Mutated Tao

Soon, a creaking sound rang out as a man with a massive frame walked out from the shadow of a cell.

Li Huowang raised his head and saw that it was a monk. The monk was skinny and expressionless, his body unusually tall. In fact, he was as tall as the headless Peng Longteng’s illusion. The monk’s hands and feet were shackled, but he didn’t seem to mind. He just placed both his hands together and sat on the ground without any intention of trying to release the shackles placed on him.

“Alright~ Now that everyone’s here, let me explain about what we are going to do,” said Ji Xiang.

Hearing this, all of them immediately turned serious. At the same time, the prison guards surrounding them turned around and left.

Ji Xiang coughed before continuing in a slow voice, “This time we have to go to the Buddha’s Skeleton Temple. We have received news that Fa Cai from the Sitting Oblivion Dao is planning to do something, but we still have no idea what exactly.”

Fa Cai, one of the Three Officials!

Hearing the unexpected name, Li Huowang clenched his fist.

It’s no wonder that Ji Xiang, someone that’s stationed in the capital, would come all the way here. This is indeed an important mission.

I wonder if I can obtain information about Bei Feng from Fa Cai?

While Li Huowang was thinking about his chances of obtaining information, Ji Xiang continued with his explanation, “Since it’s Fa Cai from the Sitting Oblivion Dao, the mission is naturally going to be difficult. This is why we have to invite Master Xin Chi to help us.”

Hearing this, the three of them looked at the monk at the same time. In response, the monk also looked back at them silently.

“Master Xin Chi has taken an oath of silence. Since Fa Cai’s tricks would be useless on Xin Chi, once you reach Buddha’s Skeleton Temple, you must remember that whatever he says is the truth. Secondly, once there, you must never leave each other’s sights. Even if it's just for a moment, it’s possible for a member of the Sitting Oblivion Dao to exchange their identity with you. Thirdly, Fa Cai is a devious foe. I fought her once ten years ago and here’s my advice: Don’t believe her, but don’t always do the opposite of what she tells you either. Basically, you can’t ignore her words completely,” explained Ji Xiang.

“Huh? We can’t ignore her completely?” Tuoba Danqing's eyes were wide with shock as he pulled back theatrically.

“Yes. Sometimes you might end up falling for her trap even by ignoring everything she says. The best method when dealing with her is to treat a third of her words as true, a third of her words as false, and a third for yourself to decide instinctively,” said Ji Xiang.

“Aiya, what a devious foe. To think that you have been fighting her for ten years. I guess we will be almost useless later,” said Tuoba Danqing.

“You think she’s difficult to fight against, right? Hoho~ The best method is to kill her before she even opens her mouth. Er Jiu, amongst us three, you are the most ruthless. When Master Xin Chi tells you to kill, kill immediately,” said Ji Xiang.

“I understand, Lord Ji Xiang. But… I thought that Master Xin Chi had taken an oath of silence. How will he tell me?” Li Huowang thought about this problem. The monk could not speak. How would the monk tell the others even if he did manage to not get tricked by Fa Cai?

Just as Li Huowang had asked this question, a foreign voice sounded in his brain, “Amitabha, I know telepathy. You need not worry.”

Finding out about the monk’s telepathy suddenly reminded Li Huowang of the nuns from the Benevolent Nunnery. Since he was similar to them, Li Huowang immediately took a liking to the monk.

“Alright, we can discuss the rest as we travel.”

With this, all of them stood up and walked out of the prison. There were already four carriages waiting for them.

None of them asked what Fa Cai looked like. Since she was someone from the Sitting Oblivion Dao, she could look however she wanted.

The stations within the Liang Kingdom were very complete. All Ji Xiang had to do was to show his identity plate and they could exchange their carriages at every station.

This was far beyond the speed that Li Huowang could achieve with just walking. In just two days, they arrived at Langzhong City where the Buddha’s Skeleton Temple was located.

It was nighttime when Li Huowang hopped down from the carriage. He hadn’t even stretched his sore limbs when he saw a temple that dwarfed the other buildings in the distance.

“Remember what I’ve said. Let’s go,” Ji Xiang reminded them once more before heading toward the temple.

As they closed in on the temple, everyone grew more serious. At the same time, Ji Xiang also started using his golden abacus, clicking away at it.

Even though it was already night, the temple was still open. Devotees could be seen walking in and out with incense.

The temple is as popular as the Righteous Monastery it seems.

The moment they walked into the temple, Li Huowang’s heart became serious. There were people everywhere, but Li Huowang knew that the Sitting Oblivion Dao had infiltrated this place. Thus, except for the three people beside him, he could not trust anyone else.

Since all of them knew this, they all held onto their weapons. Ji Xiang was still using his golden abacus, the clacking sound muting the ambient sound around them considerably.

As they entered, their curious garments attracted a lot of attention from the devotees. However, the four of them just ignored the crowd.

“Come, follow me. Let’s enter the front palace first,” said Ji Xiang as he led the three of them.

There were no statues of Bodhisattvas or Buddhas in the front palace. Instead, sitting in the middle of the palace was a mummy. Its body was blood-red in color and its face was distorted, and yet the devotees were all praying to it.

“Is that the doing of the Sitting Oblivion Dao? Are they letting the devotees worship that corpse?” Li Huowang asked as he held onto the black-tassel sword.

“No, that is the Flesh Bodhisattva. It’s a living Bodhisattva that the Buddha’s Skeleton Temple worships,” Xin Chi explained.

A Flesh Bodhisattva?

Li Huowang inspected the horrifying corpse. At that moment, he suddenly realized why the temple was called the Buddha’s Skeleton Temple.

Just then, Xin Chi’s voice exploded in his mind, “Benefactor, move now! Three steps to your left, the devotee who’s kneeling and praying. Kill!”

Li Huowang’s right arm moved faster than he could think as he slashed at the devotee, his sword that was cloaked in a murderous aura cutting straight through the devotee like a piece of paper.

Blood sprayed everywhere as the devotee was cut in half, his organs falling apart. The man shouted briefly before he stopped moving.

Seeing this scene, the surrounding devotees ran in fear.

At that moment, Xin Chi walked over even with his wooden shackles still on. He clasped his hands and prayed in front of the corpse before using two fingers to inspect the face of the dead man.

“Master, how is it? Was it Fa Cai or someone else from the Sitting Oblivion Dao?” asked Li Huowang as he kneeled on one knee and inspected the corpse. He thought to himself that Fa Cai would never get killed like this so easily.

“Amitabha, I was mistaken. Benefactor Er, let’s continue.” Xin Chi threw the head of the corpse away before standing up.

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