How did I, who just ascended to heaven, become an evil spirit?

The constable wanted to repeat their previous explanation, but seeing Li Hu's unfathomable expression and looking at the crowd of onlookers, he was caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to put the stick away or not.

At this point, Li Hu had already released his grip, and the constable only needed to put away the stick to leave. However, he still maintained the position where the stick was held by Li Hu and refused to retract it.

By this time, the area was already crowded with people, not just refugees who came to drink porridge, but also some peddlers, laborers, and neighbors, all attracted by the lively atmosphere.

Li Hu looked around and realized that the constable wanted a way out and didn't want to lose face here.

Li Hu chuckled and was about to speak when Huang Daxian stepped between the two men, gently bent the stick back, and handed it back to the constable.

"Harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth, sir, please show mercy."

His face was plastered with his usual smile. "How about this? I managed to save a little rice porridge from this porridge bucket. Please let me finish distributing the rest, and I'll leave immediately afterward. What do you think?"

"How can this little bit of porridge feed so many people?"

Qi Yuehong also came out at this time, looking at the porridge bucket with only a bottom left and asked in confusion.

When the porridge bucket was overturned, most of it had already spilled out. Although Wong Tai Sin managed to pick it up in time, the porridge at the bottom of the bucket was probably so deep that you could feel it with just one finger.

Meanwhile, a large, ever-growing number of refugees are gathering around the area.

It's as if Huang Daxian has given in, which is no different from bowing down to the officials for Qi Yuehong.

"Young master, you need not worry."

Huang Daxian scraped the inside of the porridge with a spoon, gathering all the porridge together. He turned to the constable and said, "Sir, please consider this a good deed. The whole city will thank you. I'll leave after I've done my work, so you can report back, won't you?"

"I think you've lost your mind," the constable frowned. "What are you talking big about with just this little bit of porridge?"

The constable, who was adept at reading people and had seen all sorts of people from the streets, knew that Li Hu was no ordinary man. Suppressing his temper, he glanced at the expressionless Li Hu again, and finally nodded and waved:

"Let's finish this quickly."

"Hey, thank you, sir." Wong Tai Sin carried the porridge bucket onto the table, and with a flick of his long-handled ladle, he drew cheers from the refugees.

Seeing this, Li Hu was about to leave when he was suddenly stopped by Huang Daxian.

"Please wait, sir! I haven't thanked you yet. Would you like to have a bowl of porridge before you go?"

"No need," Li Hu smiled and waved his hand. "There's not much porridge left. Finish it quickly and leave, lest the constable make things difficult for you again."

"Hey, my lord, don't worry, there's plenty of porridge for me today!"

With a shout, Wong Tai Sin waved his spoon and fed the bowls of the refugees surging towards him.

The refugees had clearly heard what the constable had said. There was only a little porridge left, so they rushed forward like madmen to grab it.

As dusk approached, about half an hour had passed.

As more and more people heard the news that someone was distributing porridge in the south of the city, more and more people gathered around. There was no place to stand in Caishikou anymore. Huang Daxian still maintained his kind appearance, scooping porridge spoonful by spoonful and delivering it without stopping for a moment.

But Li Hu squinted at the porridge bucket. There was indeed not much porridge left; the bucket had to be tilted to scoop out a full spoonful.

However, in the past half hour, the amount of porridge in the porridge bucket has not decreased.

It remained at that thin level, and no matter how generously Wong Tai Sin distributed the porridge, he could never finish scooping it all out.

It's as if Wong Tai Sin uses a colander.

But the bowls in the refugees' hands were indeed filled with porridge.

This seemingly effortless yet unbelievable trick of turning porridge into soup left the constables who had been monitoring Huang Daxian completely stunned. Their faces turned deathly pale, even more horrified than when they had faced Li Hu earlier.

This is truly unbelievable.

"Sir, there's not much porridge left. We agreed that I'd finish distributing it, so it'll be ready soon." Huang Daxian still had that smiling expression as he busily distributed the porridge while calling out to the constables to be more patient.

Li Hu crossed his arms, a curious expression on his face. He also wanted to see what was going on with Huang Daxian's porridge bucket.

However, as refugees arrived in waves, they did not notice anything unusual. They assumed that someone was being kind and opening the granaries to distribute food, and they were so busy swallowing bowl after bowl that they paid no attention to anything else.

People came and went, and even ordinary people from the city came with their pots and pans to share in the porridge.

Wong Tai Sin accepted all the requests and fulfilled them all.

