The Unruly Immortals

Having been released from prison, Li Huowang arrived at the backyard of the Cangshui County Government Office, where he saw Mantou sticking its head into a manger, fighting with a horse for water.

Smelling the familiar scent, Mantou turned its head and looked at him innocently; it was hungry.

Li Huowang, with Mantou in tow, went to the streets. Even though the entire Cangshui County was in a state of panic due to the baby thefts, there were still people conducting business on the streets.

"Spicy Wantons?" Li Huowang eyed the unfamiliar street food before him, then led Mantou to the next stall. "Thorny Noodles?"

Two bowls of wide noodles scattered with black spots and a green hue were served, smothered with a spicy chili sauce that was fragrant and pungent.

Only after he saw Mantou feasting joyously did Li Huowang start eating with the chopsticks he took from the bamboo basket.

The wide noodles were quite peculiar, creating a numbing sensation in the mouth. However, there was no Sichuan pepper in them. The numbing came from the tiny thorns in the noodles scraping against the tongue.

The noodles' green color was actually from dyeing with thorns, and what was more special was that after entering the mouth, those thorns quickly softened.

While Li Huowang was eating this unique food from Da Liang, two men walked in, speaking in low voices with a knowing chuckle that only men would understand.

"It's true, brother. What kind of person do you think I am to deceive you? Not only male ghosts come out of Ghost Gate Pass, but female ghosts, too~! That female ghost was so beautiful, hehehe~"

"That female ghost was also feeling pent up... hehehe~ Could I simply ignore that? The next day after getting out of bed, I was eight taels lighter!"

Hearing this, Li Huowang couldn't help but frown. The common folk of this world lived and died in utter confusion, believing these rumors without knowing what was really happening around them.

As he listened to the man boasting about his erotic adventure, Li Huowang buried his head and ate his noodles.

After hurriedly finishing the noodles, Li Huowang thought that since the talisman divination had worked last time, he decided to try the same trick again.

The divined talisman was ignited again, and the ashes were swallowed by Li Huowang, but this time it did not have the same effect as before.

"Why does this talisman work sometimes and not others? Could I have drawn it wrong?" Li Huowang pondered while looking at the Talisman Manual in his hands.

Since it was only his second time using this thing, Li Huowang was clearly unfamiliar with it.

"Sir, the owner from Shuxin Hall has also come to report to the authorities!"

The constable's shout had just rung out when he was pulled away by County Magistrate Lou, "Do not disrupt the Sir's work!"

"I just refuse to believe it's so hard to catch whatever's stealing the babies!" Since divination didn't work, Li Huowang decided to stake out the old-fashioned way.

But after several days of staking out, the baby thefts in Cangshui County strangely stopped, as if they knew Li Huowang was coming.

In a hazy daze, Li Huowang, who was sleeping in the guest room, was awakened by the sound of voices. When he pushed the window open and looked outside, a black mass of people was rushing eastward along the street, each person's expression extraordinarily excited.

"What is this...." Puzzled, Li Huowang left the guest room and followed them.

It didn't take long following the crowd for Li Huowang to figure out what they were up to. The people had packed the intersection so tightly that water couldn't trickle through, and in the center of the intersection was the Embroidered Man tied to a post.

"Execute~!" County Magistrate Lou, with a face full of righteousness, threw down a red card, and immediately the cheers were nonstop.

When County Magistrate Lou, full of official authority, saw Li Huowang coming, he immediately got up and made way.

"Sir, you've arrived? Catching this villain owes much to you!"

"Are they going to behead him? So soon? Wasn't it said that a sentenced man should be executed after the autumn?"

County Magistrate Lou gazed at the Embroidered Man, his look filled with a hatred so palpable it was as though he wished to devour him. "This man is a heinous criminal! How could we simply behead him? In order to avenge the people of Cangshui County, he must be subjected to death by a thousand cuts!"

Just then, a brawny man dressed in a red short jacket stepped forward, took a bowl of yellow wine, and guzzled it down before he began his grim task with the sharp knife in his hand.

With each strip of flesh peeled from the Embroidered Man's body, cheers erupted from the surrounding crowd.

"What does it mean when those people shove Copper Coins into the constable's arms?" Li Huowang pointed towards the corner.

"Oh, they are the families of the victims. To ensure that this thief's soul can never transcend, they plan to buy his flesh and bones to feed to dogs. And if the hatred is deep enough, some even eat the flesh and drink the blood of their nemesis."

"You know, by rights, this is not in accordance with the laws of Da Liang, but just thinking about how that criminal almost defiled my sweet daughter, it's not just them—I too want to rush forward and bite him! It's utterly detestable!"

The body of the Embroidered Man gradually dismembered, becoming a sight of grotesque horror. Yet, regardless of age or sex, not only were the people unafraid, they became increasingly excited, their applause never ceasing, a scene so bizarre it was beyond imagination.

With each cut, the Embroidered Man let out heart-wrenching screams amidst the approving cries from the crowd.

As he screamed, he began to look at the people around him with eyes full of resentment, no longer wailing but instead cursing loudly, the more it hurt, the louder he cursed.

"Putting on airs, are we? Who cares if I played around! I've done it so many times, and not a single one was untouched! All the women here are cheap sluts! They are all worn-out shoes!! All little whores out to sell their bodies!!"

These words immediately sparked public fury, eliciting a wave of curses, and had it not been for the constables holding them back, they might have rushed forward and killed him on the spot.

"Hmm? Wait a minute!" Li Huowang seemed to have seen something and quickly walked off.

When he reached in front of the Embroidered Man, he looked in shock at the bloody cuts that barely formed the Divinatory Symbols he had previously divined with Human Bone. "Is what you're saying true?"

"I'd be the son of a bastard turtle if I lied! Over a hundred women, and not a single one bled! Your women from Cangshui have long been ravished by others!"

It sounded like the disgusting ravings of a man on the brink of death, but staring at the symbols on his body, Li Huowang did not believe so.

"Deflowered... Deflowered..." Something dawned on Li Huowang, and he quickly rushed to County Magistrate Lou and spoke, "County Magistrate Lou, you said before, aside from women being defiled and infants being stolen, were there other things stolen?"

"Yes, what is it? Have you discovered something?"

"List everything that was stolen! No matter how much or what it was, I need to know!"

Hearing the certainty in Li Huowang's tone, County Magistrate Lou promptly set about it.

Finding stolen children was difficult, but accounting for the stolen goods proved much easier.

Soon enough, Li Huowang had listed all the stolen items in his hand.

"Angelica... Inch-Length Cloud... Cinnabar..." As Li Huowang looked at these items, his frown deepened.

He thought of the Embroidered Man's assertion that none were deflowered, along with the previous man's mention of the ravishing female ghost, and the missing children.

Eventually, Li Huowang took up a brush and on the paper in his hand, he filled in a few characters: Red Pill, Five Sweet Dews, and Bone Rot.

As he reviewed all the recorded information, Li Huowang's eyes grew wider.

"This medicinal property... and these proportions, it's a Pill Recipe! Someone is using these things for Alchemy!"