Mutated Tao

“Father?” Li Sui lifted his two eyeballs and saw a rapidly beating heart overhead.

Li Sui had no idea why his father’s heart was beating so fast, and the discovery amused Li Sui rather than unnerved him. It wasn't the first time that it happened, but the experience never seemed to get old.

Li Huowang had ignored Li Sui's call, prompting Li Sui to carefully poke Li Huowang’s heart with his tentacle. Upon receiving no reaction, Li Sui tugged on it gently.

“Ouch! What are you doing?! Stay still!” Li Huowang scolded.

Li Sui was startled, and he immediately retracted his tentacle.

Li Sui dared not move upon getting scolded.

After a while, Li Sui started moving once more, but he didn't change spots. Instead, he decided to toy with the black spindle that his father had given to him.

Li Sui had no idea what the word "spindle" meant, but his father called it "spindle," so he decided to call it that as well. Li Sui circled the spindle numerous times with his two eyes before getting bored. However, he didn’t want to go out. He liked to stay in Li Huowang’s abdomen, as it was quiet and peaceful.

After a while, Li Sui carefully extended a single tentacle with an eyeball out of Li Huowang’s belly button to examine the world outside. Li Sui saw a table before his father. Aside from a cup of tea, there was nothing else on the table. Li Huowang looked anxious, as if he was waiting for something.

Oh, someone’s here. Li Sui cast a careful gaze at the pale-looking man holding a stack of documents. Why are there so many books? Is father going to teach me how to read again? I don’t want to learn anymore.

The pale-looking man placed the documents on the table.

Li Sui wanted to read, but he was unfamiliar with the words on the documents aside from a few words.

Strayed Ones? What does that mean? Li Sui tried to take a closer look, but Li Huowang had picked up the book.

Li Huowang’s pupils quivered as he read the book. He read it carefully, afraid of missing even a single letter, as it contained a ton of information about the Strayed Ones!

Li Huowang flipped through the pages and was taken aback.

The book truly had a ton of information about the Strayed Ones, but they were all descriptions rather than what Li Huowang needed. Li Huowang needed the method of using a Strayed One's eyes and a Muddled One's hair to make an artifact.

“Next," said Li Huowang as he grabbed the next book to start reading it. Li Huowang read book after book, but all of them were books about using a Strayed One’s body or mind for cultivation purposes.

Li Huowang was disgruntled by the discovery. The information was useless to him unless he cut himself open and refined his own organs into weapons or artifacts.

Chirp!

A shrill chirping interrupted Li Huowang, startling him.

“Why are you reading about the Strayed Ones? Do you have a Strayed One?”

Li Huowang turned around and saw Sima Lan.

Is he suspicious of me? Li Huowang was slightly flustered. He took a quick breath and arranged the books neatly before replying, “I read that Bei Feng is a Strayed One, so I’m trying to learn more about the Strayed Ones.”

“How about the elders of the Ao Jing Sect? Did they not tell you about them?” Sima Lan asked.

Li Huowang removed the cloth bag from his back and opened it, revealing the artifact that Ji Xiang had given to him—the wish wood. The Strayed One’s tongue was still pinned to the wood.

“The elders at Cross Temple always told me that the Strayed Ones are living treasures. We must not fight them head-on and must coax them gently. They never told me why, though. There’s no way I can try coaxing Bei Feng if I ever meet him next time, so what am I supposed to do?"

"I see," Sima Lan said, nodding. “Then, you don’t have to check the fourth archive. You're a Seventh Banner, so I'm just going to tell you.”

Li Huowang's ears perked up as Sima Lan said, "Beings that live and die cannot produce another being that can't live and die; beings that can't change cannot produce beings that can change. Those who can't live and die can produce beings that can live and die; those who can't change can produce beings that can change. Beings that can live and die must live and die; beings that can change must change.

"This is why such beings live, die, and change."

Li Huowang's head throbbed in pain as he attempted to comprehend Sima Lan's words. In the end, he decided to stop Sima Lan and said, “Senior Sima, please keep the explanation simple enough for me. I’m not exactly educated, so you can just keep things simple for me."

SIma Lan frowned, and his gaze on Li Huowang briefly contained contempt and disdain. However, he didn't express it and simply knocked the blind black bird on its head.

The blind black bird answered, "Our master said that everyone has ten emotions and eight sufferings, but Strayed Ones are different. Not only do they have the ten emotions and eight sufferings, but they also have the primordial breath. In the beginning, everything is just starting to take form; when there is form, there is essence, but it is incomplete.

"Strayed Ones are like that—they have both form and essence, but they're still incomplete. The Strayed Ones are extraordinary foes, as they possess the primordial breath.

"They can make use of their primordial breath to meld their ten emotions and eight sufferings with the Heavenly Dao. Even the Gods cannot save you against a Strayed One once the latter has decided to use their primordial breath against you.”

Li Huowang gulped at the remark and hurriedly asked, “What's going to happen once a Strayed One decides to use their primordial breath?”

“The land would be torn apart; the seas would churn, as storms and torrential downpours would all be just a single thought away for that Strayed One!” Sima Lan exclaimed, sounding surprised by his own voice as well.

Hm? Li Huowang was surprised. Are Strayed Ones really that strong? If a Strayed One is capable of reshaping the land itself, can they still be called a Strayed One?

Li Huowang's eyes glazed over as he peered over Sima Lan's shoulders to stare at the illusions behind him—the faceless Hong Zhong, the innocent monk, the headless Peng Longteng, and the legless Jin Shanzhao.

No way! How can their explanation of Strayed One be so different? Why aren’t they talking about hallucinations? What about the illusions that follow a Strayed One once a Strayed One kills? And what about the technique to project my body’s illusion?

“Hohoho, of course, the runt from the Mo Family isn't exactly knowledgeable about the Strayed Ones. He has merely recited what he had memorized from textbooks, and do you think that he has seen a Strayed One before?" Hong Zhong teased Li Huowang, "Oh, wait, he's standing in front of a Strayed One right now! Hahaha!”

Li Huowang's eyelid twitched, and he directly ignored Hong Zhong. He stared at Sima Lan and asked, “If an ordinary Strayed One is already that strong, doesn't that mean that Bei Feng is even stronger?”

"Yes," Sima Lan said, nodding. “I'm sure you already know, but it’s exceedingly difficult to deceive the members of the Sitting Oblivion Dao. That’s exactly why Bei Feng became one of the Four Joys.”

“How do I fight Bei Feng?”

“If we knew that, Bei Feng would have perished long ago. How could we let him wreak havoc everywhere he goes?"

Li Huowang frowned at Sima Lan's response. It seemed that he had to go back to the drawing board and revise his plan.

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