Mutated Tao

Chapter 625: Join

For some reason, He Xinlai's back was hurting.

He Xinlai felt something amiss. He turned to look behind him but found nothing.

Taishan Shi was sitting cross-legged in the soil, and his hands were clasped tightly together.

Dust billowed out from the ground around him.

The outline of an invisible figure was in the swirling dust; the figure belonged to Li Huowang, who had just projected his image.

The ground trembled slightly as a bulky fleshy figure emerged from the nearby forest. It resembled a bloated flesh-and-blood Buddha with limbs.

“Amitabha! Two benefactors! In the boundless sea of suffering! Return to the shore!”

“Quick! His reinforcements are here! Stop hiding! Take advantage of his blindness and kill him now!”

He Xinlai reached to his shoulder and removed the black cloth on his sleeve. He threw it forcefully toward the sun in the sky.

The black cloth blotted out the sunlight, and the massive area was instantly shrouded in darkness.

Just like that, a tiny Natural Disaster was formed.

“Divine soldiers, ah!” Taishan Shi exclaimed.

Li Huowang suddenly felt a million gazes all over him, and then he could feel Li Sui writhing inside of him.

“Father, I... I feel so happy!” Li Sui’s tentacles rapidly propagated inside Li Huowang. Li Sui was trying to assimilate him.

This issue had to be resolved immediately, or Li Huowang would end up like Bun and be assimilated by Li Sui!

Thump!

The towering Peng Longteng stood on Li Huowang’s left side as the latter inwardly roared, “Suisui! Hang in there! Don’t yield to your instincts! We’re about to get out!”

The ground sank as Li Huowang plummeted into the depths of the earth. Some entities hiding in the darkness within made their move; their swaying figures closing in on Li Huowang looked both illusory and real.

Li Huowang brandished the bronze coin sword and purple-tasseled sword to protect himself.

Meanwhile, He Xinlai was waiting for the right moment to strike.

It didn't take him long to find an opportunity, as Li Huowang was blind. He used a sword technique and charged at Li Huowang as soon as the latter stepped on his own shadow on the ground.

Right as his sword was about to pierce Li Huowang's throat, He Xinlai’s vision blurred. Then, Li Huowang reached out and accurately grabbed the blade of his sword.

“Huh?!” He Xinlai was stupefied.

Li Huowang looked up just then. Li Huowang's eyeballs were supposed to be on the ground as they had been gouged out. However, a strange eyeball with double pupils was in one of his empty eye sockets.

“Who did you say was blind?” Li Huowang asked. It was true that he was blind, but he could borrow his daughter’s eyeball.

He hadn't revealed that fact earlier to deceive his enemies. Fortunately, it worked.

He Xinlai’s heart sank, and then he decisively let go of the weapon in his hand before retreating into the darkness behind him.

Unfortunately, he was so close to Li Huowang that there was no way he could escape.

Peng Longteng’s towering figure stood before him while Li Huowang’s tentacles surged from behind him, appearing like a tidal wave.

“Taishan! Taishan Shi!” He Xinlai shouted, asking for his ally's help, but nothing happened.

Taishan Shi had decided to run away upon sensing that there was something amiss.

When the black cloth in the sky was slashed into pieces by Hong Da’s flying knife, everything returned to normal.

Unfortunately, Taishan Shi had escaped.

Everyone surrounded He Xinlai, who was being held down by Li Huowang.

Li Huowang looked at He Xinlai. He had just given He Xinlai a taste of his knuckle sandwiches, so the latter's teeth were missing, and his face was black and blue.

However, Li Huowang wasn't done just yet as he whipped out his bag of torture tools and said, “My turn.”

“Wait!” Fo Yulu chimed in, "Capturing a Grand Witch of the Dharma Sect is incredibly difficult. What if you end up killing him accidentally? I need to take him back to the Bureau and have someone interrogate him.”

“Heh, are you looking down on me? I’m from the Ao Jing Sect!”

“Everything must be done according to the rules.”

“Stop the nonsense! When did the Surveillance Bureau ever care about rules? Aren’t you just after the reward of lifespan pills? I used to work in the Bureau! You shouldn't have let Taishan escape just for the sake of such a small profit!”

Li Huowang wanted to act tough, but he discovered that even Hong Da and Liu Zongyuan were on Fo Yulu’s side.

“Brother Er, you can't be like this. The Dharma Sect of the Great Qi has just arrived here. We wouldn't have been able to obtain much information from him. However, this guy is different. We can dig out some important information about the Dharma Sect from his brain, and then we might be able to annihilate the Dharma Sect in one fell swoop.”

“Er Jiu, I know the methods of the Ao Jing Sect are terrifying. However, the Bureau has people that are better than you when it comes to interrogation."

Li Huowang frowned as he scanned their faces. It seemed that He Xinlai had a high bounty in the Surveillance Bureau.

In other words, it was highly unlikely that he'd get to interrogate He Xinlai unless he killed all of them.

“It seems that it was my mistake when I thought that I'd be able to save Great Liang with you guys. You people are the same—prioritizing your own profits!” Li Huowang was enraged.

He bent down and placed his head in the soil to look for traces of Taishan Shi. After a while, Li Huowang managed to find some clues. He ignored the members of the Surveillance Bureau and meticulously felt the minute changes in the soil to chase after Taishan Shi. However, he had no choice but to stop, as a towering mountain was standing before him. It seemed that Taishan Shi knew that someone would follow him, so he decided to burrow into a mountain as a precaution. There was nothing Li Huowang could do about it unless he could somehow move the mountain aside.

“Brother Er, don’t be angry, okay? Hehehe~” Li Huowang heard the laughter behind him.

However, he didn't even turn his head and simply said, “If you have something to say, then spit it out.”

“We’ve known each other for so long. Do you really have to treat me like this?? Do you still remember how we went through life and death together against that Muddled One back then?” Liu Zongyuan asked, smiling as he walked up to Li Huowang while wearing a wooden mask. “This turn of events is great for us, so why do you look so unhappy? We managed to capture a Grand Witch alive. This is a major blow to the Dharma Sect! There aren’t many Grand Witches in the Dharma Sect, after all.”

At that, Li Huowang’s face lightened up.

Liu Zongyuan added, “Don’t be in a hurry~ We have to take things one step at a time. We'll definitely annihilate the Dharma Sect in due time. Anyway, can you stop being mad at Lord Ji Xiang? Just treat it as giving me some face.”

Li Huowang took a deep breath and exhaled. “Did you know? If it weren't for the fact that I'd waste time, I really wanted to kill you guys.”

“Hahaha~ Brother Er really knows how to crack jokes,” Liu Zongyuan said, laughing. He was about to put his arm around Li Huowang's shoulder, but the tentacles blocked him. “Brother Er, shouldn’t you withdraw your supernatural powers?”

“Suisui, retract your tentacles.”

“...”

“Suisui?”

“I can’t retract them, Father. It's been like this since the sun was blotted out earlier...” Li Sui sounded aggrieved.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

Here's that bastard He Xinlai. Credits to ???????on douyin!