Mutated Tao

“Remember to follow my chant. If you do it right, I will give you some candy.” A devotee of the White Lotus Sect squatted in front of a group of child beggars and said, “Little god Yu’er pisses itself in front of the Heavenly Mater~”

“Little god Yu’er pisses itself in front of the Heavenly Mater~”

“Good! Come, everyone have a lick and go repeat what I’ve taught you to the masses. Come back after a division and you will each get a candy.”

As the child beggars ran away, they spread propaganda throughout the city to defame the Dharma Sect and praise the White Lotus Sect. Some of the other children even copied them on their own.

The White Lotus Sect used both children and adults to do their bidding.

“Offer tribute to the White Lotus Sect and pray to the Heavenly Mater, for she shall bless your life for a hundred years! She shall bless your afterlife for ten thousand years!”

“Pray to the White Lotus Sect and you are guaranteed to have a son!”

“The Heavenly Mater has descended into the mortal realm! She shall bless everyone! Those who join us will automatically become our sworn brothers. Everyone is welcome to join us. We shall not distinguish between the poor and the rich, the men and the women, or the old and the young.”

As the White Lotus Sect spread their influence, numerous posters of a white lotus were plastered all around the city.

Instead of targeting regular civilians, the White Lotus Sect intended to absorb some of the Dharma Sect members to reduce their strength.

Instead of suppressing the White Lotus Sect's high-profile recruitment campaign, the city officials were actively supporting it.

The city officials’ higher-ups had given the order that those who opposed the Dharma Sect were allies.

As the Saintess of the White Lotus Sect, Bai Lingmiao sat in a massive hall and waited for the palace of Hou Shu to come and meet her.

“Senior Bai, where is Senior Li?” Yang Xiaohai was nervous because he didn’t see Li Huowang around.

“Senior Li has something to do and will return shortly.” Bai Lingmiao knew where he went, but she thought there was no reason to tell Yang Xiaohai about it.

Bai Lingmiao was nervous as she waited for the officials. She didn’t know how she should conduct herself in front of them.

An old woman with a lotus engraving on her forehead sensed Bai Lingmiao’s worries and bowed. “Saintess, please do not worry. Hou Shu is in danger, so rather than making it difficult for us, they will instead politely ask for your help.”

Bai Lingmiao nodded and calmed down a little. She used her mind’s eye[1] in a day, so we had sixteen Dragon Veins. The reason why there’s so little time in a day now was because some of the Dragon Veins were destroyed in the past.”

1. [The mind’s eye is the relic that restored her eyesight./ref] to sense everything in the hall.

The beautiful decorations in the hall indicated that the palace of Hou Shu intended to treat her as a guest.

She then saw Lu Xiucai was reading the Profound Records intently. She took a cup of tea and walked over to him.

Seeing her approaching him, Lu Xiucai put down the Profound Records, stood up, and bowed. “Mistress!”

Bai Lingmiao took the Profound Records and traced her fingers across the words. Various bloody and self-mutilation techniques appeared in her mind. She knew what it was.

Senior Li used this a lot in the past. It’s very evil.

Bai Lingmiao sighed and put the Profound Records down. “Xiucai, I know you are upset. Please pray more to the Heavenly Mater and you will feel better. Also, if you want to take revenge against the Dharma Sect, we have a lot of techniques in the White Lotus Sect. There’s no need to use this.”

“Thank you, Mistress!” Lu Xiucai was grateful, but he had no intention of giving up the Profound Records. He wanted to cultivate both the techniques of the White Lotus Sect and the Ao Jing Sect.

The White Lotus Sect’s techniques required talent, humility, and training, while the Profound Records required none of that. He could use it immediately.

Bai Lingmiao knew what Lu Xiucai was thinking. She wanted to persuade him, but the ground started shaking before she could. Everything in the hall began falling left and right.

“The Earth Dragon is moving! Quick! Get out of the hall!”

As the ground shook, everyone evacuated outside to avoid getting crushed if the building collapsed.

Bai Lingmiao composed herself and saw the chaos outside.

“The Earth Dragon is moving!” Gongs, bells, and people shouting could be heard everywhere. Many houses collapsed, and several people fell into the ravines.

Thankfully the situation ended soon. The ground stopped shaking after five minutes.

They looked down from the city built into the face of the mountain. The barren land below was cracked to the point it almost split apart.

Before Bai Lingmiao could understand what was happening, she saw Li Huowang approaching her quickly.

“Miaomiao! How many fighters do you have in the White Lotus Sect? Mobilize all of them!”

Bai Lingmiao had never seen Li Huowang so agitated before.

“Senior Li, what’s wrong?”

“The Dharma Sect are not capturing the Dragon Veins to use them for themselves—they’re destroying them!” Li Huowang’s words made everyone else panic too.

God Yu’er was waiting. If the Dragon Veins were to be destroyed, the Liang Kingdom would end up like the Qi Kingdom.

Aside from the members who excelled at spreading the dogma, the stronger members of the White Lotus Sect, marked by white donkeys tattooed behind their backs, were mobilized. They accompanied Bai Lingmiao as she ran towards Hou Shu’s Surveillance Bureau.

Due to the quaking, everyone in Hou Shu’s Surveillance Bureau ran out. Li Huowang only recognized the three people at the front.

Hou Shu’s Surveillance Bureau Chief, Zhang Tan, Liang Kingdom’s Surveillance Bureau Chief, Xuan Pin, and Si Qi’s Surveillance Bureau Chief, Zheng Boqiao. It was clear that the threat was so dire that all of them had to mobilize together.

Li Huowang felt a lot of gazes trained on him. Some of them were even staring at him in broad daylight. Li Huowang felt that the Surveillance Bureau wasn’t that friendly to him.

Li Huowang approached them when Zhang Tan took out a horn tied with a red rope. He placed it on the mouth of his mask and blew it.

Bwoooooooooooh~

The sound of the horn echoed far and wide, covering everyone like a cloud of mist.

After the sound of the horn dissipated, the hundreds of people scattered. They all ran in different directions as they rushed to carry out their assigned missions.

Li Huowang turned to Xuan Pin and asked, “Where are they going? The Dragon Veins are at risk of getting destroyed and we need to get them back.”

“Don’t worry. We are not asking them to take on futile missions. We have some time since the Dharma Sect will find it difficult to destroy the Dragon Veins. We need to retrieve them before they are destroyed completely.”

“How do you know that the Dragon Veins haven’t been destroyed yet?”

“Time,” Xuan Pin said, raising a single skeletal finger. “A Dragon Vein represents a single division. We have currently lost half of a division.”

“A Dragon Vein represents a single division? There are twelve divisions in a day, so does that mean we had twelve Dragon Veins?”

“Wrong. There are sixteen divisions[ref]32 hours in a day for that world apparently. ☜