Mutated Tao

“We won?” Li Huowang stood in place and stared blankly at the Dharma Sect followers lying scattered on the ground.

He walked over and checked someone's pulse. He was shocked to find that the person wasn't breathing at all. They were all dead.

There was a loud clattering noise of earth crumbling. The enormous Buddha statue, which had been dragged to the center of the battlefield by the followers of the Dharma Sect, started to crack and eventually crumbled into scattered fragments.

“We won, we won!” Excited shouts spread endlessly like a tsunami that reached everyone’s ears.

The cries of excitement echoed through the sky, filled with exhilaration. They lost themselves in ecstasy as they pounded the ground with their fists.

They had won. Their enemies had been defeated, and the fear of a dreadful destiny akin to that of the Great Qi no longer burdened their hearts.

Many people even tossed their weapons high into the sky. If death hadn’t disappeared, that alone would have killed many people.

“We’ve won... finally won...” Li Huowang smiled as he glanced around, and his gaze finally settled on Xuan Pin.

“Li Sui, how did I do as a tall guy?”

“Yeah! Go home!” Li Huowang nodded. He felt elated as he headed off the battlefield.

“It seems we really won up above. Only then could we win so easily down here!”

The corners of Li Huowang’s mouth lifted slightly as he listened to the cheers around. “Li Sui, what do you think I should do next?”

Li Sui didn’t answer. She just extended two tentacles from his navel, wrapping them around Li Huowang’s left hand and gently shaking it.

Li Huowang approached a group of White Lotus believers, who were zealously kneeling on the ground and kowtowing toward Bai Lingmiao amidst the crowd. They were calling for the manifestation of the Heavenly Mater.

“Miaomiao! We won! Let’s go home!” Li Huowang shouted.

Bai Lingmiao smiled and shook her head slightly among the dense crowd of White Lotus believers. She discreetly pointed at the believers around her.

“Okay!” Li Huowang smiled and nodded, then pointed towards Cowheart Village and strode towards that direction.

Just as he stepped off the battlefield, he saw Huangfu Tiangang, the Imperial Preceptor of Great Liang, flash by while he stepped on a sword in the sky. “Where is Xuan Pin?! His Majesty commands Xuan Pin to return to the Great Liang immediately!”

Li Huowang paused for a moment before finally reaching out to gently pat his abdomen. “Go on.”

Suisui had grown up and now had her own matters to attend to. Li Huowang’s abdomen slowly opened and her dense tentacles poured out.

Li Huowang took off his red Daoist robe and draped it over Li Sui’s sticky body. Li Sui nodded at him, then quickly retracted her body into the earth and vanished completely.

Li Huowang looked at the ground where Li Sui had vanished, then smiled again. He happily turned his head to shout at the monk beside him. “Monk! Did you see that? We won! We really won!”

The monk also nodded vigorously. “Yes! Daoist! You won and saved many people, which is a great deed! You can become a Buddha now!”

Jin Shanzhao also dragged his broken body over and muttered excitedly to Li Huowang.

“We won! Hahaha!” Qiu Chibao held her rotten child and laughed hysterically as she circled Li Huowang.

“Hmph.” Peng Longteng watched the farce unfold atop her horse as she slowly followed along.

Li Huowang left the bustling scene with the company of these illusions.

“Daoist? Is it really you? Daoist?” A voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar sounded behind Li Huowang.

Li Huowang paused. He slowly turned around and saw an old monk smiling at him.

It was the monk—the one who always wanted to do good deeds.

Li Huowang turned his head to look at the illusion beside him, which looked exactly like the old monk.

“Daoist, long time no see! I didn’t expect you to come too. Did you come to help with the fight?” The monk held his prayer beads and asked Li Huowang curiously.

Li Huowang glanced between the two monks and finally stared wide-eyed at the real one. “You’re not dead?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? Of course I’m not dead,” the monk said matter-of-factly. The illusion of the monk began to flicker.

“Wasn’t I working at Righteous Monastery before? After you left, I kept moving stones there, all the way until now.”

“Then there was a war, and I heard I could do good deeds, so I came to help with the masters. I did a lot of work along the way, but I can’t tell if they’re considered good deeds.”

“You’re still alive?” Li Huowang slowly turned his head and looked at the illusion of the identical monk beside him. “If he’s still alive, then who are you? Who are all of you?”

Li Huowang’s mind was in chaos. He had always believed these illusions were the souls he kept around with the power of his Strayed One just before they died.

