Mutated Tao

Chapter 553: Departure

Chapter 553: Departure

On a dirt path hidden by the dense trees, Li Sui was orbiting the same clearing, seemingly looking for something.

The dirt path was covered in claw marks. Clearly, she had been looking for that something for a very long time now.

She had been looking for Li Huowang, but she hadn't been able to find him.

Li Sui got more and more anxious as time ticked by. She had gotten so used to living with Li Huowang that she became extremely anxious at the thought of losing him forever.

Just as tears rolled down from the edges of her eyes, a rift appeared on her left, and a heavily injured Li Huowang popped out of the rift.

“Dad!”

Li Sui pounced at Li Huowang and licked the bottom of his chin with her tentacles.

“You're heavy! And I'm too injured to carry you! Get off me!” Li Huowang used a lot of strength to push Li Sui away.

“Dad. Why did you throw me away? I thought I'd lose you forever,” Li Sui asked, circling around Li Huowang.

“I was afraid that you would burn while in my body, so I threw you to safety. It’s all right; everything’s fine now,” Li Huowang said, patting her head.

Feeling safe again, Li Sui placed her white skull on Li Huowang’s palm and rubbed against him. “Dad, can we go back now?”

“Not yet. We still haven’t found Shangji Guankou. Let’s go back and recover first.”

Li Huowang looked at the dense forest around him before staring at the sunset with a perfectly normal sun.

He felt weird. The Great Qi was essentially in ruins, but the Great Liang was at peace.

It was hard to believe that both sides were so close to each other.

He had no idea what it meant to him, but he didn’t care. There were too many unexplainable things here in this world, and there was no reason for him to find the answers to all of his questions.

Now that he was back in the familiar Liang Kingdom, his heart relaxed completely. At the same time, the accumulated fatigue finally struck him.

“Dad, are you alright?” Li Sui extended her tentacles to hold him. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

“It’s alright. I can survive this. Just take me to the side and let me rest.” Li Huowang endured the pain as he looked down at the hole in his abdomen. He pushed his organs back into his torso before they could fall out of him.

Li Sui’s tentacles entered through the hole and soon she completely disappeared as she filled Li Huowang’s body with her tentacles. The wounds closed up too.

“Dad, are you feeling better now?”

Hearing her voice inside of him, Li Huowang patted one of the tentacles and said, “Much better. On second thought, we don't have time to waste. We should back to the Qi Kingdom and find Shangji Guankou as soon as possible.”

“Are you sure? Aren’t you afraid that you will die there?” Shangguan Yuting said, sounding worried as she stared at the heavily injured Li Huowang.

“No need! It’s better to finish this quick!” Li Huowang took out the spine sword again and unwrapped it.

“The Great Qi’s Natural Disaster has finally passed, so we need to seize that opportunity. Who knows how long the peace would last over there? The opportunity would be wasted if we wait for too long, and the Great Qi disappears.”

Li Huowang took a deep breath and swung the spine sword. A spacetime rift manifested in the distance, and he charged decisively into it.

He had just entered the rift when a carriage ran past where Li Huowang had been moments ago. The carriage was heading toward Shangjing.

The one driving the carriage looked at the dense pawprints on the ground before shouting into the carriage, “We'll rest once we get back home! There are too many giant insects around here.”

A woman sounded dissatisfied as she remarked, “That's not what you said earlier! Ah... go slower. This carriage is bouncing so much that it's hurting my butt.”

“Why are you so ungrateful? If it wasn’t because of the gentleman pitying us, we wouldn’t even have the chance to sit in one.”

He had just said that when the curtains opened up. A hand with a silver wristband grabbed the driver’s ears. “Say it again if you dare! You think you are the king of the house after I got married?”

“AIYA! Ouch! Big sis! I’m still driving the carriage. Stop it! Everyone would laugh at us.”

Gao Zhijian sat in the carriage as he looked at the siblings bickering.

Even though he appeared to be staring at them, he was actually thinking about what to do once he reached Shang Jing.

He actually didn’t really want to think about his past, no matter how chaotic it was.

He loved Cowheart Village. He wanted to live the rest of his life there, and it'd be great if he ended up marrying Xiaoman.

However, he had also seen how steep the price Li Huowang had paid to defend them during their travels.

He could never ignore Li Huowang now that the latter was in trouble.

If Puppy couldn’t find the two of them, Gao Zhijian had no other choice but to rely on the strength of an emperor. The emperor was the ruler of everything beneath the heavens, after all.

Gao Zhijian wasn’t entirely sure about his past either. His hazy memories could be fake, but he still needed to try hs best.

I’m an emperor. They should recognize me, right?

Since I used to be an emperor, I’m technically part of the imperial family. I think it wouldn’t be hard for them to find me, right?

It should be fine even if I’m not an emperor. I have some memories as a general. Maybe I used to be a general? I should go and look for the army, then.

Gao Zhijian's head throbbed with pain; his memories were too scrambled as if they were haphazardly stitched together.

When he snapped back to reality, he realized that the carriage had stopped. The siblings had disembarked as well.

“Dear sir, we are there. Thank you for your carriage. Our village is just at the front. Do you want to come and have a meal with us?” The man driving the carriage asked Gao Zhijian courteously.

Gao Zhijian shook his head and returned the greeting. He took the reins and started his journey on the dirt path again.

“He’s such a good man, and he’s big too. If I weren't married, I would choose him as my husband,” the sister said with a sigh.

The brother shook his head. “Yeah. He definitely has the strength of two cows to work in the fields, but it’s such a shame that he can’t speak.”