Mutated Tao

Chapter 569: The Young Emperor of Great Qi

Thirty years ago? How could that be? Li Huowang thought that he had misheard the old man. He couldn't believe it, but he had no choice but to believe, as the old man's description of the baby matched what he knew. It was too accurate to be called a mere coincidence.

Thirty years ago, a baby with a wound in its chest appeared. How could the baby appear thirty years ago rather than recently?

If that was true, then the baby was sent to the Liang Kingdom of thirty years ago rather than the present time Liang Kingdom.

But how? What’s going on here? How can a human being travel back in time? Wait. Li Huowang recalled the circumstances when he was fighting the young emperor. Zhuge Yuan’s friend, Xu Nian, was there, too, and she had a bizarre ability that allowed her to steal the lifespan of others. But what if rather than sucking away lifespan, she was actually changing the time of her targets?

Li Huowang recalled how his body had changed when he fought her and how the young emperor had regressed to a mere baby against her.

It’s the red illusions of the Xu Nian! Li Huowang immediately understood what was going on.

When he sent the young emperor of the Qi Kingdom through the spacetime rift connected to the Liang Kingdom, the rift was within the red line made out of the Xu Nian's illusions!

Li Huowang jumped down the tree and landed in front of the old man. He grabbed the old man by the collar and shook the latter as he asked, “Does the baby really have a wound in its chest? Are you sure about it? And was it really thirty years ago?!”

If Li Huowang's assumption was correct, then the young emperor of the Qi Kingdom was a middle-aged man today!

Seeing that Li Huowang was eager to listen to his story, the old man nodded in excitement and exclaimed, “Yes! I was there, and I can still remember it. Old Yan was hesitating after hearing us out. He was ready to put the baby back into the forest when his wife ran out like a lunatic and snatched the baby away, refusing to let go of it.

"It was understandable, as she couldn't give birth. They fed the baby some porridge and treated his wounds. Afterward, the baby miraculously survived its injuries! What do you think? It was a bad omen, right? It was still alive despite having such a large hole in its chest. The villagers thought that the baby was an evil entity, but it was great news that the baby had survived. At the very least, the two elderly couple finally have someone who'd take care of them once they were old, but what do you think happened next?”

“Stop beating around the bush and get to the point!” Li Huowang exclaimed. He was clearly not in the mood to hype up the old man, as time wasn't on his side.

Just then, a lady walked past with her baby in her arms. “The baby was mentally challenged. You're still telling that story? You've repeated that story so many times now.”

“Shh! Why are you talking when it's not your place to talk?” the old man said, chasing the woman away before continuing, "She's right; the baby was mentally challenged! His mouth and eyes were skewed, and his mind seemed extremely slow, too. He can't seem to memorize anything, and when he was three years old, he still couldn't walk straight. When he was six years old, he still couldn’t speak."

Li Huowang looked around and didn’t see anyone with such disability. “Where is that baby now?”

“Why are you in such a rush? I haven’t gotten to that point yet. When he grew up, he slowly became smarter and could finally recognize people. However, he suddenly kicked up a fuss and ran into the forest without coming back home. Those were some crazy days, I'm telling you...” The old man sighed and patted his thighs, his eyes revealing a hint of fear.

Something’s wrong. Li Huowang had been staring at the old man’s Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings. The old man had been telling the truth up until now. He’s lying! The emperor did not run into the forest on his own.

Li Huowang pondered briefly over it before leaning closer to the old man and whispering, “Thank you. While I cannot give you ten catties of gold, I can still give you one or two. Please follow me to where the money is.”

The old man was delighted. He had never seen someone obtaining money just from telling an old story.

“Gold is both valuable and heavy. I couldn't take it with me here, so please follow me to where I had stored it.”

Li Huowang led the old man out of the village. When they got to a quiet spot, Li Huowang immediately swung the spine sword and grabbed the old man before running into the rift.

The old man panicked upon seeing the Great Qi's dark skies.

Li Huowang didn’t even give the old man a chance to speak as he placed the purple-tasseled sword against the old man’s neck and exclaimed, "You lied to me! What are you hiding?!”

The sudden and terrifying changes to the environment shocked the old man so much to the point that he couldn't even understand what was going on, so the old man easily told Li Huowang the truth.

“It wasn’t us! A Daoist had taken him away! I didn’t dare tell the truth because I feared that the Daoist would come and find me!”

Li Huowang frowned. A Daoist? Just who had discovered his true identity as the Qi Kingdom’s emperor?

“What did that Daoist look like?”

“He was a man capable of flying. He's partially bald with leprosy on the scalp.”

Wait, partially bald and with leprosy on the scalp? Li Huowang’s pupils constricted as an unbelievable thought came up in his mind. He turned to the old man and said, “Is he dressed in ragged clothes? Were his lower teeth very pronounced?”

“Yes, yes, yes, that's right!” The old man nodded frantically.

Li Huowang understood everything just then. The Daoist in question was none other than the late Dan Yangzi.

Back in Zephyr Temple, he didn’t take in many mentally challenged children, as he would have needed more people to take care of them.

The only one that suited the old man's description was none other than Gao Zhijian!

Li Huowang had always thought Gao Zhijian was very weird, and the latter had survived multiple fatal blows. Li Huowang could still remember Gao Zhijian's stuttering, and there was also that time when he had almost claimed that he was an emperor but was stopped by his speech impediment. Li Huowang pieced together these puzzle pieces and reached the conclusion that Gao Zhijian was the Emperor of the Qi Kingdom.

Li Huowang was shocked. He had never thought that the young emperor of the Qi Kingdom had been traveling with him all this while. Of course, Li Huowang still had many burning questions, but he couldn’t spare enough time to investigate whether it was the truth or not. He needed to find Gao Zhijian as soon as possible, as the Qi Kingdom would perish if the Natural Disaster were allowed to rage on for much longer.

Li Huowang cleared his mind and brought the old man back to the Liang Kingdom before making haste to Cowheart Village.

“Son~ Come, eat this egg porridge. What a good boy~”

Li Huowang looked at Qiu Chibao’s illusion and recalled that he had forgotten something.

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