Mutated Tao

Chapter 15: Zheng Kun

“My home is located in the Lower Liang city; enter the city through the east gate, and go to the 22nd house on Prosperity Street. I’ve hidden two pieces of gold within the third pickle jar under my bed, between the layers of pickles. Spend wisely. It should be enough to ensure that our child grows into a proper adult. Please pass my message to my wife.”

A middle-aged man, his face riddled with pimples, held back his fear as he told Li Huowang his final words.

The man was the guiding drug ingredient needed in the Pill Room today. Li Huowang could do nothing but listen to his final words and remember them.

Staring at the back of the trembling man walking into the Pill Room, Li Huowang turned around and left. He was feeling agitated.

This was the eighth person that he had taken to the Pill Room. As time went on, there were fewer and fewer people within the Preparation Room. But what made him feel awful was the fact that he had started to grow accustomed to it.

But he didn’t want to grow familiar with this feeling! He refused to become Dan Yangzi’s accomplice.

He needed to find a way out of this, and away from this terrible place. But it wasn’t easy. With only himself and the malformed people from the Preparation Room, it was impossible to fight against the seemingly invincible Dan Yangzi.

There were two key pieces of information he had ascertained. One was that on the first and the fifteenth day of each lunar month, without the Wandering Gods, Dan Yangzi could not spy on them. The other was that Dan Yangzi could not read, meaning that there was someone else in Zephyr Temple translating the sacred texts for him.

Should I slip into Dan Yangzi’s place and see if I can kill that person? Then I would become the only literate disciple here. He would have to use me to translate the sacred text! Then it should be very easy for me to kill Dan Yangzi.

This idea had just come into his mind when he dismissed it.

Firstly, while he knew where Dan Yangzi lived, he didn’t know if there were any traps laid out there. Secondly, he didn’t know just how strong the person reading the sacred text for Dan Yangzi was. If he just entered blindly, he might end up dying instantly.

Should I poison his ingredients? No, he was the one who taught me how to refine pills. He would easily identify the poisoned ingredients and kill me.

Li Huowang kept thinking as he walked back, trying to find a way to kill Dan Yangzi.

Just then, a moody man wearing Taoist robes and Huyuan hat came in from the opposite direction. Li Huowang recognized him as the direct disciple Zheng Kun.

Li Huowang knew next to nothing about him. He barely even saw him with the exception of meal times. Even then he had only seen him a few times.

Compared to the official disciples like Li Huowang, Zheng Kun didn’t have to bother with the daily maintenance of Zephyr Temple. As to what he was normally doing, Li Huowang had no idea.

Both of them were about to pass by each other when Zheng Kun leaned slightly toward Li Huowang, causing their shoulders to hit each other. Li Huowang felt like he had hit a piece of metal.

At that moment, Zheng Kun suddenly stood firm. He turned around with a malicious grin. “Xuan Yang, thanks to you, our Master is in a much happier mood.”

Li Huowang stared at him for just a second before he ignored him and was just about to leave when a strong force pulled him backward.

Li Huowang stumbled a bit, almost falling backward. However, he managed to stand his ground

“What’s wrong, Junior Xuan Yang? Are my words nothing to you?” Zheng Kun folded his arms and walked toward Li Huowang.

“Senior brother Zheng Kun, I still need to go and tidy up the Preparation Room under Master’s orders.” Li Huowang replied calmly.

“Don’t try to throw Master’s name around. I was the one who escaped with Master back in the days when we were being chased by others who wanted to kill us. You weren’t even there! Let me tell you, Xuan Yang: Just do your job and don’t try to stand out. Stop trying to overstep your boundaries.” Zheng Kun’s tone was serious.

Li Huowang was not angered by his words. He just stared at Zheng Kun with a stunned expression and thought about something. He remembered Xuan Yuan telling him that Zheng Kun was temperamental, but to think that he was this hot-headed.

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you try saying something? Huh? Speak up!”

Li Huowang seemed to have realized something as his previously stunned face became animated with a hint of exaggeration. His tone was mocking Zheng Kun.

“It was Master’s own decision to pay more attention to me. Even if Master were to tell me the method to become an Immortal, there would be nothing you can do about it!”

Now it was Zheng Kun’s turn to be stunned. He had never thought that Li Huowang would say something like that.

When he came to his senses, Zheng Kun formed a seal with his fingers and thrusted it into Li Huowang’s left chest while tearing through his Taoist robes!

“You?! You think you deserve it? If Master did not tell me the method to become an Immortal, then he would never tell you either! Who do you think you are, you garbage of a drug ingredient!”

The intense pain almost caused Li Huowang to faint, but he had managed to guess correctly. He smiled even though he was in pain.

“Haha, looks like Master has not even told you. Maybe you are untalented! Senior brother Zheng Kun, the path to Immortality heavily relies on your own talent. Since you are untalented, it’s natural that Master would not waste his time on you!”

Li Huowang’s words had touched upon Zheng Kun’s reverse scale. He thrusted his fingers three more times into Li Huowang’s body. “You damned garbage of a drug ingredient! You seek death!”

Under the intense pain, Li Huowang’s laughter grew louder. “HAHAHA! Come and kill me! Let’s see Master’s face when he knows that one of his disciples is killing another one of his disciples!”

Seeing Li Huowang’s grin and maniacal laughter, Zheng Kun kicked Li Huowang to the ground. “Damned hysteric!”

Li Huowang laid on the ground motionlessly for at least half a day. After some time, a pair of large hands gently picked him up.

“Sigh… Junior brother Xuan Yang, why didn’t you listen to me? Didn’t I tell you to show respect to Zheng Kun? Why did you have to taunt him?”

It was Xuan Yuan, the kind disciple. Because of his peaceful temperament, he was the only person Li Huowang would talk to regularly.

Li Huowang pressed against his injury and endured the pain as he said. “Why? Would he have killed me? Master’s Wandering Gods are still around. If any more disciples were to die here, Zephyr Temple might not be able to maintain itself.”

“Wandering Gods?” Xuan Yuan was perplexed.

He doesn’t know?

Li Huowang suddenly came to a realization.

Wait, don’t tell me no one else knew how Master had complete control of all information within the Zephyr Temple?

Thinking about how the other two direct disciples had died, it seemed that not everyone knew about this.

“Nothing, I’m just saying that he wouldn’t dare to kill me.”

“You can’t say that. He’s a direct disciple, and you are only an official disciple. He might not be able to kill you, but he could make your life harder.”

“Haha! So what? I’ve been used to such a hard life ever since I was born.”

As he spoke to Xuan Yuan, Li Huowang chuckled at what he had discovered through Zheng Kun—that even the direct disciples didn’t have the qualifications to learn the method of becoming an Immortal.

Dan Yangzi didn’t even trust Zheng Kun.

But most importantly, when he told Zheng Kun that Master would rather teach the method of becoming an Immortal to him rather than Zheng Kun, he saw a strong sense of dissatisfaction from Zheng Kun’s eyes.

It seemed that Dan Yangzi’s disciples were not as loyal as he had thought.

He had a feeling that he might be able to exploit this…

Chacha and Char’s Thoughts

MC: Professional instigator