Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

With the two brought back today, all the scholars who mysteriously disappeared in the city have finally returned. The capital was indeed in a bit of a mess, but it won't cause too much of a stir. After all, this matter is not honorable, and no matter how much noise it causes, the parties involved will not actively spread it and become the subject of gossip.

But one thing is certain: the instigator in the capital has no time to worry about the people he has placed elsewhere, so the people here don't need to worry about retaliation at all. They can do whatever they want with the people they catch.

None of the arrested scholars came from prominent families, but some were wealthy. They couldn't confront high-ranking officials, but they could manipulate the county magistrate. Moreover, these scholars, for the sake of their reputations, only knew what had actually happened. As long as the charge of kidnapping was established, there was no need for further details.

"That's it? In the end, you still chose to settle things quietly?"

Ling Ziling raised the above question: The matter has been clarified. Someone has cursed him. Why is he not pursuing the matter? Why is the county magistrate trying to smooth things over? And the person involved is even cooperating with him. Why is he so unwilling to talk about being arrested by the wives and concubines of the high-ranking officials?

"Next year will be the new autumn imperial examination, followed by the spring imperial examination the year after that. They are afraid that this will affect their reputation. If they miss it, they will have to wait another three years."

Lianxiang came over and answered Ling Ziling's question. No wonder she looked at Ling Ziling strangely. She could see some of her abilities, but she couldn't figure out her specific methods. It turned out that she was on the same side as these two immortals. It was normal that she couldn't see through her.

"Lianxiang thanks Daojian Immortal Master. If it weren't for your guidance, we wouldn't know where to find Sister Li."

Miss Li hadn't appeared for so long, and it turned out she had been resurrected in the body of Miss Zhang. Who could have imagined this? Lianxiang had been a demon for so many years, and this was truly the first time she had ever seen someone be resurrected in such a passive way.

This situation was extremely rare, and besides advising Miss Li to go back with the Zhang family to recover, Lianxiang couldn't find anything else to say.

"I wonder if the two immortals have any insights on this matter? Sister Li... seems unwilling to do so."

It's not just that they were unwilling. Although Miss Li died young and became a ghost, her appearance was excellent both in life and after death. But this Miss Zhang was really not good-looking.

Miss Li originally wanted to go back with Sang Xiao, but when she looked at herself in the mirror, she realized that she had always felt inferior to the beautiful Lianxiang, and now she might as well be a wandering ghost again.

"Reincarnation is rare enough, and Miss Li's case is an exception. Unless you go to the underworld to find Miss Zhang and then find a judge who can handle this matter, you will not be able to separate them."

Actually, there's an even simpler and more efficient way. If Miss Li really doesn't want to be resurrected using Miss Zhang's body, then let her die again, and she'll naturally turn back into a ghost.

However, this method would harm Ms. Zhang's physical body, and the Zhang family would never agree to it. Their daughter is already dead, and you want to make her physical body die again? What a terrible idea! Even the King of Hell would have to give way to you.

"Young Master Sang was critically ill because of Miss Li's yin energy before, and you were all worried about it. Now that Miss Li is no longer a ghost and has become a living person, isn't the problem solved?"

Although she was resurrected in a confused state by borrowing someone else's body, just like when she died young and became a ghost in a confused state, no matter what, the current Miss Li is indeed a living person, with breath and yang energy, able to eat and drink, and no longer afraid that she will be passively harming people because of her identity as a ghost.

As for the matter of appearance, it's mainly because Lianxiang received guidance and found Miss Li earlier. Her soul and body still need time to adjust, and in a few more days, Miss Li's appearance should return.

Anyway, Liu Qingyuan's answer was basically that there was no solution. In Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a ghost turning into a human is considered a good thing, especially when a human and a ghost fall in love. If you want a happy ending, this racial issue must be resolved. After all, Sang Xiao cannot turn from a human into a ghost. Miss Li's unexpected transformation from a ghost into a human solves the worry that the ghost's yin energy will harm people.

"Although this body belongs to Miss Zhang, there is a connection between the soul and the body. If she can live in this body in the future, her appearance should become closer to Miss Li's original appearance. Let's just wait and see and let the Zhang family finish dealing with this matter."

Lianxiang bid farewell and left with Sang Xiao. Perhaps because Liu Qingyuan and Jian Feidao's appearances were quite different from ordinary people, Sang Xiao only dared to watch Lianxiang come over, while she hid in a corner.

