The Unruly Immortals

Looking at White Impermanence through the mist, Li Huowang's expression was grave. He was pondering how to negotiate with this entity when he abruptly snapped awake.

Just having awoken, Li Huowang instantly felt the presence of someone beside him.

Turning his head sharply, he saw a toddler who looked like he had just learned to walk.

Dressed in open-crotched pants, the child sat on the ground, curiously picking at the Copper Coins covering his face with his fingers.

Li Huowang looked around at the others who were still sleeping, then bent down to pick up the child, walked quickly for a few steps, and placed him in the arms of a woman.

He then stood up and quietly walked toward where Bai Sai was sleeping.

Before Li Huowang could get close, Bai Sai awoke. He gestured with his eyes to Li and then walked toward the surrounding forest.

Swatting at his neck to kill a mosquito, Li Huowang with a stern expression said to Bai Sai, "I just dreamed about that person again. He's still watching us; he hasn't left."

"What?!" Bai Sai's complexion turned ashen, and he paced anxiously in the forest, hands behind his back.

"Don't panic, I'm just giving a heads-up. Whatever that thing is, since I've promised Bai Lingmiao, I will definitely get all of you home safely."

At these words, Bai Sai's complexion eased somewhat, "That's good, that's good. With you here, they wouldn't dare to cause trouble, but what on earth does that person want? He has already taken the stone, why is he still fixating on me?"

Li Huowang shook his head. Without the entity in front of him, who knew why it was acting this way.

"Let's head back. If anyone else encounters any trouble, please let me know immediately."

Just as Li Huowang stepped out of the forest, the voice of Bai Sai called from behind.

"Uh, benefactor, do you have something going on with Eryatou?"

"What?"

"Oh, that Eryatou is Lian's daughter Bai Lingmiao. Technically speaking, she would have to call me second uncle."

Seeing Li Huowang frozen in place, Bai Sai walked over with a reminiscent look and reevaluated the young Taoist before him.

"Good for Eryatou, finding a good home, very good indeed." He assessed Li Huowang, seeming to grow fonder the more he looked.

A hint of embarrassment on his face, Li Huowang said, "Bai chieftain, let's talk about these things after we've gotten through these difficult times."

"Alright, alright. Don't worry, I won't tell Eryatou's parents. When you've made up your mind, you tell them yourself."

With this issue out in the open, Li Huowang clearly felt that Bai Sai's respect for him had lessened a lot, replaced with a closeness akin to kinship.

"Alright, once we work together and get past this difficulty, we will celebrate your nuptials!"

With this diversion, Bai Sai's previous anxiety about danger had vanished without a trace.

After waking up, everyone set out as normal, and this time they reached a village.

Li Huowang immediately pulled out Silver, intending to buy nearly all the animals in the village.

The oldest, a toothless elder, seemed about to protest the expense. But when Bai Sai whispered something in his ear, he climbed onto a ox-cart without another word.

Since they were slowed down by the old and the young, they hadn't been moving quickly.

But after acquiring these animals, their pace increased dramatically.

During this time, Li Huowang was extremely tense, even keeping one eye open while sleeping, for fear of a surprise attack from the other party.

But somehow, things became eerily quiet. White Impermanence did not appear again, not even in dreams.

"This won't do, there's no reason to be on guard for thousands of miles. Rather than continue waiting, it's better to find a way to drag him out." Li Huowang thought to himself as they traveled.

While he was thinking this, Li Huowang suddenly realized something was amiss, "Bai chieftain, this isn't the way back to Niuxin Mountain, is it?"

Although he had come by horse, the surrounding environment was clearly different; even a dullard would realize something was wrong.

Bai Sai, wiping sweat from his brow, nodded, "Hmm, we're not going back to Niuxin Mountain yet. I know a place, very circuitous. If we walk through it, maybe we can shake off whoever is tailing us."

"Oh? There's such a place? Where?" Li Huowang became curious.

"Just ahead, not far. We should be able to reach it today," Bai Sai said, sweat covering his face as he pointed forward.

Li Huowang looked ahead, but discovered that there was still just a dirt road ahead, nothing else.

