Mutated Tao

“You can use this one. It was wielded by Senior Chang Ming back then. This sword is decent and cuts through iron like mud, but I never had the chance to use it,” Li Huowang said to Chun Xiaoman, who was holding his sword.

Chun Xiaoman looked at the longsword in her hand, surprised. Although it was a bit heavy for her, it was still much better than her previous weapons. “Thank you, Senior Li!”

“Practice your sword skills regularly. Although I gave you that bell, don't rely on the Wandering Gods for everything. After all, inviting them once costs three months of life. How many three months does a person have in one lifetime?” said Li Huowang.

Chun Xiaoman nodded. Then, she turned around and faced Yang Xiaohai, who had just come in. Excited, she took off her own sword from her waist and stuffed it into his arms.

“This sword is yours from now on. Let's go! Let’s have some practice outside!” said Xiaoman.

The next few days passed peacefully, without the need to rush on the road while braving against the wind and the rain. Apart from eating and drinking, they spent all their time watching plays. Aside from the members of the Lu family, the exhaustion on everyone’s faces had reduced significantly.

However, after four days, they had to continue on their way. Li Huowang had originally wanted to stay a few more days, but he noticed that the sheep from the Qing Qiu were starting to lose weight because they hadn't eaten enough. If they lost any more weight, they would likely die.

The sleeping blankets and iron pots were put back on the ox-cart, and they began to walk toward the town mentioned by the harvester.

“What happened to your face?” Li Huowang asked Lu Zhuangyuan upon noticing the bruise around his right eye.

“Nothing… nothing at all. I accidentally fell when I went to the toilet at night,” Lu Zhuangyuan said with an awkward smile on his face.

“Hey, this is not from a fall. He secretly went to the backstage of someone else's house to steal some skills, and he was caught by the leader of that troupe and got beaten up.”

Puppy’s words instantly made Troupe Leader Lu hang his head in shame, but he still tried to justify himself, “I… I… wasn’t stealing. I just went to take a look.”

Obviously, even he himself didn't believe his own words.

To change the subject, Lu Zhuangyuan immediately sold out his own son. “Daoist, I already know about Xiucai’s matter. I have scolded him severely. Be the bigger person, and don't lower yourself to his level.”

“What happened?” After a brief moment of confusion, Li Huowang immediately understood what the other party was talking about. “Oh, you mean the matter of apprenticeship? Don’t worry, it’s nothing. I really can't teach my abilities to others. If I could, I would have taught my juniors long ago. Then, I would have more helpers around me.”

“That's good, that's good.” Lu Zhuangyuan was hunched over, as he smiled and nodded continuously by Li Huowang's side.

“Troupe Leader Lu, how long did those harvesters say it would take to get to the town?”

“They said that it would take about four days of journey to reach there,” replied Lu Zhuangyuan.

Li Huowang nodded, slightly accelerating his pace.

I hope that the town is big enough, and that I can buy a map with Cowheart Mountain marked on it.

Li Huowang wanted to get to his destination immediately, but the journey had to be taken step by step. Though the ox-cart had strong carrying capacity, it couldn't even compare to a donkey-cart in terms of speed, let alone a horse-drawn carriage.

As the sun set, the ox-cart and the sheep formed a wall with the inside having dinner.

Today, they had knife-cut noodles for dinner. Yang Xiaohai skillfully kneaded the dough into a ball, and then held a knife in his left hand and the dough in his right. A cold light danced, and strips of noodles were shaved into the pot. During this time, while he hadn't made much progress in his swordsmanship, his knife skills had certainly improved.

When some freshly-picked bamboo shoots were thrown in, a bowl of bamboo shoot and lamb oil knife-cut noodles was quickly ready.

“Junior Yang, your skills are getting better. In the future, you can become a chef,” Puppy commented. Then, him and Hong’er each scooped a bowl and walked toward the ox-cart.

The two of them exchanged bites as they ate heartily.

With a large bruise on his head obtained from his dad’s tobacco pipe, Lu Xiucai came to the pot with his bowl, and picked up some of the noodles while seething, “What’s so special about this?! Wait till my dad buys a theater…”

“Brother Xiucai, what did you say?”

Lu Xiucai looked up at Yang Xiaohai. There was a round-faced woman behind Xiaohai, holding a bowl, and walking back with a cold expression.

There was no other activity after dinner, and everyone went to sleep early. Tonight, Lu Xiucai and his brother took turns to stand guard.

Li Huowang slept well in the first half of the night, but just before the third section of the night, he was awakened by a strong killing intent.

He opened the blanket and pushed Bai Lingmiao out from his arms, then flipped around to locate his weapons on the ox-cart.

He could only find the copper coin sword. The black-tassel sword from the Abbess was missing!

“You brat!! What are you doing?! Put the sword down quickly!” Lu Zhuangyuan’s cries woke everyone up.

Li Huowang immediately turned and rushed toward the direction of the campfire. Finally, he spotted his weapon within the Lu Family’s encirclement.

At this moment, the black-tassel sword was being held by Lu Xiucai. Clearly unable to bear the killing intent released by the sword, his body was involuntarily bent backward, his expression grim as he gasped for breath.

Panicked, Lu Zhuangyuan rushed to Li Huowang’s side and fearfully asked, “Daoist, what’s going on? Why did that brat become like this?”

“Hahaha! I have divine powers now! I can kill anyone I want!” Lu Xiucai laughed maniacally.

When he saw Li Huowang coming toward him, Lu Xiucai instinctively pointed the sword at him.

However, Li Huowang just grabbed the blade with one hand, and then raised his right foot before kicking the young man’s soft stomach.

“Ooh~!” Lu Xiucai knelt on the ground and held his tummy. He vomited out all the bamboo shoot knife-cut noodles he had eaten tonight.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang resheathed the sword and looked at his bleeding palm. He casually shook off the blood, and then turned to Lu Xiucai, “I’ll say it again. I don’t have any supernatural abilities, and I cannot teach them to you. This is the first, and the last time. If there’s a next time, then you guys can leave.”

“Why won't you teach me? Why can Puppy learn, but not me? I want to be a lord too! I don't want to be an ordinary person!” shouted Lu Xiucai.

“When you really have it, you won't think like this. If I could choose, I would rather be a normal person like you,” said Li Huowang. Then, he turned toward the others and continued, “Don't stand around; go back to sleep. We still have to continue our journey tomorrow.”

After handling this trivial episode, Li Huowang grabbed the black-tassel sword and turned to leave.

Seeing that everything had been settled, the depressed Lu Zhuangyuan and his eldest son hurriedly approached Lu Xiucai.

“What kind of foolish thing have you done?! Why are you still lying on the ground?! Get up quickly!” shouted Lu Zhuangyuan. However, just as he reached out to pull Lu Xiucai up from the ground, the latter slapped him in the face, stunning him.

“Old man, get away from me! My affairs have nothing to do with you!” shouted Lu Xiucai.

This series of events didn’t end that night.

The next morning, Li Huowang woke up to see Lu Xiucai being hung upside down on a tree while Lu Zhuangyuan whipped him using a rattan cane.

Even though his face was covered in blood from being whipped, Lu Xiucai still refused to admit defeat, cursing loudly at his father, “Ah ah ah! Just you wait! You dare to hit me?! Kill me if you dare, or I'm going to kill all of you!! Ah ah ah!”

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