"Tiger Lord, this porridge is exceptionally sweet."

Old Yuan, having somehow found a broken bowl, hid in a corner and sipped his tea slowly, giving Li Hu a thumbs-up in praise.

"This is truly amazing! I've never tasted anything like it before. No wonder more and more people are coming here."

Yan Yang didn't even have time to speak. He swallowed the porridge in big gulps and then squeezed into the line to ask for more.

"Hey, hey, let me have a taste!"

Seeing this, even the fancy rat couldn't sit still anymore. It pounced on Yuan Sou's face, stuck its head into his bowl, and stuck out its tongue to try to taste it, but Yuan Sou kept pulling it back.

The porridge distribution continued until dark, when the officials used the pretext of curfew to drive everyone off the road, finally ending the scramble. Otherwise, the whole city would have probably come to experience the spectacle.

Seeing that no one was around, Wong Tai Sin packed up his stall, turned around and bowed deeply to Li Hu, saying:

"My name is Gu Xiu from Zhongzhou, Huang Mingzi. Thank you for your help, sir."

He scooped the last bit of porridge from the porridge bucket into a bowl, placed it in front of the fancy mouse, and patted its head.

"After you've eaten this porridge, fellow Daoist, you must cultivate diligently so that you can bring blessings to the people in the future."

"What kind of cultivation technique is this Valley Cultivation? How do you practice it?" Li Hu asked curiously.

"Ah, it's just a heretical path of cultivation, only good for making a few simple tricks with food, nothing to brag about."

Wong Tai Sin clasped his hands in greeting and said, "It's a pity that I only prepared rice porridge today, and there's not much other food. Otherwise, I would have treated you to a proper meal. My humble abode is nearby, and you are welcome to come and visit another day."

"You're welcome," Li Hu said.

"We've passed through Zhongzhou; we'll meet again someday."

"Goodbye," Wong Tai Sin said with a smile, bowing once more.

The friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water. Seeing this, Li Hu led his group away and found a nearby inn to rest.

"What a magnificent saying, 'Three thousand great paths and ninety thousand lesser paths!' Every time I come out and encounter human cultivators, I always see something new and exciting."

Old Yuan sat cross-legged on the floor of the inn, still thinking about what had happened during the day.

"You tell me, if there were more extraordinary people like this, wouldn't no one in the world go hungry?" Old Yuan said, then suddenly laughed, as if amused by his own naive thoughts.

The fancy mouse licked its paws, where some of the rice porridge from before still remained. It smacked its lips and said:

"Anyway, if I were the emperor, I would make everyone cultivate the Valley Immortal technique. What a wonderful cultivation method!"

"Those who do a good job will be appointed as county magistrates!" The fancy rat waved his hand, acting as if he were the emperor. "Whether there's a reason or not, distribute porridge every day. Those who do a good job will be promoted to high-ranking officials. That way, the people won't have to work so hard to cultivate the land. That's what it means to benefit all people."

The Impermanent Ghost hung himself from the roof with one hand, his legs dangling in the air as he sat cross-legged, pondering:

"It's probably not that easy. Even the purity of food can be maintained, so there's likely a price to pay for it."

"The purity and turbidity must be maintained..." Old Yuan frowned and said, "What kind of evil spirit do you think this Huang Mingzi will become if he becomes an immortal in the future?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. With such a rogue cultivator achieving immortality, evil spirits will have a hard time keeping their lives safe," said the Impermanent Ghost indifferently.

"That's true." Old Yuan nodded, sitting down against the wall.

"Apart from clever people like Tiger, ordinary evil spirits rarely survive more than a month without the right opportunity. Most of them will be killed on the spot by their immortal selves and reincarnated early."

Let's not talk about that anymore.

The Impermanent Ghost interrupted, sighing as he released his grip and floated down from the rooftop.

"I'm still a bit hungry, I need to go out and find one or two people to breathe in, otherwise it's really unbearable."

Those who could drink porridge during the day had already had their fill, and the rest didn't need to eat. Only he, the spirit, was still hungry.

He slid a piece of red rope from his sleeve and clenched it in his palm; this was the medium he needed to grasp objects. Having said that, he drifted out of the closed window, his voice carrying far away:

"I'll be right back, you don't need to wait for me."

The ghost of impermanence has left, and the flowery rat seems to be asleep now. Yan Yang found a corner to close his eyes and rest. He is not a talkative person. Yuan Sou felt a little embarrassed when he saw this, so he crawled under the table and pretended to rest.

