Chapter 60: Jumping the Great God

The sun was slowly setting, and a village by the roadside gradually appeared before them, its houses of various heights scattered haphazardly.

“See, this is the village I was talking about,” Li Zhi said with a smile, pointing at the large expanse of black roof tiles before him. Then he strode inside.

“Follow me. I have an old acquaintance here. We can stay at his place for free.”

Watching his receding figure, Li Huowang gave a slight wave, and the two donkey carts also drove inside.

Walking on the dirt road between the houses, Li Huowang and his companions looked around at the quiet surroundings.

But strangely, neither in the fields nor in the courtyards was there a single person to be seen.

“What’s going on? Where are all the villagers?” a puzzled Li Huowang wondered to himself.

Just as he was thinking this, Li Zhi poked his head around a corner ahead. His old face was beaming with excitement.

“Hey!! Come quick, there’s a show over here! It looks like a father-in-law is ‘climbing the ashes’!! His face is all scratched up, it’s really something!”

“’Climbing the ashes’? What is ‘climbing the ashes’?” No one answered Li Huowang’s question. He turned his head and saw that everyone else looked embarrassed, while Bai Lingmiao blushed deeply and looked down.

“Brother Li, let’s not join the crowd. That’s a private family matter.”

Li Huowang gave her a puzzled look, then turned and strode towards Li Zhi.

As soon as he turned the corner, the view opened up dramatically. Men, women, and children dressed as farmers were gathered three deep around a house. Li Zhi stood at the edge of the crowd, craning his neck and peeking over others’ shoulders.

So, it turned out the entire village had come to watch the commotion.

“What is ‘climbing the ashes’?” Li Huowang asked, walking up to Li Zhi.

“A father-in-law sneaking with his daughter-in-law. Do you have a different name for it where you’re from? Where are you from, anyway?” Li Zhi, surprised, looked Li Huowang up and down again.

After hearing the explanation, Li Huowang was speechless. No wonder Bai Lingmiao had that expression earlier.

“Ah!!” A woman’s piercing scream erupted from the center of the crowd. The buzzing crowd suddenly pulled back, creating a large circle.

Through the gap that had opened up, Li Huowang saw a strange scene inside.

A naked woman, her limbs twisted like a snake, was coiled on an eight-immortals table, screaming and trembling.

“Oh no, this is bad. It doesn’t seem to be ‘climbing the ashes’ after all. Someone’s been possessed.” Li Zhi slapped his hands together in annoyance, then pushed and shoved his way into the crowd.

“Excuse me, please move aside, I’m a spirit medium. Please make way. Ow! Who the hell stepped on my foot!!”

Seeing this scene, Li Huowang, who had been about to turn away, stopped. “Is he planning to use his method to exorcise the evil?”

After finally squeezing through the crowd, Li Zhi looked around, then waved at Li Huowang. “True One, come quickly! Why are you standing so far away?”

Li Huowang thought for a moment, then also pushed his way into the crowd.

This guy seemed a bit unreliable, but this was a good opportunity to see what he was capable of.

If he was just dabbling in minor tricks, there would be no need to ask him to help with his own problems, lest Dan Yangzi devour him as he had the Buddha.

Once he reached the center of the crowd, he could see more clearly. The strangely behaving woman on the eight-immortals table was clearly very wrong.

Her beautiful phoenix eyes were devoid of pupils. And her eyes seemed to have five eyelids.

Standing nearby were an old person and a young person whose faces were scratched up. They looked like the victims.

“True One, what about this situation? Should you handle it, or should I?” Li Zhi whispered close to his ear again.

“How about we go together? Afterwards, you can ask for more money, and we’ll split it evenly. That way, we won’t break the rules of spirit medium work.”

“No need. I’m not good at exorcism, you do it.” Li Huowang flatly refused; he didn’t know how to do it anyway.

Hearing Li Huowang’s explanation, Li Zhi looked surprised. “Are you messing with me? You can’t even exorcise evil spirits? Aren’t you a fake Daoist priest then?”

“Go on, quickly. Look, this woman is almost twisting her bones off,” Li Huowang said, pointing at the woman on the eight-immortals table.

The woman, who had just been coiled, had bitten her lips open, blood dripped all over her chin, and her limbs were twisting, joints creaking.

“It seems ordinary people aren’t as distant from these things as I thought. It’s just that they universally explain it as being ‘possessed by evil’,” Li Huowang mused to himself.

“What if Li Zhi hadn’t been here today? What would they have done?” Li Huowang thought, watching Li Zhi negotiate with the victims.

Looking at the old farm tools inside the house, the bare feet caked with yellow mud, and the old and young with faces full of hardship, the answer to this question was simple and brutal.

Such matters were probably like illness for the poor: endure minor ailments, bear major ones, and if they couldn’t bear it, they’d simply lie down and die.

“Cough, cough~!” A cough silenced the buzzing murmurs of the surrounding crowd.

“Boom~!” As Li Zhi lightly tapped the old drum at his waist with a small stick, everyone present felt a tremor in their hearts.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” “Invoking~~ the spirits~~ now~~!”

This full-throated, high-pitched shout suppressed all other sounds around.

Li Huowang turned his head to look outside. The red light in the sky was gradually fading, and silent night was about to fall.

“The sun sets in the west, and night descends~! The dragon returns to the sea, the tiger to the mountain~! The dragon in the sea brings forth rain~ The tiger on the mountain finds peaceful slumber~ Oh, oh~...”

As Li Zhi sang words that matched the drum’s rhythm, the Two-Spirit, who had been unnoticed beside him, began to tremble. The red veil on its head and the colorful cloth strips on its body also quivered.

“With seven-star glazed tiles overhead, and eight-ridged purple gold bricks underfoot. Feet touching earth, head touching sky. Striding forward in a continuous chain, both feet steady by the camp. Burning incense, beating drums, inviting the Old Immortal~ Oh~...”

While beating the drum, Li Zhi took out a few incense sticks and lit them, then placed them around the woman on the eight-immortals table.

The disheveled woman, snarling like a beast, was about to pounce, but let out a yelp and recoiled after touching the white smoke.

The white smoke emanating from the incense sticks did not disperse; instead, it slowly swirled around the room. Soon, the interior of the house began to grow hazy.

Li Huowang’s eye twitched slightly, and he began to feel an inexplicable irritability. He glanced around at the perfectly normal surroundings, then, with a slight frown, he pinched the back of his neck and took two small steps back.

“Gulp~!” The woman under the red veil made a sound for the first time. She began to hiccup, and rustling sounds came from beneath the red veil.

The surrounding onlookers were clearly frightened, spreading out further than before, and some timid individuals ran home before it got completely dark.

Hearing the hiccups, Li Zhi glanced back, then continued drumming and chanting.

“Old Immortal~ I know you are coming, do not make a fuss, do not cause trouble, though your majesty is great, and killing aura strong, bring less of that majesty and killing aura~”

“The house is small, with many obstacles, bumps and scrapes are bound to happen. It's fine if we meet a gentleman, but if we meet a petty person, there will be arguments~ Oh~~”