Mutated Tao

Li Huowang pulled out his sword, and a dense murderous intent filled the entire hall, making everyone present feel as if they were suddenly at the heart of a battlefield.

The sound of swords being drawn echoed continuously. The bandits wielded various weapons, struggling to charge forward from all directions while resisting the murderous intent.

However, some of the bandits amongst them could not bear it any longer, and fear creeped up within their eyes.

When the sword was sheathed again, the surroundings quickly became calm.

By now, the laughter of the bandit leader had vanished completely. The three men who had been drinking and eating, were now staring at Li Huowang.

Amidst this tension, the bald man, who sat at the head of the table, picked up a fried peanut and popped it into his mouth.

On the other hand, a broad-faced bandit with a smile on his face immediately stepped forward to mediate. “Esteemed Daoist, please don’t be hasty. Things can be discussed calmly. Being able to meet like this can be considered fate, and we can all sit down together to have a drink.”

Li Huowang was not intimidated by them, and so he went over to have a seat, and then started to pick up and eat the meat that they had been eating.

On the other hand, the round-faced man acting as a mediator now stood beside Li Huowang, acting as though Li Huowang was one of his associates. He took out a paper fan with a landscape painting on it, and then gently fanned Li Huowang several times. Then, he closed the fan and pointed it toward a bald man sitting at the Eight Immortals table.

“This is our second-in-command, Xia Shanhu,” continued the round-faced man as he pointed at the bandit wearing a tiger-skin coat, causing the latter to snort coldly.

However, he did not introduce the final person.

The last man at the table had a gloomy expression as he lifted his bowl and took a big gulp. Apart from his fierce appearance, he had a distinctive look; there was the word “Qiu” tattooed on the left side of his forehead.

All three men had frames that were significantly larger than the rest of the bandits.

Then, the round-faced man tapped his nose with his fan and said, “I am Liu Xiang, the village calligrapher. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Daoist.”

“Is the play troupe still around? How many of them have died?” asked Li Huowang directly.

Just as the bandit wearing the tiger-skin coat was about to speak in an agitated voice, he was silenced by a look from Da Jinlong. Then, with the wave of his hand, a few disheveled-looking people were brought out.

These individuals were the Lu Family Troupe, who they hadn’t seen in a while.

Upon seeing Li Huowang sitting together with the bandit leaders, Lu Zhuangyuan immediately knelt down and started kowtowing repeatedly. He cried pitifully, “Daoist! Save us, Daoist!”

Li Huowang used his tongue to push out the shreds of meat from between his teeth, and glanced across the bandits’ faces. Then, he stood up as he prepared to head out of the cave.

Seeing this, Lu Zhuangyuan was overjoyed and had tears rolling down his eyes, and even wanted his son to join him in kowtowing.

“Hold on~ Did I say that you can leave?” An arrogant voice sounded, causing the bandits around them to immediately block off Li Huowang’s path.

When Li Huowang turned back, he saw that the person who had spoken was not the so-called leader Da Jinlong, but the gloomy-looking man with the “Qiu” character tattooed on his forehead.

He tapped the table with his thick knuckles as he spoke, “Come and drink with us. Let’s put aside the family troupe for now. What relationship do you have with the You Family of Si Qi?”

“You Family of Si Qi?” questioned Li Huowang.

The man chuckled upon seeing Li Huowang’s confusion. He bit on a soybean and drank a mouthful of wine. “Stop pretending. That sword belongs to You Zixiong, right? He wouldn’t have given you that sword for no reason.”

At that moment, Li Huowang noticed the man eyeing the sword on his back, and slowly started to piece things together. It seemed that this sword held more secrets than he had initially thought.

After observing the faces of the trio, Li Huowang felt something was amiss. This person spoke haughtily, and did not seem to show any respect to the bandit leaders of this village.

“And who are you? The third leader of this village?” asked Li Huowang.

“Third leader, my ass! I am Wang Deqiu!” That person suddenly exploded before directly smacking a palm onto Li Huowang’s chest, sending him flying.

The force of this blow was tremendous; it nearly sent Li Huowang flying outside.

As he saw this, Gao Zhijian, with his tall and wide stature, quickly rushed up and firmly caught Li Huowang.

