Mutated Tao

“Come and take a look! Are you satisfied with these?” Zu Dexi asked, pointing at the items laid out on the ground.

A variety of items were displayed before Li Huowang. Most of them were rusted swords, while the rest were stored in vials.

“What the? All of these are rusted. They are nothing but scrap metal,” Puppy said as he knelt down, inspected the items, and started haggling with the man.

“You can still use them after you polish them a little. Do you think I would have the chance to obtain superior quality weapons out here?” the man asked.

On the other hand, Li Huowang did not pay much attention to the swords; instead, his focus was on the vials. He knelt down and inspected them but found that nothing was written on them.

“The Taoist surely knows his goods. To think that you would understand the value of such quality items,” praised Zu Dexi.

While Zu Dexi was kneeling beside Li Huowang, and was somewhat repulsed by the smell of blood and smoke from his robes, he was not afraid. On the contrary, he was excited.

“Taoist, that’s something really nice. It’s a poison called Half-step. Put some of it in a person’s water, and they will die in the time it would take for them to take just a half step. I’m selling it cheap for three pieces of silver per bottle.”

“Oh! You have quite discerning eyes! That’s something really good as well. It’s called the Red Crane. You only need an amount the size of your fingernail to send someone straight to hell. Five pieces of silver per bottle.”

“This is something even more amazing!! You only need to take one of these pills, and you would be able to handle two women in one night! This was something that was custom made for Second Head Liu of Wolf’s Head Mountain. However, I can sell it to you for an extra fee.”

Hearing Zu Dexi go on and on about his wares, Li Huowang stood up impatiently. “Just about everything seems to be a treasure in your eyes. Fine, I want the first two items. Puppy, bring the money from the cart.”

“Taoist, you are quite generous!” Zu Dexi was smiling so hard that his eyes had become thin slits. “Are you sure you don’t want this too? I can make it cheaper for you. Even if you don’t use it now, you might want to use it when you are older. It’s definitely something good to have, considering that it helps you extend your family’s bloodline.”

Li Huowang didn’t bother to give him a reply, instead turning to his group. “You guys, choose some weapons you like. Having one is better than having none.”

Hearing his words, everyone except Bai Lingmiao and Xiaoman, the two girls, approached the cart and started checking the wares.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang stored the two vials of poison and turned to Lu Zhuangyuan. “Troupe leader Lu, why don’t you buy something to defend yourself?”

Lu Zhuangyuan shook his head. “No need. If we happen to encounter bandits as we are now, we would lose our money at most. However, if we took up weapons to defend ourselves, then we would die if we failed.”

“Hoho, it seems that you’ve thought it out quite well. Looks like everyone has their own plans,” Li Huowang said as he lay back down on the donkey cart to rest.

Soon, everyone returned from around the mule cart. Puppy and the rest now had their weapons. Even if they didn’t know how to use them, at least they would look much more menacing.

Just as they were swinging their weapons around, Bai Lingmiao approached Li Huowang with a thread and needle in her hands and started fixing Li Huowang’s Taoist robes.

“Senior Li, after purchasing all of these things, we have used up over half of our money. We only have five pieces of silver left,” said Bai Lingmiao, feeling worried.

“We will be traveling for a very long time. We would have needed to buy something to defend ourselves with anyway,” said Li Huowang. He already had the bronze bell and could even summon Dan Yangzi by mutilating himself. He didn’t need such mundane weapons. However, he couldn’t trust himself. He was worried that he would be stuck in his hallucination once the effects of the Black Taisui wore off. If that were to happen, then no one else would be capable of protecting them—they would be nothing but sheep meant to be slaughtered.

“Senior Li, the weapons would work against bandits, but if we could learn superpowers like the ones that Dan Yangzi had, then we would be unbeatable!” Puppy brought his blade over as he sighed.

“You want to learn superpowers? Even if an expert were here, they might even teach you. Also…” Li Huowang suddenly remembered how Dan Yangzi refined pills, using live humans as ingredients, as well as the bizarre cultivation method used by the monks of the Righteous Monastery. “Also, even if they were to teach you, you might not be able to learn them as a normal human.”

Even though he didn’t have much experience, Li Huowang had a feeling that the other sects in this world would also be similar to Dan Yangzi and the Righteous Monastery.

Puppy chuckled before bringing one of the guiding drug ingredients who only had one arm with him toward the creek. “Come, let’s find some stones to polish the blades of our weapons from the creek.”

Just then, Simpleton’s massive frame appeared before Li Huowang like a wall. “I… I…”

“No need. You can’t use a sword. Just practice using your club. That is the only thing that would be able to complement your strength,” said Li Huowang as he lay back down to rest.

Their quick encounter with the merchant ended, and soon the two groups were once again on their way.

Days passed slowly as they passed through several villages. Except for the days when they helped the Lu family set up a stage to perform, they continued traveling.

In the meantime, the wound on Li Huowang’s neck slowly healed.

Standing next to a jar of water, Li Huowang checked his neck using the surface of the water as a mirror and saw that there was a visible scar on his neck.

“It’s not too bad. If I lower my head, it isn’t too obvious,” said Li Huowang as he turned and looked toward Bai Lingmiao, who had her white hands massaging her temples.

“Why the long face? Did something unfortunate happen?” asked Li Huowang.

“Senior Li, we just purchased some food for us and the donkeys earlier. Now, we are left with only one piece of silver and 345 coins,” said Bai Lingmiao.

“That little? You are kidding.” Li Huowang walked out from a temporary farmhouse they were staying in and approached the Lu family’s stage.

“All that money was supposed to last longer, but ever since everyone started practicing with their weapons, everyone has been so famished that they have been eating too much. Simpleton even eats an entire kilogram of noodles per meal! That’s two kilograms per day if we eat two meals!” explained Bai Lingmiao.

“But that practice is not rubbish. Since we bought those weapons, we must practice using them. At the very least, they must learn how to slash and stab with them,” said Li Huowang.

Even if it was only a simple swing, there was a large difference between someone who practiced every day and someone who just carried it around. At the very least, their chances of victory would increase if they were to lace their swords with poison before fighting an enemy.

Li Huowang stared at the group of people helping the Lu family disassemble the stage.

“We only have enough money for one more month. After that, we will have to starve,” said Bai Lingmiao.

“So the problem is that we don’t have enough money, huh?” remarked Li Huowang.

Li Huowang rubbed his chin and looked at the Lu family.

They probably earned a lot of money throughout this journey. I can just take it from them, and then all our problems would be solved.

Just as he had this thought, he stopped himself. How could he have such thoughts? Lu Zhuangyuan might be cunning, but he was still an honest man trying to make a living. How could he think about taking the money from him?

Li Huowang’s mood instantly dropped.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

Remember a couple of chapters back where the Wandering God was granted a physical body by Jian Dun? Yeah, this was how it looked like @格子的乱七八糟