The Unruly Immortals

The cotton that had been stuffed in his ears for a long time was yanked out, and with a buzzing sound, all kinds of noises took over Li Huowang's ears.

The talking from the next room, the shouting from outside the window, and even his own heartbeat were all incredibly clear and loud.

Li Huowang painfully closed his eyes and endured the struggle to distinguish among the sounds. Finally, after the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he managed to hear Black Taisui's distinctive, intermittent voice amid the cacophony.

"I'm talking to you! Can you hear me?!" Amidst the noisy background, Li Huowang strained his throat and yelled loudly.

Soon, Black Taisui responded—not with terrifying whispers or various dark and strange languages but with simple words that seemed not exactly related.

"Mouth...Sky...Mist..."

"What on earth are you saying? Can't you understand me? If I die, you won't survive either! Let's talk!!"

Considering this creature could freely crawl out of his nose and throat, not dealing with it was surely not an option; he had to find a solution.

He had intended to negotiate with this entity, regardless of what its purpose was, everything was negotiable.

But reality did not follow Li Huowang's plans; faced with his questions, Black Taisui still responded with those simple phonetic sounds.

Hearing these overly simple monosyllables made Li Huowang feel as if he was communicating with a toddler who was just learning to speak.

"A toddler? Toddler?!" An idea suddenly struck Li Huowang, and he got up from the bed to call for the innkeeper's boy to bring him the "Four Treasures of the Study", and he began to jot down Black Taisui's words, enduring the increasingly noisy sounds in his ears.

"Mouth...Tree...Water...Fire...Field...Literature..."

One by one, the characters with simple strokes were written on the paper, and looking at this sequence and these familiar characters, a glimmer of understanding appeared in Li Huowang's eyes.

"Why did the words from its mouth sound so familiar? It turns out this thing is saying everything I taught Scholar Lv before!"

This revelation cleared things up; this was why Black Taisui always said those simple-sounding words—it only knew those!

It had merely picked up a bit while he was teaching Scholar Lv.

Black Taisui didn't understand the meaning of these words at all; all it did was repeat them endlessly.

"If Black Taisui can't even talk, how am I supposed to communicate with it?"

Having restuffed the cotton into his ears, Li Huowang paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back for a long time. He thought of various methods but ultimately rejected each one.

It was now inside his belly, and since it couldn't be easily expelled due to its role in suppressing the hallucinations, he had to think of another way to deal with this nuisance.

In the end, Li Huowang realized he only had one clumsy method left—that was to teach Black Taisui how to recognize characters and speak.

Once it learned how to speak, he could communicate with it. During the last encounter with Oblivion Path, it had taken his opponent by surprise.

If they could communicate well, maybe this thing could also be used as a secret weapon.

He did not know how long it would take to teach a mass of tentacles to talk, but it was certain not to be brief, which is why it was a clumsy method.

"Fine, if I have to teach it, I'll teach it. It's better than having no plan at all," Li Huowang struggled to sit down and picked up a yellowish rice paper to spread out again.

To teach Black Taisui to speak, Li Huowang understood that it wouldn't happen overnight, so he could take his time.

Compared to this, he had other, more important things to do, like collecting his payment from the large-headed child; it was the first task he took from the Astrological Bureau.

Feeling that his injuries were mostly healed, Li Huowang had his people pack up and start on the journey. This time, no one could persuade him otherwise.

Bai Lingmiao argued with him for a while, and eventually, Li Huowang took a step back and bought a carriage. During the journey, he would just lie in the carriage.

After a long journey, by the time Li Huowang arrived back at the bustling and lively Yinling City, the wound in his chest had completely healed.

However, the eyes he had lost and the two rib bones at his waist had not healed.

He didn't know why. Compared to skin, flesh, and nails, the growth of bones and eyeballs was incredibly slow.

"Brother Li, according to the map, we might not need to enter the city; taking this small path would be quicker. Band Leader Lv travels singing from place to place—perhaps even he isn't as fast as us."

The lad Dog Wa was standing at the entrance of Yinling City, suggesting his own idea to Li Huowang.

"Enough chatter, into the city we go. Let's head to the same inn as before and book the rooms."

Of course, Li Huowang wouldn't tell this blabbermouth that he was here to collect a reward from the Astrological Bureau.

After all, hadn't his previous arduous efforts been for this sole purpose?

Li Huowang had thought that if the other party didn't show up, he would stay a few more nights, but it was clear that Yinling City was filled with his watchers.

That night, during the second watch, when Li Huowang arrived at the stables, the big-headed child was already sitting on the horse feed with a yellow cloth bag in his hands, waiting.

Without waiting for Li Huowang to speak, the big-headed child leaped down from the horse feed and approached him, showing a much more amicable demeanor than before.

"Heh, I really didn't see it coming; you've got some skills, lad. The job at Gan Village was handled beautifully, and incredibly, no one died."

Upon hearing this, the heavy heart Li Huowang had been carrying finally settled. The test was over, and he had officially succeeded in joining the Astrological Bureau.

"Oh, where do I begin—it was just good luck."

"Hey, having good luck is a skill too, my boy, so don't sell yourself short. By the way, did you get hurt? Whether it's internal or external injuries, there are people in the bureau who can heal you."

Seeing Li Huowang shake his head, the big-headed child grabbed the doll's head covering on his own head and plucked it off with his hands, removing it straightaway.

Li Huowang discovered that beneath the big-headed child's covering was an unexpectedly kind and corpulent face, with eyes as large as green beans that twinkled amusingly.

This smiling, chubby middle-aged man clasped his hands together and greeted Li Huowang with a bow, his face beaming with a smile.

"I'm really sorry, but without testing your abilities and understanding your background, I truly didn't dare to pull you into the bureau."

He reached into his sleeve and pulled out five Yangshou Pills wrapped in yellow talismans. "Here, these were the ones you gave me, and now I'm returning them to you."

"Senior, what are you doing? Once a gift is given, how can it be taken back?" Li Huowang reached out to push them back.

"You keep them, just keep them and listen to me," the man insisted, stuffing the Yangshou Pills into Li Huowang's hands before speaking more slowly, "You know, I'm the one who brought you in, so if something happens to you in the future, it's my responsibility. This is like a safety net."

"However, if you truly wish to join the Astrological Bureau, then this safety net isn't needed. Isn't that right?" The plump man's eyes crinkled as he spoke, making it hard for anyone to refuse.

"I've grown up a bit since then, my surname is Tuoba, first name Danqing, Brother Er Jiu. If you don't mind, you can call me Brother Tuoba."

This was the first time someone had kindly revealed their surname to Li Huowang, clearly signifying something.

Li Huowang was somewhat touched as he bowed to him. "Thank you, Brother Tuoba,"

"Ah, consider this my congratulations to you. From now on, we're all one family. I wish Brother Er Jiu a future as grand as a tapestry!"

Looking at the Yangshou Pill in his hand, Li Huowang immediately felt warmth in his heart. It wasn't the pill itself he cared about, but the man's attitude.

Ever since he emerged from Qingfeng Taoist Temple, aside from his deceased master, everyone else had been attacking or trying to kill him; he hadn't had a moment's peace.

Li Huowang was no naive youngster; he knew that the man's friendliness was probably feigned, but he hadn't even experienced such feigned kindness in a long time.

Tuoba Danqing reached out his hand and pulled Li Huowang with him, heading out of the stables. "Come, come, come, Brother, this isn't the place to talk. Let's go somewhere more comfortable."