Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

The boy holding the kitchen knife with great presence is named Jia'er. His family is in business, but his father is away from home most of the year, leaving only his mother and son at home.

One day, Jia'er's mother was haunted by a fox spirit that appeared out of nowhere. She went crazy all day long, and even calling in a sorcerer was of no use. Every day she would cry, sing, and curse, and she would drive away the servants who attended her.

As a son, Jia'er naturally didn't want to see his mother being tortured like this, but that was a fox spirit, and ordinary people couldn't catch her. Moreover, Jia'er was just an immature child, and the fox spirit was also on guard against him.

To lower the fox's guard, Jia'er began to act like his mother, stopping his studies and writing, playing around recklessly, and imitating the bricklayer by blocking windows and holes in walls with bricks and stones. He threw tantrums every day, and when there was nothing to play with, he would find a corner to sharpen his knife, becoming a naughty child whom no one cared about in the eyes of others.

After a period of this crazy antics, he finally caught the fox's trail today. But no matter how sharp the knife was, Jia'er was just a child in his early teens and hadn't been trained in martial arts since childhood. He lacked strength and his aim wasn't very good. He originally intended to behead the fox that was tormenting his mother, but in the end, he only managed to cut off a section of its tail.

The fox, its tail cut in half, fled in pain, leaping over the wall. Jia'er followed the trail of blood, but the ground, still wet from the recent rain, was either puddles or muddy. The blood seeped into the mud and became one with it. Jia'er, lacking detailed investigative skills, eventually lost the fox.

"He's truly a young man of great talent."

After listening to Jia'er's story, Yuan Wuxiang had to praise him as a genius. The fox spirit drove his mother crazy and made her wary of others. He played the role of an unruly mad child, making himself less noticeable at home. He blocked all the entrances with mud bricks, so the fox would only have one way to escape: climb over the wall.

Once others got used to him sharpening knives and playing with them, no one would care if he was missing a few knives. Jia'er would carry them with him all the time. For a ten-year-old child to think so much and successfully cut off the enemy's tail, he deserves to be called "brave and resourceful".

“That fox was stabbed and has probably gone into hiding. Your mother should be experiencing some changes by now. This medicine is for nourishing her body. Take it back and dilute it with water for her to drink.”

Yuan Wuxiang patted Jia'er's head and handed him a small bottle of pills. In Liaozhai, there were mostly mortals whose bodies were tormented by monsters and spirits whose lives were on the verge of death for various reasons. After learning that the pills refined by Gu Chen could work, Liu Qingyuan got a lot of them, and everyone carried them with them.

However, compared to demons, ordinary people are more fragile. These pills, made directly from spiritual energy, are too powerful for them. They can have them, but they need to be diluted with water to weaken them.

"...Mother won't drink her medicine, no matter who offers it to her."

Jia'er first looked up at the gloved hand on her head. When the other person touched the top of her head, Jia'er felt that the other person's hand was a little strange and too hard.

Then he looked at the porcelain bottle handed to him. It wasn't that he suspected there was anything wrong with the medicine, but just looking at Yuan Wuxiang's appearance, Jia'er didn't think there was anything on him worth scheming for.

His family was in business, and the only things that could be targeted besides money were his beautiful mother. But these two seemingly ethereal figures opposite him probably didn't need either of those things.

What Jia'er said was true. Ever since her mother fell ill with madness, the family had invited many people to treat her. No matter who it was or what medicine they gave her, she would immediately knock it over and start cursing.

The only way to calm his mother down was to mix sleeping pills into her food. When she was awake, even he, her once beloved son, would be driven away.

"This medicine is entirely condensed from spiritual energy. It will completely dissolve when mixed with water, and from the outside it will just look like a bowl of water."

After all, it was created out of thin air by Gu Chen, saving the raw materials. Although it is called medicine, it does not actually contain any medicinal herbs. This pill melts in the mouth when eaten directly, and when soaked in water, it will disintegrate into a ball of spiritual energy, and in front of you it is still just water.

In other words, Jia'er doesn't need to show the medicine to anyone after taking it home, or even say anything. He can simply throw the medicine into the drinking water or put it into the food for his mother when no one is looking. The two will blend together and won't be recognized as medicine.

Yuan Wuxiang: Why does the usage sound like poisoning? It must be an illusion.

Jia'er was indeed clever; he understood the unspoken meaning in Yuan Wuxiang's words, and his eyes lit up as he took the porcelain bottle. His mother was suffering from a madness caused by the fox, and her health was deteriorating rapidly; this medicine was the most suitable for her.

