Mutated Tao

“Senior Li, is that you? Did you come to save me?”

Yang Xiaohai knew he was safe when he saw Li Huowang appearing in front of him. He immediately told Li Huowang what had happened to him.

But when he finished his explanation, he saw Li Huowang staring at him with a weird gaze.

“Follow me.” After saying that, Li Huowang ignored Yang Xiaohai and started walking toward the west.

Yang Xiaohai hesitated, but Li Huowang had just killed the giant to save him, so he thought that Li Huowang wouldn’t hurt him. He quickly followed Li Huowang.

But what Yang Xiaohai had not noticed was Lu Juren struggling to stand up after getting impaled by the mourning staff.

The two of them walked in the darkness. With Li Huowang leading the way, Yang Xiaohai felt completely safe.

“Senior Li, where is this?”

“Where else? This is the bottom of Qing Qiu, the Feng Capital.”

“Feng Capital? Wait, Senior Li, is my wife down here too? Could you help me find her?”

“You have a wife already? That’s good!” Li Huowang smiled and nodded.

“Thank you, Senior Li!” Yang Xiaohai thanked him after Li Huowang agreed to help him find his wife.

“We are all companions. There’s no need to be polite. Be quiet now—we will reach it soon.”

The two of them continued walking and soon found themselves in a rugged space.

There were various large pillars stabbing the darkness above, but there were also various dark pits around them. It was a bizarre yet horrifying sight.

There were even green candlelights coming from the bottom of the pits. Yang Xiaohai saw more giants dragging the mourning staff full of impaled humans before they jumped into the pit.

Yang Xiaohai sensed something was wrong as he hid behind one of the pillars. “Senior… Senior Li, this isn’t the exit.”

Li Huowang said, “This is your exit. Do you see the pits as well as the various mounds?”

Without waiting for Yang Xiaohai to answer, Li Huowang told him what it was. “This is actually Kui Lei, the Siming that controlled the Heavenly Dao of Death. As for why it’s not moving… well, it’s already dead since it controls the Heavenly Dao of Death! Hahaha!”

Li Huowang thought he had made a really good joke and laughed so hard that he almost cried.

“Senior Li, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.” Yang Xiaohai panicked.

“Do you not understand? You died when you fell down here. Since you are dead, Kui Lei will take care of you. Go ahead and merge yourself with it. I even took you here specially.”

Yang Xiaohai slumped to the ground when he heard that. “I’m dead? Am I really dead?”

He pinched himself so hard he wounded himself, but no blood flowed. He cried, “I’m really dead?! I haven’t seen my parents! I don’t want to die! I want to live!”

Yang Xiaohai cried in despair, but Li Huowang suddenly clapped his hands and laughed heartily. “Hahaha! I tricked you! You’re not dead yet! Your ten emotions and eight sufferings are still intact.”

As he laughed, Li Huowang’s face shifted into Hong Zhong’s face, then back to his own.

Yang Xiaohai abruptly stopped crying out of shock and stared at Li Huowang. He didn’t know what to feel right now.

“Come, let me show you the real way out.” Li Huowang smiled and extended his hands to pull Yang Xiaohai up.

Yang Xiaohai didn’t know if he should accept the hand because he felt that Li Huowang was acting weirdly. “Senior Li, you won’t fool me again, right? This is not the time for jokes.”

“Hahaha, relax. I know when to stop. I’m just messing with you just now.” Li Huowang pulled Yang Xiaohai up. They then retraced their steps.

They soon encountered Lu Juren again. Lu Juren saw them and said in a daze, “Young Daoist? And you are Yang Xiaohai? Why are you here?”

“Juren, what happened to you? Didn’t we meet just now?” Yang Xiaohai was confused.

“We did?” Lu Juren stared at Yang Xiaohai and tried his best to remember.

Li Huowang said, “No need to talk to him anymore. His ten emotions and eight sufferings are gone. Even his soul has dispersed. The only thing he has left is his death Qi. He’s already a part of Kui Lei, and his memories will be reset after a certain time period has passed. He won’t know what happened in the past and the present.”

Yang Xiaohai looked at Lu Juren with pity. “Senior Li, why is he like this? Is he dead?”

“I don’t know.” Li Huowang continued to walk.

Yang Xiaohai hesitated before quickly following Li Huowang. This time, Lu Juren did not follow them but just stood there motionlessly.

Yang Xiaohai followed Li Huowang in the darkness as they started moving upwards.

Just as Yang Xiaohai thought he would get out for real this time, there was another earthquake. The sound of a mirror cracking came from both above and below them.

Li Huowang frowned and quickly turned around to look at the place they had escaped from. He saw that the area with the large pillars and pits was changing. Li Huowang cursed when he noticed that the pits were shrinking.

“Senior Li, what’s coming for us?” Yang Xiaohai was worried.

“Evil entities, and those that came from a different world! Someone is trying to revive Kui Lei! We need to run now or we will get affected!”

Li Huowang pulled on Yang Xiaohai and hastened their escape.

“Senior Li, what happens if Kui Lei gets revived?”

“Kui Lei controls the Heavenly Dao of Death. What do you think will happen if he comes back to life?”

The earthquake intensified. Yang Xiaohai suddenly heard the sound of crashing waves that came from the depths of the darkness.

“They are here! We need to go up!” Li Huowang stomped onto the ground and jumped onto the ceiling with Yang Xiaohai.

They hung upside down from the ceiling as they ran. Even though they were upside down, they showed no signs of falling downwards.

Yang Xiaohai soon noticed something had changed on the ground above him. He saw a dark, iridescent sea of water that resembled an oil slick.

The weird-looking water surged towards where the pits were. The vapor of the strange liquid started melting Yang Xiaohai!

He felt his body melting like a lit candle as the wax dripped upwards!