The Unruly Immortals

"Da da da"

Seeing the Silver Fragments Zhuge Yuan tossed onto the dish, the waiter shouted with full confidence while holding up the silver. "Thank you, Master Top Scholar, for the three pieces of silver!"

After Mantou quickly finished eating under the table, Li Huowang joined Zhuge Yuan in eating as well, quietly expressing his concerns to him.

"Brother Li, since it was you who sought them out, the more critical the moment, the less we can afford to rush, lest they guess what we're up to."

"As long as I'm here, the Oblivion Path will definitely come, so relax."

"Brother Zhuge, here's what I think, there are only so many days to play the thief, but can one be on guard against thieves every day? Now that they're not showing up, should we perhaps...?"

Li Huowang's words suddenly stopped as his expression turned solemn. He picked up the stir-fried lamb from the plate and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing vigorously.

With a "snap," Li Huowang's chopsticks were flung onto the table forcefully. "Stop eating! This damn thing is human flesh!!"

The moment Li Huowang charged forward, placing his sword against the neck of the man at the counter who was busy calculating, the Mantou under the table began to sway unsettlingly.

With the hilt of a sword striking the man's head, Li Huowang immediately raised his knife, slicing open a huge gash in his stomach to vomit out everything he had just swallowed.

Fearing remnants of the Knockout Drug, Li Huowang quickly washed his stomach in a nearby wine jar.

As Li Huowang moved, others likewise reacted instantly, those who swallowed Elixirs did so, those who recited scriptures did that, and Xia Dongsheng directly reached into his clothes, pulling violently on the hooks placed on certain acupoints on his body.

Li Huowang's actions not only alerted the others but also caught the attention of the accomplices of this murderous inn.

The once pleasant waiter was now shouldering a demon-headed saber and leading a group of men as they burst out.

However, the last thing the waiter saw was the red-robed Taoist, dragging his sword with fury, stepping vehemently on the table, and leaping towards him.

What followed was no mystery, a one-sided massacre ensued, and soon the whole inn was in chaos, filled with the stench of blood.

Li Huowang stood amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, looking like a god of death, while seven or eight black tentacles grew from his body, each entangling different weapons.

This scene deeply shocked the Astrological Bureau of Da Qi Kingdom. As members of the Bureau, they had seen many things on their missions, but they had never witnessed anything like this.

Their previous thoughts dissipated swiftly; it was indeed worthy of being a friend of the great Zhuge Yuan, truly extraordinary.

Li Huowang, panting heavily, approached Zhuge Yuan and asked in disbelief, "You really couldn't tell there was Knockout Drug in these dishes?"

Wiping the spittle from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief due to retching, Zhuge Yuan spoke with a pale face, "Of course I noticed, but I thought there was only Knockout Drug in the dish. It seemed wasteful to simply toss it, so I planned to eat it all and then deal with it. I never imagined that the lamb was actually a guise for human flesh! Utterly disgusting!"

Li Huowang looked down at his own belly, now split open, and sighed deeply, thinking how rare it was to be in a good mood only for it to be spoiled by such an incident.

Though he was no longer afraid of such matters, like a toad squatting on your foot—it may not harm you, but it disgusts you.

"Isn't Da Liang Kingdom supposed to be stable? How could there still be such treacherous inns that slip drugs into people's food?"

Hong Zhong, unseen for a long time, emerged from under another table. "Hehehe, Li Huowang, you are mistaken. Haven't you heard what Heart Pan said? We're now in Da Qi, not in Da Liang anymore~!"

Li Huowang was taken aback for a moment. "Has this truly turned into Da Qi? What exactly is the extent of Heart Pan's powers?"

For a moment he thought quite a lot, and just as he was about to ask Hong Zhong a question, opening his mouth, he saw that expectant 'come ask me' expression on his face and forcefully held back, simply taking out the Fire Coat True Scripture to treat his injuries instead.

But this time, Hong Zhong refused to let it go quietly. "Wow, Lord Li truly has seen much and knows widely, even able to taste human flesh, impressive~ impressive~!"

Just as Hong Zhong was about to say more, the voice of Li Sui suddenly intervened, "Daddy, can you give me a few swords?"

"A few swords? What do you want them for?" Li Huowang stopped chanting the incantation.

"I want to help Daddy out, so next time we encounter bad people, I can also lend a hand just like earlier!"

"There's hardly any room left in my body since I've got you in there already, where could I possibly put swords? Don't be naughty, be good."

This time, to his surprise, Li Sui was not willing to comply. "No, no, I want swords! I want swords!"

As Li Sui struggled, his black tentacles wriggled out from Li Huowang's trouser legs, fell to the ground, and began to roll around, much like those children who pester their parents to buy them candied gourds on the streets.

"Damn it, where did Li Sui learn this?"

After pacifying him for a while, Li Huowang finally used his Torture Tool Bag to satisfactorily quiet him down.

"See, this bag has everything, knives, saws, awls, scissors, clamps, spades, and now they are all yours. Next time we come across bad people, you can greet them with these."

Li Sui's tentacles squirmed out from his navel, playing with the torture tools, and the joyous laughter kept reaching Li Huowang's ears.

Li Huowang shook his head slightly and caught up with the members of Da Qi's Astrological Bureau who had already left the inn.

Since Li Huowang had killed all the helpers in the inn, the mounts in the backyard naturally belonged to them now, and new companions soon appeared beside Li Huowang's carriage.

Seeing Li Huowang come out of the inn, Zhuge Yuan approached him and said, "Don't worry, our own people in Youdu have already been informed about Mr. Qin encountering enemies, and they will soon send someone to pick us up. We will be in Youdu soon."

Li Huowang glanced at the ailing Mr. Qin, who needed help getting on and off the carriage, and was not overly optimistic.

He boarded his carriage, pulled out the map, and started to search for his location. "Given our current pace, I fear it won't be that quick."

Li Huowang's blood-stained finger traced along the coast towards the center of the Jiangnan Road, "Huh?! Youdu?"

Faced with the familiar yet unfamiliar script, Li Huowang almost thought he was seeing things, but after scrutinizing it closely he found it indeed was Youdu, and not the Capital City as before.

Li Huowang looked at Zhuge Yuan, utterly stunned, "Is this your map?"

A look of annoyance crossed Zhuge Yuan's face. "Brother Li, you really are joking too much. With all my learning, I've never needed any map."

"Then this..." Just as Li Huowang hesitated, Hong Zhong chimed in again.

"It's normal. You are in Da Qi now; if not using Da Qi's map, then what?"

Li Huowang looked at the map before him, his brows furrowed, staring intently at a red oil spot on the top left corner of the map.

It was a spot he had accidentally made while eating noodles splattered with oil as he studied the map, searching for Apricot Island – this was certainly the map he had brought with him.

But this map, bought from the Capital City, surprisingly had no mark for the Capital City itself?! Instead, it marked Da Qi's capital, Youdu?