Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

The Taoist priest had figured it out: He Baiding was looking for someone to go to the underworld, but not someone who was dead. They were invited to go there and were sure to return safely.

While it's true that you know this, the person's direct statement "went to the underworld" makes one think of the underworld, the place where people go after they die. Then, it takes a moment to realize that the person wasn't talking about ghosts, but living people.

"Fellow Daoist, next time you speak, please add a few more words."

He Baiding had previously asked himself if there was a way to get to the underworld, which might involve going there to find someone, but that was truly impossible. He knew a little about summoning souls and ghosts, exorcising demons and warding off evil, but directly opening the gates of the underworld was unlikely.

"I've traveled to many places, but this is the first time I've seen such a lively Ten Kings Palace."

The Taoist priest looked around and saw that it was really lively, so lively that it was as if the deity enshrined inside was not the fierce and evil Yama or judge, but the God of Wealth.

Such a peculiar sight must have been something that happened before. From here, you can see what the inside of the hall looks like. If the Taoist priest is not mistaken, the statues in the hall are newly renovated, and there is still some old dust that has not been cleaned in some inconspicuous corners.

In other words, this place has only recently become lively. In the past, like other temples of the Ten Kings, this place was rarely visited.

What exactly happened, and is it related to those "immortals" who have recently appeared?

Thinking of this, Daoist Shan turned his gaze back to He Baiding, who was leaning against the pillar outside the hall. This person should be the same as those "immortals". Judging from the fact that the person he was looking for could be invited to the underworld as a guest and participate in the selection of the City God, it can be inferred that these are all cultivators with real skills, not frauds.

But the sudden appearance of so many, so different from their original style, is really puzzling.

Judging from He Baiding's behavior, he should know what happened in the Ten Kings Palace. The Taoist priest was about to ask when he saw the person leaning against the pillar suddenly get up and walk away.

The Taoist priest who had just caught up asked: Fellow Taoist, what exactly do you want to do?

"Fellow Daoist, aren't you going in?"

"What are you doing in there?"

He wasn't there to pay homage. After confirming that Liu Qingyuan wouldn't suddenly emerge from inside anytime soon, He Baiding moved on to do what he had mentioned earlier: buy wine.

In the bustling market, the peculiar pear seller was still there. No one knew what kind of pears he grew, yet he was still able to sell them after so long.

Logically speaking, it's long past the pear season, and with current preservation technology, the original batch of pears wouldn't have survived until now.

Rather than believing that this person possessed a special type of pear, Tsuruhaku Tōshi was more inclined to believe that the pear tree this person had cultivated had become a spirit.

"Didn't you say you were coming here to visit your elders? Aren't you going?"

Looking at the Taoist priest who had been following him, He Baiding was a little confused about what this guy was up to. According to him, this person left his original place because his skills were coveted by others. He came here because there was a senior fellow disciple here. Now that he was here, why didn't he go to visit him? Why did he keep following him?

"That elder has an eccentric personality and is the most unconventional in the sect. I can't find the door even if I want to visit him. I can only rely on fate."

The Taoist priest scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. It was true that he had come here specifically to inquire about the situation after hearing that the earliest "immortal" had appeared here, and it was also true that there was a senior fellow disciple in the city. He had obtained the information from that senior disciple.

However, this elder's behavior was quite unusual within the sect, even more so than when he performed magic tricks on the street. If you really wanted to visit him, you probably wouldn't even be able to find his door; it was truly a matter of chance.

"It's all about fate. What does he do?"

"……beggar."

He lay on the street all day, without even a house. What could the Taoist priest do? He couldn't find a door to visit, because this elder hadn't left a door open for him at all.

"……what?"

No, that's a bit too unconventional.

This explanation sounds absurd, but He Baiding couldn't refute it, because there really was a beggar in the city with great magical powers, the one who was usually crazy but could bring the dead back to life.

Meeting such a person truly depends on fate, since a crazy beggar would never leave any address.

"Your sect is... quite unique."

He Baiding was speechless for a moment. The Taoist priest was performing magic tricks on the street, and the elders were begging on the street. This could be considered another form of "great seclusion in the city".

Since that's been said, Daoist Shan naturally followed He Baiding. On their way to buy wine, an extremely obese man hurriedly ran past them. Because of their unusual pairing, people around them would intentionally avoid them, creating a small open space.

But the man seemed not to notice anything special about the two of them, and ran straight past them, almost bumping into the Taoist priest.

There was no one around them to begin with, so when someone suddenly ran past, they would be very conspicuous, especially since this person was extremely obese and it was amazing that he could run so fast.

