Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

"This thing is still alive?"

Previously, when he saw Jian Feidao pull out the ladybugs one by one and kill them, Guo Shen thought that the problem was solved. But now, seeing that the strange bugs in the jar had come back to life, and watching these things rampage around inside, Guo Shen felt his scalp tingle.

Moreover, before today, the insect was inside his body, and he was completely unaware of it. Could it have been flying around like this while inside his body?

"Should we release them again?"

Ling Ziling tapped the jar. No wonder Guo Shen and the others hid so far away. Although these things resembled ladybugs, they were several times larger than ladybugs and didn't have many obvious patterns. They only had blurry lines formed by alternating solid and void patterns, as well as black smoke that kept emanating outwards.

The image of the can flying around is indeed not very visually appealing, especially considering that this thing was previously inserted into a human body.

"No need. I'll go to the capital with Jian Feidao. You and Xiao Cui will stay here."

Judging from the movement of these insects, it seems that the person who cast the spell behind them realized something was wrong and tried to control the insects to go back, but they were firmly sealed by the jar and the talisman. He and Jian Feidao are more than enough to deal with the enemies in the capital.

"Why can't I go?"

Ling Ziling even took out her peach wood sword, but she still couldn't go.

"You're in charge of finding the person who delivered the wine."

Liu Qingyuan picked up the jar containing the ladybugs, intending to set off immediately. With this, they could follow the clues to find the person who cast the curse; it was like a reverse navigation system.

Xiao Cui and Ling Ziling are both beautiful young women. In general, they don't appear threatening, and this makes them easier to blend into the crowd without arousing excessive suspicion from enemies.

If it were him and Jian Feidao who were to go and capture them, not to mention whether they could blend into the crowd, the other side would likely sense something was wrong and run away from 800 miles away as soon as they saw the two of them. In that case, it would take some effort to find them, like pulling out an insect.

It's impossible for just one old woman to deliver wine to get someone directly to the capital. There must have been spies observing the target ahead, and people responsible for carrying the unconscious scholar behind. And the old woman who delivered the wine might not even be an old woman at all.

"You're all back now, and the remaining two days should be around the same time. Calling you all out again today might have already caught their attention. I'd appreciate it if you gentlemen could follow Lingling and the others, listen carefully and observe closely, and you'll be able to find out what's going on."

The ladybugs were banging on the jar, making a loud thumping sound. Liu Qingyuan was getting annoyed. He shouldn't have used a transparent jar. He should have used a sealed jar with a rotating wheel, put the ladybugs in it, and let them spin around a few times. That would probably have calmed them down.

"This Master Lingling is a descendant of Zhang Tianshi, a member of the Zhengyi lineage of the Taiqing lineage in the Sanqing Dao realm... It seems a bit too long, and you probably wouldn't understand anyway. In any case, he is a legitimate Daoist innate master, more than capable of protecting you. That's all."

It's hard to say whether Xiao Cui is a fox spirit, but it has been mentioned before that she used to live in the capital and has shown some of her strange abilities, so there's no need to say anything more.

As a strong gust of wind blew by, the two people vanished from their spot, leaving only Ling Ziling and Xiao Cui, as well as a group of ordinary people who, for various reasons, were standing further and further away from each other.

"Actually, it's fine to finish the introduction. Our Dengdaoan is just a bit older in terms of tradition."

The lineage of ascending to the shore of enlightenment, from beginning to end, is indeed quite long. But doesn't that also demonstrate that her spiritual lineage is illustrious and that she is reliable in her work?

"Isn't your sect called the Ascending Dao Shore? How come you also have the Three Pure Ones Dao Realm?"

Liu Qingyuan's introduction was incomplete, and the jar in his hand kept rattling, creating noise interference. Apart from the already very familiar "successor of Zhang Tianshi," Xiao Cui could only make out the beginning "the Three Pure Ones Dao Realm," but even just the name of the Three Pure Ones was already quite impressive.

"The Taoist sect has the Three Pure Realms, which are divided into the Taiqing, Yuqing and Shangqing sects. Our Dengdao An is the Taiqing lineage, also known as the 'Zhengyi Tiandao', but it is only one of the branches."

"So, Lingling, you're pretty much like the Zhengyi sect here."

No wonder Ling Ziling's magical techniques are so similar to those of local Taoist priests. The Zhengyi School of Taoism mainly focuses on talismans, rituals, and exorcism. The prestige of this Taoist priest Ling Ling as a "successor of Zhang Tianshi" is still rising.

"What about the two immortal masters, Sword Master and Dao Sword?"

