The Unruly Immortals

Before Li Huowang could answer, the sound of slurping noodles was heard again.

"Even if you wanted to become a disciple, it wouldn't be possible. The disciples are chosen by the Immortal Sects themselves. Getting into this line of work requires opportunity," Li Zhi started to explain.

"Oh? If it's not too much trouble, please elaborate." After fussing with this guy for so long, isn't that what I'm here to understand better?

The more I know about this unfamiliar world, the safer I will be.

Li Zhi's chopsticks danced in the air as he illustrated, "To become a disciple, you have to be very sick, preferably on the brink of death. If you're lucky, an Immortal Sect will visit you in your dream. They heal you, and then, as a form of payment, you become their disciple."

"What do members of the Immortal Sects look like?"

Li Zhi fell into deep thought, seemingly recalling something. "Hmm... how should I put it, they definitely don't look human."

Having finished speaking, he tried to scoop some noodles with his chopsticks, only to find there were none left. Li Zhi hurried excitedly back toward the pot.

"They don't look human…" Li Huowang pondered. Hearing him say that, it seemed to him these Immortal Sects were capable of communication and making trades—these Immortal Sects must be similar to the likes of Master You.

It appeared the people here were actively or passively engaging in trades and contacts with those beings.

Li Huowang immediately recalled the undulating flesh-and-blood "Buddha" at Zhengde Temple.

The Monk's cultivation process seemed to be a gradual one, progressing from men, to women, to animals, and finally to the "Buddha."

Thinking back to the previous seven Buddhas' abilities, capable of grating Master You flesh and the Buddhas themselves able to sprout a thousand fleshly hands.

It wasn't hard to deduce that the Monks of Zhengde Temple were obtaining abilities related to flesh through that sort of cultivation method.

"Engaging in trades and contact with different entities grants different Divine Skills. This might be the origin of the various Sects?"

Li Huowang was beginning to gain a preliminary understanding of this world.

At that moment, Li Zhi came back with a bowl of noodles piled high, with not a drop of liquid to be seen.

He had barely sat down when he began to talk nonstop while eating, "I'm telling you, being a disciple is no good job. If you can avoid it, do it. It's full of troublesome matters, not to mention the Three Calamities and Three Disasters, and there's hardly any money in it..."

Listening to his incessant venting, Li Huowang couldn't help but interrupt, "So what can you ask the Immortal Sects to do as a disciple?"

Li Zhi glanced at Li Huowang before replying, "Anything. Exorcism, disease curing, fortune changing, money attracting, weddings, funerals, matchmaking, fortune-telling, Feng Shui for the afterlife dwellings."

"They're that amazing? Can do anything?"

"Yeah, each Immortal Sect has different abilities. If you're in trouble and your own Sect can't handle it, you can ask another Sect to help."

Hearing this, Li Huowang's expression became grave. "So what if someone is being plagued by something? Can they solve that too?"

"Plagued by something? That's being possessed by evil spirits, of course they can solve it."

"Are you sure? It's not just any ordinary thing." Li Huowang thought of Master Danyang while looking at the man before him.

No matter how he looked at it, this guy seemed unreliable.

"Hey, whether it works or not, why don't you just try? At worst, it's only fifty copper coins. Are you afraid I'll take the money and run?"

"Fifty copper coins, that's your fee?" The cost was far less than what Li Huowang had imagined.

"I'm mine, and the Immortals are the Immortals', and we have to settle our accounts separately," Li Zhi chewed and swallowed the noodles in his mouth, followed by a satisfied belch.

"Where's my tea money? It's fifty copper coins, no bargaining. It's been the same old rule for more than three hundred years, never changed. Of course, I need new coins, can't be accepting any trimmed or damaged ones. As for what the Immortals want..."

"I will negotiate the Immortals' reward with them myself?"

"No, you can't negotiate that. You have to let the Immortals pick whatever they like, and in most cases, the Immortals aren't interested in money or such external possessions."

"They take whatever they pick? And they don't want money?" A vague unease stirred in Li Huowang's heart. If he really traded with them, what would these Immortals take?

"Then what have the Immortals taken from others in the past?"

"Hey, you're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Li Zhi held the bowl with both hands and began to lick it meticulously.

"Anyone who has had something taken by the Immortals can't speak of it. It's taboo, and mentioning it brings bad luck."

"Aren't you a spirit medium? You don't know?"

"To put it plainly, I'm just a long-term worker for the Immortals. My only job is to summon them here; I don't meddle in other affairs. For this little pay, why should I bother with those troubles?"

Compared to the monks of Zhengde Temple and Master Danyang, Li Zhi seemed to have an aloof detachment from worldly affairs.

"Why, are you wanting to give it a try? Who's possessed by evil?" Li Zhi, satiated from his meal, picked his teeth with chopsticks as he glanced towards others in the distance.

With the principal party right in front of him, Li Huowang remained patient and continued to inquire, "Brother Li Zhi, you've been all over the place, dealing with many situations, haven't you? Do you know where this 'evil' you talk about originates from?"

Li Zhi's face showed a trace of impatience as he shook his head. "I can't be bothered to remember those things. Running around for fifty copper coins a trip, I can hardly get by. Why would I work myself to death? If it paid five hundred copper coins a pop, then I'd definitely remember every detail clearly."

"They won't let me raise my price, nor let me switch to another job. Really, this is damn frustrating. By the way, real person, you Taoists must make good money performing rituals, right? How much can you earn from one ritual?"

Li Huowang took another glance at the unmoving woman under the red veil behind him and stood up, "We've rested enough, shall we keep going now?"

"Sure thing! Oh, what time are we having dinner?"

Li Huowang and his companions continued on, with the overly eccentric Li Zhi always trying to strike up a conversation, but they didn't respond too enthusiastically.

His conversations seemed perfectly normal, and he didn't seem to have any malice.

But goodness isn't written on one's face, and Li Huowang's wariness hadn't completely subsided.

Li Huowang glanced sideways at the two people on the other side of the road, his attention focused entirely on the one beside Li Zhi, the veiled Second God, who remained quiet and didn't eat or drink. The more he watched, the more uneasy he felt.

Compared to Li Zhi, this woman was much more peculiar.

Every time she took a step, the distance was precisely the same, making her seem not at all like a real person, but more like a corpse being moved by someone else.

What was even stranger was that Li Zhi actually called this thing his wife.

"Brother Li, shall we part ways with them?" Bai Lingmiao approached and suggested.

"Not so fast, let's wait and see," Li Huowang needed to observe carefully.

If this person wasn't lying, then getting rid of Master Danyang might actually depend on the Immortals he spoke of.