The fat man seemed completely oblivious to the two of them, brushing past them and running forward with an urgent expression, heading straight for the tavern ahead.

He Baiding's destination happened to be here as well. When the two arrived, the fat man who had rushed over earlier was urging the boss to fill the wine container. The people around him seemed to be used to his behavior and even wanted to tease him.

Why is he in such a hurry? It's just to buy alcohol?

"It's incredible."

Looking at the fat man in front of him, the Taoist priest took a closer look and noticed that this person was different.

"There are even alcohol enthusiasts in this place."

"A drunkard?"

"The wine worm is the essence of wine. If you have the wine worm, fill a jar with water, put the worm in and stir it, and the water will become good wine."

"..."

Upon hearing this, He Baiding silently put the wine gourd back to his waist. He knew that these words were just about the use of wine worms, but the idea of ​​soaking worms in wine sounded rather disgusting.

The Taoist priest, unaware of He Baiding's actions, pointed to the fat man in front of him who was drinking heavily and continued to explain.

"This person has alcohol worms in his body. He should be thinking about it. People with alcohol worms in their bodies will be addicted to alcohol, drinking like water every day, but they can never get drunk. This is because all the alcohol they drink is supplied to the alcohol worms inside them."

"parasitic?"

The behavior of the wine worm reminded He Baiding of parasites inside the human body, and through parasites, he then thought of a guy who could parasitize other people's minds, and his expression turned sour.

"Fellow Daoist, please don't misunderstand. Although it parasitizes the human body, this wine worm is a good thing."

Seeing the increasingly low atmosphere around him, Daoist Shan knew he had misunderstood. He had only heard the first half of the story, and the presence of alcohol worms in the body was indeed not a good thing. But there was still the second half to come.

"When the alcohol worm is nourished in the body, it will reward the parasite, such as in terms of wealth and career. Even if the parasite only drinks and does not work all day, it will not die. This thing is a rare treasure, whether inside or outside."

Judging from his running movements, this fat man is at least in good health and walks with incredible speed. The Taoist priest felt that the other man could easily knock him away.

Judging from his clothes, this fat man must be quite well-off. You can hear some of this from other people's jokes, such as how he spends a lot of money on alcohol, but his wealth has never diminished. He owns nearly 300 acres of land outside the city, but he is lazy and only cultivates half of it, yet the harvest is still quite good. In short, he doesn't work and his family has more money than he can spend.

The alcohol worm residing in the fat man's body deserves much of the credit for these benefits; this alcohol worm is not his illness, but rather his treasure.

……

"A man drinking while wearing a Buddhist crown and Taoist robes... Hmm, are you talking about the 'Treading Crane White-Clad Scholar'? He's not a monk, he's a Taoist like me."

Not long after He Baiding left the Ten Kings Palace, Liu Qingyuan and Shu Loulong returned. When they left the underworld, they took the same direct route through the Ten Kings Palace, with Judge Lu as their guide. However, they left at night when the Ten Kings Palace was empty, and returned during the day when it was bustling with activity.

Both Liu Qingyuan and Lu Pan, who was used to walking this road, forgot a very important thing: after the incident involving Zhu Erdan and Miss Wu, the people had made the Ten Kings Hall one of the most popular places to worship, and it was no longer the deserted place it used to be.

So when Liu Qingyuan and Shulou Longsu returned, they met the people who came to pay their respects, which prevented them from leaving immediately. Instead, they were surrounded by the crowd.

Fortunately, while the imposters were out and about, Liu Qingyuan herself was not idle. She went to the city every few days, and helped out whenever she saw someone there. By being down-to-earth, she became familiar with the people and prevented panic from being caused by her sudden appearance.

Suddenly, a magical transformation occurred in the Hall of Ten Kings. Everyone was initially surprised, but relaxed after recognizing one of the people in the group, and began to chatter amongst themselves.

After all, there were two people present. They recognized the Taoist priest in white, but they didn't recognize the other one in purple and adorned with jewels. However, Shu Loulong Su was so glittering with jewels that no one dared to approach him, for fear of accidentally damaging him.

Most of the people who come to worship are ordinary people who don't usually see many luxury goods, let alone someone like Shulou Longsu who hangs so many treasures on his body, giving others a sense of oppression in another form.

Unfortunately, these people didn't know that Shu Loulong Su could fight while wearing this outfit. Although it looked precious and fragile, it was actually not afraid of being bumped or knocked.

In the end, Shu Loulongsu stood aside, fanning himself and watching the spectacle as Liu Qingyuan was surrounded by a hundred people who came to the Ten Kings Hall to pay their respects, explaining why the two of them had appeared out of nowhere.

