Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Wang Sheng held his breath, watching the horrifying scene in the room. He saw the blue-faced, fanged demon finish drawing, casually throw away the brush, pick up the human skin on the bed, and drape it over himself like a garment.

In an instant, the human skin seemed to come alive, actively attaching itself to the evil spirit. In the blink of an eye, the previously ferocious evil spirit transformed into a charming and beautiful woman.

Looking at the woman's appearance, isn't she the "beauty" that Wang Sheng kept in his golden house?

What that Taoist priest said was true; the girl he brought back was actually a terrifying evil spirit!

Thinking about how he had not only let a wolf into the house these past few days, but had also been smugly thinking about taking a concubine, he felt that taking in such a beauty was a great bargain for him.

At this moment, Wang Sheng was so frightened by the scene inside the house that he was powerless. He gritted his teeth and, with no strength in his legs, used his hands to slowly move away from the window, almost crawling back to the low wall at the entrance of the courtyard.

Then, he scrambled back up using both hands and feet, his heart pounding with fear, terrified that the evil spirits inside would discover he was outside.

Wang Sheng was just an ordinary mortal who didn't recognize the painted skin, but that didn't stop him from judging who could help him. After climbing out of the courtyard, he ran away from the road he had come from. Because of the stiffness in his limbs caused by the shock, he stumbled and looked extremely disheveled.

He wanted to go back to find the Taoist priest from earlier, and the one with him, the one in white robes and with white hair. Wang Sheng remembered that his younger brother had mentioned last night that he had unexpectedly encountered an immortal at a drinking party. The Taoist priest in white robes and with white hair from earlier perfectly matched Wang Erlang's description of the immortal's appearance.

Watching the terrified Wang Sheng scramble away on all fours, Liu Qingyuan emerged from another corner of the courtyard wall, completely unconcerned about being discovered.

"Why do I feel like this young master Wang looks somewhat familiar?"

When Master Li grabbed the person, Liu Qingyuan thought the other person looked somewhat familiar, but she had only been in this world for less than two days, so where could she have seen him before?

[At the restaurant yesterday?]

"maybe."

Liu Qingyuan looked at the house where the painted skin was hiding. After all, it was someone else's house. He had only come to confirm the location and did not intend to rush in to exorcise the demon.

Knowing the original plot, Liu Qingyuan knew that the other party would return after running away. When the person ran away, Liu Qingyuan specifically told Master Li to wait nearby, as this scholar who had encountered a monster and was in danger of losing his life would soon return to find him.

Relying on his superior strength, Liu Qingyuan followed behind Wang Sheng, watching him try to open the door but failed, then climb over the wall, and finally discover the true face of the masked man. Startled, he ran away. Throughout the entire process, neither the terrified Wang Sheng nor the masked man inside the house, who was focused on his disguise, noticed his presence.

If he were to capture the painted skin in the room now, there would be no more trouble later. But there is only one painted skin in the room right now. Theoretically, there is another one hidden somewhere they can't see.

According to Xiao Cui and the Ghost Mother, the two painted skins came together. If one of them is in trouble, the other should also appear. The one in the house cannot be killed directly; it needs to be used.

"Speaking of which, why haven't we heard anything about the illegal travelers? Could they be in some remote area?"

The world of Liaozhai is so vast, and Liu Qingyuan has not received any letters. He has every right to suspect that the other party is too far away from him, so far that even if the two sides are hostile, they cannot trigger an alarm.

"Taoist Master? Taoist Master!"

Just moments ago, Wang Sheng scoffed at Li Daoshi's words, even thinking that the Taoist priest was trying to swindle money. But in the blink of an eye, he scrambled back and, upon seeing the middle-aged Taoist priest stroking his beard standing to the side, knelt down with a thud.

"Master! Please, Master, save me!"

As he ran this way, Wang Sheng couldn't help but think about his interactions with that evil spirit these past few days. He recalled how he had been bewitched by the ghost, encountering a beautiful woman alone before dawn without feeling anything amiss.

