Mutated Tao

Li Huowang found the county, but he was surprised to see that the city didn’t have a wall. There was just a single white lantern swinging on the old gate.

“Keep your guard up. There might be someone who can see us.”

Li Huowang sunk his projection into the ground, turning invisible as he walked towards the county.

Li Huowang thought the place was too rundown. There were abandoned houses everywhere, the roads were full of potholes, and litter was scattered all around.

If it hadn’t been for the candlelight coming from some of the windows, Li Huowang would’ve thought that this was a mass grave instead.

Just then, Li Sui said, “Father, someone in the Tianchen Kingdom is trying to use divination to locate us.”

They had acted quickly. Rather than sending people to find Li Huowang, they used divination.

Li Huowang felt his scalp go numb. “Did they manage to locate us?”

“No, I’m blocking them,” Li Sui replied. “However, I can’t sustain it for long.”

Li Huowang walked to the center of the county.

The center of the county was more lively. Even late at night, numerous shops were still open.

The options were somewhat limited, though. They were all either gambling dens, brothels, or theaters.

Li Huowang chose the theater with the highest chance of a scholar being present. He entered the place and realized that they were putting on a pink show.

This particular pink show was much more daring than the Lu family’s. The singer on the stage was wearing nothing but a translucent shawl. The entire theater was rowdy as the customers drank wine, fought, and gambled while the singer performed on top.

Suddenly, one of the customers ripped off his shirt to reveal his hairy chest and jumped on the stage. He pushed down the singer, and they fornicated.

Li Huowang ignored the crowd’s cheers and instead focused on the murderous aura they exuded. They were all the same.

They are… soldiers? Are they the soldiers of the Tianchen Kingdom?

Li Huowang stared at the diverse crowd. Many of them sported messy beards and dirty clothes.

Li Huowang knew that the Tianchen Kingdom had soldiers because they were the ones who had ambushed him the last time.

They were strong, and their incredible cooperation had almost made Li Huowang lose his spine sword.

Li Huowang looked around swiftly before looking at the second floor's center seat. There was a huge man with a large scar on his face seated there. He was holding onto two topless women while playing cards with the other men.

The huge man's murderous aura was the most intense. Li Huowang was confident that the man was their leader.

Li Huowang approached the man and tore off his face to plaster it onto the back of the man’s head.

However, just before he did, he stopped.

Someone was speaking to the huge man.

“Deputy, are the faceless really asking us to hunt some francolins[1]?”

Li Huowang realized that the men were speaking in codes! They weren’t soldiers—they were bandits!

Li Huowang recalled how the people who had ambushed him didn’t say “kill” but instead “stab.”

Li Huowang was right. They were indeed bandits—or rather, soldiers of the Tianchen Kingdom.

Father, there’s no emperor here, so there’s no soldiers. Instead, the soldiers all became bandits. It’s a reasonable explanation.

Li Huowang nodded and continued to eavesdrop.

The huge man said, "It's not good news. The faceless invited people aside from ourselves. The old man that takes money from corpses and the razor clams that take the corpse’s money were also called to help, but they didn't come back."

Li Huowang understood those codes. Both “the old man that takes the money of corpses” and “the razor clams that take the corpse’s money” were the codenames for different groups of bandits.

They naturally didn’t return because Li Huowang had burned all of them to death.

As for what “faceless” meant, Li Huowang had no idea for now. But according to what he had learned, “faceless” usually meant something along the lines of monsters or evil entities.

“The faceless must’ve encountered some tough thorns this time. Old Qian mentioned losing many men too. They’re likely doing something serious if they’re inviting all thirty-six caves to fight for them.”

This wasn’t good news for Li Huowang. If the soldiers of the Tianchen Kingdom were bandits, that meant that the “faceless’ were recruiting every single one to go to the Qi Kingdom.

“Deputy, this is a touchy mission. Should we take it?”

“Of course. If we don’t give them face, then we will really become faceless.”

The deputy’s voice suddenly became silent as he glanced at the theater below him before whispering to the man, “I’ve heard that the mission this time is related to ‘Moon Threads.’ We should go and see what it is about first.”

Someone suddenly shouted from below, “Deputy! Keep it short! An eagle just plunged into the oven!”

The doors to the theater slammed shut the moment everyone heard that.

Seeing that he had been discovered, Li Huowang chose not to hide anymore. He was certain the huge man knew something, so he decided to interrogate him.

The man threw the cards to the table and stared at Li Huowang, who was wearing Yang Xiaohai's face. “Shoulders together, toss me a vine?”

Li Huowang blinked. “I’m tossing your fat ass!”

He instinctively reached for his sword but realized he needed to keep the man alive. Li Huowang smashed an hourglass onto the man's head.

The hourglass warped from the impact, causing the man's head to bleed. He stumbled for a moment before ultimately falling onto the ground.

“Stab him!” the man shouted.

A murderous aura filled the theater, and the angry bandits howled in anger as they ran towards Li Huowang.

“Allow me,” Li Sui said, causing the theater to shift randomly.

The ground and bandits warped uncontrollably, turning from tall to short and from long to narrow in different intervals.

The murderous aura that filled the area broke apart like wet noodles.

Sensing how strong Li Huowang was with Li Sui’s help, the huge man knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

“Get up! We need to change locations!” Li Huowang told the man, kicking him and then trying to drag him away.

“Father, be careful!”

Just as Li Sui warned Li Huowang, a shriveled hand burst out from his chest. Li Huowang ignored his injury, instead focusing on the thing in the palm of the shriveled hand.

The palm held a dark yellow object. Li Huowang instinctively knew that it was his primordial breath. Someone had pushed it out of him!

1. A type of bird ☜