Mutated Tao

Chapter 767: Awakening

“Are you guys really siblings? Is your surname Ba too?”

Li Huowang decided not to follow their conversation anymore. He was ready to leave if they didn't have any helpful information. There was no reason to listen to their baseless accusations.

The woman noticed that Li Huowang had changed the subject. “You’re right. I am Ba Nanxu, and he is Ba Shengqing. We’re twins.”

“Twins? I don’t see the similarity. He’s quite tall while you’re quite skinny.”

“That’s because we were conjoined twins. He took most of the nutrients, which caused me to be skinny.”

Li Huowang was shocked by this revelation. Ba Nanxu then pointed at her tattoo of thorny vines.

“We were once joined here. The tattoos are used to cover up the scars.”

Li Huowang recalled the tattoos on Ba Shengqing’s face. He never thought the tattoos were used to cover up scars!

“Then the surgery must’ve been dangerous, right?”

“We didn’t have the chance to undergo surgery. Our parents died early, and we had no money. We used a pair of scissors to separate ourselves.”

Li Huowang recovered from his shock when he heard that. “I don’t believe you. If you did that, the pain would’ve been unbearable. You would’ve passed out and even bled to death.”

“Hahaha, yeah.” Ba Nanxu took a deep drag on her cigarette.

Why is she not getting to the point?

Li Huowang looked around the tattoo shop and stood up to leave.

“Ji Zai, something was stolen from you.”

A familiar gaze caused him to turn around and look at Ba Nanxu. “What did you say? Who were you calling?!”

“Hm?” Ba Nanxu looked at him, puzzled.

“What did you call me just now?!” Li Huowang grabbed her wrist as he shouted.

“Just now? I didn’t say anything. Although this is quite a unique way to flirt with me.”

“Ji Zai! You called me that just now! Why did both Qian Fu and you call me that?!”

Why does everyone know my name? How do they know the fake name that Zhuge Yuan had given me?

The memories started resurfacing against his own will.

Li Huowang tried to forget everything, but the memories crept up like a vine enveloping his brain. Zhao Lei’s words echoed in his ears.

“Answer me! Why are you calling me Ji Zai?!”

“Let go.” A cold voice came from his back. Ba Shengqing somehow appeared behind him, his tattoo gun on Li Huowang’s back.

Li Huowang released Ba Nanxu and looked at Ba Shengqing seriously. He suddenly had a very disturbing thought.

“Both of you are conjoined twins. Why are your surnames Ba?”

“Because my father has the surname Ba. Is there a problem with that?” Ba Nanxu crossed her arms and looked at Li Huowang with confusion.

“No. Something’s wrong.” Li Huowang looked at their tattoos, forked tongues, and various piercings. His eyes lit up with a sudden epiphany.

“Pain! It’s pain! I understand now! Both of you are…”

The words were just at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t say them. That feeling drove him crazy.

Li Huowang stabbed his own palm with a knife.

The pain gave him clarity.

He pointed at the two and shouted, “I understand now! Both of you are Ba-Hui! You are a projection of Ba-Hui! Everything is fake!”

As he said that, Li Huowang felt his heart going empty.

Not only did he recognize Ba-Hui, but he also recognized Chen Hongyu, the one who had told him to get snacks for them. She was also a Siming—Abbess Jingxin’s Siming!

The others are probably Simings too. I don’t recognize them since I’m not familiar with the other Simings, but I am very familiar with Ba-Hui.

That was why he felt their gazes were very familiar.

The Ba siblings stepped back in unison when they saw Li Huowang acting strangely. The customer in the cubicle had already run out without his shirt because he was shocked by Li Huowang’s actions and bloody hand.

“The two of you were originally one! No, the two of you should be a single Siming! I know you guys! No wonder you guys are so familiar! You are Ba-Hui!”

Then why are they calling me Ji Zai? Who is Ji Zai?

It was not just a simple fake name. It meant something more.

“If you are the projections of a Siming, then am I…” Li Huowang looked at his own body. “Am I a Siming too? Am I a projection? Impossible! When did I become a Siming? When? What kind of Siming am I?”

Li Huowang started recalling the things he had been suppressing.

“I was conjured with the cultivation of ‘Truth’? I really am a Siming? Does that mean this world is fake? Is it all just a projection?”

Fear gripped his heart. He ignored Ba-Hui and bolted from the tattoo shop into the sunlit streets.

Yang Na followed him and anxiously asked, “Huowang? What’s wrong? What happened just now?”

Li Huowang looked around while panting, unable to focus on her words.

He suddenly squatted down and touched the stone path. The surface was smooth and hard. He even rubbed his face over the stone.

“This is so real. How could it be fake? How could this be the projection?”

Li Huowang suddenly stood up and ran towards a pillar.

He looked at the poster pinned to the pillar before tearing it down. He shakily tore the poster in half.

He listened as the sound of paper being torn reached his ears, and then he saw the gradual tearing of the paper right before his very eyes.

The contradiction hurt him. Maybe I’m overthinking? Maybe everything is real?

He suddenly crouched onto the ground and picked up the paper strips before chewing on them. He tasted it and felt his saliva turning the torn poster into wads of damp paper.

He felt gazes coming from all directions. He looked up and saw the crowd pointing at him.

What are they? What are their projections? Other Simings or enemies? Why are they crowding around me?

Li Huowang snarled slowly as he held tightly onto the hilt of his sword.