Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Two white figures descended from directly above the house, like two birds in flight, without making a sound.

"The first time was with Painted Skin, the last time was in a mirage, and this time it's in someone else's woman's backyard. They're all really good at hiding."

In three different situations, he transformed himself into one of the monsters, using a shield-like appearance to obscure his vision; blending into the diverse community of the sea city allowed him to weaken his own presence; and hiding in the backyard of a mortal woman's family prevented him from meeting most capable individuals.

This group of people exploited three different loopholes from three different angles. This generation of illegal time travelers is truly getting better and better at hiding; they're really showing off their talent.

However, since the people opposite are hiding in a house, we can't just cleave them all down with one sword. This is a manor for ordinary people, and they are currently separated from the ordinary maids and servants in the manor by only one wall. If the battle becomes too large, we might accidentally hurt them.

Moreover, there are many practitioners in the capital. If you unleash a powerful attack in the home of such a powerful person, you are very likely to be mistaken for someone looking for trouble, and you will have to spend a lot of time explaining yourself.

"Not coming out? Then we'll have to use some methods."

They tentatively stabbed twice, but no one came out. The door and windows were locked from the inside. Of course, they could break through the windows and doors and go in directly, but that would be pointless and would make them look like thugs trespassing.

So Liu Qingyuan opened the jar and let the ladybugs fly out, directly telling them that they were there. As soon as the ladybugs came out, they wanted to continue following the previous instructions and fly down to find the source of the spell, but they quickly stopped and even froze in the air without moving.

It seems the people inside have received the message and discovered that the enemy is standing right above them. Such rapid information feedback makes one wonder why these insects were planted on the scholar.

"Although we cannot make a big fuss and affect ordinary people, it is perfectly fine to poke a few holes in this house."

Gu Chen had already drawn his sword. They stood on the rooftop, the tip of Gu Chen's sword pointing downwards. He could unleash the same sword energy many more times. If the people inside didn't come out, they could only hide in very limited spaces, and sooner or later they would all be pierced with holes.

"Sword Without Dao, wanna play whack-a-mole?"

Liu Qingyuan is not controlling the volume at all. The system can block out the hearing of ordinary people for the time being, so there is no need to worry about attracting others. He is now speaking specifically to the people inside the room.

"...Senior, this shouldn't count as playing whack-a-mole."

"That's about right. As long as you can hit the target at the bottom, that's fine. Gu Chen, make sure you aim."

"Does he treat us like toys?!"

The people inside the house heard this. Although they were furious, they couldn't think of a solution in a short time. Judging from the two sword energies just now, the strength of the opponent was obviously stronger than theirs, and judging from their words, there was more than one person there.

However, the legitimate system only signs one contract at a time. This is the consensus of all those in the know and also the operating rule of the other side. So what is that colleague on the roof?

"Hurry up, find a way to escape."

The warlock wiped the blood from his face; he had no desire to play cat and mouse with the enemy here, especially when he was the "mouse."

"Running away is a joke! Look at that cabinet. Do you think either of us is harder than a solid wood cabinet?"

Upon discovering the enemy was on the roof, the woman was so frightened that she severed her connection with the cursed insects. Those insects were indeed the cursed insects she had placed inside the scholar's body. At most, half an hour had passed since she discovered the problem with the cursed insects, yet the enemy had arrived here directly and found them right above their heads.

A single sword strike cleaved the solid wood cabinet door in two. What kind of fantasy world did this guy come from? They've been plotting and scheming, and the other side just sent out a sword immortal! What's the point of all this?!

She wasn't saying she didn't want to run, but she had to run, not go and die. Besides, for illegal transmigrators like them, it's fine if they just hide and cause trouble. But once they're spotted and marked by the official system, even if they manage to escape this time, they'll be easily found again in the future. If they want to do something big again, they'll have to think about many more things.

Moreover, this world is very special. Under the Heavenly Dao, there are orthodox gods who assist in managing the world, and the formal system will also cooperate with them. If the appearance information of two people is transmitted to the local gods, such as the City God, the Earth God, the River God, the Mountain God, etc., they will be wanted by name and have nowhere to hide.

Only then did she realize why her companion Hongmei was willing to make herself look neither human nor ghost in order to obtain the identity of the Painted Skin. By becoming the Painted Skin and abandoning her original appearance, she could escape once and have a completely new identity.

Unfortunately, Hongmei, who now seems to have the most foresight, is the one who collapses the fastest among this group of illegal transmigrators, and she was even found by Liu Qingyuan by chance. It can only be said that fate is truly strange.

"What about your spells? You could at least conjure a shield, right?"

