Mutated Tao

Gao Zhijian’s face was red as he carried the halberd back onto the ox-cart. He had to use all his strength just to carry it back.

Once he got it back onto the ox-cart, even without waiting to catch his breath he quickly took out a cloth and wrapped the halberd up. Senior Li had told him before that whenever he was done with training, he had to wrap the halberd up. Given that this halberd originally belonged to a General of Hou Shu, it might draw them into a conflict if the officials from Qing Qiu recognized it.

After he finished wrapping the halberd, Gao Zhijian scratched his head with a sigh. He had trained for so long, but was only barely able to carry the halberd around. On the other hand, Peng Longteng had been able to easily wield the halberd as if it weighed nothing. He had measured the halberd and had thought about cutting it to make it shorter and lighter. Twelve feet long was just far too big for him to use it.

While cavalrymen often required their weapons to be twelve feet long, those fighting on foot wouldn’t require such a large weapon. After all, it would be too hard to use such a long range weapon to fight an enemy in close quarter combat.

Then, Gao Zhijian opened the curtains of the ox-cart and stared at the messy armor kept within. He had tried measuring it and adjusting the size to fit his body. He was sure that the armor was definitely extraordinary, especially since it was able to block Senior Li’s sword. But that woman was larger than him. He would have to find a blacksmith to alter the size if he wanted to be able to wear it properly.

At the same time, the other issue was the weight. The entire armor weighed several hundred pounds. His strength was still insufficient to use such a thing.

“Simpleton, what are you doing? Come here, I have something to talk to you about. It’s good news!”

Hearing the voice, Gao Zhijian begrudgingly turned around and saw that the voice belonged to Puppy.

“Did you see those girls? Some of them are interested in you!” said Puppy.

Gao Zhijian looked at where Puppy was pointing and saw that several women were staring at him. After being found out, the women immediately hid behind another cart.

“Simpleton, do you want a wife? If you want, then I, Cao Cao, will become your Yue Lao[1] and help you hook up with them!” declared Puppy.

However, Gao Zhijian completely ignored Puppy as he continued checking the pieces of armor with a sour expression on his face.

“Are you thinking that they are dirty? You shouldn’t do that; you know, they never even treated you like a simpleton. All of us are born with defects, and so we can’t choose who we get to marry. So, we might as well settle for one of them. If you miss your chance, then there might not be another one in the future~ Let me tell you this: I think I have a chance with one of them. Who knows, you might be able to attend my wedding reception soon,” bragged Puppy as he rattled on and on.

“Go… Go…”

“Go? Yeah, let’s go!” responded Puppy.

“Go… Go away!” shouted Gao Zhijian, causing Puppy to be surprised.

“Hey! I look up to you as a brother and was worried about your love life! It will be close to impossible to find someone if we miss our chance this time around!” said Puppy.

But Gao Zhijian just slapped Puppy away, causing the latter to fall onto the ground.

After a moment, Puppy grumbled and cursed under his breath while walking toward Zhao Wu’s ox-cart.

“Ps~ Psps~”

On the other hand, Gao Zhijian called for Bun who was sleeping under one of the horse carts.

Hearing the voice, Bun stretched its body, and slowly walked toward Gao Zhijian.

As Gao Zhijian carefully cradled the dog, he felt its smooth fur running across the palm of his hand causing him to start smiling. He reached into his shirt and brought out half a piece of cornbread. Seeing the food, Bun instantly started wagging its tail.

Then, Gao Zhijian tore off some of the bread and placed it on his palm before silently enjoying the feeling of Bun licking his palm.

Bun ate really fast and the cornbread was finished in just a few moments.

As he saw this, Gao Zhijian closed his eyes and buried his face into Bun’s soft fur. He really liked dogs. Dogs were better than humans. He had even thought about asking Senior Li to give the dog to him.

After a while, Gao Zhijian stopped what he was doing and carefully took out the soldier’s training manual and started reading it once again. He didn’t know why he never got tired of reading it. While he didn’t truly understand the contents of the book, he felt a familiar feeling when he read it.

Meanwhile, Puppy saw Gao Zhijian hugging Bun and shook his head. “Sigh, he’s still a bit stupid. To think he prefers dogs over women.”

“Puppy, I would advise you to behave a bit. If you act rashly against those women, then I guarantee that Chun Xiaoman will kill you; even Senior Li is too injured to stop her right now,” warned Zhao Wu while holding an abacus. He was counting their inventory.

“Even if you don’t support me, why are you admonishing me? I would never be rough with those women even if I’m trying to find a wife. I have many methods to woo them without touching them! Just you wait, I am sure I will be able to get a wife before we reach Liang Kingdom. Do you want to bet?” said Puppy.

“Sure, sure. You are amazing. Go and try to hook up with one of the girls. I’m a bit busy counting our inventory right now. If I don’t do it right, then we will end up without food for days,” said Zhao Wu, shooing him away.

Puppy scratched the white patches on his face and stared at Zhao Wu. Zhao Wu’s body was still the same as ever, with one shoulder higher than the other. After a moment, Puppy tried to persuade him one more time, “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? You should know that people like us would have a hard time finding a wife. If you don’t seize your chance, then you will be single forever.”

At this point, Zhao Wu became annoyed. “Senior Li is already injured so badly, yet you still have the time to think about such trivial things?”

“Relax, he can even grow back an entire arm. What are you afraid of? I’ve finally made sense of Senior Li, and he’s bloody amazing!” said Puppy as he raised his thumb high up into the air. “Relax, even if the Lord of Hell were to come and find him, Senior Li would still be fine.”

However, Zhao Wu was still worried. He thought about everything that had happened throughout their journey and how Senior Li had managed to survive through every single crisis. All of them had some impairments here and there, but Senior Li’s illness was invisible, and it was the most dangerous of them all.

“What are you worried about? Senior Li is more or less half an Immortal right now with so many powers under his belt. Even if we encounter something dangerous, there’s nothing we can do to help him. Zhao Wu, didn’t I say it just now? We must know our limits. I know I don’t have the strength to do much, and so I don’t bother with it at all,” said Puppy.

“Why are you so pessimistic?” asked Zhao Wu, irritated.

“As if you are very ambitious. Except for Senior Li, all of those who were ambitious had already been killed by that Baldy back in that cave,” Puppy scoffed.

The sound of the abacus suddenly stopped before Zhao Wu spoke in a voice filled with hesitation, “Puppy, do you think Senior Li could teach those powers to us?”

The moment Zhao Wu said that, Puppy hugged his stomach and ran away. “Aiya~ Aiya~ My stomach hurts~ I need to go to the toilet now, so we will talk later.”

Puppy knew that Li Huowang’s powers came at a price. Chun Xiaoman had used it once and lost one of her arms. That was too scary. It was also possible that the reason Senior Li became crazier by the day was due to those powers. He did not want to end up like him.

1. god of marriage and love ☜

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