However, the environment quickly changed; the ground started to become muddy, and Li Huowang's boots were now completely covered in black sludge.

Around him, pools of stagnant water emitting a pungent, rotting smell appeared from time to time, with dense masses of black insects wriggling inside.

The weather was now sweltering, and the stench, steamed by the high temperatures, instantly made people feel dizzy.

Seeing that the environment had completely turned into a swamp, just as Li Huowang was about to ask Bai Sai if they had come to the wrong place, a vast expanse of reed marshes with light yellow reeds appeared on the muddy ground in the distance.

Tall reeds several meters high swayed gently with the breeze.

"This is it. Once inside, even immortals can't find their way, and we'll definitely shake off that person!"

Bai Sai spoke and was about to lead the Bai Family members into the reed marshes, but Li Huowang suddenly stopped him, his voice filled with concern, "Patriarch Bai, it's easy for us to go in, but can we come out afterward?"

This place didn't look safe at all.

Bai Sai confidently patted Li Huowang's shoulder. "Don't worry, if I bring my clanspeople in, I definitely have a way out. My son and his parents are in there. I'm more worried than you are if it comes to it."

Li Huowang felt surprised in his heart; Patriarch Bai seemed to know something he didn't.

But since the other party had said so, Li Huowang no longer objected, and the ox-cart and mules slowly headed toward the reed marshes.

However, just as they started moving, a thin mist gradually began to envelop them.

Li Huowang was extremely familiar with this kind of mist and, without giving it much thought, he gripped the hilt of his sword with one hand and resolutely stood in front of everyone.

"Go ahead! I'll cover the rear!"

As soon as the words left Li Huowang's mouth, the ground began to tremble, and the massive White Impermanence slowly emerged from the mist, its wooden mask swinging left and right on his chest.

Seeing that the Bai Family members were about to shake him off, the creature could no longer restrain itself.

Its mouth opened wide, revealing a long red tongue, and a thick white mist spewed out, making the surroundings even more hazy.

"Whoosh!" The Purple Tassel Sword blade unsheathed, and Li Huowang, wrapped in a soaring murderous aura, stood there like a Divine Needle that steadied the seas.

Seeing that the White Impermanence in the mist still remained unmoved, Li Huowang immediately remembered what Tuoba Danqing had told him and pulled out his waist token,

"Astrological Bureau business! If you don't want to die, scram!"

As soon as he shouted, the swirling mist around them came to a sudden halt.

"Hey, it turns out you're from the Astrological Bureau too, why didn't you say so earlier? This is like a flood washing over the Dragon King Temple," said a sudden voice coming from the mouth of the massive White Impermanence.

"You're from the Astrological Bureau? How can you be from the Astrological Bureau?" Li Huowang, shocked, raised his head to see the three-meter-tall giant White Impermanence in front of him.

Ever since he first saw this creature, Li Huowang had completely dismissed the idea that it could be from the Astrological Bureau.

"Hold on a second." The giant White Impermanence slowly receded into the mist, and then a man wearing its wooden mask on his chest walked out from the mist.

The man also pulled out a waist token from his bosom, identical to the one in Li Huowang's hand, also belonging to the Astrological Bureau.

"Look at this, what do you think? I rank even higher than you," he said.

Once Li Huowang confirmed that the other party's waist token was not fake, he let out a sigh of relief, and his expression softened considerably.

"Since you're also from the Astrological Bureau, that makes things easier. There must be some misunderstanding here."

Hearing Li Huowang say this, the man in the wooden mask quickly shook his head.

"No, no, no. There's no misunderstanding. The White Lotus Sect has committed heinous crimes; they are a bunch of evil cultivators who conspire with evil spirits. My senior brother and I spent a great deal of effort to catch them, and just when we did, you come along and break my senior brother's restrictions."

"What? That's impossible!"

Li Huowang, his mind buzzing, turned to look behind him at the reed marshes; the last of the Bai Family members, Bai Sai, had already entered.

He glanced at Li Huowang's waist token and then, with a look of utter coldness in his eyes, turned sharply and dove into the reed marshes.

"Comrade, think about it. If they hadn't really killed too many people, would the Astrological Bureau dispatch us? And to send two of us at once?"