Chapter 40

The noise inside the room continued. Zhong Yihui had knocked his forehead until it was bruised and purplish, and he felt somewhat dizzy.

The old lady's heart ached terribly, yet she did not dare to speak up to stop him. She could only look longingly at Lang Xiao and Hu Yuanfei, hoping they would say something.

"Two masters..."

Hu Yuanfei stroked his chin, glancing at the pit viper and then at this family, before clapping his hands.

"Hey, I have a great idea. All this fighting and killing affects cultivation so much. Why don't you become their house-protecting immortal? Have them worship and make offerings to you. If they aren't sincere, you can make a fuss. Whenever you feel the debt is paid off, you can just leave. This family is wealthy, and the food they offer is much better than what's in Dafeng Mountain. You won't have to worry about food and drink, and you can still cultivate. How wonderful is that?"

If it weren't for his innate love of freedom, he would have become a house-protecting immortal for someone else back then.

Such are the unpredictabilities of life; now he was a fox with a family of his own.

Hu Yuanfei's suggestion left everyone in the room, including the snake, stunned.

The pit viper had always disliked humans—one could say it was quite averse to them. Naturally, it could not take a fancy to any human family, nor did it have any intention of serving as a house-protecting immortal for humans.

It grew somewhat worried that this powerful demon would forcibly bind it in a pact with this human family.

"I will not bless humans, nor will it be possible for me to respond to their requests. They owe my clan. Not killing him is already considered his good fortune."

Hu Yuanfei smiled warmly and said, "No one is asking you to bless them. You can choose not to respond, just enjoy their offerings. Seasonal fruits, domestic animals, and incense—eat whatever you like. I reckon Dafeng Mountain isn't great to stay in anymore either; it's not suitable for cultivation. You staying here is not a bad thing at all."

The pit viper began to ponder. It sounded like it might not be a bad deal after all. But was there some trap hidden inside that it didn't know about?

It looked toward the human on the opposite side.

This proposal was quite similar to what Zhong Yihui had just promised, so naturally, he had no reason to refuse. Right now, as long as he could keep his life, he was willing to do anything.

Seeing that the snake showed signs of relenting, the old lady hurriedly spoke.

"We can do it! We are more than willing to have the snake immortal stay. I'll have someone come right now to build a shrine and a spirit tablet in the house. From now on, we will make offerings every single day without fail. The snake immortal can make any demands you wish."

The old lady pressed Zhong Yihui's head down again. "You are the one who owes the snake immortal. Since the snake immortal is willing to spare your life and come to our home, you must show gratitude. Hurry up and thank the snake immortal!"

Zhong Yihui immediately lowered his head. "Thank you, Snake Immortal, for your magnanimity. I hope the Snake Immortal will agree. From now on, I will surely worship you with utmost piety."

The pit viper stared at him coldly for a moment. Although Zhong Yihui was terrified, he kept his head lowered and did not move.

"Since you are so sincere, I will reluctantly agree. But this person—I want him to burn incense and bow in worship to me every morning and evening. Not a single time can be missed."

The old lady immediately agreed repeatedly, but the pit viper was still staring at Zhong Yihui. Zhong Yihui said with some hesitation, "It's just that I work in another province, so I don't live at home."

The pit viper raised its head a little higher. The old lady hastily said, "Then we'll just make an extra tablet for the Snake Immortal for you to carry with you. You can burn incense morning and evening, and the Snake Immortal will still receive it."

As long as he didn't have to be trapped here, Zhong Yihui agreed wholeheartedly.

The pit viper let out a cold snort. "Secondly, I want one of his legs."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhong Yihui's face turned pale as death again, and his hand instinctively touched his own leg.

However, the gazes of Hu Yuanfei and the others turned to the injury on the pit viper's tail. Although this wound was inflicted by Boss Tian, Zhong Yihui also had a share in it. Demanding a leg instead of a life was not too harsh.

The old lady found it somewhat unacceptable and immediately wanted to plead for mercy again, but the pit viper remained unmoved. The old lady turned to beg Hu Yuanfei and Lang Xiao.

