Mutated Tao

Qiu Chibao held the baby in her hands as she swallowed her saliva. She stared at the Daoist in red robes munching on his rations while she pleaded, “Please. Sir Daoist, please give me some food. I haven’t eaten in three days. I’m too hungry.”

Li Huowang took out another bun when he looked at the poor woman. He soaked the bun in his blood and threw it to her.

Qiu Chibao’s eyes lit up, and she pounced toward the bun. She wanted to eat it.

But it was useless. Her hands phased through the bun again and again. She could not pick it up.

Qiu Chibao looked up at Li Huowang with despair in her eyes and howled, “What are you doing?! You don’t want the bun any more, so why don't you let me pick it up?! A mere bun can save someone's life! Huhuhu, I've gotten used to being hungry, but I need to eat to produce breast milk. Without breast milk, my son will die! Please find it in your conscience to feed me!”

Qiu Chibao bit her finger open and placed it near her baby’s mouth.

Li Huowang sighed in frustration while staring at Qiu Chibao. He decided to ignore her as he looked east.

It had been a while since he had new illusions. Li Huowang had completely forgotten that he still had the ability to spawn illusions.

What’s happening? Why did she become my illusion? Why was she the only one who became an illusion even though so many people had died in front of me?

“Why don’t you let me eat it?! You villain!” Qiu Chibao roared. She grabbed her rusted knife and thrust it toward Li Huowang’s left eye.

Li Huowang stepped forward, and Qiu Chibao phased through him.

He had tried communicating with her but soon gave up after a few attempts.

He told her many different things, either she was dead, her baby was dead, or she had become an illusion. However, she refused to listen to any of his explanations.

It seemed that Qiu Chibao was still a lunatic despite becoming an illusion.

Li Huowang sympathized with her, but he could not help her until she acknowledged her condition.

Thankfully, it was easy enough to keep her quiet.

Li Huowang took out his last ration and threw it to her. She immediately became quiet and tried to eat it.

Peng Longteng, Jin Shanzhao, Zhuge Yuan, Monk, Qiu Chibao, Sitting Oblivion Dao, and Jiang Yingzi… Li Huowang tried to find something in common with them, as he believed he'd know the prerequisites to spawning illusions by learning that.

Li Huowang soon discovered that his emotions were particularly tumultuous while these people were dying, and perhaps that was the reason they became his illusions.

If he didn't want more illusions, he had to be a bit calmer in the future.

However, Li Huowang soon dismissed the idea. Not all of his illusions were spawned the same.

He didn’t even know whether the old monk had actually died or not.

Some of them didn’t even have a close relationship with him, such as Qiu Chibao. She had never talked to him in real life, but she still became his illusion.

“Unless… There’s more than one way to become my illusion?” Li Huowang mumbled.

“Junior Li... this isn't the time to think about that. It’s best to focus on locating Shangji Guankou. Great Qi is extremely unstable at the moment, so we need to go back as soon as possible.”

Li Huowang nodded. Indeed, Shai Zi was his biggest headache. He already had quite a few illusions, so having another one wouldn't really matter.

He might be able to materialize all of them once he was done with his cultivation, and he could then allow them to live in peace.

“No… No…” Jin Shanzhao’s words interrupted Li Huowang's train of thought.

Jin Shanzhao was smiling while staring at Li Huowang.

“Good... Good!” Jin Shanzhao said before dragging himself to Qiu Chibao and consoling her by tapping on her legs.

Li Huowang said nothing as he ran in the direction that Zhuge Yuan had pointed out.

The sun rose higher and higher, and Li Huowang was fast approaching Shangji Guankou. He started focusing more and more on his surroundings.

The trees grew sparser, and he realized almost all of the tree bark had been stripped away. Li Huowang walked along a dry riverbank, and he reached the source of the river at nightfall.

Li Huowang looked down and saw a deep pool of water; however, the drought had made the overall water level quite low.

Li Huowang frowned. “Am I staring at Shangji Guankou right now?”

“No. We're in the middle of the hour of the rat. Shangji Guankou must be underwater right now. Once the hour of the rat passes, they'd move somewhere else."

“So there's a time constraint; why does it sound like I'm refining pills?” Li Huowang asked, but he dared not wait any longer. He picked up a large stone and jumped into the pool.

The pool was very cold, to the point that his limbs were numb. It was completely dark, and Li Huowang felt something smooth gliding past his neck. He wasn’t sure what it was, though.

He took out a small piece of luminescent stone from within his robes.

The glowing green stone illuminated the surroundings, and a few creatures in the dark water receded like a tide.

Li Huowang plummeted to the bottom of the river, all thanks to the heavy stone in his arms.

However, the river was deeper than he initially thought.

Li Huowang turned to Zhuge Yuan, wanting to ask a question, but the latter guessed his question and said, “Junior Li, don't worry. Shangji Guankou is an isolationist. Evil beings cannot find them so easily, so there shouldn't be any danger here.”

Li Huowang relaxed as he sank to the bottom of the river.

It was silent, and there weren't any noises except for Qiu Chibao's screams.

“AAAHHH! I’m drowning! I’m going to drown!” Qiu Chibao desperately tried to swim upward with her baby up above her head to try and get him to the surface first.

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