Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Forced by Ren Yunzong's force, the White Lotus Sect sorcerer obediently confessed his crimes... How could that be?

"boom!"

"A monster! There's a monster!"

Just as the crime was confirmed and the other party was asked to turn the disciple back, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the yamen. People were heard running away in panic, shouting that there were monsters. Ren Yunzong first sensed the surroundings and found that there was no place with too strong demonic energy. There were no powerful monsters here.

But people outside were shouting that there was a monster, and the ground was shaking rhythmically. Ren Yunzong glanced at the silent monk, went out to see, and saw a giant walking towards them from a distance. The surrounding people were terrified and in chaos.

The giant was as tall as a tree, with eyes the size of bowls and a mouth the size of a basin. Its face was ferocious and terrifying, and the teeth that were exposed when it opened its mouth were estimated to be a foot long. No one would doubt that this thing ate people.

The giant was heading straight for this place. Although the people around him were shouting that it was a monster, Ren Yunzong was certain that this terrifying giant was not a monster at all. It was actually an illusion that made the real seem real.

Is it fake? In Ren Yunzong's eyes, this thing is indeed very fake. It looks like it is about to swallow people, but there is nothing inside and no one has actually been captured. Even if someone is eaten, the giant is just an empty shell that looks scary. The effect is not much different from putting a person into a big sack and carrying them away.

Is it real? The ground trembled because of the giant's arrival, and a thunderous roar reached our ears. As the giant walked, surrounding objects were knocked over. To the naked eye, it looked very real.

The sudden change caused great panic. The guards at the gate just held their weapons and dared not step forward. When the giant arrived, only two people remained calm: Ren Yunzong, who saw through the giant's true nature, and the White Lotus Sect monk who had remained silent since the giant appeared.

Since it's a smokescreen, there must be someone who used magic to summon the giant. The number of capable and skilled people present could be counted on one hand. Considering the current situation, it's self-evident who summoned the giant.

The monk's next words confirmed this conjecture.

"This is a monster, and only my son can defeat it... uh!"

Before he could finish speaking, Ren Yunzong walked over and slapped the other person again, this time forcing them into silence.

After such a long standoff in the yamen, it's clear whether the sorcerer's son inherited his magic. Just now, it was said that the giant was merely an illusion, and didn't actually cause much harm.

If giants eat people, they can only swallow them whole and put them in their stomachs, causing no harm. Ren Yunzong had already guessed the other party's intention in summoning giants.

The other party's son was only a teenager and had no chance of fighting the ferocious giant with weapons. If they did as he said, their son would be swallowed whole by the giant. Then the guy might suggest that they or their wife go instead, and they would be swallowed whole by the giant. Finally, the giant would leave, and their whole family would leave the town inside the giant's belly.

From an ordinary person's perspective, it's like the giant ate the wizard's family, was full, and left satisfied, leaving the whole family dead, so the crime was ignored.

In reality, the monk and his family escaped through the giant's belly without being convicted or wanted. Even if their previous identities were gone, they could simply join other members of the White Lotus Cult once the storm had passed.

Ren Yunzong had already roughly guessed the process of this escape. If he hadn't been there, the other party might have really gotten away, leaving behind a group of terrified people and a pig that couldn't turn back into a human.

Unfortunately, Ren Yunzong was there, so this trick was destined to fail.

"Gentlemen, keep an eye on this man. I will take care of this giant."

"Uh, okay, okay..."

The first to answer was the apprentice's father. He had just experienced the shock of his son being turned into a pig, so he was somewhat mentally prepared and his mentality did not collapse when he saw the giant outside.

Following Ren Yunzong's instructions, the middle-aged man pulled the monk, who had been knocked to the ground by Ren Yunzong's flute due to being tied up and losing his balance, into the room, ensuring that the monk wouldn't escape.

The person on the ground is the enemy who turned his son into a pig and wanted to kill him, while the person giving the orders is the benefactor who discovered his son's predicament and brought the instigator to the yamen to report him. Comparing the two, it is obvious who should be listened to.

Before he could finish speaking, the mage, who had been silenced by a hand, tried to struggle. If someone else dealt with the giant, it would be troublesome for him to find a way to escape. With so many unexpected events, even the most foolish people in the government would know to be wary of him. If he tried to do anything else, there would be even more to worry about.

But he was destined to struggle. Not to mention that his disciple's father was watching him, every blow Ren Yunzong struck him was combined with acupoints and skillful force. Moreover, he remembered that this person could breathe fire, so he casually sealed his mouth with magic to prevent him from creating flames that would burn the ropes on his body.