Anyway, they weren't in a hurry. Guo Shen and the other scholars were still carefully recalling some of the main characteristics of the old woman who delivered the wine. Xiao Cui simply asked about the specific identities of the others. The concept of the Daoist innate was a bit abstract for her. Although the concept of "spirit from spirit" was long, it was easier to understand.

"I'm not sure about Senior Jianzi's lineage. The Three Sects have been at the pinnacle of the martial world for a long time. But Jian Feidao, he's from the Supreme Palace..."

Ling Ziling suddenly stopped mid-sentence, as if she had suddenly realized something. She started counting on her fingers and stopped explaining to Xiao Cui.

"……What's wrong?"

"That's right, the Dao Sword belongs to the Supreme Palace..."

Ling Ziling swallowed hard and looked in the direction where Jian Feidao had disappeared.

"He is Laozi's direct descendant!"

……

"Clang!"

In a mountain villa on the outskirts of Beijing, everything on the table was swept off the table, and the sound of various utensils falling broke the original tranquility of the room.

"All six of them have been discovered? How is that possible!"

The speaker was a woman dressed as a maid. Although she wore ordinary maid clothes, her demeanor was nothing like that of someone who served a master. She was dressed like this just for show.

"There are no cultivators left in that city, and even the City God and judges don't care. So who caught the cursed insects I cast?"

The insects were placed on those scholars to facilitate future plans and actions. The scholars were chosen because they were in a no-man's-land. What happened? The six cursed insects lost contact within half a day. When she tried to cast the spell again, she found that her control had weakened and she couldn't summon them back.

"There aren't even any Taoist priests left there. Who's behind this? Those two from the East Sea?"

"Those two in the East China Sea are all involved in murder and robbery; they don't dare come ashore."

The speaker was a man who looked like a sorcerer in the corner. There were indeed some connections among the illegal transmigrators, and some would even cooperate on their own initiative. But in addition to cooperation, there was also competition among them. The system couldn't provide one-on-one assistance, so they had to fight for resources on their own.

"With the murderous aura and bloodlust emanating from those two guys, they can only hide in places like Haishi where all kinds of races live. Once they come ashore, they'll be sitting ducks."

"Who else could it be?"

"Who else could it be? Isn't there still that guy with the righteous name? The one who arrested Hongmei."

“Hongmei didn’t go to that city before; there are several roads between them. She’s been running around with the local Painted Skin Ghost. Does the one on the other side also run around like that?”

The "red plum" they were talking about was the illegal transmigrator whom Liu Qingyuan had unexpectedly encountered just a few days after arriving. She had used special methods to transform herself into a painted skin.

"If that woman hadn't been suddenly arrested, we wouldn't have needed to do all this."

The woman dressed as a maid sat back down, trying to control the ladybugs to respond. These ladybugs did indeed have a surveillance function and could provide feedback on the surrounding environment, but now she couldn't receive anything. It seemed that the six of them were trapped in one place, their signals blocked, and they couldn't get out.

"Everything was arranged, but there's no one there who can handle this. Who is this unexpected obstacle?!"

“He’s there, and we’re in the capital. Even if the one on the other side discovers us, he can’t get here. The captured scholar doesn’t even know what this place looks like. At most, we can just move to another city.”

Unlike his anxious companion, the sorcerer-like man seemed unhurried. In his view, the other side was in the open while they were in the dark. The two cities were separated by distance, and the captured scholar himself did not understand what had happened to him. Even if the other side captured the people in the city responsible for arresting people, they would not be able to find the capital.

By the time the other side traveled all the way to the capital, they had already left. Moreover, this was the Yan family's territory, where the Yan family held absolute power. They were hiding in the villa where the women lived, so no matter how hard they investigated, they couldn't find their way in.

"That Imperial Censor Wang has recently been reinstated; we'd better be careful."

"Why care so much about a mere censor?"

"He's not worth worrying about, but his stupid son Wang Yuanfeng is someone we need to watch out for. Didn't a fox spirit marry into his family?"

The two most common types of characters in the world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio are scholars and fox spirits. Despite their interference and sabotage, you can basically defeat them one by one.

Imperial Censor Wang had been impeached and dismissed from office before, but he was suddenly reinstated and even gained more favor from the emperor. This must be because of his fox spirit daughter-in-law.

"Forget about Censor Wang and Censor Zhang for now. The cursed insect has been captured and the plan has been interrupted. What do you suggest we do? There's a scholar named Guo among them. He's seen what this manor looks like. If it weren't for the fear of being discovered in the end, Madam probably wouldn't have let him go."

This villa was built in a very luxurious and distinctive manner, and it was very famous among the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital. They encouraged the other party to abandon the scholars in the capital and look for candidates in other cities, on the grounds that the scholars in the capital were more knowledgeable and would easily discover the true appearance of the "Heavenly Palace".