Seeing that sword energy was already piercing down, the woman fled in a sorry state, but she didn't forget to urge her companion to think of a way. The opponent was also a magic user, so surely they must have some kind of defensive means? It doesn't need to be anything powerful, just enough to ensure that the two of them wouldn't be killed by the opponent.

In any case, while the other side isn't planning to demolish the house right away, we should quickly think of a way to leave.

"If I had that ability, I would have left long ago. If I can use sword energy, I can definitely do something even more powerful... damn it!"

Unable to dodge in time, the people inside the house were stabbed by the sword energy again. The person on the roof was very skilled. The sword energy was exceptionally sharp. Although it had no physical form, it could cut through iron like mud. It pierced through the roof tiles and the stone bricks on the ground as easily as stabbing tofu. However, it avoided all parts that might damage the load-bearing structure of the house, keeping them trapped like turtles in a jar.

"Forget it, let's just run!"

They couldn't take it anymore. Let's run! There's more than one way out the door. They're not sure they can't escape.

"Oh, so you two have decided to come out?"

Seeing the two figures fleeing separately, Liu Qingyuan and Jian Feidao were not in a hurry to give chase. At present, the plan had only just begun.

……

"You guys are really carefree to drink alcohol given to you by strangers."

This is the umpteenth time Ling Ziling has made such a remark. Strangers bring wine to their door, and they drink it without even testing it for poison. In a sense, these people are truly blessed and have a long life. Although the scholars in Liaozhai are not very good at fighting, they are really resilient and have a strong vitality.

"Why don't you all write down your birth dates and times after this is over? I feel that the birth dates and times of all of you are quite strong."

Although they were tasked with making an arrest, the target was difficult to identify. After recalling what they had seen, they realized it was just an ordinary old woman. There were one or two such women on the street at a glance, so she was hardly a distinguishing feature.

The only clue is the pot of wine that was said to be very fragrant and irresistible, but no one left the pot, including the two scholars who have not yet returned.

"Finding people isn't my forte. This kind of thing should be left to Qin Jiaxian..."

Ling Ziling muttered to herself as she walked. Because the scholars lived in different places, she and Xiao Cui split up and each led a few people to search in two different directions.

Such aimless searching should have yielded no results, but before that, they had already cleaned the cursed worms from the scholar's body, and someone had gone to the capital to deal with the source. If they could transport a person away within half a day, there must be capable people in the city who could go along to meet them.

If something happens in the capital, the people here responsible for receiving instructions will definitely notice it, and they'll see who's most panicked and go to them first.

"There's some movement."

"...Uh, where?"

They were standing on the street, surrounded by people coming and going, when Ling Ziling suddenly said something that left everyone quite puzzled.

"It's not here. There's some noise at someone's door. When I went to look for you before, I left talismans at each door."

Although the county magistrate did not take the scholar's disappearance seriously, it did not mean that the person responsible for it was no longer concerned. Guo Shen, accompanied by two girls, went door to door to look for the scholar, bringing all the scholars he had encountered to his home. Such actions were worth investigating in the eyes of those who were interested.

So when she pulled away the skeptical scholar, Lingziling put up a talisman in front of their door. If someone came to the door that day, and it wasn't a formal knocking visit, the talisman would be triggered, telling her that something was wrong.

How could you possibly find someone by searching the whole street? This place isn't like the Bitter Realm. Those without scenes are basically just background characters, while those with scenes have different outfits and are constantly being shown on camera.

"It looks like something is on fire."

The way the spirit-inspired talisman communicates is also very traditional: it burns automatically, leaving only a small pile of ashes in place. Among those who come to check, some can smell the burning talisman.

However, because it burned so quickly, he was the only one who smelled something was wrong.

There are no open flames here.

The person leading the group was an elderly woman, but she moved with surprising speed, unlike what one would expect from an elderly person. The people behind her clearly followed her lead. If Guo Shen and his companions were to identify her, they would recognize that the woman who had brought them the wine earlier was indeed this elderly woman.

Now, this man is nothing like the kind and amiable person he was when delivering wine; when he lectures people, no one dares to argue with him.

“You all said you wouldn’t pursue this, so why did you all leave today? There must be something wrong. Are you sure you didn’t leave any clues? If something goes wrong, the boss will definitely not let you off the hook. Keep investigating!”

"What to check?"

"What else can we investigate? How did they suddenly gather together today, and what about those two girls we've never seen before... Who are they?!"

No, the voice that just asked the question was that of a young woman, but there are no young women in their line of work!

"Get out quickly!"

What they do is shady. If they are caught and exposed, their masters in the capital will not save them. They will only cut off contact with this place in order to protect their own reputation, and they will be abandoned as pawns.

"Hey, don't go."