He had believed this for so long, yet now he realized that he was wrong.

The illusionary monk glanced at the real monk, who was identical to himself. He looked at Li Huowang with a complicated expression. “Daoist, if he’s the real monk, then we’re probably all fake.”

Jin Shanzhao and Peng Longteng also began to flicker alongside him.

“Nonsense!” Peng Longteng jumped off her horse and approached Li Huowang. “Can’t you see? We’re not the original us. We’re just parts of you! You’re not cultivating the ‘Truth.’ You’re just cultivating ‘Lies’!”

These words struck Li Huowang like a thunderbolt. Peng Longteng, Jin Shanzhao, and the monk all quickly became transparent.

After seeing this many times, as if he knew his own ending, the illusionary monk walked up to Li Huowang. “Daoist, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help you much during this time. I was only able to recite ‘Amitabha.’

“Still, I think that even if it’s not useful, you should always have a good heart. Otherwise, how can you become a Buddha?” The monk said, then completely vanished.

Next was Jin Shanzhao. He said nothing but reached out and gave Li Huowang a thumbs-up as he smiled happily.

Jin Shanzhao was about to say something, but Peng Longteng bumped into him and caused his body to scatter like smoke.

“Kid, you’re a man. I tried to kill you before, but you ended up killing me, which is fair. Our debt is settled.”

Li Huowang stood there in a daze as he watched the illusions around him disappear one by one. Finally, only Qiu Chibao remained as she danced crazily with her child.

“This....” Li Huowang looked at the empty surroundings while a flood of distress suddenly surged into his heart.

The self-deception that he had always believed in had finally crumbled.

Li Huowang staggered backward with a twisted expression. The monk hurried to support him, only to be pushed away by Li Huowang. “Shai Zi, what do you mean by this?!”

Somebody gently tapped on the sounder of the monk, and he immediately froze. The one who tapped him had an eighteen-sided die on his head.

“Nothing. I helped you, and so naturally, you should help me. I couldn’t come down from above, so I used your deception to come down. You can’t go back on your word.”

“What the hell do you want!”

Li Huowang looked at Shai Zi with a gaze that could kill. As he stared, Shai Zi’s body gradually shrank.

“For now, I want nothing. I just want to stay alive.”

Shai Zi snapped his fingers, and he stopped shrinking.

“Li Huowang, honestly, you surprised me. I originally thought the sky would collapse, but you held it up.

“When I took the Dragon Vein, I had just been thinking of picking up the pieces after the sky cracked. As expected of Ji Zai’s Twisted One, everything is uncertain with you around.”

“Don’t worry, you’ve already patched the sky, so I don’t need to work against you. Isn’t that right, Xuan Pin?”

The red-robed Xuan Pin walked between Li Huowang and Shai Zi. She glanced at Shai Zi and then reached out with six hands to embrace and support Li Huowang. She gently whispered to him as she slowly retreated.

Shai Zi turned around to look at Huangfu Tiangang, who had suddenly appeared. He reached into his bosom, pulled out a fortune mask, and handed it over.

Huangfu Tiangang harrumphed, his face ashen. He waved his sleeve and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Shai Zi reached for his eighteen-sided die head, took out a die with six sides, and offered it again to Huangfu Tiangang.

This time, Huangfu Tiangang didn’t leave. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out to accept it.

It was the twelfth lunar month. On the 24th, they dusted and cleaned the house. On the 25th, they ground tofu, then slaughtered pigs and cut meat on the 26th. On the 27th, they slaughtered chickens and went to the market. On the 28th, they made rice cakes and steamed buns, then pasted window decorations.

With red paper decorations on the windows, the air filled with the sweet scent of snacks. After the heavy snow, the flavor of the New Year had arrived in Cowheart Village.

It wasn’t just Cowheart Village. The Great Liang, Hou Shu, Qing Qiu, and Si Qi also tried to be as lively as possible. It was as though they wanted to wash away the past sorrows with the joy of the New Year.

Li Huowang stood on the second floor of the Bai family courtyard, watching smiling children run freely in the snow.

The room was cold, and the stove was not lit. He stood there as though waiting for something and stayed there until nightfall. The white snow in the air slowly fell and landed on his black hair, forming a thin layer.

Li Huowang caught sight of the dazzling fireworks illuminating the sky above the distant wall, while the White Lotus flags swayed gracefully between the houses. The corners of his mouth slowly lifted.