The Unruly Immortals

"Dong dong dong dong—" Within the low house, the drum sounds were incessant, and so was Li Zhi's chanting.

"Assist me, soldiers, heads against the roof beams, feet on the rafters, left hand with the drum, right hand with the whip, aye ha aye ha yo aye—" "Dong dong dong!!"

Off to the side, Li Huowang could see that with the continuous chant, the red bridal veil atop Second God's head was gradually being pushed up by something inside.

Through the red bridal veil, Li Huowang glimpsed the profiles of some strange beastly heads.

To call them beast heads wasn't quite accurate, none of these things resembled ordinary beasts; they all were severely mutated and deformed, only some of them bore a resemblance to animals.

These things, like flowing water, appeared and disappeared underneath the red bridal veil, constantly writhing.

The scene before him, accompanied by the hazy white smoke, seemed all the more eerie.

Li Huowang rubbed his eyes forcefully and saw that Second God was now stepping to the drumbeat, following Li Zhi toward the table shrouded in white smoke.

"Hit once, bob three times—hit thrice, bob nine times—

Three forward, four backward, five left, six right, sixty-eight times, aye—"

In the blurry white smoke, Li Zhi danced around in circles with the woman, one leading and the other following.

The woman on the Eight Immortals table began to clutch her throat in excruciating pain.

"Roll away!! Get out!!" Her voice quivered slightly.

"Summon the soldiers—I call upon Huang Tianba—I call upon Huang Tianqing—I summon Huang Tianhei and Huang Tianhong, great reporting spirit, dual-communicative spirit, fast-speaking teasing brother, silver-tongued mimic aye—" "Dong! Dong! Dong!"

As these words were spoken, Li Huowang's mood, for some reason, began to grow restless.

At that moment, he heard some inexplicable sounds around him, but when he listened carefully, the sounds disappeared.

No matter what the old Immortal mentioned by Li Zhi was, it was certain that it was unlike anything he had ever encountered before.

"It seems, he can summon not just one type of being from the Immortal Sects, but how many can he call upon at most?"

While he was still focused on this, the drumming gradually quieted down.

Li Huowang, with slightly furrowed brows, waved his hand to disperse the smoke before his eyes and strode toward the table.

But unexpectedly, just as he neared it, a black shadow suddenly flew out of the white smoke, trailing afterimages as it hurtled straight toward his face.

"Clang!" The longsword, sharp enough to slice through iron like mud, rang out, and the next second it was gnashed by a row of bloody teeth, making a grinding noise.

This stark-naked woman possessed astonishing strength; her clawed hands desperately scratched toward Li Huowang's eyes.

Her bloodshot eyes bulged out alarmingly, almost falling off her face, while her violently shaking visage was full of resentment and murderous intent.

"Li Zhi!! What the hell are you doing?!" Li Huowang, struggling to hold on, shouted into the white smoke.

"Dong dong dong!!" Old—Immortal—Sects aye—"

The Soldier-Shifting Decree resounded once again, and the large red bridal veil twisted out of the white smoke, covering the woman's face.

The woman struggled frantically, but helplessly witnessed the beastly faces on the veil writhing and burrowing into her mouth.

With a "whoosh," she was abruptly dragged into the white smoke by some force, as Li Zhi's chant continued to emanate from within.

"Old Immortals, oh—, leaving the ancient cave and the mountain, take a handful of yellow sand to cover the cave's entrance, moving clouds under a cloudy sky, spiraling winds on a clear day, moving clouds and spiraling winds, coming and going without a trace of smoke—"

When Li Huowang, still on edge, entered the white smoke with his longsword ready, he discovered that the previously hysterical woman was now limp on the table, her complexion waxen and her body cold with sweat.

Li Zhi continued to circle around the woman, with his wife, still trembling and hiccuping, following behind.

"If you want to leave, I won't stop you, lead the horse to Ba Wang's trough, first untie the reins then unload the saddle, the old Immortal Sect whips the horse—heading back to the mountains, ah—hey ai yi hou hei—"

After finishing this last line, Li Zhi turned the Drum and Whip in his hand and struck the center of the drum three times with force.

As the drumming ceased, the white smoke surrounding them slowly began to disperse, and the strange restlessness in Li Huowang's heart also gradually vanished.

"Nothing wrong, right? I was a bit distracted just now. I knew with you outside, this guy couldn't get away," said Li Zhi, still with that carefree demeanor.

"Distracted? In this situation, you dare to let your mind wander?" Li Huowang truly couldn't understand the logic in this person's actions.

"It's just fifty copper coins, how much does a bowl of noodles cost in the city now? The evil spirit is gone and the person is still alive, what more do you want? It's already pretty good."

"Blame it on the one who set the rules back then. What kind of messed-up rules were those? Are shamans doomed to be poor?"

Holding back the urge to roll his eyes at him, Li Huowang walked over to the Eight Immortals table and began to carefully examine the woman.

She seemed to have been greatly tormented in spirit, her lifeless eyes filled with fear, her body trembling uncontrollably.

After looking around for a while, Li Huowang did not see anything that the Immortal Sects, mentioned by Li Zhi, had taken from her.

"They didn't take money, she's not missing anything physically, could the so-called Immortal Sects' payment be something on a spiritual level?" Li Huowang speculated in his heart.

Just then, the family of the afflicted rushed in, and upon seeing their loved one back to normal, they instantly wrapped arms around each other, crying and laughing at the same time.

At this point, Li Zhi approached them and said, "This young woman has just encountered an evil force and is physically weak. Plus, your home's feng shui is not great. I'm afraid you'll have trouble in the future. How about this, why don't you ask for a protective talisman?"

"Protective talisman?" Li Huowang immediately tuned in.

"Yes, yes, yes! We'll listen to the master!" The frightened elder, now bereft of all sense, did not dare to refuse anymore.

Li Zhi reached into his bag and pulled out a clay figurine.

Then he took out some red strings and began to wrap them around, mumbling something under his breath as he did.

Once everything was tied up, Li Zhi fetched a ladder and placed the object up on the beam of the house.

"Offer sacrifices on the first day of the New Year, and incense on the fifteenth of every month, do you understand? Alright, the fee for the Soldier-Shifting Decree plus the protective talisman, total one hundred copper coins. Hand over the money."

Ignoring Li Zhi, who was waiting for his payment, Li Huowang stepped up to the ladder and began to closely observe the protective talisman on the beam.

It was a clay figurine about the width of a hand, seemingly molded casually by hand.

Yet, oddly enough, its eyes were crafted with exceptional expressiveness. Looking into those eyes, Li Huowang felt as though he was staring into the eyes of a living creature.

At that moment, Li Huowang suddenly saw the protective talisman inexplicably move. "What's going on, am I seeing things?"

"Don't look..." A very faint, slender voice emerged from behind.

Li Huowang spun around abruptly and came face to face with the Second God, who was veiled in red.

The two were so close that Li Huowang's faint breath could cause the red veil to sway gently.

At this moment, countless thoughts raced through Li Huowang's mind, "Is this person really alive? Why did she tell me not to look?"

Li Huowang glanced at Li Zhi, who was now counting copper coins with his head down, and asked in the softest tone, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Upon hearing Li Huowang say this, those pale hands with long nails gently grasped the corner of the red veil, slowly lifting it up.

"Gulp," clutching the Taoist Bell tightly in his hand, Li swallowed hard, feeling somewhat nervous.

"Well, I'm off to find a villager to borrow a bed to sleep in."

The red veil was once again properly placed, and the Second God quickly turned around and followed behind.