Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Starting with Zhu Erdan's winning essay, this scholar, who was previously considered a fool by everyone, became famous again, but this time not because of his foolishness, but because of his sudden intelligence.

Since that essay, Zhu Erdan has consistently topped the list. He's the quickest to solve problems and the best poet. Now, he speaks eloquently in the academy and is well-connected everywhere he goes. If it weren't for his face, who would recognize that this is the same fool Zhu Erdan?

"So, you replaced his heart with that of a smart person?"

It was rare for Lu Pan to appear during the day, and it just so happened that Zhu Erdan had come to visit in the mountains. Liu Qingyuan could hardly help but guess that the other party was showing off his supernatural abilities.

Unfortunately, Liu Qingyuan already knew about this, and he even waited for the other party to do it. When Lu Pan said these things, the listeners wouldn't be too surprised, but to keep the mood, he could play along.

"Indeed, this heart was carefully selected by me. I guarantee he will rise to great heights in the future."

Judge Lu was indeed very proud of himself. He had transplanted the hearts of living people and made people who originally had little talent become so intelligent. Such methods were unique to him.

"But they say that people's hearts change, so if you change your heart, will the person change too?"

Moreover, Zhu Erdan's change wasn't just in his heart; his sudden surge of talent and quick wit are also noteworthy. It's said that one should maintain one's true self when things are going well, but Zhu Erdan's heart has changed completely. It's hard to say what his thoughts have become.

"You can rest assured about that. Since I'm doing this for a friend, I would never harm him. This heart comes from an honest official. If I replace it with this one, there won't be too many mistakes in the future... Hey, this wine is quite good!"

He saw the open and tranquil scene and assumed the man only drank tea. He was surprised to find that he also had fine wine, which he had never seen or tasted before.

"This is a treasured possession of a good friend of mine. Since the journey has been long, I borrowed some fine wine to bring along. Judge, please drink as much as you like."

Zhao Shiming picked up the wine glass next to him, smelled it, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"...Is this Long Su's secret wine?"

"good."

"How much of his finest wine did you take?"

"Long Su has a large and wealthy family, and he doesn't like to go out. As his friend, I naturally have to take responsibility for his excessive consumption of items, otherwise what will happen when they expire?"

"..."

This is grain-based liquor; there's no such thing as it being expired.

"These past few days I have seen you move freely between the realms of the living and the dead. I wonder if, apart from the living dying, there is any other way to go to the underworld?"

Yes, by displaying such fine wine, Liu Qingyuan was trying to trick Judge Lu into revealing information, to see if this judge of the underworld knew anything about this kind of scheme.

"...You're going?"

Upon hearing this, Lu stopped drinking and looked the person in front of him up and down. The other party was not a being born from this world, so naturally there was no name in the Book of Life and Death, and he was not under the jurisdiction of the Underworld.

People of this status would probably need someone to guide them to the underworld. What Judge Lu was curious about was why they wanted to go to the underworld.

"It's not that we have to go now, but just so that we have another solution in case something unexpected happens in the future."

"If you want to go to the underworld, either you must die of old age and be unable to stay in the human world, or you must have some means to make your soul leave your body. If you two want to go, I'm afraid you'll have to be taken by someone else. You are not from here, so neither those in heaven nor those on earth can help you."

It was only because these two people in front of him had no connection with heaven or earth that Judge Lu dared to speak so recklessly. Once he returned to the underworld, he would have to continue to be a judge and adjudicate the dead, so he wouldn't be in the mood to talk about King Yama.

"However, if you two really want to go and see, I can do you a favor; I do have that much authority."

"Then I, Jianzi, thank you in advance, sir."

In this way, he can be considered to have some connections in the underworld.

After Zhu Erdan descended the mountain, he was unaware that Lu Pan had arrived shortly after him, nor did he know that Lu Pan was currently drinking with two "immortals" in the mountain in the realm of enlightenment. As he descended the mountain, he first lamented how difficult the mountain path was to traverse, saying that if it were the old him, he probably would not have been able to come out once he entered.

He was terrified the night of his heart transplant. It was hard to describe the feeling of watching his intestines being cleaned one by one. But the benefits of the transplant were real. Looking back on his life, it felt like a dream.

Unexpectedly, his drunken rant was remembered by Judge Lu, who then used it to give him a new heart. Naturally, he had to thank Judge Lu.

Because Lu Pan always went to Zhu Erdan's house at night, he always thought that people from the underworld could only appear at night. Since he couldn't find them in broad daylight, Zhu Erdan decided to buy some good wine and offerings to worship at the Ten Kings Hall.

Speaking of which, ever since that night when he carried the statue of Judge Lu on his back and saw Judge Lu himself that same night, he has never been to the Ten Kings Palace again.

Zhu Erdan was buying wine when he heard some noise. It's normal for it to be noisy in a busy area, especially since this is a place that sells wine, and there are often some thugs loitering around.