Ren Yunzong stood outside the door, looking ahead. This perspective allowed those inside to see the sword behind him. Although the sword was somewhat overly ornate and didn't look like a weapon that could be wielded, everyone else felt that only a sharp weapon could withstand the giant.

Moreover, the giant outside was ferocious and terrifying like a demon. It sounded very reasonable to subdue it with this sword, which was like a ritual implement. Therefore, everyone thought that Ren Yunzong would draw his sword when he went out. Judging from the few times he fought the mage before, he was obviously a trained fighter.

In reality, Ren Yunzong never intended to draw his sword. This giant, which was summoned by humans and whose actual purpose was to help people escape, was just a fragile creature in his eyes.

Ren Yunzong turned the flute in his hand and made a hand seal with his other hand. He removed the wind blowing around him and a few gloomy clouds appeared in the sky.

The mage was unable to move and could only stare intently at Ren Yunzong's movements. Judging from the other party's appearance, he was about to cast a spell, but because the other party had used purely physical attacks to deal with him, apart from being able to make the person who had been turned into a pig speak again and having already sealed his mouth, he didn't know what kind of spells Ren Yunzong knew.

"Transforming Yin and Yang, Severing Evil Masters, and Empowering the Righteous Law of Thunder and Fire".

The peculiar, transparent flute spun at his fingertips, and streaks of lightning shot out like snakes. The flute's glass-like material reflected the lightning, and the spinning motion refracted the light in a dazzling display, sometimes even flashing into the house and into the sorcerer's eyes.

Everyone could see bolts of lightning striking the giant, but they couldn't tell where the lightning came from—was it from Ren Yunzong's hand? Or from the dark clouds in the sky? In any case, under the successive strikes of lightning, the already brittle giant disintegrated, like a pile of scattered bubbles.

Finally, a gust of wind blew, and the once tall and ferocious giant vanished without a trace, as if it had never been there at all.

Such a terrifying monster was actually quite vulnerable. Ren Yunzong was not surprised at all. He had long seen that this thing was fragile and was summoned by mages to escape. It was only scary in appearance.

That's how illusions work. They rely on idealism. If you think the giant is real, then the giant is a terrifying demon, indestructible. But you know it's fake. No matter how terrifying the giant looks, it's just a paper tiger that can be easily punctured.

"The matter has been resolved; please continue the trial."

Ignoring the shocked or fearful gazes around him, Ren Yunzong only hoped to resolve this matter smoothly and turn this innocent yet not innocent person, who had been turned into a pig and almost slaughtered by the butcher, back to normal so that he could leave and find someone else elsewhere.

As for whether he would be retaliated against by other members of the White Lotus Sect afterward, that was not within Ren Yunzong's consideration. He himself would not stay in this place for long. The White Lotus Sect itself had a complex faction structure. Those who did not rebel were inciting the people, and it was difficult to persuade those who had been brainwashed to come back. Those who wanted to rebel would be dealt with by the imperial court. These were not things that outsiders like them had to worry about.

On the other side, Ren Yunzong was confronting the White Lotus Sect's sorcerers, while Ling Ziling was now absolutely certain that she had stirred up trouble at the zoo.

Ling Ziling looked at the fox in her hand. It was a red fox of a similar breed to Xiao Cui, but not as beautiful. It had a very obvious demonic aura, but the concentration was not very high, and its cultivation was not high. It seemed that it could not even transform into human form.

She pulled the fox out of the moat when she passed by, so it was soaking wet. It wasn't that the fox was going to swim in the river, but that it had fallen in. Ling Ziling heard someone calling for help and saw that it was a fox lying upside down in the river, almost drowning.

As for why it fell into the moat and couldn't get out, it's because the fox was drunk and couldn't walk straight. Not only did it roll into the river, but it was also so drunk that it forgot how to swim.

Fortunately, it knew to call for help, otherwise, if it had gotten drunk and fallen into the river to drown, people might have thought it was paying homage to one of Li Bai's ways of dying.

Ling Ziling put the fox on the ground. The fox seemed to be trying to bow to her, but perhaps it was still drunk. Ling Ziling watched as the fox swayed and straightened up, but before it could say anything, it fell backward and crashed to the ground.

"..."

He's really drunk. How much did he drink?

"Why are you still speaking in fits and starts when you're drunk?"

Ling squatted down and turned the fox, who had fallen backward and couldn't roll over, from its four legs in the air to its four legs on the ground. Just now, when it was shouting for help in the river and saying how it fell in, it was clearly quite sober. Ling thought it had already sobered up by soaking in the river.

"Are you okay?"

Seeing the fox's behavior, Ling Ziling was afraid that if she left, it would turn back and roll into the moat again.

"Hiccup, it's okay... I'm fine!"