Li Hu remained silent throughout the entire process.

He sat anxiously at the dressing table in his inn room.

He discovered that there were signs of tearing and decay on parts of his neck and wrists.

These are some minor injuries that accumulated over the past few months before I took the Youth-Preserving Pill. One of the purposes of coming to Zhongzhou City this time was to find a way to cover up these wounds before they get bigger.

Li Hu felt that he shouldn't be considered a zombie, much less a spirit like the Impermanent Ghost that could pass through walls.

He couldn't quite explain what he was now.

Anyway, these wounds don't hurt or itch, I don't sweat when I'm active during the day, I don't have a heartbeat, I don't need to breathe, my stomach doesn't move, and my whole body feels as light as a piece of clothing.

He tried to get out of this body, just as he had when he first became the evil spirit and entered it, but he failed.

In this world, neither the immortals nor the evil spirits seem like immortals, leaving Li Hu at his wit's end.

He pondered carefully in his mind. If he wanted to figure these things out, he still had to find the fortune-telling monkey that Yuan Sou had mentioned and ask him. If he had the chance, it would be best to sit down and talk with the sword immortal Li Hu in person and share their experiences.

Li Hu gazed at his reflection in the bronze mirror and sighed softly.

He took a sheet of bamboo paper from the bundle he had just bought during the day, cut it to the right size, moistened it with some water, and stuck it to his neck to cover the blackened wound.

Then he found some face powder that matched his skin tone from the dressing table cabinet and applied it evenly to the bamboo paper.

Fortunately, he already had fair skin, and after this procedure, he looked no different from an ordinary person.

But this was clearly not a long-term solution, and Li Hu felt that he would have to find some way to maintain his health in the future.

After doing all this, it was probably late at night. The ghost of death returned, carrying a human hand on a red rope. The hand was still stained with blood, and its pale appearance startled Yuan Sou.

"Wuchang, didn't you go to absorb human energy? How come you killed someone?" Old Yuan seemed very shocked.

This is a human settlement; if someone dies here, it will be difficult to handle the situation if the people involved are discovered.

Although the safety of the evil spirits could be guaranteed with Li Hu and Qi Yuehong present, an unnecessary bloodshed was still inevitable.

"These are the hands of those arrogant yamen runners who acted like bullies during the day."

The impermanent ghost untied the red rope and threw the severed human hand on the ground. "They were so arrogant during the day. I thought they were so brave. I had barely revealed myself and hadn't even made a move yet, and they were scared to death. They really can't blame me."

"Anyway, it's a waste anyway. I've brought these men back to serve as provisions for you, so that no one on the road will complain about not having food."

After saying this, the Impermanent Ghost put away the red rope, then hung himself from the roof beam and closed his eyes to rest.

"This...this..."

Old Yuan was timid and still not used to Wuchang's calm demeanor. "I can't handle this."

He glanced at Yan Yang, thinking that this mortal probably wouldn't dare to eat it. Then he looked at the fancy rat sleeping soundly on the bed, shook his head, and couldn't figure out who could eat it. Finally, he scratched his head in frustration.

"If you killed it, you killed it. If no one eats it, just throw it away. Don't make such a fuss."

Qi Yuehong frowned and said, "It's late at night, don't make any more noise."

His words silenced the inn once again. Except for a few people who needed to sleep, everyone else stared at each other in silence.

Li Hu picked up the severed human hand and played with it for a while, thinking about how to destroy the evidence so as not to encounter any officials on the road and cause trouble.

This wrist is quite thick, chubby, with a lot of calluses, and there are also some small fat deposits on the back of the hand.

Li Hu remembered that these were the hands of the official who had wielded the iron rod during the day. He had thought it was just a chance encounter, but he never expected to run into him again at night.

This is a wonderful coincidence.

Li Hu glanced at the brazier in the room, intending to throw the severed hand in to burn it, but suddenly noticed that the hand was stuck to his palm, and he couldn't get rid of it for a moment.

Li Hu frowned, withdrew his hand, and pulled hard before finally tearing the severed hand off.

But he suddenly realized that the severed hand had also torn off a piece of skin from his palm, as if the severed hand had merged with his palm.

Li Hu turned his palm over and looked at it. The skin on his palm had been torn off, but it didn't hurt. However, the tear on his wrist that had been covered by bamboo paper had disappeared.

It was as if he had unintentionally absorbed a part of the severed hand, which then repaired the wounds on his body.