Mutated Tao

Zhuge Yuan was fighting so desperately for him, so Li Huowang knew that he couldn’t remain confused about his identity. Regardless of his identity, he owed Zhuge Yuan his life, and he couldn’t just run away without repaying his debt.

Li Huowang gnashed his teeth and looked around. He saw that the Emperor of the Great Liang and the Chief of the Surveillance Bureau were busy fighting with the Shai Zis, so he made a beeline for them.

Before his shoe could touch the ground, a playing card would fly out of his hand to provide a foothold for him like a lotus leaf on water. Li Huowang approached them swiftly as if he were a dragonfly skimming over a lake.

The few Shai Zis obviously had no intentions of fighting to the death and were simply toying with them. They seemed to be waiting for Doulao to intervene and deal with them all at once.

"Is there a living Muddled One inside the array?!" Li Huowang roared upon entering the battlefield. He didn’t expect an answer, but he noticed a subtle change in the expression of one of the Deputy Chiefs. Li Huowang used his years of experience in deceiving others and quickly analyzed the Deputy Chief's expression.

He had shown alertness in the face of Li Huowang's question rather than confusion or bewilderment. In other words, there was a high chance that there was a living Muddled One inside the array.

It made sense as well. Yin and Yang belonged to the same scale; if one wanted to balance the scales, then one had to use a living and deceased Muddled One at the same time.

Li Huowang decisively rushed away while under the Sitting Oblivion Dao members' close surveillance.

One of the Shai Zis was surprised to see Li Huowang. He turned to the Shai Zi next to him and asked, “Hey, why did you let that Hong Zhong go?”

“I have no idea. That’s obviously a Hong Zhong of the Great Liang. In other words, it’s one of your people. Why are you asking me?”

“Nonsense! Are you blind? That’s obviously a Hong Zhong of your Great Qi!”

While they argued, Li Huowang soon found himself inside a side hall in the eastern region. There was supposed to be a golden hall here, but the gold had become the Sacred Mountain Ghost’s mask, so Li Huowang couldn't see anything other than some debris and wooden pillars.

Li Huowang rushed into the center of the hall and saw a translucent white fox that had died in the middle of the array. Li Huowang instantly deduced that the fox was the eye of the array here. Li Huowang moved fast, flinging out Yao Ji mahjong tiles in all directions.

The eyes on these mahjong tiles blinked as if the tiles were living creatures. Every single piece of information that the Yao Ji tiles' eyes had clapped on was transmitted into Li Huowang's brain, so he soon discovered the location of the other array eyes in the other halls.

After a while, Li Huowang found himself standing on a floating piece of wood. He looked down and saw a rotting man in the soil. The man resembled the Muddled One from back then with golden threads sewing shut his seven orifices.

The only difference was that there was a swastika on his chest.

Li Huowang glanced at Zhuge Yuan falling from the sky and took a deep breath. Then, he moved quickly and scooped out the living Muddled One from the soil. Li Huowang dared not hesitate and immediately opened his right hand, revealing four Bai[1] Ban.

Li Huowang slapped it on his back. “Kong!”[2]

The tiles entered the Muddled One’s body, and it abruptly took to the sky.

However, the ordeal wasn't over yet.

While the living Muddled One was flying toward Doulao, Li Huowang quickly located the dead Muddled One that he had seen when he first entered the palace. It was the same Muddled One that he and Ji Xiang had discovered.

When the two pairs of tiles entered him, Li Huowang sent a bicycle kick at the back of the Muddled One.

The dead Muddled One took to the sky at breakneck speeds. It moved so fast that it left behind an afterimage as it made a beeline for the living Muddled One in mid-air.

Li Huowang's plan was to use the formidable power of the living Muddled One and the dead Muddled One against Doulao’s avatar. Li Huowang had no other cards up his sleeve except for this and Zhuge Yuan himself.

“Brother Zhuge, move aside! The living Muddled One and the dead Muddled One are about to collide!” Li Huowang roared.

Zhuge Yuan's veins bulged as he struggled non-stop, and he heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing Li Huowang's roar. Immediately afterward, he hurled his brush into the air with all his strength before falling toward the ground, utterly exhausted.

The nervous Li Huowang caught the falling Zhuge Yuan.

Just then, a jet-black light erupted as the living Muddled One and the dead Muddled One collided, becoming one. Fortunately, the jet-black light disappeared as fast as it disappeared.

Li Huowang looked up to see a huge hole in Doulao’s body. No, it wasn't just Doulao; even the sky had a huge hole in it as if a massive circle had been carved out of the sky.

Doulao became unstable after losing a huge chunk of its body, Doulao became unstable, flickering intermittently.

Li Huowang could feel Doulao watching him, but Doulao couldn't even maintain its form, much less attack the former.

Doulao cast a deep gaze upon Li Huowang before disappearing.

The skies cleared up instantly as Doulao vanished.

"Brother Zhuge, we did it!" Li Huowang shouted in excitement, “We succeeded! We—”

Li Huowang stopped mid-sentence upon seeing Zhuge Yuan's condition. The latter had aged significantly, and his fleshly body had cracked open, seemingly on the brink of collapse.

And it wasn’t just Zhuge Yuan's fleshly body…

The Sitting Oblivion Dao's innate abilities allowed Li Huowang to see Zhuge Yuan's Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings. Zhuge Yuan's Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings were in dire condition; they stuck together as they slowly took on a deathly gray color.

Li Huowang was helpless at the sight. The cogs in his mind turned desperately as he searched through Hong Zhong and his own memories to find a glimmer of hope amidst the sea of memories, but…

Li Huowang’s mind was telling him that Zhuge Yuan was beyond saving.

Zhuge Yuan was like a bowl with a hole at the bottom, and everything in the bowl was leaking outside. Zhuge Yuan had utterly exhausted himself to resist Doulao's avatar for an extended period of time.

Li Huowang anxiously looked around for turmeric paper. He wanted to use talismans as a last resort, but Zhuge Yuan stopped him.

“Brother Li, don’t bother. I’m not afraid of death, and you don’t need to blame yourself. I didn’t do this for you; I did this for the people of this world as well.”

Tears streamed down Li Huowang’s eyes as Zhuge Yuan grew weaker and weaker in the face of death.

Li Huowang gasped for breath as he spoke frantically, “Why did you bother being so noble in this crazy world? What’s the point of being so noble? Who would dare to say anything even if you had run away? And did I ask you to save me? I'm from the Sitting Oblivion Dao! Why did you save me?!”

Zhuge Yuan revealed a magnanimous smile and said, “This isn’t about being noble. I've simply read many books about sages—more books than others that I know what should be done and what should not be done. Although I dare not claim to be a gentleman, I cannot abandon a friend in need and flee by myself.”

1. White Dragon in mahjong ☜

2. four-of-a-kind in mahjong ☜

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