Mutated Tao

“No!” Li Huowang replied, adamantly denying her request. But when he saw how wronged Bai Lingmiao felt, Li Huowang’s tone became gentle as he explained, “Actually, there’s no method to learn; there’s only endless suffering. Trust me, compared to going through that, losing an arm is nothing much.”

If Chun Xiaoman wanted Ba-Hui to notice her, then she would have to experience the utmost of physical and mental pain. Having experienced that twice, only Li Huowang knew what he had to go through.

He didn’t want his companions to experience the same sense of despair as him. At the same time, he was afraid that Chun Xiaoman might end up going crazy.

“Oh, I just thought that it would be quite a shame for Chun Xiaoman to lack an arm from such a young age,” said Bai Lingmiao.

“Don’t worry. There must be other methods to regrow an arm in this crazy world. We will just have to find them,” assured Li Huowang. However, he didn’t even know whether he was consoling himself or Bai Lingmiao.

Just then, Li Huowang sniffed the air. “Do you smell something? Why does it stink?”

“Senior Li, you have a lot of dead flesh on you. Given that it is rotting, it would naturally smell bad,” replied Bai Lingmiao.

“Rot? Smells bad?” muttered Li Huowang. Then, he suddenly started laughing. This was a laughter that came from the bottom of his heart.

‘Decay’ had reappeared in this world, meaning that the world had started returning back to normalcy.

Does this mean that the Abbess came back to life?

Li Huowang made a bold guess. It was just wishful thinking, but it could very well be real. After all, in this bizarre world where the laws were twisted, anything could happen.

He suddenly had a strong urge to run back to the kingdom of Si Qi and check on the Benevolent Nunnery; however, it was nothing more than a fleeting thought. He knew that he couldn’t go back there in his current state.

He had just killed Peng Longteng. Unless he wanted to seek death, he shouldn’t think about returning to the kingdom of Si Qi for the next few years.

So, ‘decay’ has returned. Did it return on its own, or did a being bring it back?

Li Huowang tried to think about it as he recalled the Bodhisattva composed of flies back within the Benevolent Nunnery.

The Righteous Monastery worshiped a Flesh Buddha and they obtained a power associated with flesh and blood.

The Ao Jing Sect yearned for Ba-Hui’s power[1] and used their pain to commune with it in order to obtain extraordinary power.

Does this mean there is a being that is in charge of ‘decay’? Does it mean that something happened to the previous being when ‘decay’ had disappeared? Now that ‘decay’ is back, does that mean that the being is once again present at its original place?

All sorts of thoughts ran through his mind.

Thinking back, the Abbess’s death was too unnatural. How could such a powerful individual die within the pig’s pen?

Were multiple beings at war with each other and the Abbess was just caught in the crossfire?

Li Huowang instinctively thought about the beings within the Baiyu Capital. Back when he was outside the Ox Tail Gate, Li Huowang had seen that the beings inside were consuming something.

Was it them?

When he tried to recall what had happened that day, Li Huowang suddenly felt sharp pain shooting through his body and his breath became rapid.

“Senior Li, what’s wrong?” asked Bai Lingmiao as she noticed that something was wrong with him and quickly held his hand.

Li Huowang tried his best to forget about the Baiyu Capital. “I can’t listen… I can’t think… Stop thinking…”

In order to break his train of thought, Li Huowang quickly asked Bai Lingmiao, “Where is the book? Where is the Fiery Scripture? Quickly bring me the wax-covered book!”

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao quickly rummaged around before giving him the wax-covered Fiery Scripture.

As Li Huowang chanted, the white wax was engulfed in flames before congregating together. The flowing white wax then slowly crawled onto Li Huowang’s charred body and slowly started treating him. It crawled slowly, cauterizing the wounds on his body.

A pungent smell filled the interior of the ox-cart.

On the other hand, the pain made Li Huowang relax. He needed the pain to stop himself from thinking.

Those things were not for him to think about. After all, the leaders of the various kingdoms should be the one responsible for dealing with the Natural Disasters.

At this point, everything had already been resolved and there was nothing he could do. All he needed to do was to survive. Only when he became stronger would he have the rights to think about these matters.

Then, Li Huowang suddenly remembered something and asked Bai Lingmiao, “Where is the Profound Records? The blood-red bamboo slip?”

When Li Huowang stopped his chanting, the white wax once again changed back into normal wax.

When Bai Lingmiao heard Li Huowang ask about the Profound Records, she was quite hesitant but relented in the end and went outside.

A verbal fight ensued outside. But Li Huowang could barely hear it.

After some time, Bai Lingmiao returned with the Profound Records.

Seeing her return, Li Huowang used all of his strength to sit up, causing Bai Lingmiao to be surprised.

“Come, pull off the scab on my back and shove that thing inside me,” said Li Huowang. He wanted to implant the Profound Records into his body while his skin had yet to grow back. It was a good opportunity to do so. Once his skin grew back, the Profound Records would be embedded within him. That way, he wouldn’t have to unfurl it every time he wanted to use it. That way, it would be easier to attack with it as well.

Previously, he had been curious as to why Shou San would hang the Profound Records onto his chest. But now he knew.

Bai Lingmiao naturally knew why Li Huowang wanted to do so. “Senior Li, do you have to do this? If you do this, then no one else will be able to use the Profound Records anymore.”

Li Huowang nodded resolutely. “Yes, that’s my intention.”

This time around, Chun Xiaoman had lost an arm. There was no telling who would lose what the next time a situation like this happened.

The Profound Records was too easy to use. Everyone else could just copy him. Thus, he would rather keep the Profound Records embedded under his skin to ensure that no one else could use it again.

Bai Lingmiao bit her lips, but in the end, she decided to follow his instructions. She shakily placed her pale hands onto the scab on Li Huowang’s back and tore it down. Li Huowang’s painful scream could be heard from within the ox-cart.

Underneath the scab was Li Huowang’s bleeding tissue. Bai Lingmiao carefully unfurled the Profound Records and placed it onto his back.

Once she was done, Li Huowang turned around and quickly laid down before pressing the Profound Records deep into his body.

After everything was over, Li Huowang finally closed his eyes to rest. It had been a very tiring day. As he was falling asleep, Li Huowang opened his hazy eyes and looked at Bai Lingmiao. “Did you get everything from Peng Longteng’s body?”

Bai Lingmiao nodded. “Puppy said that the armor could probably be sold for money and so we placed everything onto the ox-cart. We even carried the massive halberd; even if we can’t use it on our own, we can always melt it down and reforge it into weapons we could use.”

“What else did you obtain from Peng Longteng’s body besides the armor and halberd?” asked Li Huowang.

1. original text states that they worship Ba-Hui, which is incorrect. Ao Jing Sect's god is someone who wants to consume Ba-Hui's power and usurp it ☜

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