The Unruly Immortals

"Ha~ Ha~" Li Huowang, drenched in sweat, supported himself on his knees and gasped for air.

Li Huowang had been climbing for two hours already, and still hadn't arrived.

The nunnery was much taller than he had anticipated.

He struggled to lift his head and saw the winding dirt road stretching upward without end.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, grabbed the vines beside him, and continued his climb.

When his legs were sore to the point of agony, he finally saw the mountain gate of An Ci Nunnery.

Wiping the sweat beads from his chin with the back of his hand, Li Huowang unconsciously looked at the couplets on both sides of the mountain gate.

To his great surprise, he couldn't understand the couplets of the nunnery at all.

It wasn't that Li Huowang had forgotten how to read these characters due to Master Danyang's influence; rather, the characters looked very strange.

The appearance of the characters was diamond-shaped "duo" characters, high on the right and low on the left. Italic and slender, at first glance they resembled oracle bone script, yet there were many familiar traces of Chinese characters.

"Is this... a script? Or something else?" the puzzled Li Huowang walked over and touched them with his hand.

After scrutinizing them for a while, he stepped toward the interior of the nunnery.

However, once inside, the words Li Huowang had prepared in his mind found no target.

Because the weed-infested courtyard was deserted, in stark contrast to the packed scene at Zhengde Temple.

"Is anyone there?" echoed Li Huowang's voice across the courtyard, still without any appearance of people.

Glancing left and right, Li Huowang walked toward the main hall. There wasn't any incense burning inside, but it wasn't dark either because the roof was leaky, and the slanting sunlight shone in, illuminating everything inside.

The Bodhisattva in the center of the hall was also covered with dust and spider webs.

If it weren't for the lotus-shaped base, Li Huowang would have hardly recognized it as a Bodhisattva.

"Could it be a mistake? This nunnery seems to be completely abandoned."

Just as Li Huowang was thinking this, a slight snoring sound caught his attention.

Following the sound, he slowly walked over and behind the Bodhisattva statue, he saw a heaving mass of flesh.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't a ball of flesh, but the belly of a fat nun protruding from her clothes.

She lay there on the cold ground, nose pointing skyward, mouth open, snoring, with a sour stench assailing his nostrils.

Black clothes, obesity, filth--this person had it all, clearly the nun from An Ci Nunnery.

With a slightly furrowed brow, Li Huowang sized up the person Li Zhi had described as kindness incarnate. Whether good or not, he wasn't sure, but given her current state, even a villain would think twice about making contact with her.

"Esteemed Master, Xuan Yang from Qingfeng Taoist Temple has an urgent matter to discuss," called Li Huowang, raising his voice as he addressed the large fleshly mass with a salute.

However, the snoring of the fat nun showed no signs of stopping. She was completely unresponsive.

"Is she pretending not to hear me?"

Li Huowang stepped forward, his voice louder. "Esteemed Master! Xuan Yang from Qingfeng Taoist Temple has an urgent matter to discuss!!" Still, there was no reaction.

Just as Li Huowang was about to shout into her ear, he was repelled by the strong odor emanating from her, a stench akin to the ultimate decay of rotten socks, durian, and sweat.

Before Li Huowang could think of another approach, the fat nun shuddered and then somehow sat up on her own.

She picked at the sticky eye gunk with her stubby fingers and, without even opening her eyes, wobbled toward a side door. "Ay, it's time to eat, time to eat."

"Master, I am from Qingfeng Taoist Temple to see Master Xuanyang on urgent matters!"

This time, Li Huowang finally wasn't ignored. The fat nun was startled and her triple chins shook along with her fright.

"You scared me to death! How can you walk without making a sound?"

Li Huowang stood there, his expression twisted. He was no longer considering whether the people here were up to no good. Instead, he was beginning to worry about whether the nuns here could truly deal with Master Danyang.

"Go pray and burn incense by yourself! Don't disturb me while I'm eating!" the fat nun said coldly, then continued to lumber toward the inside with her elephant-like legs.

At that point, Li Huowang had nothing more to say, and simply followed behind her, walking further inward.

The nunnery was large, but equally rundown. If the Bodhisattva in the main hall was in bad shape, the ones in the subsidiary halls were even worse.

Some of the doorways still had writing on them, but it was similar to the writing they had at the entrance.

"Master, what are these characters?" Li Huowang asked.

"Nüshu, of course you don't understand. This script is only taught to women, not men."

Even though she answered the question, the nun seemed very impatient and continued walking straight in.

Looking at the increasingly unfamiliar surroundings, Li Huowang followed without hesitation, convinced that everything here was real, lacking that peculiar feel of a hospital.

He didn't know if it was because he had eaten too much Black Taisui or because he had been trapped in illusions for so long,

but other illusions had little effect on him. Even if one did work, he could easily distinguish it.

After winding his way around, Li Huowang followed the fat nun to a mud house with a chimney.

The noises coming from inside confirmed there were other people, and just by the strong stench, he knew it had to be full of nuns.

Seeing the fat nun's eyes gleam as she rushed in, Li Huowang took a deep breath, pinched his nose, braced against the stinging stench, and charged in as well.

As soon as he entered, sounds of smacking lips, swallowing, and chewing quickly invaded his ears.

Li Huowang almost thought he had entered a pigsty.

Before him, a group of black-clothed, corpulent nuns was huddled around a big, black pot, shoveling food into their mouths with their hands, without the use of chopsticks or bowls.

They were eating with such relish that they didn't even notice Li Huowang, a full-grown man standing there.

As for what they were eating, Li Huowang could only just make out that it was some kind of greasy fried rice with vegetable leaves.

His face turning red with effort, Li Huowang opened his mouth to breathe and felt the air in the room a bit harsh on his throat.

His actions finally caught someone's attention. A satiated, plump nun, sucking on her fingers, made room for Li Huowang.

"Want to eat the vegetarian meal? Two hundred Copper Coins per seat."

Hearing her request for money, Li Huowang felt more amused than angry. "No need, but I do need some help from the master here to remove an Evil Spirit." He tossed a Gold Bean over.

"Gold!" The fat nun excitedly shoved the few Gold Beans into her mouth, chewed on them with her yellow teeth to ensure they were real, then spat them, mixed with vegetable leaf saliva, back into the palm of her hand.

"You want to buy pigs? How many do you need? Speak! The pigs from our nunnery are the fattest."

As the other approached, Li Huowang took another step back.

"No, I've heard that the masters of An Ci Nunnery are profound and unfathomable. So, I came to seek your help in exorcising an Evil Spirit."

"Hahaha~! Aren't you a Taoist yourself? You're asking a nun to help you exorcise an Evil Spirit? Hahahahaha~"

As if laughter were contagious, the other nuns in the room started laughing too, and even Li Huowang had to struggle to hold back.

"Hahahaha~!!"