Beware. You Are. Heart-Element Immortal.

“Is anyone there?” Li Huowang’s shout echoed through an immensely empty space, repeating over and over.

Utterly confused, he looked around and found himself standing on a wooden bridge. In every direction—front, back, left, right—there was only pitch darkness. Nothing else.

Li Huowang took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and continued forward. The wooden bridge beneath him creaked under his weight.

He walked for what felt like an eternity. In the distance, he thought he saw something move. His whole body tensed, and he rushed toward it.

But as he drew close enough to finally make out what it was, his body jolted to a halt. It was Li Zhi’s Protecting Immortal.

The palm-sized clay figurine from before had grown three times larger than Li Huowang’s own body. With the grinding sound of stone scraping against stone, it slowly turned its head to look at him. Its pupils held not a speck of black—only a terrifying, milky white.

“This isn’t a wooden bridge! I’m standing on someone’s roof beam!” Li Huowang realized at once.

A creaking sound rang out. The layers of red string binding the Protecting Immortal snapped. Countless clay palms pushed out from within, raining dust as they reached for Li Huowang.

He turned to retreat, but a huge red bridal veil instantly swept over him, wrapping his entire body completely.

“Don’t look…” A voice, fragile and ethereal, echoed.

“Haah!” Li Huowang sat bolt upright, drenched in cold sweat. He quickly scanned his surroundings. No Protecting Immortal. No red veil. It had only been a dream.

He glanced down at Bai Lingmiao beside him. He pulled the quilt up, tucking it over her shoulder, then got out of bed. He opened the window and looked outside.

The moon was still hanging in the sky. It seemed he hadn’t slept for long.

Staring at the black roof tiles outside, Li Huowang recalled what had happened the day before.

That Second Spirit, the one under the red veil, had clearly been trying to say something to him. But Li Zhi had interrupted her by accident.

“What did she want to say? And why did she tell me not to look at the Protecting Immortal?” His brows knit tightly as he pondered the question.

That Second Spirit had never spoken a word, never eaten or drunk. Compared to the easygoing Li Zhi, she was a figure of deep mystery.

For someone like that to suddenly open her mouth and speak to him… it had to mean something specific.

“What could she have that she needs to secretly tell me, without Li Zhi knowing? Is Li Zhi trying to harm me?”

He had originally planned to ask Li Zhi about trying the spirit-dance ritual, but after this incident, Li Huowang found himself hesitating. To be honest, they hadn’t known each other that long.

He’d thought about finding a different spirit-dancer. But even if he did, who was to say that other dancer would be any more trustworthy?

If he had to choose someone, he might as well stick with the one he knew a little better.

“I need to ask the Second Spirit alone and find out what’s really going on.” Li Huowang silently resolved.

He glanced one more time at the dark sky, then turned back to put on his bloodstained Daoist robe and stepped out of the house. The homes of Li Zhi’s fellow villagers weren’t far apart—Li Zhi and his wife were staying nearby.

In the pitch-black room, Li Huowang walked in silence, groping his way toward Li Zhi’s lodging.

“Creak…” The door, still bearing its upside-down ‘福’ (good fortune) paper, slowly opened. A small, glowing fluorescent stone was gently tossed inside.

The faint glow illuminated the room. There was the Lead Spirit, Li Zhi, sprawled spread-eagled on the bed, snoring loudly. Meanwhile, the Second Spirit in her red veil stood bolt upright beside the bed, like a piece of clothing hung on a rack.

Hearing the noise, she silently turned her red veil in Li Huowang’s direction. She stood there, as if waiting.

Seeing this scene in the dead of night… honestly, it was unsettling.

“Do I really want to go out alone with this thing right now?” Li Huowang hesitated.

But recalling the words she had spoken to him, he finally steeled his resolve. He gave a slight beckoning gesture with his hand.

To his surprise, the Second Spirit actually moved. Like a restless ghost, she drifted slowly toward the door.

As she stepped out, Li Huowang backed away. One advanced, one retreated, until they were both in the yard outside. Only then did he stop.

The hazy moonlight of the half-moon above did a little to soothe Li Huowang’s extreme tension.

The Second Spirit under her red veil slowly closed the distance again. Very close. So close that Li Huowang’s breath, as he spoke, could make the red veil tremble. “What did you want to say yesterday?”

Her extraordinarily long black fingernails slowly lifted. Before Li Huowang’s astonished eyes, she lightly cut the tip of her other hand.

Then, using the dark red blood that flowed out, she began to write slowly on her own red veil.

“Be… ware. You… are. Heart-Element. Immortal.”

“What are you two doing?!” A sharp shout shattered the moment. The black blood on the red veil was rapidly absorbed.

Li Huowang had just taken two steps back when he saw the sullen-faced Li Zhi, barefoot, stomping over to the Second Spirit. He wrapped an arm tightly around her waist. “What do you think you’re doing?! This is my wife!”

Li Huowang, hearing movement coming from the house, quickly collected himself. “Nothing. I was just a little curious about your wife’s face.”

Liyi Zhi stared at Li Huowang, scrutinizing him with full vigilance. As if asserting his ownership, he lifted a corner of the red veil with his hand, stuck his head inside, and started kissing her loudly—smack, smack, smack.

As the red veil swayed, borrowing the moonlight, Li Huowang caught a glimpse of something.

“…Scales?”

A moment later, Li Zhi pulled his head back out from under the veil, licking yellow-green mucus from the corners of his mouth with audible smacks.

“Remember this, alright! This is my wife. You’re still a bachelor—whose fault is that? No one’s but your own! Who told you to become a Daoist? If you’ve got the stones, leave the order!”

Without waiting for Li Huowang to argue, he took the Second Spirit’s pale hand—the one with the long black nails—and turned to go back inside.

Scales. Yellow-green mucus. The two images kept flashing through Li Huowang’s mind. What in the world was this Second Spirit?

When Li Huowang, utterly baffled, returned to his own room, he found Bai Lingmiao had already woken up. She was kneeling on the bed, rubbing her eyes, still half-asleep.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Li Huowang said nothing. He blew out the oil lamp he had just relit. “Nothing. Go back to sleep.”

“‘Beware’? ‘I’m a Heart-Element Immortal’?”

Lying in bed, Li Huowang began to ponder the fragmentary words of the Second Spirit. “What is a Heart-Element Immortal? And what was she warning me to beware of?”

The next day, when Li Huowang woke up and came to the main hall, he saw Li Zhi drinking his porridge. His right hand was firmly holding the Second Spirit’s as he spoke to his fellow villager.

“Villager, thanks for your hospitality. Tell you what, how about I install a Protecting Immortal for you? I’ll give you a discount—thirty coppers, what do you say?”

Li Zhi stopped talking then, because he had spotted Li Huowang. The easygoing look on his face was gone.