Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Those who see the inside of the snake cave for the first time will almost always have this question: why is there a well inside the cave? And why is it so large in diameter and designed to draw a lot of water? Even though it has now become the dwelling place of the giant snake, the purpose of the well builders was definitely not for this.

If the goal was simply to accommodate more snakes in the cave, a cellar could have been dug down. Why go to the trouble of building such a neat well that offers no sealing effect? ​​It's like spending a fortune to install a nice-looking door for the snakes underground.

In the past, the snake pit was dark, with venomous snakes and vines obstructing the view. Now, if the largest snake is not pulled out, the remaining smaller snakes cannot resist. The vines at the entrance have been greatly reduced, and the innermost part is still dark, but the outer part can let in a lot of light.

Shi Lang initially followed the group as an assistant. Although his cultivation level was not high, he was quick, accurate, and ruthless in dealing with poisonous snakes. He would kill any snake that tried to sneak out with a single slash. When the giant snake was dragged out of the cave by the little dragon, the snake and the mantis made eye contact. However, Shi Lang, the little mantis, did not react. Instead, the giant snake seemed to be stressed and began to struggle. Its unusually thick tail slapped the stone wall in a chaotic manner, shaking down not rubble but leaving some pits.

Considering the origin of Shi Lang's human form, everyone thought that the giant snake remembered the past and that's why it acted this way. They didn't pay much attention to the damage to the cave. The commotion wasn't as big as the fight between the little dragons, and as long as it didn't collapse, that was fine.

Cang had only glanced at it casually before, but he happened to notice that something was wrong with the gap behind Master Li and Guan Songsheng. The color of a small part inside was different from the outside stone wall, so he decided to blast it open to take a closer look.

"It's made of bricks and stones... and it's been around for quite a few years."

Seeing Cang suddenly make a move, Ren Pingsheng immediately realized that there was something fishy about the stone wall, so he got up from the giant snake to check the damaged area.

The bricks and stones were hidden deep inside, surrounded by rocks and soil. If it weren't for the giant snake's large size and the force of its tail lashing when it struggled, and the fact that there was a naturally gifted person with exceptional eyesight here, the problem with this cave would never have been discovered.

"Judging from this appearance, could this small hill have been filled in by someone?"

The idea of ​​artificially filling mountains sounds incredible. There are very few people in this world who can move mountains like powerful innate beings, but that refers to an individual. The story of Yu Gong moving mountains may be impractical, but it is feasible for a group of ordinary people to work together to build a small hill. For example, some emperors' large tombs were built and buried, and they really did rise from the ground.

"No wonder the feng shui of this place is so strange; it turns out that the terrain has been altered by human hands."

Recovering from the shock of Cang's sudden attack, Master Li looked at the exposed brickwork, and many of his questions were answered. If the entire snake cave was first built with bricks and then disguised as a mountain cave, the existence of the well inside would make more sense.

Perhaps the well wasn't originally dug to house the giant snake, but rather the well itself was created first to house the venomous snake, and then the people outside built the cave to conceal it, before hiding it with an even stranger seal.

"With this commotion, I almost thought you were going to bury us alive."

When Liu Qingyuan and the others came out of the well, they could still hear the sounds of fighting above. Logically, with the little dragon suppressing the giant snake, there shouldn't be another fight.

Upon emerging, they found the cave filled with numerous rubble, which had crushed and killed many venomous snakes, making the scene even more chaotic than before they went down into the well.

"Why are there so many pieces of gravel? Are you planning to demolish this place?"

"Come quick, we've made a new discovery."

Following the direction Ren Pingsheng pointed, the three people who came up from the well saw the brick wall hidden inside the stone wall. Well, it was man-made again.

"...These bricks and tiles look similar to the walls at the bottom of the well, so they should be from the same year."

Therefore, the entire snake pit, from its physical formation to its abstract seal, was entirely man-made, and it even contained a fake crested snake specimen.

