Mutated Tao

Chapter 155: Nature

Chapter 155: Nature

“Kill them all!” Li Huowang’s sword slashed upward, a crimson glow flashing on the sword’s body. In the next instant, a shadow monster was sliced in half as it turned to smoke while howling in pain.

At the same time, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and continued running, closing in the distance between him and the veiled man.

Li Huowang slashed until there was only one shadow monster left. Initially, he had thought that this would be easy, but at that moment, the veiled man’s underarm bulged before four more arms extended from underneath it.

Each of these arms held another shadow monster.

After a moment, the veiled man threw the shadow monsters into the air. Illuminated by the moonlight, Li Huowang was instantly surrounded by them.

“Senior Li, we are here to help!” shouted Bai Lingmiao.

“Don’t come any closer! Miaomiao, don’t play the drum! I can handle this myself.” said Li Huowang as he slashed through the horde of shadow monsters while closing in on the veiled man.

Fa la la~

At the same time, the Profound Records was unfurled.

Then, Li Huowang sliced off two of his fingers, causing him to almost faint from the pain.

However, it was worth it.

The two fingers rapidly expanded before they even touched the ground. At the same time, the bones within them grew longer as they shot themselves toward the veiled man.

The veiled man tried to evade, but the fingers homed in on him.

Splurt!

The fingers buried themselves into the man’s neck and Li Huowang saw the remaining shadow monsters stop in their tracks. Then, the shadow monsters slowly turned back into ordinary shadows.

“You…” The veiled man fell onto the ground, dead before he could say anything.

Seeing this, Li Huowang hurried over and inspected the dead six-armed man.

“Wait, is that it? This was too easy.” Li Huowang was confused. Compared to the previous encounters, this was too easy.

After a moment, Li Huowang carefully used his sword to lift the coin veil; he wanted to see what the man looked like.

Just as he started unveiling the man, Li Huowang was stunned to see a wooden lip. The ‘man’ was nothing more than a puppet!

“Careful! The dwarf is inside the stomach! It’s trying to attack you!”

Li Huowang didn’t know who had shouted those words, but he saw a flash of steel approaching his heart from the puppet’s abdomen.

Thanks to the warning, Li Huowang managed to block it with his sword.

The very next moment, Li Huowang raised his sword and stabbed it directly into the abdomen of the puppet.

A scream rang out, accompanied by a spray of blood from the abdomen of the puppet.

After a moment, a bald man with saggy skin and asymmetrical eyes crawled out. Blood could be seen leaking out from the dwarf’s mouth.

But it was useless. Soon, the dwarf died.

At that moment, Li Huowang felt a dragon’s roar coming from his sword, almost causing him to lose control of it. Then, he quickly removed the sword before sheathing it again, finally bringing it back under his control.

However, Li Huowang didn’t have any time to inspect his sword. He turned around to see who it was that warned him about the dwarf’s attack.

Standing there was none other than Monk.

“You again? Who are you?” asked Li Huowang.

One of Monk’s shoes had a hole in it, revealing his toe. He walked forward with his torn shoes, walked past the dead dwarf, and then stored the bronze coin veil in his pocket.

“Let’s go. We can talk while we run. Can’t you see that they are catching up?” said Monk.

Li Huowang saw the rest of the black dots were becoming larger and started running.

“Everyone, quickly catch up! Don’t get left behind!” shouted Li Huowang.

Then, he approached Monk and questioned him once more, “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

Hearing this, Monk laughed. “No need to be so cautious. Have I ever harmed you when we were together?”

Without waiting for Li Huowang’s reply, Monk continued talking, “No, I’ve never harmed you; in fact, I’ve been helping you. I helped you discover the Righteous Monastery’s plot and I was the one who reminded you of how suspicious the performers of the Nuo Opera were.”

Li Huowang sighed as he monitored the black dots chasing them as he tried to calm himself down. “I thank you for your help, but I hate it when someone lies to me.”

The originally jovial Monk suddenly turned serious. “There’s no need for you to know who I am. What’s more important is for me to know whether you are the real Li Huowang or not. Are you the same Li Huowang that I know of?”

“What?!” Li Huowang’s pupils shrank from surprise. He almost wanted to stop Monk from speaking any further.

“The things that I am about to say next may sound preposterous, but seeing how you saved me so many times, you need to trust me. I am not Monk, and you are not Li Huowang. All of these are identities that we’ve borrowed from someone else. Your true name is Peng Zhi and I am Peng Jiao. We are not real people. Our real identity is that of someone else’s Three Corpses!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Li Huowang was confused. “I’m not Li Huowang? And there is someone else called Li Huowang?”

Piu~

An arrow flew toward them. At the last moment, Monk pulled Li Huowang, causing the arrow to narrowly miss.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Monk sped up his explanation. “Do you not know the Three Corpses of Taoism? Anyone who wants to become an Immortal must kill their Three Corpses! And, we are the Three Corpses! The upper corpse, Peng Ju is Dan Yangzi, the middle corpse Peng Zhi is you, and the lower corpse Peng Jiao is me! Now that Dan Yangzi has been slain, we are the only two left. We need to work together to live!”

“This… How could this be….” Li Huowang wasn’t sure if he could trust those words. His entire perception of the world had been turned upside down in just a few seconds.

“Taoist! Look at me! You need to look at me!”

Hearing this, Li Huowang turned to stare at Monk; he could see how Monk was.

“The upper corpse, Peng Ju resides in the head, turning someone stupid and without wisdom; the middle corpse Peng Zhi resides in the chest, turning someone anxious, someone who can’t calm down; the lower corpse Peng Jiao resides in the abdomen, causing a person to become greedy and lustful. Not everyone can abandon their instincts, but look! I’ve broken free of my nature. I was destined to be someone evil, but I persevered in doing good deeds! My instincts call on me to be lustful and greedy, but I refuse to follow them, choosing to become a poor and chastised monk! I alone shall control my life, not my instincts! I know that the instinct of Peng Zhi is to be anxious and doubtful, but Taoist, these are merely your instincts. You can fight back against them, just like me! Only then can we win against the one who is trying to kill us! We will finally be free after that!”