At that moment, Li Huowang clutched his chest due to the excruciating pain. He was instantly filled with anger, and directly drew his sword and charged at that person.

On the other hand, Wang Deqiu just stood there with an astonished look on his face as he watched Li Huowang charging toward him.

This person took one of my strikes, and his heart hasn’t shattered? He must be rather skilled.

“This is ridiculous! You are messing with the wrong people!” shouted Da Jinlong as he kicked aside the Eight Immortals table, and then pulled out a mace to meet Li Huowang head-on.

With this confrontation, chaos erupted all around them as the bandits all rushed in as well.

Originally, it seemed like there was a wide disparity in the strengths of the two groups, and that Li Huowang’s side would definitely lose.

However, things didn't turn out like that.

Gao Zhijian roared and swung his rod forcefully, sending three people flying away.

Just as two bandits with daggers were about to flank him, a pair of hands with long black fingernails embedded themselves into their necks.

Seeing this, a few of the bandits who were standing further away raised their crossbows. In response, Chun Xiaoman opened the Profound Records and sliced off two of her fingernails along with the skin and flesh around them.

As she cried out loud, the fingernails were sent flying toward the bandits who were holding the crossbows. Everyone who stood between them was decapitated.

Li Huowang did not pay attention to what was happening behind him. His focus was entirely on the three people before him; they were the core of this bandit hideout.

Clang!

Xia Shanhu’s huge ring knife clashed against Li Huowang’s longsword, the huge force behind the clash pushing Li Huowang a few steps back. However, this was the limit of what Xia Shanhu could do.

Whoosh!

At that moment, Li Huowang’s sharp blade easily sliced through the large ring knife, before continuing toward Xia Shanhu’s face.

“Deputy!” Da Jinlong roared as he rushed in to help out his brother, but Wang Deqiu was already one step ahead of him.

Wang Deqiu wielded a pitch-black straight sword, and left behind a phantom image as he sliced it toward Li Huowang’s hand.

Clang!

A clear and metallic sound rang out, and then a dent appeared on the edge of the straight sword.

As he saw this, Li Huowang retreated and changed targets.

These three individuals were clearly more skilled than Li Huowang; however, their weakness lay in their weapons. Before long, they all broke in the face of Li Huowang’s assault.

In response, the three of them started to find ways to restrict him; they did not want to engage in direct combat against Li Huowang.

When the pressure on them finally reduced, a woman wearing a red veil came out to help them.

“Dong dong dong~ When the whip cracks, the drum sounds. The Immortals are welcomed, and one’s inner spirituality must first be connected. Three wolf masters and three hurdles…”

As the chanting rang out, three wolf heads quickly rose from under the red veil, and bit onto Da Jinlong’s neck, causing the latter to angrily raise his mace and strike down the wolf heads underneath the red veil.

The wolf heads were beaten and shrank in size, but they rapidly reformed and bit down once again, biting so fiercely that they even exposed the bones. The spray of blood that stained the red veil gave it an even deeper crimson color.

On the other hand, Li Huowang used this moment of respite to slice off Xia Shanhu’s head, and then looked toward Wang Deqiu as blood trickled down his sword.

“They say that there are rules in this green forest, but I’ve realized that it’s all nonsense. The only rule in this world is the sword in your hands!” said Li Huowang.

Wang Deqiu smiled despite this dire situation. “Yes, there are rules, but it depends on the person to follow them. People from Hou Shu won’t follow the rules when facing the You Family.”

“What do you mean?” asked Li Huowang.

“You Family of Si Qi is a military family. How many people from Hou Shu have they killed? So do you really think that we will let you stroll through here so casually?” asked Wang Deqiu.

“Huh, when did bandits start being concerned with politics? If you’re talking about that, then why did you rebel in the first place?” mocked Li Huowang.

Hearing the disdain contained in Li Huowang’s words, Wang Deqiu smiled but did not reply.

As he looked at that smiling face, Li Huowang’s expression gradually turned. He had realized the identity of the other party. “Hold on, you are not bandits! You are soldiers!”

“Hehe, bandits and soldiers, is there a need for such clear distinctions? Isn’t it all about the business of killing people?”

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