Mutated Tao

Zhuge Yuan’s question was destined to remain unanswered. He was the only one who knew the being's name: Ma Tuo.

Li Huowang’s head was missing, so he didn’t answer Zhuge Yuan’s question either.

Still, Li Huowang’s head exploding finally allowed him to catch a glimpse of the being’s actual body. It looked just like the statue from earlier—the one with the bamboo hat.

However, the statue was but an interpretation of Ma Tuo. Its actual body couldn’t be captured by mortals and chiseled in stone.

The bamboo hat was not its head—it was its heart! Furthermore, the various red ribbons were actually its blood vessels.

The other interesting feature of the Ma Tuo was its head. Ma Tuo’s head was an ever-changing amalgamation of beasts. The beasts disappeared and reappeared, with some detaching and flowing on the red ribbons towards the heart. It was a horrifying sight.

Without his head, Li Huowang could finally see Ma Tuo's invisible features. He was certain that if he still had his head, he wouldn’t be able to look at it for even a single second.

“Senior Zhuge!”

Zhuge Yuan heard the voice and took out his almanac before looking at the ground. In the middle of a pool of blood, he saw half of Li Huowang’s mouth.

“That thing! Its left leg is injured! That’s its weakness! Attack there!”

Zhuge Yuan leaped into action. He flew towards Ma Tuo and pointed his brush at Ma Tuo’s left leg.

Zhuge Yuan was not the only one who heard Li Huowang’s words—Peng Longteng and the other soldiers also did. They moved in unison.

“Junior Li! Hold on! Give me a little bit of time!”

Zhuge Yuan suddenly jumped behind Peng Longteng and began drawing on her back. “General Peng, do you have the courage for this gambit?”

Peng Longteng saw the massive being in front of her and laughed. “What do you mean courage? We kill the Gods, Immortals, and the Daos! Kill them all!”

Just as she finished shouting, Zhuge Yuan had also finished drawing. It was a drawing of a demon filled with a murderous aura. The demon had a belt made out of skulls, green skin, and large fangs. It was eating the viscera of a poor man.

For the final touches, Zhuge Yuan painted the demon's eyes, which were filled with bloodlust and glee.

And so, the drawing came to life. The demon laughed, crawling out from Peng Longteng’s back and superimposing itself on her. The demon’s face was perfectly layered with her face, making her look even more menacing.

Zhuge Yuan never stopped, continuing to wave his brush around. Peng Longteng’s massive frame slowly became thinner, and she eventually became a flat piece of art.

Ma Tuo tried to cover its injured leg, but the soldiers coordinated their efforts, sending two cavalries to protect Zhuge Yuan with their very lives.

“Open!” Zhuge Yuan waved his brush on Ma Tuo’s injured leg. The flat Peng Longteng easily slipped into its wounds, hurting Ma Tuo and making its attacks less frequent.

The other soldiers finally saw hope when a blood-red liquid flowed out from the injury. They sent a small group of soldiers to pierce the wounds like a lance and attack from the inside.

Ma Tuo wanted to retaliate, but Zhuge Yuan threw his almanac into the air. “Prohibited: Siming descending onto this world!”

The old almanac only burned halfway. Li Huowang’s current cultivation wasn’t strong enough for it to elicit its complete effect.

But it was enough. Zhuge Yuan saw Ma Tuo’s body flickering and smiled. He then changed back into his spine sword. He had done his best.

The soldiers continued to pour into Ma Tuo’s wounds before tearing the wound wide open. Ma Tuo finally lost balance and fell onto the ground.

Li Huowang struggled to stand up as he held onto his sharpened rebar. He struggled for breath, staring at the large lorry burning after crashing into the wall.

The others looked at Li Huowang with shock. Wu Qi gave him a thumbs up. “What a badass.”

“See? What did I tell you? Your chemical doesn’t work!”

Li Huowang touched his head but found that it wasn’t there. He then collapsed onto the ground. Soon, a palm-sized skin doll appeared from his abdomen. It grew into Li Huowang’s size.

However, it was as flat as a leaf that could be blown away by the slightest wind. The doll ate Li Huowang’s shadow before expanding.

Li Huowang sighed in relief after he was revived. A smile spread across his face as he looked at the unmoving Ma Tuo.

The Dharma Sect’s plan had failed. Ma Tuo was dead, and Li Huowang had won.

Ma Tuo's body crumbled to dust, leaving nothing behind. The only thing that remained was Peng Longteng's flattened body.

Li Huowang felt tired. He had just changed into a new body, but the fatigue remained—mental fatigue.

He wanted to sleep forever.

“Father, are you alright?” Li Sui carefully helped him up.

“I’m fine.” Li Huowang’s eyes were unfocused when he said that.

“Father, look! The people are coming here! Someone is here to help us.”

“Reinforcements? Why are they only coming now?!” Li Huowang suddenly had a surge of strength as he got up and approached the sound of the horses’ hooves.

Li Huowang was dizzy, and everything kept changing form in front of him. It took him a long time to recognize that there was a horse in front of him.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth, stabbing his own feet with the purple-tassel sword to wake himself up.

“Xuan Pin?! Where is Xuan Pin?!” Li Huowang shouted at the reinforcement. “Xuan Pin, get over here!”

Li Huowang had lost all of his trust in that old fox.

A familiar voice called out to him. “Senior Li.”

Li Huowang looked up and saw that it was Gao Zhijian, the Emperor of the Liang Kingdom. He was holding a wooden plate with a grim expression.

“Why are you here? Where is Xuan Pin? Get him over here!”

Gao Zhijian was devastated when he passed the wooden plate to Li Huowang. “Senior Li, Xuan Pin is dead.”

On the wooden plate were Xuan Pin’s red robes. Li Huowang was stunned and only recognized what it was after a long time.

“Senior Li, Xuan Pin really is dead. Just as you were having trouble, he had unforeseen circumstances there too…”

Li Huowang took a deep breath and paced around as he got angrier.

“You… Mother fuckers!” Li Huowang suddenly slapped the wooden plate away, causing Xuan Pin’s red robes to fall to the ground.

“Why?! Why is everyone the same?!”