Mutated Tao

There were six White Donkeys beside Bai Lingmiao: two Lamas, two devotees of the White Lotus Sect, and two evil entities.

Li Huowang realized the scene unfolding before him was very familiar. Bai Lingmiao was seated atop a lantern, clutching the Twelve Merit Jade Lotus with the six White Donkeys surrounding her.

It took a moment for him to piece it together. This was the same scenery depicted on the murals beneath the Ancestral Hall of Cowheart Village.

He didn’t entirely understand it, but he knew it was bad news.

As the Heavenly Mater reached out, almost brushing against the half-dragon Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang stepped between them, waving his blade. “Don’t touch her!”

The Heavenly Mater’s body turned translucent before Li Huowang, revealing a single figure—Yang Na, running toward him.

Yang Na’s tear-streaked face stopped Li Huowang. He couldn’t bear to raise his weapon.

Yang Na was from the real world and Bai Lingmiao was from the Liang Kingdom, but they were the ones he loved the most. Seeing them both together at once was too much for him to handle.

Li Huowang’s body broke apart. His organs and blood sprayed everywhere as his body split in half to form two Li Huowangs.

A white hand missing a finger easily brushed past Li Huowang’s split body and lightly touched Bai Lingmiao’s forehead.

The moment it did, Li Huowang’s four pairs of eyes saw both Yang Na and Bai Lingmiao turning translucent, as though they were nothing but projections.

Something began to coalesce within them. Their forms superimposed on each other, becoming the true Heavenly Mater.

A familiar voice came from beside Li Huowang but soon vanished. “I was right, wasn’t I? This is what it means to truly exist. No matter which side we stay on, we are mere projections, similar to shadows of different sizes and shapes caused by the direction of the sun’s rays.”

Several threads of starlight passed through the Ox-Tail Gate and gathered on the six White Donkeys. They were quickly enveloped by the white light and formed into six orbs. The orbs floated behind the Heavenly Mater, forming the shape of a fan.

Soft white light burst forth and blew away the chaos of Baiyu Capital. The Heavenly Mater’s Heavenly Dao of Mercy and Heavenly Dao of Death intertwined, influencing the surroundings.

As Li Huowang observed what was happening, he heard three voices shouting simultaneously, “Huowang, do it now!”

Li Huowang’s separated selves superimposed on each other again when he heard the superimposed voices. He looked at the Heavenly Mater and wasn’t sure which identity he should use to face her.

Qing Wanglai’s voice rang out again, saying, “Do you know the Threefold Body of a Buddha? The Dharma Body, the Retribution Body, and the Response and Transformation Body. I am one beyond the Threefold Body.”

“Quiet!”

Li Huowang’s roar caused the murderous aura to spread around him. He ran up and looked at the Heavenly Mater with anxiety.

“Who are you? Are you Yang Na, Bai Lingmiao, or something else? Which one of you is real? Which one of me is real?”

Li Huowang’s body started to become unstable when he questioned himself.

The imagery of the two worlds continued to appear around Li Huowang, sometimes appearing simultaneously.

Heavenly Mater shook her head and gestured for Li Huowang to look up.

The hole in the sky had widened. There was even the blood of the other Simings mixed into the strange black water.

With a sweep of her white-feathered sleeves, the Heavenly Mater covered the roaring Jiang Xiangshou before placing it in front of Li Huowang.

Li Huowang grabbed Jiang Xiangshou without hesitation. He pulled open his chest and stuffed it into his beating heart.

“I don’t care who you are. If you don’t send Bai Lingmiao back once you’re done, I will kill you!”

Dun dun dun~ Li Huowang heard his heart start beating rapidly, its sound resonating in his ears. An endless murderous aura surged out from his body and solidified as it cloaked him.

“Kill them!” With his spine sword raised, Li Huowang fled the ruins and took cover in the forest to his left.

The rain continued to fall as bullets flew everywhere. Several corpses lay on the ground as blood and rain pooled together.

As Ba Nanxu shot through an enemy’s neck, she caught sight of Li Huowang, unleashing his fury with his blade. His single eye was bloodshot, his veins bulging with anger. He charged toward the enemy without any hesitation.

A single swing with his blade was more than enough to behead one of the enemies. Li Huowang jumped high and used his mouth to tear another enemy’s face to shreds.

Someone tried to shoot Li Huowang from the left, but Yang Na acted more quickly, severing the attacker’s fingers and gun.

Li Huowang stormed into the battlefield with a raging fury. None of the black-shirted men stood a chance against Li Huowang’s rampage.

The corpses piled up as the battle dragged on. Despite the ceaseless rain, the lingering stench of blood remained in the air.

Li Huowang suddenly noticed a shadow above him. He looked up and saw several upside-down black mountains about to crush him.

The mountains trembled, nearly crushing him before vanishing like a dream.

Li Huowang wiped the blood off his face and shouted, “Zhao Shuangdian, stop fighting! Bring everyone back to the Baiyu Capital, quick!”

“Don’t worry. We might not lose here today.”

Although the situation was dire, Zhao Shuangdian was still calmly loading her gun.

Li Huowang tried to explain but found himself unsure of what to say. Panic set in—he had forgotten something important. He knew he was afraid of something, but he couldn’t remember it.

Zhao Lei ran past him. At this point, he had already lost an ear. He was also holding onto a dismembered arm. He bit into it before running back to the front.

Nearby, Wu Qi plunged a syringe into an enemy, injecting a fluid that made their tongue swell until they suffocated.

Li Huowang observed the fight and decided he’d had enough. He cupped his mouth and shouted what he remembered. The rainwater around him turned transparent.

“Everyone, their elephant is crashing into ours!”

Li Huowang saw Fu Shengtian once more, and the dreaded Fu Shengtian made everyone despair. Fear bloomed in Li Huowang’s heart, but the murderous aura of Jiang Xiangshou was continuously pushing it back.

After reminding Zhao Shuangdian, he prepared to reach into his brain to dig out the memories of his fight against Fu Shengtian.

However, something unexpected happened—Fu Shengtian looked at Li Huowang. In an instant, Li Huowang’s body shattered, breaking into pieces.