Combined with the monk's remains at the bottom of the well and the giant snake's resentment towards humans, Liu Qingyuan intuitively felt that this was an old grudge, a feud that was bound to cause some trouble.

"Master Li, please go to the temple and give this item to the monks."

Jian Feidao found a lot of gold ornaments among the bones, especially the gold ring buckle. Ordinary monks certainly couldn't use such a thing, so he decided to ask the monks at the temple ahead.

"it is good."

The giant snake had been caught, and most of the mysteries in the cave had been discovered. Seeing that there was nothing else around to help, Master Li led Guan Songsheng to the temple.

At that moment, an "uninvited guest" happened to arrive at the temple.

"Why are there all these colorful guys everywhere?"

A strangely dressed young woman, leading a tall horse with equally peculiar attire, looked at the group of people blocking her way with a complicated expression.

"If you can't afford a mirror, can't you at least bow your head?"

Yue Wuque didn't even give them a second glance. The other party was dressed in strange and bright colors, similar to a shaman. How dare they say they were colorful?

Originally, Yue Wuque and the others were going to leave. Liu Qingyuan was worried that dealing with the snake cave in the back mountain would affect the temple in front, so someone needed to keep an eye on it. However, Shuangxiu went west to play, seemingly to test the border. It was too far to come back. After Xing Tianshi and his group left Luoyang, they teamed up with Yan Chixia to subdue demons. Thinking that such an authoritative group would be more than capable of taking down Lanruo Temple, Liu Qingyuan didn't interfere.

Qingyangzi and Jingtaojun went to the Qiantang River to kill the man-eating mermaid demon. They happened to run into the Qiantang River Dragon King. Since there was more than one man-eating mermaid demon, the two were invited by the Dragon King to "kill the fish".

At the moment, Yue Wuque and his group had nothing urgent to attend to. Since Peng Haiqiu was fond of wine and Yue Wuque had never tasted the various immortal wines he had, they decided to stay at the temple for a while.

Moreover, given the current state of the temple, there is indeed a possibility of an accident occurring here. Although the murals have become ineffective, there is still a newly appointed high monk in the temple who has been resurrected, who appears to be in his thirties but is actually in his eighties, along with the original body's family.

This matter had already been reported to the local City God, but he wouldn't intervene. Firstly, the original owner was from out of town and not under Changqing's jurisdiction, and he was already dead, so his soul had probably already entered reincarnation. Secondly, the person who possessed the body was a highly virtuous monk who had honestly practiced vegetarianism and chanted Buddhist scriptures for over eighty years, accumulating a great deal of good deeds and merit. Most cases of possession of bodies are strictly investigated because those people either exploit loopholes or use their new identities to commit crimes. Changqing's case is different; he unexpectedly became the son of a wealthy family and then sneaked back to continue his virtuous cultivation, which is truly rare.

"This body was once an evil person, but now it has been transformed into a good person with a new core. It neither disrupts the original order nor harms others, and it can continue to restrain its disciples. In this case, there is no need to deliberately reverse it."

The above are the City God's original words. As for the rules and regulations of the underworld, which each has its own interpretation, Liu Qingyuan can no longer manage them. The stories in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio are independent of each other, and the descriptions of humans, demons, and gods also differ. Now that these have been put together into one world, it is inevitable that there will be loopholes in the system, and no amount of rectification will help.

Take the scholars in Liaozhai for example. In the end, they are guaranteed to become Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations). If they are powerful in the mortal world, they can become Zhuangyuan (top scholar in the imperial examinations). If they are powerful in the underworld, they can be rehired as Chenghuang (city god). They are all described as having great talent and becoming Xiucai (successful candidates in the county-level imperial examinations) in their teens. However, they always live in poverty with their parents being very old. They are all like this, just with different names but the same content. I don't know where all these "talented people" come from.

The person who was resurrected had no intention of causing trouble, but the original owner's family refused to accept their beloved son becoming a monk. They initially tried to send people and gifts, but after being rejected by all of them, they changed their approach and sent people to visit the family under the guise of worshipping Buddha.

