Mutated Tao

Chapter 156: Peng Zhi

Chapter 156: Peng Zhi

“I am one of the Three Corpses, Peng Zhi?” Li Huowang’s brain was abuzz. His mind was a complete mess.

“How can that be? I was transmigrated here! How can I possibly be something stupid like Peng Zhi?” mumbled Li Huowang.

“It’s no use even if you don’t want to believe it. Currently, I need you to recall as much as you can and see if you are able to find something bizarre in the details that you remember.”

“Details?”

While Li Huowang was reluctant, after thinking for some time, he did find many suspicious points. Dan Yangzi’s idiotic pride and all his various bizarre encounters fit quite well with the hypothesis of the Three Corpses.

“One more thing. If I am correct, then you can’t recall anything from your childhood, correct? This is natural, since we were never children to begin with. We were already adults when we took form!”

Monk’s words made Li Huowang realize that he could indeed not remember anything from his time before Zephyr Temple. In fact, his very first memories were of him being within the Zephyr Temple!

“What’s going on? What is real and what is fake?” mumbled Li Huowang as he felt his head splitting in pain as various pieces of information swirled within his mind.

“Peng Zhi! Don’t think about it! Stop thinking! You have to go against your instincts! I did it and so can you! Don’t think about it and don’t doubt anymore. Only then can we win against that person!” said Monk as he shook both of Li Huowang’s arms rigorously. “Pull yourself together. Do you see the people that are trying to kill us? The cultivator is using them to try and kill us! The moment he kills both of us, the cultivator will become an Immortal! We are in this together and we can never let his plan come to fruition!”

Li Huowang took deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down before turning to question Monk. “Monk, you—”

“Careful!” Monk quickly pulled him down as another arrow flew past Li Huowang’s shoulder, taking off some of his hair.

“Why are you still asking questions at such a crucial time? Let’s talk more once we leave here. Our enemies are quickly approaching!”

Hearing this, Li Huowang turned around and saw that the black dots chasing them had indeed become larger. They were chasing them on camels!

He could see that the assailants all wore wooden masks and had white fangs protruding out from their mouths, wriggling like antennas.

Li Huowang recognized them—they were the Nuo Opera performers!

He would’ve been fine if only the performers were the ones chasing them, but this time around they had brought an entire group of bandits with them!

The bandit had hidden their faces, allowing Li Huowang to only see their eyes that were filled with hostility as they raised their various weapons and hollered.

After a moment, Li Huowang stared into the distance, choosing to continue with his escape.

But just as he had taken a few steps, the sand dunes around him faded away into nothingness.

“Not again! Not when it’s this dangerous!” shouted Li Huowang.

After a moment, he woke up and found himself strapped to a hospital bed.

At this moment, he could see Yang Na and his mother carefully moving a table and placing it near his bed.

“Peng Zhi.” A faint voice rang out.

Hearing the voice, Li Huowang clenched his fist, his arms tied to the bed securely.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes; however, he was still within the hallucination.

“Huowang, happy birthday! Do you remember my birthday? It is only three days away,” said Yang Na. Currently, she was wearing a white sweater as she carefully placed a paper crown on Li Huowang’s head. She hadn’t noticed the changes in Li Huowang’s expression just yet.

“Peng Zhi… Wake up…” The voice became louder.

Meanwhile, Sun Xiaoqin placed a cake on the table and started lighting up the candles on it.

On the other hand, the voice inside Li Huowang’s ears suddenly became louder. “Peng Zhi, wake up! They are catching up to us!”

At the same time, the lights within the room were turned off. Then, both his mother and Yang Na stood beside him and smiled.

“Peng Zhi! Everything I’ve said is true! Don’t think about the memories stored within Li Huowang’s body! They are not yours! No matter how doubtful you are, they belong to Li Huowang and not you! You are only using his body. Fight against your instincts and forget about them!” said the voice.

“I’m not Li Huowang? The person my mother and Yang Na cared for, the Li Huowang they knew, was someone else?” Li Huowang’s lips trembled as he saw them.

“Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~” The two of them started singing softly.

Staring at the warm and gentle sight in front of him, Li Huowang’s lips continued to tremble. He bit his lips and swallowed the blood that flowed out from it.

He wanted to take a deep breath to calm himself down but he couldn’t—he was afraid of scaring his mother and Yang Na.

Soon, the song came to an end. After that, Li Huowang slowly leaned his body forward and blew out the candles.

Li Huowang’s sudden action surprised both his mother and Yang Na. “Huowang! When did you become coherent?”

However, instead of answering, he just smiled at both of them. “I want you to place a piece of cloth in my mouth. I’m afraid that I will get very loud later.”

Just as he said those words, he felt an impact on his head causing stars to swim around his head. Slowly, everything around him fell apart.

“Wake up!”

At that moment, Li Huowang was back at the cold sand dunes, his face flat on the sandy ground. He was a bloodied mess.

He could see that their three horse carriages had been positioned in a circle and that everyone was taking refuge in the center. Many among them had taken up arms and were fighting against the assailants. Even so, they were slowly being pushed back.

There were just far too many enemies!

Seeing that the situation was dire, Li Huowang wanted to immediately help them.

But he did not move—he did not move because he saw someone standing on his right.

It was Monk.

Immediately, he turned to his left and saw another person—it was Monk, helping him up.

Seeing this, Li Huowang pushed them away. At this moment, there were two identical Monks!

Splurt!

An arrow pierced through Li Huowang’s shoulder. However, neither did he feel any pain nor did he pay any attention to it. He just stared at the two Monks.

“Aiya! Taoist, you have been shot! Are you alright?” asked one of the Monks, about to approach Li Huowang. However, he was stopped by a shout from Li Huowang.

“Both of you! Stay back! I don’t trust the two of you!” Li Huowang raised his sword in anger. He was afraid of being stabbed in the back if he didn’t settle this right now.

Hearing this, the Monk standing closest to him was left speechless. “Peng Zhi, what do you mean by the two of us? That Monk is nothing more than your illusion. You can ask the others; they can’t see the other Monk that you are talking about.”