The Unruly Immortals

"Four hundred?!" Upon hearing this price, Li Huowang's pupils contracted slightly; he didn't even need to look at his gourd to know that there definitely wasn't that much inside.

"Don't find it too expensive, sir. This is a treasure from over a thousand years ago, from the Da Qi Era. Where can you find a monk capable of consecrating Shariputra nowadays?"

It wasn't that Li Huowang found it expensive, but he truly didn't have that much. He had been busy dealing with Huan Jue, where would he have remembered to earn the Yangshou Pills?

"How much for the previous Dharma Eye?" As long as Bai Lingmiao could see, Li Huowang didn't care if she looked worse.

"Five hundred." The eunuch's words completely dispelled any thoughts Li Huowang had of using a cheaper Magic Artifact as a substitute. He hadn't expected that Dharma Eye to be even more expensive than the Shariputra.

He had come to see that, when it came to being unscrupulously greedy, no one could outdo the Astrological Bureau.

The hard-earned Yangshou Pills that he risked his life for out in the world turned out to be worthless in this Inner Treasury; they couldn't be exchanged for anything.

Without Yangshou Pills, he couldn't give Bai Lingmiao the Shariputra and without the Shariputra, Bai Lingmiao would soon be blind—a fate Li Huowang absolutely could not tolerate.

To think that in the past, Li Zhi's gourd only had four Yangshou Pills and now he needed a full four hundred. Even if he wanted to steal them, he wouldn't know where to steal from.

"But I've killed her entire family, what does this sacrifice count for? No matter what, I must get the Shariputra for Bai Lingmiao!" Li Huowang took heavy steps as he walked towards the outside of the Inner Treasury.

He didn't leave the Astrological Bureau but went directly to the large hall filled with screens. This was where the Astrological Bureau's Government Office took tasks.

The people were still the same, but facing them, Li Huowang's attitude had shifted from hostility to more of a nonchalant one.

Although the people of the Astrological Bureau treated lives like grass, the world really couldn't do without them.

"Er Jiu?! You're actually still alive? I thought you had died." Hearing the same remarks from the man surnamed Nan Gong, identical to those previously made by Sima Lan, Li Huowang couldn't bother to explain again.

"I want to take on a task, what are the ones with the highest rewards?" Li Huowang asked straightforwardly.

Seeing Li Huowang's somewhat heavy expression, Nan Gong, without need for further questions, handed him a book, "Look for yourself, the last page lists them."

Li Huowang flipped directly to it, and a task written in cinnabar red ink jumped to the forefront of his vision, "Oblivion Path, Hong Zhong, success or failure, life or death notwithstanding."

His gaze lingered there for a moment before Li Huowang began to flip forward through the book.

Oblivion Path to Riches, Oblivion Path West Wind, Oblivion Path White Board, Oblivion Path, Oblivion Path, several pages in a row were about Oblivion Path. It seemed Liu Zongyuan's information wasn't wrong; the Astrological Bureau really had a bone to pick with Oblivion Path.

Although the rewards listed were valuable, Li Huowang really didn't want to deal with those swindlers.

The connections between the Sanyuan and the Sixi, they were like sticky plasters. Once you kill one of them, the trouble that follows is impossible to shake off, just like what happened with Zhuge Yuan before.

"Brother Er Jiu, didn't you say before you wanted revenge against Oblivion Path? Why not take it?"

"With the price of an eye, I've already avenged that grudge. The Elder from Oblivion Path who killed the Demi Immortal—I personally took care of him."

After scanning seriously for a few pages, Li Huowang's hand suddenly stopped; his fingers slowly traced over two ink-brushed characters. "Lingmiao?"

Following that name, the reward listed was striking—four hundred and thirty Yangshou Pills and five years of spotless longevity.

He looked up at Zhuge Yuan who was standing beside Nan Gong. "Lingmiao? From the Ling generation?"

"Brother Li, it's not from the Ling generation; all the rest are, but this one isn't." Zhuge Yuan's face showed a hint of disgust.

"Indeed, it is a spiritual entity." Nan Gong spoke up, picking up the thread of the conversation. "But do you really plan to take on this job? Don't be blinded by the allure of the immaculate 'Yangshou'. Dealing with it is actually no easier than dealing with the 'Oblivion Path', at least that would be safer."

"Is this spiritual entity that dangerous? What's its background?"

"Dangerous? Well, it's certainly less so than 'Heart Turbidity', 'Xinsu', or 'Heart Pan'. The difficulty in dealing with a spiritual entity really depends on what it has latched onto."

"If it's attached to a human, that's somewhat better, at most making them a crazed demi-immortal. But if it's clinging to some powerful evil spirit or something else, heh heh, then you're really in for it."

"Like some kind of parasitic oddity..." Li Huowang started asking Nan Gong about some details of spiritual entities.

What's particularly perplexing is that the abilities of the spiritual entities differ depending on their hosts, and sometimes even their divine skills are completely opposite.

Looking over the various records about spiritual entities in the book, Li Huowang began to assess, judging whether he could handle such situations with his current strength.

After pondering for a moment, Li Huowang finally decided to accept the assignment; he now possessed the strength of 'Hong Zhong', no longer the same Li Huowang as before. Perhaps he need not fear this spiritual entity.

Even if he couldn't overpower it, he still had no problem escaping.

Moreover, not all spiritual entities were formidable. The book also recorded an account of a monk who lucked out and encountered a spiritual entity attached to a dog's tail grass, picking up a huge bargain.

"This one, I won't be picky," Li Huowang said, running his finger through the red seal paste and pressing it firmly onto the book.

"Alright, these are the locations identified by the Astrological Bureau's scouts where spiritual entities might be found. You can try visiting each of them," Nan Gong replied.

"I have to go search for it myself?" Li Huowang asked, taking the map in hand.

"Of course, what did you think? That such a generous reward comes for free? But now that you're at the 'Banner' rank, you can find some more people to help you out, to decrease the risk," Nan Gong suggested.

However, Li Huowang had no intention of finding companions like during the 'Record of Appearance', and instead took the map and walked towards the outside.

The more people involved, the more people there were to share the reward. If the bounty from this job was divided, it wouldn't be enough to buy a Shariputra.

Having spent only one night in the small courtyard in the Capital City, Li Huowang set out on the road again with Li Sui and Bai Lingmiao.

He had thought he would find the spiritual entity quickly, but to his surprise, the first two locations turned out to be false leads, without a trace of the spiritual entity.

In the blink of an eye, a month and a half had passed.

"Pat, pat, pat." Bai Lingmiao, with her body turned to the side, lifted a wooden stick and started vigorously beating a red Taoist robe lying on a large rock by the riverbank.

After pounding it for a while, Bai Lingmiao picked up the robe, shook it in the rushing river water, then returned it to the rock and began to scrub.

Without a washboard, the only way to get it clean was to wash like this.

After finishing with Li Huowang's clothes, she carefully washed her own. Li Zhi had bought them for her in the Capital City, and they were very pretty; she liked them a lot.

Once all the clothes were washed cleanly, she finally placed them in a wooden basin and stood up.

Carrying the wooden basin, Bai Lingmiao picked up a bamboo pole about the thickness of a finger from the ground and, while tapping in front with the bamboo pole, walked towards the direction of the carriage.