Mutated Tao

“Dad! Mom! Where are you guys?!” Tears streamed down Bai Lingmiao’s face as she continued to search throughout the entire Cowheart Village.

Behind her was Li Huowang, who was also searching with her; however, he could see that they were the only ones left in the entire village.

At this point, Lu Zhuangyuan approached carefully with a smile.

“What’s going on?” Li Huowang furrowed his brows as he questioned Lu Zhuangyuan.

In response, the latter wore an innocent look and replied, “Daoist, how would I know? I just arrived here and there was nobody in the entire village. At first, I was surprised and thought that I had gotten the location wrong, so I went searching several miles around here. But after covering the entire Cowheart Mountain, this was the only this place left.”

Li Huowang remained silent. After a while, he took a deep breath and walked toward Bai Lingmiao in the distance. Currently, she was constantly searching the entire village tirelessly without finding anything.

As Li Huowang saw her sweating profusely, and turning back toward the first house to restart her search, he rushed over and grabbed her shoulders, and then pulled her into his embrace.

At this point, Bai Lingmiao finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. She leaned on his shoulder and burst into tears, “Senior Li, my family is gone!”

Such a long period of anticipation had culminated into nothing. Li Huowang knew what kind of feeling it was, and he could empathize with her. “Don’t cry; maybe they just left temporarily. They may yet not have faced anything unexpected. Think positively.”

Standing beside her, Lu Zhuangyuan also tried to console her as he spoke, “Miss Bai, the Daoist is right. Perhaps they were seeking safety and left just like us. When they return from their refuge, you will be able to meet them again.”

The rest of them also saw the situation and came up to console her.

However, their words did not ease Bai Lingmiao much. She was no fool. The disappearance of all the people of an entire village wasn’t a trivial matter.

Bai Lingmiao’s crying completely overwhelmed the joy of reunion, and cast a shadow upon the entire group. Not a single person spoke all throughout dinner.

After dinner, Li Huowang wandered around the entire village with the moonlight guiding him. He was not looking for people, but searching for clues.

The entire village couldn’t just have vanished without a trace; they must have encountered some troublesome situation. Even if they had been devoured by evil spirits or deceived by the Sitting Oblivion Dao, there must be some traces left behind.

“Daoist, I previously told Ms. Bai that her family was hiding from a crisis. But that was just to make her feel better. In my opinion, they’re probably not hiding from a crisis. Who would hide from disasters without even locking their doors? When we first entered the village, the pigs in the backyard were starving and didn’t even look like pigs anymore.” Lu Zhuangyuan followed Li Huowang as he babbled on.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang squatted down to examine the patterns on the stone path. “When you guys first came here, was this village in a mess?”

“No, not at all. The clothes were still hanging outside. Cows, dogs, everything seemed fine. Just that the people were missing. I even specifically checked through the cabinets in each household. The clothes weren’t missing. It’s clear that they didn’t just leave for a long trip,” explained Lu Zhuangyuan.

Li Huowang gazed through every inch to look for details and any potential dangers. When he pushed open a door and still found no clues, he removed the cotton from his ears before carefully listening to his surroundings. He roamed around the village, and even invited a Wandering God to help search underground.

But this time was different. There were no hostile gazes, evil spirits, or anything.

When Li Huowang returned to the Bai Family’s courtyard, he saw Luo Juanhua and Chun Xiaoman standing in the bright hall, one on each side as they consoled Bai Lingmiao. The others were also standing around, discussing in groups of twos or threes. When they saw Li Huowang return, they all looked over.

“Go and rest first; let’s discuss tomorrow,” said Li Huowang.

After Li Huowang spoke, the rest did not stay around, and left with their groups.

Given that she had been crying, Bai Lingmiao’s pink eyes had become somewhat red. They were filled with deep sorrow as she turned to look toward Li Huowang and sniffled.

“It’s getting late. Where’s your room? Go and take a bath first,” said Li Huowang.

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao pursed her lips and stood up before walking toward the bathroom.

After some time, the two of them silently lay down in a bedroom filled with a faint fragrance.

The layout of the room and the white mosquito net hinted that this was Bai Lingmiao’s previous bedroom.

At this moment, Bai Lingmiao was curled up on the bed, her shoulders shuddering constantly as she tried not to bawl. Then, in the next moment, she felt herself being carried over before leaning against a strong chest.

“Don’t cry. When we encounter trouble, we solve it. We are now people with some abilities. Do you think we can’t find them?” assured Li Huowang.

With this, Bai Lingmiao’s shoulders finally stopped twitching. Her head nuzzled against Li Huowang’s chest. Then, she suddenly broke free of his embrace and picked up her drum that was placed before the mirror before dashing out of the house.

Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong!

“In the heavens, matters are handled by flying Immortals; while on earth, they are handled in red and yellow! While in the netherworld, summon the sorrowful King to assist… I stop the horse to ask for the country’s name, hold the reins and look for the homeland. Whether surnamed Zhang, Wang, Li or Huang… Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Cun, Xiao, Zhou, Wu Zheng, Wang, Yan, Zhang…”

As Li Huowang listened to the rhythmic drumbeat outside, he slowly closed his eyes.

The next day, when he opened his eyes again, he found that Bai Lingmiao, who was usually an early riser, was lying soundlessly on the bed.

“How is it? What did the Immortal families say?” Li Huowang asked as he wore his clothes.

“They can’t find them,” replied Bai Lingmiao through her agony. “Even the Immortal families cannot find them… Senior Li, do you think that my parents are really gone?”

Li Huowang walked over, patted her shoulder, and then turned to walk out of the room. “I’m leaving. While I’m away, help keep an eye on things.”

Just as he turned to leave, Bai Lingmiao opened the door. With her reddened eyes, she asked dumbfoundedly, “Senior Li, where are you going?”

“Where else? Since even the Immortal families can’t help, I have to think of a way to find out where all the members of the village went. Can I ignore it if you’re like this?” said Li Huowang.

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao leapt toward him and hugged his waist. Her tears stained his clothes as she thanked him profusely, “Thank you, Senior Li…”

Seeing that his reaction had consistently been cold, she had assumed that he did not care about her family’s situation at all. She had never expected him to have already figured out what he had to do, and it was just that he hadn’t mentioned it.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

Ah, this is the fake Hong Zhong of the Sitting Oblivion Dao. Credits to 格子的乱七八糟 on douyin

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