Mutated Tao

Creak~

The wooden door slowly creaked open as Li Huowang observed the outside through the small crack. It was already evening, and it was very quiet outside. With the exception of a monk sweeping the floor some distance away, there was nothing unusual.

However, Li Huowang had already seen through the reality of the Righteous Monastery. To him, this was not a peaceful scene in the slightest.

All of this is fake! They can’t fool me! Since they are trying so hard to keep me here, they probably want me to go through their Great Fast of my own volition!

Just then, a thought flashed through his mind.

Wait, why are they doing all of this? I’m just a normal human. Since they are so strong, they could just force me to do what they wish. Why go through all this trouble?

He didn’t have an answer yet, but he didn’t need it now. What he needed right now was to escape this place as soon as possible.

The monks of the Righteous Monastery haven’t noticed anything strange about me just yet. I need to use this chance.

Even though there was no one else outside, Li Huowang did not try to escape just yet. He waited patiently. Time slowly passed as Li Huowang’s palms started sweating.

The heavy sound of a bell rang across the entire Righteous Monastery, causing Li Huowang to jump a little. He had learned that this bell being rung meant that it was 5 pm, which was the dinner time for the monks.

At that moment, Li Huowang opened the door and walked out calmly, following the monks toward the canteen. After all, it would be completely reasonable for him to appear there as he had been eating with the monks all this time.

Compared to the place he was currently living in, the canteen was quite a bit closer to the hall where the normal devotees came to pray. Since the opponent made use of illusion spells, it must mean that they do not want the normal devotees and people to see their dark side.

Along the way, Li Huowang noticed that many of the monks were silently staring at him and whispering to each other. It seemed that they were still discussing what had happened earlier. Their eyes, as they looked toward him, were filled with hostility, curiosity, and even jest.

But Li Huowang knew that all this was fake; they were all just putting up an act!

They must have the same goal as Xin Hui! No one here is a good person. They are all trying to harm me!

Li Huowang was certain about this.

He soon arrived at the canteen and saw a sea of bald heads. However, he didn’t run away and instead followed them and walked inside. He took a wooden bowl and got his meal before sitting down on the stool and calmly eating the vegetarian meal in front of him. Today’s meal consisted of yam soup, stir-fried konjac with fried tofu, stir-fried vegetables, as well as potato and squash stew. While there was no meat, the taste was indeed excellent.

Even so, after the entire incident earlier, Li Huowang no longer had much of an appetite. However, in order to fool them and avoid suspicion, he still didn’t dare to make any strange movements and just continued eating his food.

Pa!

At that moment, a hand suddenly patted his shoulder, scaring Li Huowang.

“Little Taoist! You are here too? Why did you run away earlier?” asked Monk.

Hearing the familiar voice, Li Huowang turned around with food still in his mouth. Sure enough, it was the old monk smiling at him while showing off his missing front tooth.

He had met Monk by chance while traveling. If it weren’t for him pulling Li Huowang to see those statues, then Li Huowang might’ve still been clueless about the situation.

Monk took his plate of food and sat beside Li Huowang. “Let’s eat together.”

Li Huowang glanced at the other monks and saw that there was nothing suspicious going on. He continued chewing as he said, “Sure.”

“Little Taoist, where are the rest of the people from your group? Why not ask them to come and stay with you? The food here is free. They don’t have to stay at the inn anymore,” Monk talked quite loudly, oblivious to the entire situation.

On the other hand, Li Huowang, who was anxiously trying to escape, couldn’t be bothered to talk to him. He ate at the same speed as usual and burped before walking out of the canteen.

Soon, he was once again on the brick road, and this time, Monk was chasing after him.

“Hey, don’t go just yet. Let’s talk for a bit. I’m so bored here,” said Monk.

As he licked the scraps of food stuck in his teeth, Li Huowang looked at him irritably. “Don’t follow me and go to bed.”

“What? It’s still too early to go to bed. Let me tell you something—” Monk said in a whining tone. However, Monk couldn’t even finish what he was about to say when he saw Li Huowang’s face turn sour.

At that moment, Li Huowang whispered to Monk aggressively, “Go! Run away from this place as soon as possible! This monastery is an extremely dangerous place!”

The very next second, Li Huowang ran as fast as he could toward the main hall.

The monks around them all noticed that Li Huowang was running away, but Li Huowang just ignored all of them.

He ran faster and faster, his heart beating at a rapid pace, and his attention raised to the limit, searching for traces of that old man Xin Hui.

100 feet! 50 feet! 10 feet!!!

When Li Huowang escaped through the side door and entered the main hall, his surroundings suddenly exploded with sound—the sound of footsteps, conversations, and the wooden fish, all entered his ears. He had returned to the main hall where everyone was burning incense sticks and praying to the Buddha. In fact, there were so many people that he was pushed slightly toward the side.

Standing in the crowd, Li Huowang was stunned as he looked at their oblivious faces.

At that moment, he suddenly realized something and turned back to look at the side door.

No one was there—not one person had chased him.

At the same time, none of the monks turned to look toward Li Huowang, be it the monks who were greeting the devotees or the monks who were divining fortunes.

To Li Huowang, all of this seemed completely normal. Way too normal.

Unless… All of it really had been my illusion? Those filthy things were just a figment of my imagination?

But Li Huowang dismissed that thought quite soon, shaking his head as he ran out of the Monastery.

He couldn’t risk it. Not in the slightest!

It was surprisingly easy for him to walk out of the monastery, almost just as easy as it had been to enter.

With his speed, he soon arrived at the inn. When he returned, the guiding drug ingredients and the assistants who hadn’t seen him in quite a while crowded around him.

“Senior Li, why are you back? Have you finished the business you had with the monastery?” asked one of them.

“No time to talk! Pack your stuff now! We need to leave, now!” said Li Huowang.

“Alright, let me go and contact troupe leader Lu,” said another one of the guiding drug ingredients.

“No. We are not waiting for them. We need to leave right now! Quick!” shouted Li Huowang.

“Senior Li, where are we going?” Bai Lingmiao asked.

“We are leaving this kingdom!” replied Li Huowang.

Chacha and Char’s Thoughts

RUN AWAY