Mutated Tao

It would be difficult to find human bones in this small fishing village on the coast of Xing Island, so Li Huowang had no choice but to use his own bones for divination.

Fortunately, the bone remained unharmed despite the divination. Li Huowang shoved the bone back into the hollow stump of his arm.

Now, I need to find the place indicated by the bone fracture. Li Huowang while walking toward the fishing village. The village was small, and one would encounter familiar faces after just a brief stroll.

Li Huowang saw a woman with a pale complexion buying steamed buns with her daughter in the distance. The young woman bought a coarse-grain bun for herself and half a steamed bun with a brown sugar filling for her daughter.

Li Huowang’s heart softened while staring at the impoverished mother and daughter pair. He pulled the reins and approached them with the carriage.

“Benefactor!” The woman quickly bowed toward Li Huowang, her expression full of sincerity and fear.

The little girl nestled in her mother’s arms and dared not to lift her head.

“Why did you bring your daughter to Xing Island?” Li Huowang asked.

“My... my husband is dead, so I came here to seek refuge with relatives,” the woman said hesitantly; she also didn't dare to look at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang pondered briefly before reaching into his pocket and taking out the money he had won from playing leaf cards against his fellow passengers on the ship. He handed the money to the little girl.

Then, he stared at the woman and said, “She's a small child, so her appetite surely isn't that big. However, half of a steamed bun still isn't going to be enough for her. Take that money and buy something to eat for her.”

Li Huowang drove the carriage away without waiting for the woman's reply. His destination was the inn not too far away. The divination talisman was both useful and useless. It was useless because it couldn't be controlled at all—one could only wait for fate to come after a divination.

Thus, Li Huowang planned to take advantage of the wait to recharge at the inn and prepare for the upcoming crisis. Li Huowang's routine remained unchanging after entering the inn—he bathed, ate, and slept.

Li Huowang thought he would need to work hard to find Zhuge Yuan, but someone took the initiative to look for him. Li Huowang was already asleep, but he suddenly woke up and kicked Bun at the bedside. He could feel someone outside.

Soon, there was knocking on the door, and a voice echoed. “Is Master Li around?”

The voice sounded delicate and rough at the same time.

Li Huowang approached the door carefully and opened it slightly to peer through the crack.

The visitor looked wealthy—clad in blue silk with a jade pendant hanging from his waist. He had a thin, long mustache, and his face was colored with rouge. The moonlight shining down on the visitor’s face made him look extremely pale.

Li Huowang felt that there was something amiss with the visitor; the issue was that he couldn't quite point it out.

“Are you Master Li? My master has been waiting for you. Please come with me,” the visitor said amiably, and he even bowed toward Li Huowang.

“Who is your master?” Li Huowang asked, and his hand unknowingly gripped the purple-tassel sword.

“His surname is Zhuge, and his name is Yuan. He's also known as the Storyteller. Didn’t Master Li cast a divination for my master today? That was how he knew you were coming.”

Li Huowang’s heart skipped a beat. He had cast a divination for Zhuge Yuan, and the other party immediately knew the identity of the caster and even the caster's location.

Clearly, it was unwise to use divination carelessly, as powerful individuals could easily discover his whereabouts.

Li Huowang was silent as he stood by the door.

The visitor asked, “Master Li, are you with me coming or not? If not, I’ll have to return and inform my master.”

Li Huowang pushed open the door and said, "Lead the way."

The visitor nodded and went downstairs, with Li Huowang following closely behind him.

The entire inn was extremely quiet, and there weren't any noises aside from their footsteps.

Li Huowang soon found himself outside the inn, and it turned out that a pure-white sedan chair had been waiting for him beneath the silver moonlight. Four black-robed sedan bearers stood motionless like sculptures, creating an eerie scene.

“Master Li, please hop onto the sedan chair. My master’s residence is quite a distance away, and we need to hurry up,” the visitor smiled and pulled open the curtain of the sedan chair.

Li Huowang’s brows furrowed; he couldn't help but feel suspicious. Upon recalling the spindle that Zhuge Yuan had given to him, as well as the visitor's friendly tone of voice, Li Huowang compromised and sat in the sedan chair.

A creaking noise echoed as the bearers lifted the sedan chair.

“How long will it take us to reach Mister Zhuge's residence?” Li Huowang asked, but he received no response. He opened the curtain to look outside but found that the visitor had inexplicably vanished.

Moreover, the four sedan bearers appeared strange. Their limbs seemed to be without any joints, and they walked straight ahead without blinking even once.

The bizarre discovery made Li Huowang feel even more suspicious about everything.

What’s going on? Are they not affiliated with Zhuge Yuan?

The scenery outside the sedan chair changed slowly. The black tiles of the houses in the fishing village eventually disappeared, replaced by dark green bamboo leaves in the woods.

For some reason, Li Huowang felt like something was hiding amidst the forest of dark green bamboo.

Hehehe…

Playful laughter echoed from the depths of the bamboo forest. Li Huowang's ears perked up to listen carefully, but he discovered that the playful laughter was just the noises generated by the bamboo leaves amidst the night breeze.

The swaying sedan chair moved nonstop through the bamboo forest.

Four hours later, Li Huowang was still inside the bamboo forest.

This bamboo forest is really big. Li Huowang thought. He peered outside and saw something that made his pupils shrink.

“Wait! I saw that rock not too long ago. You guys haven’t been moving at all. You guys are moving in circles! Stop the sedan!” Li Huowang exclaimed.

However, the black-robed sedan bearers moved even faster.

Li Huowang unsheathed the purple-tassel sword, and he made a hole in the floor. He jumped into the hole with both feet together, but as soon as he landed, the ground riddled with dried bamboo leaves sank like clay and enveloped him instantly.

Li Huowang slashed out with his purple-tassel sword, and thick blood haphazardly spurted into the air, accompanied by what sounded like grotesque screams that couldn't possibly come from a human being.

Rustling noises echoed soon afterward, which told Li Huowang that the creature had retreated. Li Huowang panted heavily as he stood in the bamboo forest. The pure-white sedan chair and the sedan bearers had vanished. He was all alone in the middle of the bamboo forest.

What were those things? How did they know that I had cast a divination for Zhuge Yuan? Could the evil spirits on Xing Island be sentient?

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!