The Unruly Immortals

Outside the house, Zhao Tianhu heard Scholar Lv's extremely miserable scream and immediately said to Kui Sanjin in dejection, "Ah, another one gone."

Kui Sanjin hadn't spoken yet when a small, dark, and chubby fellow chimed in. "Lord Kui, I have a buddy who says he's got connections with the Astrological Bureau, maybe we could...."

"Smack!" Zhao Tianhu slapped him across the head. "Do you fucking not know what line of work we're in? We're swindlers! Dare to seek out the Astrological Bureau?! And have them come over and slaughter us all?"

The small, dark, and chubby guy, covering his mouth, retreated into the crowd feeling wronged, "They're not constables, and we're just a bunch of country scholars; they don't govern us...."

Zhao Tianhu squinted his eyes, "If it really comes to it, we'll give up on this Netherworld Artifact. We've hired so many people already; we've done enough for fourth brother."

As soon as he said this, the people around him became anxious, "Lord Zhao, you can't just give up on it! If that thing could do that to fourth brother, it must be a precious treasure from some master!"

"Exactly! Even if we don't dare use it, just selling it randomly would fetch an exorbitant price!"

"Ay! Lord Zhao! I've also heard that those masters have Immortal Pills that grant eternal life! We could just trade this cursed skin for it!"

"Enough talk! Shut up!" Once Zhao Tianhu spoke up, everyone immediately fell silent.

"If you've got the guts, go peel off that cursed skin from fourth brother's body! Whoever peels it off, I'll give it to them! But do you dare?"

"I don't know it's a precious treasure? But this thing that's been dug up—it kills people! Fourth and sixth brothers are gone; how many lives do you have to exchange for it?"

"That's that! Seal all the doors and windows; we're leaving at dawn to avoid alerting the government officers again."

After he said this, no one else dared say more; they hastily prepared to carry out his instructions.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Scholar Lv's scream resounded from within the house once again.

"Oh?!" A glimmer of joy appeared on Zhao Tianhu's face, "He's not dead yet; looks like there might be hope this time, wait, don't rush, let's wait and see!"

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Scholar Lv, holding the Copper Coin, hysterically shouted while circling inside the bedroom. Behind him, a slender neck bearing a disheveled head was twisting after him like a long snake.

The contorted corpse tied in knots by its limbs made Scholar Lv use all his strength to flee, fearing he'd end up with the same fate as them.

With his back against the wall and no way out, Scholar Lv clenched his teeth and raised the Copper Coin high towards the head that flew at him, forcing it back half a step.

"It's okay, it's okay! This thing is afraid of Copper Coins!" Scholar Lv panted heavily while continuously comforting himself.

Now that he had broken into a sweat from running, he took the chance to see what that thing actually was.

It was a person, or at least it might have been a person before. Its neck and limbs had become extremely long, twisting in the air like snakes.

On this person's chest, a moldy piece of skin was attached. It looked like it had been sewn together from several pieces of facial and scalp skin. The tidy scars proved that in life, their identities had been monks.

These monks' facial features had been sewn shut, and somewhat coherent Sanskrit was drawn all over their foreheads and cheeks, making this already creepy skin appear even more sinister.

With each movement of that person, the monks' facial features would twist, as if pulled.

"Is that human skin? Is it this skin that allows their heads to stretch so long?" In the midst of crisis, Scholar Lv's mind raced.

He didn't care whether it was or not; what mattered most now was escaping this damned place—he truly couldn't handle this.

Looking at the heads and hands that twisted like long snakes before him, Scholar Lv thought for a moment, then pushed forward forcefully with the five Copper Coins he held in his hand.

Seeing that they suddenly recoiled back, Scholar Lv hurriedly raised the Copper Coins and slowly moved towards the window. When he reached the window, he started hitting the wooden window with his elbows repeatedly.

Just as he was preparing to smash the window to escape, the window was suddenly pushed in from the outside, hurling him headlong to the ground.

As he climbed up from the floor, his mind was just inches away from that disheveled head.

Looking at the monster in front of him, Scholar Lv's breath nearly stopped.

Watching the head before him suddenly open its mouth wide, lunging to bite him, a strong beam of light shot from his left shoulder, hitting the head squarely.

Hair and flesh melted away, leaving only a ghastly white skull rolling on the ground.

Without its head, the body clothed in human skin instantly collapsed, appearing to be completely dead.

Sensing the death of its host, the monk's scalp abruptly separated from the corpse, hurtling towards Scholar Lv like a torn piece of cloth.

In this critical moment, "swoosh," a wooden pole shot over, piercing the animated human skin onto the ground.

Dumbfounded, Scholar Lv followed the pole upwards and spotted a white banner hanging from it. Apart from the Yin Yang Taiji Map at the top, there were six more characters written below.

If Scholar Lv could read, he would understand that those six characters meant, "Fortune-telling, character reading, life divining."

"Ah, I, Chen the Blind, have had such bad luck for so many days, and today I finally stumbled upon something good." Chen the Blind, who had made a deal with Li Huowang, fumbled around until he reached the white banner that had become his signboard.

He walked over, first securing it under his feet and then pulled out the white banner.

Looking at the blind old man with a basket on his back, lovingly touching the animated human skin while bent over, the stunned Scholar Lv finally came to his senses and hurriedly got up from the ground.

"That... esteemed sir, thank you for your help just now."

As if he hadn't heard, Chen the Blind first wrapped the human skin in a piece of black cloth, then took out a mirror. It was the very Bagua Mirror that Li Huowang had returned to him,

Meanwhile, outside, Zhao Tianhu and Kui Sanjin peered in through the window, their expressions one of shock and amazement.

They had witnessed the entire scene and wondered about the origins of this powerful blind man.

Chen the Blind, holding the Bagua Mirror under his arm, tapped the ground with the white banner as he walked toward the window. "What are you all crowding around for? Isn't it cramped? Step back a bit."

Seeing that the blind man seemed to be preparing to climb out the window, the people outside backed away a few steps, but did not go too far away. They formed a half-circle around the window; after all, their skins were still in his basket.

"That's better," Chen the Blind said solemnly as he took a horse stance, raised the Bagua Mirror with his left hand, and began to trace something on the mirror with his right hand while he started chanting incantations softly.

Scholar Lv, watching from the side, had a glint of yearning in his eyes, marveling at the blind man's semblance of a transcendent sage. If only he could attain such a level one day.

And that Bagua Mirror in his hand, which was clearly a powerful magic artifact used to subdue demons and dispel evil, how much would it cost to buy one?

While Scholar Lv was pondering this, the chanting incantations of Chen the Blind grew faster.

When the incantation stopped, Chen the Blind immediately raised the Bagua Mirror and shone it at the people outside.

"Qiankun Wuji, Heaven and Earth Righteous Method!"

An extremely blinding light burst from the mirror, piercing through everyone's bodies like spears.

Amidst the desperate screams, all the people outside the window were turned into a puddle of red mush by Chen the Blind's Bagua Mirror.