Mutated Tao

Li Huowang's eyes widened in shock as he read Shen Benyou’s explanation. He gazed at the wall of faces in front of him and the white tassels in between them.

He never thought the Lion Dance Palace was an entire entity and not the name of a sect!

“Wait, does that mean the Lion Dance Palace is cultivating the Dao of Fusion?” Li Huowang stared at the numerous legs underneath the white cloth of the Lion Dances before realizing what it meant for them to cultivate the Dao of Fusion.

According to Shen Benyou's description, the Lion Dance Palace was most likely a fusion of both their bodies and minds. They had a hive mind, and the entire hive mind was the Lion Dance Palace.

The techniques of a regular sect either amplify or destroy other sects’ techniques, but the Lion Dance Palace is different. They can complement anything with no risk of backlash. They can merge other people into their bodies and vice versa, regardless of their sect. The righteous become even more righteous, and the evil become even more evil.

Li Huowang now understood why Zhang Tan had two lion dances on the side while he performed the Nuo Opera.

Suddenly, a man’s flattened face on the left stared at Li Huowang with lantern-like eyes. The red and white light was unnerving.

The left lantern of the lion dance slowly shifted upwards, revealing a circular dark hole in its place. Several dried monkey-like black arms extended from the hole and placed themselves in such a way that made them resemble the eyelashes of the lion dance.

Several eyes, both big and small, filled up the empty eye socket and stared at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang thought that something as horrific as them were most likely worshiping something even more horrific. He had no idea what the entity that the Lion Dance worshiped would look like.

“I’ve touched you once.” Several voices overlapped with each other as they spoke.

Li Huowang recalled the night when he became something inhuman on Qing Qiu’s plains.

“Yes. All thanks to you. Thank you for letting me go that night.” Li Huowang waved his arm to brush it off.

“I’ve touched you once. Your body was stuck with cause and effect. That was why I let you go. It seems that it was fated to be.”

The wall of faces started to shake. Three Lion Dances and a single Dragon Dance appeared out from the wall.

As they crawled out, they took something black and sticky with them. The black goo had tentacles.

When the goo got out, it quickly moved into the darkness, but Li Huowang’s keen vision saw what it actually was. It was none other than the Black Taisuis.

Li Huowang now knew why the Black Taisui appeared in Qing Qiu. It was because they were related to the Lion Dance Palace!

Shen Benyou turned to Li Huowang. Daoist Li, since everyone is here, we can depart now.

“No wait, I need to go back first. Before I went to the crematorium, I left my daughter behind in the city.”

Li Huowang swiftly returned to the city.

Li Sui was currently walking happily on the main streets. Even though she was happy that she could help her father, she still preferred to walk on the streets when there was a celebration. She loved seeing things that she hadn't seen before.

But as she walked, she slowly lowered the candied fruits in her hands. Many people were crying, and very few were smiling. Even those who weren’t crying had a solemn look on their faces.

Are they sad? Is it because a lot of people died? The somber atmosphere also dampened Li Sui’s mood.

I don’t want them to be sad. I want to do something. Li Sui recalled something and approached a blacksmith.

When she returned outside, she was holding a bucket of molten metal. “Time to strike the tree flowers! Strike tree flowers! Everyone, come and look!”

After attracting a crowd, Li Sui used a wooden ladle to scoop out some molten metal before throwing it at the city wall.

The molten metal splashed everywhere. Even though it was daytime, the sparks from the molten metal still dazzled the crowds.

Li Sui started working harder after seeing that the crowd were reacting to her performance. She wasn’t that good at doing so and a lot of molten metal fell onto her body, but she didn’t mind it.

She soon finished her bucket, and everyone’s expression slowly turned back to normal. They scattered after her performance, their worry and sadness returning after Li Sui's temporary distraction ended.

Li Sui seeing them leaving the place made Li Sui feel sad as well. “Did it not work?”

“Of course not. Striking tree flowers is not enough to make them happy.”

Li Sui turned around and saw a handsome man in front of her. He had an identification plate on his waist, and she remembered that her father also had one.

“My father is not happy. Everyone is not happy.” Li Sui squatted down near her pail.

The man squatted down and gently peeled off the cool metal on her back. “I have a method to make your father and everyone else happy, but it would take quite some time.”

“What plan? Who are you?”

Li Sui turned to look at the man and saw that he was smiling lightly as he patted her head, “Remember your choice right now. You are simple, but your potential is huge. Do not hesitate when you have the chance to do something that only you can do. But I’m certain that you won’t hesitate as well.”

Li Sui grumbled because she didn’t want anyone touching her head except for her father.

But she was shocked when she tried to use her tentacles to remove the man’s hand. Her tentacles phased through the hand. The man didn’t have a body!

“Suisui!” Someone shouted, and with that, the man in front of Li Sui disappeared like bubbles.

“Father, someone was here just now. Did you see! It’s a guy!” Li Sui ran towards Li Huowang in a panic as she explained what happened just now.

“Someone was beside you just now?” Li Huowang frowned. He never saw anyone just now.

“Did you… become a Strayed One too?” Li Huowang answered her with hesitation.

Li Sui had eaten his flesh for a long time and had indeed obtained part of his cultivation to control the “Truth”. She might be turning into what he once was.

But then he thought that might not be the case. His illusions were created from times when he experienced strong emotional trauma. Li Sui hadn’t gone through such experiences, so how would she create illusions?

Li Huowang stared at Shen Benyou’s palanquin before dragging Li Sui towards it. “Let’s ignore the illusion for now. Once everything is over, I will help you figure out a way to deal with it. We have something more important to do. Let’s go!”

“Father, where are we going?”

“To the sea.”