The Unruly Immortals

"A dog's face with its skin peeled off? It's smiling at me?"

Listening to Bai Lingmiao's words, Li Huowang, who was blind, painted a horrifying image in his mind.

Li Huowang swallowed hard then asked in the direction from which he had heard the sound before, "Mantou?"

"Woof, woof!!" The familiar barking resonated.

Li Huowang had had Mantou for over a year, and he was absolutely sure of it; that was Mantou's voice, and in it was no trace of pain or fear, but rather a note of excitement and eagerness.

With furrowed brows, Li Huowang tilted his ear, straining to listen in that direction, then asked again, "Li Sui?"

Li Sui's slightly echoing voice came from the same direction as the dog's bark. "Dad, I'm here."

As he spoke, Li Sui seemed eager to climb in through the window, but was immediately interrupted by a burst of urgent drumming.

"Dad, mom won't let me come over," Li Sui said, a tinge of grievance in his voice.

Hearing this, Li Huowang rubbed his temples in pain, uncertain of what to do.

He didn't even know how to address the thing before him now. What exactly had Li Sui done under the influence of that natural disaster yesterday?

"Dad, don't you want me anymore?" Li Sui's voice took on a sobbing tone, mixed with a low whine from Mantou.

Li Huowang patted the shoulder of Second God in front of him with his hand, "It's okay, he can't hurt me, even though I'm blind now."

Then, with a serious expression, Li Huowang walked past her, moving towards the source of the sound.

Although blind, Li Huowang still had a sense of sight, and he quickly approached, stopping about three meters away from the other person.

"Come inside and we'll talk, don't just lie there outside the window."

Following two dull footsteps, Li Huowang caught a whiff of a bloody smell. She was standing right in front of him; it wasn't the smell of human blood but that of dog blood.

Li Huowang reached out his hands towards the direction.

The first thing Li Huowang touched was a rough tongue between sharp fangs.

The tongue quickly licked clean the scab on the back of Li Huowang's hand. "Dad, your hand is bleeding."

Li Huowang moved his hand along the tongue, touching a beastly face with no skin where little muscle remained, and much of the hard bone was exposed.

At that moment, on top of the beastly face's head was the hat that Li Huowang had bought for Li Sui; it was badly torn, with only the frame left, providing no cover for the face.

Then Li Huowang's hands left the creature's skull, sliding beneath the tattered straw raincoat, exploring inch by inch the rest of her body.

Under the beastly face lay a similarly mangled dog body, only it wasn't quadrupedal as before but hunched over like a stooped person.

Touching it, he could feel that it was distinctly different from Mantou before, something was squirming underneath the body, inflating it greatly, making many parts seem disjointed, as though a strong man was forcefully wearing clothes far too small for him.

Experienced as he was, Li Huowang knew what this was—these were Li Sui's tentacles.

When Li Huowang brushed her back, those tentacles even reached out to gently wrap around his fingers.

In some areas, the tentacles hadn't even penetrated the flesh, just bursting forth in clusters, plainly exposed outside.

Her limbs had been stretched and thickened, even twisted and deformed by the tentacles, making her body appear taller than Li Huowang himself.

Through the inch-by-inch perception of his own hands, an image formed in Li Huowang's mind of a flesh-and-blood creature twisted with dog's face, covered in tentacles.

After a long while, Li Huowang slowly exhaled and asked, "What exactly are you now? Are you Mantou or Li Sui?"

"Dad, I am Li Sui, woof woof!" With a trace of bloody warmth, these words blew across Li Huowang's face.

"Where did you go last night? And what exactly happened?"

"Dad, I don't know either, I was just looking for Mantou to play with, and then somehow I fell asleep, and when I woke up, Mantou was gone."

"It seemed like I heard you calling me, so I rushed over."

Listening to Li Sui's rambling explanation, Li Huowang let out a deep sigh. "How could this be..."

He did know that Black Taisui possessed the ability to take over others' bodies, but he hadn't anticipated this situation.

Is the creature in front of him Li Sui, Mantou, or some combination of the two? And how should he treat her?

Sensing Li Huowang's somber mood, the beast's face nuzzled up to him, its hard skull gently pressing against Li Huowang's chest, and licked his chin with its tongue, while the tattered conical hat on her head rolled off to the ground.

Feeling her affection, Li Huowang wrapped his arms around her, pondering for a long time.

In the end, he gently patted her ragged raincoat. "Alright, alright... Considering you're not dead, it's already very good; I can't ask for too much."

Perhaps others, faced with this grotesque creature of ambiguous flesh, would feel fear.

But Li Huowang wouldn't. After all, in this utterly mad world, who was really better off than whom? His current situation probably wasn't much better.

Li Huowang turned around and looked in the direction of Bai Lingmiao. "Miaomiao, from now on, she's our daughter."

"Daughter? Her?"

"Mhm, Li Sui as Black Taisui doesn't differentiate between male and female, but Mantou does; she is female, so she will be our daughter from now on. I hope you don't mind."

As Bai Lingmiao hesitated, Second God walked over and gently stroked Li Sui's terrifying head.

—————

The calamity had passed, and although the various incidents that occurred during this short period could haunt one's dreams for several nights, life must go on.

The heated discussions eventually subsided, and everyone resumed their usual activities.

"Master, Master, it's time to wake up."

The napping Master was nudged awake, opening his eyes to see his scowling wife.

"What hour is it now?" he asked languidly as he sat up, stretched his legs, and waited for someone to help him with his shoes.

"The hour of the Dog, sleep any longer and we'll need to light lanterns to travel, costing Silver."

Coming to Niuxin Village to teach, he had chosen mornings and afternoons, but since many had to work in the fields and even the children like young Yang had to cook, he had no choice but to adjust his teaching schedule to the evening.

"Mhm, time to change clothes," he said, stretching out his hands.

"Goodness, I'm busy putting away the dried radishes on the roof today, no time to help you. Dinner's on the table; remember to wash your dishes and put them in the dining hall after eating."

Master Wu glared at her, "I am a learned man! How can I stoop to kitchen work!"