Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Initially, Wei Niangzi's peony was just a peony kept in the backyard of a wealthy family in Luoyang. Apart from being a more precious variety, it was not much different from the surrounding flowers.

However, in Luoyang, there are countless creatures that happen to have some talent and the opportunity to develop their own intelligence. With thousands of years of development history and having served as the capital of a country several times, the spirits and monsters have changed several times. As one of the "lucky ones", if Lady Wei follows the proper path, she will eventually follow a similar path to Lady Cao.

Wealthy families are very particular about feng shui, and the spiritual energy gathered in their courtyards is beneficial to spirits in the early stages of enlightenment. If they stay put and cultivate diligently, there will be no problems. However, this courtyard is not as quiet as the deep mountains. The young master of this family is a womanizer, and the number of beautiful women in the backyard is constantly increasing. The people coming to the gate to collect debts of love are also constantly changing. Endless quarrels and resentments gather here. This kind of environment cannot be solved by simply saying that the spiritual energy is strong and the feng shui is good.

Therefore, from the moment she gained sentience, Lady Wei passively observed the various disturbances in the backyard. What she heard and saw was not good. A still ignorant spirit had no elders to guide her when she needed to lay the foundation. If she wanted to learn how to transform into a human, she could only seek reference from these unfortunate women in the backyard. Therefore, Lady Wei herself was inevitably influenced by their daily behavior.

Ever since that "affectionate" young master officially took over the family business, his "affection" has directly developed into "promiscuity." Basically, no elders can control him anymore. His fickle nature has also been fully displayed. When he likes someone, he will use sweet words and spend a lot of money on her. But once he has won her over, he will quickly get tired of her and won't even bother to say a perfunctory word. He will immediately go and look for the next one. Sometimes he won't even bring her home. He will just leave her outside and be done with it.

The story of Nan Sanfu and Dou Shi is a typical example of a heartless man who seduces a girl at first sight and then abandons her at will. The man was powerful and influential, and he would leave when he was tired of her. But the girl who was harmed could not be treated this way. The soft-hearted ones dared not say anything, while the bolder ones would come to her door, and some even came with their children.

Before she could leave the land she was rooted in, Madam Wei saw too many unfortunate women like her. Their resentment influenced the minds of the ignorant spirits and instilled some deep-rooted obsessions. Even after the house was abandoned and Madam Wei had made some progress in her cultivation and taken human form, her first action was not to find a cave where she could cultivate in peace, but to find the "abandoned people" and bring them back as her companions.

"So you picked up this Yao Huang?"

Liu Qingyuan looked at A Yao, so it was Lady Wei who picked up a Yao Huang flower spirit for her to be her younger brother... no, before she was her younger sister.

"Probably. At that time, my intelligence was not fully developed, and I only had very vague memories, but I have indeed been following Sister Wei in my cultivation without ever changing."

According to the person involved, Yao Huang was originally a cut flower that was about to be sold, but then a smart flower appeared out of the pile. When the flower farmer tried to pick it, he found that he couldn't pick it. However, at that time, the price of Yao Huang was very high, and there was even a saying that "a single Yao Huang flower can fetch a thousand gold pieces." Nobody wanted to have any problems with the money.

The reason why Yao Huang can sell for such a high price is because of the extremely high ornamental value of this variety. It is estimated that Yao Huang, who had some self-awareness at the time, also knew the reason. However, the child's actions to avoid selling himself were a bit silly. He simply closed all his flowers, making it so that no one could see them.

Such an abnormality was obvious to the flower growers, but it was the peak season for Yao Huang flowers. If anyone said there was something wrong with the flowers they were selling at this critical juncture, they would lose all future business. They had no choice but to reluctantly pick out the abnormal plant and get rid of it.

Regarding plant spirits, I've mentioned before that one of their major weaknesses is that they can't move or fight back in the early stages. If you dig up their roots, they're practically dead. That's exactly what happened to A Yao. The flower branches couldn't be cut, so the flower growers dug up the soil underneath. They dug up this unusual Yao Huang plant, intending to burn it as something unlucky.

