Mutated Tao

Chapter 245: Black Taisui

Chapter 245: Black Taisui

“Alright let’s stop for now. Once my wounds recover, we can slowly shift them back to the proper location,” said Li Huowang.

Hearing those words, everyone sighed.

Staring at the bloody Li Huowang, Chun Xiaoman finally stopped enduring and fell knee first onto the ground. She crouched and vomited, emptying everything in her stomach.

But there was nothing else to vomit out. She had already vomited twice before this.

On the other hand, Bai Lingmiao shakily stroked Li Huowang’s hair, her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t know what to say.

“Why are you crying? We should be smiling instead! Not only is everyone alive, we even managed to capture the Black Taisui and Han Fu! This is good news. What’s even better? Miaomiao, now I can rearrange my face; anytime you get bored looking at my usual face, you will be able to change it.” Li Huowang did his best to console them.

Li Huowang knew just how bad he looked and just how much pain he was in. But, he had to act tough. If he kept complaining, then not only would his problems not get solved, even their group’s morale would drop as well.

It was something he had learned from Lu Juren’s wife, Luo Juanhua. When you are in a situation beyond your control, you have to act as if it doesn’t bother you so that the people around you don’t end up becoming sad.

However, Li Huowang had failed to learn the essence of this trickery from Luo Juanhua. The louder he laughed, the harder Bai Lingmiao cried.

Exhausted, Li Huowang finally closed his one remaining eye and said, “I will rest first. We will find our way back once I get up.”

After saying that Li Huowang passed out.

In the haze between consciousness and unconsciousness, something familiar appeared within his mind, bobbing up and down. He wanted to know what it was but couldn’t figure it out.

In between his bouts of consciousness and unconsciousness, he kept forgetting what he was about to do; it was as if his memories weren’t intact.

Suddenly a sea of stars enveloped his mind. Li Huowang suddenly remembered the night where he and Yang Na stayed up to watch the night sky at the rooftop of their school. He realized that he was seeing one of his past memories.

“Yang Na, I’m sorry. I’m ill and I need to stop coming to school so that I can get treated.” The youth hugged the girl.

“When will your treatment be completed? Will it take long?” asked the girl while holding his hands and swaying them.

“I don’t know, but it shouldn’t be too long. I will do my best to follow their treatment and get discharged as soon as I can, for your sake. After all, I’ve promised you that we will enter the same university and get married once we both graduate.”

The girl blushed and nodded. “Ok. I will wait for you.”

Both of them gradually got closer before finally hugging together.

“Huowang? Are you ok?”

“Senior Li, are you alright?”

“Li Huowang! Snap out of it!”

“Little Li, which side do you think is real? That side or this side?”

Various people were talking and tearing his most precious memory apart.

Li Huowang didn’t want to go back. He wanted to stay in this wonderful moment, but he knew that it was impossible. Soon, everything started to crack and splinter, and his dream came to an end.

“AH!” Li Huowang opened his eye, covered in cold sweat. Then, he saw that his head was placed on Bai Lingmiao’s lap as she gently fed him warm milk.

Feeling the warm goat’s milk in his mouth, Li Huowang’s scattered senses soon started to consolidate. Currently, he felt like his brain was akin to a rusted machine that sputtered and squeaked from time to time.

“Where are we?” asked Li Huowang as he looked at the top of the cow hide’s tent.

Seeing Li Huowang awake, Bai Lingmiao sighed in relief. “This is Sun Baolu’s house. He used to herd the lambs around here, so he brought us back. Also, you’ve been passed out for more than ten days. It’s a relief that you finally woke up.”

Li Huowang quickly removed the blanket covering his body and inspected his body.

By now, the massive wound on his torso had almost completely healed, while the other smaller wounds had already finished healing. But, his body was still slightly twisted in some ways. At the very least, someone normal wouldn’t have their navel growing on their hips.

But, at the very least, he looked much better compared to when he had just crawled out from the cave. He looked human.

More importantly, his left foot had regrown halfway through. Now, he would no longer have to hobble around everywhere.

After he inspected his body, he did not rest and quickly asked Bai Lingmiao about the Black Taisui and Han Fu.

“No worries. Everything has been prepared, but we have to thank Sun Baolu and everyone else. If it weren’t for all of them, then we would not have been able to haul both of them back. All of us borrowed two cow hide’s tent. We also borrowed two more tents from them and set them up further away from the others. The Black Taisui and Han Fu are being guarded by us. So you can just lie down and rest for now,” explained Bai Lingmiao.

“No, we have to go to the Black Taisui now!” said Li Huowang. He didn’t want to wait any longer. He wore his clothes and directly walked out of the tent.

When he got out of the tent, he saw many people looking at him. At this point, the Qing Qiu people were no longer looking at him with curiosity but with wariness instead.

It was only natural. If they were able to stay friendly despite seeing what Li Huowang currently looked like, then it would be even more unsettling for him.

He greeted them and walked away from the other tents before approaching the two lonely tents a distance away in the grassland.

When Li Huowang was walking over to the tents, he met Lu Zhuangyuan who was herding the lambs back. Lu Zhuangyuan saw the wounded Li Huowang and was surprised. “Young Daoist? I can’t believe that you can already walk around after resting for only ten days! Ha, I knew it! With your supernatural powers, no evil beings can win against you!”

But Li Huowang was completely fixated on the Black Taisui. He didn’t even bother with Lu Zhuangyuan’s flattery.

After confirming that Han Fu’s little head was still alive, Li Huowang entered the tent containing the Black Taisui. This was the most important thing for him right now.

When he entered the tent, he saw that the Black Taisui’s tentacles were impaled onto the ground with spears, imprisoning it within the tent.

Li Huowang circled around the Black Taisui and inspected it. After confirming that it looked the same as the one he had seen within Zephyr Temple, he reached out for the Black Taisui and grabbed a piece of its oily flesh. Then, he carefully cut away the piece of flesh with his dagger, causing the Black Taisui to immediately release a sharp cry as sticky black fluids flowed out from its wounds.

He looked at the piece of flesh in his hand and saw that a part of it was slowly transforming into tentacles. After a moment, he slowly opened his mouth and placed it in.

However, just as he was about to bite down, he paused.