But soon, with a loud "bang," several figures flew overhead and crashed heavily onto some fallen leaves or piles of debris on the side of the street. The sound was enough to send chills down your spine.

Now Zhu Erdan couldn't ignore it anymore; two of them had just grazed his head—it was terrifying!

Turning around, I realized that these people looked familiar to everyone. They were the same group of good-for-nothing thugs from the neighborhood, who were now lying on the ground groaning. These were all adult men, and it would be difficult for an ordinary person to pull one of them out. Who was so capable as to throw them all out together?

Before the onlookers could think too much, the "culprit" who caused all this appeared out of the dark alley. His appearance was so different from the scene before them that Zhu Erdan even thought he was dreaming after seeing who it was.

"To harass a girl in broad daylight, that's just as bad!"

Stepping into everyone's view was a sweet and lovely young girl, wearing a gorgeous and eye-catching pink dress with various lace and beaded chains. Her long, black hair was half-down, tied with a headband in a similar color to the dress, and her sideburns were tied into two small braids in front of her chest.

This girl has a very special feature: her clothes and headdress are decorated with large yin-yang patterns, and they are all dyed pinkish-red. She also has a whisk wrapped with pink ribbons in her hand.

From behind her, you can see other women hiding there. They are just ordinary girls, daughters of nearby families. Listening to what the girl in front is saying, you can get a general idea of ​​what happened.

This group of thugs usually harasses girls who pass by. Whether they went too far this time or what, they ended up kicking a hornet's nest and being bounced off.

Looking at the delicate and beautiful young girl in front of him, Zhu Erdan couldn't imagine how she had managed to send these adult men flying. Even those who had been thrown to the ground couldn't believe it.

"Ouch..."

The people on the ground endured the excruciating pain as they got up. They saw that the person who had stood up for them was a seemingly frail and beautiful young girl, so they couldn't help but say a few more words to her. Since she didn't seem to pose any real threat, some of them couldn't resist the urge to attack her. Just then, something swept over them, and in the blink of an eye, they were lifted into the air and thrown out of the alley, crashing to the ground.

"...What kind of monster are you?"

"Not polite."

The girl in pink flicked her whisk, startling the people on the ground who began to struggle again. They remembered that they had been sent flying by that whisk.

"Listen up, everyone. I am the successor of Zhang Tianshi, the Taoist Master Lingling, who has ascended to the Dao shore. I am Biying Xianchen Ling Ziling."

Zhu Erdan: So many people... Wait a minute, Daoist Master? Is this also a Daoist practitioner?

The whisk in Ling Ziling's hand and the Tai Chi pattern on her body do prove that she has some connection with Taoism, but her clothes and appearance are like those of a rich young lady who is naive and ignorant of the world, which is very different from the Taoist priests who usually work overtime.

"Considering you are all mortals, I'll treat this as a lesson. If I see you bullying a young lady again, I'll let you experience my Illusionary Thunder Talisman. Now get lost."

Although she looked young, this girl had a very imposing presence. For some inexplicable reason, Zhu Erdan thought of the two white-robed, white-haired immortals he had just visited. If this girl had anything in common with them, it was her outstanding appearance and complicated clothing style.

Moreover, they all claim to be Taoist practitioners, but their overall image is very different from that of Taoist practitioners as commonly known.

With a single flick of his whisk, he sent several adult men flying. The sheer force of his attack was overwhelming, far exceeding their wildest expectations. The usually arrogant thugs didn't even utter a threat this time. They struggled to their feet and fled in a panic.

Ling Ziling comforted the frightened women behind her. These were mostly married women from the neighborhood who had come out to shop. They looked a few years older than the girl in pink, but Ling Ziling was able to protect them instead.

"These kinds of thugs never learn their lesson. You all need to be careful in the future. How about I draw you some protective amulets? Don't worry, I'm very skilled, and I'll treat you honestly..."

Seeing that the young girl was focused on comforting the other women, Zhu Erdan picked up his wine and prepared to leave this troublesome place. He remembered that he was going to pay respects to Judge Lu. As for this female Taoist priest with so many titles and names, she looked like someone who was not easy to mess with, so he decided to avoid her.

"You scholar carrying wine, wait a moment."

A girl's clear voice rang out, and Zhu Erdan stopped in his tracks. Among the small group of people, the scholar carrying the wine had just bought his wine, so this description could only refer to him.

"...Taoist Master, are you calling me?"

"very strange……"

Ling Ziling didn't answer, but walked straight towards Zhu Erdan. She frowned as she looked at him and started circling around him, muttering something under her breath.

"That's really strange. You have two different auras on you, two completely unrelated people, and there's also some yin energy. Have you encountered a ghost?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Erdan knew that this female Taoist priest was truly skilled. He didn't know the difference between the two auras, but he guessed that it might be caused by the heart transplant. As for the yin energy, he drank with Judge Lu every night. The other party was both a judge of the underworld and a ghost in the underworld. It was normal for him to have been exposed to some yin energy over such a long time.