If it weren't for Madam Wei's intervention, A Yao would have turned to ashes long ago. Although Madam Wei, when she became a spirit, could only explore on her own and needed the assistance of an unknown external force, she raised A Yao little by little. Although she was called a sworn sister, she was more like a foster mother.

"That Fellow Daoist Peng..."

"It's because of that strange jade."

Peng Haiqiu was a wandering immortal who did not hold a proper position in heaven. He spent his days traveling and enjoying nature, occasionally meeting a few interesting people. At the same time, he was also a highly skilled person who could make some calculations about the affairs of heaven and earth. At a certain time, a group of unfriendly outsiders appeared in this world. At first, Peng Haiqiu was only interested in these guys, but he found that his usual divination was hindered, so he began to pay more attention to them.

At first, he found Luoyang with a bunch of fragmented information. Unexpectedly, the divination method that was originally somewhat useful suddenly disappeared in the vicinity. Luoyang is not a small place, and searching aimlessly is simply impractical. Moreover, Peng Haiqiu has never seriously fought with those guys. If he can't do divination, he would rather search for a needle in a haystack.

Those strange visitors were illegal transmigrators. Peng Haiqiu didn't know exactly what these people would bring, but he had heard that the gods in heaven had also noticed this group of "evil people." Since there were more powerful gods to deal with them, he, a wandering immortal, didn't need to worry about it.

With this in mind, Peng Haiqiu left Luoyang. But this broken thread wasn't because the opponent was particularly powerful. Connecting the dots, Liu Qingyuan guessed that the illegal time traveler had died, and something had somehow ended up in Wei Niangzi's hands.

Liu Qingyuan had the system examine it, and it turned out that the jade-like object was a fragment that fell off after a system was destroyed. The fact that this thing was left behind meant that the system and the transmigrator it contracted with were completely dead. The remaining thing was like incompletely burned ashes. The powerful figure who made the move probably didn't care, and this little thing was left behind.

Even the insignificant "ashes" contained residual energy that was a great tonic for Wei Niangzi, who didn't even have a human form at the time. Moreover, this thing looked like luminous jade, and it could be sold for a fortune just for its aesthetic appeal.

For this reason, with no one left to testify, they couldn't determine whether the suddenly deceased singer was the original owner, or whether her death was related to the item. Anyway, after the singer's death, the item ended up in Wei Niangzi's hands. She used it to enhance her cultivation. Years later, when Peng Haiqiu came to Luoyang again, he saw Wei Niangzi and the little flower fairy A Yao she had taken in, and discovered that the flower fairy's cultivation method was somewhat unusual.

As for Ma Jiepu, he already knew Peng Haiqiu. He went to Luoyang to find some medicinal herbs, but by sheer coincidence, he ran into Peng Haiqiu and ended up having two flower fairy disciples registered under his name.

Everything was so logical and smooth, as if it had been arranged. However, this is a world with strange powers and supernatural forces, and the will of Heaven is hard to defy. There is no need to think about the arrangements in the dark. Just follow along. In any case, people who have cultivated to a certain level understand that if they really have a tribulation to go through, they can't avoid it and can only endure it.

"Ah~"

Upon learning that Ma Jiepu, the fox spirit, was the master of the two flower fairies, Xing Tianshi realized something.

"You taught me how to make that petal-shaped poison gas grenade, didn't you?"

"Gas bombs?"

"It's that trick of using a pungent smell to blast people's noses."

"...I did teach them similar spells, as well as transformation techniques and some pharmacology."

Although it was just a nominal appointment, Ma Jiepu wouldn't really do nothing. Wei Niangzi and A Yao were indeed talented, and taking them on as disciples was just a way to build good karma. However, many demons' spells were based on their own origins. His true form was a fox, while the other two were two flowers. The difference between them was too great. Ma Jiepu, who always had many ideas, was at a loss for what to do. He could only start by teaching them what he was good at.

