Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

"You have truly inherited my swordsman's teachings. As your friend, I am very pleased."

Although he was ridiculed by everyone, even his weapon was mentioned, it didn't matter. As long as he wasn't embarrassed, there was no embarrassment. He wasn't afraid of being shameless.

The Third Prince didn't quite understand, but the unanimous phrase "full of black water" didn't need any further explanation. He wanted to continue the conversation when a maidservant came over and whispered something to him. The Third Prince apologized to everyone and left.

Not far from the main hall, at a corner, the Third Prince met the person who had called him out—his dragon sister.

"About those people..."

"No."

The Dragon Girl had barely opened her mouth, before she could even say what she wanted to do, when the Third Prince decisively rejected her.

"...I haven't said what it is yet."

"I know what I'm going to do even if you don't tell me. You saw those people; they're all cultivators, not fit to be your consort."

He was hiding around the corner just now, don't think he couldn't see you.

"What if they're willing? Have your father ask him for me, that guy in the golden robe..."

"It can't be done, it really can't be done."

The Third Prince raised both hands high to avoid his younger sister's attempt to cling to his arms and act coquettishly. He then stepped back and turned to the side, making it impossible for the Dragon Girl to pounce on him.

Without him, only familiar with Seoul.

"More than two hundred years ago, you said you had a desire for a mortal life and asked your father to choose a virtuous and talented consort for you. More than two hundred years have passed, and you still haven't taken a liking to any of them."

At this point, the Third Prince sighed. The Dragon King of the East Sea had many daughters, but only this one was truly favored and had the confidence to act recklessly. There was another one before, who was slightly less favored and the youngest, but due to various conflicts, she eventually went to cultivate Buddhism.

With this advantage, the other party's relationship with the dragon princes is closer to that of ordinary siblings, and most of the time when she says "dragon girl sister", she is referring to the one in front of her.

The Dragon King naturally gave his daughter whatever she wanted, as she was given special treatment. When she said she wanted a good husband, he would carefully select one. There were countless men who wanted to be the Dragon King's son-in-law, but the Dragon Girl didn't like any of them.

"I don't want any from the sea!"

The Dragon Girl had a lot to say about this. All the candidates for the prince consort were monsters found in the sea. Their prototypes could be seen three times over after swimming around in the sea, and some could even be seen on the dinner table. The Dragon Girl was really tired of seeing them.

"Then what do you want? Something from the fire?"

The Third Prince also had a lot to say about this. Since it was about finding a consort, it meant the Dragon Princess didn't want to marry outside the palace and would continue to live there after marriage. The man would marry into the Dragon Palace, which is in the sea, so naturally, finding a consort who was also a member of the sea tribe would be most suitable.

"Couldn't it be something from land? Like humans or something?"

"...You should read less of those mortal novels and stop imitating your sisters. How many years do mortals even live? What good is a prince consort like that?"

The title "Dragon Girl" does not refer to just one woman, but rather to all the female relatives of the Dragon King, including daughters, nieces, and sisters. The love between Dragon Girls and mortals has always been a popular theme, and most folk literature about Dragon Girls portrays them as falling in love with mortals. Except for one who had a connection with Buddhism and followed a Bodhisattva, the rest are all typical examples of love-struck women who throw themselves at mortals.

This stylistic trend clearly influenced the world of Liaozhai, both in mortal folk tales and in the actual Dragon Palace.

The Dragon King doted on this daughter perhaps because, among all his dragon daughters, she was the only one who didn't want to run away. After all, among the dragon daughters who did want to leave, those from the East Sea made up a large proportion. Correspondingly, the various legends and stories about the Dragon King and his sons also largely originated from the East Sea.

Dragon King of the East Sea: Why did something happen in the East Sea? Are you determined to catch me and make an example of me?

"What if they have cultivation..."

Since mortal lifespans are too short, they seek out those with cultivation. It's not uncommon for people to set their sights on celestial lords; there are countless precedents in the family.

"These immortals are all gods from beyond heaven and earth. They are just traveling here and won't stay for more than a few years. Give up."

Unexpectedly, the Dragon Girl brought the topic back to the present with a few words. He admitted that these immortals were all incredibly handsome and skilled in combat, making them excellent candidates to be prince consorts.

First of all, they are all cultivators. Although it is unknown whether the Taoist sects on the other side have any requirements for this place, the Dragon Girl's requirements are inappropriate in themselves. Moreover, these people are not even natives of this world; they are truly from two different worlds.

"If you don't like the sea monsters, there are the offspring of the other three sea dragon kings, or the dragon kings of the land rivers."