"You look like two people spliced ​​together, are you possessed? Do you need Master Lingling to exorcise you? Don't worry, I'm very powerful now, and I won't be as unreliable as before."

Zhu Erdan: So you mean it wasn't very effective before?

Zhu Erdan knew perfectly well what had happened to him. He declined the young Taoist priest's suggestion, took the offerings, and went to the Ten Kings Hall. There was still no one there. People rarely asked the gods of the underworld for favors, and the statues in the Ten Kings Hall were more frightening than the last. Even during the day, people avoided the Ten Kings Hall.

Ling Ziling didn't want to go to the Ten Kings' Palace. Since Zhu Erdan said he was fine, she didn't linger. She changed her route and headed out of the city. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed, and she quickly ran in one direction.

Immediately afterwards, Ling reached out and pulled out a glossy red fox from somewhere.

"Caught!"

"???"

Xiao Cui, who was pulled out of the water: What happened? What happened? Who is this girl? How did I end up in her hands?

Xiao Cui was bewildered. She squatted on the roof of the new magistrate's house for two days. Seeing that the man's character was not too outrageous, she left satisfied and planned to return to the mountains.

Because there was a highly skilled but seemingly crazy beggar in the city, Xiao Cui didn't want to run into him, so she continued to wander around the city in her fox form. As a result, just as she left the city, she was caught off guard and was scooped up by a little girl.

She was a fox spirit, after all, the kind who could use illusion magic and cure idiots, so how could she be captured so easily?

"I saw you a while ago, why is your color so ordinary?"

Ling Ziling knew, of course, that this was no ordinary fox. She had just seen the monster out of curiosity and reached out to see if there was anything special about it. But Xiao Cui's original form was just a red fox, which was a bit different from the fox in Ling Ziling's memory.

"The color is so monotonous. The little fox's tail is clearly two colors in circles, how come yours isn't?"

Xiao Cui couldn't stand it anymore. Although the pink-clad girl holding the whisk in front of her looked extraordinary, she couldn't tolerate being called ordinary-looking. She was one of the most beautiful women in the family. Otherwise, would her mother have betrothed her to Imperial Censor Wang as his daughter-in-law to repay his kindness?

Also, what breed of fox has a tail with a pattern that grows in concentric rings? Is that a fox? That thing is called a nine-section wolf!

Xiao Cui kicked her leg and broke free from Ling Ziling's grasp. After landing, a cloud of smoke appeared, and a lively and lovely girl appeared on the spot, hands on her hips.

"Where did this rude girl come from? Saying my fur is monotonous? Your fox has fur in all sorts of colors? Do you think it's a parrot?!"

Seeing the fox in her hand fall to the ground and suddenly appear as a living person, Ling Ziling was not surprised. Instead, she went up to argue with it.

"Of course there is! My former apprentice, Little Fox, is one. He has big, round eyes, a gray face, white fur, and a gray and yellow tail with long, spiraling tails!"

"...That must be the Nine-Section Wolf!"

"What nine-sectioned wolf? A little fox is a fox!"

"What kind of fox names itself Little Fox?"

Using one's own race as a name just doesn't sound right, does it? And nobody calls themselves Zhang Ren or Li Ren.

Although they were arguing, the topic of their argument had unknowingly veered off course. Neither of the girls was willing to back down, and they continued arguing about the off-topic subject.

As Liu Qingyuan and Zhao Shimingdeng descended the mountain from Lu Pan, the three of them saw two girls arguing at the foot of the mountain. One of them was lively and charming, wearing the latest style, but with her hands on her hips and a very imposing manner. They recognized her as the fox fairy Xiao Cui.

The other one, dressed in an exquisite pink dress adorned with numerous Tai Chi symbols and carrying a whisk decorated with pink ribbons, was also recognized as Ling Ziling.

Listening carefully, I found that the two of them were arguing about something really strange. They were talking about why a wolf with a tail that clearly has more than a dozen rings is called a nine-section wolf, why a fox's fur can't be as colorful as a parrot's, why Ling Ziling changed the black parts of the Tai Chi symbol to pink, and why Xiao Cui was crouching in the grass like a thief...

In short, the two girls were arguing about all sorts of things, but there didn't seem to be any main point, and bystanders couldn't understand how they started arguing.

"...What are you doing?"

"Immortal Master? Hmm..."

Xiao Cui turned around when she heard the sound, only to be startled to see Lu Pan with a ferocious face. She had no idea that there was a judge from the underworld here, and the argument stopped instantly.

Ling Ziling clearly knew the person opposite her, but she didn't respond. Her eyes darted around and she was about to run away when Gu Chen flew out from behind and stuck in the ground, blocking Ling Ziling's path.

"The ethereal spirit of Jade Shadow Immortal Dust is naturally spiritual?"

Seeing the girl in pink, Zhao Shiming was somewhat puzzled.

"Why are you here?"