blind Chen when his body sank slightly, "Shh, someone's coming."

The footsteps outside the firewood room silenced everyone within, seemingly signaling the return of the curious homeowner.

Gradually, the footsteps faded away, as if the homeowner had settled down to sleep.

Just as they had let out a sigh of relief, the footsteps started again, this time even more frequent than before.

Not long after, the footsteps vanished again, but then, once more, they resumed.

This time, however, they stopped in front of the firewood room, "Bang, bang, bang," someone was knocking on the door of the room.

Following Li Huowang's subtle gesture, Chun Xiaoman cautiously walked over and opened the door.

Outside stood the clay statue of the Apprentice, staring at everyone inside with its hollow, large eyes.

With a "clatter," the clay Apprentice cracked open, and some insect-like segmented roots emerged from within.

However, the sound of the statue fragmenting seemed to echo, with similar sounds continuously arising from behind Li Huowang.

"Behind me? There's nothing behind me, just... a wall."

Li Huowang turned around in bewilderment, only to see all kinds of fissured Clay Bodhisattvas in different poses of the Buddha, mounted on the wall, glaring fiercely at him.

"Whoosh," their chapped bodies surged forward like an impending tsunami.

At that moment, it was too late for Blind Chen to use the mirror; without any hesitation, Li Huowang grabbed a pair of iron pincers and squeezed his own eyeball forcefully.

"Boom!" As the transparent aqueous humor from his eyeball splattered everywhere, the Arhats in mid-air were instantly enveloped in a strange film of light, collapsing straight to the ground.

When they rushed out, Li Huowang was shocked to find all the rooftops piled high with clay statues, all staring intently at him.

"Elder Chen, hurry up!" Li Huowang said, his expression looking very ugly at everything in front of him.

"Don't worry! These clay statues are just posturing," Blind Chen, behind Li Huowang, said as he opened the bamboo basket handed to him by Gouwa and started rummaging through it.

"Psh!" A sound pierced the air as two sharp daggers suddenly plunged into Li Huowang's heart.

Looking down at the bloody blade, he trembled as he turned around, looking back at Blind Chen.

However, the expression on Blind Chen's face was even more horrified than Li Huowang's as he gazed at the dying Li Huowang in front of him.

He looked at his own hands in panic, "Apprentice, I swear I didn't do this! My body suddenly stopped obeying me!"

While saying this, Blind Chen's body came to a halt, his demeanor inexplicably changing. The whites of his eyes slowly shifted downward, revealing a pair of heterochromatic pupils before Li Huowang,

His wrinkles also reduced rapidly, and gradually, astonishingly, he transformed to look exactly like Li Huowang.

And then, Huowang's double spoke.

"Haha! Deceiving others, fooling the Evil Spirit, that's old news. This time, I've come up with a new trick, deceiving myself! How about it, Boss Hong Zhong, to be honest, I learned this move from you."