“That fox has sneaked into your house many times. It doesn’t actually live too far from your house. Foxes are good at using deception. Go back and observe carefully. Once you have a direction, come back to find me and my friend.”

Yuan Wuxiang helped Jia'er analyze the clues bit by bit. After all, the other party was just a child of ten years old, and there were many things he couldn't notice. But the child was also smart. With a little guidance, he could quickly find the enemy's weakness.

Actually, the fastest and best way is for Yuan Wuxiang to go back with Jia'er. Once their powerful weapon arrives, that fox spirit will only have to wait to die.

But this wasn't an unusual situation. The two of them inexplicably found a little dragon. If the little dragon were simply in the shape of a dragon or a human, they wouldn't be stuck here. But the little guy's form was a compromise; it had a tail on top of its human shape, so it couldn't be hidden at all.

Regardless, they all felt that taking this little dragon to a densely populated area was not a good idea. It was a dragon, but it was very young and seemed to have had little contact with people. This little guy could easily attract people with ill intentions.

It wasn't that they were worried about the little dragon being in danger; they were more afraid that the little dragon would be agitated and run into the sky, and if they lost control, it would start raining heavily again.

When that time comes, the number of people who will suffer will be much greater.

Before Xiaolong's parents arrive, they should keep an eye on each other. Fortunately, Xiaolong's attention is on Juan Shoutian, so he is relatively easy to manage for now.

Looking at Jia'er's situation, the male head of the household is away on business and hasn't returned yet. There aren't many people in charge of the family, and the widow and her children are left alone at home. This vixen clearly thinks they are easy targets and has chosen this family to entangle herself with.

The fact that the fox's tail could be chopped off by a child shows that it's not very powerful and can only sneak into the yard. If they can't catch it on the first try, the two of them and Jia'er will only alert the fox, and it will be too late to catch it then.

Therefore, Yuan Wuxiang told Jia'er to go back first and continue the investigation on the matter of what he had lost. He would use the elixir to protect his mother, and only after that would he carefully examine the clues.

For such a smart and calm child, it's more appropriate to guide him step by step rather than directly solving all his problems. Gaining experience will benefit him in the future.

When Jia'er returned home, he found that his mother was no longer having madness, but it couldn't be said that she was cured. She was just lying stiffly on the bed, and apart from still breathing, she was like a dead person.

This actually made it easier to administer the medicine, and the servants at home could take care of her with peace of mind in this state, so they wouldn't have to worry about being verbally abused if they called a doctor.

Although the servants were used to Jia'er running around, he had just finished killing a fox, and the cleaver was stained with blood. If someone saw it, it would be troublesome, and they couldn't wipe it off. The only thing Jia'er had to wipe the cleaver with was his clothes, and if his clothes got stained with blood, things would be even more complicated.

Everyone in the family knew it was foxes causing trouble, but there was nothing they could do. The head of the household was away on business and was supposed to be back in the next few days, but an unexpected accident occurred. The merchant ship on its return journey was reportedly blocked halfway by something. It was only thanks to the heavy rains of the past few days that the road was reopened, delaying the return journey by a few days.

In this situation, no one cared about Jia'er. He secretly washed the kitchen knife and put it back. Then, as Yuan Wuxiang had said, he put a pill into the boiling water. The pill dissolved as soon as it hit the water and disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only the surface of the water.

Then he ran back to the low wall the fox had climbed over, and blocked all the holes in the house with mud tiles. He was afraid that the heavy rain for several days would wash away his masterpiece, so he walked around the base of the wall with an umbrella for several days during the rainy season.

Anyway, he was already considered a naughty and unruly child by adults. The servants were busy dealing with his crazy mother, so he was just wandering around in the rain with an umbrella, and no one cared.

All the holes were blocked, so the fox could only climb over the wall if it came again. Jia'er returned to the spot where he had cut off the fox's tail and realized that he had really fallen into the fox's trap. The direction the real bloodstains pointed to was completely different from the path he had taken.

He had run a long way until there were fewer and fewer people, but the bloodstains actually pointed directly to Hejia Garden, which was not far away.

Unexpectedly, the beast who had harmed his mother lived so close to his home. Jia followed the trail of blood and was about to try to climb over the wall into the garden when someone grabbed him from behind.

"!"

Jia'er thought she had been discovered by a fox spirit. When she turned around, she saw a handsome monk holding a begging bowl in one hand and pulling on her collar with the other.

"Young benefactor, climbing walls is very dangerous."

This was Mu Longjun, who had chased after the fleeing little dragon. The little dragon's aura was nearby, which meant that it had flown to this place, possibly resting in its original form or causing trouble in human form.