Previously, those arrested were locked in dark rooms, where illegal travelers took the opportunity to cast curses on them. When the people were sent back to their original cities, they had an extra informant there. Thinking that these scholars lived far away and their only trip to the capital might be for the imperial examination, the "fairy" who arrested them became bolder and even showed leniency towards Guo Shenkong.

"We used to have Hongmei's intelligence support, but now that Hongmei has been captured, and it's broad daylight, we can't rely on those two in the underworld. What do we do now?"

Having finally found such a good place in the capital, and with the Yan family's wives and concubines as her backers, she had no intention of giving up this place.

"That scholar surnamed Guo is just an ordinary person who has never seen the scenery of the capital. He actually believed in the celestial palace. Even if he tells us everything about this manor, we still won't be able to find it on the other side."

This logic is theoretically sound. There are countless villas in the capital, but Guo Shen has never seen any of them. In his eyes, the luxury here is like a heavenly palace, and the people he sees are like fairies. If you try to explain this to others, it will be difficult to connect it with real villas in reality, regardless of whether they believe it or not.

Meanwhile, the legitimate host on the other side immediately captured Hongmei, who was located further away. In such a short time, it wouldn't be enough for the other party to come to the capital and figure everything out. They were only discovered to have made some small moves, and they were still safe.

The theory is indeed correct, but none of the opponents played by the theory. The system that bound Liu Qingyuan was a disguise system that could split one person into several and carry out actions all over the country. The two competitors in the East China Sea had actually been arrested long ago, but they in the capital were unaware of it.

Coincidentally, while Liu Qingyuan and Guo Shen weren't very familiar with the capital, there was also Xiao Cui. She had been the daughter-in-law of Imperial Censor Wang for two years, had brought down political enemies, and had cured a fool. She knew very well who the famous people in the capital were, and which family had just made a famous purchase.

As for the issue of distance, talking about distance in front of a Primordial Being? Let me put it this way, apart from a small grove where entering would be 100% dangerous, there is no distance that a Primordial Being cannot cross.

"If all else fails, we can try another city. These days, the underworld is corrupt, the imperial court is corrupt, and there are plenty of lawless places out there, and scholars too..."

Suddenly, a beam of white light shone into the room. This light not only pierced through the window, but also shattered the vases and incense burners along the path, until finally leaving a deep mark on the wall.

"..."

The light almost grazed the sorcerer's face. Although it had no physical form, it sent a chill down his spine. The two people in the room were startled by this sudden turn of events, and for a moment they were so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"……what?"

After the silence, they turned around at the same time and looked at the place where the white light had last fallen. A deep, narrow mark was left on the wall, and judging from its shape, it looked like it was left by a sword.

This is not a method that an ordinary person could come up with; the attacker must either be highly skilled or have a system at their disposal.

"A sword? Could it be one of those Taoist priests from the capital?"

They hadn't considered people with similar attributes. The current emperor was a devout follower of Taoism, and the nobles of the capital naturally followed suit. There were many Taoists in the palace and the capital, some of whom were truly capable.

Such a sudden sword aura does indeed resemble the methods used by Taoist priests when exorcising demons, but they have always been hiding in the manor and have no dealings with these Taoist priests.

"Hongmei killed a noblewoman in the capital to change her skin. Could it be that family has come looking for her?"

"Even if we're looking, we should look for Hongmei. This isn't a place for just anyone to come in. Besides... there's no one outside."

The warlock walked to the window and peered through the hole in the paper window pierced by the white light. Through the tear, he could see no humanoid creatures outside; the sword energy seemed to have flown in from the sky.

If the gods in the heavens were to discover them, it wouldn't be as simple as just sending a sword aura. These people are disrupting the order of this world, and once they are caught by those in the heavens, it would definitely be a massive battle.

"Where did this come from? Oh no!"

Another beam of white light shot out, targeting the person who was looking out. He quickly turned to the side, and the white light left a bloody mark on his face before landing on the wooden cabinet in the room. This time, it was not just a sword mark; the cabinet door that was hit cracked open and broke into two pieces.

"Hiss—they're really coming for us."

Unlike Hongmei, who used various methods to transform herself into a real monster, or the two from the East Sea who played the murderous card and created a lot of karma, the two were perfectly normal from the perspective of demon hunters.

Excluding these possibilities, there's only one answer: the other side has a system, and it's legitimate and operating in a legal and formal manner, specifically designed to oppose them.

"We've made contact with the cursed insects; they're..."

In her shock, the woman suddenly discovered that her spell had returned to effect. She immediately ordered the other side to provide feedback, but the news she received was unbelievable.

"where?"

Seeing her expression, her companion had a bad feeling.

"...above us."