Mutated Tao

Chapter 712: Division

Lu Xiucai endured the pain. He knew the white donkeys that protected Bai Lingmiao were now dead, and he also knew the Heavenly Mater required six white donkeys to revive herself.

Once the tattoo on his back was completed, he would become the Heavenly Mater’s mount. He would no longer be a regular person who everyone could bully.

This was a chance that he needed to seize, even if he needed to endure excruciating pain. He refused to give up on any opportunity to become stronger.

Soon after, the tattoo of the white donkey was completed.

Lu Xiucai felt something in his body. It was a strange sensation that he had only experienced once before when he was possessed, but this time it was more long-lasting.

“You are now one step closer to the Heavenly Mater than the other devotees. Be proud of yourself and don’t break your bows,” Lian Zhibei said.

Sensing the changes in his body, Lu Xiucai nodded and was itching for a fight with the Dharma Sect to test his new powers.

Just then, a commotion occurred outside of the room. Lu Xiucai walked out and squinted his eyes.

The sun was already rising. The other devotees were busy clearing up their belongings to load them into the carriages.

“Everyone, time to move! We need to continue spreading the kindness of the Heavenly Mater to everyone in Hou Shu. We won’t be eating breakfast, so just have some rations to hold off your hunger first.”

Lu Xiucai realized they were departing earlier than expected and immediately started moving.

He ran out to sort his belongings. He was always the first one rushing to fight if it meant he could kill members of the Dharma Sect.

Lu Xiucai was surprised when he saw that the White Lotus Sect was following his Master, Li Huowang, rather than the palace guards or Surveillance Bureau. He was confused about why they weren’t working with the Surveillance Bureau, but he decided to keep his mouth shut when he saw Li Huowang’s frowning face.

As Lu Xiucai was thinking they would have to march for a long time, Li Huowang sensed something. “I smell the scent of blood. Everyone, go south!”

The carriages started moving with Li Huowang leading them.

No one protested—they realized the stench of blood was growing stronger.

The smell of blood and rot hung in the air like a dense mist. It was clear that a massacre involving a lot of people had happened.

They climbed past a small hill and found the source of the stench. It was an entire wall made from the decapitated heads of people—a wall of death and rot.

The city wall was built using numerous skulls and heads. The air was filled with the stench of rot and blood. Everyone froze in silence at the sight of this monstrous construction. It was too much for them to take in.

Tens of thousands of people had died just to make a wall.

Li Huowang was the first person to start moving. As he got closer, he noticed more and more details from the wall.

He realized that every head belonged to a male, and most of them wore helmets. These heads are from Hou Shu’s soldiers!

The closer he got, the stronger the stench became. He frowned as the smell assaulted his nostrils.

The Dharma Sect’s intention was clear. After their surrender, the Dharma Sect most likely had no use for Hou Shu’s military, so they killed all of the soldiers and turned them into this wall.

Li Huowang looked at the pale faces. All of them looked calm at the time of their death.

They were most likely killed in a gentle way rather than a brutal one. Did the Dharma Sect kill them to remove any potential threat? Or to warn us? Maybe both.

All Li Huowang could say for sure was that Hou Shu had been crippled. Their military forces had collapsed, and their civilians had joined the Dharma Sect. There was no one else in Hou Shu.

Li Huowang found himself entertaining a strange thought: with so many people dead, Qing Qiu’s Siming of Death would most likely have indigestion.

Just then, the weather changed. A great tremor occurred, and the entire wall started to collapse. The innumerable heads began to fall on Li Huowang.

At first, Li Huowang thought something was hiding in the wall, but he soon realized the tremor came from deep below. The Earth Dragon was moving again.

“Xuan Pin, I know you are observing me! What’s going on?” Li Huowang shouted at his surroundings.

As he expected, Xuan Pin’s illusion floated out from the ground. “Another division is gone. The Dharma Sect has destroyed another Dragon Vein.”

Li Huowang frowned at the news. “I thought we got all of them back? How did they destroy another one?”

“I told you that we had sixteen Dragon Veins that were given to sixteen kingdoms for safekeeping. The Dharma Sect must’ve destroyed the Dragon Vein in another kingdom.”

Just as Xuan Pin finished speaking, several rotten heads started chanting in unison, “Death came from the west. An Xi.”

Li Huowang unsheathed his sword and was ready to put the heads to rest again.

Xuan Pin blocked Li Huowang. “Wait, calm down. This is the elder of the Antrabhara Temple. He’s with us.

Xuan Pin continued, “What he meant is that the Dragon Vein that was destroyed came from the west. To the east of Nan Ping is Si Qi, while An Xi lies to the west. There’s also a Dragon Vein there. The Dharma Sect must’ve realized that we were too hard to destroy, so they attacked the west first.”

The tremor intensified, and the weather shifted again. Everyone saw the sun moving across the sky rapidly.

Xuan Pin was shocked. “Another division is gone.”

“Sorry, I have urgent business to attend to. Grand elder, please come visit us if you have the time.”

Xuan Pin’s illusion disappeared afterward.

There was no reason for Li Huowang to find out which Dragon Vein was destroyed this time. No matter where it was, the reality was undeniable—in just a single day, the Dharma Sect destroyed two Dragon Veins.

“We don’t have any time to lose! Let’s go to Si Qi now!”

Li Huowang and Li Sui both took out a talisman, slapping them onto the horses’ backs.

The horses ran with explosive speed as the carriage crushed the human heads.

Right after they departed, two people appeared from underneath the mound of heads.

“Was that Li Huowang?”

“Yes, that was Li Huowang.”