Chapter 61: Two Gods

"Boom~ boom~ boom-boom~" Inside the low-slung house, the drums beat incessantly, and Li Zhi's chanting never stopped.

He chanted, "With my helpers, I support the roof beam, I step on the rafters, my left hand holds the drum, my right hand holds the whip, ai-he ai-he yo ai~" "Boom-boom-boom!!"

Li Huowang, standing by, could see that as his chanting continued, the red veil covering Er Shen's head was gradually being pushed up from within. Through the veil, Li Huowang saw the outlines of strange beast heads emerge. To call them beast heads wasn't entirely accurate; none of them resembled ordinary animals. They were all severely mutated and deformed, though some parts bore a resemblance to animal features. These things appeared and disappeared beneath the red veil like flowing water, constantly writhing. The scene before him, coupled with the hazy white smoke, appeared incredibly eerie. Li Huowang rubbed his eyes vigorously, realizing that Er Shen was now stepping to the drumbeat, following Li Zhi towards the eight-immortal table, which was completely enveloped in white smoke.

"Beat once, three times it rocks~ Beat three times, nine times it rocks~ Front three, back four, left five, right six, sixty-eight beats, ah~"

Within the hazy white smoke, as Li Zhi and the woman danced in circles, one behind the other, the woman seated at the eight-immortal table began to choke herself, her expression contorted in agony.

"Get out!! Get away!!" Her voice trembled slightly.

"My helpers~ I invite Huang Tianba~ I invite Huang Tianqing~ I invite Huang Tianhei, I invite Huang Tianhong, Da Baoma, Er Lingtong, quick-mouthed Liaoge, and parrot-like Jing ai~" "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

As soon as these words were uttered, Li Huowang's mood inexplicably began to grow agitated. At that moment, he heard some inexplicable sounds around him, but when he listened closely, they disappeared again. Whatever "Old Immortal" Li Zhi was referring to, it was certainly unlike any Li Huowang had encountered before.

"It sounds like he can summon more than one kind of immortal," Li Huowang thought. "How many can he summon at most?"

While he was still engrossed in these thoughts, the drumbeats gradually softened. Li Huowang, his brows slightly furrowed, waved his hand to clear the white smoke before him and strode towards the table. But as he drew near, a dark figure suddenly shot out of the white smoke, rushing straight towards his face with a blur.

"Clang!" His longsword, sharp enough to cut iron, met something with a crash, and the next second it was grinding against two rows of blood-stained teeth. The naked woman possessed astonishing strength; her clawed hands desperately raked towards Li Huowang's eyeballs. Her bloodshot eyes were bulging out, almost falling from her face, and her constantly twitching face was filled with malevolence and murderous intent.

"Li Zhi!! What are you doing?!" Li Huowang, struggling to hold on, shouted into the white smoke.

"Boom-boom-boom!!" "Old~ Immor~tal~ ah~"

The Binging Jue chant resumed, and the large red veil spun out of the white smoke, landing on the woman's face. The woman struggled desperately, but to no avail; the beast faces on the veil writhed and burrowed into her mouth. With a "whoosh~," she was suddenly pulled by some force into the white smoke, where Li Zhi's chanting continued to echo.

"Oh, Old Immortal~, leaving the ancient cave, leaving the mountain, a handful of yellow sand covers the cave entrance, on cloudy days you ride the clouds, on clear days you whirl like a whirlwind, riding clouds and swirling like a whirlwind, coming and going without a trace of smoke~"

When a shaken Li Huowang cautiously entered the white smoke, his longsword raised, he found the woman, who had just been frenzied, now collapsed on the table, her face ashen and her body drenched in cold sweat. Li Zhi, with his trembling, hiccupping wife behind him, continued to circle the woman.

"If you want to go, I won't stop you, like King Xiang Yu leading his horse, first untie the reins then saddle up, Old Immortal whips the horse~ to return to the mountain~ ai-hai-yi-hou-hei~"

After chanting this final line, Li Zhi reversed his drum whip and heavily struck the center of the drum three times. As the drumming ceased, the white smoke around them slowly began to dissipate, and the strange, irritable sounds in Li Huowang's mind gradually vanished.

"Is everything okay? I was a bit distracted just now, but I knew with you outside, this thing wouldn't get away." Li Zhi maintained his nonchalant expression.

"Distracted? In this situation, you dared to be distracted?" Li Huowang truly couldn't fathom the man's logic.

"It was only fifty copper coins. How much does a bowl of noodles cost in the city these days? The evil spirit is gone, and the person is still alive. What else do you want? That's already quite good." Li Zhi shrugged. "Blame whoever set the rules back then, what kind of terrible rules did they make? Are shamans supposed to be poor?"

Li Huowang suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at him, walked to the eight-immortal table, and began to carefully observe the woman. Her mind appeared to be severely traumatized; her vacant eyes were filled with terror, and her body trembled uncontrollably. After looking for a while, Li Huowang didn't see that the "Immortal" Li Zhi spoke of had taken anything from her.

"It doesn't want money, and nothing is missing from her body," Li Huowang pondered. "Could it be that the 'Immortal' demands payment of a spiritual nature?"

Just then, the victim's family rushed in from outside. Upon seeing their family member return to normal, they immediately embraced, weeping and laughing.

Li Zhi walked over and told them, "This young wife just encountered an evil presence, and her body is weak. And your family's feng shui isn't good. I'm afraid you might have more trouble coming your way in the future. How about this, you invite a 'Family Protecting Immortal'?"

"Family Protecting Immortal?" Li Huowang's attention immediately shifted.

"Alright, alright! We'll listen to the master!" The old man, scared out of his wits, dared not refuse at this point.

Li Zhi reached into his bag and pulled out a small clay figurine. Next, he took out some red string and began to wrap it around, muttering something as he did so. After everything was wrapped, Li Zhi found a ladder and placed the object on a beam in the ceiling.

"You perform a grand worship on the first day of the Lunar New Year every year, and burn incense on the fifteenth of each month, understand?" Li Zhi instructed. "Alright, the tea money for the helpers, plus the money for the Family Protecting Immortal, totals one hundred copper coins. Pay up."

Ignoring Li Zhi, who was demanding payment, Li Huowang walked to the ladder and carefully observed the Family Protecting Immortal on the beam. It was a clay figurine about a foot wide, looking as if it had been casually molded by hand. Yet, its eyes were remarkably lifelike; looking into them, Li Huowang felt as though he was truly making eye contact with a living being.

Just then, Li Huowang suddenly saw the Family Protecting Immortal inexplicably move. "What's going on? Am I seeing things?"

"Don't look..." A very small, faint voice came from behind him.

Li Huowang sharply turned his head, immediately coming face-to-face with Er Shen, who was still covered by the red veil. They were very close, so close that Li Huowang's soft breath caused the red veil to gently sway.

At that moment, countless thoughts raced through Li Huowang's mind. "Is this person truly alive? Why is she telling me not to look?" Li Huowang glanced at Li Zhi, who was busy counting copper coins, and lowered his voice to ask, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Upon hearing Li Huowang's words, the pale hands with long nails gently pinched a corner of the red veil and slowly lifted it.

"Gulp," Li Huowang, gripping the Dao bell in his hand, swallowed hard. He was a little nervous.

"Goose, let's go," Li Zhi said, "let's find a fellow villager's home to borrow a bed and sleep."

The red veil was pulled back down, and Er Shen turned and quickly followed.