Mutated Tao

Lu Xiucai clenched his Profound Records with his single remaining arm. The trundling carriage could not stop him from feeling conflicted. He still couldn’t believe the White Lotus Sect would become like the Dharma Sect.

After all, the White Lotus Sect had sacrificed its people to defeat the Dharma Sect.

How could the White Lotus Sect become their enemies in just a few months?

Lu Xiucai didn’t think that the sack, Liu Zongyuan, would trick them. After all, he was looking for Li Huowang. Even if Liu Zongyuan dared to lie to the village, he would never dare to lie to Li Huowang.

“Ah, well. Xiucai, do you really want to go? You only have a single arm left. You will be completely crippled if you lose the other one,” Puppy said, driving the carriage while trying to dissuade Lu Xiucai.

"I still need to check it out, even at the risk of losing my other arm. If there are impostors or even traitors, I need to report it to Mistress. If I report it, they will send someone to come and clear them up."

“You are already heavily crippled, and yet you still want to take care of things like these? Do you want to abandon your father and niece? Your father might be fine since we don’t have a village idiot yet, so he could take that role. I’m sure he can survive if we feed him in turns, but what about your niece? She’s only five years old. Her parents are dead and her grandfather is crazy. You are her only family left. Why don’t we head back instead?”

"You're already crippled, and yet you still insist on taking care of things like these? Are you trying to abandon your father and niece? Your father may be okay—we don't have a village idiot yet, so he could take that spot. I’m sure he could survive if we feed him in turns.”

He continued, “But what about your niece? She's just five years old, with both her parents dead and her grandfather insane. You're the only family she has left. Why don’t we head back instead?"

Lu Xiucai shouted in anger, “Do you want me to die that badly? I’m just here to check out what’s happening! I’m different now, and even if I only have a single arm left, I’m still stronger than you!”

Puppy remained silent and focused on driving the carriage. A long time passed before he said, “You really are his disciple. Even your temper is the same.”

Lu Xiucai did not retort. He looked up at the stars. “I used to think that my Master was intentionally hiding things from me just because he didn’t want to teach me, but now I see that he just didn’t want me to follow in his footsteps. It’s a thorny path. It’s very tiring, and it's riddled with pain.”

“Hehe, and you just realized it? I already knew about it a long time ago.”

Puppy chuckled out of excitement. “I don’t like pain, and even if I can’t read, I’m still smarter than you for noticing it earlier.”

“But the world always needed an idiot.”

Puppy didn’t quite understand. “We have no idea what Senior Li is doing right now. He’s not at home all the time. To think that you are the one who has to step up when he’s not here.”

Puppy didn’t quite understand. "We have no idea what Senior Li is up to these days. He’s hardly ever home. It’s hard to believe that you're the one who has to take charge when he's away."

“I don’t know, but Master is probably busy with something grand. As his disciple, I can handle this minor problem. That way, he won't have to deal with trivial matters and won’t get frustrated.”

“Hmph! You are strong and capable. If I were you I would’ve just sent a letter to Shangjing.”

“If you had done that, the culprit would’ve escaped by the time the letter arrived there,” Lu Xiucai said before urging Puppy to stop. “Stop here!”

Puppy pulled on the reins and the carriage came to a gentle stop. “What’s wrong? We are still two Li away.”

“If they’re actually evil they would’ve set up some guards along the way. You can go back now. I don’t want to get you involved.”

“Huh. Guess you do learn a thing or two after exploring the world.”

Lu Xiucai ignored him. With his only remaining arm, he climbed onto a horse and released the straps connecting it to the carriage. He shook the reins and rode onward.

Puppy looked at Lu XIucai’s back and shouted, “Come back quickly if you survive! If you die, I will get to use the burial clothes when we collect your corpse!”

Lu Xiucai couldn’t balance himself well on horseback because he only had a single arm. He rode slowly as he approached the temple that Liu Zongyuan had told him about.

Lu Xiucai realized that the structure he saw was not a temple, but a mountain shaped like a temple.

He looked around the dark forest and saw no guards. There were no ambushes either.

Lu Xiucai tore off his clothes, revealing his dudou and the white donkey tattoo on his back.

He didn’t care if there were guards or if they saw that Lu Xiucai was one of them. He just spurred the horse forward toward the temple-shaped mountain.

The mountain road was steep and the air was tinged with the undeniable stench of blood. Lu Xiucai recognized it almost instantly.

When he was halfway up the mountain, he saw a White Lotus Sect banner on the side of the road, and his heartbeat quickened. The writing was messy but undeniably stated that the White Lotus Sect was recruiting. Strikingly, the words were written in blood.

With the end of the Red Sun's calamity, the rise of the White Sun is imminent. The silt originates from primordial chaos, and the appearance of the White lotus heralds the beginning of a prosperous age!

Lu Xiucai then pursed his lips and spurred the horse to continue forward. After a while, the horse suddenly stopped moving. Lu Xiucai looked down in confusion to find that the ground was completely black.

He picked up the black stuff on the ground with his bronze coin sword and realized that it was human hair! The entire mountain path was covered in it!

There’s so much hair! Just how many people died to leave behind so much hair? Lu Xiucai trembled, recalling the human pillars buried beneath Cowheart Village.

He almost reached the top of the mountain when the horse stopped moving. The horse refused to move further as if there was something dangerous in front. It neighed and tried to head back.

Lu Xiucai decided to travel on foot. He jumped down with his bronze coin sword in hand, and his wooden peg legs stabbed deeper into his thigh. Nevertheless, he was already used to the pain.

He suddenly noticed another sack on the back of the horse. He opened it and saw Puppy’s blowpipe along with several darts that had white tassels. Yang Xiaohai’s scepter was also inside the sack.

Lu Xiucai smiled but did not take anything. Instead, he tied the sack on the back of the horse before slapping its rump. The horse galloped down the mountain back to Cowheart Village while Lu Xiucai ascended the mountain.

At the top of the mountain was a cave. Lu Xiucai thought it looked like the Zephyr Temple, the place Puppy kept talking about.

There was wind blowing out from the cave, and it was reeking with the stench of blood. Lu Xiucai was in the right place.

Lu Xiucai entered the cave and noticed a single statue in the middle of the cave. The statue depicted a golden Buddha sitting on top of a lotus.

Lu Xiucai took a closer look and realized that it wasn’t a Buddha—it was a coiled-up yellow centipede!

Furthermore, the hundreds of legs of the centipede were clasped together as if it were praying!

“A centipede?” Lu Xiucai exclaimed in surprise before chuckling. “I knew it! It wasn’t the White Lotus Sect! How dare these evil entities masquerade as the White Lotus Sect!”

Just then, he heard numerous cracking sounds. The centipede in front of him was slowly lowering its legs.

More importantly, the sound came from everywhere around Lu Xiucai.