Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

"Your trip was truly amazing..."

Liu Qingyuan rested his chin on his hand, looking at the records of the demons and monsters that Ling Ziling and Ren Yunzong encountered. This trip south really included love and hate, chivalry and justice, and demon-slaying, making for a full-fledged experience.

"It's exciting as it is, but in the end, we still have to kill...we have to go back."

Ling Ziling wanted to say "the filming is over" directly, but when she saw Xiao Cui was still there, she immediately changed her mind.

With the matter of the blind monk resolved, Ling Ziling had no reason to delay any longer. She followed Ren Yunzong back to the Realm of Enlightenment to go through the "exit" process.

Xiao Cui was naturally happy to see her friend return, but since her friend was leaving soon and she didn't know when they would meet again, she decided to stay in the Realm of Openness and see her spirit off on its journey.

“Huang Jiulang…I think I’ve seen him in the capital.”

Xiao Cui didn't notice Ling Ziling's sudden change of address. As she listened to the other person's experiences along the way, she unexpectedly heard a familiar name.

"That guy is quite famous among the monsters in the capital."

While at Imperial Censor Wang's house, Xiao Cui outwardly remained indoors, focusing solely on accompanying Yuan Feng. However, as a fox spirit, she was well-informed about various matters; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to so accurately help Imperial Censor Wang's family avoid all sorts of troubles.

Is that guy famous?

"After all, she was just an ordinary fox spirit without any special background, but she withstood the pressure from so many demon hunters in the capital and was still able to hook up with mortals."

Xiao Cui didn't know how many monsters were hiding in the capital. The emperor believed in supernatural powers and strange phenomena, so the officials under him naturally became involved. There were many monks, Taoists, and itinerant sorcerers in the capital. In order to prove their usefulness, these people were very active in catching monsters and ghosts. If a monster didn't have some ability and a special identity, it simply couldn't stay there.

Fox spirits like Xiao Cui have it relatively easy. Fox spirits cultivate to become immortals, so they are not much different from other cultivators and there is basically no conflict of stance. Fox spirits do not harm people and often have to help them. Demon hunters rarely cause trouble for fox spirits.

But Huang Jiulang is different. He's just an ordinary fox spirit, and if his identity were discovered, everyone would beat him up. In this environment, Huang Jiulang can not only get along with scholars, but also with ordinary people, which shows he's quite capable.

"When I left, the He family was perfectly fine. How long has it been, and they've already gotten themselves killed?"

Huang Jiulang rushed home so quickly not only because he discovered that his lover had been resurrected, but also because it was probably related to the He family. His son's death was suspicious, and with the diagnosis of a truly skilled imperial physician, it would be easy to find out the reason.

Huang Jiulang is just an ordinary fox spirit after all. There are so many talented and extraordinary people in the capital. If he is really suppressed, Xiao Cui doesn't think he can continue to make a living in the capital.

"But possession by another body is really rampant, isn't the underworld already investigating it?"

"It's probably because there are too many cases and the staff has been reshuffled, so the efficiency has slowed down."

Speaking of this, Ren Yunzong recalled Wang Qihou being haunted by the temple ghost. The City God and his warriors at the time explained it quite clearly: there was chaos in the underworld and reforms were being carried out. A large number of people were replaced, officials were transferred, there was a shortage of manpower, and the investigation of past wrongful convictions was a huge undertaking.

Moreover, there seems to be a time difference between the living world and the underworld, and their concepts of time seem to be different, because even now, the City God of the underworld doesn't seem to have been completely replaced.

Wang Liulang was able to be elected as the City God at just the right time.

"Judge Lu hasn't appeared for a long time; the underworld must be really busy right now."

Miss Wu was safe and sound in the end, but Liu Qingyuan still dared not relax and kept a close eye on Zhu Erdan's condition, fearing that this man who had become smart later in life might suddenly have another idea to replace his wife with something else.

There are too many examples of people whose personalities change drastically after a heart transplant. Liu Qingyuan was unsure whether the intelligent heart that Lu Pan had dug up was from a good person. He only felt that after this guy became smart, he not only started to dislike his wife for being ugly, but he also cheated on the imperial examinations three times. The owner of this heart was definitely not an honest person.

If we take those in dire circumstances as a reference, and consider the examples of personality changes after heart transplants, Liu Qingyuan might even worry about Madam Zhu's safety.

Ling Ziling and Ren Yunzong have gone offline, but their influence in the south will not end. The two beauties even intend to go further south. In their words, since they have come all this way, they should go to a different place.

Among them, one influence directly reached Liu Qingyuan, namely the Changbai Mountain Tianchi Mulongjun, whom she had found after seeing the peculiar spiritual pills and following the directions given by Shuangxiu.

Liu Qingyuan: How come you two actually led him here?

