The Unruly Immortals

Li Huowang abruptly opened his eyes, and upon sitting up from the disheveled bed and looking to the right, he noticed the oblique sunlight piercing through the window; it had been daylight for quite some time already.

"Did I oversleep again?" Li Huowang, unconcerned about the blood vessels on his body, hurriedly dressed and descended the wooden staircase.

"Brother Li, good morning," Zhuge Yuan said, holding a fan and greeting him with a clasped hand gesture.

"Brother Zhuge, morning."

Seeing the other person, Li Huowang immediately smacked his forehead in annoyance; he had relaxed as soon as he returned to the village, and Zhuge Yuan, who owed him his life, was still waiting for his rescue. Practicing the Cultivation Technique was far more important than any affairs between men and women.

Li Huowang grabbed a mantou and some pickled vegetables from the table and wolfed down a few bites, followed by gulping down some rice porridge. He then found a quiet cell in the Bai Family Courtyard and began to sit cross-legged with his eyes closed, cultivating the Cultivation Technique.

Following the obscure text of the cultivation method, Li Huowang wrapped the Divine Fire from his eyes around the Innate Qi. The next step was to push this Innate Qi through his body's Root Wheel, Abdominal Wheel, Navel Wheel, Heart Wheel, Throat Wheel, Brow Wheel, and Crown Wheel in turn.

He let each of his Ten Emotions and Eight Miseries percolate through that invisible, colorless Innate Qi.

This process was very difficult; Li Huowang felt like he was pushing a huge elephant with a wheelbarrow, not moving an inch despite all his efforts.

But he wasn't in a hurry; cultivation was something that could not be rushed; what mattered was perseverance for eternity.

If the Xinsu that Bei Feng duped could do it, then he certainly could too.

After who knew how much time, when Li Huowang, exhausted, opened his eyes, he saw that the sky outside the window had already started to darken.

By this time, the entire cell's layout had become crooked, with parts of the ground and walls bulging out and sinking in.

Seeing this scene, Li Huowang couldn't help but frown. The practice of the Cultivation Technique could cause strange changes to the surrounding environment. It seemed that cultivating in Niuxin Village wouldn't be feasible; he needed to find a place where he wouldn't accidentally harm others.

Li Huowang got up and walked towards the door. Just as he opened the door, he was surprised to find a young man awkwardly standing on the ceiling above his head.

When the young man saw Li Huowang, he immediately backed away in terror, clearly frightened, clinging to the ceiling and scrambling backward with hands and feet.

As Li Huowang watched this person with confusion, guessing his origin, the tall figure of Gao Zhijian also surprisingly hung upside down from the ceiling, walking towards him.

Seeing that silly big guy's appearance, Li Huowang immediately realized that it was not they who were hanging upside down, but himself!

With that thought, Li Huowang felt his feet give way instantly, plunging toward the spot where the young man was.

Swiftly sidestepping, Li Huowang in mid-air landed firmly. Still shaken, he stood up and looked back inside the wooden door of the cell once more.

The place of his practice had already turned upside down, the ground became the ceiling, and the beams were below. He couldn't believe he had stood on the ceiling for so long without realizing it.

Following that, Li Huowang's determination to find a new place to cultivate solidified; practicing such a Cultivation Technique was indeed very peculiar.

"Li...Li...Li…."

Li Huowang looked up and saw Gao Zhijian in front of him, patted his arm a few times, "How old are you, exactly? How come you've grown taller in the few months I haven't seen you; is there something going on?"

"Mm," Gao Zhijian said, pointing outside with his hand.

Li Huowang looked at his serious face, thought for a moment, and then started walking outside with him.

"Godfather, godmother told me to bring you home for dinner." The boy who had been scared stiff on the ground hurriedly stood up and said.

"I'll come back later, you tell her to eat first."

By the time Li Huowang arrived at Gao Zhijian's home, he saw the other party guiltily presenting a pile of stone debris to him.

"This is...?" It took Li Huowang a while to recognize that this was the Stone Tablet Celestial Book he had given to him, the very one that Master Danyang had treasured so much.

Through Gao Zhijian's stuttering explanation, Li Huowang learned that just a while ago one afternoon, the Celestial Book had broken for no apparent reason, and then some nonsensical words came out from it, seemingly mocking the delusions of becoming a celestial being.

"It's okay, you don't have to feel guilty, it's not your fault, this thing was originally used by the Oblivion Path to deceive people," Li Huowang explained to Gao Zhijian.

Although he did not know when exactly Master Danyang had obtained this so-called Celestial Book, considering the pains he had taken to collect so many incomplete parts for alchemy, it must have been a long time, at least three to five years.

The so-called Lord Lao referred to in his mouth was undoubtedly a disguise by the Oblivion Path.

It was not only Master Danyang who had been deceived but also the spirit-like being in the cave before, as well as many more duped across the world.

Such a large-scale, long-duration scam, practically encompassing the Eight Desolates, could not have been carried out overnight; it would have required decades or even centuries of preparation.

Such a grand deception could only have been orchestrated by the Touzi.

The Touzi had gone through great lengths, collecting so many lies from the deceived, just to find the right opportunity to summon the Doumu's nirmanakaya and steal the Divine Mountain Ghost Eye that the Emperor of Da Liang had acquired with great difficulty.

The Heavenly Dao within the long-deceased Divine Mountain Ghost seemed to represent Chaos?

"It's just strange, given what I know about them, the Touzi have always been contemplating how to lure away the Heavenly Dao from Doumu, intending to directly attain sanctification in the flesh and take its place. Why would they help Doumu? Could it be that they were deceived by Doumu?"

Li Huowang, a bit lost in thought, was awakened by Gao Zhijian tugging at his arm, "Sorry, I was thinking too much. Gao Zhijian, is there anything else?"

"Yes," Gao Zhijian said succinctly and turned to walk back into the house.

Soon Gao Zhijian returned, holding a book on military tactics in his hand. Li Huowang remembered it, as it was the one he had taken from the body of Peng Longteng.

"This... this... this... is... is... is... military... cultivation..."

Li Huowang took it with surprise, flipping through it, and to his astonishment, he found that it indeed contained a military cultivation technique, teaching people how to increase and control evil Qi with body refining techniques.

"Have you practiced it?"

"Hmm." Gao Zhijian nodded, looked around, walked towards the Giant Halberd in the distance, clenched his jaw, and accompanied by a roar, he heaved up the heavy weapon.

As a thick evil Qi spread from Gao Zhijian all around, the headless Peng Longteng became excited, its huge hands clenching and relaxing from time to time.

"Ho!" With a roar, a strong gust of wind blew Li Huowang's clothes and hair back sharply as the Giant Halberd, carrying an enormous force, was slammed heavily onto the ground.

Instantly the earth shook, the stone tiles on the ground shattered completely, and Li Huowang even felt like an earthquake was occurring.

Li Huowang was shocked; Gao Zhijian had been quietly cultivating so powerfully. If he grew a bit taller, he might rival the strength of Peng Longteng from before.

Should he say that Gao Zhijian was a natural prodigy, or that the military cultivation technique was easy to practice?