Previously, only servants had come, but today, something extraordinary happened—a shaman had accompanied them. Bringing a shaman to a Buddhist temple on a day without any festival or celebration—wasn't that clearly suspicious? So Yue Wuque and Shu Longqinxin stepped in and stopped the woman.

“I’ve met a few people like you, so I’ll be frank. Some people paid me a lot of money, saying their sons were possessed and insisted on becoming monks. I took the money, so I had to go in and take a look, right?”

Stopped at the gate, the woman didn't hide anything and directly stated her purpose. She had encountered people with this kind of demeanor before and knew that these guys were unbeatable and not to be trifled with. To be honest, she thought the explanation that she became a nun because she was possessed by an evil spirit was pretty far-fetched, but since they offered such a generous reward, she had to go through the motions.

"I saw two strange guys before, one dressed in red and the other in blue, acting weird and insisting they were Taoist priests. Are you with them?"

"It's none of your business which path the beauty chooses to take."

Yue Wuque and Shu Longqin's gazes were not on the woman, but on the horse she was leading. They had initially stopped her because of the woman's suspicious appearance, but now they felt that the horse was even more suspicious.

Or was it really a "horse"?

“We know a little about this matter and can answer some of your questions, but before that, could you please explain your horse?”

Shu Longqin pointed with her fan to the tall horse behind the woman. Judging from its appearance, the horse was obviously very valuable. It was carrying some small pieces of luggage and had patterns painted on its body. It was a rare sight in every sense of the word.

But the horse's eyes looked strange no matter how you looked at them. They didn't look like a horse, but more like a person. However, they didn't have any demonic aura, they weren't sentient, and they couldn't even make a sound.

A similar case is the animal-creating evil technique that Mo Xunzong unexpectedly encountered.

"Madam, is that a horse you're leading?"

“You people have excellent eyesight, better than many Taoist priests and monks.”

The woman wasn't angry at being called out for such an unusual reason. She was more curious about where these people came from. She had a dispute with those two last time, and after leaving, she found that much of the White Lotus Sect's momentum had been dealt with. Just as they said, the problems of the White Lotus Sect were being dealt with little by little.

If they weren't truly evil people, she certainly wouldn't have gone out of her way to make enemies. And the two people who stopped her today seemed different from those she had met before—their demeanor was different.

"Don't worry, I haven't done anything immoral. This horse... no, my husband did it voluntarily. When he came to my house to propose, he said he would be my slave."

"Mr. Shulong, have you seen Master Xinggui? The Immortal Master and the others have found some... animal-creating witchcraft?!"

Xinggui was the old monk's Dharma name after he re-ordained. He couldn't use his original Dharma name directly, since the person in question had passed away some time ago, so he adopted a new Dharma name and started anew.

Master Li and Guan Songsheng came looking for someone with some things. Considering the long history of the Snake Cave, it was most suitable to find Xing Gui, who had more than eighty years of life experience. However, this person was not easy to find, as they had to deal with the original owner's family.

Since he couldn't find the person himself, Master Li thought of asking Shu Longqinxin. Compared to finding Xinggui, who looked to be in his thirties and had already shaved his head and was wearing coarse linen clothes, among a group of monks wearing simple robes, Shu Longqinxin and Yue Wuque were much easier to find.

As they got closer, he noticed a woman who looked like a sorceress in front of them. The tall horse behind her looked suspicious. Master Li, who had traveled extensively and seen many evil spirits and heretics, immediately became alert.

"Don't pin that kind of depraved nonsense on me."

The woman frowned upon hearing what Master Li said.

"There are plenty of spells that can turn people into animals. I have no interest in the White Lotus Sect's heinous and evil spells. What's the deal with that young master from Henan? Give me some information so I can report back."

This small, ordinary temple not only housed a wealthy young man who had become obsessed with Buddhism after being "possessed" by evil spirits, but also Taoist priests and various other people of unknown origin who were neither demons nor immortals. When the Taoist priest arrived, he mentioned that there was some kind of "immortal master." Seeing this group of people mixed together, the woman knew that this was another murky place she should not venture into.