Tired of the day and the village: Seeing that you're too idle, I'll find you something to do.

Although the title of Mulongjun was neither high nor low, he was an orthodox deity. Xiaocui ran away as soon as she saw him, very decisively.

In fact, judging from the timeline, Mu Longjun should have arrived here before Ren Yunzong and Ling Ziling, but Mu Longjun also had matters to attend to. No matter how curious he was about the pills, he did not forget his job.

He first went back to Tianchi Lake in Changbai Mountain to settle the two escaped dragons, and then re-inspected and reinforced the protection of Tianchi Lake to ensure that the dragons would not escape again in a short period of time before returning to Liu Qingyuan.

"Regarding elixirs, this is an ability that Gu Chen obtained by chance."

Liu Qingyuan took the ancient sword from behind her back and stood it upright on the ground. Immediately afterwards, white smoke began to rise from the hilt of the ancient sword, and it began to move on its own.

"...Sword Spirit?"

Mu Longjun still looked like an ordinary monk and did not reveal his real name. He looked at Gu Chen, which was able to stand on its own, and realized that it was a celestial sword with its own consciousness.

He came to ask about pills, but why did this person claim it was Gu Chenjian's ability? What does a sword have to do with alchemy?

"Yes, Gu Chen has his own way of thinking, much like a sword spirit."

"Is it humanoid?"

"none."

"Then how do you refine the pills?"

If there is a sword spirit, Mu Longjun guessed that it was the sword spirit's own talent for cultivation, but soon, the sword's owner denied that the sword had a human form. It didn't even have a decent body, so how could it be used for alchemy?

"Gu Chen's situation is indeed a bit complicated... Gu Chen, why don't you make some sugar first?"

Liu Qingyuan also knew that this was very unusual. It wasn't that Mu Longjun was stupid, but Gu Chen's skill was truly unprecedented and unparalleled. After all, who would have thought that there was a mini alchemy furnace at the hilt of the sword?

Therefore, it's better to demonstrate it yourself. Anyway, the steps are the same; you just need to make a sugar pill.

"Refining sugar?"

"Isn't this alchemy? What is sugar refining?" Just as Mu Longjun was wondering if he was going off-topic, he sensed a change in the flow of spiritual energy around him, with some of the spiritual energy flowing towards the hilt of the Ancient Dust Sword.

Immediately afterwards, white smoke began to emerge from the hilt of the sword again, but instead of responding to others' words in wisps as before, a large amount of white smoke suddenly appeared, as if heat was rising.

"This……"

"That's about it."

Liu Qingyuan opened the hilt of Gu Chen's sword, poured out the sugar pills inside, and showed them to the person opposite her.

"This part of the sword hilt is called the 'Xi Tang Sword Cauldron,' which can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refine it into medicine pills. In addition to medicine pills, it can also be used to make sugar pills."

"Sword... alchemy..."

Mu Longjun raised his hand to rub his temples. A sword that can refine pills, using only spiritual energy as material, without the need for other medicinal herbs or a pill furnace... Oh no, the hilt of the sword is the pill furnace, but it doesn't need a furnace fire. It can refine pills on its own with just this sword.

Incredible! Not only is it a risk-free business, but it can also be made anytime, anywhere. If word got out, this kind of thing would be snapped up like crazy.

"Lord Mulong should know our origins, so he must also know that we won't stay in this world for too long. The pills that Gu Chen is currently refining are only for emergency use and will not be widely circulated."

Liu Qingyuan understood Mu Longjun's concerns. Natural treasures were rare, and elixirs were even more difficult to obtain. It was already extraordinary enough that Gu Chen, as a sword, could refine elixirs. If others were to find out that these elixirs could be made without any cost, simply by gathering spiritual energy, it might truly cause chaos.

Without needing to consider costs, the skill of refining elixirs with a 100% success rate is already considered to be against the laws of nature. Even Laozi, the Supreme Lord of the Dao, had to put in the materials first and then have someone watch over the fire when refining pills. But with Gu Chen, no preparation is needed at all; just make sure there is spiritual energy around.

Fortunately, they weren't local residents; otherwise, given Gu Chen's move, the Heavenly Dao would have struck Gu Chen first, and then Liu Qingyuan.

"It's good that it doesn't circulate on a large scale."

When Mu Longjun first saw Jia'er take out this kind of pill, he was worried that something bad would happen. But after learning that it was brought by these outsiders, he was relieved.

From what I've heard, this kind of thing seems quite common there. After all, they often create big scenes, and they can even use some kind of magical artifact to make everyone lose their memory for a day.

After the pills, there was the matter of Ren Yunzong. Although Shuangxiu had already explained it once and told all the things that had happened before, which shocked Mulongjun, after he came to his senses, Mulongjun began to worry about other things.