And because He Baiding had come before, his image of wearing a Taoist robe and a Buddhist crown, leaning against a pillar outside the hall and drinking was so eye-catching that many people, though not daring to approach, had already memorized his appearance.

Now that Liu Qingyuan is back, He Baiding and the others don't dare to approach him, but they do. They think that he looks like he's not an ordinary person, so one of them tries to ask if he knows him.

It just so happens that they do know each other. There are many Taoists who like to drink, and there are also quite a few Buddhists who are fond of drinking. But the one who wears a Buddhist crown, a Taoist robe, and also has a wine gourd is probably only He Baiding.

"Strange, why did Daozu suddenly appear?"

"The message you released back then was meant to attract people from the Daoist sect who were interested in other worlds to come here for tourism. Couldn't anyone come?"

"But the Three-Legged Heaven doesn't have its own activities, just like ours."

"The Buddha Sword isn't here. If you hadn't dragged me here, I wouldn't be here either."

The implication is that the Three-Legged Heaven, which is also composed of members of the three religions, will not always be in a state of three people acting at the same time, so it is not surprising that He Baiding came alone.

"I'm just worried that you, my friend, are not getting enough exercise. As the saying goes, life lies in movement, Long Su."

"In my opinion, staying in one place for a long time is truly beneficial to life."

In that Bitter Realm, if you want to ensure your safety, it's best to live in seclusion. Don't show your face even if the sky falls or the earth collapses. Once you make a name for yourself in the martial arts world, you may experience great suffering next time.

He Baiding's news gave the two a reason to leave. After asking for directions, they left the Ten Kings Palace. Shu Loulongsu actually wanted to go straight back to the mountains, since nothing unexpected would happen in the city. However, before he could turn around, someone forcefully dragged him away again with the "Let's go, let's go" spell.

Shulou Longsu: I was careless. I should have shut this guy up first.

At this point, Tsuruhakucho, having been suddenly brought up the topic of alcohol worms, no longer felt like drinking.

In particular, when the discussion went further, mentioning that the Taoist priest had seen a wine worm that had been captured before, and that the other party had described to him exactly what the wine worm looked like.

It's about three inches long, shaped like a wriggling piece of red meat, with a mouth and eyes... Isn't that just a big worm with a human face? How can you soak such a disgusting thing in alcohol? Doesn't the person drinking it feel disgusted at all?

People who drank it before don't know, but now even if I don't drink Hebai Ding, I feel disgusted. Wouldn't it be better to soak a snake or a ginseng in some good wine than to get rid of insects?

I've heard that people caught with alcoholism will go from being addicted to alcohol to hating it like the plague, and will never touch a drop of alcohol again. I wonder if this change is because the person in question has seen the true face of the alcoholism addict.

Thinking about it carefully, the fact that I like drinking because there's a worm with a human face in my stomach is indeed a bit hard to accept.

"It really is here! I'm so excited!"

While He Baiding was agonizing over the problem of the wine worm, Liu Qingyuan and Shulou Longsu arrived. The Taoist priest, who turned around after hearing the noise, saw two figures suddenly appear behind him, one in white and one in purple. He couldn't figure out how they got there.

However, one of them was dressed entirely in white, even his hair was white, while the other was adorned with jewels, directly showcasing the meaning of "wealth and honor." Without much thought, Daoist Shan knew that these were the people He Baiding was looking for.

"Are these the two friends you're looking for, fellow cultivator?"

“That’s right, we are…”

"We wouldn't call each other friends, at most we'd call each other fellow practitioners."

"...That's really hurtful, stomp your feet."

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingyuan's response to the Taoist priest took a complete turn, including her tone, and she even added a gesture of heartache.

"Being your friend, Sword Immortal Traces, is somewhat dangerous."

"How could that be? I just have bad taste in making friends, don't I?"

"Sword Master, am I still here?"

As Jianzi Xianji's friend, former villain, and classic example, Shulou Longsu said.

"Besides, your acting is terrible, you should stop acting."

"Alright, do you have urgent business to attend to?"

The Taoist priest watched as the newly appeared white-haired Taoist, dressed in pure white and with a serious and upright appearance, arrived with great spirit. He was in high spirits, but after a single sentence from He Baiding, he became heartbroken. Then, after a single sentence from someone beside him, he returned to his serious demeanor. The entire sequence of emotions was smooth and effortless, a truly delightful experience.

Are you an opera singer or a Taoist priest? You're used to this routine, and the people around you don't find it strange at all. How many times have you performed this routine?