The Unruly Immortals

Li Huowang watched the light in Zhuge Yuan's eyes gradually fade away, his heart aching as if it were being sliced by a knife.

His mind was in complete chaos now. It seemed he wanted to say something, but facing his dying friend, he found himself unable to utter a word.

"Brother Li, the worms inside you are almost dead, are you really okay?" Zhuge Yuan looked at Li Huowang's increasingly hollow chest and asked with his last breath.

An ugly smile, uglier than tears, appeared on Li Huowang's face as he shook his head vigorously. "Brother Zhuge, you... do you have any last words or requests? Tell me, and I will fulfill them, no matter what!"

As Zhuge Yuan slowly exhaled a breath, his voice became broken and intermittent. "No, I... I have... lived an honest life, never... having any... regrets..."

The snow that had stopped falling began to drift down again, slowly landing on Zhuge Yuan's pupils which were gradually dilating.

As Li Huowang watched Zhuge Yuan slowly slip away from life, filled with grief, a thought suddenly struck him. With a surge of excitement, he threw himself forward. "Brother Zhuge, I've just thought of a way! There is still hope for you! You can be saved!"

While speaking, he raised his hands, veins bulging, and fiercely grasped Zhuge Yuan's neck, tightening his grip.

Looking at Zhuge Yuan, whose gaze had become lifeless, Li Huowang, exerting all his strength, whispered shakily into his ear, "Brother Zhuge, I have killed people in the past!! Or perhaps some people died by my side! They seemed to turn into illusions and stayed with me! Maybe you can too!"

"As long as you can become an illusion, when I reach the Great Accomplishment in my cultivation, I will surely turn your illusion into reality!"

As Li Huowang spoke, his hands tightened madly and, in an excess of force, he actually twisted Zhuge Yuan's head off.

Kneeling on the ground, holding Zhuge Yuan's head in his hands, he looked around blankly - Jin Shanzhao, the Monk, Hong Zhong, Peng Longteng; the four illusions were neither more nor less, and Zhuge Yuan did not reappear.

Zhuge Yuan did not turn into an illusion, which meant that Zhuge Yuan was truly dead.

Li Huowang's lips trembled slightly as he held Zhuge Yuan's head, his upper body gradually arching as his two-finger-missing left hand clenched tightly, smashing forcefully into the ground.

The solid tamped earth began to crack, mixing with the blood flowing from Li Huowang's wounds, splattering all around.

But no matter how much he vented, it was all in vain; Zhuge Yuan was dead, dead and never to return, and Li Huowang's tears kept falling on Zhuge Yuan's hair in his arms.

Why is it that every person who has been kind to him in this world ends up with such a fate?

Or is it the problem of this world? Could it really be that good people don't live long, while bad people live for a thousand years?

Suddenly, a wave of indignation surged in Li Huowang's heart, a deep fury against the chaotic world. This was not right! This world was mistaken! This was not how things should be in the human world!

After smashing the ground for half a stick of incense's time, Li Huowang gradually stopped his bloody hands, not because he wanted to stop, but because he could no longer lift his hands.

The Leap Place Five Elements Hours were almost over, and if he did not solve this problem soon, he would die alongside Zhuge Yuan.

A flicker of hesitation appeared in Li Huowang's eyes. If it came to that, it didn't seem too bad, since he didn't care anymore anyway.

But then, Li Huowang suddenly bowed his head sharply and struck the ground with great force, the painful gash on his forehead driving away the desire for death in his mind quickly.

"Zhuge Yuan gave everything to save your life! What right do you have to die! Can you face him!!"

"If you commit suicide now, Zhuge Yuan will become a laughingstock! You can't die! You still have to live and be a person!"

Li Huowang banged his head brutally several times before stopping only when his forehead revealed white bone.

As he staggered to his feet, Li Sui, controlling Li Huowang's original body, began walking towards him.

Li Huowang, seeing his vision start to darken, shook his head forcefully and immediately raised his sword to slash his own arm. "Stop pretending! Even now, you're trying to set a trap, Li Sui, withdraw all your tendrils!"

Upon hearing these words, Bei Feng, who was apparently drunk, calmly opened his eyes.

"Your body is almost ruined, switch us back now, I absolutely cannot die—I must live!"

Bei Feng, regaining his vision and enduring the pain, looked at Li Huowang with a slight smirk and a sneer of contempt. "Why should I?"

"Because five years ago on Woman Mountain you owed me a favor! What, thinking of going back on your word now?"

Hearing this, Bei Feng scrutinized Li Huowang from head to toe, and then, bringing his hands together in a salute, he congratulated Li Huowang. "Boss Hong Zhong, congratulations on your return. You've really outdone yourself this time, I almost thought you wouldn't make it back."

As he spoke, with a slight opening of his eyes, their bodies swiftly switched back.

Back in his own body and feeling it was nearly an empty shell, Bei Feng immediately complained. "Oh man, you've wrecked my body, it's completely unusable."

With that, he looked toward a brocade-clad imperial guard from Da Liang lying on the ground with a broken leg.

As he gently opened his eyes again, the two men's bodies quickly swapped over, and before the imperial guard could adapt to Bei Feng's battered body, he stiffened and collapsed without a sound.

Bei Feng, now in the body of the imperial guard, hopped on his remaining leg towards Li Huowang.

"Boss Hong Zhong, what are you standing around for? Let's go help Boss Touzi. Tsk tsk, just look over there, they're beating the brains out of each other."

But after talking for quite a while, he got no response and saw Li Huowang with tears brimming in his eyes, looking towards an empty space on the left.

Bei Feng, puzzled, reached towards that direction but touched nothing.

Just then, he heard Boss Hong Zhong's voice trembling as he spoke. "Brother Zhuge, all well?"

Li Huowang's heart pounded furiously, and he watched Zhuge Yuan excitedly, unable to contain himself.

Zhuge Yuan, composed as ever in his white clothes, held his fan inscribed with "Heaven-born talent" and gently fanned himself at the chest.

Around him, other hallucinations looked curiously at the newcomer.

Zhuge Yuan closed his fan and pointed to the other visions, "Brother Li, could you introduce these individuals to me?"

Li Huowang, too excited to speak, his hands trembling, finally managed to blurt out. "Heavens! I did it! You've really become a hallucination!"

It seemed Zhuge Yuan hadn't appeared before because he hadn't been in Xinsu's body just yet.