Mutated Tao

Chapter 621: Dharma Sect

Fo Yulu was chanting Buddhist scriptures outside the deserted county town.

As time ticked by amidst Fo Yulu's chanting, a cacophony of noises soon pervaded the county town, shattering its silence.

The Abbot of the Righteous Monastery and the two other monks took out a wooden fish. They started tapping it and singing with the beat. Soon, the chanting of the Buddhist scriptures sounded like there was something else mixed into it.

As the chanting of the Buddhist scriptures continued, Li Huowang felt every cell inside of him pulsate as if they were about to leave him at any moment.

Fo Yulu’s clothes squirmed, and many different tiny Buddhas fell out of her clothes. They all sat cross-legged on the ground and chanted along with Fo Yulu and the monks.

When the chanting reached its peak, the ground abruptly cracked open.

A tall figure wearing a witch’s hood jumped out of the crack with two obsidian daggers in both hands. The tall figure was clearly here to ambush Fo Yulu, who was chanting the Buddhist scriptures.

However, Hong Da was prepared for any sudden turn of events. He promptly leaped from his horse and blocked the attacker.

Hong Da’s rusty knife pierced the tall figure's chest, but the tall figure's arms holding the two obsidian daggers split into two and made a beeline for Fo Yulu.

Just as one of the dwarves thought that he'd hit his target, a Daoist priest in a red robe stood in his way.

The dwarf's eyes were focused on the Daoist’s bronze coin sword when the Daoist opened his mouth, releasing black tentacles that instantly engulfed the dwarf's face.

The suction cups of the black tentacles clung tightly to the dwarf's skin. At first, it was painful, and then he no longer felt anything.

Having made quick work of the dwarf, Li Huowang turned toward the other dwarf; the bloody tentacles hanging from his chin swayed as he moved.

Peng Longteng had grabbed the other dwarf and was squeezing the latter until the dwarf collapsed into a ball. Peng Longteng then raised the dwarf above her head and exerted force. Crimson blood spurted and flowed down Peng Longteng's stump.

At first, Li Huowang thought that the matter was resolved, but it seemed that things were only getting started as a slender black sword pierced Peng Longteng’s heavy armor.

Soon, commoners wearing white scarves emerged from the county town, charging at Li Huowang and the others.

The Buddhist scriptures seemed effective against the commoners as parts of themselves—like their eyes, ears, etc—would abruptly fall to the ground from time to time.

However, the commoners' zeal seemed unending despite losing so many parts of them in the process.

There were skinny people from the Great Qi among them, but the majority of them were the people of the Great Liang.

The propagation of the Dharma Sect's teaching was much faster than Li Huowang had imagined.

These zealots weren't afraid of death, but the difference in strength between the two factions was still too great. They weren't Li Huowang nor Peng Longteng’s match.

The tall Peng Longteng plowed through the crowd, carving open a bloody path. She seemed to be enjoying the slaughter, and her figure was trembling incessantly as she used two corpses as her weapons.

“Don’t kill them all! Leave some of them alive! I want to interrogate them!”

The slaughter continued, and Liu Zongyuan's white mist soon enveloped the entire county town. Once the county town was thoroughly enveloped by Liu Zongyuan's white mist, the battle quickly came to an end.

Thump!

The last remaining dwarf fell weakly to the ground and took his final breath.

“This place must be their temporary base. It seems that they really don’t know the whereabouts of Taishan Shi,” Li Huowang said as he put away the bloody torture tools into his bag.

They were still facing the same problem as earlier. Even if they could defeat Taishan Shi, it was useless if they couldn’t find the latter.

If the Dharma Sect were allowed to absorb the masses, the people of Great Liang would eventually become their enemy.

Fo Yulu emerged from her contemplation just then and said, “Let’s go. Let's go to Yinling City. There's an expert there that can figure out Taishan Shi's location.”

“Lord Ji Xiang, who are they? Can they really do that? Taishan Shi is from the Great Qi, after all,” Hong Da reminded.

“His name is Blind Chen. And if he can’t do it, then no one else can.”

Li Huowang was surprised to hear a familiar name. “The Blind Chen with a stall outside the City God Temple?”

“Do you know him?”

“I guess so; we’ve encountered each other before. However, that guy isn’t really that great. He was even deceived by the Sitting Oblivion Dao.”

Back then, Li Huowang had made a deal with Blind Chen about a complete talisman collection.

“Fortune tellers can’t tell their own fortune. He may not be able to do much else, but he’s better at fortune-telling than the majority of the people in the Surveillance Bureau. If he can’t do it, then what he worships can definitely do it,” Fo Yulu said, mounting her horse.

What he worships? Is there a Siming in charge of fortune telling? The past and future are changing constantly. Can that guy still figure out what’s going on? Li Huowang pondered.

Soon, everyone left the corpse-littered town.

The crows and vultures in the air eventually gathered to enjoy the unexpected feast.

A crow opened its beak and repeatedly pecked at an eyeball when a bare foot stepped on it; the crow let out an agonized shriek as it vomited its entrails to the ground.

“What did I say? Taishan, this isn't the right time to cause chaos. The Surveillance Bureau will instantly come sniffing around like a dog looking for shit to eat at the tiniest commotion.”

A man wearing a robe adorned with colored cloth strips was strolling leisurely amidst the corpses.

A jet-black cloth was draped over his left shoulder.

The man named Taishan was a short, ugly guy with ears covered in black hair. He looked brutish, but he was wearing an exceptionally elegant white robe. The white headscarf on his head complemented the black cloth on the man’s shoulder.

“Hmm... Indeed. However, the Dharma Sect doesn't have enough followers yet. If we lay low, wouldn't the descent of our divine army be delayed?”

“Calm down. I’m more familiar with this place than you are. Although you and I both believe in different aspects of God Yu’er, we still are fellow witches. Why would I, He Xinlai, harm you? Anyway, tell your people to lie low and disguise themselves as refugees from the Great Qi. Then, tell them to scatter and gather the other followers.”

“The Great Liang is the strongest kingdom in the world. Our Dharma Sect just has to take down the Great Liang, and it will be much easier for us to take control over the other regions.”

The witch Taishan came to a halt and nodded. “All right, you have more people than me, so I’ll follow your lead. Before that, I need our people to team up and steal that guy's sword.”

“Whose sword?”

“The bone sword of that brat in the red Daoist robe. He's wielding the spine of one of the Three Pure Ones' Twisted Ones. It will prove immensely useful to me.”

“All right, it seems like they're looking for you as well. You’ll be the bait, and we’ll set a trap to ambush them.”

“We can't be careless about this; there's something wrong with him. Also, I think it's best if we hide our identity as members of the Dharma Sect; that way, we will be able to avoid unnecessary trouble.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring in a few experts. In fact, our Dharma Sect isn’t universally despised in the Great Liang. We have quite a few like-minded friends.”