Dao of the Bizarre Immortal

Chapter 448 - Shaman

Chapter 448 - Shaman

The Second Deity looked at the golden anklet on her leg.

Her voice quivered as she called out to Li Huowang again. “Senior Li.”

The red veil was wet with five streaks of tears. The Second Deity appeared excited and sad at the same time.

Li Huowang could not look at the Second Deity's Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings; they were covered by a fog inside her body.

He looked at the Second Deity with a complicated expression. Then he slowly lifted the red veil.

Li Huowang had seen the true face of the Second Deity many times before, so he wasn't surprised to see it. However, the Second Deity looked a little different today.

Her beast-like features were less visible today. Most of what Li Huowang could see was her silver-white fox fur. The Second Deity flattened the fur as much as possible against her face to make herself look better.

Li Huowang looked at the other half of the Second Deity's face—the human part. He stared at the eyes of the Second Deity and noticed how similar she looked to Bai Lingmiao of the past. To him, the Second Deity was now the Bai Lingmiao who had run out of Zephyr Temple with him.

Li Huowang caressed the Second Deity’s face unconsciously. The prickling pain he felt when his fingers touched the scales underneath the fur snapped him out of it.

No, the Second Deity is not Bai Lingmiao. Miaomiao would not forgive me if I treated the Second Deity like this.

Li Huowang’s face fell, and he slowly lowered his hand. Right then, the Second Deity reached out with her hands and their characteristically sharp nails and grabbed Li Huowang's hands tightly.

The Second Deity opened her mouth, revealing her sharp teeth and forked tongue while she tried to speak. Nevertheless, she gave up in the end. The Second Deity covered her face with the red veil again and left with a sob.

Li Huowang did not chase after the Second Deity. He watched her disappear into the darkness before sighing in relief.

He knew the Second Deity was part of Bai Lingmiao; she was the manifestation of Bai Lingmiao's remaining Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings. However, he really didn’t know how he should treat the Second Deity aside from getting her an anklet too.

Should he treat her as though she was Bai Lingmiao? Or should he treat them both as Bai Lingmiao? Li Huowang felt that there was no right answer to this problem.

When Li Huowang returned to the crowded dinner party, he was still thinking about the tears in the Second Deity's beast-like eyes. Then he looked at his bowl and realized there was a mountain of meat stacked in it.

Bai Lingmiao placed a piece of chive on the top of his bowl. “You finished talking? Eat first. This dinner is meant to celebrate your return.”

Li Huowang extended his right hand, but rather than taking the chopsticks, he grabbed the pot of wine. He poured himself a full cup of wine and drank it in one go.

He felt drunk once more, and he felt a little better once a numbing sensation washed over him.

Li Huowang didn’t have experience with matters like these. After all, before all these things happened, he'd only been a high school student.

“Why is it that the problems never stopped? Can’t they just disappear for a moment?” Li Huowang mumbled as he poured himself another cup of wine.

Before he passed out, Li Huowang realized that he had actually been facing issues in his relationships. It’s just that he was so busy trying to survive in this world and stop his hallucinations that he never stopped to think about these smaller issues.

When the dinner eventually ended, Li Huowang felt like he was floating; it was as if he was on a cloud. He was only half awake due to his drunkenness.

After some time, he lay down and felt the smooth silk bed sheets beneath him. He breathed in a familiar scent and understood that he was back in Bai Lingmiao’s room.

Li Huowang unconsciously extended his arm and pulled a soft body towards him. He gently stroked the hair of the person and kissed the top of their head.

Bai Lingmiao was walking along the twisted path of Cowheart Village. Under the candlelight of the various houses, everyone was excitedly talking about how to ration the meat they’d taken from the dinner.

Chun Xiaoman smiled at Bai Lingmiao. “Miaomiao, everyone is having a better life than before. To think there are leftovers after dinner.”

“You need to feed the horse if you want it to run,” Bai Lingmiao said nonchalantly as she walked towards the ancestral hall of the Bai family. “Moreover, this didn’t cost us much money. The money that Troupe Leader Lu earned from their show was more than enough to cover the dinner. I never thought they would pull through and earn so much money from performing their pink show in the Liang Kingdom.”

“Yeah. They told me that there was an old man who wanted them to perform their pink show at his own funeral for three days! I wonder what that old man was thinking about.”

Bai Lingmiao and Chun Xiaoman walked into the ancestral hall and twisted the monkey statue. Then they entered the hidden chamber.

The underground hidden chamber was lit up by oil lamps, and the sound of chanting rang out from its depths.

“The heavens are round, and the earth is square. May the gods descend and help the shaman. I implore the heavens and the earth, may the ancestors ride the clouds and come assist the shaman before the altar...”

When they walked into the underground hall, they saw Lu Xiucai wearing a belly band covered in runes. He was holding a triangular white flag and a short sword with two spikes. He was poking the spikes on his own head.

Lu Xiucai continued chanting, “The left eye transforms into the sun, and the right eye transforms into the moon. May the celestial bodies light the way and show the sincerity of my prayers.”

The sharp spikes of the short sword had already injured his head. Blood was flowing down from the wound and covering his face. Covered in his own blood, Lu Xiucai looked like a maniac.

“May the gods descend on me with haste! My body for the gods and the gods enter my body! Open the path through the rivers and mountains, and slowly guide me on the path. Hold me close, and guide me through! Shine me in your divine light, and show me!” Lu Xiucai shouted the last verse and stomped the ground hard three times.

Then silence fell over the hall.

Bai Lingmiao frowned when she saw how Lu Xiucai stood there like a statue with a menacing look on his face. She took Chun Xiaoman’s sword and slashed Lu Xiucai’s waist. But rather than cutting him down, the sword struck Lu Xiucai’s body, and a sharp metallic clang echoed.

Bai Lingmiao wasn’t satisfied and tried a few more times, but each time she cut him, she only managed to leave a shallow wound on him.

Chun Xiaoman’s sword had been given to her by Li Huowang. Not only could it cut through evil beings, but it was also capable of slicing through steel like butter. Yet, a sharp sword like that could not leave a deep wound on Lu Xiucai; he was now essentially impenetrable.

Lu Xiucai looked at his own body with excitement.

He had suffered so many beatings just to learn this technique, but he felt every single wound that had been inflicted on him had been worth it.

Lu Xiucai snarled. As his hands trembled with rage, so did the short sword and the flag in his hands.

He shouted, “Damn old man! How dare you hang me up and beat me? Don’t stop me! I will take revenge today! I will snap that old man’s bones myself!”

“You—”

Chun Xiaoman was going to stop him, but Bai Lingmiao stopped her.

Bai Lingmiao said, “We won’t stop you. Go now. Your father drank a lot tonight, so he should be sound asleep.”

Lu Xiucai growled and raised his short sword as he ran towards the exit.

He was about to leave when he slowed his pace and bellowed even louder, “Don’t stop me! I will kill that bastard today!”