Chapter 34: Joy God

Just as Li Huowang felt himself on the verge of losing consciousness, he reached for his waist and pulled. The moment an extremely ear-splitting ringing sound erupted, the uncomfortable sensation rapidly receded.

With a 'thud!', Li Huowang's head hit the ground hard, leaving his mind buzzing.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and vigorously continued to shake the brass bell in his hand, having almost been caught off guard by the entity.

The edges of the Eight Immortals table, the bamboo poles supporting the stage, and the borders of the Hu family ancestors' spirit tablets—all lines now began to distort, quickly coalescing into grotesque agglomerations.

As the splitting headache intensified, Li Huowang pointed, and Master You lunged towards the retreating fake Scholar Lu.

Seeing that his opponent had help, the entity tried to escape, but it was too late; Master You had already reached it.

However, instead of approaching Scholar Lu's body, it burrowed directly into the black shadow cast by the lantern on the ground.

As the lines on Master You's body, sharp as blades, tore the shadow of the small-footed woman to shreds, the entity shrieked like a beast, thrashing wildly on the ground.

"So this thing's true form is the shadow on the ground? No wonder cutting its body in half didn't work." This thought flashed through Li Huowang's mind.

Under Master You's attack, the fake Scholar Lu, which the entity had impersonated, rapidly deflated like a punctured airbag. The humanoid shadow on the ground quickly spread out, ultimately forming a pool of foul-smelling, viscous black liquid.

Just as Li Huowang thought everything was over,

With a 'whoosh', Master You darted back and began to rapidly spin around him.

"What's happening? Is there more?" Li Huowang, who had just begun to slow his bell-shaking, increased his efforts.

Seeing that its concealment was ineffective, the small-footed woman darted out from a distant wriggling line, standing there and staring grimly in his direction.

"The one that turned into Scholar Lu wasn't this one; there are two of them." Just as Li Huowang thought this, another small-footed woman split from the first, and then began to multiply, becoming smaller with each division.

Not just one, but several small-footed women leaped out from the distorted lines around them, also beginning to multiply and shrink.

As Li Huowang pointed, Master You charged forward, attacking the palm-sized small-footed women surrounding them.

However, no matter how fast he attacked, they multiplied faster. These identical small-footed women encircled Li Huowang, continuously dividing while opening their blood-red, cherry-like mouths slightly. They began to twist their grotesque bodies and sing a song in extremely high-pitched voices.

"God of Joy, God of Joy, laughing,With robes bowing, kindly and endearing.""God of Joy, God of Joy, dancing and frolicking,Red slips on doors, ink fresh and new.""God of Joy, God of Joy, angered and sorrowful,Incense-infused skulls hold lanterns, bright as the sea.""God of Joy, God of Joy, hungry and famished,Liver in left hand, intestines in right,The village head comes to welcome the God of Joy!"

The moment they finished singing, their entire bodies exploded. A black substance splattered from within them, thoroughly dyeing the surrounding wriggling and distorted space black.

Although he didn't know what the entities were doing, Li Huowang sensed something was wrong. He stopped shaking the bell and prepared to retreat.

But the next second, his feet were nailed to the spot as if by spikes. A hazy, faint guidance, whose origin was unknown, compelled Li Huowang to look straight up at the sky.

The sky above was utterly dark and empty, yet Li Huowang perceived something. Within that darkness, something immensely grand was definitely moving.

"The God of Joy?"

The moment this thought arose, Li Huowang saw outlines, large and small, beginning to emerge in the darkness. "No, that thing sensed my thoughts! I must leave here immediately."

Li Huowang thought this, but his body acted differently. His body became agitated, his breathing grew rapid, veins bulged on his face, and his hands tore open his Taoist robe, raising them high to welcome the entity in the darkness.

The black silhouette grew clearer and more distorted. Li Huowang could see it now! The blood vessels in his eyes, strained from excitement, had even begun to burst, and two trails of blood tears slowly slid from his eye sockets.

"I can't look anymore! Absolutely not!! Close my eyes quickly!!" Li Huowang struggled with all his might, but it was futile.

Li Huowang could now see the God of Joy's head, if that massive, chaotic, viscous mass could truly be called a head.

Just as the entity was about to fully emerge from the darkness, a very distinct "thump-thump" sound suddenly echoed.

Immediately after, the entity in the darkness abruptly stopped, then sharply retracted a significant distance back into the pitch-black sky, as if something within the darkness was pulling it.

Suddenly, an exceptionally loud rooster's crow pierced the air, and the darkness in the sky shattered like a mirror.

Along with the sound of bones cracking, Li Huowang, who had been staring upward, regained consciousness. He quickly lowered his head, hands on the ground, and gasped for air, staring at the stone bricks beneath him.

"What did those small-footed women summon? What just happened?!" A barrage of unanswerable questions erupted in his mind.

Leaning on the Eight Immortals table nearby, Li Huowang laboriously sat up. He looked up; there was nothing in the sky, as if everything that had just occurred was an illusion.

Dawn was breaking. The fifth watch of the night was over, and the Hu family would soon arrive to retrieve their ancestors.

The distant opera stage was still active; Scholar Lu and the others had indeed been singing all night. Even though they appeared unsteady and their voices hoarse from the bell's influence, they dared not stop for a single moment.

Looking at the various black spirit tablets beside him, Li Huowang belatedly realized that the "thump-thump" sound he'd heard earlier seemed to be these very tablets simultaneously knocking against the table.

Li Huowang stared in astonishment at the Hu family ancestor tablets before him. "Could it be that they helped me just now?"

After careful consideration, the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was possible. He quickly stood firm and performed a Qingfeng Temple Taoist salute towards the tables holding the spirit tablets. "Many thanks for your assistance, esteemed ancestors."

The moment he completed his salute, the spirit tablets suddenly began to tremble slightly, their knocking sound growing louder and louder: "thump-thump-thump-thump-thump."

Witnessing this unsettling scene, Li Huowang gripped his Taoist bell and cautiously stepped back half a pace.

"What's going on? Did my thanks provoke something bad? It's almost dawn; why aren't you going back? What are you waiting for?"

But just as Li Huowang thought this, with a 'clatter', all the spirit tablets on the Eight Immortals table before him simultaneously toppled backward.

Immediately after, a familiar yet ethereal voice whispered by Li Huowang's ear, making him feel as though his body had plunged into an icy cavern. "My child..."