Chapter 19 - Superstitious

Upon hearing Li Huowang’s question, Bai Lingmiao’s eyes widened. “Yes, there are quite a few more stories that my grandfather has told me. He told me not to run out of the village; otherwise, I would be captured. He told me that the people outside the village are ruthless and would strip me of my skin, forcing me to wear flayed dog skin instead. After that, they would then use us to perform on the street and fool people into thinking that the ‘dogs’ are smart and can listen to orders. He also told me that the children would never be able to grow after all that because the dog skin would be fused to their body.”

Li Huowang shook his head. “No, I meant stories that are used to scare children, something akin to the Wandering Gods.”

“Wandering Gods? Hmm...” Bai Lingmiao furrowed her brows as she tried to think back. “My grandfather would tell me random stories from time to time, mostly about giant man-eating insects living within the hills. He didn’t really tell me any stories similar to that of the story of the Wandering Gods.”

“Who told your grandfather about the story of the Wandering Gods?”

Bai Lingmiao's eyes shone with innocence as she replied, “It was his grandfather who told him. And, I will pass down the story to my grandchildren one day.”

Li Huowang shook his head. From the looks of it, he might need to revise his plan a little.

“Senior Li, I know of a story.” A frail teenager suddenly spoke up.

His joints were twisted abnormally, with one shoulder being higher than the other. He was propping himself up against the wall. Even within the Preparation Room, he was one of the more “abnormal” ones.

“Senior Li, my surname is Zhao. I’m usually called Wu at home, but you can call me Zhao Wu.”

Li Huowang was desperate for ideas, so he couldn’t really care about who was talking. “Sure, tell me about your stories.”

Zhao Wu looked around and whispered to Li Huowang. “You wanted something vile and evil, correct? I’ve heard my elders tell stories of something known as Mountain Grandma”.

“Mountain Grandma? What do they look like?” Li Huowang tried to recall if he had ever seen pictures of anything like it, but nothing came to mind. In fact, he had never even heard of the term before.

“Shh! Senior Li, don’t be too loud about it. This thing is very dangerous. I’ve heard that the Mountain Grandma has very keen hearing. If you keep on talking about her, she will definitely come and find you.”

“Oh?” Li Huowang was intrigued.

“I’ve heard my uncle say this before: the Mountain Grandma would appear in different forms in front of different people. Some would see her as a monster with long ears, while others would see her as an older family member that was long dead. But in all of the stories, one thing remained constant. Those who stayed with the Mountain Grandma for a certain period of time would transform into one too!”

Li Huowang rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “What a weird world we live in. There are so many crazy things in this world. Alright, this should do. Anything else?”

“Yeah! There’s something called the Companion Fish. It’s also very vile.”

Li Huowang learned many weird names from Zhao Wu. He decided that most of them would be the ingredients of the fake pills that he would use to kill Dan Yangzi.

“Looks like you are quite knowledgeable. Thank you. I think all these will help me a lot,” said Li Huowang.

If Li Huowang were to only list out poisonous ingredients, Dan Yangzi might discover his plot. But if he were to add in some of these ingredients that he might not even know about, the plan would be much more likely to succeed.

He needed to use ingredients that even Dan Yangzi might not know. The more ingredients like that there were, the more likely he would think that the pills would turn him into an Immortal.

Hearing Li Huowang’s praises, Zhao Wu chuckled. “I’ve heard these from my uncle. He used to be a wanderer, so he traveled a lot and learned a lot about the world.”

“Alright. Thanks! It’s almost time now, so I need to go back. All of you just need to wait for my news.” Li Huowang took a deep breath and started walking back to his room.

He had just taken two steps when a giant blocked him. The man was at least 1.9m tall. ”I...I...I...”

Li Huowang recognized him. Everyone in the Preparation Room simply called him Simpleton. He was cross-eyed and drooling.

He wasn’t really a simpleton; it was just that he had difficulty processing information and had a slower response rate. “I... I know some too!”

Li Huowang sighed and patted his bald head before leaving.

The next day arrived.

Li Huowang was called to Dan Yangzi’s room early in the morning. “I’ve more or less mastered the Internal and External Heavenly Circulation technique. Now tell me the ingredients used to refine the pills.”

“Yes, Master.” Li Huowang approached the stone tablet and once again began to inspect it. He tried to make his words as believable as possible. “Hmm... Take two hearts of the Mountain Grandma and extract their essence? Master, what is this?”

Meanwhile, Dan Yangzi was pacing about in his room, his face full of uncertainty. “Is that so? I need something this vile to become an Immortal?”

“Master, what is a Mountain Grandma?”

“Ignore it. Keep reading.”

“One Companion Fish. Take its gills and soak it in 100g of Asadin...”

Li Huowang combined his own knowledge and Zhao Wu’s knowledge to come up with an extremely believable pill recipe. It had taken him all night to consolidate all the information.

After Li Huowang read the ingredients for the fake pill out loud, Dan Yangzi was surprisingly excited and kept on mumbling.

When Dan Yangzi finally compiled and analyzed the ingredients in his mind, he felt very shocked.

“Yes... That's right. Asadin is a cold ingredient by nature, and so it would require something with a hot property like a Companion Fish to balance it out. This is amazing! And to think that we would need to use the hearts of Mountain Grandmas to refine a pill. Why did I not think of it before? Since humans can be refined into pills, then naturally evil beings such as these should be able to be used to refine pills too!” Dan Yangzi started reasoning with himself as he tried to make sense of the ingredients.

Li Huowang realized that Dan Yangzi could be really smart at times, but downright stupid at other times. He never trusted anyone besides himself.

It all boiled down to superstitions. In a world without gods and demons, being superstitious would be seen as foolish, but even in a world filled with supernatural beings, being overly superstitious would still be foolish.

Just then, Dan Yangzi reached into his sleeves and pulled out a bronze handbell that had a dent. Li Huowang noticed that it was similar to the bells that were used to control zombies in the movies he had watched before.

Dan Yangzi shook the bell violently, and a screeching sound was heard.

The sound was so loud that it made Li Huowang feel like his head would split open from the pain. He barely had enough energy to close his ears and clench his teeth.

At the same time, he noticed that the bell had not only affected his hearing but also his sight.

Everything around him started to twist and turn, almost as if the entire world was being shaken.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

What is this? What is Dan Yangzi doing? Did I make a mistake? Have I been found out?

Just as Li Huowang thought that he had failed, he saw the edges of everything around him start to twist and turn, before gathering in front of Dan Yangzi. The edges of the table, the edges of Dan Yangzi’s sleeves, and even the edges of the sacred text were gathering in front of Dan Yangzi.

He couldn’t really see what that item was, but he was certain that it was made from the edges of everything, and that it was alive.

For a moment, Li Huowang thought that he was seeing illusions and shook his head. But then that ‘thing’ split into two in front of Li Huowang’s very own eyes.