Mutated Tao

When Li Huowang realized that all these dead lambs were humans that were transformed, he was beyond shocked.

Numerous questions raced through his mind.

What are they worshiping, and who are they?

However, in the end Li Huowang kept going back to the same two questions.

He needed to get the answers soon. If there was an evil sect within the depths of this cave, then he might have to reconsider whether he wanted to leave immediately or not.

While it was worth the risk to enter the dangerous cave to get his hands on a Black Taisui, it was not worth it to risk everyone’s life.

At that moment, Sun Baolu noticed something. “Wait, Senior Li, something’s not right. Look at how the offerings were placed. It’s backward. Someone was… offering the animals to the dead lambs.”

“They are not worshiping some deity but the lambs?” Li Huowang frowned as he continued to observe the dead lambs and the offerings.

“Is it a Lamb God? Sun Baolu, is there a Lamb God in Qing Qiu?” Puppy asked.

“Lambs are just livestock. Why would we worship livestock as gods? Qing Qiu doesn’t have such a rule,” replied Sun Baolu.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang quickly tried to recall the names of various sects and their powers.

The Righteous Monastery worshiped the lustful flesh Buddha; the Ao Jing Sect worshiped the pain-giving Ba-Hui[1], and the Benevolent Nunnery worshiped the decaying Bodhisattva.

As he thought about all this, Li Huowang had a sudden idea and accidentally said it out loud, “I get it. They are not worshiping the lambs themselves. The lambs are merely a metaphor or a vessel. They are worshiping death itself!”

“Huh?” No one else understood what he meant.

They didn’t understand it, but Li Huowang did. He stood above the giant cauldron and stared at the corpses of the lambs below.

Someone or something had chased thousands of people in here and transformed them into lambs. Then, those that failed to undergo the transformation were cast aside, while those that managed to complete their transformation into lambs were herded and killed at the same time.

Once the lambs died, they started their ceremony. They were not worshiping the lambs, but the ‘death’ of the lambs itself!

As he carefully thought about the clues presented to him, he slowly deduced the intricacies of this world.

Not only were the evil beings of Qing Qiu all trapped underground, there was even a sect that worshiped death itself!

Worse still was the fact that Li Huowang didn’t know whether this sect was formed by humans or something else.

Since the sect worshiped death, that meant that their powers were closely related to death. Just based on that information alone, Li Huowang realized the strength of their enemies and just how much danger all of them were in.

Realizing all this, Li Huowang quickly ran down and warned everyone. “Run! We need to get out of here, now! It’s no longer an issue about facing a mere evil being anymore!”

Li Huowang was just about to lead everyone out when the sound of smacking wood suddenly rang out.

Dak~ Dak~ Dak~

Hearing this sound, Li Huowang unsheathed his sword while quickly scanning the darkness.

Dak~ Dak~ Dak~

The sound of smacking wood was rhythmic, and it came from everywhere, making it so Li Huowang could not determine where it originated.

Given that he did not know where the enemy was located, Li Huowang dared not rush in a single direction, afraid that he would crash into them.

Li Huowang bit his lips and focused, trying his best to locate the enemy based on the sound. He needed to know where the enemy was right now!

The sound slowly got louder and closer. Finally, Li Huowang’s sharp senses allowed him to determine the source of the sound.

“IT’S ABOVE US!” shouted Li Huowang as he quickly looked up into the darkness and threw out the glowing rock in his hand. The glowing rock got stuck within the cracks of the ceiling, its light illuminating the top of the cave.

Finally, they saw what it was—a massive human face, one larger than a dinner table, was being illuminated by the green light of glowing rock.

The face was completely flat and it seemed like a man. Its skin was pale and it had an extremely large mouth. At this moment, two eyes the size of lanterns were staring at Li Huowang.

Behind the neck of the man was not a humanoid body, but a caterpillar-like body. At the same time, hands of various sizes could be seen holding the sheet together.

The rhythmic sound of smacking wood was originating from the body!

Li Huowang immediately recognized what it was. He had just seen it at the Women’s Mountain!

Is that the Lion Dance from the Lion Dance Palace?! That can’t be! It has a flattened dead human face and not a lion head! Were they the ones who conducted this ceremony? Are they not from the Lion Dance Palace but the Death Dance Palace[2] instead?!

Regardless of what it was, Li Huowang could not ignore that massive being at the top of the cave. After a moment, he decided to be the one to make the first contact with it.

Li Huowang carefully worded himself, “Masters from the Lion Dance Palace, I, Xuan Yang, greet you humbly. I have no intention of causing trouble for you by trespassing into your territory, but there is an underlying issue. I need to find a Black Taisui that can be refined into a pill. I’ve heard there was one in your territory, and so I came here to seek one. If the Masters from the Lion Dance Palace could help me find one, I will give a bountiful reward to the Lion Dance Palace.”

While he didn’t have a ‘reward’, the first thing he needed to do was get out of this situation. This was the best he could do for now.

But the Lion Dance did not react. It just continued to hang from the ceiling without saying anything. One might even have mistaken it for a hanging stone statue instead.

Why aren’t they saying anything? Maybe they don’t understand my language and can only speak the native Qing Qiu language?

Upon reaching this conclusion, Li Huowang turned around and instructed Sun Baolu what to say to the Lion Dance above.

However, just as Sun Baolu was about to talk to the Lion Dance, Li Huowang’s body tensed up as he sensed an intense feeling of danger coming from behind him. He immediately dodged to the left.

But it was too late. Something hit his back forcefully, the impact causing him to be flung away.

“It’s an ambush! The Lion Dance above is just a decoy!” shouted Li Huowang as he crashed into the darkness and struggled to stand up. When he finally managed to get up, he quickly inspected his back but was surprised to see that it was fine.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Li Huowang felt his back before finally touching the Profound Records embedded underneath the skin of his back.

At that moment, he realized that it was the Profound Records that had blocked the attack. Even though the embedding process had been very painful, it was very useful. He now had armor on his back.

However, Li Huowang didn’t have time to be happy. He quickly found his crutches and hobbled back to the light, finally seeing what it was that had ambushed him.

It was another Lion Dance, but this one had a flattened woman’s face with red lips!

1. Ao Jing Sect is infatuated with stealing the power of Ba-Hui, and they actually worship the sacrificial god. Likely mistake by the author, similar to the earlier chapter ☜

2. character for lion and death have almost the same pronunciation ☜

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

One of my favourite fan art so far. This is their version of Lion Dance. Credits to 格子的乱七八糟 on douyin

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