Danyangzi

When Li Huowang saw those two things crawling before the equally writhing Danyangzi, a guess formed in his heart. "Are these two things here to help him find pill ingredients?"

As he thought this, Li Huowang saw Danyangzi bend down, grab a handful of mud from the ground, stuff it into his mouth, and begin chattering gibberish at the two masses.

The sound was strange, utterly unlike anything a human could make, yet those two things seemed to understand. After bobbing up and down once, they swiftly dispersed.

As they left, everything that had been twisting until heaven and earth seemed dark gradually returned to normal.

"Kid, don't be in such a hurry. The things in the Heavenly Book are hard to get, but they're nothing your master can't handle. Outside, your master still has connections," Danyangzi said smugly.

"Of course. Master is someone who's going to become an immortal. There probably isn't anything in this world that can stump you! But Master, what was that just now?"

"Heh heh, kid, you still have much to learn. That thing was the 'Lord You' mentioned in the Heavenly Book."

The crises he had endured had kept Li Huowang's nerves taut. He had never had the time to consider what kind of world this place truly was.

Grand Maternal Grandmother, Lord You—none of them looked like anything ordinary.

If he had not eaten normal pork and sheep's heads during meals, he would truly have almost believed that not a single living thing in this world was normal.

"Ah, this thing is a fine treasure. Back then, this Daoist master spent quite some effort snatching it," Danyangzi said, putting the Copper Bell back into his sleeve.

"Snatching it?"

"Of course you have to snatch it. If you don't, will others just hand it over for free? Hmph! What if we don't have what others do? Snatch it!"

"I learned that when I was five, after a beggar older than me snatched a moldy steamed bun from my hands."

"When I was young, I snatched women, horses, and silver. Later, I snatched cultivation manuals, magical artifacts, disciples—even Qingfeng Temple itself was snatched by me! Did that Clay Figure of the Founding Ancestor say anything about it? Heh heh." As he spoke, a trace of pride appeared on Danyangzi's face.

"Kid, you need to listen when adults speak. I'm teaching you how to be sensible, understand? I'm only telling you this because I treat you as one of my own."

"But Master, what if you can't snatch it?"

"Can't snatch it? If you can't snatch it alone, don't you know how to team up and snatch it? How can a head that knows how to read be this stubborn? If you can't do it together, drug them! If drugs don't work, play dirty!!"

Those few words let Li Huowang understand the way this Leper Head handled things. It also told him why the fellow's methods were such a hodgepodge—everything he had was snatched here with one hammer blow, there with another.

"Master... Master understands how to live."

"Hmph! So what if I can't read? So what if I have no talent for enlightenment? They said I followed the Heretical Left Path, said I had no Dao Heart. Once I become immortal, I'll pry open those bastards' eyelids and let them see who lacks enlightenment now! Who has no Dao Heart!" As Danyangzi spoke, his expression became savage, his ugly face brimming with baleful fury.

Li Huowang did not know who those people were, but he could be certain that the enmity between both sides ran deep.

For the period that followed, Li Huowang practically ate and slept alongside Danyangzi, devoting himself wholly to tinkering with the method of immortality from the Heavenly Book.

During that time, Li Huowang also secretly kept refining it, making the entire method of becoming immortal seem increasingly believable.

The things Li Huowang had requested were swiftly delivered.

Looking at the grayish-white, slimy gigantic body covered in soft black fur, as well as the shapeless black swollen mass beside it that gave off a faint glimmer—

Li Huowang was not only astonished by how disgusting these things were, but also by Danyangzi's power. He had actually managed to obtain them.

"Master, shall we start the furnace?" Li Huowang asked.

"No hurry. There's still some time before New Year. Come, let's eat the New Year's Eve dinner first."

Danyangzi's words caught Li Huowang somewhat off guard. Why were they suddenly having New Year's Eve dinner? What did that have to do with anything?

Though he said nothing, when he saw Danyangzi rise and leave the Pill Refining Room, Li Huowang hurriedly followed.

When they reached the karst cave used for dining, the other disciples had already arrived. Calling them the other disciples was a stretch—there were only Chang Ren, Chang Ming, and Xuan Yuan.

The moment Danyangzi saw the somewhat empty round table, his face instantly darkened. "Why haven't you set out bowls and chopsticks for the dead disciples? Set them all out! Bring them back to celebrate the New Year!"

Before long, once every dead disciple had a bowl and chopsticks, the entire round table looked packed to the brim.

Danyangzi nodded with a satisfied smile, then sat once more in the seat of honor. Li Huowang sat to his right, while the other side remained empty—that was Zheng Kun's seat. "Come, bring out the dumplings."

A pot of steaming dumplings was carried over by the apprentices, waves of fragrance rushing into their nostrils. Using iron ladles, they carefully placed them into everyone's bowls, including the bowls of the dead.

"Heh heh heh, it's New Year. Relax, all of you. Eat more." Though he said that, everyone, including Li Huowang and the other three, waited until he picked up his chopsticks before they began eating.

Danyangzi picked up a pair of chopsticks, lifted a white dumpling, and put it into his mouth. With his eyes half-closed, he chewed in bliss. "Mmm~ pork crackling and chive filling. Fragrant! Ah! What's this? A copper coin? A good omen, a good omen! Hahaha!"

Li Huowang stared blankly at the dumplings in his bowl for a long while, then hardened his heart and began shoveling them into his mouth.

Danyangzi watched Li Huowang wolfing down dumplings with a smile. "You've come upon good times, being able to eat dumplings this delicious."

"When I was your age, I didn't even know what dumplings looked like. I'd only heard how delicious they were. Heh heh."

"Later, one New Year, I smelled food from someone else's house. I barged in and discovered that this was what dumplings looked like. Back then, I didn't even touch that family's pretty daughter. I just chopped them down with one stroke, then squatted on the edge of their kang bed and, in a muddle, ate two jin of dumplings clean. Their filling was pork crackling and chives too."

The other disciples forced awkward smiles, while Li Huowang alone continued to devour his food ravenously.

When Danyangzi noticed the glimmer of tears at the corners of Li Huowang's eyes, he carefully lifted his bowl and poured his dumplings into Li Huowang's bowl. "Sigh, a child from a bitter household too. Eat slowly. Don't choke."

Amid the sounds of swallowing and bowls and chopsticks clinking together, the New Year's Eve dinner of only five people came to an end.

Just as Li Huowang thought they were about to begin refining pills, he saw Danyangzi pat his Leper Head and pull a stack of Red Envelopes from his sleeve, handing them out to Chang Ming, Chang Ren, and beside the bowls and chopsticks of the dead.

"Come, come, it's New Year. Remember to put them beneath your pillows for New Year Money. Take them all. When I was your age, no elder ever gave me New Year Money."

Danyangzi placed the last Red Envelope beside Zheng Kun's bowl, then turned to Li Huowang with a chuckle. "You won't need New Year Money. Master and disciple, we'll become immortals together, and from then on endure as long as heaven and earth!"

Li Huowang smiled, smiling happily. "Master is absolutely right."

"Come, back to the Pill Refining Room. Start the furnace and refine pills! Kid, you tend the fire!"

"Alright, Master!"