Mutated Tao

Li Huowang sat at the bottom of a dried-up well. He gazed up at the circle of white light above before looking down to find himself surrounded by talismans and red threads. A smile broke across his face. “I did it. I finally returned.”

However, his smile quickly faded. “Wait, I did what? What exactly did I do? Why was I so happy?”

Li Huowang’s attempt at recalling was met with a disconcerting emptiness in his mind. He recalled once being superimposed with... something. He tried and tried, but to no avail—he couldn’t remember anything.

All he could recall was Dan Yangzi catching him.

But that wasn’t the pressing matter. The lingering question that really gnawed at him was the reason for his happiness moments ago.

Fu Shengtian was at their doorstep, and the Murderous Aura Command had tainted almost everyone in the world. Just what reason did he have to feel joy?

Climbing out of the well with some effort, Li Huowang emerged to a strange sight. A group of people wearing oversized masks dancing with a Lion Dance. They made a large bamboo net with bamboo poles and danced on them, jumping and twirling in the air before landing on the bamboo net.

There were several burning bonfires beneath the bamboo net. The fires burned bright and smoke rolled upwards, making the people dance and twirl even faster.

Li Huowang recognized what was going on. This was the Nuo Opera of Hou Shu.

With a wave of his arm, Li Huowang sent the fire and the bamboo net flying upwards. The surroundings became much clearer.

As Li Huowang huffed, one of the performers walked forward. “The Liang Kingdom’s Emperor ordered us to rescue you. What you’ve done is very rude.”

“You? Rescue me?” Li Huowang couldn’t help but feel it was ridiculous. There was no way they could have saved him by performing.

“How could the Nuo Opera save me? Who are you trying to call to save me? Da Nuo? Da Nuo has gone crazy! It’s a Grand Siming! If it has the time to respond to you, why isn’t it destroying Fu Shengtian? Save me? It should save itself first!”

Li Huowang pushed the performer and jumped up to the highest point of the palace before shouting as loud as he could, “Where are you? Tell me what is going on!”

Li Huowang’s voice spread throughout Shangjing, and someone soon answered him. It was none other than the Liang Kingdom’s Emperor, Gao Zhijian.

Gao Zhijian was shocked to learn that Li Huowang had forgotten everything. “Senior Li, have you really forgotten everything? Weren’t you the one who talked with the Simings of the Baiyu Capital? You were the one who said that you joined up with them to fight against the Simings of Fu Shengtian.”

“Is that so?” Li Huowang stammered. puzzled. “Then why can’t I remember anything? How did I contact them? How did I ally myself with the Simings to fight against Fu Shengtian?”

“Li Huowang, are you okay?” A gentle voice jolted him from his thoughts.

Li Huowang turned to see Yang Na looking at him with deep concern. He looked at her face in a daze before recognizing her as his girlfriend.

He extended his arms and hugged her tightly.

“Li Huowang, what’s wrong? What happened?” Yang Na worriedly asked question after question.

Li Huowang remembered everything leading up to his encounter with Dan Yangzi. He felt troubled and lost, unsure of what was happening. “I don’t know. I just felt that I was connected to something.”

Yang Na gently touched the back of Li Huowang’s head before letting him go. “Are you alright now? Is the trouble with Fu Shengtian over? Can you go back to who you were previously?”

Li Huowang thought carefully before turning to look at Yi Donglai. Doctor Yi, am I cured?”

Yi Donglai pushed his glasses and closed his notebook. “This is your illness. You should know if it’s been resolved.”

Li Huowang shook his head and raised his hands. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening on the other side. However, if I don’t go back there soon, it would mean the issue with Fu Shengtian has been resolved.”

“Then we can just wait,” Yi Donglai said. “If it doesn’t work, we can start your treatment again. One day, your illness will be gone for good.”

However, Yi Donglai’s words only worsened Li Huowang’s anxiety. “Doctor Yi, this isn’t the first time this has happened! I need to return to who I was. Otherwise, I’ll lose if I switch back at a critical moment.”

If he was genuinely unable to switch back and get in touch with Gao Zhijian and the rest, it meant that he wouldn’t be able to summon the army of the Liang Kingdom to help him.

Yi Donglai looked at the door behind him before whispering, “I’m being monitored, so I can’t say much. But as your doctor, I have to give you some advice. To get better, you must have a clear goal in your heart.

“The treatment won’t help you if you don’t follow it, no matter how long it goes on or how skilled I am. You need to understand one thing—whatever happens on the other side is a hallucination. It’s not real. Accepting this is the first step to recovery.”

Li Huowang felt his heart go cold, but he refused to acknowledge it. “Doctor Yi, I didn’t have that kind of understanding in the past. How did you treat me last time?”

“That’s because I had the time to slowly get to know you and your symptoms. We don’t have that luxury right now.

“Li Huowang, trust me. You won’t end up well if you stay with them. They tricked you by reading my thesis and obtaining information about you. Everything on the other side is a hallucination.”

“Everything is fake?”

Li Huowang let out a bitter laugh as Yang Na looked on in confusion.

“Doctor Yi, I want to believe it’s all fake. But I can’t! That world is real! This isn’t just about me—it’s about the entire world!”

Yi Donglai sighed. “I can’t treat you if you refuse to cooperate.”

Li Huowang hesitated before deciding to gamble. “Do you trust me?”

“How do you want me to trust you? I only trust science. You’d need to somehow prove that the bizarre world is real using science.”

Li Huowang bit his lips before taking something out from within his clothes.

They were pills roughly the size of a small glutinous rice ball. Golden words spelling out “lifespan” swam inside them.

“What are those?”

“Lifespan pills. I grabbed them from the Surveillance Bureau’s vault.”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!