Mutated Tao - Chapter 48

The wooden door slowly opened a crack, and Li Huowang peered cautiously through the opening. Soft afternoon sunlight shone through swaying leaves and cast shadows on the ground. Outside was very quiet, except for a distant monk sweeping the ground, there were no others.

However, in the eyes of Li Huowang who had already fully understood the situation, this peaceful scene was completely different.

“Hmph! It’s all fake. They can’t fool me! They’re just trying to keep me here and make me participate in their so-called Buddhist mass!”

Just then, a thought flashed through Li Huowang’s mind.

“Wait a minute, why are they doing this? I’m just an ordinary person. If they want something, why don’t they do more directly?”

This question was destined to remain unanswered, but Li Huowang didn’t need the answer right now. He just wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible.

Just as Li Huowang was guessing whether the monk sweeping the ground had come to monitor him, the monk saw that there were no fallen leaves on the ground and picked up his broom before leaving.

“The monks of the Zhengde Temple don’t seem to have noticed anything unusual. This is the only advantage I can use right now,” Li Huowang planned in his mind.

There was no one outside anymore, but Li Huowang didn’t leave. Instead, he waited quietly for something.

As time passed, Li Huowang’s palms started to sweat.

“Dang~ Dang~ Dang~”

The dull sound of the bell instantly spread throughout the entire Zhengde Temple, making Li Huowang tremble all over.

After staying here for so long, Li Huowang already knew that this bell represented the Chicken Hour, which was also the announcement for the monks of Zhengde Temple to have their meal.

Li Huowang walked out of the room with a calm expression and went to the dining hall with the monks on the way.

It was completely reasonable for him to be here now as he had been going to eat with them like this for the past few days.

Compared to where he was staying, the dining hall was obviously closer to the main hall where more people were. Since the Zhengde Temple used mirages to deceive people, they certainly didn’t want ordinary people to see their terrifying and dark side.

On the way, Li Huowang noticed that many monks were secretly watching him and whispering about what happened in the afternoon.

Their eyes were filled with mockery, hostility, and curiosity. But Li Huowang understood that it was all fake, and these monks were just pretending.

“They are all in cahoots with Xin Hui. There is not a single good person in the Zhengde Temple, and they all want to harm me!!” Li Huowang confirmed firmly.

After walking for about five minutes, Li Huowang saw the dining hall full of bald heads. Instead of running away immediately, he followed the crowd and walked in.

Li Huowang calmly sat on the stool and started eating after scooping his food into the wooden bowl. Today’s dishes were taro soup, spicy stir-fried oil tofu, Chinese spinach, and potato stewed with loofah. Although there was no meat, the taste was still decent.

However, after experiencing what happened in the afternoon, Li Huowang had lost his appetite completely. In order to deceive them, he dared not show any unusual behavior and continued eating heartily.

Suddenly, a hand slapped Li Huowang’s shoulder, causing him to shudder. “Little Taoist, you’re here too? Hey! Why were you running so fast at afternoon?”

Hearing this familiar voice, Li Huowang turned his head with his mouth still full and saw the smiling face with a missing front tooth. It was Monk. If he hadn’t dragged Li Huowang to see statues today, he wouldn’t be in this situation now.

The old monk carried his own bowl of rice and squeezed next to Li Huowang, sitting down. “Let’s eat together?”

“Whatever.”

“Hey, Taoist, what about the others from before? Tell them not to stay at the inn and come eat with us. It’s free here!” The clueless old monk was still his usual carefree self.

But this time, Li Huowang was eager to escape, couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. He finished dinner at the usual pace and burped before walking out of the dining hall.

Back on the stone path outside, the old monk followed him again.

“Don’t go, let’s chat for a while. It’s too stuffy in the temple.”

Li Huowang’s face showed a trace of annoyance as he looked at Monk, “Stop following me and go back to sleep.”

“What sleep? It’s still early. Let me tell you something…” The old monk hadn’t finished speaking when he saw Li Huowang’s face turn very ugly.

Immediately, Li Huowang spoke in a very low voice to the old monk, “Quickly go! The faster, the better! This temple is dangerous!”

The next second, Li Huowang pushed off the ground with all his strength and ran towards the main hall. His sudden sprint immediately caught the attention of other monks, but Li Huowang continued to accelerate.

Li Huowang’s heart was beating rapidly, and his mind was highly tense, constantly watching for where Xin Hui might appear.

Twenty meters! Ten meters! Three meters!

When Li Huowang burst out from the side door, there was a loud explosion around him and the sound of footsteps, talking, and knocking on wooden fish entered his ears in an instant.

At this moment, he had already returned to the main hall, and the ordinary people who came to worship Buddha bumped into him, causing him to shake uncontrollably.

Breathless, Li Huowang suddenly thought of something and turned his head to look at the side door he had exited from earlier. It was empty, with no pursuers in sight.

The monks in the main hall also did not seem to have noticed him running out.

To Li Huowang, everything seemed so normal that it felt abnormal.

“Could it be…? Were those really just my hallucinations? Did I imagine all those disgusting things?” Li Huowang thought to himself, but he quickly dismissed this thought. He shook his head vigorously and ran out of the temple as fast as he could. He couldn’t take any chances, even if there was a slim possibility.

Leaving the temple was just as easy as entering it. Li Huowang running at his fastest speed, arrived at the inn in no time.

The medicinal herbs haven’t seen Li Huowang for many days, and they all rushed up to greet him. “Senior brother, why are you back? Did you finish what you had to do in the temple?”

“No time, pack your bags, let’s go! We need to leave this place as soon as possible!”

“Okay, I’ll inform Troupe Master Lv.”

“Forget about them! We’re leaving now! Quickly!!”

“Senior Brother Li, where are we going?” Bai Lingmiao asked with a puzzled face.

“We’re leaving this state!”