Mutated Tao

Under Nangong Yun's lead, Li Huowang soon arrived outside the Liang residence where Zhuge Yuan was located. Li Huowang's excellent vision allowed him to see Zhuge Yuan painting on the second floor. There was no sign of anyone from the Great Qi, and it seemed that they were either in the other rooms or outside.

"Senior Nangong, isn't Zhuge Yuan wanted by the Surveillance Bureau? Why was he still allowed to stay here? Why don't we just capture him and take his powerful artifact?" Li Huowang asked. It was one of his burning questions.

Nangong Yun furrowed his brows slightly and shook his head. "Now is not the time to provoke him. According to the imperial decree, the members of the Bureau at the first to fourth rank have to enter the palace.

"We're lacking in manpower, and dealing with Zhuge Yuan right now would be a huge headache to us. The Sitting Oblivion Dao might seize the opportunity to strike, too if we were to do that. We should deal with the Sitting Oblivion Dao first.

"Fortunately, the Storyteller won't help those liars."

Having finished his explanation, Nangong Yun turned around to leave. "Er Jiu, good luck. You'll probably make it out alive so long as you don't provoke Zhuge Yuan. As long as you don't show any hostility toward him, he shouldn't treat you badly. You must remember not to show even a hint of killing intent."

"Thank you, Senior Nangong!" Li Huowang said. Then, he turned around and started walking toward the Liang residence in the distance with a grim look. Just as Li Huowang passed through the large doors, the doors slammed shut behind him.

Li Huowang took a deep breath. Then, he walked across the courtyard with heavy steps. Soon, Li Huowang reached the mansion. Upon entering the mansion, the doors and the windows were slammed shut by Zhuge Yuan with a wave of his brush.

The two men looked at each other and smiled.

"Thank you, Senior Zhuge. The mission is done. It won't be long before they start fighting. I'm just afraid that the Sitting Oblivion Dao will hear the news and leave the capital early."

"Rest assured, Junior Li. They aren't afraid of death, let alone something like this. They've already assembled here, so they won't leave unless something extraordinary happens."

"True." Li Huowang picked up the tea on the side and took a sip. He didn’t care what the Sitting Oblivion Dao would do next. The Surveillance Bureau was behind him, so he would be fine as long as he wasn't their target.

"Senior Zhuge, the two of us might not meet again tomorrow. There are too many eyes in the city, and the Surveillance Bureau will start suspecting us as well."

"It doesn't matter. I can handle the issues in Great Qi by myself. How about you? Can you handle the Strayed One Bei Feng by yourself?"

"Don't worry; I'm not going to be fighting by myself. The Surveillance Bureau's main force will fight the Sitting Oblivion Dao. I just need to take advantage of Bei Feng's injuries to ambush and capture him."

"All right. Give me your hand, and I'll help you conceal your identity. It will be easier for you to move around then."

"Hmm? How will you conceal my identity?" Li Huowang asked, but he still raised his hand.

Zhuge Yuan pointed at Li Huowang's palm with his brush, and Li Huowang’s name appeared on his hand written in black ink.

With a few quick strokes of the brush, Zhuge Yuan added a horizontal stroke to "Li," turning it into "Ji," and swiftly modified "Huo" into "Zai." [1]

Finally, Zhuge Yuan wiped away the character "Wang," removing it.

However, the ink simply landed on a piece of paper rather than vanishing.

"Done. Just keep your face covered, and no one will recognize you as Li Huowang."

Li Huowang was amazed. He had never seen such a technique.

Li Huowang stared at the character "Ji Zai" in his hand and nodded gratefully. "I won't forget this favor, Senior Zhuge. Rest assured, once I find Bei Feng, I will definitely come back to help you!"

Zhuge Yuan looked up and stared at Li Huowang. “Junior Li, my issues are not important. If you encounter any issues here in the capital, you can just use your divination to find me. I'll instantly discover if you've cast your divination on me, and I'll eventually find you as long as you're still alive.”

Li Huowang stood still and looked at Zhuge Yuan with a complicated expression.

Then, Li Huowang sat down on the cushion and confessed, “Senior Zhuge, to be fair I actually do have an issue, but you don’t have to do anything about it. I just want you to listen as a friend, and then you can help me analyze it.”

“Oh?” Zhuge Yuan muttered in surprise. This was the first time Li Huowang had spoken to him in such a tone of voice.

Li Huowang clenched and unclenched his fist before sighing. “Senior Zhuge, what do you think of the world in my hallucination? Do you think it's real or not?”

Li Huowang then wasted no time, telling everything to Zhuge Yuan—the hallucination, his confusion, and how he had materialized gold in the world in his hallucination.

Li Huowang wanted to know what others thought of his hallucination.

Would they think of it as real?

Of course, Li Huowang didn't really expect Zhuge Yuan to say anything about it.

He just wanted to vent to a friend. He couldn't tell anyone about it, as everyone would think that Li Huowang was a lunatic.

However, Zhuge Yuan would never think that way.

Once Li Huowang was done recounting, a deafening silence descended upon the room.

Zhuge Yuan remained quiet for a long time, seemingly in deep contemplation. In the end, he eventually stared at Li Huowang and asked, “Junior Li, do you know that I have a really close female friend in the Liang Kingdom?

"However, she was just a lowly concubine in the Qi Kingdom. I tried to change myself and force myself to think that the Great Qi was false and the Liang Kingdom was real,” Zhuge Yuan said with a trembling voice as his gaze landed on a painting that depicted a beautiful lady.

“However, it didn't work. In the end, she still left me behind. The Qi Kingdom is real, and there’s no way the fake one can be the real one.”

“But what if? What if it's real as well?” Li Huowang asked, clenching his fists tightly.

“I want the fish, and I want the bear paw, too. However, I cannot have both,” Zhuge Yuan said. Then, he lifted his brush once more and continued with his drawing.

“Junior Li, as the scholars of the past have said, we cannot get everything. It applies to everyone. As for me, it's with the Great Qi and the Great Liang. As for you, it's your reality and your hallucination. It applies to the Siming up there as well.

"One cannot obtain everything without sacrificing something.”

Li Huowang stood up and clasped his hands together. “Thank you, Senior Zhuge. Your words have made me feel better. I really found it frustrating that I had no choice but to bottle up my feelings until now."

Li Huowang then walked down the stairs and said, “Once everything is over, I really hope that we'll still be friends, Senior Zhuge. I'd really like to drink tea and play Go at your bamboo house again.”

Zhuge Yuan's voice echoed from the second floor. "Tea is fine, but forget about Go. I think even calling you a bad player is a compliment.”

1. From 李 to 季, and from 火 to 灾. It means seasonal disaster lmao ☜

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