Mutated Tao

Chapter 732: Illusion

Si Qi, Xuantai Mountain, Luminous Temple, Grand Courage Hall

Li Huowang looked at the black-skinned monk cut in half as his sword cut into the monk’s flesh. The black water flowing out of the monk splashed towards his face.

Sensing the oddness of the water, Li Huowang used the four tentacles on his back to pull himself backward, narrowly avoiding the black water.

“Hoh…” Li Huowang exhaled as he felt the murderous aura in the hall.

He had already lost an arm, but still held onto his three swords with his tentacles. A vast expanse of corpses lay behind him, all of them monks.

Li Huowang snarled at the golden Buddha statue to the back.

The golden Buddha had a black cloth on its shoulders. The Buddha’s face was neither sad nor happy, but the most terrifying aspect was the human flesh and blood offerings in front of it.

It was one thing for the entire temple to defect to the Dharma Sect, but it was another matter for them to make a statue of god Yu’er! The warrior monks here had even learned military techniques. It was a dangerous place that Li Huowang had to eliminate immediately.

He took a deep breath and ran towards the Buddha statue. He jumped in the air when he had almost reached the altar.

He reached the top of the Buddha’s head and swung down his purple-tassel sword.

Just then, the golden coating of the Buddha statue burst open, revealing black cracks in its body. Li Huowang saw living beings through the cracks.

The Buddha statue glared at Li Huowang, grabbed him with both hands, and bit him with its black mouth. Its black teeth sunk into Li Huowang’s body, but for some reason, it couldn’t crush his bones.

Li Huowang stepped on the lower jaw of the Buddha statue while using his upper body to force its mouth open. This way, he wouldn’t get swallowed.

“You want to eat me? Let me give you a taste then!” Li Huowang opened his mouth and vomited Li Sui out.

The tentacles quickly shrunk into his body as Li Sui fell into the Buddha’s gullet. “Li Sui, eat that bastard!”

Li Huowang forced the Buddha to keep its mouth open by wedging the purple-tassel sword inside. He leaped outside with his spine sword, only to find the Buddha’s hands waiting for him.

Just then, a halberd spun in the air and chopped off all of the Buddha’s fingers.

“Are you trying to kill a Buddha? Good! I’ve always hated that bald bastard!” Peng caught her halberd midair while riding her horse, then charged towards the Buddha’s statue.

Even though the Buddha’s statue was humongous, it continued to retreat against Li Huowang’s and Peng Longteng’s attacks.

The situation was under control for now, but Li Huowang was worried about Suisui. She had been inside the Buddha for a long time and still hadn't emerged.

I should’ve jumped down with her. I need to deal with this as soon as possible.

Li Huowang was about to end it when he saw half of a dog’s face forcing itself out from the Buddha’s belly.

Li Huowang heard a soft voice coming out from the belly button. “Dad! Help! They… ate… my… head…”

Li Huowang panicked when he heard that. He rushed forward without any care as he endured the attacks from the Buddha statue. He used his sword to cut open the Buddha’s stomach.

Li Huowang saw the mangled limbs and broken tentacles pouring out of the Buddha’s statue. He felt his heart go cold. Suddenly, a skinned dog’s skull appeared out of the hole with some of the Buddha’s intestines. “Dad, whose limbs are those?”

Li Sui was fine. The voice from before wasn’t hers.

Immediately after, the tentacles and limbs disappeared. It was just Li Huowang’s cultivation of the ‘Truth.’ The tentacles and the voice from before were not the original Li Sui.

“What?”

As Li Huowang was stunned, the Buddha’s palm slammed down. The sound of bones cracking could be heard as he was crushed into the ground.

Ten minutes later, Li Huowang grunted as he dragged the massive Buddha’s head out of the temple. His body was covered in blood.

He looked down from the top of the hall and saw the warrior monks still desperately fighting against the soldiers. Li Huowang kicked the Buddha’s head down the steps.

The warrior monks lost their will to fight when they saw their Buddha’s head rolling down. The soldiers made short work of them and ended the fight.

Li Huowang panted and sat on a cushion. He continued to monitor the other fights through the mirror that Xuan Pin had given him.

The soldiers saw what he was doing and thought he was weird, but Li Huowang had long disregarded how others perceived him. He only needed to know he wasn’t crazy—that was all that mattered.

Li Sui was dirty and tired. She leaned on Li Huowang’s back and nudged her skull towards him. “Dad, you are so strong. You killed so many bad people.”

Li Huowang sighed and kept the mirror. He knew how strong he was now. In fact, he was even stronger than the half-immortal Dan Yangzi.

As his cultivation improved, it became easier for him to unwittingly change his surroundings according to his thoughts.

It didn’t have to be a thought that he was focusing on. It could be a random intrusive thought, but his cultivation would still turn it into reality.

He remembered Li Sui’s shout for help and the version of her that he had accidentally turned into reality. Just thinking about it for a moment had been enough for it to become real.

It wasn’t a good sign and was impacting his daily life. Thankfully, the enemies he faced today hadn’t been too strong, or he would’ve actually died.

Nothing was real when nothing was fake in front of him.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened. This was the fourth since the time he accidentally materialized Bai Lingmiao from his thoughts.

Instead of fighting against the Dharma Sect, he was now fighting against himself.