Chapter 116: Aojing Teaching

"What do you want to be called?" Li Huowang asked, looking at the wagging-tailed stray dog in front of him.

After a few days of care, the dog was still very thin. However, at least all the densely packed, blood-sucking ticks clinging to its ears had been removed. Its two ears were badly bitten and looked bloody. Even with Li Huowang's healing pills, it would take some time for them to recover.

"Woof~" The dog sat on the ground, tilting its head and looking at Li Huowang with a puzzled expression. After a cautious glance, it lowered its head and nudged its thin head affectionately under Li Huowang's hand, as if asking to be petted.

Li Huowang gently patted its head, a hint of a smile appearing in his eyes. A few nights ago, he had suspected something was wrong with the dog. But after enduring the hallucinations, Li Huowang realized he had been mistaken. If it truly harbored ill intentions, it would have attacked him while he was trapped in his delusions. For now, it seemed to be just a dog, a very ordinary dog, though he still had no idea where it had come from.

Li Huowang took a steamed bun from his satchel, threw it over, and watched as the dog excitedly pounced on it and began tearing at it. "Since you like steamed buns so much, from now on, you'll be called Mantou," Li Huowang decided the dog's name very casually.

"Woof woof!" Mantou jumped up excitedly, seemingly responding to Li Huowang's words. With his right hand, where a bit of his fingernails had grown back, he gently stroked the fur on the dog's neck. "Since you're homeless just like me, you can follow me. Having a dog by my side will be convenient. You can help me keep watch at night and keep me company during the day."

"Though you won't be much help when I'm having an episode, it's better than nothing, right?" Li Huowang paused. "Of course, my main reason is to test whether I'll harm others when I'm hallucinating. You'll be my first test subject."

As Li Huowang finished speaking, Mantou had already finished eating. It licked its mouth repeatedly, looking at Li Huowang expectantly. "You probably don't understand what I'm saying," Li Huowang said, patting Mantou's head again. "Let's go, we're almost there." He stood up and looked at the distant mountains, his destination.

The brief moment of relaxation with the dog vanished. Recalling the information the nuns had shared about Zoroastrianism, Li Huowang's expression gradually grew grim. The abbess had said they might have a way to deal with Dan Yangzi, but they were equally dangerous, as evident from the *Great Thousand Records* itself. This feeling of being utterly passive was unpleasant, but Li Huowang had no choice. He could either try to trust them or wait for death.

"Let's go." The Taoist in the red robe, accompanied by a yellow dog, headed towards the distant mountains. The saying "the mountain looks close but is far to walk to" truly resonated with Li Huowang this time. After walking for two full days with the dog, they finally reached the foot of the mountain.

What blocked his path was a town, a town that had long been dead. Collapsed houses, skeletons split in two, and everything covered in dusty cobwebs. Numerous signs indicated that the town had suffered a deadly catastrophe. Li Huowang's face showed intense disgust as he looked at a half-skeleton by the roadside, shielding a smaller skeleton in front of it. Anyone capable of such a massacre was utterly inhumane, probably even more malicious than Dan Yangzi.

As he slowly walked through the town, a thought popped into Li Huowang's mind: "Could this all have been done by the Zoroastrians?" Li Huowang's perception of this unseen sect began to shift. After walking for most of the day, he found no living person in the desolate town. The only signs of life on the ground were mice in the corners, gnawing on something. Seeing Li Huowang and the dog approach, these dusty, large rats scurried away in a panic.

With everyone dead, there was nothing Li Huowang could do. He could barely protect himself, so he quickened his pace to pass through the dead town swiftly. After passing through the oppressive town, a winding mountain path appeared before Li Huowang. The mountain trail twisted like a long snake, climbing uphill. This was the only path leading into the mountains nearby. The Zoroastrians should be in there.

Li Huowang glanced down at Mantou, who was panting with its tongue out at his feet. He gave its belly a gentle kick and started climbing the mountain. Looking at the sparse, withered yellow trees on the mountain, Li Huowang's wariness gradually increased. No one could guarantee how the other party would react upon seeing him, a 'heart-element' cultivator.

"Woof woof!!" Mantou suddenly barked towards the woods on the right. Instantly, Li Huowang placed his hand on the *Great Thousand Records*. "Whoosh!" A lynx quickly darted across the mountain path to the other side. Before Li Huowang could sigh in relief, he vaguely saw something in the woods where the lynx had run.

Proceeding cautiously, Li Huowang slowly walked in. Several collapsed temples appeared before him. "Are these the Zoroastrian 'Cross Temples'?" Li Huowang murmured, looking at the markings on the temples. It wasn't like any cross he had seen before. This cross resembled a thin, black lucky leaf, withered and twisted as if parched to death.

Looking at the overgrown temples, a strong sense of foreboding immediately arose in Li Huowang's heart. If there was anything more difficult for Li Huowang to accept than a direct attack from the Zoroastrians upon meeting them, it was that they had already been wiped out. "Could it be that the deaths in that town weren't caused by the Zoroastrians? Were they also attacked by that entity?"

With a very grim expression, Li Huowang and the dog returned to the path and continued forward. This time, he focused more on checking the hidden spots in the surrounding woods. As expected, Li Huowang soon discovered another Cross Temple stronghold. This time, he saw the deity worshipped by the Zoroastrians. On the offering platform, atop a large black cross, sat a charred black sculpture engulfed in flames.

The sculpture was incredibly detailed; every element, from the flickering flames to the sticky, roasted flesh and singed, curled hair, was carved from stone with lifelike precision. However, Li Huowang couldn't see the deity's head, as everything above the neck was shattered. "What exactly did the Zoroastrians provoke?" Li Huowang wondered uneasily. The fact that they dared to oppose the abbesses of An Ci Convent and still managed to survive proved the Zoroastrians' strength. Furthermore, Li Huowang already understood the power of the *Great Thousand Records*. He truly struggled to imagine what kind of entity could destroy the Zoroastrian Cross Temples.

Just then, Li Huowang suddenly noticed something. Wiping away the cobwebs beneath the offering platform, a line of text appeared before him: "The God of the Ox does not die; it is the Dark Female. The gate of the Dark Female is the root of heaven and earth, a chaotic entity, born before heaven and earth."

Li Huowang looked up again, gazing at the headless deity seated atop the cross. "Is he the God of the Ox?"