Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 61
>Chapter Title: Two Gods
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Chapter 61: Two Gods
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> “Thump~ thump~ thump-thump~” Inside the low, squat house, the drumming never stopped, nor did Li Zhi’s chanting.
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> “Help me call the soldiers, head scraping the roof beams, feet stomping the rafters, left hand with drum, right hand with whip, hey-hey hey-hey yo~”“Thump-thump-thump!!”
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> From the side, Li Huowang could see that with his chanting, the red veil atop Two Gods’ head was gradually being pushed up by whatever was inside.
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> Through the red veil, Li Huowang saw strange beast-like outlines emerging beneath it.
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> Calling them beast heads wasn’t quite accurate—none resembled ordinary animals. They were all severely mutated and deformed, with only some faint animalistic features.
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> These things flickered in and out beneath the red veil like flowing water, constantly writhing.
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> The scene before him, paired with the hazy white smoke, felt utterly eerie.
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> Li Huowang rubbed his eyes hard and saw that Two Gods was now stepping to the drumbeat, following Li Zhi toward the Eight Immortals table completely shrouded in white smoke.
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> “Strike once for three bumps~ strike three times for nine bumps~
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> First three, then four, left five, right six, sixty-eight strikes hey~”
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> In the hazy white smoke, Li Zhi and the woman circled one after the other, dancing around it.
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> The woman seated at the Eight Immortals table began clutching her neck, her expression one of extreme agony.
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> “Get out!! Get lost!!” Her voice carried a tremble.
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> “Call the soldiers for me~ summon Yellow Heaven Tyrant~ summon Yellow Heaven Qing~ summon Yellow Heaven Black, summon Yellow Heaven Red, Great Report Horse, Two Spirits Through, quick mouth mimicking brother’s tongue hey~”“Thump! Thump! Thump!”
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> As soon as these words were spoken, Li Huowang felt an inexplicable irritability rising within him.
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> He started hearing strange, inexplicable noises from all around, but when he listened closely, they vanished.
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> Whatever old immortal Li Zhi was invoking, it was undoubtedly different from anything Li Huowang had encountered before.
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> “Sounds like he can summon more than one kind of immortal spirit. How many can he call at most?”
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> As he pondered this intently, the drumming gradually softened.
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> With a furrowed brow, Li Huowang waved away the white smoke before him and strode toward the table.
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> But just as he drew near, a black shadow shot out from the smoke, trailing afterimages straight at his face.
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> “Clang!” His sword, sharp enough to slice iron like mud, clashed—only to be caught the next instant between two rows of bloody teeth, grinding noisily.
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> This naked woman possessed astonishing strength. Her clawed hands scrabbled desperately toward Li Huowang’s eyeballs.
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> Her bloodshot eyes bulged grotesquely, nearly popping from her face, while her twitching features brimmed with malice and murderous intent.
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> “Li Zhi!! What the hell are you doing!!” Li Huowang shouted into the white smoke, struggling to hold her off.
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> “Thump-thump-thump!! Ol~d Im~mor~tal hey~ ~”
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> The summoning incantation rang out again. The large red veil spun out from the white smoke and draped over the woman’s face.
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> She thrashed wildly, but couldn’t resist as the beast faces on the veil writhed, burrowing into her mouth.
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> “Whoosh~” With a sound, some force yanked her back into the white smoke, where Li Zhi’s chanting continued.
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> “Old immortal ah~, leave the ancient cave, leave the mountains, grab a handful of yellow sand to seal the cave door, cloudy skies ride the clouds away, sunny days whirl in the wind, ride clouds whirl wind, come and go without a trace of smoke~”
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> When the still-shaken Li Huowang gripped his sword and cautiously entered the white smoke,
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> he found the woman who’d been raving moments ago now slumped over the table, her face sallow, drenched in cold sweat.
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> Beside her, Li Zhi—still dragging his trembling, burping wife—circled the woman nonstop.
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> “You wanna leave, I won’t stop ya, untie the reins from the warlord’s manger, saddle off before the ropes, old immortal cracks the whip~ headin’ back to the mountains~ hey hi yi roar hey~”
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> With the final line chanted, Li Zhi reversed his grip on the drumstick and pounded the drum’s center three times hard.
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> The drumming ceased, and the surrounding white smoke began to dissipate slowly. That strange irritability in Li Huowang’s mind faded away too.
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> “No problems, right? Got a bit distracted just now. Knew you were outside, so this thing couldn’t run.” Li Zhi wore his usual I-don’t-give-a-damn expression.
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> “Distracted? You dare get distracted in this situation?” Li Huowang couldn’t fathom this man’s logic.
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> “Just fifty copper coins. A bowl of noodles in the city costs how much these days? Evil thing’s gone, and she’s still alive. What more do you want? Pretty damn good already.”
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> “Blame the ones who set the rules back then. What kinda shitty rules—jumpin’ gods gotta stay poor?”
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> Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Li Huowang walked to the Eight Immortals table and examined the woman closely.
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> She looked mentally shattered, her vacant eyes filled with terror, body trembling uncontrollably.
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> After inspecting her all around, Li Huowang saw no sign of whatever “immortal family” Li Zhi had mentioned taking from her.
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> “No money taken, body intact. So what these so-called immortals demand as payment is something on a mental level?” Li Huowang wondered.
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> At that moment, the afflicted family rushed in from outside. Seeing their kin normal again, they huddled together, weeping and laughing.
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> Li Zhi approached them. “This little wife of yours just bumped into some malign influence—body’s weak now. And your family’s feng shui ain’t great. Trouble might come knockin’ again. How ‘bout this: get yourselves a house guardian immortal?”
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> “House guardian immortal?” Li Huowang’s attention snapped over.
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> “Yeah, yeah, yeah! Whatever the master says!” The terrified old folk wouldn’t dream of refusing now.
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> Li Zhi rummaged in his bundle and pulled out a little clay figurine.
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> He then took out some red string and began wrapping it around, muttering incantations under his breath as he worked.
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> Once finished, he fetched a ladder and placed it up on the beam.
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> “Sacrifice big on Lunar New Year’s first day, incense on the fifteenth every month. Got it? Alright, pay up for the summoning tea and the house guardian—hundred copper coins total.”
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> Ignoring Li Zhi counting his coins, Li Huowang stepped to the ladder and peered closely at the house guardian immortal on the beam.
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> It was a crude clay doll, about a foot wide, seemingly pinched together by hand.
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> Yet its eyes were uncannily lifelike. Staring into them, Li Huowang felt like he was locking eyes with a living being.
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> Just then, he saw the house guardian twitch oddly. “What? Was that my imagination?”
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> “Don’t look…” A faint, slender voice came from behind.
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> Li Huowang whipped around, coming face-to-face with Two Gods under her red veil.
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> They were so close that his faint breath made the veil sway gently.
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> A whirlwind of thoughts raced through Li Huowang’s mind. “Is this person even alive? Why tell me not to look?”
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> Li Huowang glanced at Li Zhi, still counting coins with his head down, and whispered as low as he could: “Is there something you want to tell me?”
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> Hearing this, the pale hands with their long nails gently pinched a corner of the red veil and slowly lifted it.
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> “Gulp.” Clutching his ritual bell tightly, Li Huowang swallowed hard. He was tense.
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> “Goose ah, let’s go. Gonna borrow a bed from the old folks’ place to crash.”
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> The red veil dropped back down, and Two Gods turned swiftly, hurrying after him.
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> (End of chapter)