Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

The other hidden person turned out to be an illegal traveler—what a pleasant surprise!

However, this raises a new problem: before Liu Qingyuan arrived, these two imposters were already here. Judging from their appearance, they must have been hiding in this area for a long time without moving.

The system couldn't find this person for two days, and this prompt only popped up when we met face-to-face. When did this detection function become so useless?

"Whatever, I'll be arrested anyway."

Liu Qingyuan released Li Daoshi's hand. Regardless of whether she was a painted skin or a time traveler, since both of them were here, she would just arrest them and deal with the rest later.

"Who did you mess with?!"

The woman, addressed as "sister" by the painted-skin ghost, frowned and asked. When she saw Liu Qingyuan opposite her, she was startled. She knew that there were immortals in the world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but the immortals here were definitely not like the one opposite her.

A white-robed, white-haired figure holding a whisk and a sword with a particularly fantastical appearance—which cultivation world did this person come from?

In short, both people, whose styles differed somewhat from those in the original Liaozhai, immediately realized that the person opposite them was someone whose background was not so simple.

Liu Qingyuan had a legitimate system that allowed her to identify the enemy as soon as she landed, but the other side was different. The illegal system only cared about the result and didn't care about the host's life or death. When binding with someone and asking the host to do something, it would praise the host as a talent, but when it came to the crucial moment, the host was just a disposable consumable.

Sensing something was off about the person opposite her, the woman mentally called the system, but obviously, there was no response.

"……Oh shit."

She immediately realized what was going on. The people on the other side didn't look like they were easy to mess with, so she absolutely couldn't confront them head-on. She had worked so hard to build up this seemingly perfect identity and avoid all eyes and ears, so she couldn't let it end here.

But the Taoist priest in all white was staring intently at her, and she needed to find a way to escape.

Thinking of all this, the woman looked again at her "sister" kneeling beside her, begging for protection. They were not related by blood, and there was no distinction between families among the skin-transforming ghosts. They called each other sisters only because one of them was weak and the other was strong. The weak one needed protection, and the strong one lacked a subordinate.

"Good sister, please do your sister a favor."

As she spoke, the woman reached out and grabbed the painted skin next to her, pulling it in front of her. Before the other person could react, she exerted her strength and threw her "good sister" directly at the enemy, accompanied by a sharp, demonic wind.

On the other hand, after throwing the person out to use as a shield, she didn't even glance ahead and ran off in another direction.

"What a deep sisterly bond!"

After lamenting the fake sisterhood across from her, Liu Qingyuan didn't even glance at the painted skin that had been thrown at her. She nodded to Master Li and then chased after the other person.

Master Li was more than capable of dealing with that painted skin. The fact that the creature ran away widened the distance between him and Master Li, the native, which suited Liu Qingyuan's wishes perfectly.

Although he often complained about the system's unreliability, it was only in minor daily matters. The system had never made a mistake when it came to serious matters. He was in the same city as the illegal transmigrator, but he had been searching for two days without finding him, which was too abnormal.

Last time, the mission was immediately imminent upon landing, but this time the two hosts only received news after meeting face-to-face in reality, which can only mean that the other party used some special means.

He observed her carefully and found that apart from her appearance being slightly different from the general aesthetic of this world, she had the same aura as another painted skin. If it weren't for the system prompt and the other person's reaction when she saw him, Liu Qingyuan wouldn't have been able to connect this woman with the illegal transmigrator at first glance.

We need to investigate thoroughly what methods were used.

Looking at the cloud of black smoke ahead, he noticed that monsters seemed to like turning into a cloud of smoke to escape. This trick was indeed useful in the dark, but in the vision of a human, once you set your sights on something and wanted to catch it, unless there was a plot twist, the other party would not be able to escape.

After putting some distance between himself and Master Li, Liu Qingyuan stopped chasing. He looked at the black mist ahead, which was determined to escape, and silently drew the ancient dust from his back and held it in front of him.

Then, a gentle breeze blew, lifting the cloak behind the Taoist priest. Those in front only knew to run away and dared not look back. But even so, she still saw a blinding white light flying from behind. The wind that it brought was sharp and piercing.

"……sword?"

Master Li plunged the peach wood sword into the evil spirit's chest. Amidst the piercing howl, he saw a blinding white light emanating from the direction Liu Qingyuan had left, and vaguely, it seemed as if a phantom sword was slashing down in a certain direction.

Recalling the sword energy the opponent used to intercept the evil spirits, Master Li raised his assessment of the opponent's martial prowess by another level. There were people in his sect who could do this, but they were all ancestral figures who were just a step away from entering the immortal realm.

After the matter was resolved, he had to ask about the other party's origins. Taoists were scattered in various places, but there were only a few categories. The strength displayed by this Sword Immortal was too extraordinary. If he asked carefully, he might actually be a half-immortal from some sect.

“Are you…are you kidding me…”

Liu Qingyuan's sword missed the fleeing woman, but he still needed to keep her alive to ask about her hidden methods. So he bypassed his target and brought his sword down in front of her, cutting off the path in front of her and turning it into a deep ditch.

The woman, who had initially thought she had a chance to escape, was so terrified by the sight that she collapsed to the ground. If that sword had struck her, she would have been instantly annihilated.

Originally, the woman went to great lengths to acquire the identity of a highly skilled demon, making her untouchable by most of the local demon hunters. With the help of her ability to change skins, she could even escape from those stronger than herself. Who would have thought that just as her plan was taking off, she would encounter such a "monster".

This is on a completely different level. Splitting a mountain with a single sword strike—that's something only a powerful expert in a high-level martial arts fantasy world could achieve. Is this a cheat code? This is clearly a bug!

"Alright, come back with me."

