Mutated Tao

“What do you want to be called?” Li Huowang stared at the dog wagging its tail. Even though it was still skinny, at the very least its ears were free from the dense mass of ticks after Li Huowang had taken care of it for a few days. Both of its ears were a bloody mess from being bitten by ticks; it would take some time to heal even with Li Huowang giving it some pills.

“Uuuu~” The dog sat on the ground as it stared at Li Huowang curiously. It stared at its surroundings alertly before lowering its head and gently placing its skinny head underneath Li Huowang’s hand as it attempted to get some headpats.

Seeing this, Li Huowang gently patted the dog’s head and smiled.

He had previously thought that something was wrong with the dog a couple of nights ago. But after he was trapped in the hallucination one too many times, his opinion of the dog had changed.

If the dog had been an enemy, then it would’ve acted when Li Huowang was trapped in the hallucination.

For the time being, even though he didn’t know where it came from, he had concluded that it was just a normal dog.

Li Huowang took out a steamed bun from his bag and threw it on the ground. Seeing this, the dog immediately pounced toward the steamed bun and ate it happily.

“Since you like steamed buns so much, I should just call you Bun.” Li Huowang nonchalantly gave it a name.

“Woof woof!” Bun excitedly leaped into the air, as if it was reacting to Li Huowang’s words.

Li Huowang extended his right hand, using his barely grown out fingernails to gently groom the fur on the dog’s neck. “Since you don’t have a home, you can just follow me. Having you by my side will also be convenient for me. At the very least, you can help me stand watch during the night and talk to me during the day. You can even accompany me when I’m trapped within a hallucination. It’s better than nothing. I also want to see if I could accidentally end up hurting someone here while I’m trapped in my hallucination, so I suppose you will be my first test subject.”

By the time Li Huowang finished talking, Bun had just finished eating. Then, Bun licked its lips while staring at Li Huowang expectantly.

“I suppose you can’t understand what I’m talking about. Let’s go, we are almost there.” Li Huowang patted Bun on the head and stood up while staring at his destination, the mountain range in the distance. As he stared at the mountain range, the lighthearted atmosphere disappeared. As he thought about what the nuns had told him about the Ao Jing Sect, his face gradually turned gloomy.

The Abbess had told him that they might have a method to get rid of Dan Yangzi. However, it was a dangerous sect, as evidenced by the fact that the Profound Records originated from there.

Li Huowang hated being passive like this, but he had no choice—either he could trust them or choose death.

“Let’s go.”

A Taoist in red walked alongside a yellow dog toward the mountain range in the distance.

Throughout their journey, Li Huowang truly experienced the meaning of ‘easier said than done’; the mountain looked quite close, but it was in fact very far away.

After two days, they finally arrived at the foot of the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain was a town… or at least what used to be a town. The houses were all in ruins, there were a lot of skeletons, and there were cobwebs covering almost everything. All this indicated that the town had experienced a deadly disaster.

Li Huowang felt an intense disgust when he saw a small skeleton that had been sliced in half with only its top part still remaining intact.

Whoever did all this was inhumane! They were even worse than Dan Yangzi!

He slowly walked through the village as a thought popped up in his mind.

Was all this done by the Ao Jing Sect?

Even though he had never met anyone from the Ao Jing sect, Li Huowang’s impression of them started to change.

He walked around for half a day and found that everyone in the town was dead. The only living things found in the town were the rats that were hidden in the corners and nibbling on something.

When the rats saw Li Huowang and Bun approaching them, they too scurried away.

There was nothing Li Huowang could do; everyone in the town was already dead and he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to protect himself.

Thus, he increased his pace and quickly exited the town.

After exiting the gloomy town, he saw a curved path ahead of him. The path snaked out the mountain. Since it was the only path into the mountains, it was likely that the Ao Jing Sect was located at the end of the path.

Li Huowang looked at Bun with its tongue sticking out and gently used his legs to tap its abdomen before they started climbing up the mountain.

Staring at the sparse foliage on the mountain, Li Huowang became much more alert; there was no saying how the other side would react when they found out that he was a Strayed One.

“Woof woof!” At that moment, Bun started barking toward the right side of the forest.

Seeing this, Li Huowang immediately placed his hand on the Profound Records.

Shruff shruff~

At that moment, a hedgehog ran through the path and in the opposite direction.

Without letting his guard down, Li Huowang cautiously looked toward the direction the hedgehog had run off to. Then, he slowly walked toward the area and found several temples in ruins.

“Is this the Ao Jing Sect’s Cross Temple?” Li Huowang mumbled to himself as he examined a symbol on the temple ruins. It was not the cross he was familiar with. This cross was akin to a skinny, black clover. In fact, it looked more like a dehydrated clover, twisted and dry.

Staring at the overgrown grass in front of the temple, Li Huowang had a bad feeling in his heart.

Ao Jing sect being decimated would be an even worse situation than being attacked by them.

Maybe they aren’t the ones who attacked the town and killed everyone in it? Maybe they were attacked by whoever did it?

Li Huowang looked quite gloomy when he walked further inward.

This time, he concentrated on finding every single hiding place in the surrounding forest. As expected, he found a gathering spot of the Cross Temple. It was an empty space with a statue of the deity worshiped by them.

On the altar was a large black cross. Another statue sat on the black cross, depicting a figure being burned alive. The statue was very detailed and looked very much alive. The shimmering fire, the molten skin and flesh, as well as the curled and singed hair. All the details were quite immaculate.

But the statue did not have a head. Everything above its neck had been obliterated.

Did the Ao Jing Sect offend someone it shouldn’t have?

Li Huowang was worried.

The Ao Jing Sect should be quite strong considering that it could offend the Benevolent Nunnery and still survive. He also knew about the prowess of the Profound Records.

What kind of being was capable of destroying the Cross Temple of the Ao Jing Sect?

Just then, Li Huowang found something. He wiped off the cobwebs below the altar, revealing a sentence carved into it. “The Sacrificial God is eternal. The Mother of all Beings, the Gateway of Creation, is the basis of the Heavens and the Earth! From nothing to something, birthing the Heavens and the Earth.”

Li Huowang once more raised his head after reading the words and stared at the statue sitting on the black cross. "Is he the Sacrificial God?”

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