For example, their native demons are skilled at manipulating minds. Given his troubled past, Ren Yunzong could very well be targeted for seduction by the local demons.

"You can rest assured about that."

Liu Qingyuan calmly drank her tea and poured a cup for Mu Longjun as well.

"Ren Yunzong and Lingling have already returned to Dengdao Shore. Unless there is something urgent, they should not come again."

Fortunately, Mu Longjun had only met Ren Yunzong and not Duanmie Chanti, otherwise there would be other explanations.

"Furthermore, given the innate mental capacity assessment, Ren Yunzong possesses his own perseverance and persistence, and he won't be easily swayed by others."

Of course, this doesn't include cases where a naturally gifted person is killed off by the plot.

I had just sent Mu Longjun away when he unexpectedly came again. I had just said that the Underworld was very busy and that I didn't see Judge Lu on a regular basis, but this guy came that very night.

If Mu Longjun had encountered many people before and they could communicate with each other to know that there would be such a visitor, then when Liu Qingyuan saw Lu Pan, she really knew nothing.

Looking around, the only person who could contact Lu Pan was Zhu Erdan, and then they interfered with Zhu Erdan's request to Lu Pan to replace his wife's head.

Miss Wu's fate was eventually changed, and Judge Lu didn't say anything about it. Now that the underworld is undergoing reforms, wasn't she supposed to be in the underworld to avoid trouble? Why is she back in the mortal world?

Liu Qingyuan had come straight for the realm of enlightenment, but after much thought, he couldn't think of anything else that could make the judge come back again.

Even if Lu Pan were to seek revenge on Ling Ziling later, he would be too late. Ling Ziling would have already left the stage and withdrawn her disguise.

"Why is Judge Lu here?"

Despite feeling puzzled, the proper etiquette still had to be observed. However, today was full of twists and turns; just after seeing off Mu Longjun, Lu Pan arrived.

"I have come here to deliver a message to the Immortal Master."

Actually, Judge Lu was also feeling very complicated. If it weren't for the message he received today, he would never have imagined that the person in front of him already knew people from the underworld and was even a higher-ranking official than himself.

"I wonder if the Immortal Master would be interested in witnessing the selection of the City God?"

This is Lu Panlai's purpose. With a large-scale reshuffle of the City God, relying solely on recommendations from others or transfers from other places is definitely not enough, especially the route of recommendations from others, which could easily lead to repeating past mistakes.

Nowadays, most of the systems in the underworld are modeled after those in the mortal world, including the imperial examination system for selecting officials. It has always been conducted in an orderly manner, but this time the event was unexpected, so everyone decided to hold an extra session on an additional date to fill the vacancy.

In other words, the underworld is holding an imperial examination to select a city god, and they want to invite Liu Qingyuan and his companions to be examiners. They don't need to do anything; they just need to sit there and exert their influence.

After all, Liu Qingyuan and others were involved in Xi Fangping's case. Inviting them to supervise the matter was a way of ensuring its follow-up and showing that the Underworld was indeed taking it seriously.

However, when they left, none of the innate people present left any definite contact information, so the only way to find them was to check with other people.

The investigation shocked Judge Lu. It turned out that Liu Qingyuan lived in his jurisdiction. There was no need for an envoy; a direct order was issued to Judge Lu to invite her.

When Lu Pan heard this, he almost had a heart attack. It turned out that these were the same people who had helped Xi Fangping sue the King of Hell before. It turned out that there were such powerful figures in his territory.

After hearing the whole story, Liu Qingyuan said: Ah, me?

"Although...I am a member of the Taoist sect..."

Selecting the City God through an imperial examination is a good idea, and it's understandable that you want to directly invite people to show your sincerity. However, these are all Taoist Priests. Isn't it a mistake to invite Taoist priests to supervise the scholars' examination?

Oh, by the way, according to Judge Lu, most of the people participating in the City God's examination this time are talented scholars they have chosen from the mortal world, except for a small number of ghosts who have been dead for a long time. They will be guided by guides so that their souls can briefly leave their bodies in their dreams and come to the underworld to take the exam.

Those ghosts who died were mostly scholars in life. They took the imperial examinations to enter the court while they were alive, and even after death, they took the imperial examinations again to become city gods. It really proves the saying that the end of the universe is the civil service examination.

"Regardless of the circumstances, isn't it inappropriate to have people from the Taoist sect proctor the exam?"

This task seems more suitable for Confucianists, right? To fit in, why doesn't he spend some points now and bring out a few Confucian pseudonyms to go through the motions?

"Most examiners are just there to intimidate, and only one is truly responsible for supervision. With that person around, no one dares to misbehave."

"May I ask who the main proctor is?"

"Lord Guan Sheng".

"When are we going?"