Mutated Tao

No, it’s not the cry of a crane! Li Huowang used his melded senses to feel the sound of the crane. He realized what the crane’s cry really was.

It wasn’t a voice—it was one of god Yu’er’s hands, or rather, something that resembled a tree branch from god Yu’er. God Yu’er was formless and shapeless. When someone heard these cries, it meant that god Yu’er had touched them.

The sound of the crying crane resonated once again, and Li Huowang felt that god Yu’er had taken over his vocal cords and hijacked his voice!

Despite the intense pain, Li Huowang gripped his neck with his bloody hands to prevent himself from making any noise.

They fell further and further into the dark sky. Li Huowang felt that if he kept falling, he would eventually reach the Baiyu Capital again!

However, he was not planning to run away. As the cries of the crane grew louder, Li Huowang snarled and stuffed his hands into his throat.

Li Huowang tore out his vocal cords and threw them into the heavens below him with all his might. He saw his vocal cords spreading apart like butterflies as they released the crane’s call.

As if on cue, everything around his vocal chord grew a mouth, and gradually, the crane’s voice grew louder.

The crane’s cry reached a crescendo as a female voice filled with sympathy interjected. The voice was filled with sadness and boundless kindness.

“I cried as my son left the village–his whereabouts are now unknown to us. I cry as I don’t know where he is, for there are no letters from him. I cry when I cannot see him—when will he come back and see us again? I cried when I realized it would be difficult for him to come back, for how would his sins be tolerated? I cried when I approached the end of my life, as I knew he wouldn’t be able to see his mother again.

The crane’s voice grew quieter as the screaming voices of the people and evil entities around Li Huowang were audible again.

As the darkness transformed into a lotus, Li Huowang used his melded five senses to look into it.

He pulled open the curtains and revealed the darkness outside. His neighborhood was dark due to a power outage. “Huowang, look! The electricity is coming back!”

The next instant, the heavens and earth inverted as Li Huowang and everyone else fell downwards. They once again saw the night sky painted with stars. Li Huowang knew that the Natural Disaster had ended.

The wind blew past them as they fell from the skies. A tentacle sprouted out of Li Huowang’s throat and grabbed his vocal cords in the air before quickly retracting back into his throat.

Bam! Li Huowang fell into an inn. He lay on the ground and stared into the skies as blood and corpses rained down around him, painting the inn red in the process.

Li Huowang’s vibrating flesh scales had turned back to normal wounds.

He felt his body was on the verge of collapsing. He used the last of his strength to stand up, and then shouted to his reflection in his pool of blood, “Ji Zai! Get the fuck over here! I don’t care what you are doing right now!”

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?” His reflection moved. “Sorry, I was busy saving someone, I think?”

Li Huowang clenched his fist and punched his reflection as he cried out, “Miaomiao is dead! Bai Lingmiao is dead! Why did I become your Twisted One? Why do you think I entrusted my fate to someone like you? That’s because I wanted to protect Miaomiao and the others! But where were you? Is this how you repay me?! Why?! Why are the other Simings so strong while you are so useless?! You have three and a half Heavenly Daos, but you can’t even protect a single girl! I had to borrow Ba-Hui’s strength through the Cang-Qiang Ascension to escape the Earth Dragon’s stomach. You are useless!”

“You have to rely on yourself. Only then can we win together.”

“Stop giving me such bullshit!” With the support of the tentacles, Li Huowang staggered back upwards and pointed at his reflection.

“Miaomiao is dead! Revive her! Find a way to give her back her life! Or I will let someone else become your Twisted One instead!”

“Hm…” His reflection in the pool of blood thought about it. “She’s not dead, though.”

“She’s not dead?” A glimmer of hope lit up in Li Huowang’s heart. He looked around and checked the corpses around him.

“Wait, let me think about it… Oh, right. Extend both of your arms.”

“Extend my arms?” Li Huowang extended his arms and a body promptly fell from the sky, breaking them.

He looked down and saw that it was none other than Bai Lingmiao, or rather, half of her. Her body had been bitten to pieces, and her usual clean look was nowhere to be seen. She was covered in blood and gore, with pieces of flesh hanging from her body.

There is supposed to be another half of her upper body, but she’s already so tattered. Wait, what if…? Just then, the second half of her upper body fell from the sky.

This time, he was prepared. He quickly caught the second half using his numerous tentacles.

Li Huowang used his teeth to remove the red veil, revealing the bestial face underneath it. With barely any life left in her gaze, Bai Lingmiao looked at Li Huowang.

She opened her mouth, revealing her sharp fangs. Her forked tongue drooped out when she saw Li Huowang’s shocked face. “I wanted you to use the Cang-Qiang Ascension to escape, but that didn’t mean I had to die. I haven’t lived a full life yet!”

Li Huowang was crying tears of joy as he hugged her.

He quickly checked the other Bai Lingmiao and saw she was still alive despite being badly injured.

“Miaomiao, stay still! You need to endure this!” Li Huowang brought out the Fiery Scripture and placed Bai Lingmiao’s body together.

He started chanting while the Second Deity used the drum to call for the White Immortal Family.