Mutated Tao

I can’t let Dan Yangzi come out again.

This was the conclusion Li Huowang arrived at after carefully pondering the series of events that followed each of Dan Yangzi’s appearances.

Li Huowang noticed a clear pattern when comparing Dan Yangzi’s first appearance when Li Huowang encountered the God of Happiness, his second appearance when Li Huowang was dealing with the Buddhas, and his third appearance from today.

The first time, he could vaguely hear Dan Yangzi’s voice.

The second time, he could clearly see his appearance.

And now, during the third time, not only could he interact with Dan Yangzi, but Dan Yangzi could also use his killing intent to control Li Huowang’s emotions, and even cause him to not be able to recognize some common words.

No matter what Dan Yangzi had become, his influence on Li Huowang was growing stronger with each appearance.

One thing was clear—Dan Yangzi had never been kind-hearted. Everything he had done was in order to seize Li Huowang’s body. While Li Huowang might not die under his protection, it probably would not take long before Li Huowang turned into him completely.

Li Huowang absolutely could not accept that situation—he would rather die than turn into the person he hated the most.

At that moment, a pair of fair-skinned hands stretched out and gently held his right hand.

Frowning, he looked up to see that pair of pink eyes filled with concern and gently shook his head. He did not explain anything.

Then, Li Huowang picked up the Huayan Sutra, opened it to a random page, and scanned it briefly.

This book is useless.

Once Li Huowang came to this conclusion, he casually tossed the Huayan Sutra back into the wooden box.

After looking through its contents, Li Huowang recalled that back in the Righteous Monastery, this was the book recited by different monks—this was just a widely circulated scripture that was probably available in any random bookstore. By comparison, the gold jewelry and the silver pieces were definitely more valuable.

When Li Huowang looked toward all the valuables once again, he saw Puppy and the others excitedly pulling the box full of valuables out of the house. But it could be seen that it was quite laborious; after all, the valuables were made of metal.

“Don’t take the silver pieces. Just take the gold accessories. All that gold will be enough to cover our expenses on the journey,” advised Li Huowang.

Hearing this, Puppy jumped up anxiously. “Senior Li! These are silver pieces! Shiny silver pieces!”

Li Huowang kicked the heavy box with his foot, then said, “Do you know just how heavy these silver pieces are? We still need to take the boat. If the boat capsizes, do you plan to swim with all these silver pieces? All this gold will be enough to feed us for a lifetime. Don’t be too greedy and let’s hurry.”

But Puppy was still reluctant, and started to stuff silver ingots into his clothes. “Then at least let me take some. This silver will be enough to buy a few wives and cows.”

Li Huowang could not be bothered with him. He just took all the gold then turned around to leave with the others.

Meanwhile, Puppy tried to catch up to them but started panting after taking just a few steps. As he saw the rest of them get further and further away, he stamped his foot in frustration, and hastily threw away some of the silver ingots before once again trying to catch up to them.

Just as Li Huowang stepped out of the warehouse and was about to bring the others outside, he paused, then walked toward the kitchen.

Not long after, he emerged again, this time carrying their two fallen brethren’s bodies in his hands.

“Go to the village and find a few jars. When we go out, cremate them and collect their ashes. Even if we can’t bring them back to their families alive, we should at least return their remains,” instructed Li Huowang.

“Yes, Senior Li,” replied one of the guiding drug ingredients.

Just as they were about to move to find jars, a beam of blood-red light streaked from the side, whistling toward them.

“Dodge!” Li Huowang immediately tensed up and instinctively flung himself backward.

The beam of red light streaked past his chest and easily cut the two dead bodies in half.

Seeing this, Li Huowang was drenched in cold sweat. If it hadn’t been for their bodies, he would have been the one cut in half.

“Find cover! There are still others inside the stockade!” shouted Li Huowang.

At the same time, Li Huowang took out the bell with one hand, held his sword in his other hand, and cautiously peeked his head out from behind a large vat. He noticed some blood-stained white fragments in the distance.

What was it that just attacked us?

He soon received the answer to that question.

Dull footsteps sounded, and a person slowly walked out from the shadows.

Xiaoman threw a piece of glowing stone at the new arrival’s feet, illuminating his face. They all recognized this person; he was the boat captain from earlier.

This guy’s not dead?!

This was the only thought going through everyone’s minds, including Li Huowang’s.

Meanwhile, blood was flowing out of Yuan Er’s mouth as he held a peculiar and reddened bamboo slip in one hand and a black iron plier in the other.

When Li Huowang saw Yuan Er bleeding from the mouth, he immediately realized what those white things were.

“Come out! Come out! Taoist! You also have your moments of weakness, huh!” shouted Yuan Er.

Yuan Er’s eyes were bloodshot as he reached the pliers into his mouth, clamped down onto his incisor before yanking it out.

Then, he moved his bloody mouth and chanted something toward the blood-red bamboo slip. As he did that, the tooth was rapidly enveloped by a bloody mist before shooting into a room beside him like a shooting star.

Xiaoman’s cries rang out from within, making Li Huowang’s heart skip a beat.

Ring ring ring!

The clanging sound of the bell rang out, and two Wandering Gods appeared as they flew straight toward Yuan Er while staying close to the ground.

“Pah!” Yuan Er once again spat out a large mouthful of blood toward the ground and raised the pliers in his hand. However, this time, he did not try to yank out his teeth; instead, he stabbed it straight into his one remaining eye.

With a pop, his eyeball burst, and a strange light started to envelope the surroundings, causing the two Wandering Gods to fall to the ground. It was almost as if they were stuck to the ground.

“Die! All of you, die!” After hollering loudly, Yuan Er took out a small knife from his waist and stabbed it into his own throat. Despite the extreme pain causing his entire body to shudder, he mutilated himself, cutting off pieces of his own flesh.

At that moment, the bell rang out once again, causing a dozen Wandering Gods to converge from all directions as they sped toward Yuan Er.

However, when Yuan Er placed the pieces of his sliced-up flesh onto the bamboo slip in his hand, all the Wandering Gods around them vanished.

At the same time, when Yuan Er’s sliced-up flesh was rolled up within the bamboo slip, that inanimate object suddenly came to life.

Then, the bamboo slip began to speak in a duck-like voice using Yuan Er’s tongue and vocal cords as its own.

When this strange duck-like voice rang out, there was a sudden change in the surroundings.

“A tongue to turn the wheel of reincarnation! An eyelash for the boundless universe! Words cannot describe the intricacies of the realm! The sinister Heavens reveal what was hidden! My Master, the highest authority! Who dares disturb it?!”

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

Uh oh. Something big is coming. Everytime they start chanting some eldritch horror just pops out from nowhere