Mutated Tao

“What are you doing here? I thought I told you to run?” Li Huowang tried to push the blob of flesh away.

“Help you. Deal with them first.”

The Lion Dance Palace uttered those words before increasing the speed of its fusion with Li Huowang. The white tassels and flesh started to force themselves into Li Huowang’s body and take over Li Sui’s space. Li Sui had no choice but to move most of her tentacles into Li Huowang’s mouth.

It was not over yet. Li Huowang’s body bulked up as his organs shifted around.

It wasn’t only him. The four strange tumor-like heads on his back were shifted around too.

Li Huowang had changed. His red robes covered in strange runes were the only thing that hadn’t changed.

Xuan Pin’s robes were somehow enchanted, fitting Li Huowang’s body no matter what. It didn’t matter that the Lion Dance Palace had enlarged his body.

In just a few breaths, in the dark depths of the ocean, Li Huowang had transformed into a monster several stories tall.

He was still wearing his red Daoist robes even though he was now several stories tall. The black tentacles were hanging down from his mouth, and the sensory organs on his face had shifted slightly. After sensing the change in his aura, the boat people, water monkeys, and the other evil entities became wary of Li Huowang.

Li Huowang felt as if he had grown a lot of eyes in this form. Each white tassel gave him a line of sight. He could even feel the white tassels inside the box that Puppy had stashed away for himself.

It wasn’t just his vision—his body had changed too. He couldn’t quite describe the way it felt.

The Lion Dance Palace wasn’t assimilating with him—it was fusing with him! Li Huowang experienced a peculiar sensation, as if he had the power to control every aspect of his own body.

Suddenly, one of Li Huowang’s eyes rolled down to the back of his left hands. “Ao Mojie is running away!”

Li Huowang was going to move when numerous white tassels sprouted out of his body and moved like a fin.

The evil entities tried to block Li Huowang as the Lion Dance Palace’s voice came from inside his mind. “A sword made from a live Strayed One is very unique. Try using it. We can block the current danger with it right now.”

Li Huowang reached behind his back with his disjointed right arm and shoved his hands into his flesh before pulling out his own spine. A bloody spine-like sword appeared in his hand.

He swung it around his body, and everything in the path of the attack was pushed back. Li Huowang also realized that even if his sword didn’t touch them, the evil entities' bodies all became elongated beyond what was reasonable.

He no longer needed to be wary of their encirclement. He quickly swam to chase after Ao Mojie.

Ao Mojie tried to run but it was too late. Just as it had almost reached the bottom of the sea, Li Huowang caught it.

“Shatter!” Li Huowang swung his spine sword down hard and split Ao Mojie’s rotting body in half.

But it wasn’t over. Li Huowang swung his sword again and again. Rotten flesh floated around in the area as he continued his assault.

After torturing it to the point of being unrecognizable, Li Huowang tied Ao Mojie up in a knot.

He then swung the entire thing towards the wall of the crevice before pulling out a boulder larger than his own body and smashing Ao Mojie with it.

The dust settled and Ao Mojie was flattened into a meat paste. Everything became quiet as Li Huowang looked at the flesh floating upwards.

Li Huowang slowly swam upwards while the Lion Dance Palace slowly detached itself from his body.

Li Huowang broke through the surface of the water and stood on it.

He winced in pain as he forced his facial sensory organs back to where they belonged.

His body slowly turned back to normal and the four heads on his back slowly withered away.

Li Huowang looked down at the Lion Dance Palace hiding under the surface of the sea before asking, “What’s going on? I thought I told you to go first. Why did you come back?”

Ao Mojie’s flattened flesh floated up to the surface and Li Huowang kicked it away. Due to the disappearance of Death, Ao Mojie was still alive, though the condition it was in was no different from being dead.

He wanted to take back two Dragon Veins but now he had three. It was a surprising harvest.

“We can’t go.”

“Why not?” Li Huowang thought he had misheard. He turned around and looked at the Lion Dance Palace again.

The Dharma Sect has surrounded us. All twelve of their Grand Witches are here. Shen Benyou frowned as she surfaced from the water too.

Her engorged abdomen was now flat and flaccid. She exposed a large hole on her abdomen where her flesh had been pulverized.

The Ao Jing Sect members were behind her, but many of them were missing. Even the two Dragon Veins had disappeared.

“What’s going on?” Li Huowang was frustrated as he looked at the horizon. He soon saw numerous ships of different sizes.

Behind the ships were large waves and torrential rain.

As the boats got closer, Li Huowang saw someone unexpected in front of him. It was Xuan Pin. Xuan Pin was wearing his red Daoist robes as he stood at the bow of the ship!

“Li Huowang, surrender. You are finished. We have kept you occupied here while the Li Kingdom fights back on the other front. Victory has been decided. Everything is over. You’ve lost to us.”

Li Huowang stared at Xuan Pin with an incredulous expression. “Are you stupid? I’m wearing Xuan Pin’s robes. Who are you to try and imitate Xuan Pin?”

The Xuan Pin on the bow of the ship shook his head slowly. “I just faked my death. I defected to the Li Kingdom a long time ago.”

He continued, “I’ve told them the secrets of the Surveillance Bureau. Everything is over.”

Just as he said that, several azure gourds were thrown from the ship into the water. The strange black liquid slowly spread and formed a large circle around Li Huowang. The strange liquid slowly made its way towards Li Huowang.

At the same time, twelve individuals, each wearing a veil with the word “Witch,” appeared at the bow of the ship. All of them had a black cloth tied to their shoulders.

Even though they were very far away, Li Huowang could still feel how special they were. It was as if they were much heavier than the others that caused even space to distort around them.

“Hmph! Grand Witch?” Li Huowang spat out some blood. “Dream on if you want me to surrender! Victory has yet to be decided!”

Li Huowang’s face contorted in pain and blood sprayed out from his nose. Veins bulged on his forehead and his brain started expanding. “AAAAAAH! ARISE!”

A massive bronze tree shot up from the depths of the ocean. It pierced the flattened Ao Mojie on its crown and towered behind Li Huowang.