Foxes are best known for their ability to change their appearance and stimulate others with their scents. Combined with the fox spirit's expertise in pharmacology and medicine, the two flower fairies learned some skills that were different from other plant spirits. However, the ability to overpower people with the scent of flowers was quite unexpected. Xing Tianshi even guessed that the two peony flower fairies had mutated, never imagining that it was because they had been taught by foxes.

Thank goodness it wasn't a weasel who taught them this trick, otherwise the fragrance of the peonies would have been distorted beyond recognition.

"It is said that if a spirit wants to become human, it must first learn to be human, but Madam Wei's learning is... really too much. And there is that strange jade interfering. I am really worried about it."

Throughout history, monsters imitating humans has been a common template. However, what they imitate is their way of life and human emotions. Because of the special environment she had in the past, Wei Niangzi absorbed the resentment of those women who had been wronged, and seemed to be heading down the path of becoming a demon. That's why Peng Haiqiu was looking everywhere for someone who could help her.

"Originally, with this jade, finding a way to obtain it wouldn't have been difficult. But since many years ago, it's been like God has had a stroke. I can't figure anything out, and I can't find a way out. It's very strange!"

"There's nothing we can do about it. Matters beyond the heavens are difficult to resolve using only the methods available in this world."

As one of the "visitors from outer space," Liu Qingyuan couldn't offer much explanation, not only because there were mortals present who shouldn't know the truth, but also because Peng Haiqiu's status as a rogue immortal was actually quite awkward when it came to matters of the essence of the Heavenly Dao.

He was neither a mortal nor a high-ranking official in the heavens; he was a marginalized figure in another category, with no opportunity to access the truth. Otherwise, he wouldn't have referred to illegal transmigrators as "strange guys" or "villains from outside."

Even though Liu Qingyuan has been in this world for so long, this person only found him now, and not by coming directly to his door, but by using the major event of the East Sea Dragon Girl's marriage as a bridge for scheming.

"Then why is Madam Wei so insistent on having these two children?"

Unlike A Yao, who was dug up and almost burned, the two little peonies in the Chang family have living parents. Although the mother's whereabouts are unknown and the father prioritizes profit, at least they were not abandoned.

"boom!"

When the Chang family was mentioned, Madam Wei changed her timid demeanor from being suppressed by her elders, slammed her hand on the table, and her imposing aura returned.

"Those two brats have been gone for three years, not coming back for three years, letting those two beasts make money off the children! If I don't take them away, who can save them from this misery?"

"..."

The Chang brothers, who were being pointed at, dared not speak. There were monsters, Taoist priests, and immortals here, and the two ordinary mortals had long lost their right to speak.

Moreover, everything Madam Wei said was correct, and they were powerless to refute it, nor could they find any reason to do so.

"Lady Cao has failed in raising her daughters and has ignored the children who have fallen here. So I will be their mother. It's better than these two mortals."

"The two mothers probably didn't know about this either."

Xing Tianshi pulled out a bunch of objects of various sizes from somewhere, spread them on the ground in front of him, and said those words, attracting everyone's attention.

“The newborn flower fairies need to take root and grow anew, so leaving the children here was probably their plan beforehand, but…”

Since arriving at the Chang family, he had been observing the underground sword. Jian Feidao opened his mouth and continued Xing Tianshi's words.

"But according to their calculations, the time it takes for a child to transform from a human into a flower and then back into a human will be extremely long, probably like that of an ordinary monster, requiring ten or twenty years, or even longer."

By then, Chang Daqi and Chang Dayong will be old and may even be no longer alive. When Ge Jin and Yu Ban come back to pick up the child, they will no longer have to face them. They can directly take the child, who has turned back into human form, home, which is equivalent to another form of leaving the child behind and leaving the father behind.

The problem now lies in the growth of the two little flower fairies. The two children, who have just been born, will only grow according to their instincts after turning back into peonies. It is impossible for them to actively cultivate like ordinary demons.