Mutated Tao

“Senior Zhuge, it’s me! Li Huowang!” Li Huowang pointed at his original body which was under Li Sui's control and recounted everything that happened.

Zhuge Yuan soon understood what was going on.

Li Huowang then urged, “Senior Zhuge, let's go ahead and leave! We cannot stay here for too long! The fight between the Surveillance Bureau of the Liang Kingdom and the two Sitting Oblivion Daos is too intense! You'll die here if you stay!”

Zhuge Yuan shook his head and pointed at the palace in front of him. “No. We're already halfway through the coup. We cannot stop now.”

Li Huowang's experience differed greatly compared to Zhuge Yuan. From Zhuge Yuan's point of view, he and the others had just entered the palace. They were about to force the undead emperor of the Qi Kingdom to step down.

Zhuge Yuan looked around him and saw soldiers clad in heavy armor as well as the officials of the palace. They were all staring at Zhuge Yuan; clearly, they thought of Zhuge Yuan as their leader.

Li Huowang was extremely distressed, but Zhuge Yuan remained calm. He even sounded confident as he said, “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine. I'm here, after all.”

Li Huowang looked around and saw a different scenery. The Liang Kingdom palace was coated in gold, but the Qi Kingdom was covered in snow. The difference was so huge that it was unmistakable.

Even the strange chanting from the Liang Kingdom had disappeared, and it seemed unable to pierce the boundary of the white snow and gold. To think that a Twisted One can stop even the influence of a Siming.

“Fifteen more minutes. The study room is just ahead of us, and it's where the empress recites sutras. The young undead emperor should be inside, too. We just need to force him to step down, and everything will be settled by then.”

Li Huowang looked down at his body under Li Sui's control and gnashed his teeth.

“Fine! I will help you! We need to settle this as soon as possible!”

Zhuge Yuan rushed forward, and the scenery peeled away.

Some of the people from the Liang Kingdom were whisked away into the Qi Kingdom. Fortunately, the Sitting Oblivion Dao and the Surveillance Bureau were so busy fighting each other that neither of them wanted to fight Zhuge Yuan.

Zhuge Yuan frowned. The people running past him were turning into courtesans and eunuchs running for their lives. His frown deepened at the sight, and he seemed to have recalled something.

The door burst open, and low chanting echoed from the study room accompanied by knocks on a wooden fish. “The Four Arhats Protects Us, Praise The Sacred Self, Love and Protect the Cultivator.”

A group of monks and abbots in yellow had filled the entirety of the study room.

They sat in a circle of six rings.

An old abbot with his back facing toward them sat in the middle of the circle. The abbot was using a razor to shave off the hair of a child. Li Huowang saw that the child’s face was ashen gray—the child was deceased.

Li Huowang recognized the child instantly. He was the same child that a Sitting Oblivion Dao member had impersonated at the time—the young undead emperor of the Qi Kingdom!

“You're shaving him? Are you monks from the Righteous Monastery mad? You're allowing a zombie to become a Buddhist?!” someone unknown roared, but the monks ignored them completely.

The razor moved, and the final strand of hair on the child's scalp was finally shaved off. “Amitabha. The three thousand worries of the mortal realm are finally undone.

"From now on, your name is Jie Tan. You're a disciple of the Righteous Monastery. If someone were to wish harm against you, they would be wishing harm against all of us, too.”

The old abbot turned around slowly.

Li Huowang was stunned to see the old abbot's identity. “Old monk?!”

There was no way he wouldn't recognize the old abbot, as he was the very same old monk standing next to him as an illusion.

The old monk was actually the abbot of the Righteous Monastery in the Great Qi rather than just a mere nobody.

Li Huowang finally realized what was wrong.

Zhuge Yuan hadn't transported him back in time to the Great Qi that existed thousands of years ago. Instead, Zhuge Yuan was living in an alternate dimension with its own separate timeline!

Zhuge Yuan wasn't a time machine—he was a gateway to alternate dimensions and timelines!

Li Huowang stared at Zhuge Yuan, and he finally realized why Zhuge Yuan was called the "Storyteller." He also realized why the Surveillance Bureau meted out severe punishment to those who had altered calendars and history books.

It was all for Zhuge Yuan, who was in the Great Qi of another dimension!

Li Huowang looked as if he had been struck by a hammer from out of nowhere upon realizing what was going on. The Twisted Ones' identities were clear to him now—they were doors to alternate dimensions and timelines!

In other words, the Sitting Oblivion Dao from the Great Qi was from a separate timeline. In this particular timeline, the old monk was the abbot of the Righteous Monastery.

While Li Huowang was sorting out his thoughts, Zhuge Yuan said something just then.

The monks of the Righteous Monastery stood up at the same time. The next moment, they clapped their hands and several eyes of varying sizes on the scars on their heads blinked at the same time.

The monks' mouths fluttered open as they chanted an inscrutable incantation. The chanting became louder and louder as the massive lips of the Buddha motif on the wall parted into a smile.

“Dear Sirs! You are monks dedicated to cultivating and shaking off all temptations. I don’t think it's wise to cling on to the mortal realm like this!” Zhuge Yuan exclaimed and unfurled his scroll.

Some of the monks in the room vanished into thin air. Zhuge Yuan had just spirited away some of them using the Muddled One's painting.

“Tai!” Some of the monks clapped, and their eyes bulged out of anger. They grew larger, while several arms extended from their backs, making them look like peacocks unfurling their tail feathers.

The two groups were about to start fighting, but a violent tremor abruptly shook the room. The strange chanting capable of dispersing the Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings echoed just then.

Zhuge Yuan and everyone around him collapsed to the ground.

Some even started fading as their fleshly bodies returned to "Chaos."

“What's going on?!” Li Huowang turned around and saw the colossal vertical pupil that was supposed to exist only in the Liang Kingdom.

“Senior Zhuge!" Li Huowang covered his ears and shouted, "We can’t stay here any longer! I don’t know what that is, but it's affecting even the Great Qi!”

However, Zhuge Yuan didn't believe the sight at all and coldly snorted. “Hmph! How dare you try to fool me! So what if you're big? You're still fake!”

Zhuge Yuan took out his almanac and brandished his brush.

Before he could finish writing, however, the colossal pupil glared at Zhuge Yuan.

Zhuge Yuan was struck by excruciating pain, which forced him on his knees.

A transparent barrier flickered to life around Zhuge Yuan, protecting him as the clouds housing the colossal vertical pupil rolled closer to him.

Li Huowang struggled to move. He had to do something, or Zhuge Yuan would die!

In the end, Li Huowang decided to go all out. He took out a dagger and thrust it into his neck before slicing it all the way downward his mid-section. Then, he unfurled the Profound Records and laid it on the ground. “Wooden Liver! Earth Spleen! Metal Lungs! Water Kidneys! Fire Heart! Five Elements Intercalation!”

Li Huowang sacrificed his organs[1] and his five senses merged, allowing him to perceive Ba-Hui's presence.

The red bamboo slips of the Profound Records transformed into maggots that burrowed into him. They nibbled on his flesh and multiplied rapidly. Soon, the maggots filled up every single cavity in Li Huowang's fleshly body, and they soon leaked out of his orifices.

However, Li Huowang felt great. He was no longer in pain, and his mind was as calm as a placid lake. The colossal vertical pupil was still glaring at him from above, but it could no longer affect him, much less the strange chanting.

Unfortunately, Li Huowang couldn't cast the Five Elements Intercalation so easily. He could only use it whenever he was on the brink of death. Thankfully, he was in Bei Feng’s fleshly body rather than in his own fleshly body.

1. more like Bei Feng’s lol ☜

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