Watching the group run away so swiftly and efficiently, Ling Ziling shook her head. Trying to outrun them would be pointless; it would only invite trouble.

The old woman herself was a trained fighter, and her face was all a disguise. She was actually much younger than she looked, and she was accompanied by people who specialized in kidnapping. Naturally, they were also quite skilled. Judging from the voices of the people opposite her, they were just young girls. How much strength could a girl that age have? So, in her opinion, as long as they retreated quickly enough, they could escape safely.

Ling Ziling followed behind without making a sound, and was able to use her own advantages to take some unusual routes. From the old woman's perspective, no one was chasing her, and the little girl who had only been heard but not seen before had long since disappeared.

But she didn't stop. She led her people back to the base she used to contact the capital. Only when she returned there was she safe.

"Weren't those two girls with the scholar on the street? How come they're back there again?"

Although they only heard their voices and never actually saw Xiao Cui and Ling Ziling, it was unlikely that daughters from ordinary families would suddenly appear in the homes of other scholars, especially at such a critical juncture. It could only be those two girls who accompanied Guo Shen on his visit today, whose identities were unknown.

"Of those two girls, one is carrying a whisk and is decorated with many Tai Chi patterns. Could it be...?"

Some speculated that since they were helping big shots in the capital to arrest people and even used special methods, they naturally understood that strange and supernatural things existed in this world, and there were many capable and extraordinary people. Ling Ziling's attire made it easy to see her connection to Taoism, and if she also knew some magic, it seemed reasonable.

"You're a female Taoist priest? The Song family drove away the Taoist priest who told their fortune, and they've caused trouble for all the Taoist priests in the city. Their reputation is already ruined. Are there any Taoist priests who would want to come here?"

Not only were there no legitimate Taoist priests in the town, but there weren't even any swindlers or con artists either. This shows how much the Song family used to dislike Taoist priests. Taoist priests didn't work alone; they had connections between different sects. Generally, Taoist priests wouldn't want to come here to cause trouble for the Song family.

Ordinary Taoist priests wouldn't come, but today is different. Ling Ziling is from Class Two. She's neither a local Taoist priest nor afraid of the Song family causing trouble. She can come and go as she pleases without any worries.

Of course, this also includes this "headquarters".

"You caught it already?"

When Xiao Cui arrived after receiving Ling Ziling's message, the situation had already been resolved. The people on the ground were lying haphazardly, their bodies tightly bound, and each had a yellow talisman sealing their mouths. Ling Ziling herself was holding a peach wood sword, as if she was about to destroy something.

It's hard to imagine that such a scene was created by a young girl. Apart from an old woman who seemed to be in disguise, the people lying on the ground were all tall and strong men. Compared to them, the girlish Ling Ziling appeared even more fragile.

"They're just ordinary people; a few moves and they're down."

Ling Ziling fixed her gaze on a certain direction, then swung the peach wood sword down, and the wall in front of her cracked open, revealing the space inside.

The inside of the wall is hollow, with strange runes drawn in cinnabar. They are not Taoist talismans, but rather resemble some folk incantations.

"This is the mezzanine, and the other side is the cellar. The cellar is probably connected to other places. They brought the unconscious person here and then used special magic to transfer them."

It's somewhat like a teleportation array, probably the ability of illegal travelers. With this, it's only a matter of an instant to send someone from here to the capital. The time-consuming steps are bringing the person here, receiving the goods on the other side, and then bringing them into the house prepared by the villa. All in all, it only takes half a day.

The key technology is the illegal transmigrators. These people here are just assistants. They've also found the drugged wine and stored quite a lot of it. Who knows how many more people they'll kidnap in the future.

"What should we do with these people? Hand them over to the immortal master?"

"No, throw them all to the government office."

"...Won't the government handle this?"

Ling Ziling's decision surprised Xiao Cui. This place was no longer under anyone's jurisdiction, so what difference was there between throwing them to the yamen and letting them go?

"I didn't let them manage it, I just wanted to scare them."

The capital is definitely in chaos. These people here have lost their backers and will have to be dealt with sooner or later. But we don't know the exact situation yet. There's not much to investigate, so we might as well use it to scare the county magistrate.

"In that case, the county magistrate must be quite busy right now."

"what happened?"

"I heard that a family's daughter died and came back to life. When she opened her eyes, she said she was the daughter of a magistrate named Li. A woman came to their house and said she was the girl's sister. There was also a scholar who said he was their lover. Anyway, it was all a mess."

There were no Taoist priests in the city, and the Zhang family only had one daughter, so in the end they had no choice but to go to the county magistrate. With all sorts of demons, ghosts, and humans around, things got really chaotic.

"That's certainly quite busy."