Mutated Tao

Li Huowang asked everyone around him and was surprised by what he heard from them.

“Senior Li, what are you talking about? There are no Monks with us at all. Forget that, and come help us; their archers are too strong!”

“Wait… Not even one Monk? Are both Monks part of my illusion? How could this be? There must be at least one of them here! No, this is impossible!” mumbled Li Huowang before staring at Yang Xiaohai. “When we were sending the urn of ashes, we encountered Monk and we even talked to him along the way! How can you possibly say that you didn’t see him?”

The anxious Yang Xiaohai was lying flat on the ground as he stared at the enemies in fear. Hearing Li Huowang’s question, he turned around, “Senior Li, there is no Monk. No one followed us along when we were sending the ashes.”

“Impossible! I was talking to him the entire time. If he had been a fake, then that would have meant that I was talking to nothing but air. Are you blind? Why did you not tell me if I was talking to the air all that time?”

Yang Xiaohai cried from the pressure. “But Senior Li, you often talk with non-existent people. How would I know that this time was different?”

Shocked, Li Huowang fell onto the ground. “I speak to myself all the time? Then… what is real… and what is fake?”

As he mumbled, Li Huowang stared at the people surrounding him, smiling madly.

Bai Lingmiao, Puppy, Sun Baolu, Chun Xiaoman, Yang Xiaohai, Gao Zhijian, Lu Zhuangyuan, Lu Juren, Lu Xiucai, and everyone else. Their faces flashed in front of his eyes.

“Maybe… some of them are fake as well? Is this world the real one? Or is this side fake and the other side real? Which is fake?”

At that moment, the Monk closer to him pulled Li Huowang up from the ground. “See? I was right. You are indeed Peng Zhi, the one who doubts everyone the most. It’s normal for you to always feel like something is off. If you think that the Monk standing there is real, then you can just go and touch him. The illusion of the Monk is over there, come! Let me bring you over to him!”

Li Huowang’s mind was still buzzing when this Monk pulled him toward the other Monk.

Both Monks looked the same and were no different from each other.

“Taoist, are you alright?” asked the other Monk as he came over.

When the illusion of the Monk came over, Li Huowang’s right hand phased through him. The Monk standing beside him was right—the one in front of him was nothing but an illusion, just like Jiang Yingzi.

“That means…” muttered Li Huowang, his face filled with pain.

“See? Didn’t your hand phase right through? That means that I am real and that I am telling you the truth. You are Peng Zhi! You are not Li Huowang. We need to work together to—” said Monk before suddenly stopping halfway as he lowered his head—there was a blade embedded in his abdomen.

“Why?” asked Monk in a weak and trembling voice, feeling shocked as he looked at Li Huowang. “Wasn’t the other Monk fake just like I told you? Why do you choose to ignore my words? Even though I’ve helped you so much throughout your journey, you are still trying to kill me?”

Li Huowang gritted his teeth and thrust his sword deeper into Monk’s abdomen. “You are right, he was indeed fake. But… I am not Peng Zhi… I am Li Huowang!”

“Why? Why do you suddenly think that you are Li Huowang? Earlier, you had even been on the verge of believing me!”

Li Huowang snarled as he stabbed deeper into Monk. “I don’t need any reasons! I am Li Huowang! I don’t need any logic or evidence to prove my identity! Even if there’s evidence showing that I am Peng Zhi, I still believe I am Li Huowang!”

Then, Li Huowang took a few steps forward and pinned Monk against the horse carriage.

Red blood flowed out from Monk’s robes as he stared weakly at Li Huowang, using the last of his strength to question Li Huowang, “You… Have you ever thought that you might kill the wrong person? What if I am right?”

Li Huowang took a deep breath and shouted at Monk, “So what if you are right? So what if I am Peng Jiao?! I don’t care! I am Li Huowang! I AM THE LI HUOWANG THAT MY MOTHER AND YANG NA CARE FOR THE MOST! NO ONE CAN TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME!”

After Li Huowang’s outburst was finished, Monk lowered his head.

Staring at the dead Monk, Li Huowang’s face twitched as he continued to mumble to himself, “I am Li Huowang, I am Li Huowang, I am Li Huowang …”

Every time he mentioned his name, killing intent arose within his heart. He kept thinking back to the birthday cake he had seen earlier.

“If the Li Huowang that Yang Na loved existed, then I would just kill him and steal his identity!” muttered Li Huowang.

Hearing this, Dan Yangzi’s three faces turned scornful as he scoffed at him.

“Sigh… why are you such a crazy bastard? I had already been doing such a good job fooling you, so why aren’t you following my plan? Why did you suddenly attack me? Ah! Such a hassle. But, it was so fun just now,” Suddenly, the dead Monk spoke up, his face morphing into a rectangle while his facial organs melted and turned into two large circles.

Seeing this sudden change, Li Huowang was first surprised before becoming extremely angry. “I FUCKING KNEW IT! You are a liar! No, you are not just a liar, you are from the Sitting Oblivion Dao! You are Er Bing[1]!”

Li Huowang instantly realized who it was when he saw the face resembling a mahjong tile. He was a member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao that the Abbess had warned him about.

“Aaaaaaa! This is so annoying! You had already started to believe me, but then why did you suddenly attack me? You are such a crazy bastard!”

Er Bing’s face quickly morphed into that of a beautiful woman. Then, she chuckled and quickly leaped to the top of the horse carriage.

As soon as all of the assailants spotted Er Bing, they stopped.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang ran up to the roof of the carriage and saw that Er Bing had joined their attackers and was getting further away.

Seeing how the Nuo Opera performers and the bandits didn’t attack her, Li Huowang knew that she was the one who had orchestrated all of this!

There are no Three Corpses!

Everything had been a lie created by the Sitting Oblivion Dao!

1. Er Bing refers to the name of the mahjong tile that this fellow's face resembles and thats why Li Huowang calls them that ☜

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

So here's an explanation on what the Three Corpses are:

The sanshi 三尸 "Three Corpses" or sanchong 三蟲 "Three Worms" are a Daoist physiological belief that demonic creatures live inside the human body, and they seek to hasten the death of their host. These three supernatural parasites allegedly enter the person at birth and reside in the three dantian "energy centers", respectively located within the head, chest, and abdomen.

For a Daoist adept to achieve the longevity of an Immortal, it was necessary to expel the Three Corpses from the body. Since these evil spirits feed upon decaying matter produced by grains being digested in the intestines, the practice of abstinence from grains and cereals is the first step towards expelling them. It weakens them to the point where they can be killed with alchemical drugs and ultimately eliminated through meditation techniques.

There's an entire wikipage with information of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Corpses

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