In truth, Liu Qingyuan hadn't used much force; he hadn't even shouted out the move's name. It was just a basic attack that used a bit of power. Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud. The enemy was already intimidated, and if he were to further damage their morale, the system's interrogation later would be much more difficult.

When the Painted Skin Ghost attacked Wang Sheng, it was only the first watch of the night. By the time Liu Qingyuan and Master Li resolved the matter, and after returning to inform Wang Sheng that the evil ghost had been eliminated and to comfort him, it was already the third watch of the night.

When she was thrown out as a shield, the painted-face woman knew she couldn't escape. Seeing Liu Qingyuan chasing after another, she planned to fight Li Daozhang head-on. If she could successfully counterattack, she could escape.

Unfortunately, she misjudged the strength of both sides and was killed by Master Li with a single sword strike. The peach wood sword had the power to exorcise ghosts and ward off evil spirits. The painted-skin ghost, whose chest was pierced by the peach wood sword, spontaneously combusted into a pile of ashes. The skin she used for disguise fell to the ground and was carefully collected by Master Li.

The skins that the painted-skin ghosts disguised themselves with were mostly real people's skins. Judging from the ghost's level of cultivation, the girl whose skin this was probably had been dead for many years. Master Li kept it safe and planned to take it away to perform a ritual to help the victimized girl find peace.

As for the other one, Master Li wasn't present and couldn't see what happened, but judging from the way the sword cleaved the sky, he figured the other one must have also been annihilated. Liu Qingyuan also returned empty-handed, only saying that the matter had been resolved, so he didn't ask any further questions.

To be honest, given the sheer force of that sword strike, if the other painted skin had survived, Master Li would have had to admit, "That's some serious toughness."

Because it was too late, and the middle of the night was not a good time to talk, Liu Qingyuan made an appointment with Master Li to meet the next day, and then left the town and returned to the Huoran Realm on the mountain.

Here, only Liu Qingyuan, disguised as a human, and the system were present. The illegal transmigrators they caught were thrown into the system space for investigation. He brewed a pot of tea for himself and waited for the results while drinking it.

"You've completed a task in just two days. Congratulations!"

Look at this efficiency, no wonder it's him.

However, he remembered that his original goal was something like to slack off and retire. Oh well, with the Thunderbolt Sect's disguise, where he goes isn't a retirement home for him?

"By the way, Xiao Wu, remember to tell the main system that your reconnaissance function needs an upgrade."

[I've discovered it; your attribute might be Minesweeper.]

"Oh, how do you say this?"

[Thinking back to your first mission, you ran into an illegal intruder causing chaos right under your nose; before you'd even summoned a few alternate characters, you discovered a non-pool character had been brought out; you discovered a hidden quest for world upgrades halfway through the story; and this time, after only two days, you've already caught someone with special hiding methods.]

Every single time it's a special case, and every time he can accurately discover some unusual details. It's a waste of his talent that the host isn't doing mine-clearing and bug-checking.

In a sense, this can be considered having a "protagonist's halo," congratulations!

"...This kind of protagonist halo is really unnecessary."

If he had to choose, he would still prefer to avoid as many problems as possible on this trip.

"Have the review results been released?"

[He's out! This guy's got talent too.]

"Let me see..."

What Liu Qingyuan is most curious about now is how this illegal transmigrator managed to completely integrate into this world as a disguised persona, until she was recognized when she met the legitimate system host.

At first, Liu Qingyuan guessed that the other party had acquired the ability of possession, taking over the body of the Painted Skin Ghost to avoid inspection. However, as soon as this guess was made, it was immediately rejected by the system. Although the world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio was not a very strong or outrageous world, it had a complete mythological cultivation system. Those who achieved success in cultivation had soul strength that was definitely formidable.

Regardless of whether a system is legal or not, they all prefer to contract with human souls. Legal systems are bound by rules and will seek out souls with stable natures, while illegal systems haphazardly recruit souls, resulting in a wide variety of host quality, which can only be used as consumables.

But regardless of the method, it's not easy to possess a cultivator's body; they've cultivated their bodies and minds for hundreds of years, and their souls are incredibly strong.

The theory of possession didn't work, and Liu Qingyuan didn't know how else to explain it. Now that the investigation results were out, he put down his teacup and focused on looking at the information provided by the system.

Although this illegal transmigrator did not have the ability to possess another body, she obtained a similar one from the contract system. Whoever she killed, she could eat their heart and lungs and gain their abilities and racial characteristics, which was similar to the original intention of possession.

The system was right; she was indeed a talented person. She chose the ability and race of the Painted Skin, and in addition to her identity as an illegal transmigrator, she used the ability of the Painted Skin to put on a new human skin, used the cultivation methods of the Painted Skin, and even teamed up with other Painted Skins.

She hid herself and sent another one to wreak havoc. If it didn't fail, she continued to send it to attract attention. If it failed, she watched from the shadows and rescued it at the last moment, then killed it and merged its power into her own body.

In this way, her public image is that of a highly skilled demon in disguise. Because of the characteristics of this kind of creature, no matter how much she looks like a human, no one will believe that she is really human. The demonic aura of a demon in disguise and the bloodlust of a killer are mixed together. In addition, the disguise ability inherent in this race makes her identity layered, and she is completely trapped by it.

"Good grief, they're exploiting a bug here."

Whether it's the system or the gods in this world who are working together to catch the intruders, the first thing they find is the host carrying an illegal system. This is because most people's abilities are hard to match the style of the world they live in, and their behavior is different from that of the natives. Usually, they can be found with a single search. Who would have thought that someone would use a bug to disguise themselves and enter the fray?

Since we're looking for someone who's traveled through time, this person is using the identity of a painted skin. At first glance, you can't see anything wrong with them. Even if someone feels something's off, upon closer inspection, they realize it's just a monster, or rather, a painted skin. That's fine, next.