Mutated Tao

Chapter 604: Eight Immortals

The dark-brown root carvings of the Eight Immortals looked extremely bizarre beneath the green light that had pervaded the dim and spacious tweendeck of the ship.

The remaining Eight Immortals looked far more terrifying compared to Tieguai Li and Lu Dongbin. They had the same root-like appearance as root carvings, but they all had their own peculiar characteristics.

For example, He Xiangu’s neck was twisted like a twisted fried dough[1].

Han Zhongli's chest was bare, and his proportions were inconsistent. He looked particularly disgusting as well, looking like a rotten chunk of fat that had been left outside for too long.

A deafening silence hung over the dim tweendeck. Li Huowang couldn't hear any other noises aside from his own breathing.

Li Huowang swept his gaze across the root carvings of the Eight Immortals. Anything related to immortality was always a bad thing in this crazy world!

“Li Sui, let’s go! Find Doulao’s Twisted One and end this as soon as possible!” Li Huowang exclaimed and projected his image once again. He rushed past the root carvings and headed into the distance.

Just as he walked out of the crowd of root carvings, an eerie creaking noise echoed from behind him.

Li Huowang immediately turned around and saw the root carvings of the Eight Immortals standing in a row; their bizarre eyes were fixed on him—they could actually move!

A popping sound echoed as a glowing stone that Li Huowang had thrown burst open.

Unfortunately, it was just the beginning.

A series of popping noises echoed as more and more glowing stones exploded into pieces.

Soon, the root carvings of the Eight Immortals vanished into the darkness.

Li Huowang's vision was excellent, but the surroundings were too dark for him to see anything unless they were only a few feet away from him.

A melody echoed from Han Xiangzi’s flute, and a cacophony of voices from both men and women pervaded the tweendeck.

“The superior avoids conflict; the inferior loves strife. The superior is humble; the inferior clings to virtues. Those stubborn do not possess true virtues.”

Deafening peals of laughter coming from both elderly and young people pervaded the dark cabin; the laughter sounded bizarre, as if they were layered on top of each other.

Li Huowang gnashed his teeth as the laughter entered his ears. He gripped the spine sword with his right hand and swung it toward where he last saw the root carvings of the Eight Immortals.

Then, he rushed toward the spacetime rift that led to the Great Qi.

Li Huowang lowered himself and got ready to dodge to the left to avoid any possible attacks when Lu Dongbin’s root carving appeared on his left without any warning.

When Li Huowang jumped to the left, the large hole in Lu Dongbin’s chest opened like a gaping maw, seemingly waiting for him to fall into it.

Li Sui’s tentacles burst out of Li Huowang and stuck to the floor, sparing Li Huowang the horrible fate of making contact with Lu Dongbin’s gaping maw.

What are these things?! Li Huowang gritted his teeth. He lifted both the spine sword and the purple-tasseled sword and swung them toward Lu Dongbin.

Crack!

Lu Dongbin’s root carving was split in half.

At the same time, Li Huowang was tripped by something, and he stumbled to his left.

Han Xiangzi’s twisted bamboo flute stood tall, seemingly waiting for Li Huowang on the floor.

It stood tall in a way that it would pierce Li Huowang’s temple if he truly ended up falling to the floor.

Just as he was less than an inch away from Han Xiangzi’s flute, Han Xiangzi was suddenly dragged away by someone else.

Shiwik!

Li Huowang stabbed the swords into the ground, stabilizing himself. He then stood up with a furious look and asked, “Have you had enough fun, you bunch of rotten wood?”

Sparks flew from a flint as Li Huowang was set ablaze. The flames were like a viral infection as they jumped onto the half-immortal root carvings.

The dark cabin brightened instantly as the root carvings caught fire.

The stationary root carvings of the Eight Immortals made another move. The burning tree stumps and roots writhed as their charred figures crawled toward Li Huowang.

Li Huowang was about to set fire to the entire ship when the wooden planks on the ground split open, allowing seawater to come in.

The seawater extinguished the flames, plunging the entire deck into darkness.

A piercing noise echoed as the remaining flames resisted the encroaching water.

The submerged Li Huowang convulsed upon hearing the piercing noise. However, he had never been the type to give up so easily, so he took out his rib, which was stored in his belly button, and shoved it into his chest.

The pain wreaking havoc throughout Li Huowang was instantly shared with everything around him, and the cacophony of noises vanished.

“So you want to play, huh? Fine! I’ll sink this entire ship for you!” Li Huowang exclaimed. His charred figure swam to the nearest wall, and he slashed out haphazardly with his spine sword.

Rifts appeared in the hull, and a large amount of seawater was displaced every time Li Huowang swung his sword.

The icy seawater rushed back in shortly upon being displaced, but the rifts in the hull writhed and intertwined with each other to seal the rifts.

To make matters worse, the bizarre-looking root carvings of the Eight Immortals appeared in the dark waters.

A layer of charcoal covered the root carvings of the Eight Immortals, and they looked even more terrifying as the charcoal enveloping them dispersed like black mist in the icy cold waters.

Lu Dongbin's root carving had miraculously recovered, even though Li Huowang had split it into two earlier. He stood firmly with the other root carvings as they surrounded Li Huowang.

Finally, the root carvings of the Eight Immortals made their move. A black mist spread from their charred figures as they rushed nimbly toward Li Huowang.

Li Huowang raised his weapons. The spine sword in his right hand blocked He Xiangu’s lotus, while his left hand thrust the purple-tasseled sword into Zhang Guolao’s face.

Li Huowang then opened his mouth wide, revealing a mouth full of tentacles that wrapped around Han Zhongli’s head before twisting it off the latter's shoulders.

Li Sui stood bravely next to Li Huowang, brandishing the bronze coin sword to fight the enemies. Li Huowang was taken aback and was completely surrounded, but he still had the advantage.

Unfortunately, these carvings of half-immortals were difficult to handle. Even decapitation wasn't enough to deal with them; Li Huowang had to crush them into powder to render them immobile.

Li Huowang was making quick work of them, but there was one big issue—he was running out of steam.

The tweendeck wasn't that huge, especially when it was jam-packed with enemies, so Li Huowang had to make agile movements to avoid getting injured. To make matters worse, he was drenched in icy cold seawater. The exertion made Li Huowang feel like his lungs were on fire. His expression became increasingly agonized as time ticked by, and the bulging veins on his forehead seemed like they'd burst open anytime soon.

Li Huowang's instincts were telling him to surface as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Li Huowang was in the lower hold of the ship, and the bizarre root carvings of the Eight Immortals were not letting him go, which made it impossible for him to swim away.

Li Huowang’s consciousness became blurrier and blurrier as he was running out of air. His situation eventually became so bad that he started hallucinating.

“Hah!” Li Huowang spat the dagger in his mouth and desperately gasped for air upon surfacing. After a few deep breaths, he dove fiercely and swam toward the depths of the sea.

The deep breaths on the surface had allowed him to come back to his senses and recover his strength.

1. mahua, a fried dough that is lightly twisted and sweetened ☜