Mutated Tao

Zhao Tianhu sighed upon hearing Lu Xiucai's voice. “And another one bites the dust…”

Kui Sanjin said nothing.

Meanwhile, a short man among their group spoke, saying, “Sir Kui, I have someone with relations to the Surveillance Bureau. Want me to talk to them?”

Zhao Tianhu slapped the short man on the head. “Are you stupid? Don’t you know what we do? We're graverobbers! Why would you go and consult the Surveillance Bureau? They're going to kill us all!”

The short man retreated into the group of people.

“They're not the imperial guards. They won't care about us at all.”

Zhao Tianhu sighed. “We should just give up on it if it's really impossible. We’ve sought so many people to help, but they all failed. We've done our best for Fourth Brother's sake.”

However, the others disagreed. “You can’t do that, Sir Zhao! Since it managed to turn Fourth Zhao into that ghastly creature, that item is definitely a prized treasure!"

“Yeah! We can just sell it and earn a lot of money since we're too scared to use it."

“Sir Zhao! I heard those cultivators have pills to extend their lifespan! We can exchange that treasure for those pills!”

“Shut up!” Zhao Tianhu shouted.

Everyone went quiet.

“If you think you can do it, why don’t you personally try and tear off that wicked skin from Fourth Brother? That treasure will belong to you if you manage to do it! What? Do you dare try it? I know that it’s a treasure that we can sell for good money, but it can fucking kill you!

"It already killed Fourth Brother and Sixth Brother. How many lives would you need just to take care of it?

"Anyway, just listen to me! We've got to block the windows and doors. We'll leave before daybreak, and hopefully, the officials won’t discover our trails.”

No one else dared to disobey Zhao Tianhu, and they prepared to carry out his orders.

“AAAAAAAAAH!” Lu Xiucai’s shout echoed just then.

“What?!” Zhao Tianhu was astonished, but he was immediately delighted. “He’s still alive! It seems we finally have a chance. Let’s stay here and wait!”

“AAAAAAH!” Lu Xiucai shouted, running around the room while holding the bronze coins. A figure with a long neck and long hair chased him around as if it were a snake.

Lu Xiucai finally saw the corpses in the corner of the room, and the limbs of those corpses were tangled up with each other. Lu Xiucai ran with all his might, afraid of meeting the same horrible fate as those corpses.

Unfortunately, Lu Xiucai was eventually pushed into a corner. He gnashed his teeth and raised the coins. The long-necked evil retreated slightly.

It’s fine! It’s fine! It's afraid of the coins! Lu Xiucai consoled himself while catching his breath. The brief respite allowed him to take a good look at the evil being. The evil being was a humanoid evil being with its neck and limbs horrendously elongated, allowing it to wriggle them like snakes.

A moldy piece of leather was attached to the evil being's chest. The leather seemed to be made out of several human faces and scalps. The scars on the scalps indicated that the owners were monks. The orifices of monks' faces were sewn shut, while their foreheads were lined with what looked like intricate runes.

The entire piece of leather emitted an ominous air, and it would move every time the evil being.

Is that leather made from human parts? Is that why this evil creature can stretch its neck to such an extent? Lu Xiucai thought, but he honestly couldn’t care less. His priority was escaping his predicament, but he couldn’t see any way out of this.

The evil being quivered and squirmed as it slowly approached Lu Xiucai. At the sight, Lu Xiucai thrust the bronze coins toward the evil being, forcing it to retreat.

Lu Xiucai saw that and came up with an idea. He made sure his hands were raised as he moved slowly toward the window. Upon reaching it, he banged on the wooden window with his elbows.

After creating a hole in the window, Lu Xiucai judged that the hole was big enough for him to escape, so he turned around to jump into it.

However, the window was abruptly opened from the outside. The window struck him in the chest, knocking him down. Lu Xiucai immediately attempted to stand up, but the pale, emaciated face was only a few inches away from him!

Lu Xiucai briefly stopped breathing at the terrifying sight.

The evil being opened its mouth to devour Lu Xiucai when a strong beam of light struck the evil being from behind Lu Xiucai. The evil being's flesh melted, and it collapsed with a dull thud.

Lu Xiucai saw a white skull rolling on the floor.

The evil being's head had melted away, and it was considered dead without a head.

The leather sensed the death of its host, and it immediately detached from the fleshly body of its deceased host. Then, it launched itself at Lu Xiucai.

Swoosh!

A wooden pole flew into the room, impaling the leather to the ground.

Lu Xiucai stared at the leather and looked up slowly, tracing the pole's wooden shaft until he saw the banner tied to it. A Taiji symbol was drawn on the flag along with six words at the bottom of it.

If Lu Xiucai could read, he would understand some of the words that said—fortune-telling, glyphomancy, and divinations.

“Haha, I guess my good luck has returned. It makes sense, as I’ve been so unlucky over the past few days,” said Blind Chen as he entered the room. He looked around before going over to his wooden pole.

He was the same Blind Chen whom Li Huowang had met before. Blind Chen stepped on the leather and walked up to the wooden pole.

Lu Xiucai crawled up and stared at the blind man with a bamboo basket on his back

The blind man was stroking the leather with a pensive look, seemingly oblivious to Lu Xiucai's presence.

“Thank you for your help,” Lu Xiucai said.

Blind Chen ignored Lu Xiucai. He pulled out a black cloth and grabbed the leather with it. Then, he took out a mirror—the same mirror that Li Huowang had returned to him.

Zhao Tianhu and Kui Sanjin huddled next to the window, staring in disbelief at Blind Chen. They had no idea where the blind man had come from, and why he was so strong.

Blind Chen pinched the mirror in his armpit and used his wooden pole to poke around.

“Why are you blocking the window? Step back a bit. It’s too crowded,” Blind Chen said.

The people outside took a step back upon seeing that the blind man wanted to exit through the window. However, they made sure that the old man was within arm's reach, and their greedy gazes were fixated on the old man's bamboo basket.

“Now that’s better,” Blind Chen said. He then assumed a horse stance and raised the mirror high up in the air using his right hand while making seals with his left hand. He chanted an incantation at the same time.

Lu Xiucai admired Blind Chen and wondered when he would become a sage-like individual like the latter.

Lu Xiucai was also surprised by the strength of Blind Chen's Bagua mirror. Lu Xiucai knew that Bagua mirrors could deal with evil beings, but the issue was that Bagua mirrors were definitely expensive.

Lu Xiucai wondered how much it would cost to buy one.

While Lu Xiucai was deep in his thoughts, Blind Chen reached a crescendo.

When his chanting ceased, Blind Chen pointed his mirror at the group of people in front of him and roared. “The limitless Heaven and Earth upholds justice for the world!”

A dazzling, radiant light erupted from the mirror, piercing everyone.

They only managed to utter a single shout of despair before dying. Blind Chen's Bagua mirror had reduced all of them to a puddle of red flesh.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

This is Liu Zhongyuan, first appearing in Chapter 302! Credits to 格子的乱七八糟 on douyin

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