Mutated Tao

“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?!”

As the wooden bamboo slip used Yuan Er’s human tongue to speak these words, everything around them started to distort. Everyone on the island felt their five senses undergo some sort of change simultaneously.

Sight, taste, smell, hearing—they all gradually morphed together into a novel sensation that went beyond ordinary human understanding.

Through this extraordinarily peculiar sensation, Li Huowang and the others transcended the boundaries of human perception.

In the deepest parts of the sky, within an unfathomable expanse of the dark abyss, there were countless realms that were even deeper and darker, their suns revolving. Something could be seen moving within.

At that moment, Li Huowang smelled a gaze being shot from that thing and felt a terrifying aura that made him shudder uncontrollably. He also saw a strange melody being produced when that thing moved even the slightest bit.

Boom~ Boom Boom~ Boom!

Though Li Huowang had a feeling that the thing was extremely far from himself, its melody was so entrancing and clear. He could not find a real-life equivalent of this melody. The only thing that even came close was the sound of thunder that had preceded the appearance of the God of Happiness.

But this thing was way stronger than the God of Happiness. By comparison, the God of Happiness was so weak that it was like comparing a grain of sand to a mountain.

This conclusion came to Li Huowang almost reflexively, as if he did not even need to understand his senses or what that thing was.

Should I attempt to commit suicide to let Dan Yangzi out? No! Dan Yangzi is nothing compared to this thing! The difference between them is too great!

Li Huowang was filled with despair when he thought up to this point.

An ordinary person had no ability to resist before that thing.

Just as Li Huowang had lost all hope and was waiting for his death, his five morphed and distorted senses inexplicably returned to normal.

“Eh?”

Before Li Huowang could understand what was going on, he gathered his strength and decisively grabbed his sword before quickly dashing toward Yuan Er.

Presently, Yuan Er was completely blind in both eyes and was barely breathing. The only movement he made was a turn of his head before it was completely severed by Li Huowang’s sword.

The moment Yuan Er’s severed head landed on the ground, everything around them returned to normal.

Li Huowang stood there, panting with his sword in his hand. Still shaken, he was looking up at the dark sky.

It was gone now, almost as if everything from before had been an illusion.

But Li Huowang knew that it hadn’t been an illusion; that thing truly existed.

He attempted to remember and piece together the things he had experienced and felt, but realized that he couldn't recall the sensation of that thing with his current senses.

Despite the fact that danger had passed, the island fell into an eerie silence.

Everyone was frozen in their spots, their eyes filled with fear. They too had seen the thing that Li Huowang saw. Their faces were deathly pale, and their bodies began to shake involuntarily. They all felt extremely cold—as if an icy chill had gripped their hearts.

That’s it? Yuan Er gave his all just to try and scare us?

As he looked at the others who were unharmed, a trace of doubt arose within Li Huowang’s heart. Oddly, the currently safe environment made him feel even more uneasy.

Li Huowang took a deep breath, then used his bloody sword to open the blood-red bamboo slip that had curled up. He found that the pieces of flesh inside it had all withered into black powder.

Li Huowang knelt down cautiously and began to examine the contents of the red bamboo slip.

The black words carved on the red bamboo slip were very small and seemed very strange. He had not seen these words before. But when he focused, he found that he could actually make out what they said.

"White pill... Precious dew... Swallow abdomen... Pluck bones..." muttered Li Huowang.

This was an extremely evil bamboo slip that recorded various methods of using extreme pain and other sacrifices to trade for something with an entity.

The easier methods involved inserting bamboo pieces under one's fingernails and prying them upward, using the leverage to pull out an entire fingernail.

One of the more severe methods involved chewing on a bunch of rusty iron shards and swallowing them.

As he read further, he saw that they even taught the reader how to sacrifice the flesh and bones of one’s own blood relatives, using them to make transactions with some entities.

The more he read, the more gruesome and horrifying the methods grew; it was almost to the point that they went beyond Li Huowang’s tolerance. By the time he finished reading half the bamboo slip’s contents, Li Huowang could not stop himself from vomiting.

All the pork from before was vomited. However, despite his deathly pale face, he endured his nausea, gritted his teeth, and continued reading.

He would not be at ease if he failed to find out what Yuan Er had been trying to do. After all, if he placed some sort of curse on them, there would be quite a lot of trouble.

He continued to read while suppressing his disgust before finally finding the method that Yuan Er had been trying to use.

It was the fourth-to-last method on the bamboo slip.

Yuan Er hadn’t just been trying to scare us. He wanted to summon something over but failed.

Ba-Hui.

That was the name of the thing that Yuan Er wanted to summon, and it was said to be the source of all types of suffering mentioned on this bamboo slip.

Yuan Er had failed in summoning it—he could not pay the price of summoning it.

As per the requirements written on the bamboo slip, it could be said that while his body was in extreme pain, his inner suffering was still not enough, even though his entire family had just died.

Summoning Ba-Hui required the utmost physical and mental agony.

Li Huowang turned around to glance at Yuan Er’s head, which was missing eyes and teeth. It seemed that he had just recently learned about the usage of this bamboo slip and was not yet proficient with using it.

But this was normal. Each method on the bamboo slip would bring the user closer to death, and one would probably not be able to live long enough to become proficient in it.

Despite the immediate danger having passed, Li Huowang was still not at ease. He did not care where the bandits had obtained this disgusting bamboo slip. What made him more concerned was who had written it.

Could there be another sect similar to the Righteous Monastery?

Unlike the monks who practiced techniques related to the flesh and blood, could it be that this sect cultivates techniques related to the ultimate suffering?

But if they practiced such techniques according to the contents written on the bamboo slip, there probably wouldn’t be many survivors left.

Unless… their sect has some method to undergo all the suffering without dying.

Li Huowang began to wildly conjecture as he continued to look at the bamboo slip.

At this point, Li Huowang came to understand that despite his darkest suspicions about this place, he had still been too optimistic.

This place was much more dangerous than he had ever imagined. He already knew about unique existences like the Immortal families and the God of Happiness.

But today’s experience was quite an eye-opener for him. He realized that there were some far more terrifying things out there.

Dazed, Li Huowang mumbled to himself. “Ba-Hui…”

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

So basically sacrificing something to get something in return? Sounds like Full Metal Alchemist to me, except those powers seems like one time use only