Thinking back to his time playing with the other person in the secret room, with the windows always closed, and how he had asked where the other person lived but had been evaded each time, Wang Sheng became increasingly frightened. If it weren't for today's incident, he probably wouldn't have seen through the demon's tricks until his death.

Although Liu Qingyuan had told him that the person would return, Master Li did not expect it to happen so quickly, nor did he expect his attitude to change so dramatically; he actually knelt down.

He looked around and saw that Liu Qingyuan had gone off somewhere and hadn't returned yet. Master Li could only help the man up and let Wang Sheng explain what had happened to him.

Wang Sheng now sees Master Li as a lifeline, so he speaks freely without reservation. The situation is pretty much as Master Li guessed: the other party has been targeted by the Painted Skin.

The reason why the target could not be found for so many days was because the Painted Skin was hidden in Wang Sheng's house, in a special secret room. The Painted Skin did not actively reveal itself inside, so people outside could not find any trace of it.

However, the fact that it could hide for so long also shows how skilled this painted skin was.

“Now that I’ve seen it, I will drive it away, but I don’t intend to kill it. It’s not easy for this thing to have such cultivation. It should be at the point where it can be reincarnated as a human. As long as that painted skin doesn’t go too far, I will spare its life for now.”

Master Li's idea was simple: he gave Wang Sheng a magical artifact that could exorcise evil spirits. Wang Sheng took the artifact home to protect himself. When the painted-face man saw the artifact, he knew that his identity had been exposed, but he already had someone in mind who could handle the matter.

Knowing this, the other party should give up and leave Wang Sheng's house. The Painted Skin's method of hiding is to wear a disguise and blend into the crowd. When someone in the city appears who can see through his disguise, he will naturally leave the town.

"Fellow Daoist, I'm afraid this matter is not so simple to handle."

Liu Qingyuan has also returned. In fact, he could have returned after he set his goal. In terms of speed alone, he could have returned before Wang Sheng.

Before returning, he circled around Wang Sheng's house again, looking for a good place to escape, a place that was close to the outside of the city, and a good corner to hide in.

At that time, these could all become the escape routes of the Painted Skin Ghost. Liu Qingyuan planned to figure these out first to make it easier to take action.

What are your thoughts, fellow Daoist?

Master Li was not frightened by the other party's elusive appearance, because he had already been frightened once before. This fellow Daoist not only walked silently, but also left without a trace, as if he flew away.

The news about Painted Skin came from Liu Qingyuan, and it was also Liu Qingyuan who pointed out Wang Sheng's return. So now, when he heard that the matter of exorcising demons was not simple, Master Li immediately chose to believe him.

"Fellow Daoist, have you forgotten? There are two of these painted skins."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Master Li frowned and pondered. When Liu Qingyuan said that the demons in the city were painted skins, he did say there were two, but according to Wang Sheng, he only encountered one, and the whereabouts of the other one were unknown.

The target that Wang Sheng encountered was clearly defined. By disguising himself as a young and beautiful woman to catch the target and then making his move after the target lowered his guard, he could be described as a very typical action template.

But the other one, whose whereabouts are still unknown, seems rather strange. It hasn't shown any trace, making it impossible to guess what it's up to.

"As far as I know, the two 'painted skins' came together, but now only one is active. The other one is either tied up with something more troublesome, or..."

Liu Qingyuan flicked his whisk.

"...The other one is more skilled and has a deeper mind."

When evil spirits cause trouble, the next step is to exorcise them. In most people's minds, evil spirits are usually just a monster. Whether you kill it or drive it away, once the problem is solved, you don't need to worry about it anymore. Everyone can go back to their own homes and do whatever they need to do.

Just like Wang Sheng's experience, there was only one troublemaker. If it weren't for Xiao Cui and the others reminding her, Liu Qingyuan would have assumed that there was only one Painted Skin.

