Mutated Tao

Li Sui popped out of Li Huowang's navel and looked around with his eyes. He was certain that he had heard voices just now, but no one was around.

“Dad, how come I can hear voices when there's no one around? Who is chanting?” Li Sui asked, but his question remained unanswered. He couldn't help but worry as he asked, “Dad, are you mad at me?”

Li Sui felt that he hadn't made any mistakes. After all, he couldn't have known that he'd have two fathers—a headless father and a father with a head. Upon hearing not even a single command from his headless father, Li Sui entered the navel of his father with a head.

Li Huowang had no time to pay any attention to Li Sui. He stared in the direction of the capital, as he could hear the strange chanting as well. At first, he thought it was just his hallucination, but he saw some civilians rolling on the floor in pain while holding their heads.

Li Huowang realized instantly that he wasn't hallucinating. The chanting was real, and he could hear it, even though it was coming from the distant capital. Li Huowang reckoned that a large-scale incident was happening.

Something major must be happening; I can't wait any longer. I must hurry back. Has the Surveillance Bureau surrounded the Sitting Oblivion Dao? Li Huowang moved as fast as possible, but he failed to reach the capital even after nightfall. It was inevitable, as he left empty-handed but was coming back with a heavy corpse.

His corpse had no head, but he hadn't forgotten that he was a Strayed One.

Li Huowang reckoned that his corpse would definitely be useful, so he drained the blood out of the corpse and filled it with coarse salt inside before covering it with the same salt on the outside.

Li Huowang took a deep breath and wiped away the sweat on his face as he stared at the night sky. Li Huowang eventually put the corpse down and decided to gather firewood to call it a night.

It hadn't been that long since the New Year's celebration, so the weather was still quite chilly. He had to sleep with a campfire, or he would end up getting sick,

While Li Huowang was cutting branches with the purple-tassel sword, snowflakes fell slowly from the sky. It was snowing, and it was Li Huowang's first snowfall in this world.

Li Huowang exhaled while staring at the moon hanging in the sky. Sensing that tonight would be an unusually cold night, Li Huowang decided to pick up the pace and gather more firewood.

Soon, sparks flew out when he used his flint, but the sparks failed to ignite the wood.

Li Huowang tried for a while, but he stopped upon recalling something. He rummaged through his pockets and took out an old almanac. Li Huowang used the flint a few times before the old almanac caught fire. Li Huowang then threw the old almanac into the pile of firewood, and that was it—the campfire was done.

Li Huowang immediately felt comfortable the moment the heat from the flames illuminated him. Li Huowang moved closer to the fire and closed his eyes while leaning on the back of his headless corpse.

"Hey Daoist, I have something I want to ask you," the old monk’s illusion asked.

"I'm tired. I have many things to do in the capital tomorrow. Let's talk another day," Li Huowang replied.

"No, it's about that guy named Hong Zhong. Do you remember him? He told me that you can turn lies into truth. Is that true?" the old monk rubbed his hands in anticipation before asking, "What if… you can turn a few of us into real people?"

"What?" Li Huowang asked, sounding astonished. His drowsiness was no more as he sat up abruptly and swept his gaze across the illusions—Peng Longteng, Hong Zhong, Jinshan, and the old monk.

Li Huowang's eyes sharpened, focusing on Hong Zhong's skinless face. "Are you using the old monk to probe me? What do you want?"

"Hehe, nothing special. I'm just curious. Think about it, isn't it fun if you can turn me back into a real person, even though you've already killed me?” Hong Zhong asked, sounding excited.

“In your dreams—you can do everything in your dreams.”

“How ruthless. We've endured so many hardships that we can already be considered family, you know? We should be able to help you if we have real bodies. Don't worry; I'm not going to harm you if you ever allow me to obtain a real body.

"I find you particularly interesting, actually. It was amazing how you disguised yourself as Hong Zhong. You instigated both parties so flawlessly—you were like a true Sitting Oblivion Dao member!” Hong Zhong exclaimed.

Li Huowang ignored Hong Zong and closed his eyes to sleep. Li Huowang felt both warm and cold. He had no idea when he fell asleep, but Li Huowang found himself buried in snow the next morning.

Li Huowang took a deep breath of the dry air and grabbed a handful of white snow to chew. Then, he dragged his stiff corpse and walked toward the capital, one step at a time.

The capital had many informants, and he'd instantly catch a ton of attention if he were to drag a corpse all the way into the capital. Moreover, he had no idea how to explain that to the Surveillance Bureau.

Li Huowang decided to dig a hole and bury his headless corpse on a hill. Fortunately, it was cold, and his corpse had been salted as well, so it wouldn't decay that quickly.

Li Huowang stared at the desolate city gate and took a deep breath before walking toward it. At first, Li Huowang thought that the peculiar chanting would cause chaos in the capital, but the capital was still business as usual.

The only strange thing was that the streets weren't as bustling as usual, but Li Huowang chalked it up to the heavy snow.

Li Huowang's assumption was correct. The capital was indeed sprawling with the Surveillance Bureau's informants. He had only taken a few steps into the capital, but the Surveillance Bureau had already surrounded him.

Li Huowang's expression was extremely solemn as he stared at Nangong. "Senior Nangong, the Sitting Oblivion Dao has deceived me."

Nangong looked at Li Huowang with a complicated expression and sighed. "Follow me. I'm sure you can't even imagine what the Sitting Oblivion Dao did with your identity."

Li Huowang returned to the Surveillance Bureau under Nangong's lead. They walked through the wooden corridors and soon arrived at a room. For some reason, the air in the room was dense and heavy.

However, Li Huowang soon found the answer to his question.

A head twisted into the appearance of Hong Zhong was on a table with three incense sticks in front of it. A Daoist clad in a yellow Daoist robe and wearing a hat with the Yin and Yang symbol embroidered on it was standing next to the head.

The yellow-robed Daoist brandished a bronze coin sword in a ritual.

"Lord Jian Zheng, Er Jiu has returned."

The yellow-robed Daoist looked up.

Li Huowang saw two Nascent Souls on the left side of the yellow-robed Daois's neck.

This Jian Zheng has two Nascent Souls. He must be a disciple of Luoism. Li Huowang instantly became wary.

Meanwhile, Daoist Jian Zheng stopped his ritual and examined Li Huowang from top to bottom. Then, he grabbed Hong Zhong’s head and hurled it at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang examined the rectangular head and exclaimed, "What?! The Hong Zhong of the Sitting Oblivion Dao is a Strayed One?!"[1]

1. MC is an amazing actor lmao ☜

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