God of Joy

Just as Li Huowang felt himself about to lose consciousness, he reached into his waistband and tugged. The instant an ear-piercing bell rang out, the unbearable sensation swiftly receded.

With a bang, the back of Li Huowang's head smashed heavily against the ground, making his brain buzz.

Ignoring the pain in his head, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and shook the Copper Bell in his hand harder. He had nearly been ambushed by this thing.

The edge of the Eight Immortals Table, the bamboo poles supporting the stage, the edges of the Hu Family Ancestors' Spirit Tablets—all the lines began to twist, swiftly gathering into a bizarre conglomeration.

With a splitting headache, Li Huowang pointed with one hand, and Lord You lunged at the fake Lu Zhuangyuan, who was retreating.

Seeing that its opponent had help, the thing tried to flee, but it was already too late. Lord You had reached its side.

Yet Lord You did not approach Lu Zhuangyuan's body. Instead, Lord You dove straight into the black shadow cast upon the ground by the lanterns.

As the lines on Lord You's body, sharp as blades, sliced Small Feet Woman's shadow into scattered fragments, she let out a beastlike shriek and fell to the ground, struggling desperately.

So this thing's true body was the shadow on the ground? No wonder cutting its body in half had been useless. The thought flashed through Li Huowang's mind.

Under Lord You's assault, the fake Lu Zhuangyuan transformed by that thing rapidly deflated like a leaking air bladder. The humanoid shadow on the ground quickly spread, ultimately forming a pool of foul-smelling, viscous black liquid.

Just as Li Huowang thought everything was over,

With a swish, Lord You darted back and began circling him at high speed.

What was going on? Could there be more? Li Huowang, who had just been about to ease up on shaking the bell, began shaking it with greater force.

Seeing that hiding was no longer effective, Small Feet Woman flashed out from a writhing line in the distance and stood there, staring gloomily in this direction.

The one that had turned into Lu Zhuangyuan wasn't this one. There were two of them. Just as Li Huowang thought this, another Small Feet Woman split off from her, then began splitting faster and faster, each copy growing smaller.

There was more than one. Several Small Feet Women leaped out from the twisted lines all around, likewise beginning to divide into ever smaller copies.

At Li Huowang's pointing hand, Lord You charged forward and began attacking the palm-sized Small Feet Women around them.

But no matter how fast the attacks came, they could not outpace the women's division. These identical Small Feet Women surrounded Li Huowang, splitting as they opened their blood-red cherry mouths slightly. Twisting their bizarre bodies, they began singing a ballad in piercingly thin voices.

"God of Joy delights, God of Joy smiles, robed and capped, bowing in amiable kinship."

"God of Joy leaps, God of Joy frolics, red slips pasted on doors, ink still fresh."

"God of Joy rages, God of Joy grieves, fragrant heads bear lanterns bright as the sea."

"God of Joy hungers, God of Joy starves, heart and liver in the left hand, intestines in the right—the village head comes forth to welcome the God of Joy~!"

The instant they finished singing, their bodies exploded at once. Some black substance splashed from within them, thoroughly dyeing all the writhing, twisted space around them black.

Though he did not know what they were doing, Li Huowang sensed that something was wrong. He stopped shaking the bell and prepared to retreat first.

But in the next instant, his feet seemed nailed to the ground. A hazy, faint guidance from nowhere made Li Huowang raise his head straight up and look toward the sky overhead.

There was utter darkness there, nothing at all, yet Li Huowang sensed something. Something enormously vast was definitely moving within that darkness.

"God of Joy?"

The moment this thought arose, large and small outlines began to emerge from the darkness. No, that thing sensed my thoughts! I have to leave immediately.

Li Huowang thought so, but his body did not obey. His body began to grow excited, his breathing quickened, veins bulged across his face, and his hands tore open his Daoist Robe before lifting high to welcome the thing in the darkness.

The black outline grew clear and twisted. Li Huowang could already see it! Bloodshot veins in his eyes had begun to burst from excitement, and two trails of bloody tears slowly slid from his eye sockets.

Can't look anymore! I absolutely can't look anymore!! Close my eyes, now!! Li Huowang struggled with every ounce of his strength, but it was utterly useless.

Li Huowang could already see the God of Joy's head—if that vast mass of chaotic, viscous matter could truly be called a head.

Just as the thing was about to crawl completely out of the darkness, a peculiar pattering sound suddenly rang out.

Then the thing in the darkness abruptly stopped and violently shrank far back into the pitch-black sky, as though something within the darkness were pulling it.

Suddenly, an extraordinarily loud rooster crow rang out, and the darkness in the sky shattered like a mirror.

Amid the crackling of bones, Li Huowang, who had been looking upward, regained his senses. He abruptly lowered his head, braced both hands against the ground, and stared at the stone bricks as he gasped for breath.

What exactly had those Small Feet Women summoned? What had just happened?! All manner of questions doomed to remain unanswered sprang up in his mind.

Supporting himself on the nearby Eight Immortals Table, Li Huowang laboriously sat up. Looking skyward, he saw nothing in the air, as though everything just now had been false.

Dawn was beginning to break. The fifth watch had passed, and the Hu family would soon come to collect their ancestors.

The opera stage in the distance was still resounding. Lu Zhuangyuan and the others had indeed sung through the entire night. Though they swayed from the effects of the bell and had sung themselves hoarse, they did not dare stop for even a moment.

Looking at the various black Spirit Tablets beside him, Li Huowang only then belatedly recalled that the pattering sound just now seemed to have been these Spirit Tablets knocking against the table at the same time.

Li Huowang stared in astonishment at the Hu Family Ancestors' Spirit Tablets before him. "Could it be that they helped me just now?"

After thinking it over carefully, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He hurriedly stood straight and performed a Qingfeng Temple Daoist salute toward the Eight Immortals Table holding the tablets. "Many thanks to you all for your help."

The moment he finished the salute, those Spirit Tablets suddenly began to tremble faintly, and the sound of their trembling grew louder and louder. "Tap tap tap tap tap."

Watching the horrifying scene before him, Li Huowang gripped the Dao Bell and warily stepped half a pace back.

What was this? Could even thanking them have caused trouble? Dawn was about to break. If they weren't going back, what were they waiting for?

But just as Li Huowang thought this, with a clatter, every Spirit Tablet on the Eight Immortals Table before him toppled backward in perfect unison,

Then a familiar, ethereal voice sounded beside Li Huowang's ear, making him feel as though his body had fallen into an ice-cold abyss. "Child."