Mutated Tao

"Hoo~ hoo~" Li Huowang panted heavily as he climbed the mountain. The oil-paper bags he was carrying in his hand swayed with his difficult ascent.

The mountain path leading up Henghua Mountain was incredibly difficult to traverse. It didn’t have proper steps, and it was still quite unbearable even after the trips he had made before. His clothes were soaked with sweat, and his tender skin was chafed to the point that it was painful.

“Woof! Woof woof!!” Bun had already reached the mountain gate of Benevolent Nunnery and was wagging its tail at its owner.

When Li Huowang finally arrived at the gate with great effort, he noticed that Bun had been patiently waiting for him. Dogs had much better stamina than humans.

"Why are you following me? Go back!" Li Huowang's words were obviously not understood by Bun. The dog shook its head and wagged its tail before approaching Li Huowang and affectionately licking his fingers.

After taking a break near the couplet written in Women’s Script at the mountain gate, Li Huowang caught his breath, covered his nose, and started walking toward the roof-less temple in the distance.

Benevolent Nunnery was still the same as ever—dirty, smelly, and in ruins.

The swamp of half-rotten food in the nunnery had lessened a lot. It was unknown whether it was eaten or had just rotten away.

"Why did you bring your dog up? The feces in the nunnery are used to feed the pigs, not your dog," said Miao Yu warily as she approached Li Huowang.

Miao Yu was about to speak, but then a greedy expression appeared on her face, “Give me some of the snacks in your hands, and I’ll tell you.”

“I’m afraid that won’t do,” Li Huowang smiled and clasped his hands together toward her before turning toward Abbess Jingxin’s residence. He made several turns through the dilapidated nunnery, and found his destination.

The wall that had been torn down earlier had been rebuilt. Li Huowang could see Abbess Jingxin inside the room.

At present, she had once again returned to her original state. The only things that had changed were her two dark eye sockets, and her mouth which had receded inward due to being toothless.

“Ah~ Green bean cakes! Are they from the Prosperity Bakery down the mountain? Their green bean cakes are the best. And so are their sweetheart cakes, and their red bean paste mooncakes,” exclaimed Jingxin.

Li Huowang just watched as Jingxin lugged her skin folds and crawled over, using her black hands as support. Once she reached him, he handed the snacks over to her.

He could see that Abbess Jingxin didn’t have any teeth as she grabbed the bag of snacks. Then, without even peeling off the brown paper packaging, she started chewing on it with her red gums.

Seeing this, Li Huowang reached his hand into her mouth to remove the oil paper, and said, “Abbess, thank you for your guidance before. If not for your help, I would likely be dead already.”

However, Abbess Jingxin did not stop at all, focusing all her attention on the snacks as she stuffed her mouth full of food.

Li Huowang continued to wait patiently as he watched Abbess Jingxin enjoy her snacks. This bag of green bean cakes weighed about 3.5 pounds. Normal people would take a long time to finish it, but it was not at all challenging for the Abbess.

When only a few pieces were left, Abbess Jingxin reluctantly stopped. Then, she used the paper bags to rearrange the green bean cakes as she placed them aside.

“Is your Master gone? Let me take a look,” said Abbess Jingxin as she reached out her hands toward Li Huowang.

After she carefully examined his abdomen, she withdrew her hands. “Ah, looks like you are right; your Master is indeed not around anymore. Those fellows from the Ao Jing Sect can still be considered useful.”

Hearing this, Li Huowang glanced at Dan Yangzi who was nearby and nodded in agreement, “Indeed. Thank you, Abbess, for your help.”

“Since you’re thanking me, how come you didn’t buy more snacks? Was this 3.5 pounds of snacks for me to put in between my teeth?” She said with some displeasure as she picked up the remaining cakes and sniffed them greedily. Then, she directly stuffed them in between the folds of her skin.　　

“Alright, I’ll bring more on my next visit,” reassured Li Huowang.

“Good! You better keep your word! I’ll remember it. The thing that I hate the most is when people don’t keep their promises, especially when it comes to matters related to food,” said Jingxin.

The tone of their conversation had clearly become much friendlier than before.

“Right, Abbess, you instructed Junior Bai to have me pay you a visit. Do you have any instructions?” Li Huowang asked.

Hearing this question, Jingxin fell silent for a long time before asking, “Where’re you going next?”

“Sending my juniors home.”

“And after that?”

“To look for a way to resolve my issues as a Strayed One,” Li Huowang spoke calmly, his tone brimming with determination.

Jingxin was not the slightest bit surprised at Li Huowang’s reply. “You sure are stubborn. Go on then; maybe you’ll turn around after you end up hitting a dead end.”

“We can speak about that when I hit the dead end. If I’m forever stuck between reality and hallucination, then it’s not much better than being dead.”

“Hmm, spoken well, spoken well…”

Li Huowang’s heart was stirred when he saw her reaction. “Abbess, do you have any guidance on how to break free of the condition of a Strayed One?”

“What guidance can I provide? If I could, then my son wouldn’t have gone crazy. However, I won’t stop you if you want to go down this road. How about this? I’ll sell you a weapon for self-defense during your journey,” offered Jingxin as she pointed toward a dark corner of her room.

“Weapon?” Li Huowang looked toward the dark corner pointed by Jingxin. There, lying in the corner was a longsword.

Li Huowang walked over and extended his arm to grasp the sword, only to find that it was surprisingly heavy.

He held the sword and brought it before Abbess Jingxin before gently waving the sword. In an instant, an intense aura filled the entire house. At the same time, a wave of heat surged through Li Huowang’s mind, turning his eyes red. His body started to tremble uncontrollably, and he felt as though there was something continuously flowing into him from the sword hilt.

Li Huowang used all his strength to sheath the sword, after which, everything returned to normal. He gasped for breath, his heart pounding.

“It’s normal for military items to have some level of ominous aura. Normal people may be easily affected by it, but it’s fine since you’re a Strayed One. This small amount of ominous aura isn’t capable of dispersing your sense of doubt and confusion. This sword can be used for killing people and exorcizing evil spirits. It will be good to defend yourself with during your journey. In the future, don’t use the Profound Records; it will bring you much agony,” said Jingxin.

Li Huowang looked at the longsword in his hand with shock. Even if he did not know anything about weapons, just based on that single moment, he knew that this sword was extraordinary, and was definitely an item that should be treasured.

“Abbess, you said that you wanted to sell this sword to me, right? However, I don’t have the money to afford it.”

“No problem, you can just write an IOU. 30,000 taels of yellow gold should be enough, along with interest. In case, mind you, just in case, if you really do find a way to break free from the condition of a Strayed One, you must let me know.”

Hearing this, Li Huowang had a complex look on his face. He could tell that the part about the IOU was said in jest, and what she really wanted from him was what she said after that.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

30,000 GOLD?!

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