Mutated Tao

“Who! Who did this?!” An incredibly furious howl spread across the entire cave system. The voice belonged to Dan Yangzi. This was the first time that he was angered to this extent.

Dan Yangzi hadn’t really been angry when some of the disciples tried to escape, nor was he angry when Li Huowang had demonstrated to him that he was literate. But this time, he was truly angry.

The atmosphere within the Zephyr Temple became oppressive—it was to the point that even the oil lamps on the walls were dimmer than usual.

Under Dan Yangzi’s command, everyone arrived within the large hall where the disciples had their morning classes.

The air was filled with a stench of blood—Dan Yangzi had already killed some of the people who had arrived earlier, their bodies strewn across the floor.

Killing people often helped Dan Yangzi calm down, but this time, this was nowhere near enough.

Splat!

Something fell onto the ground. At that moment, everyone saw that it was something akin to a head entangled with a mass of bloody organs.

It was the very same head that was placed above the vase that Li Huowang had broken. Now that she was truly dead, her cheeks had dulled in color; however, her eyes still revealed the fear she felt right before death.

“Who?! Who did this? Who entered my room without my permission while I was refining pills?!”

Dan Yangzi’s voice was low but deadly, like a lion ready to pounce. “You would better come clean! If you do, I will give you a swift death! If I have to find you myself, then I will make sure that you will be in so much pain that you will be begging for death!”

The entire cave fell silent, regardless of whether it was the guiding drug ingredients, the assistants, or official disciples. None of them moved.

“Still staying quiet? Fine! Then I will ask each and every one of you! Chang Ming, Chang Ren, what were you guys doing while I was refining pills?”

Chang Ming and Chang Ren were the disciples with a sword on their backs. “Master, both of us were following your orders and guarding the entrance to the Zephyr Temple. We never left our post!”

Dan Yangzi approached them and observed their expressions. Just when Chang Ming and Chang Ren were starting to have cold sweats, Dan Yangzi slowly turned toward the person beside them. “Xuan Yuan! Where were you?”

Meanwhile, Li Huowang, who was standing beside Xuan Yuan, knew that it would be his turn soon. While he was nervous, he had to calm down.

Stay focused! As long as he doesn’t notice anything different about me, I win!

“Xuan Yang! Your turn! What were you doing after you sent the guiding drug ingredient to me?”

The moment he heard this, Li Huowang immediately gave him the answer that he had already prepared. “Master, I went back to the Preparation Room to prepare the ingredients we would need for the next pill that we will be refining!”

“Is that so?” Dan Yangzi slowly walked over, his bloody stench and oppressive aura causing Li Huowang’s body to stiffen up to its limit.

No wonder the rest of the disciples were sweating so much.

Time passed by ever so slowly. Under the intense pressure, the beads of sweat on Li Huowang’s forehead grew larger.

Suddenly, he felt the pressure weaken. Just as he thought that he had succeeded, Dan Yangzi’s voice rang beside him. “Did you guys see Xuan Yang going into the Preparation Room?”

Li Huowang turned to see who he was addressing and saw that Dan Yangzi had already approached the guiding drug ingredients. He was asking them!

“Think properly before you speak. If any of you can help me find the culprit, then I will immediately send you back home, and even give you some money.”

The moment he said this, several of the guiding drug ingredients were shocked. They wanted to go home, to leave this horrible place.

“Master, Senior Li was indeed with us.” Feeling that the situation was about to go out of control, Bai Lingmiao immediately replied.

Dan Yangzi stared at her. “Oh? And what about the rest of you?”

At this point, Puppy was visibly excited with a conflicted look on his face. He clenched his teeth and stepped forward. “Master! Let me tell the truth! Xuan Yang had not come to the Preparation Room even once! The culprit must be him!”

The moment Puppy said that, Xuan Yin smirked, almost letting out a laugh. His face which had initially been pale with fear now looked much better after realizing that he would live today.

Meanwhile, Dan Yangzi turned and looked at Li Huowang before approaching Puppy. Suddenly, he slapped Puppy in the face. “Bullshit! Xuan Yang had personally brought a guiding drug ingredient to me! How could he bring the guiding drug ingredient if he never went to the Preparation Room? Are you trying to die?”

Puppy was visibly shaken as he fell on his knees, tears covering his entire face as he kowtowed. “No! I was wrong! I was tempted by my own greed and lied!”

Still expressionless, Dan Yangzi continued to stare at the horrorstruck Puppy. At that moment he suddenly turned around and looked at Xuan Yin. “Why were you smiling just now? Were you happy that Xuan Yang just got framed?”

The moment he said this, Xuan Yin wasn’t able to stop his body from shaking. The pressure coming from Dan Yangzi was immense.

As Dan Yangzi slowly walked toward him, Xuan Yin visibly grew more and more nervous, to the point that the people around him could tell that something was suspicious about him.

When Dan Yangzi was finally standing in front of him directly, Xuan Yin was no longer able to withstand it. He fell onto the ground as a yellowish liquid slowly spread out on the ground around him. “Master! I didn’t want to do it! It was Disciple Zheng Kun who forced me to do it!!”

The moment Xuan Yin said that, Zheng Kun suddenly snarled, launching himself toward the exit of the cave system like a jaguar.

“To think that it was you!” Dan Yangzi huffed. At the same time, a clear ringing sound rang out as he swung his right hand. Then, a single bronze coin fell onto the ground, rolling and spinning like a top.

Zheng Kun was almost out of the cave system when Dan Yangzi raised his right foot and stomped the ground, his cloth shoes kicking up a pillar of dust.

Crack!

The bronze coin split into five fragments and blew apart. However, the coin was not the only thing that split apart; Zheng Kun himself had split apart as well.

All four of his limbs were torn apart, just like the coin.

However, even without his limbs, the bloody Zheng Kun was still alive. He crawled desperately toward the entrance just like a maggot.

“My dear disciple! You were the one who had followed me the longest! How could you?! I should’ve known that you were the only one who could have disarmed the restrictions that I had placed in my room!” Dan Yangzi stomped on Zheng Kun’s head, preventing him from crawling further.

“Master! I’m… I’m sorry. Please spare me! I don’t even have any limbs now! I’m now nothing but trash! Master, when the monks from the Righteous Monastery were chasing us, we were only able to escape thanks to the deaths of my two brothers! Master! Please reconsider!”

Dan Yangzi slowly increased the force in his leg, causing Zheng Kun’s suffocated face to be buried completely into the ground, silencing him.

“My dear disciple! Did you know that I knew exactly what you were thinking? You and your brothers were nothing but ingrates!” Dan Yangzi spat out those words and stomped down one last time!

At that moment, Zheng Kun’s head exploded under the force of this stomp. Blobs of blood and tissues flew around, with some of them even splattering onto Li Huowang’s face.

Chacha and Char’s Thoughts

RIP Zheng Kun