Mutated Tao

Ji Zai roared, unsheathing his spine sword and swinging it furiously.

A gust blew past the area. Li Huowang’s cultivation as a Strayed One affected the Three Ancient One’s secrets. The chains of secrets started to distort.

Ji Zai seized three chains of secrets and severed them with a decisive strike. The fractured secrets split apart, disappearing into the Baiyu Capital.

As Ji Zai prepared to attack again, strands of secrets phased through his body, shaving away fragments of his Bewilderment.

Even so, Ji Zai did not relent. He continued severing chain after chain.

The scattered chains of secrets around them became denser. The edges of Ji Zai’s body began turning into secrets, rendering him increasingly translucent.

“Not enough! This isn’t enough. I’m too slow!”

Ji Zai grabbed a mirror and shouted at his reflection, “Help! I need as many allies as possible! Victory or defeat depends on this!”

A blood-red light erupted beneath him, drawing his attention. He looked down to see three Jiang Xiangshous fighting each other while five Dragon Veins towed them closer to him.

Ji Zai reached out to grab them, but the Three Ancient Ones cast a large net woven from secrets, seeking to trap the Jiang Xiangshous.

At the last moment, the Heavenly Mater intervened. As her sleeves brushed past, the living beings stained by the karma within the chains of secrets died rapidly.

The chains of secrets were now riddled with dead beings. Ji Zai capitalized on the opening, tearing through the weakened net and seizing the three Jiang Xiangshous. He devoured them in one swift motion.

His eyes turned blood-red, his teeth sharpened into fangs, and the spine sword in his grip turned even sharper. The essence of the Jiang Xiangshous coursed through him, altering his very nature.

Ji Zai roared and swung the spine sword covered in a solidified murderous aura.

The attack was so powerful that it nearly shattered the chaos in the Baiyu Capital. Not even the Three Ancient Ones would be able to survive it.

Sensing impending destruction, the Three Ancient Ones disassembled himself at the last moment. The chains of secrets comprising his body scattered like writhing gray snakes, narrowly evading Ji Zai’s devastating strike.

The Heavenly Mater seized the opportunity and spread a large wave of Death, enveloping most of the Three Ancient One’s secrets.

Ji Zai and the Heavenly Mater almost killed the Three Ancient Ones when an unexpected ally stopped them. It was the Five Dhyani Buddhas.

At the critical moment, she chose to help the Three Ancient Ones.

Under her aid, the Three Ancient Ones began to heal. Only then did Ji Zai notice chains embedded in the back of the Five Dhyani Buddhas.

The Three Ancient Ones used the Five Dhyani Buddhas as a shield.

“Stop hiding!” Li Huowang roared while the Three Ancient Ones changed again.

The Five Dhyani Buddhas liquefied, and her flesh covered the chains of the Three Ancient Ones. Soon, the Three Ancient Ones and the Five Dhyani Buddhas disappeared from the Baiyu Capital, replaced by a massive clump of flesh and chains.

The strands of flesh-covered chains interlocked with each other, pumping like a heart as sticky blood dripped down continuously.

“Damn! The Three Ancient Ones plundered the Heavenly Dao of the Five Dhyani Buddhas!”

At that moment, Li Huowang remembered that he once erected Zhuge Yuan statues, claiming he was the Buddha. That might have been how the Three Ancient Ones took over the Five Dhyani Buddha’s Heavenly Dao.

At this point, the wounds he had inflicted on the Three Ancient Ones had healed.

The other Simings in Baiyu Capital arrived, floating around the place.

When they saw the Three Ancient Ones’s appearance, they realized that Ji Zai had been telling the truth. Now, they chose to work with Ji Zai without hesitation.

“Attack from a distance! Don’t let Qing Wanglai get close—he uses poison!” Ji Zai shouted, although he wasn’t sure if the warning would be enough.

The Three Ancient Ones didn’t run. Now covered in flesh, he rammed against Ji Zai and the others.

Ji Zai attempted to flee, but several scattered chains of secrets emerged from within his body. They were even denser than the ones on the Five Dhyani Buddhas.

The Three Ancient Ones chose not to fight against the other Siming and instead targeted Ji Zai. He wanted to devour Ji Zai’s Heavenly Dao first.

He realized too late that the Three Ancient Ones had laid a trap inside him. The chains within Ji Zai’s body rearranged themselves, forming the character “Wang.”

The chains were pulling Ji Zai closer to the Three Ancient Ones. If this continued, Ji Zai would end up like the Five Dhyani Buddhas.

The Heavenly Mater tried to envelop the chains on Ji Zai with Death, but she stopped at the last moment.

She sensed that most of the karmic living beings within the chains belonged to Li Huowang and Zhuge Yuan. If she enveloped the chains with Death, she would be killing Li Huowang’s real body as well.

The other Simings were attacking simultaneously, but their attacks proved ineffective. There appeared to be something blocking off the other Heavenly Daos.

Bam! Another bullet pierced through Qing Wanglai, yet it changed nothing. Qing Wanglai used the chance to propel himself closer to Li Huowang.

Ji Zai’s anger rose as the Three Ancient Ones closed in on him. He ignored the chains on his body and tightly gripped his spine sword.

“Come here, Three Ancient Ones!” Li Huowang roared, charging toward the Three Ancient Ones without fear.

The two of them were on the verge of colliding when their bodies suddenly fragmented into pieces of varying sizes. They swiftly passed each other before reforming behind each other’s backs.

Ji Zai turned around, opening his fanged jaws as he prepared to devour the Three Ancient Ones. He swore to swallow the Three Ancient Ones today.

The Three Ancient Ones used the flesh-covered chains to stop Ji Zai from biting down. As more and more chains appeared on Ji Zai’s body, his body slowly liquefied, just like how the Five Dhyani Buddhas did.

“You want to swallow my Heavenly Dao? Dream on!”

Li Huowang raised his arm towards the chaos of the Baiyu Capital. “Eye!”