Mutated Tao

“Senior Li? What’s the matter?” asked Puppy cautiously, his heart thumping loudly when he saw Li Huowang suddenly start to chew on the object. “Oh no, Senior Li is having an episode again.”

However, Li Huowang completely ignored what Puppy thought, and focused on slowly savoring the taste of the layer of skin. The more he chewed, the more excited he became.

This taste is unmistakable! It’s definitely the skin of a Black Taisui! I can finally do something about my hysteria!

Though the skin was completely dried up, Li Huowang had seen it once before, and he knew that the Black Taisui would turn into a puddle after it died, leaving behind only this layer of skin. The reason why it became like this was that the Black Taisui would be dehydrated after its death.

Currently, he didn’t have any methods to deal with his hallucinations, and finding a method to resolve the issues related to being a Strayed One was simply a distant dream with extremely slim hopes.

However, a Black Taisui could help him isolate the hallucinations, something which was very useful even if the effect was just temporary!

“Bun! Where did you find this thing?” Li Huowang turned to ask Bun.

“Woof woof…” The dog’s ears drooped as it cocked its head toward him, clearly not understanding what he was trying to ask.

Seeing this, Li Huowang directly placed the Black Taisui skin in front of its nose. “Smell it! Find where it came from!”

“Woof woof!” This time, Bun seemed to understand Li Huowang’s intention. It sniffed the black skin, and then turned around before running toward the nearby grassland.

“Leave the ox-carts with Sun Baolu for now! We’re not leaving yet; we will only leave after we find the Black Taisui!” instructed Li Huowang as he used his crutch and started hobbling to chase after Bun.

Though the others did not know what Li Huowang was up to, they still followed after him. They were afraid about him having another episode in his current state.

This time around, Bun ran quite far away, to the point that even Li Huowang’s armpits began to bleed from the friction caused by the crutches rubbing against his armpits as he chased after it.

Dadada~

At that moment, the sound of horse hooves rang out, causing Li Huowang to turn over and see Sun Baolu who was riding a horse with some Qing Qiu people following behind him.

“Senior Li, what are you looking for? Get on the horse, and I’ll bring you there!” said Sun Baolu.

Hearing this, Li Huowang stepped onto the saddle and mounted the horse, and then pointed toward Bun who was running into the distance. “Follow it!”

The horse was obviously much faster than Li Huowang, and so they would at least not be left behind.

As the sun gradually rose higher and higher into the sky, the air around them became noticeably hotter.

So far? Where did Bun find the Black Taisui from?

As he thought about it, Li Huowang touched the sword on his back. Black Taisui may have been dangerous to him previously, but it was definitely less so now.

Right now, he couldn’t consider whether or not the Black Taisui would threaten him. Instead, he had to consider how he could capture it alive, imprison it, and then consume its flesh in a sustainable way.

While Li Huowang was busy pondering these issues, Bun, who had been running ahead frantically, suddenly vanished.

When the horse passed by, Li Huowang found that Bun had not truly disappeared. Instead, it had run into a low-lying area of a grassfield.

There was an irregular round hole on the left side of the depression, one which resembled the rabbit holes commonly seen on the grasslands. However, no matter how one looked at it, this hole did not seem like it was something that was dug by a rabbit. It was too large, and was at least a foot wide.

Li Huowang dismounted and approached Bun, who was circling around the area. As he approached, he noticed the traces on the ground, which seemed like the traces left behind by a Black Taisui.

The scattered black skin had been dispersed by the Qing Qiu wind, and only some pieces were left behind. However, the traces of blackened water had not yet vanished completely.

Li Huowang recognized this black water. It was something sprayed out by a Black Taisui right before its death. In the area he was standing, any grass that had been touched by this black water had withered completely.

The traces of the black water extended from inside the round hole. Li Huowang could roughly ascertain the situation based on what he had seen so far.

The Black Taisui should have been living within this hole, but had somehow suffered some sort of fatal injury. Then, it used the last of its energy to climb out before finally dying outside.

Then, the skin it left behind was picked up by Bun and brought back to him.

Well… Hopefully there was more than one Black Taisui within this hole.

As his thoughts reached this point, Li Huowang vigilantly approached the dim, round hole.

“Hold on!” shouted Sun Baolu as he rode his horse and rushed up before blocking Li Huowang’s way to the entrance of the hole. Terrified, he jumped off his horse and grabbed Li Huowang. “Senior Li, you must not enter! You really must not!”

Sun Baolu’s face was drenched in cold sweat. It seemed like he was terrified of the round hole, and did not even want to look at it.

“You’ve been here?” Li Huowang asked. Anyone who wasn’t blind could see the terror he felt toward the hole.

“Senior Li, I beg you! Please, leave quickly! It’s very dangerous here!” pleaded Sun Baolu.

Sun Baolu was almost kneeled down, but Li Huowang still didn’t budge.

What joke is he playing? How can I let a Black Taisui run after finally finding some clues about it?

“Baolu, calm down. It’s safe here. No one can harm you here,” Li Huowang soothed him, gradually calming Sun Baolu down.

Then, Li Huowang took a water gourd from Gao Zhijian, and passed it to Baolu. “Take a sip. Your lips are cracking up.”

After Sun Baolu drank all the water within, Li Huowang asked him once again, “What do you know about this place? What’s inside here? I need to find something in there, and your information can help me a lot.”

“Senior Li, you really mustn’t go in there! Qing Qiu has no evil spirits, not because they vanished without a trace, but because they have all hidden themselves under the grass! That is the entrance to their hideout!” said Sun Baolu.

Hearing this, Li Huowang looked down toward the hole in the green grass which Sun Baolu was pointing his trembling finger at.

If that’s the case, then everything under Qing Qiu’s surface was evil?

Li Huowang shuddered at the thought.

After some consideration, he felt that this was within the logical limits in this crazy world. Otherwise, a Black Taisui wouldn’t randomly appear in a place like this.

“That’s all? Anything else? What else do your tribesmen know?” asked Li Huowang.

“Senior Li, don’t go in! No one else knows what’s inside! In Qing Qiu, there are orders not to even allow anyone to discuss what’s inside this cave. Just mentioning its name and imagining its appearance can bring about a disaster!” pleaded Sun Baolu, trying to convince him.

After listening to Sun Baolu, Li Huowang pondered for a moment, and then spoke, “Alright, I got it.”

Then, he used his crutches to walk toward the hole behind the horse.

“Senior Li, I’ve already made it so clear to you! Why are you still trying to enter it?! You will really die!” shouted Sun Baolu, jumping from anxiety.

Li Huowang looked at him, and then recalled the hallucination from earlier in the morning. At this point, he truly craved a Black Taisui which could help him isolate those hallucinations.

“I have already come across quite a few evil entities before, and I’m not a fledgling like before. Meeting one wouldn’t necessarily mean defeat for me,” said Li Huowang.

He truly did not want to experience the entanglement of the two worlds anymore. In fact, Li Huowang had little confidence in himself. He was afraid that he would end up delving deeper into the hallucinations if he experienced them a few more times.

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