Following this logic, once the one who openly wanted to harm Wang Sheng dies, everyone will naturally assume that the matter is resolved. Once the person capable of exorcising the demon leaves, the other one hiding will become completely lawless.

Finally, the plan that everyone agreed on was this: Master Li would give his whisk to Wang Sheng, and Wang Sheng would hang the whisk on the door when he got home tonight to prevent the painted skin from entering. Liu Qingyuan and Master Li would watch from outside to see what the painted skin would do.

If the other party leaves directly, they will follow behind to see if it will go to find its companions; if the other party is unwilling to give up and still wants to cross the whisk to hurt people, there is no need to worry, Liu Qingyuan will give it a few hits and make it have to go to its companions for help.

This matter concerns his life and safety. Although the plan is somewhat like using Wang Sheng as bait, he is willing to do anything as long as he can get rid of that devil in his home.

The shock of the evil spirit transforming into a beautiful woman was too great for Wang Sheng to bear alone. When he got home, he called his wife and younger brother to the bedroom, and the three of them guarded the door together that night.

When Wang Sheng called everyone over to bolster his courage, Liu Qingyuan finally understood why Wang Sheng looked familiar.

He hadn't seen Wang Sheng at yesterday's drinking party, but he had seen Wang Sheng's younger brother, the one who had leaned out the window to ask questions.

Realizing this, Liu Qingyuan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, his gaze subtly shifting between the two brothers.

The younger brother seems quite clever, but the older brother isn't so bright. Early one morning, before dawn, he bumps into a beautiful woman on an empty street and instead of thinking about what might be wrong, he strikes up a conversation, only to be targeted by the woman in disguise.

The two brothers have quite a big difference in intelligence; no wonder they are so far apart in age, yet the older brother is still only a novice scholar, just like the younger brother.

When they learned that Wang Sheng had brought back a monster, Chen and Wang Erlang were quite shocked. Then came another round of criticism against Wang Sheng. This time, knowing he was in the wrong, Wang Sheng didn't argue back.

Having lost their parents at a young age, Wang Sheng, as the eldest brother, should have been the head of the family. Unfortunately, he lacked the ability to manage it. Wang Sheng had done a few foolish things in the past, but this time he had caused an exceptionally big mess.

Having already seen the true face of the beautiful woman in the study, Wang Sheng naturally dared not approach any further. That night, he obediently hung his whisk on the door, closed the doors and windows tightly, and waited with his wife and brother in trembling fear for the evil spirit to knock on the door.

Liu Qingyuan and Master Li stood on the roof of the house opposite. Master Li held a peach wood sword. He originally wanted to put up some talismans to hide his aura, or find a more secluded place, because standing on the roof was too obvious.

But Liu Qingyuan reassured him that this place offered a clear view of the whole situation, and the unique characteristic of innate people was that if you stood to the side and stuck a tree branch in your body, they wouldn't be noticed, especially if the plot required it.

"After chatting with you for so long, I still don't know which sect or school you belong to?"

Although the other party's white hair and eyebrows made him look like an immortal, and he moved silently and arrived in an instant, he was only missing the ability to ride the clouds compared to a real immortal.

Even so, the other party kept saying that he was just an ordinary Taoist. According to the understanding of Taoist Master Li, this person should have a sect or lineage and a history of cultivation.

"What sect or school? I am from the Taoist sect. As for factions... the orthodox sect?"

Well, it's the same as saying nothing at all.

Master Li thought the other party was unwilling to elaborate. He thought that this person's appearance was the first time he had seen him today, and the bronze longsword on his back was like a divine weapon. Perhaps he came from a secluded place of cultivation.

It wasn't until the first watch of the night that the Painted Skin in the secret room realized that Wang Sheng hadn't come today. He found it strange, since Wang Sheng had never failed to come and see him every day since he brought him back. This time, however, he hadn't appeared at all for the entire day.

Something seemed amiss, but she maintained her delicate and beautiful demeanor as she left the secret room.