The reason we didn't look for these people at first was that in most cases, it was just a daughter marrying into another family, with the other side only having the title of "son-in-law" and then becoming someone else's wife, rather than the daughter marrying into the "dragon palace" from the beginning and living with her family. It was more like a marriage alliance.

The Dragon Girl made it clear from the beginning that what she wanted was a prince consort who could stay with her in the East Sea. Of course, she would choose one from among the powerful demons in the East Sea. Her goal was for the man to not only want to curry favor with the Dragon King but also be willing to marry into the Dragon Palace. This way, the Dragon Girl wouldn't have to leave home to get married, and the prince consort wouldn't dare to cause trouble while living in the Dragon Palace. The Dragon Girl wouldn't be bullied.

Moreover, judging from the way the Dragon Girl is choosing a husband, she doesn't seem to want a husband to share life with. Instead, she seems to have read too many random books and suddenly become interested in having a pet to relieve her boredom.

However, this mentality is not surprising when applied to dragons. The dragon race has all sorts of examples, and nothing is considered out of line.

"The Dragon King of the River? Does that mean I'd become the Third Lady of Dongting Lake?"

Upon hearing this, the Dragon Girl showed a disgusted expression. The Third Sister, the daughter of the Dragon King of Dongting Lake, was abused in every way after marrying the second son of the Dragon King of Jingyang River. She was finally rescued by a kind mortal who delivered a message to the Dragon King of Dongting Lake.

Then, the Third Sister devoted herself to saving her mortal, but the mortal only helped her out of pity and did not accept her love proposal. This is another classic example of a dragon girl throwing herself at someone.

And to be honest, the dragon girl was getting a little tired of seeing dragons of her own kind or other creatures in the sea. Couldn't they broaden their thinking and step outside the realm of aquatic life?

Third Prince: You want a consort who will live with you in the sea, but you don't want to be born into an aquatic race. Isn't that a bit unreasonable?

"Why don't you give up on finding a consort? I'll go and suggest to my father later that we raise a few seahorses for you?"

The Dragon Palace has a special structure, so there's no need to worry about the seawater. But the requirements can't be this demanding. Although this little sister's thoughtfulness in not running away from the palace is commendable, they live under the East Sea, and it's really hard to find someone from the land who is willing to live in the sea to marry into the Dragon Palace and become the Dragon Princess's husband.

"Isn't this still in the sea?"

"Then how about I find you a few quails to keep, ones that can live on land and in water, three-legged ones?"

Lucu is a toad.

"...Couldn't we just ask someone else?"

"What's so great about humans? I don't see it at all."

Those at the banquet don't count. The Third Prince here mainly refers to ordinary people without any cultivation. Although there are some capable people among them, they are far inferior to dragons.

"Is it because you, brother, have suffered losses at the hands of humans?"

"...Don't stay here. Go back to your room and look at that pile of storybooks, or go mess with your older brothers."

Sure enough, the only thing a sister can use to make her brother hard is her fist.

Whether the Dragon Girl genuinely wants a suitable husband or simply finds life in the Dragon Palace boring and thinks having a consort would relieve her boredom is uncertain. The only certainty is that her future consort is currently in a bad mood.

"Ugh……"

On the surface of the East China Sea, in the distant Great Rakshasa Kingdom, Ma Ji washed off the paint from his face and sighed as he looked at the black water in the basin.

"That's ridiculous."

Ever since he came to the capital to see the "most beautiful people" in the Rakshasa Kingdom, and saw the extraordinary-looking nobleman, the people in the capital also thought he was extraordinary, and his fame spread instantly.

At the time, Ma Ji thought this was a good thing. If high-ranking officials were curious about him, he could take the opportunity to visit them and become a guest. Having a safe place to stay was much better than scaring people around and picking up other people's food.

These high-ranking officials were indeed curious about him, but by the country's aesthetic standards, Ma Ji was simply too frightening to look at. When they came to invite him, they all scrambled to see him, but when they actually arrived at the door, the people on the other side were so frightened that they didn't even dare to open the door. This happened to several families in a row.

Finally, an old man who looked like a hedgehog with bulging eyes opened the door. The reason was simple: he had been a diplomat in his youth and had seen all sorts of strange and unusual people, so he wasn't afraid of Ma Ji.

Ma Ji, who was described as having a strange and even frightening appearance, just smiled and didn't say anything.

The old man was very hospitable and hosted a banquet for Ma Ji, where there was singing and dancing.

Well, it's about the aesthetics of the Rakshasa Kingdom. In Ma Ji's eyes, these so-called beauties are no different from Yakshas and monsters. It's not that they're ugly, because he doesn't dare to look at them at all. As for the music... to quote a line from a famous work, it was so grating and unpleasant to listen to, like a soul-calling ritual. It made Ma Ji, who was knowledgeable about music theory and opera, almost breathe his last.