This is obviously going to be difficult. I should have known better than to be greedy for that money. I should have just found what I wanted and left, regardless of whether he was possessed or not.

"If you didn't create animals, what kind of magic did you use?"

"No comment. People like us need to keep some skills to make a living, right?"

"What happened here has nothing to do with possession; it was a case of a body being resurrected by a twist of fate."

Having just answered her question, Shu Longqin returned the favor by mentioning the fact that she had returned home. Judging from the woman's attitude, she didn't seem too upset about the matter.

"The local city god has tacitly approved of this. Master Xinggui himself had already explained the situation to the original owner's family, but they did not believe him and came to persuade him many times."

"Resurrected from a dead body...tsk, isn't that just being completely dead?"

It's not uncommon for a wealthy family to have a son suddenly decide to leave home. The woman had seen it many times before, whether he was a Taoist or a Buddhist. This kind of behavior often happened among the aristocratic children who had no worries about food and clothing. She thought this time would be similar, except that he would be a little more rebellious than others.

But this time it wasn't like that at all. The original young master died, and someone else possessed his body and came back to life. It was explained in advance that the "possession" theory should have come from the part where the other party explained his origin.

"This is impossible to explain, it's really troublesome... Wait a minute, who is it that has been resurrected? One of the monks here?"

Changqing County is in Shandong Province. What kind of ghost is so powerful? Did it die and float to Henan to be resurrected?

"He was a highly respected monk who had already passed away, and he was already in his eighties when he died."

"..."

Oh no, this temple is a complete mess. After hearing the explanation, the woman couldn't help but facepalm. A high-ranking monk who had lived for over eighty years had been reincarnated into the body of a wealthy and powerful playboy. This was definitely not going to be resolved. She'd better run away as soon as possible.

"It must be because I touched something from the White Lotus Sect that I'm having such bad luck today."

Well, they definitely won't get the money later. The people who commissioned the service certainly don't believe in "reincarnation." They'd rather continue to believe that their son is possessed by an evil spirit and that finding someone to examine him and exorcise the spirit will cure him.

"This matter cannot be accomplished, and I have no interest in this temple. Please do not stop me any longer; I will not go in."

She wanted to avoid such trouble as much as possible; she didn't want to invite bad luck.

"However, I don't think that lord will let his son off the hook. If he goes crazy, who knows who he might bring in. You all should be careful."

After saying this, the woman stopped lingering, mounted her horse, and left, as if there were some ferocious beast in the temple.

Since the person had left, Yue Wuque also planned to leave. Just as he was about to pull Shu Longqin away, Master Li suddenly exclaimed, "Hey!"

"I remember now, she's Ying Gu!"

"……what?"

Master Li rarely showed any signs of being startled, so the two stopped to ask him questions.

"That woman just now, she should be Ying Gu, she is very famous among cultivators."

"Because she's very capable?"

The woman, whom Master Li called Ying Gu, disappeared completely after riding her horse not far away. Shu Longqin kept watching but couldn't find out what kind of magic she used.

"No, it's because of her background."

Master Li shook his head, his tone filled with sighs.

"It is said that she was originally a rich young lady who married a man from the White Lotus Sect. Her family property was stolen and her family members were murdered. Later, she learned a skill from somewhere and turned the man who had deceived her into a horse for her to drive. She often went to various places to collect information about the White Lotus Sect."

When he arrived, Master Li did not hear the woman mention her horse. He only realized the connection after hearing her say "touched something of the White Lotus Sect".

Guan Songsheng had just met the descendants of the White Lotus Sect at the foot of the mountain. Ying Gu probably came for that reason, and then Xing Gui's family came to her and she took the job.

"Ying Gu's lineage is unclear, but she possesses many wondrous methods. The fake corpse that Junior Brother Song Sheng mentioned must have been made using the techniques given to him by Ying Gu."

Judging from this, the situation down the mountain must be quite interesting as well.