Mutated Tao

Li Huowang had to try quite hard to stifle his laughter. He suddenly found it very humorous that he, as a Taoist, was asking for help from these nuns.

“Cough cough, esteemed masters, please don’t laugh anymore. I have an urgent problem, and it might be life-threatening if left unresolved,” Li Huowang explained.

“Follow me; let’s go find the Abbess. Right, it’ll cost two golden beans to show you the way,” declared the nun as an oily hand reached out toward Li Huowang.

On the other hand, the thing that Li Huowang was the least worried about was them wanting money. After all, any matter that could be resolved through money was not really an issue.

He directly passed two golden beans over before following the fat nun outside.

Just as they were about to leave the house, Li Huowang looked back at the other nuns inside with a hint of reluctance. He had a feeling that if he spent his time with these carefree nuns, it would be rather enjoyable. At this point, even the pungent stench in the air didn't seem so unbearable.

He followed the nun onto the small path outside the house once again. Li Huowang said to the nun guiding him, “I am Xuan Yang from Zephyr Temple. May I ask for your monastic name?”

“Miao Yu,” replied the fat nun as she picked her nose.

“Cough-cough… good name.” Li Huowang had to restrain himself to avoid laughing out loud. The name did not match her appearance in the slightest.

They walked for a while, and arrived at a row of short thatched houses. The fat nun directly walked in. “Wait here, I need to take a dump.”

“Sure, take your time,” said Li Huowang as he stifled his laughter, clasped his hands, and bowed.

“Ah~ Hehe.” Li Huowang stood beside the thatched house and stretched lazily. He felt rather at ease here. Here, Li Huowang wanted to smile at whatever he saw. His surroundings just seemed so cheerful.

Just as he was about to burst into laughter thinking about what had just happened, he suddenly felt everything around him begin to collapse. The white walls of a hospital began replacing everything around him, and some illusory figures started to solidify.

Li Huowang had just been feeling at ease, but now, his expression turned extremely ugly as he clutched his head tightly.

“No, not now! Just for a little while more, shh, shh! Help! Please, be quiet, shh~ shh~”

Almost as if his pleading had an effect, everything around him quietened down.

His expression was now quite pale, and he wiped off the cold sweat from his face as he stood up.

The Black Taisui’s effects were fading, and those hallucinations were about to come back after a long time. However, Li Huowang had to push these matters to the back of his mind for now. In the face of life and death, these hallucinations were but a small matter.

Li Huowang's mood grew gloomy as he recalled the recent events; he found it hard to feel cheerful anymore.

“Hai…” Li Huowang sighed.

Just then, he suddenly heard a sound and headed toward the toilet behind.

He was truly shocked when he saw the scene behind.

There was a bamboo fence surrounding the area behind the thatched house, and a few black, long-haired pigs were being raised within.

At this moment, yellow waste was spewing out from within the thatched house, and the black pigs were grunting within it.

This scene instantly caused Li Huowang to feel nauseous.

He had heard previously that the nuns from the Benevolent Nunnery reared pigs, but he hadn’t expected that they used something like this to feed them!

As he continued looking at the pigs, Li Huowang’s impression of the Benevolent Nunnery as a whole gradually started falling. The nuns here were extremely strange.

The black pigs grunted and scattered, and then Miao Yu stepped out from the thatched house. She saw Li Huowang standing by the pigsty, but did not say anything and continued to lead him onward.

“Let’s hurry; I still need to take a nap later,” said Miao Yu.

"Do you all eat the pigs that are raised like this?" Li Huowang suddenly asked.

“What are you talking about! Can’t you see we’re nuns? We believe in Buddhism, and we can’t eat meat. You’re a Taoist and don’t even understand this?” Miao Yu’s tone carried a strong sense of disdain, but then she became dejected again as she changed topics. “Ah, actually we didn’t want to feed the pigs or raise them either. However, nobody came to burn incense or give offerings, so we had to find some way to make money. After all, people can’t survive on thin air.”

“Indeed, indeed.” Li Huowang nodded in agreement and continued to follow behind her.

After going in circles for a while, Miao Yu brought Li Huowang to a house and stopped before it.

“The Abbess is inside. I’m not going in. Truthfully, I’m a little afraid of her. Oh, right, her monastic name is Jingxin,” said Miao Yu. Then, without waiting for Li Huowang’s response, she left.

Li Huowang looked at her retreating figure, then chuckled softly and headed in.

It was very dark within the house. There were also sounds of food being swallowed, and an even stronger stench. These peculiarities made Li Huowang subconsciously grab onto the bamboo slip inside his clothes.

Just as Li Huowang placed his right foot down to step toward the darkness, he felt like he had stepped onto something shriveled up, and quickly withdrew his foot.

“You may light a lamp, please. I’m blind, so I usually don’t need any light.” A frail and aged voice sounded from within the darkness.

“Yes, Abbess.” Li Huowang took out a glowing stone and threw it toward the direction he had just stepped in, instantly causing him to be startled by the strange thing he saw.

It was an extremely old and fat woman wearing a nun’s cap. Her eye sockets were hollow, her eyes replaced by two black voids. The skin on her face hung loosely, dragged by the fat around her neck, as though it was about to be peeled off at any moment.

Seeing such a sight in the dim room was undoubtedly terrifying.

However, what was more important was her body, rather than her face.

Her fat body almost filled the entire room. Her filthy skin was covered in bloody acne, and there even seemed to be something moving within the acne!

And at this moment, this woman was hugging a large basin, reaching in with both hands to devour the greasy food.

“Keke, this is uncommon. It’s rare for a Strayed One to come looking for me.” The terrifying, old nun spoke with her toothless mouth before continuing to eat. Though her appearance was extraordinarily scary, her voice was unexpectedly gentle. If there was no light, one would likely mistake her for just an ordinary elderly person.

However, Li Huowang did not have time to think about that. Once he heard this person mention ‘Strayed One’, he instantly went on high alert and prepared to withdraw.

“What are you afraid of? One look and I know that you’re a young child who doesn’t know anything. When would our Benevolent Nunnery need others as ingredients? We're too lazy to bother with that sort of thing. In fact, my own son is also a Strayed One,” said the Abbess.

“Oh?” Li Huowang perked up. “Then Abbess Jingxin, where is your son now?” This was the first time Li Huowang had heard about other Strayed Ones.

“He went mad. Strayed Ones typically have tragic fates. Going mad is considered a relatively better outcome for them,” explained the Abbess.

Then, Abbess Jingxin started to talk about her son’s story, her voice growing a little depressed.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

Nvm, no point washing my eyes with bleach if we gonna see characters like these in the novel from now on. This is Abbess Jing Xin, drawn by @格子的乱七八糟