At this moment, the old man asked Ma Ji if his country had such a beautiful tune. This was indeed the right person to ask, as Ma Ji himself could sing opera, and sang very well. So he sang a few lines on the spot. The old man was amazed and wanted to recommend him to the king.

Given this trend, Ma Ji would soon rise to prominence in the Great Rakshasa Kingdom. However, this was the Rakshasa Kingdom, and their aesthetic sense was exactly the opposite of Ma Ji's. The king's right-hand men thought he was too ugly and frightening, and fearing that he would frighten the king, they directly rejected the idea.

Once again, Ma Ji was described as incredibly ugly by a group of people who didn't even look human: I really want to say something, like swear words.

With his path to success shortened, Ma Ji had no choice but to continue living at the old man's house. The two got along very well, and one day when he was drunk, he painted his face black and danced as Zhang Fei, an act that surprised the old man.

In his eyes, Ma Ji was originally extremely ugly, but with this makeup, he had become incredibly handsome—a truly miraculous transformation. He believed that if Ma Ji were to meet him in this appearance, he would surely be highly regarded.

Zhang Fei: I also want to say a few swear words.

After that, whenever Ma Ji went out to perform, he would blacken his face and even abandon his original repertoire, learning to sing unpleasant tunes like those of a soul-calling singer from local courtesans.

With these connections, he rose through the ranks and quickly became one of the most powerful people in the country.

Looking at the black water in the basin that didn't reflect his image, Ma Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was born into a good family and was good-looking, and had been praised by those around him since childhood. But here, everyone said he was ugly and feared him like a demon. If he wanted wealth and honor, he could only paint his face black and become a clown.

Although he was promoted and ennobled, Ma Ji was not a citizen of the Great Rakshasa Kingdom, and he could not integrate into the court there. After the joy of becoming a superior person cooled down, he realized how absurd it was that he had painted his face black and imitated the local ghosts' cries to perform for the high-ranking officials.

Perhaps, he should leave.

……

"I am bored."

Far inland, Xiao Cui transformed into her original form and lay on the stone table, her entire fox spread out on it like a fox fur tablecloth.

"The Immortal Master is not here, Lingling is not here either, and Sister Ning can't come out. How boring."

In the past, she had Yuanfeng to play with at the Imperial Censor Wang's house. After leaving the capital, she hadn't even had time to recover from the novelty of returning to the deep mountains when she met Liu Qingyuan. This experience was a baptism of her values ​​and a test of her mental resilience. Once she got used to this special kind of noise and commotion, everyone suddenly left, and Xiao Cui couldn't find anything to do, so she started to get bored.

Although there are still lanterns here, this person is usually very quiet and has a very stable temperament. Xiao Cui only knows that he is skilled in medicine and blacksmithing, and that he has a certain obsession with lighting and hanging lanterns. That's all.

"Daoist Master, when will Immortal Sword Master and the others return?"

Looking back now, it seems like all sorts of unexpected events were chasing after each other. Once this person left, the monsters stopped causing trouble, the rogues were frightened into submission by the heavenly lightning, and even that very frightening-looking judge returned to the underworld and disappeared without a trace.

Why doesn't she go somewhere far away and talk to that clansman named Hongyu, or go see what's going on with that Miss Li who was unexpectedly resurrected? In the end, how will the one, the ghost, and the fox live their lives?

If none of these work, then her only remaining source of amusement is to imitate other little monsters and scare the scholars at night.

"Jianzi and the others are heading to the East Sea, which is a long journey, and it will probably take them some time."

The journey itself isn't the problem; what really takes up time are all sorts of things.

"Taoist priest, aren't you bored?"

"It is rare to have such a peaceful time; we should cherish it."

Who is the Illuminating Lamp? It is a being who can live alone in the dark, without needing much of a camera's assistance. Such quiet moments are the most precious.

After all, as a naturally born human, going to heaven, going underground, and going to the sea are not problems, but it is somewhat difficult to have a peaceful life and a good end.

"Fortunately, this is not a place of hardship, so at least we don't have to worry about Jianzi and the others suddenly coming back covered in blood or missing limbs."

"...Please don't say such terrible things with a smile."

Every time I think about it, I can't help but marvel at how dangerous the places where Taoist priests live are.

Just then, a voice broke in; it was a completely unfamiliar voice.

"A dream of locust roots, mountains and rivers far away, mist and rain in the netherworld, good and bad alike. Alone I tread the clouds beyond the heavens, leaning on the railing to listen to the celestial music falling from the wind."

The spirits far away in the East China Sea are on high alert.