Just as Li Huowang felt himself slipping into unconsciousness, he reached into his waistband and yanked. At the instant the piercing bell rang out, the unbearable sensation swiftly receded.
BANG! The back of Li Huowang's head slammed hard against the ground, leaving his brain buzzing.
Ignoring the pain in his head, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and fiercely shook the copper bell in his hand. He had nearly been done in by that creature.
The edge of the Eight Immortals table, the bamboo poles holding up the stage, the corners of the Hu Family's ancestral tablets—all the lines now began to writhe and twist, rapidly coalescing into bizarre aggregates.
Through his splitting headache, Li Huowang pointed, and Master You lunged toward the retreating fake Top Scholar Lv.
Seeing its opponent had a helper, the creature tried to flee, but it was too late. Master You was already upon it.
However, instead of approaching Top Scholar Lv's body, it dove straight for the black shadow cast by the lantern on the ground.
The lines on Master You twisted like blades, shredding the tiny-footed woman's shadow into fragments. The creature howled like a beast as it collapsed to the ground, writhing desperately.
So its true form is the shadow on the ground? No wonder splitting its body in half did nothing. This thought flashed through Li Huowang's mind.
Under Master You's assault, the fake Top Scholar Lv that the creature had become shriveled up like a deflating balloon. The humanoid shadow on the ground spread out, finally pooling into a stinking, viscous puddle of black liquid.
Just as Li Huowang thought it was all over, WHOOSH! Master You darted back, whirling swiftly around him.
What's going on? Is there more? Li Huowang, who had been about to ease up on ringing the bell, began to shake it even harder.
Seeing its attempt to hide had failed, a tiny-footed woman flashed out from a writhing line in the distance, standing in the gloom and staring at him.
The one that became Top Scholar Lv wasn't this one; there are two of them. As this thought struck Li Huowang, another tiny-footed woman split off from the first. It then began to split again and again, growing smaller each time.
Not just one—several tiny-footed women leaped out from the surrounding distorted lines, each one also splitting and multiplying, becoming smaller and smaller.
At Li Huowang's gesture, Master You charged forward, attacking the swarms of palm-sized tiny-footed women.
But no matter how fast Master You attacked, it couldn't keep up with the rate they were splitting. The identical tiny-footed women encircled Li Huowang. As they multiplied, they opened their blood-red, cherry-like mouths, twisted their grotesque bodies, and began to sing a chillingly high-pitched chant:
"The God of Happiness delights, the God of Happiness laughs, in fine robes and courteous bows, so warm and kind."
"The God of Happiness leaps, the God of Happiness romps, red paper on the doors, the ink fresh and new."
"The God of Happiness rages, the God of Happiness weeps, fragrant skull lanterns as bright as the sea."
"The God of Happiness hungers, the God of Happiness starves, a heart and liver in the left hand, intestines in the right, the village gathers to welcome the God of Happiness!"
The instant their song ended, their bodies exploded, splattering a black substance that dyed the entire writhing, twisting space pitch-black.
Although he didn't know what they were doing, Li Huowang sensed something was terribly wrong. He stopped ringing the bell and prepared to retreat.
But in the next moment, his feet were nailed to the spot. A hazy, faint, and unknowable guidance compelled Li Huowang to raise his head and look directly up at the sky.
It was a patch of utter darkness, with nothing visible. Yet Li Huowang sensed something moving within that blackness—something immense.
The God of Happiness?
As soon as the thought formed, outlines both large and small began to emerge from the darkness. No! That thing sensed my thoughts! I have to get out of here immediately!
That is what Li Huowang thought, but his body did the opposite. He grew feverishly excited, his breathing quickened, and veins bulged on his face. Tearing open his Daoist robe, he raised his hands high to welcome whatever lurked in the darkness.
The black silhouettes grew clearer, more contorted—Li Huowang could almost see it! The blood vessels in his eyes burst from the excitement, and twin trails of bloody tears trickled down his cheeks.
I can't look anymore! I absolutely must not look! Close your eyes! Close them NOW! Li Huowang struggled with every ounce of his strength, but it was useless.
He could see the God of Happiness's head—if that great, chaotic, viscous mass could even be called a head.
Just as the thing was about to emerge fully from the darkness, a peculiar tapping sound suddenly rang out.
Immediately, the thing in the darkness halted. It jerked sharply back into the pitch-black sky as if something in the void was pulling it away.
Suddenly, a rooster's crow echoed, loud and clear. The darkness overhead shattered like a mirror.
With a sickening CRACK of bone, Li Huowang regained control of his body. He snapped his head down, bracing himself with both hands on the stone tiles as he gasped for breath.
What did those tiny-footed women summon? What in the world just happened?! A torrent of unanswerable questions flooded his mind.
Gripping the nearby Eight Immortals table, Li Huowang struggled to sit up. He looked up at the sky, but there was nothing there, as if everything that had just happened was a fever dream.
Dawn was breaking. The fifth watch of the night had passed, and the Hu Family would soon arrive to retrieve their ancestors.
In the distance, the sounds from the opera stage still echoed. Top Scholar Lv and his troupe had truly sung the whole night through, seeming feeble and hoarse from the bell's influence, but not daring to stop for even a moment.
Staring at the various black ancestral tablets nearby, Li Huowang belatedly realized that the tapping sound from before had been the sound of all the tablets striking the table at once.
He gazed in shock at the Hu Family's ancestral tablets. Could it be that they just helped me?
The more he considered it, the more plausible it seemed. He quickly stood straight, faced the Demi Immortal table holding the tablets, and performed a Qingfeng Daoist Temple salute. "Thank you all for your help."
No sooner had he finished the gesture than the tablets began to quiver. The trembling grew louder and louder. TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP.
Confronted by this unnerving scene, Li Huowang clutched his Daoist Bell and took a wary step back.
What's happening now? Did thanking them cause more trouble? It's almost daylight, why are you still here? What are you waiting for?
But as the thought crossed his mind, there was a loud CLATTER. Every single tablet on the Eight Immortals table before him toppled backward in perfect unison.
Immediately after, a familiar, ethereal voice sounded in his ear, sending a chill to the very marrow of his bones. "Child…"