Mutated Tao

The raging river surged through the battlefield, sweeping away horses, chariots, and even the soldiers in their formations. The murderous aura dissipated soon after.

However, amidst the tumultuous waters, one being remained unwavering—a massive Bodhisattva. It was Chan Du and Xuan Pin, who had transformed into a Bodhisattva several meters tall with two faces. They also had a thousand arms behind their back.

They stood with their waist submerged in their water. One of their bloody arms scooped up Li Huowang from the water.

Li Huowang didn't realize what had happened. He touched the Shimmer Mirror to inspect what had transpired.

He soon let go of the mirror and frowned. “Those crazy bastards destroyed the river banks!”

Si Qi, a kingdom abundant with rivers, faced a difficult situation because the Dharma Sect had decided to flood the entire battlefield. That single flood instantly erased the momentum that the soldiers had obtained.

The Dharma Sect also didn’t care about how many people would die from the flooding water flowing downstream.

Just then, the flesh Bodhisattva suddenly stumbled. The two Abbots frowned. “Be careful. There are enemies in the water!”

Li Huowang scanned the water but saw nothing except for the muddy water.

The rain continued to fall and scattered his reflection in the water.

Swish! Suddenly, a black rope shot out from the water, wrapping itself around Li Huowang’s neck before dragging him into the water.

“What is this?” Li Huowang held onto the rope with his hands before opening his mouth. Li Sui’s tentacles shot out and chased after the enemy.

When Li Sui retracted her tentacles, Li Huowang saw a strange entity entangled within them. It resembled a monkey, but its eyes were wide, like those of a fish. Furthermore, it had gills behind its ears.

“A water monkey?”[1]

Li Huowang remembered seeing them once on a boat, but they were completely different. The water monkey in front of him looked even more gnarly and ferocious.

Li Huowang had just said that when the massive Bodhisattva lost its balance and fell into the river. “It’s not just those smallish evil entities in the water! Be careful! There’s something massive in the water!”

With those words, Chan Du fell into the water along with Li Huowang.

The icy cold water of the river submerged Li Huowang.

Numerous tentacles sprouted out from Li Huowang’s body, allowing him to navigate freely in the water.

Regardless of what was in the water, Li Huowang understood that he could not fight it in its natural habitat. He had no reason to do so either.

He started swimming upwards with the help of Li Sui’s tentacles.

He attempted to resurface, reaching out to push through the water. However, he soon realized he couldn’t break through. It was as if he was trapped in the muddy water.

No matter how hard he pushed or how high he was, he was stuck underwater!

“This is just the surface. I can get out! I can get out!” Li Huowang mumbled, using his powers to try to surface.

As his hands finally broke through the water’s surface, a surge of joy washed over him. But just then, numerous gazes fell onto him from beneath the water.

He looked down and saw four people standing in the muddy water. He didn’t recognize three of them, but he did recognize Ru Shou and his four umbrellas.

It was clear that they were here to hunt Li Huowang down. It doesn’t matter which side won today as long they caught Li Huowang. All in all, it would be the Dharma Sect's victory if they did.

Xuan Pin was dead. The Dharma Sect was naturally aiming for him next.

“I can get out! I can get out!” Li Huowang continued to push upwards.

He had just extended his arm out of the water when a flash of steel cut both of his arms off. His arms sank down into the muddy water with blood trailing out from the wound.

One of the figures, the one at the left, opened its mouth and ate both Li Huowang’s arms.

Li Huowang had no choice but to fight. He raised his wounded arms up as the water was diluting his blood.

Two tentacles sprouted out from the opening of Li Huowang’s arms. He snarled before charging towards the four figures. “Let me see how strong you guys are!”

The four figures split apart and charged towards Li Huowang from different directions.

As they got closer, bubbles floated up from the bottom, obscuring Li Huowang’s vision. All of a sudden, a stone mask tangled in weeds flew towards Li Huowang’s face.

Li Huowang stared at the stone mask intently. The person behind the stone mask slowly turned into stone and sank into the bottom of the water.

Both of Li Huowang’s legs were spread apart out of nowhere. It was as if something was holding each of his legs, pulling them further and further apart until the sound of cracking bones rang out. If the pulling continued, Li Huowang would be split in half!

Li Sui held the purple-tassel sword and came out from Li Huowang’s body to swing it at the thing holding Li Huowang’s legs, but Li Sui’s sword hit nothing.

“It’s not invisible! It’s the water! The water is alive!”

The next instant, Li Huowang’s legs were torn apart from his body.

Splat! An umbrella suddenly stabbed into Li Huowang’s chest. The umbrella had come from nowhere.

As the umbrella was on the verge of opening up to tear Li Huowang to pieces, he used Li Sui’s tentacles to wrap around the umbrella. He was trying to prevent the umbrella from opening.

But it was useless as the other witches of the Dharma Clan encircled him.

Li Huowang stared at the single eye inside the broken urn of the umbrella before he laughed out loud.

“Did you really think I came unprepared despite knowing that you all were targeting me? How about it? Am I really that good at acting? Hahaha! To think that you believed me! You thought you were ambushing me? In reality, I am the one ambushing you! Didn’t you realize that Chan Du is missing? I’m just bait to lure you all in!”

The witches of the Dharma Clan quickly looked around to prepare for the unseen attack.

Li Huowang laughed extremely hard upon seeing them. He laughed until he almost cried.

“Hahaha! I tricked you guys! I can’t believe you guys believed it! Hahaha!”

1. A cryptid in China. Sometimes called a Water Ghost. Lives in rivers or other bodies of freshwater. It feeds on fish and prawns, though it may drink human blood too. ☜