Chapter 116: Aojing Sect

Chapter 116: The Xianjing Sect

"What do you want to be called?" Li Huowang looked at the mongrel dog wagging its tail before him.

After a few days of raising it, the creature remained terribly emaciated, but at least the dense, blood-sucking ticks that had infested its ears had all been removed.

Both of its ears were chewed to shreds, looking a bloody mess, and even after consuming Li Huowang's healing pills, it would take some time to recover.

"Whimper~" The mongrel, sitting on the ground, tilted its head and looked at Li Huowang in confusion.

After casting a vigilant glance around, it lowered its head and affectionately nudged its emaciated skull against Li Huowang's hand, clearly hoping for a pat.

Li Huowang gently patted its head, a faint smile appearing in his eyes.

A few nights ago, he had suspected something was wrong with this dog, but after the baptism of his hallucinations, Li Huowang realized he had been mistaken.

If it truly harbored treacherous intentions, it would have struck long ago while he was lost in his delusions.

For now, it was just a dog, a remarkably ordinary dog, even though he still had no idea where it had come from.

Li Huowang pulled a steamed bun from his bundle and tossed it over, watching the dog excitedly pounce and tear into it.

"Since you like eating steamed buns so much, from now on you shall be called Mantou," Li Huowang decided the dog's name with extreme casualness.

"Woof, woof!" Mantou leaped up excitedly, seemingly responding to Li Huowang's words.

With his right hand, where the faint roots of nails had just begun to grow, he gently stroked the fur on the back of its neck.

"Since you are as homeless as I am, you might as well follow me. Having a dog around makes things more convenient; you can keep watch at night and keep me company with some chatter during the day."

"When I have an episode, you might not be of much help, but it's better than having nothing at all."

"Of course, my main reason is to test whether I'll harm others while lost in my hallucinations, and you will be the first test subject."

As Li Huowang finished speaking, Mantou had already finished eating; it kept licking its chops, gazing at Li Huowang with eager anticipation.

"I doubt you understand a word I'm saying anyway. Let's go, we're almost there." Li Huowang patted Mantou's head once more, stood up, and gazed at the distant mountains, his destination.

The brief moment of relaxation from interacting with the dog vanished instantly. Recalling the information the nuns had shared about the Xianjing Sect, Li Huowang's expression gradually darkened.

The Abbess had said they might have a way to deal with Danyangzi, but they were equally dangerous, as could be plainly seen from the "Record of the Myriad Realms."

This profoundly passive feeling was terrible, yet Li Huowang had no other choice; he either had to try trusting them or simply wait for death.

"Let's go." The Taoist priest clad in red robes, accompanied by a yellow dog, walked toward the distant mountains.

As the saying goes, a mountain that looks close can run a horse to death, and Li Huowang truly experienced this firsthand this time.

After walking with the dog for two full days, they finally reached the foot of the mountain.

The final obstacle blocking his path was a town, a town that had long been dead.

Collapsed houses, bisected corpses, and everything covered in dusty cobwebs. The myriad signs indicated that this town had once endured a fatal calamity.

Looking at a half-torn corpse by the road blocking a small skeleton, a strong disgust surfaced on Li Huowang's face.

Anyone capable of massacring an entire town had reached the absolute extreme of inhumanity, their disposition likely even more vicious than Danyangzi's.

Slowly passing through the town, a thought sprang to Li Huowang's mind, "Could all this have been the doing of the Xianjing Sect?"

In his heart, Li Huowang's perception of this sect he had yet to meet began to shift.

After walking for most of the day, he found no living souls in the desolate town; the only living creatures on the ground were the rats in the corners, gnawing on who knows what.

Seeing Li Huowang approaching with his dog, these dusty, large rats scurried away in a panic.

The people were dead, and there was nothing Li Huowang could do; with his own life barely secure, he quickened his pace to swiftly traverse this dead town.

Emerging from the oppressively depressing town, a winding dirt mountain path appeared before Li Huowang.

The mountain trail twisted and coiled up the slope like a long serpent; it was the only path into the mountains nearby. The Xianjing Sect should be somewhere within.

Glancing down at Mantou, who was panting with its tongue out at his feet, Li Huowang gave its belly a light kick and began the ascent.

Looking at the sparse, withered yellow woods on the mountain, Li Huowang's vigilance gradually heightened. No one could guarantee how the others would react upon seeing him, a Xinsu.

"Woof, woof!!" Mantou suddenly barked toward the woods on the right.

Instantly, Li Huowang pressed his hand against the "Record of the Myriad Realms."

"Swoosh~" A lynx swiftly darted across the mountain path and vanished into the other side.

Before Li Huowang could even breathe a sigh of relief, he faintly saw something moving in the woods where the lynx had run.

Proceeding with caution, Li Huowang slowly walked in, and several collapsed temples came into view.

"Is this the Cross Temple of the Xianjing Sect?" Li Huowang murmured to himself, looking at the markings on the temple.

It was not any kind of cross he had seen in the past; this cross resembled a withered, black lucky leaf. Moreover, its state had to be like one parched to death, shriveled and twisted.

Gazing at the overgrown temples before him, a strong sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Li Huowang's heart.

If there was anything harder for Li Huowang to accept than the Xianjing Sect ambushing him on sight, it was that they had already been wiped out by someone else.

"Could it be that the Xianjing Sect wasn't the one who slaughtered the town? Were they also attacked by that thing?"

With a deeply gloomy expression, Li Huowang led his dog back onto the path and continued forward.

This time, he focused more of his attention on scanning the hidden corners of the surrounding woods.

As expected, Li Huowang soon discovered another Cross Temple outpost, and this time, he saw the god worshipped by the Xianjing Sect.

Upon the altar, atop a large black cross, sat a charred sculpture entirely enveloped in flames.

The sculpture was incredibly detailed; whether it was the flickering sensation of the flames, the flesh seared and fused together, or the hair curled and burnt, everything was carved from stone with lifelike vividness.

However, Li Huowang could not see the deity's head, for everything above the neck was shattered.

"What on earth did the Xianjing Sect provoke?" Li Huowang thought uneasily.

Daring to oppose the Abbesses of the Ance Nunnery and still surviving to this day was proof enough of the Xianjing Sect's strength.

Coupled with the fact that Li Huowang already understood the power of the "Record of the Myriad Realms," he truly struggled to imagine what kind of existence could destroy the Xianjing Sect's Cross Temples.

Just then, Li Huowang suddenly noticed something; wiping away the cobwebs beneath the altar with his hand, a line of text appeared before him.

"The Gu God dies not, thus is it called the Mysterious Female. The gate of the Mysterious Female is the root of heaven and earth. A thing there was, formless yet complete, born before heaven and earth."

Li Huowang raised his head once more, gazing again at the headless divine statue seated upon the cross. "Is he the Gu God?"