Mutated Tao

The imperial family was not the only faction in Shangjing; the Surveillance Bureau was a significant force too.

The city was in ruins. Even though it appeared that many had died, the majority of the casualties were from the Dharma Sect.

The hidden danger within Shangjing had been completely removed thanks to today’s incident. As horrific as it was, at least the Dharma Sect from the Liang Kingdom wouldn’t be able to make any major moves in the near future.

Still, no matter how much he thought, Li Huowang couldn’t figure out what the Dharma Sect’s end goal was.

Wait, I thought there was a Natural Disaster? What happened to it? Which Heavenly Dao changed owners? I don’t feel anything strange, Li Huowang remarked inwardly.

While thinking about that, he suddenly heard a faint rumbling. He looked up and saw a piece of green brick fall from the top of the wall. Then, more and more started falling down.

Before he could react, the city wall exploded. A massive stone statue with a tiger's head squeezed in from the hole in the wall. As it did, it smashed the ground with its paws. Yellow smoke erupted outwards from the impact.

Everything that came into contact with the yellow smoke turned into stone. Living humans, burning fire, and even black smoke all turned into stone without exception.

Just as the yellow smoke was about to engulf the entirety of Shangjing, a mysterious sound came from the palace. As the sound spread outwards, the yellow smoke suddenly stopped its advance. It was as if a barrier had contained it, but the yellow smoke continued to build up inside.

When Li Huowang thought that the Surveillance Bureau’s method was containing the threat, he suddenly heard a different sound. This time, it came from inside the yellow smoke. The sound of footsteps marching in unison filled the air as rows of stone soldiers emerged from within the smoke.

The soldiers held stone spears and wore stone armor. The yellow smoke and the stone soldiers reminded Li Huowang of something familiar.

Hm?! Isn’t that the Terracotta Army?!

A war chariot emerged from the smoke, and one of the stone soldiers standing on it raised its right arm. The stone soldiers charged forward in unison the moment the command was given.

You Zixiong was the first one to attack the stone army. He leaped up in the air and threw four modaos[1] towards the stone soldiers. The four modaos pierced the stone soldiers without any difficulties. You Zixiong then swung his chain around and a large swathe of the stone soldiers were cut in half.

But no matter how many he cut down, an endless tide of stone soldiers kept marching out from the yellow smoke.

The primary threat was the tiger-like stone statue. If it was not taken down, the stone army would never stop marching out!

Li Huowang stood up and shook his throbbing head. Peng Longteng appeared and threw him towards the statue.

Once Li Huowang got close, he swung his spine sword.

A crack to the Qi Kingdom flew towards the statue, but something unexpected happened just as Li Huowang thought the statue’s head would be cut in half.

A metallic fluid sprayed out from the crack!

What’s happening?! What’s happening to the Qi Kingdom?

Li Huowang had never seen this happen before. Something had happened to the Qi Kingdom again!

However, Li Huowang was too busy dealing with the current situation and couldn't afford to think about it.

The black metallic liquid sprayed onto the stone statue. Flowers sprouted at every spot the liquid touched.

But the flowers looked wrong. Rather than having a single color, their color shifted like a rainbow on an oil slick. And as the color was changing, the flowers were rotting. The sight of the rotting flowers and their shimmering colors nauseated everyone who witnessed it.

Now that the statue was covered in those flowers, it looked even more horrifying.

“Retreat!” Li Huowang shouted.

Peng Longteng reappeared and threw Li Huowang backwards.

But Li Huowang refused to give up. He swung his purple-tassel sword, sending a beam of sword energy towards the stone statue. The murderous sword Qi crashed into the stone statue without any incident.

The shimmering flowers were cut and the liquid flowed down their stems.

The statue suddenly moved. As it did, more flowers continued to grow on its surface.

Just then, Si Qi’s Chief Zheng Boqiao flew down from the sky.

He hovered midair and made a seal, then spat towards the statue. White smoke spilled forth from his mouth and covered the statue’s head.

The Imperial Preceptor was also rushing over with his sword. Li Huowang knew this was a good chance so he quickly rushed towards the statue too.

“The Supreme Pure Jade King rules over the Thirty-Six Heavens and Universe. He manifests from all ten directions with his hair unbound as he rides the Qilin! He threads on a layer of ice with his bare feet as he commands the winds and thunder with his Nine Heavens Whip!”

Purple lightning struck the statue again and again.

Despite this, the statue was still moving. It was as if the attacks barely did any damage to it.

As they distracted the statue, Li Huowang took advantage of the chaos and got near its body. But the statue could somehow sense Li Huowang. Every time he got close, the statue would always shift just enough to remain out of reach.

“Closer! I need to be closer!”

Li Huowang tiptoed as he tried to grab the balloon on the tree. When he saw his fingertips were close to the balloon’s string, he jumped up and grabbed it in his hands. Just as he held the balloon in his arms, the balloon suddenly popped.

Li Huowang scratched his head in embarrassment and looked at the students in front of him. “Erm… I’m sorry. I think I used too much strength. How much does the balloon cost? Let me pay you back.”

The students walked away in disappointment, and Li Huowang shook his head in shame. He picked up his portable game console to continue his game but saw that the game was over.

Back in Shangjing, everyone saw the statue’s head shattering to pieces and didn’t know what to say.

Li Huowang looked at the statue and asked tentatively, “Ji Zai?”

“Yes,” replied a familiar voice.

Li Huowang immediately got angry when he heard that.

“You still dare to show yourself here?! Where were you just now?!”

“I vanished.”

“Vanish?! What do you mean? The Dharma Sect invaded Shangjing and you disappeared? Do you know how many people died because of you disappearing? The Lu family is gone!” Li Huowang shouted angrily.

Ji Zai replied, “I didn’t want to harm them. It’s all because of you.”

“Bullshit!”

“Think carefully. What did you tell the Chief of the Surveillance Bureau?”

“I said—”

Li Huowang stopped. He knew why Ji Zai disappeared. The Natural Disaster that occurred just now happened due to the disappearance of the Heavenly Dao of Bewilderment.

Ji Zai vanished because Li Huowang said that Ji Zai was born from his imagination.

1. A modao is a unique weapon that looks like a combination between a large sword and a spear ☜

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