He knew that Lianxiang was a fox spirit and Miss Li was a ghost, so when he saw people that Lianxiang knew, he didn't dare to guess what kind of creature they were, let alone go up and talk to them.

Sang Xiao was still afraid of gods and ghosts. Lianxiang and Miss Li were afraid because they had just been tricked by their friends and were in a stage where they did not believe in monsters. Later, after they developed feelings for them, they were no longer afraid of them. But if they did not know him, they would still be afraid.

"Master, what about the capital?"

With Lianxiang and the others gone, there was no need to stay at the yamen anymore. Xiaocui remembered that when the two of them had just returned, they said that the person in the capital who had cursed the scholar had run away. She was worried that the other side was continuing to cause trouble in the capital.

"The people who rescued them were very fast. Jian Feidao and I also tried to find them, but they are probably no longer within the capital city."

As for how many people saw them flying over the capital in broad daylight, let's not even mention that. Anyway, the purpose of this trip was to make themselves conspicuous. Nowadays, the emperor takes anything related to supernatural phenomena seriously. Even if they don't actively deal with the Yan family, the emperor can still investigate and give them a hard time.

“These guys keep coming one after another, and they probably have their own power organizations. We need to think about this carefully.”

While on the rooftop, he overheard the two men talking about red plum blossoms and painted skin. It sounded very much like the illegal time traveler he had accidentally caught when he first arrived, who had used special methods to turn himself into a painted skin. It seemed that they were in cahoots.

Xiao Cui and Ling Ziling also discovered that the old woman responsible for drugging the scholar had a disguised human skin on her face, and it wasn't made using ordinary techniques, but rather using the same technique that the Painted Skin Ghost used to create his own human skin.

The illegal transmigrators in this world are like cockroaches, lurking in groups in the shadows. If you see one in the open, it means there's a whole bunch more hiding in the dark.

To get rid of these "cockroaches" all at once, we can't just catch them one by one like we're dealing with wild monsters. We need to take a long-term approach and wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

"Since we've come all this way, why don't we stay and look around?"

Everyone was caught, and Ling Ziling destroyed the formation, but the remnants were still there. The scholar and the officials didn't know what those things were for. Seeing that the things drawn on them were destroyed, they thought they were useless.

These all involve the enemy's capabilities and characteristics. Liu Qingyuan wanted to clean everything up, including the ladybugs that were emitting black smoke, and to clean up every place in the city that might have been tampered with.

"Let's find an inn to stay in first. What are you doing, Jian Feidao?"

"Crush the silver into pieces, or the innkeeper won't have change... Why are you looking at me?"

Before he could finish speaking, Jian Feidao noticed that the other three people were all looking at him, their movements remarkably synchronized.

"Who said you can't make change, innkeeper?"

“Indeed, I used to live in the city, and the prices here are somewhat different from those in the Bitter Realm…”

"How could you not be able to find the change?"

Xiao Cui frowned. Jian Feidao's words made her feel that something was wrong. When did the inn start charging money and expecting guests to find their own solutions?

"Where are the silver scissors? Where are the steelyard? It's as big as a silver ingot, couldn't he just trim the edge?"

"The boss said the scissors were broken and he couldn't cut them."

"The scissors are specially made, how could they not cut?"

The more Xiao Cui listened, the more she felt something was wrong. How could someone who runs an inn not have a lot of money-collecting and money-counting tools? The thing these business people fear most is losing money. They would even have eight abacuses on hand, just in case someone tries to take advantage of them.

Even if there really weren't any usable tools, the shopkeeper could have just said that gold ingots were hard to collect and that broken silver pieces were needed. With a little guidance, wouldn't it have been easy to break the gold ingots on the spot with other things, like crushing them or scraping off an edge with a sword? Wait a minute, did the shopkeeper not say anything about how to break the silver pieces apart?

"The smelting techniques in the Bitter Realm are more advanced, and perhaps their metals are indeed harder than those here... Senior?"

Liu Qingyuan pulled Jian Feidao's arm and gestured for him to point the way.

"It seems that not only Lingling's divination skills have been affected, but your keen eyesight has too. Let's go and have a chat with that innkeeper."

……

In the mountains not far from the capital, there were three people. Two of them were panting heavily, as if they had just gone through an escape. They had many wounds on their bodies, but they had no time to care about them. After catching their breath, they first looked around to make sure they were really safe.

"...They really escaped?"

Looking into the deep forest, with no sound of sword energy cutting through the air and no longer any oppressive white-clad figures before them, they had truly escaped.

