Mutated Tao

The wheels of the donkey cart continued to turn, and the bearings made a piercing sound. “Doggie, drop some oil into the wheel,” Li Huowang, lying on the cart, said laboriously. His neck had just been sewn up by Bai Lingmiao with a needle and thread, and covered with medicine. He was unable to sit up now.

After a while, the sound of the wheels became much quieter. Li Huowang stared blankly at the sky, thinking about what had happened a few nights ago. The trouble at Zhengde Temple had already been resolved, but his own troubles had just begun.

In his view, Dan Yang Tzu, who had become an immortal, killed those Buddhas. But in the eyes of others, it was Li Huowang who pounced on them and went inside their bodies to eat them.

There cannot be two visual angles in one world, one of them must be false. Li Huowang turned his head to look beside him and saw Bai Lingmiao whose eyes were covered by a cloth strip. She tightly grasped his hand and refused to let go even for a moment.

To be honest, due to his current condition, Li Huowang even did not believe himself. His bulging stomach and bloody face indicated that he was the one who had done it, not Dan Yang Tzu.

“Could it be that Dan Yang Tzu is really dead? Was everything just my imagination?”

As soon as this thought came to mind, Li Huowang quickly denied it. “Just relying on my illness, it is impossible for me to easily solve those Buddhas. The main problem is still Dan Yang Tzu.”

“No matter what he has become now, the key point is that he still exists,” Li Huowang was very sure of this.

“Before, I always thought that he had come down to mortal world after becoming an immortal. But now it seems that he was actually possessing my body and acting through me.

“Firstly, my previous assumption that Dan Yang Tzu was protecting me has been proven. However, based on what I know about him, he is not the kind of person who would help me out of goodwill. He must have had other purposes.”

Thinking back to the strange feeling he had on that night, Li Huowang had a vague suspicion. “Do you think my temper has become more and more irritable since we left Qingfeng Temple?” he asked.

“No, Senior Brother Li. Why do you ask this?”

Li Huowang lightly touched her hand back with his fingers, not explaining anything. He just silently thought to himself, “Of course it is because I am worried about what kind of conspiracy Dan Yang Tzu is plotting!”

Although others may not have noticed it, Li Huowang felt that his behavior and way of doing things had started to change.

“Does he want to revive himself through my body? So he is protecting me because he is actually protecting his own body?” This terrifying speculation appeared in his mind, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

But soon he calmed down. After all, it was just a guess. “No matter what the reason is, I must find a way to completely get rid of Dan Yang Tzu.”

Now that the target was determined, he needed to figure out what to do next. Li Huowang felt very helpless about this. Everything in this world was unfamiliar, and he had to find everything on his own.

After experiencing what happened at Zhengde Temple, Li Huowang dared not have any contact with other sects here. After all, even the Buddhist temple was so terrifying, who knew what other places were like.

However, after thinking it over, Li Huowang realized that if he wanted to live in this place, he could not avoid them.

While Li Huowang was pondering these things, the donkey cart slowly stopped, and the sound of rushing water came from beside him. 

“Senior Brother Li, I’ll wash your clothes for you,” Bai Lingmiao said, gently picking up the blood-stained clothes on the cart and walking towards the nearby stream.

The others were also busy finding firewood in the woods and starting a fire to cook.

Not long after, the aroma of food wafted over. Li Huowang was very hungry, and his injured body urgently needed food.

“Senior brother, let me feed you,” he felt someone hold him up and lean him against a furry chest.

Li Huowang already knew the name of this woman covered in black hair, like a black chimpanzee. She was called Chun Xiaoman.

The name was easy to understand because she was born on Xiaoman day. In the countryside, people give girls names casually like this.

（Xiao Man,Grain Buds,One of the solar terms in China）

Chun Xiaoman scooped up the horse meat soup with a wooden spoon and brought it to Li Huowang’s mouth. She silently fed him, and Li Huowang silently ate. Since the incident a few days ago, Li Huowang found that the others seemed to be more afraid of him.

Li Huowang could understand their fear. After all, anyone would be scared to be with a monster that eats people.

After finishing his meal, Li Huowang whispered to Chun Xiaoman, “Let Bai Lingmiao come back. If she can’t wash it off completely, then just leave it.”

“Okay,” Chun Xiaoman gently put Li Huowang down and used Celestial Book as a pillow under his head.

After a while, Bai Lingmiao returned, but her blood-stained robe did not return to its original cyan color.

“Put it on the donkey’s back to dry, just go eat before the food gets cold,” Li Huowang said.

“Okay,” Bai Lingmiao bent down and carefully observed Li Huowang’s wound, then heading towards the campfire.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of horse hooves sounded in the distance.

“Hey! Little Taoist Master, so you guys are here! I thought I’d never see you again!” When Lv Zhuangyuan’s wrinkled face appeared, Li Huowang knew that the Lv Family Troupe had followed them.

“Oh, what’s this…” Suddenly, Lv Zhuangyuan saw the wound on Li Huowang’s body.

“It’s nothing, just ran into a little trouble on the way. What’s up with you?”

“Little Taoist Master, how could you leave without saying anything? Didn’t we agree to leave together? Luckily, you said you wanted to leave here before, otherwise I wouldn’t have found you.” 

He had finally found a free escort, so he couldn’t easily lose him.

“Sorry, Troupe Master Lv, I am injured, so I won’t chat with you. Just do as you like,” Li Huowang said.

“Ah, it’s okay. Please lie down and rest,” Lv Zhuangyuan didn’t ask anything else. After all, he knew that the more you know, the more dangerous it is.

As the sun was about to set, neither group planned to continue walking. After all, there was a small river nearby that made washing and using water very convenient.

Li Huowang couldn’t sleep, he silently looked at the stars in the sky, thinking about what had happened during the day. Suddenly, he felt some movement on his right side.

A soft and petite body quietly lay in his arms, trembling slightly. Smelling the familiar fragrance, Li Huowang whispered, “It’s okay, leave everything to me, just leave everything to me.”