The Unruly Immortals

The sun slowly shifted westward, and a village gradually emerged before them, with houses of various heights scattered along the roadside.

"Look, this is the hamlet I was telling you about," said Li Zhi with a smile, pointing at the large expanse of black tiles before them, then striding towards it.

"Follow me, I've got a fellow villager here, and we can stay at his place for free."

Watching as the figure receded into the distance, and with a casual wave of his hand, Li Huowang led the two donkey carts towards the village as well.

As they walked on the dirt road between the houses, Li Huowang and the others looked around the eerily quiet surroundings.

Oddly enough, there wasn't a single person to be seen in the fields or the yards.

"What's going on? Where are all the villagers?" Li Huowang wondered to himself, puzzled.

As he was thinking this, Li Zhi's head popped around a corner upfront, his old face so excited he could hardly contain himself.

"Hey!! Quick, come here, there's a scene to be seen! Looks like the eunuch is having an affair! His face is all scratched up, it's so thrilling!"

"Having an affair? What do you mean by 'having an affair'?" Li Huowang's question went unanswered. He turned his head to see the others with embarrassed expressions, Bai Lingmiao's face blushing as she hung her head.

"Senior Brother Li, let's not join the crowd, that's someone else's family business."

Li Huowang gave her a puzzled look, then turned and walked briskly towards Li Zhi.

Just around the bend, the scene suddenly opened up. A crowd of men, women, and children dressed like farmers had formed a tight circle outside a household, with Li Zhi standing on his tiptoes and resting his hands on someone's shoulders to peer inside.

Turns out, the entire village had come over to watch the commotion.

"What do you mean by 'having an affair'?" Li Huowang asked, coming up beside Li Zhi.

"An eunuch sneaking around with someone else's daughter-in-law, don't you have a different term for it where you come from? Where are you from, anyway?" Li Zhi looked at Li Huowang again, surprised.

After hearing the explanation, Li Huowang was speechless. No wonder Bai Lingmiao had looked that way earlier.

"Ah~!!" A woman's shrill scream erupted from the center of the crowd, sending the onlookers buzzing and scrambling back, creating a large gap.

Through the gap that had opened up, Li Huowang saw a bizarre scene unfold.

A naked woman with twisted limbs was writhing on the Eight Immortals table like a snake, screaming and trembling simultaneously.

"Oh no, it's not an affair, it's a possession," Li Zhi lamented, slapping his hands together and pushing his way through the crowd.

"Excuse me, excuse me, I'm a spirit medium, please let me through, hiss, who the heck stepped on my foot!!"

As Li Huowang stared at the scene, he hesitated, "Is he planning to start the exorcism with his methods?"

Finally squeezing through the crowd, Li Zhi looked around and then waved at Li Huowang, "Master, come on, what are you doing standing so far away?"

Li Huowang thought for a moment and then pushed his way into the crowd as well.

This guy seemed a bit unreliable, but it was a good opportunity to see what he was capable of.

If he was just messing around, there was no need to have him help with his own problem; he didn't want Master Danyang to consume him like Buddha ate the elixir.

Upon reaching the center of the crowd, the situation became clearer; the woman behaving oddly on the Eight Immortals table was definitely not right.

Her pretty phoenix eyes were devoid of any pupil, and her eyelids looked like they had five layers.

Standing beside were two individuals, a young and an old, whose faces bore scratch marks, looking like they had suffered a great deal.

"Master, regarding this matter, should you take care of it or should I?" Li Zhi once again whispered in a low voice.

"How about we both handle it together? Afterwards, you can ask for more money, and then we'll split it evenly. That way, we won't break the rules of conducting a séance."

"No need, exorcism isn't my forte, so you handle it," Li Huowang rejected outright; he didn't know how to perform it anyway.

Upon hearing Li Huowang's explanation, Li Zhi's face was filled with surprise. "Are you pulling my leg? You can't even drive out evil spirits, aren't you a sham of a Taoist?"

"Hurry up and go, look at that woman, she's almost twisted her bones apart," Li Huowang gestured with his hand towards the woman on the Eight Immortals table.

The woman, who had been tied up just moments before, had now bitten her own lips until they bled, with drops of blood falling off her chin. Her joints were twisted with a creaking sound.

"It seems commoners aren't as detached from these things as I thought, but these people uniformly attribute it to demonic possession," thought Li Huowang to himself.

"What if Li Zhi wasn't here today? What would they do then?" Li Huowang pondered, watching Li Zhi who was negotiating with the suffering individuals on the side.

Looking at the antiquated farm tools within the house, those bare feet caked with yellow mud, and the faces full of suffering on both the old and the young, the answer to that question was simple and cruel.

This matter probably went the same way as poor people dealing with sickness: endure the minor illnesses and brace through the serious ones— if they couldn't hold on, they just lay down.

"Ahem~!" A cough quieted the buzzing murmur of the crowd around them.

"Thump~!" As Li Zhi tapped an old drum hanging from his waist with a small stick, everyone's heart skipped a beat.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!" "Please~ summon~ the~ deity~~!"

This call, full of breath and pitched high, suppressed all other sounds in the vicinity.

Li Huowang turned his head towards the outside of the house, where the red light in the sky was gradually fading, and the silent black night was about to fall.

"The sun sets behind the mountains~ The night darkens the sky~ The dragon returns to the vast sea, the tiger to the mountains~ The dragon brings rain from the sea~ The tiger seeks peace and rest in the mountains~ Alas~~..."

As Li Zhi sang in rhythm with the drumbeat, the hitherto unnoticed Second God began to tremble, the red veil on his head and the colored ribbons on his body shaking as well.

"Above the head, Seven-Star Glazed Tiles, underfoot, Eight-Edged Purple Gold Bricks. One foot on the earth, head touching the sky. Striding in a chain, standing firm with both feet in camp. Burning incense and drumming to invite the old Immortal~~..."

While beating the drum, Li Zhi pulled out a few sticks of incense, lit them, and placed them around the woman on the Eight Immortals table.

The disheveled woman, gnashing her teeth and grimacing like a wild animal, was about to pounce, but upon making contact with the white smoke, she cried out and shrank back.

The white smoke rising from the incense didn't disperse but instead slowly swirled around the room, and soon, it became hazy inside,

Li Huowang's eyes twitched slightly, his mood inexplicably restless. Glancing at the perfectly normal surroundings, he furrowed his brow and pinched the back of his neck, taking a couple of steps back.

"Gurgle~!" The woman under the red veil moved for the first time, beginning to hiccup, and from beneath the veil came a rustling sound.

The crowd that had been enjoying the spectacle was visibly frightened, spreading out further than before, and some of the more timid took advantage of the remaining daylight to run home.

Hearing the hiccups, Li Zhi looked back and continued to beat the drum and sing.

"Old Immortal~ I know you're about to arrive, don't be noisy, don't cause a stir. Majestic and fierce you are, with grandeur and killing aura to convey~~"

"The house is small, filled with many obstacles, hitting and bumping not permitted. Bumping into a gentleman is manageable, but crossing a villain brings endless disputes~~"