It's ironic, really. They weren't exactly good people before. They made a pact with an illegal system to wreak havoc on the world. In terms of their actions, they were the real villains. Now, they're being chased like dogs by the good guys.

"Two sword immortals... What kind of game is this? Just because it's legal doesn't mean you can use cheats at will?!"

Although I had heard that those legitimate alliances offer a lot of advantages because they have established alliances, and the lucky ones can just plow through like they have a cheat code, the other side is still just one person, and it is not impossible for them to band together and turn the tables.

What's going on today? Not only did two of them appear, but they can fly too, and with a single sword strike they can destroy houses and roofs. Where did these two sword immortals from the world of immortals and heroes come from?

Liu Qingyuan: Actually, we are martial arts heroes.

They thought that by hiding in the home of a high-ranking official's wife, few people would enter or leave the backyard. One of them was a maid, and the other was in charge of raising a sorcerer. They could avoid most people with profound spiritual power and even persuade the mistress to cooperate with their actions. Who would have thought that the person on the other side was so powerful? They came directly to them.

If it weren't for someone's help, the two of them would have really been waiting to die. But they didn't recognize any of the people who helped them, and their appearance was very strange, looking even more like they had traveled from another time than the two of them.

His appearance was strange. It wasn't that he was ugly, but his attire, from head to toe, didn't fit the style of either side. He looked even more unique than the two incredibly powerful sword immortals on the other side.

"Thank you so much for saving our lives, sir. We..."

"No need for thanks."

Unlike the two panting and disheveled individuals, the savior who suddenly appeared simply leaned against the tree trunk, his breathing perfectly steady, as if he were just an ordinary passerby who had stopped to watch the commotion.

But this person didn't look like an ordinary passerby. When he came to the rescue, the two of them only saw large patches of red, which almost made them think that their companion had been splattered with blood. Before they could think any further, the scene before their eyes spun around, and the person who had just been running for his life appeared in this deep forest.

Only then did they realize that the large patch of crimson blood they had seen earlier wasn't real blood, but rather the man's robes fluttering in the wind. They had been too flustered to notice anything else before, but now that they had calmed down, they could properly observe this benefactor with his unusual appearance.

This blood-red outfit is extremely gorgeous, with a gilded collar, gemstone embellishments, and dark red sleeves covered with sequin-like decorations that shimmer and sparkle whenever light shines on them, making it extremely eye-catching.

Wearing a red outfit, but with white hair tied in a high ponytail, with a long strand of hair left on the right side of her face to cover part of her face, and some short wisps of hair on her bangs, with a few strands of red mixed in with her white hair.

With his striking red outfit and high-tied hair, the eye-catching and highly recognizable look of this outfit has overshadowed the importance of his appearance itself. But that's not all; his appearance is equally striking.

With strikingly handsome and otherworldly features, distinctive red eyebrows, and a pair of large, long, elf-like ears, anyone who saw him would have to say that he was definitely not human.

Moreover, whether it was his flamboyant red outfit or something else, this person always exuded an evil aura and a sense of murderous intent. Compared to the other two illegal transmigrators who were beaten and fled in a sorry state, he seemed more like someone who had come to be the villain.

I do not save useless people.

The man in red straightened up and approached the two.

"But I'm very interested in what you're doing."

"...Where does our benefactor come from?"

Looking at their Chinese-Western, fantasy-magic hybrid style, no one would believe they're from the original Liaozhai. They're either fellow travelers from another time or came here for some other reason. They don't seem like good people, yet they saved them. Let's just consider them as fellow travelers for now.

The other party said they were interested in what they were doing, which definitely didn't refer to kidnapping scholars for others. The only thing that could be considered special was their fundamental mission as illegal transmigrators: to destroy the world.

"Eastern Japan".

"So you're a Japanese... cough, a Japanese person who's living a good life."

It doesn't look like it at all. They've seen Japanese pirates overseas, but the style of this guy doesn't look like he's from Japan. He looks more like he's from a Japanese manga.

"Don't be too wary. I am indeed not from Japan. Your actions are frivolous, but your purpose is somewhat meaningful."

"I wonder what my benefactor's name is..."

Judging from what they said, they probably wanted to join them. People with such strength would naturally be eager to join, but their identities were unknown, and they didn't even know their name yet.

"...Asura King."

The two, who expected to hear a name with a very Japanese art style: ... Mystery solved, this big shot really is from a manga.