Just now, when Jia'er was on his way home, he brushed past Mu Longjun, who had transformed into a monk. This was an ordinary thing, a wandering monk and a little boy of just over ten years old, and the two would not have any interaction.

But this monk was no ordinary monk. Before attaining a legitimate divine position, Mu Longjun was a water spirit born from the water, and he could not be mistaken about pure spiritual energy.

That simple slip of the eye allowed him to discover that Jia'er possessed extremely pure spiritual energy, and in enormous quantities—a quantity that would never appear in a ten-year-old child under any circumstances.

He was quite certain that the child was a mortal, and that spiritual energy should not appear in a mortal. The bloodstained kitchen knife that was deliberately hidden was also very suspicious.

So he followed Jia'er. As long as Mu Longjun wanted, mortals could not see him. When he arrived at Jia'er's house, he discovered that the family had been harmed by demons. It was not until Jia'er took out the porcelain bottle containing the elixir that the undeniable spiritual energy was explained.

But this explanation is worse than no explanation at all. Mu Longjun has lived for so many years and has seen all kinds of elixirs and medicines. Moreover, there are many treasures on Changbai Mountain. He has seen the ginseng doll countless times.

But this was the first time he had ever seen such a pill. It could no longer be called a "medicine". The only material used to make it was spiritual energy. It was as if the originally intangible spiritual energy had been forcibly compressed into a physical form. It was amazing. Even Laozi had to add materials to his furnace when making pills.

If Mu Longjun knew that this kind of pill was made by a sword, and that the same materials and processes could not only be used to make pills, but also to make sugar pills, I wonder what he would think.

In short, because the pills in Jia'er's hands were too astonishing, the porcelain bottle containing the medicine was made of precious materials, and his actions were very planned, it was obvious that someone was guiding him from behind. After being shocked, Mu Longjun decided to show up and talk to the child.

He may not be able to do anything beyond his assigned duties, but he can still chat and talk with people.

“Young benefactor, there’s no need to worry. This humble monk is just a little curious.”

Just as Jia'er was about to revert to his crazy persona and rebel, Mu Longjun put him back on the ground first. After landing, Jia'er saw the porcelain bottle in his arms move on its own and slowly fall into the hands of the monk opposite him.

"give me back!"

Jia'er immediately tried to snatch it, but because of his height, even if the other party did nothing, he couldn't reach the porcelain bottle in the other party's hand.

He put the kitchen knife back. Without the kitchen knife, he was just an ordinary ten-year-old child, helpless against Mu Longjun.

"Young benefactor, who gave you this medicine?"

With the medicine bottle in hand, Mu Longjun felt the solid and immense spiritual energy contained within. Without the aid of other materials, only refining spiritual energy, this method of medicine refining was a risk-free business that would never lose money.

After all, spiritual energy is everywhere; the only difference is where it is abundant and where it is scarce.

When asked a question, Jia'er didn't say a word, but kept trying to reach the medicine bottle. The two immortals had helped her, and she didn't know whether the monk in front of her was friend or foe. Jia'er knew that the more she said, the more mistakes she would make, so she deliberately remained unmoved by his words.

He was very experienced at feigning madness to teach that fox a lesson.

After asking a few questions and finding he couldn't get any answers, Mu Longjun realized he was being treated like a bad guy. He was in charge of the little dragons in Tianchi, and he hadn't really spent much time with human children.

"Here, look at this."

Thinking that the child in front of him was smarter and calmer than many adults, Mu Longjun felt that it should be fine to reveal his identity to him. This was a child who was only ten years old and could fight against a fox demon. The half of his tail that had been cut off was still in Jia'er's backyard.

So Mulongjun bent down and lowered the alms bowl in his hand until Jia'er could see the height inside the bowl.

When the monk opposite suddenly bent over, Jia'er's first reaction was to step back. When he saw that the monk did nothing more, he simply lowered the alms bowl so that Jia'er could see inside.

“Young benefactor, take a look this way, and this humble monk will return the medicine to you.”

"……real?"

Jia'er still hesitated. His mother was being haunted by a monster, so he wouldn't be surprised if a few more monsters came to snatch children. He didn't know why the other party wanted him to look at the alms bowl, but the medicine was indeed very important.

"Monks don't lie."

Although he wasn't a real monk, Mu Longjun couldn't help but think, but he didn't intend to lie to the child.

Jia'er slowly moved closer to Mu Longjun, craning her neck to look at the alms bowl in his hand, and then her eyes involuntarily widened.

Shepherd Dragon took it with ease, as if the bowl was empty, but in reality, the bowl was not empty. It was filled with clear water, like a lake, and in the water, a slender little dragon was swimming.