Once back on solid ground, the fox shook off the water and stood tall with its head held high.

"I drank a bit too much this time, and I couldn't stop myself. I'll wake up soon..."

It walked forward with its head held high, probably trying to prove it wasn't drunk, but after only a few steps, it tripped over itself, turning into a fluffy ball and rolling into the nearby weeds.

As for whether it tripped over its own foot with its left foot or fell out because its front foot blocked its back foot, I don't know. Anyway, I just saw the fluffy ball roll into the grass and then there was a "thump" sound, which means it must have bumped into something.

"...Not drunk? Sober up?"

Ling Ziling remained silent; given the state of things, there was no need to force herself.

Just then, another sound came from the bushes, sounding very angry. There was also the sound of the drunken fox, probably still intoxicated, sounding slow and deliberate.

"Shiyilang! Why did you bump into me for no reason? You smell awful! You brat, you really went to steal wine again!"

"Hey, cousin, what a coincidence!"

"What a coincidence! So coincidental that you suddenly rolled over and bumped into me!"

Immediately afterwards, Lingziling saw two foxes emerge from the bushes, one dragging the other with its mouth, while Lingziling continued to complain.

"I've told you to cultivate properly, but all you do is steal wine and drink. You can't even cultivate into a human form. It wouldn't be surprising if you drowned in a wine vat one day."

"Cousin, be gentle, it hurts!"

The fox that was called "cousin" didn't grab the other one by the scruff of its neck like it would grab a cub; instead, it bit the other one's tail and dragged it out.

The action was hardly gentle, so it's no wonder the fox being dragged cried out in pain.

"You still have the nerve to complain? I came here out of kindness, worried you'd drink yourself to death, and you bumped into me and knocked me over, and I haven't even cried out in pain yet!"

Ling Ziling changed her posture and sat down on the ground, hugging her legs. The two foxes in front of her, one hadn't noticed her yet and the other had forgotten she was there, started arguing on the spot.

It wasn't really that noisy; it was just that the newcomer had been inexplicably defeated by his cousin, and he was a bit resentful, so his tone was a bit harsh.

"Cousin, what are you saying? I'm a monster, I can't die from drinking."

Ling Ziling: Although you won't die from drinking, you've drunk so much you can't walk. You almost fell into the moat and drowned just now.

"Yes, you won't drink yourself to death, but you can kill yourself! Who got drunk and broke into the landlord's house to steal chickens, almost getting bitten to death by four dogs? Who sneaked into the butcher's house to steal wine, almost getting caught and skinned alive? Who transformed into a beautiful woman to deceive a scholar for a few drinks, only to be exposed on the spot because their cultivation was inadequate? Who..."

Ling Ziling: ...That's amazing, but this person's life is also strangely tough.

"Okay, okay, I know I was wrong, brother, please stop reading it, please stop reading it."

After being dragged out by its tail, it immediately lay down on the ground and slumped over, pressing its ears down with its two front paws. It already had a headache from drinking too much today, and its cousin's incessant chatter made it even more dizzy.

"Open your ears! Aside from those brats, you're the only one in the house who doesn't even look like a proper human being. Can't you just focus on your cultivation?"

"I understand, I understand, brother, dear brother, you really don't need to study anymore..."

"You're really drunk, I'm your cousin!"

"Okay, okay, cousin, what do you want from me?"

"Hurry up and leave, something happened to Cousin Jiulang."

Ling Ziling: There are quite a few fox demons with cousins ​​and other male relatives.

"Jiulang? Which Jiulang cousin?"

They were a large family of foxes, and most of their names were given by summarizing their generation and age. They would choose a nicer name for themselves when they were old enough to do so. Apart from a few close friends, they didn't know each other well. He was also drunk and confused, so he really couldn't remember who "Cousin Jiulang" was.

"Huang Jiulang, his lover is dead, and it's said that his soul has drifted here."

Ling Ziling: Wait a minute, something seems off...

"Is your cousin Jiulang a male fox spirit? And his lover is also a man?"

Ling Ziling decided to stop being a background character and took the initiative to ask questions.

"Yeah, what's so strange about that... Who are you?!"

Finally, the fox cousin realized there were other people around. He had come to find his drunken cousin, but when he was knocked over, he was in a daze and only remembered to scold his cousin. He didn't notice that there was a living person sitting next to him watching the show.

"Oh, I slipped and fell into the river just now. Thank goodness this young lady pulled me out of the river."

"You even rolled into the river?"

It said that Shiyilang's body was wet and dirty, and after looking for a long time, it could only bite a part of its tail.

"I'm just... a little tipsy and my walk is a bit unsteady..."

"...Eleven Lang, you drunkard, you'll drink yourself to death sooner or later!"