Mutated Tao

“The devout followers saw the extraordinary landscape and cheered, happiness coming forth from deep within their hearts~ They sat on the diamond lotus, followed Amitabha, and arrived at the Western Pure Land~ They saw Amitabha’s true form, a boundless goodness containing prosperity, wisdom, and dignity~ They saw the true form of the Bodhisattvas, profound yet dignified~”

Li Huowang’s chanting grew louder and louder. As he recited the sutra, the top of his head started to glow with a holy light.

Initially, only his voice could be heard, but soon, numerous other voices started to chime in. Some were more high pitched while others had a lower pitch. However, all of them cooperated with Li Huowang.

The voices came from the fat nuns surrounding him. All of their faces revealed a humble demeanor, just like Li Huowang’s.

Soon, their chanting was supplemented by the sound of gongs, chimes, the sound of wooden fish, and other Buddhist instruments that rang out from the surrounding temples.

With the aid of these instruments, Li Huowang’s chanting became even more dignified, more… Buddha-like.

Their chanting slowly changed their surroundings, something that should be impossible to do with just sound. The colors around them slowly started to fade, slowly being replaced by a dim yellow color; it was as if they were looking at the world through a dim yellow filter.

As more and more time passed, their chanting grew louder and louder. Soon, Bai Lingmiao, Puppy, Gao Zhijian, and even Abbess Jingxin’s son joined them in singing.

Their voices gradually grew louder and louder, to the point that the Buddha statue made of flies started to vibrate.

As they chanted, the Buddha statue slowly floated toward the top of Li Huowang’s head. At the same time, the buzzing sound of the flies slowly started to resonate with the rhythm of their chant.

Finally, when their chant reached the climax, the Buddha statue opened its black eyes and fell downward. The buzzing flies instantly engulfed Li Huowang.

The flies buzzed intensely, their sound overlaying the sound of the chant.

At this moment, everyone, including the millions of flies were all linked with each other spiritually—all of them were inseparable. The humans knew what the flies were thinking, and the opposite was true as well. The flies could understand the intentions of the humans.

At that moment, Abbess Jingxin willed something in her heart, and the flies complied, rearranging themselves around Li Huowang, forming a black Bodhisattva sitting atop a lotus. The Bodhisattva made of flies held a vase in its hand. At the same time, the buzzing sound of the flies took over Li Huowang’s voice, leading the others to chant.

However, the grand scene before them did not last long before the sound of thunder boomed throughout the sky. At that moment, everyone stared at the sky at the same time only to see that a hole was being torn in it.

Dan Yangzi could be seen floating high up in the air. He had three heads and numerous repulsive organs attached to his body. His three eyes were staring at the entire Benevolent Nunnery sadistically as he stood amidst the white clouds.

“My dear disciple, looks like you are way too hung up on the physical realm,” said a voice.

As soon as they heard this voice, all of the old nuns, including Abbess Jingxin, stuck their hands within the folds of their skin and took out a set of prayer beads forged entirely with gold. None of them responded to Dan Yangzi verbally.

They wrapped the prayer beads around their palm and formed a Mudra by curling their index finger and thumb toward their palm. In an instant, an air of authority surged out from them and flew upward. “Praise the Buddhas! Praise the Dharma! Praise the Monks! Praise the Prohibitions! Praise the Kindness! Praise the Heavens! The monks cultivate the Six Praises and obtain Dharani!”

At the same time, the buzzing sound exploded as the black flies that constituted the Buddha statue flew up toward the sky like a tsunami. A periodic humming sound akin to someone chanting could be heard from the flies.

Seeing this, all three of Dan Yangzi’s faces smiled sarcastically. He stepped on the white clouds and flew straight toward the flies and swung his arms that were composed of numerous tentacles, revealing a bronze coin sword. The bronze coin sword was still connected to a tentacle that had an eye on it. He swung the sword hard, throwing chunks of flesh toward the flies.

The body of the flies touched by the pieces of flesh twisted abnormally as they formed a miniature version of Dan Yangzi’s head. Then, this twisted Dan Yangzi made of flies started attacking the other flies around it.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang was sitting still with a solemn expression on his face. His chanting grew louder and louder with each passing moment.

Under the guidance of the chant, the white maggots that had previously been wriggling on the food rotting within the entire Benevolent Nunnery turned into flies as they beat their wings and flew toward the chaotic sky.

The battle in the sky was extremely chaotic. As the two sides clashed intensely, countless dead flies rained down from the Heavens.

Jingxin remained calm as she stared at the chaotic battlefield. She had utmost confidence in their abilities, and that was the only reason she had accepted Li Huowang’s request to begin with.

At that moment, Li Huowang placed both his palms together, his merciful voice turning low. “The righteous path of justice, the three paths to calmness, all temptations disappear in the boundless universe. May the Bodhisattva protect me.”

As soon as this chant rang out, the Buddha statue let out a bright light within the sky. This light enveloped Li Huowang, slowly turning his body into a golden Buddha statue.

At the same time, the same thing also happened to Dan Yangzi as his body was slowly turned into a gold statue. Gradually, Dan Yangzi’s grotesque organs started turning into gold as the light continued to affect his body.

As soon as the flies in the air saw this opportunity, they instantly swarmed Dan Yangzi.

Bzz Bzz Bzz

The group of flies expanded and slowly turned into a massive Bodhisattva sitting on a large lotus while holding a vase. Then, the entire statue gently fell toward the ground, growing smaller and smaller as it approached the ground. Even the hole in the sky started to shrink in size, inch by inch.

At the same time, the sound of chanting, the gongs, and the wooden fish slowly died down.

Back on the ground, two fat nuns held a large brush the size of a broom. The tip of the brush was dipped in the ashes contained within an incense burner. The nuns were staring at the flies with expectations in their eyes.

Looking at the scene, a sliver of greed flashed past Abbess Jingxin’s heart even though she was still chanting. The ritual would soon be coming to an end, and whatever the flies had acquired would be hers once everything finished.

Ah~ Such a rarity. I wonder what it will taste like.

Just as she thought that everything was going according to the plan, something suddenly went wrong.

The golden Li Huowang suddenly started coughing, his cough worsening with each passing moment.

“Something’s wrong! I can no longer feel his thoughts! That brat broke through our pure heart!” An old nun cried out in surprise.

Just as she said that, Li Huowang expanded his mouth to the extreme. A vomiting sound was heard as he clutched onto his own neck forcefully.

Soon, everyone was greeted with a disgusting scene. A few black and sticky tentacles emerged from within the mouth of the red-robed Taoist!

It was a Black Taisui, albeit an incomplete one. However, at the base of one of the tentacles was half of Dan Yangzi’s face!

“Aiya! The Buddha is not completely dead yet! He hasn’t turned into a true Buddha! The Buddha had just merged with the Black Taisui and hidden itself within Li Huowang’s stomach! We were wrong! The real body was here!”