Mutated Tao

As Li Huowang opened up the hole, everyone ran forward and saw that they were in a very open space. They were overjoyed upon realizing they had escaped.

Contrary to their expectations, the Earth Dragon wasn’t underground. They escaped from its stomach and were now on the surface. The skies were dark, as though the Natural Disaster was still ongoing.

Li Huowang dared not look up at god Yu’er. He wasn’t sure where he was, but he was sure he was no longer at Cloud Swamp.

A piercing scream rang out, followed by the sight of the evil entities dragging those too close to the hole back into the darkness.

“Quick! We need to run away now! The Earth Dragon is still influencing us because the worms in our stomachs aren’t gone yet!”

Li Huowang quickly dragged Bai Lingmiao and the others away from the hole.

As they walked away, they saw that the evil entities had left them alone, and everyone sighed in relief.

Suddenly, Li Huowang stopped and looked at a shimmering illusion in the darkness. The illusion wore a blue Daoist robe and a Daoist crown, with leprosy evident on his balding head. He flashed a toothy grin, exposing his yellow teeth.

“Hohoho~ My dear disciple, you did a great job!”

“Scram!” Li Huowang ignored Dan Yangzi and swung his spine sword at him. The rift flew quickly, destroying Dan Yangzi without leaving a trace.

“Senior Li? What’s wrong?” Bai Lingmiao looked at him with worry.

“Huh? Did you not see Dan Yangzi just now?”

“Where? There wasn’t anyone there. What happened to you? I thought you said your illness had been cured?” Bai Lingmiao held his hand with worry.

She can’t see it? Is it just me? Did my illness—

He suddenly looked at the illusion of the old monk and urgently asked, “Monk! Did you see that just now? Did you see that balding Daoist?”

Someone from the crowd suddenly interrupted him as the monk was going to answer.

“Li Huowang, what’s wrong with you?” Zheng Boqiao approached and looked at all of Li Huowang’s three heads. “Move faster! The Earth Dragon is too powerful. The worms in our bodies are still alive!”

“Father… There’s more and more worms in my stomach,” Li Sui said, her voice tinged with worry and sadness.

Li Huowang continued moving forward as he looked at the spot where Dan Yangzi had disappeared. He didn’t have the luxury to dwell on it right now.

Everyone moved faster to distance themselves from the Earth Dragon in hopes that the worms would die off.

After fifteen minutes, Li Huowang saw another unexpected person.

It was Shai Zi, dressed in the emperor's dragon robes. “Hohoho, Hong Zhong? Long time no see. Don’t you think it’s time to wake up after getting imprisoned in my illusion for so long?”

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” This time, he ignored the illusion and continued moving forward.

But this time, he was not the only one who saw an illusion.

“Father? Mother?” Tears streamed down from Bai Lingmiao’s red veil as she stood there silently. She stared into the darkness as if she saw her parents. Her face was a mixture of sadness and longing.

Li Huowang followed her gaze but saw nothing.

“Miaomiao! What did you see?” As Li Huowang asked, he realized that the others were staring into the darkness, too.

“I didn’t kill them! Scram! Go find someone else!”

“Master! Your disciple has been unfilial to you!”

“Chun Xiang? Why are you here? Xuan Pin, where are you? Come out!”

Li Huowang realized that he was not going crazy. The space around them was actually making them see things!

“Wait, don’t panic! It’s an illusion! Everything is fake!” Li Huowang warned them.

When they heard Li Huowang shouting, most of them tried to break free from the illusions, but they all failed. Some even attacked the illusions, which was also fruitless.

“We need to get out of the range of the Earth Dragon’s corpse!” No matter how many illusions there were, they posed no threat. The actual danger lay in the worms in their stomachs.

The others quickly followed Li Huowang, seeing him as their undisputed leader and savior.

Everyone ignored the illusions and walked forward, but just a few minutes later, they all encountered something unexpected. Another wall of stomach lining appeared in front of them. They were still trapped inside of the Earth Dragon.

“Impossible!” Li Huowang gouged out one of his six eyes and threw it into the air along with two glowing rocks.

Only then did he see what was happening. They had not escaped the Earth Dragon’s corpse—they had walked into another one of its stomachs!

“Hahahaha! You must be stupefied, right?” Shai Zi appeared again to taunt Li Huowang.

Is this the ability of the Earth Dragon’s stomach? What exactly is an Earth Dragon?! Li Huowang tried to figure out another way to escape.

“Father… It hurts… There are way too many worms. I can’t hold on any longer.” The pale green worms started to burrow out of Li Huowang as they shaved off his flesh.

Just then, a tsunami of evil entities surged towards them. All of them despaired, knowing it was a death sentence.

“I don’t want to die like this! I refuse!” An old man holding a Soul Calling Banner[1] fell backward and exploded into a clump of green worms.

Li Huowang tried to rally everyone to break through the stomach lining again. However, he failed to do so as the worms, evil entities, and illusions made it impossible for everyone to cooperate.

As they were infested with even more worms, they saw more illusions and evil entities.

Li Huowang refused to give up. He used all of his techniques to save Bai Lingmiao and Li Sui. He couldn’t let them die here.

As the situation became more chaotic, more and more people died. Despite this, Bai Lingmiao stood still, listening to the cursing of her family’s illusion.

“You bitch! He’s the one who killed your father! Why haven’t you taken revenge for me? Are you still human?”

“I really didn’t think you were someone like this. How could you be like this? Why did you become so heartless?”

“Sister, are you a bitch?”

Bai Lingmiao cried. She saw Li Huowang struggling and noticed that he was on the verge of collapsing—more than half of his body had turned into worms.

“Senior Li, you can use the Cang-Qiang Ascension to escape.” Bai Lingmiao pointed at the Profound Records being held by Lu Xiucai.

“I want to, but I can’t!” Li Huowang howled in anger. He knew that the Cang-Qiang Ascension could rescue all of them, but where could he find the most intense mental pain right now?

Bai Lingmiao pursed her lips and shook her head, then smiled softly. “Don’t worry, Senior Li. Let me help you.”

Bai Lingmiao turned around. She gave a Flesh Book[2] to one of her followers before she leaped into the crowd of evil entities.

1. A flag that attracts spirits. ☜

2. A message written on one’s own skin. ☜