Chapter 57 - Shaman
“I don’t know what the Shaman’s five Immortal families of Hong, Huang, Bai, Liu, and Bei represent. It was mentioned by one of the village elders in passing, and so I remembered it. At the time, I encountered one of them for the first time; someone in the village had been possessed and was lying on the ground, barking like a dog. At that time, a Shaman happened to be coincidentally passing through the village, and came in to take a look at the possessed person. I’m not sure about what happened after that, but I recall that the possessed person was okay the day after that and went back to work in the fields,” explained Xiaoman.
Li Huowang silently calculated something in his mind while listening to Xiaoman describe the fragmented information she knew about the Shamans.
“Does this mean that the Shamans of the kingdom of Si Qi are similar to Taoists in terms of what they do—exorcizing evil and avoiding disasters? Do their abilities also come from beings like the Wandering Gods?” questioned Li Huowang.
“Since Shamans often have to interact with people, they should be more welcoming than those monks from the Righteous Monastery, right?” asked Li Huowang.
Currently, he was not afraid of these so-called Shamans being too powerful; rather he was worried about the fact that he was too weak and unable to deal with Dan Yangzi. After all, it’s impossible for him to compete against an entire group as a single person.
The creaking of the donkey cart suddenly disappeared, pulling Li Huowang out of his thoughts. He saw that the others had all gone into the woods to gather firewood and fetch water.
He looked up at the sky and realized that the sun had already set in the west; it was time to rest.
However, he did not idle around; he retrieved the sword on his back and started digging a hole in the ground. The sword was quite sharp, and soon, he had dug out a small pit around the size of a head.
Simpleton, who was standing beside him, was fully prepared. He directly lifted a black pot from the cart and placed it within the hole carved out by Li Huowang.
Now, they would just need to dig openings on either side to create their own earthen stove—one for the firewood and the other for releasing the smoke.
Noodles were more practical compared to rice, as they were easier to store and convenient to cook.
When the water in the pot started boiling, they put in several bundles of noodles they bought at the small border town.
With dandelions picked from the roadside to serve as vegetables, and a salted duck egg as their protein, each of them got a large bowl of noodles.
And thus, dinner was prepared just like that.
Li Huowang used his chopsticks to break open the salted duck egg floating in his soup. The oily egg yolk added a golden layer to his broth, making it look very appetizing. He picked up the softened dandelion stems with his chopsticks and placed them in his mouth, chewing on them slowly. They tasted slightly bitter—somewhat similar to spinach.
Previously, he had not known that dandelions could be eaten. He had only learned about the fact that they were a kind of wild vegetable after seeing that old monk enjoying them.
Li Huowang blew off some of the hot steam and took a big mouthful of the soup. It was very comforting as his stomach was filled with warmth. He could not help but think of the old monk from the Righteous Monastery upon seeing the wild vegetables.
Who knows how he’s doing now? He was so simple-minded that he couldn’t possibly see through anything. He should be living well in that environment, right?
At that moment, a pair of chopsticks placed an oily egg yolk into Li Huowang’s bowl. Bai Lingmiao, sitting beside him, said in a soft voice, “I don’t eat egg yolks.”
Li Huowang nodded silently and picked up some noodles using his chopsticks before slurping them up in a single mouthful. “Do you remember that bronze Taoist bell I have? I brought it with me from Zephyr Temple.”
“Yes,” replied Bai Lingmiao.
“I’ll teach you how to use it now. If anything happens to me, remember to take it out and use it to protect yourself,” said Li Huowang.
“Alright,” replied Bai Lingmiao.
“First, you need to shake it. You will feel extremely dizzy when shaking it, but you need to endure it. Next, you will need to grab a handful of dirt from the ground and place it into your mouth...” explained Li Huowang.
The skies gradually darkened, and Li Huowang’s meal was finished just as he finished giving the instructions on how to use the bell.
Bai Lingmiao took the bowl and chopsticks from Li Huowang’s hands and walked toward the stream in the woods.
Li Huowang gazed at her slender figure from behind; soon, it had suddenly turned into the figure of a high school girl wearing a red uniform.
It was Yang Na’s silhouette.
He shook his head vigorously to clear his mind, causing Bai Lingmiao’s figure to reappear. Annoyed, Li Huowang lay on the ground to look at the clear starry night sky.
Li Huowang was the one to stay up and keep watch during the first half of the night; he had not been sleeping well recently. Or rather, he had never slept well ever since he got stuck in this world.
Li Huowang used his sword to poke at the bonfire before throwing in some firewood. Using the light of the fire, he examined his weapon.
This weapon that could cut through metal like mud was somewhat wasted in his hands. He only used it as a shovel to dig pits, or as a poker for the fire. Now, the sword tip was charred and looked very unsightly.
The only time he drew blood with it was when he used it to mutilate his own neck.
Senior Chang Ming, if you could see what is happening to your precious sword, would you be so angry that you would come back to life?
Li Huowang mumbled to himself as he sheathed it back into its scabbard.
At that moment, a soft sound rang out from behind him, making Li Huowang stand up in a rush. He immediately grabbed a burning piece of wood from the campfire and threw it over.
The burning piece of wood flashed past a figure and landed before a pair of horrifyingly red embroidered shoes.
“Who’s there?! Show yourself!” Li Huowang shouted loudly, waking up the others as they sat up sleepily.
However, when they saw the pair of feet with the embroidered shoes in the distance, they were frightened and immediately drew their swords.
“Hehe, don’t be alarmed. It’s all a misunderstanding.” A cheerful voice rang out, accompanied by a fifty year old man with white hair, as he emerged from the dark woods.
He was dressed plainly, and the patches on his clothes suggested that he was not wealthy. Aside from a small backpack on his back, he had an old, dirty drum with ribbons of many colors tied around it on his waist.
Facing the weapons held by Li Huowang’s group, he stood there and explained, “I was rushing along in the middle of the night, and saw some light, and so I came by for a look. I did not think I would run into your group.”
When he noticed that Li Huowang’s attention was focused on the pair of red embroidered shoes, he explained, “It’s fine, that’s my wife. She’s somewhat afraid of strangers. Dear, come over here.”
That pair of shoes unhurriedly stepped out from the darkness, and she came beside the old man. She had a red veil covering her face. Her clothes were colored in bright red and purple, and there were various colorful fabrics tied around her body, just like the drum on the old man’s waist.
She stood there, motionless. Seeing such a sight in the middle of the night was enough to send chills down their spines.
“That’s your wife?” Li Huowang confirmed again, his sword still raised. He found it hard to believe that they would be accompanied by such a peculiar companion. Even if he had claimed that she was a zombie, nobody would doubt him.
At that moment, Xiaoman hurried to his side and whispered, “Senior Li, he is a Shaman.”
These words immediately caused Li Huowang to raise his guard to the maximum.
“Yes! That’s right, we are Shamans. I am the Main Deity, and my wife is the Second Deity,” said the old man.
Upon seeing the lack of response from the group, the old man continued, “Why? Don’t you guys believe me? Then, how about I show you a demonstration, keke~”
Before Li Huowang could stop him, the old man opened his mouth and shouted, “Summon~ the~ gods~”
His confident shout echoed throughout the dark forest and into the distance.
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