"Masters, two masters, I beg you to put in a good word. We can agree to any demand other than this. Without a leg, how is my eldest son going to work and live in the future?"

Lang Xiao took a step back and said indifferently, "If you want to keep the leg, sure. Then give your life to it instead. Leave a complete corpse behind, and the little snake will surely be more than willing."

Never had they expected the masters to take such an attitude. The old lady looked at them in disbelief.

Hu Yuanfei shrugged. "The cycle of cause and effect is unerring and retributive. The sins your son committed must be repaid. If he doesn't repay them now, he will have to later; if not in this lifetime, he won't be able to escape in the next. Think about it carefully."

Lang Xiao tilted his head and said, "Don't bother thinking about finding other masters to subdue the demon, and don't think it's just a beast. Humans aren't much nobler than beasts."

The old lady still felt somewhat resentful, but under Lang Xiao's gaze, she did not dare to utter another word. In the end, she could only mumble, "Then how does it want to... how will it take this leg?"

Their gazes all shifted to the pit viper. It slithered over to Zhong Yihui's side and lashed its tail against Zhong Yihui's leg.

In an instant, Zhong Yihui felt his right leg lose all sensation, becoming completely uncontrollable and unmovable. With a pale face, he tried to walk, but his right leg remained motionless, and he collapsed straight to the ground.

The old lady and Zhong Yilanhurriedly stepped forward to support him. The old lady's eyes were full of tears, her anger burning while she dared not speak out.

After getting up, Zhong Yihui tried to walk again, only to find that he had to use his hands to lift his leg and drag it forward. Because of this, he looked somewhat like a patient suffering from a strange disease.

At this moment, he regretted his actions deeply. If he hadn't been greedy back then, he wouldn't have brought this upon himself today.

The pit viper said, "As long as you sincerely repent, in ten years I may consider giving your leg back to you."

This was equivalent to giving him a glimmer of hope. Although Zhong Yihui still felt miserable, he felt slightly better than before. The old lady finally caught her breath as well.

At this point, both sides had finally reached a preliminary reconciliation.

Outside, the sky was gradually growing bright. It was already the seventh day of the lunar new year, and most shops had opened their doors. Although looking for people at this time took some effort, there was nothing money couldn't smooth over.

The old lady felt no sleepiness at all; she forced herself to muster her energy and began bustling about.

Zhong Yilan wanted to speak but hesitated. She always felt that inviting a snake demon into the house was not a good thing, but since matters were already settled, nothing she said would matter. Everyone had spent the night in terror. Her second brother and the child were still in the hospital and hadn't come back yet; they still knew nothing of this matter.

Jiahe's poisoning had taken effect upon arrival at the hospital. Fortunately, the toxin wasn't too strong, causing only dizziness and vomiting without immediately taking his life. The doctors administered medication, and he was doing somewhat better now, but he still needed to stay in the hospital for observation, and there was no telling when he would be discharged.

Thinking of this, Zhong Yilan reminded the old lady, "Mom, Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law, and Jiahe are still at the hospital."

"Ah, right." Remembering the child, the old lady wanted to hit Zhong Yihui again, but upon seeing the state of his leg, she had no choice but to let it go. "You need to go to the hospital and apologize to your second brother's family. Jiahe is still lying in the hospital, and he almost met with disaster—do you even know that? If it weren't for you, the child wouldn't have had to suffer this ordeal."

Zhong Yihui hunched his back and nodded. "I know, Mom. I'll change my clothes right now and go to the hospital."

Seeing that he was about to leave, the pit viper immediately blocked his path. Zhong Yihui's newly relaxed composure tightened up instantly.

"Snake... Snake Immortal, do you have any other requests?"

"You cannot leave until you invite me into your home."

Zhong Yihui looked toward Hu Yuanfei. He couldn't understand what the snake immortal was saying. What did "invite into the home" mean? Weren't they already in the home?

Hu Yuanfei looked left and right, then looked at Lang Xiao. Lang Xiao gave him an indifferent glance. "You came up with the idea, you solve it yourself. Why are you looking at me?"

