"Hehehe, tell me, do I look more like a human or a god?" Something in the woods was shaking the branches nonstop, its voice growing increasingly sharp.
"You look like a human! You're definitely human! Oh, great spirit, we're just a family of unfortunate folk, just trying to make a living!" Trembling with fear, Top Scholar Lv couldn't think of anything else and quickly dropped to the ground, kowtowing again and again toward the woods.
As he bowed, he suddenly stopped, because at the edge of the forest he saw a pair of tiny feet in embroidered shoes standing upright like two awls.
The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He slowly lifted his head in shock and saw a small-footed woman in a brand-new floral cotton jacket standing there alone. Her large, round face was ghostly pale, with an impossibly small mouth. Her eyes were like black beads embedded in her face, completely unblinking. Hidden in the darkness, her pale face seemed to float in midair like a small balloon.
"Hehe, do you really think I look like a human?" The small-footed woman giggled behind her hand, tiptoeing closer to the campfire.
When he saw the way she walked, her body twisting as if it had no bones, the last shred of hope in Top Scholar Lv's heart was extinguished. He'd encountered the real deal!
"Kid! Kid! Wake up! Hurry, use the apprentice's urine!" Top Scholar Lv's terror-stricken shouts woke the others.
A trembling Lv Elevated Man nervously picked up a burning stick and threw it with all his might, but the attack had no effect. The stick passed right through the woman's body.
Just as the small-footed woman was about to reach the fire, her body suddenly froze, her huge head snapping around to face the eastern forest.
The branches rustled, and Li Huowang and the others emerged from the woods, holding several glowing Luminous Stones.
"Huh?" Now that she had removed her blindfold, Bai Lingmiao noticed something strange. "Senior Brother Li, look! That woman is so creepy! She doesn't have a back to her head—she has a face on both sides!"
CLANG! Li Huowang drew his longsword, his eyes fixed warily on the distant, eerie woman. "What are you?"
"Hehe, I'm a human. Don't I look like one?" her extremely thin voice drifted out. Twisting her slender body like a centipede, the small-footed woman changed her target and began moving toward them.
Li Huowang was obviously not going to sit and wait for death. He reached into his robes with his left hand and produced a squashed Daoist Bell.
RIIING! RIIING! RIIING! The shrill sound of the bell rang out. Everyone present, including Li Huowang himself, grimaced in pain and clutched their heads.
Li Huowang didn't stop. He shook the bell even harder, because he could see that everything in his vision was distorting and shaking violently, including the small-footed woman. As she shook, her new floral jacket began to tear open, and streams of black smoke poured out from inside.
The bell is working on her!
Suddenly, the small-footed woman shrieked, her disintegrating body flailing crazily as she retreated into the forest. In seconds, she had vanished from Li Huowang's sight.
The ringing gradually faded. Li Huowang looked down at the Daoist Bell in his hand with surprise. I didn't expect you'd be useful for anything other than summoning Master You.
Maybe it's because it was smashed flat, or maybe there's another reason. Although Li Huowang had Master Danyang's Daoist Bell, every time he rang it, the lines in his vision just twisted about randomly instead of coalescing into Master You like they had before. The more he saw of this world, the more confused he became. What the hell is all this madness?
Tears of gratitude welling in his eyes, Top Scholar Lv rushed forward with his hands clasped. "Master! Master! Thank you for saving us! I truly failed to recognize greatness when I saw it. Come, come warm yourself by the fire!" He enthusiastically pulled Li Huowang toward the campfire.
Compared to that thing from before, the monsters following this Daoist Master seem almost friendly. At least the Daoist Master keeps them in check. They might be scary, but that thing just now could actually kill you.
"Ah! That damned beast! If it hadn't gone crazy and fled, how could I have neglected a master like you?" Top Scholar Lv pulled out his pipe, putting on a show as he tapped it on the saddle. After a few taps, he turned around and hollered, "Hey, Juannhua! Quick, toast some buns and get some water! Get the biggest white flour bun! And bring three—no! Five salted duck eggs!"
Top Scholar Lv's sudden warmth made Li Huowang a bit uncomfortable. "Sir, there's no need to trouble yourself. May I ask you a few questions?"
"Ask away! Anything! You just saved our whole family's lives, Daoist Master! Haha, ask whatever you want!" Top Scholar Lv slapped his chest and promised heartily.
As if feeling his display of enthusiasm wasn't enough, he stuck the mouthpiece of his pipe into his armpit and scraped it a few times, then re-lit it and eagerly offered it to Li Huowang with both hands.
"Er... thank you, sir, but I don't smoke. Do you know what that thing we just encountered was? What is it called?" Li Huowang gently pushed aside the well-worn, polished pipe. He knew almost nothing about this world. If he wanted to survive, he had to learn as much as possible.
Top Scholar Lv was clearly taken aback by the question. "What? How would I know, Daoist Master? Weren't you the one who just drove it away? You don't know?"
Seeing the man's puzzled expression, Li Huowang realized he had asked the wrong person. This old man might know even less about these things than I do.
"I heard you mention apprentice's urine. Can that really harm the creature from before?"
"Yes, yes! Definitely! Those things are afraid of filth! I heard snot works too, but the most effective thing is apprentice's urine. It's full of yang energy, and it's filthy."
"Really? Have you ever used it yourself, sir?"
Top Scholar Lv, who had been so certain a moment ago, now smiled sheepishly and his eyes darted away. "Maybe it works... That's what the village elders all say. If everyone says so, it can't be wrong, right?"
Li Huowang sighed in exasperation. Another folk remedy passed down through generations. Is all the knowledge in this place so backward?
"Alright then, sir, let me ask something you do know. Do you encounter things like that often?"
"No, you don't run into something that bizarre every day. If something like that happened every night, I'd have sold all my things and taken my son back home to farm long ago." Top Scholar Lv stuck the pipe in his mouth and took a few puffs. PUFF. PUFF. "I've been out on the road for many years, and I've only run into that sort of thing four times."
"So that's how it is..." Li Huowang murmured, gazing into the dark forest and gaining a new understanding of this world. I've been with Master Danyang for so long that I started to think things like the Black Taisui were everywhere. It seems that's not the case at all. Ordinary people have heard of these things, but they are very distant from their lives.