The Unruly Immortals

On the way back, the surrounding quiet was frightening; aside from the sound of footsteps, there was no other noise.

Walking in such a place, everyone's heart was hanging by a thread.

However, before long, the footsteps suddenly stopped, and Li Huowang and his companions stared intently at the surrounding darkness, and at the green glowing eyes that suddenly appeared within it.

There wasn't just one pair of eyes, but a multitude—the beings in the darkness did nothing but stare at them with those green eyes, large and small.

To Li Huowang and the others, it seemed as though the darkness had birthed a bizarre monster covered entirely with eyes.

"Damn it!" Irritated by being toyed with time and time again, Li Huowang's expression grew fierce. With a sharp tug of his right hand, the red bamboo slips rapidly unfurled before him.

Li Huowang raised his right index finger and brought it close to the sharp edge of the bamboo slips.

As Li Huowang pried again, his fingernail separated from its owner, spinning with blood as it flew into the surrounding darkness.

Soon after, accompanied by a miserable cry. The green glowing eyes in the darkness began to diminish by one pair.

Li Huowang felt this was not enough; after three fingernails were expended, all of the eyes in the darkness disappeared, and a putrid smell began to pervade the air.

As they walked past, holding lanterns, the light revealed the bloody and indistinct horror inside, presenting before them.

It was only then that Li Huowang and the others realized that those eyes didn't belong to any evil spirits, but to the animals of the forest—lynxes, hedgehogs, foxes, and the like. They were all dead now, their bodies torn apart with not one left intact.

"Brother Li, did we break the rules again? Didn't they say we shouldn't bother these animals?" The words of Little Man chilled everyone to the bone.

However, Li Huowang didn't see it that way. He lifted his right foot and stomped down hard, crushing the head of a nearby fox into a mushy pulp.

"Break what fucking rules! It's all just bluff, if these things could really fight us head-on, would they need to go through all this trouble? Don't let others lead you astray with this nonsense—back to the courtyard!"

After another half stick of incense's time, they saw the light of Wu Family's large courtyard again.

"Li Huowang!" A voice that seemed to come from afar halted their steps.

"Who's there!" Li Huowang spun around, peering into the darkness, yet still found nothing.

"Keep bluffing, but there will come a day when you can no longer do so! On the eighteenth of the twelfth lunar month, I'm telling you! I have claimed your eyes!!"

Having dropped this harsh threat, he led the others back to the brightly lit Wu Family courtyard.

On the ground, the village leader with the goat beard was tied to a post, and a bowl of cold vegetable soup was picked up from the table and splashed onto his face.

"Cough, cough~!" As Wu Qing opened his eyes hazily, he was immediately met with the fierce face of Li Huowang, which scared him into trembling. "So you are bandits after all!!"

"Slap!" A slap flew across his face, causing Wu Qing's cheek to swell visibly; he was completely stunned.

"Speak!! Where is the eighteenth of the twelfth lunar month? What is your relationship with it?"

"What are you talking about? I—I'm telling you, this is Wu Family village, everyone here has the last name Wu! If you really want to start something, you'd better weigh your options!"

Seeing that Wu Qing still pretended to be ignorant, he split his mouth into a grin, revealing those frosty white teeth.

"Old man, I'm giving you a fair warning before I resort to force. The Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month is a matter of life and death for me. If you keep protecting it and remain stubborn, don't blame me for being ruthless."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand, from which the fingernail had been pried off and was still dripping with blood, and patted it on the torture instruments spread out beneath him.

"These tools aren't just intended for my personal use. At critical moments, they are also keys that can unlock anyone's heart!"

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao, looking worried, stepped forward, but was abruptly pulled back by Xiao Man. She gently shook her head.

"What... what do you want exactly? What does the Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month have to do with anything? Qingming Festival has just passed, and the Twelfth Month is still far away. Young man, please spare me and pity this old man," Wu Qing pleaded, his face turning pale with fear.

Seeing the other party still being defiant, Li Huowang hooked his right hand, and a small long awl with a hooked blade appeared in his grasp.

Li Huowang, with a cruel smile, held the fearsome long awl and slowly approached Wu Qing's pipa bone.

Wu Qing was clearly panicking; he shouted frantically and struggled desperately, but still did not reveal any information about the Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month.

Just as the blade was about to pierce through his clothes, a large hand from behind pressed on his wrist. "Enough, it seems he truly knows nothing."

"How will we know without trying? This guy is clearly up to no good, just arriving at the village and talking about rules. He must be related to the Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month!"

"Calm down, you weren't like this before. Continuing this way will only make you more and more like Master Danyang."

Hearing this, he felt a sudden pang in his heart. Unwittingly, he really had started to view others as less than human, just like that leper who used people for alchemy.

He quickly withdrew the long awl in his hand and turned his head to say, "Thank you for the reminder, Brother Li. If it weren't for you, I might not have realized my error in time."

Then he saw Li Huowang, wearing a blood-red Taoist robe, revealing a familiar shallow smile.

"We are brothers in the same sect, no need for formalities. Now we should think about what to do next, given the lack of other leads."

He furrowed his brows, staring at the old man who was on the verge of fainting before him, and pondered over this issue in silence.

Although his aggressive behavior just now might have been influenced by Master Danyang, he was also aware that it had much to do with the pressing deadline.

If he couldn't find the Eighteenth of the Twelfth Month, he wouldn't be able to get rid of the Master Danyang that was attached to him and could only watch helplessly as he transformed more and more into Master Danyang. He truly couldn't wait.

"How about we wait until daybreak and then ask other villagers? Maybe others know something," suggested Doggie.

"Alright then, we've all been through a lot tonight, and everyone's tired. That's all we can do for now. I'll talk to them when it's light out."

Hearing Li Huowang say this, he didn't argue further, turning and walking towards the western chamber.

When he woke up the next morning, he found that the other brothers and sisters had already left the bedroom.

After he went outside, he was surprised to find that his fellow disciples were as if nothing had happened, eating porridge together with the people from the Wu family, despite how he had just treated Wu Qing.

"Come and have some food. I've explained your difficulties to Chief Wu of the village, and he is not a petty man," Li Huowang said to him.