Her clan had never acted as house-protecting immortals for humans, so naturally, she had no idea what the procedure was.

Hu Yuanfei scratched his neck hard. "But... but I don't know either." He had never done this before.

Lang Xiao: "..."

Lang Xiao directly gave him a knock on the head. "If you don't know, why on earth are you giving random suggestions!"

Rubbing the spot where he was hit, Hu Yuanfei aggrievedly said, "Just because I don't know doesn't mean no one else does. I'll go find someone who knows the ropes right now."

Anyway, they still had the almighty Daoist Wenyuan. In the minds of the two demons, you could turn to the Daoist for literally anything related to metaphysics; he was simply overwhelmingly useful.

However, this time Daoist Wenyuan shook his head as well. "I don't study this, and I'm not very familiar with the procedures. It should be similar to inviting a deity, I suppose. But I do know a few capable *Chuma* immortals. Shall I introduce you to them?"

"Yes, please, yes, please."

Daoist Wenyuan pushed a WeChat contact card over. After adding her, the person on the other end introduced herself by the surname Wu. Hu Yuanfei started a video call with her and discovered she was a very ordinary-looking middle-aged woman. At first glance, she looked no different from millions of other women—her face slightly dark and plump, dressed quite ordinarily, and speaking with a northern accent.

She glanced at Hu Yuanfei and immediately uttered, "Fox Immortal."

Hu Yuanfei possessed several centuries of cultivation, after all; he wasn't some fledgling little demon who knew nothing. Ordinary humans should find it very difficult to see through his true form, let alone through a screen.

"For Elder Wu to recognize me at a glance, you truly are formidable."

Elder Wu let out a hearty laugh. "Daoist Wang told me. Are you trying to help a family invite a Liu family immortal for house protection? Let me take a look."

Hu Yuanfei turned the camera to aim at the pit viper. Elder Wu bowed to the pit viper, and the pit viper actually nodded in return.

Elder Wu said, "Good, the immortals are both present. Now turn the video toward the family inviting the immortal, and I will tell them the procedures."

Knowing that this person was also an expert, the old lady took the phone and introduced the layout of the house to the master.

After taking a look, Elder Wu nodded. "Just place the shrine in the living room, right on the right-hand wall. Write the tablet, and make offerings of fish, meat, liquor, and steamed buns. The dishes must all be in odd numbers, like one, three, or five, and you must also place a pair of red chopsticks. After that, burn the incense, inserting one in the front and three in the back. Be pious when lighting the incense. You must make major offerings every third, fifth, seventh, or ninth day, as well as on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month and at solar terms. At other times, ordinary offerings will suffice."

It sounded rather troublesome. The thought of having to make offerings in this manner every single day made Zhong Yihui's scalp tingle slightly. With his leg in its current state, he had no idea how he was supposed to perform deep bows of respect either.

Things like shrines and spirit tablets were sold in specialized places. Among the friends the old lady knew, there were those who worshipped Buddha and deities, so she asked around and quickly found out the shop's location, contacting the owner to have the items delivered on a rush order.

The others also arranged to have offerings sent over. The family began bustling about, and Lang Xiao also started to get busy.

Since it was already daylight, Qingyao—who had slept peacefully through the night despite all that had happened—woke up.

She had a lot of morning routines: changing her diaper, washing her hands and face, and drinking milk. Last night, they hadn't expected things to drag on for so long, and right now she didn't have any of her supplies with her. Lang Xiao had already decided to take Qingyao back first.

Anyway, Hu Yuanfei could handle the rest himself.

Qingyao rubbed her eyes and sat in Lang Xiao's arms for a while before fully waking up. Discovering that she wasn't on her bed at home and that her surroundings were completely unfamiliar, she blinked in confusion.

Her eyes caught the small snake writhing on the floor, as well as the much more formidable-looking pit viper. Not only was she unafraid, but a look of interest appeared on her face. She pushed away Lang Xiao's arms, lay prone on her knees, and peered beneath the sofa, before quickly sliding her bottom onto the floor and getting herself down. Afterward, she began crawling forward, quickly making her way to the pit viper's side.