Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

After bidding farewell to Master Luo, Ren Pingsheng and Jian Feidao resumed their journey, intending to visit the town on the other side of the mountain. Pianpian's description of the Xin family and Lady Jiang reminded them of Xin Shisi Niang, one of the more famous characters in Liaozhai.

According to Pianpian, she admired the fourteenth daughter of the Xin family because the girl was interested in the immortal path and had repeatedly sought her out to learn from the immortals.

These descriptions all fit the image of Xin Shisi Niang. Based on past experience, it's impossible for a town to have only one story. They're bound to encounter something if they go there.

During this time, both Pianpian and Huacheng Niangzi offered to help them clear the way. Ren Pingsheng and Jian Feidao had neither their own mounts nor the carriages of ordinary people. In their opinion, it would take at least half a month to cross the mountain on foot.

Walking on foot is nowhere near as fast as the two of them using magic. Although they haven't attained enlightenment yet and can't carry people through the clouds and mountains, they can definitely open a shortcut through the mountains so that people can cross the forest in a day.

Of course, the so-called half-month journey is calculated based on the walking strength of an ordinary person, but Ren Pingsheng and Jian Feidao are not ordinary people. They have a faster way of traveling than these, namely the light transformation unique to innate people.

So they declined Pianpian and Huacheng Niangzi's offer and instead demonstrated this rather special "lightness skill" to them.

"...This is what you call not having attained enlightenment? Just a martial arts practitioner?"

Hua Cheng Niangzi crossed her arms and watched the two streaks of light disappear into the distance. At that speed, let alone if she could shrink the earth to an inch to catch up, even if she could really fly, she still couldn't catch up with those two streaks of light in the sky.

When I first heard it, I thought "transforming into light" was a metaphor, but it turned out to be a real transformation into streaks of light that flew away. If she and Pianpian were ordinary girls, they probably wouldn't have been able to see anything at all, let alone the two streaks of light in the sky right now.

"Perhaps the standards are different where they are."

Pianpian rested her chin on her hand. No wonder when she was calculating the key to breaking the deadlock in the conflict between the Luo and Hu families, she only calculated that two outside cultivators entered the mountain, but she couldn't figure out how they entered the mountain at all. If the two of them had been moving in this way before they entered the mountain, it would be no different from them falling from the sky.

"Can you handle it in the future?"

Both being cultivators, Hua Cheng Niangzi entered the Dao later than Pianpian, and her cultivation level was lower. Moreover, she actually preferred to have some connection with the secular world than with her friend, so she did not live in a cave but chose to live at the foot of the mountain, and occasionally came into contact with people in the town.

Pianpian lives in the mountains, devoting herself to cultivation, and will soon attain immortality. Her method of traveling by transforming into light seems more like something a deity would use.

That's why Madam Huacheng asked that question. She noticed that the speed at which this light-transforming creature moved was unusually fast, and she thought that if Pianpian could do it in the future, she would take her flying around in the sky a few times to try it out.

How would I know to go?

Pianpian rolled her eyes at her best friend. Their cultivation systems were completely different, and she had no idea how the other person transformed into light. Besides, she hadn't even become an immortal yet, and even if she could, that was something for the future. How could she know now?

"The Hu family's daughter will be getting married in a year. With the Hu family's little fox helping out, we won't have to worry about her anymore."

Although the fox demons of the Hu family are not very strong, and only know some basic spells such as illusion and fortune telling, these minor spells are no different from those of ordinary cultivators, but they are of great help to mortals.

Even a rough estimate of future fortune or misfortune would be enough for the Luo family to develop. Mr. Hu proposed a marriage alliance with the Luo family because he wanted a legitimate reason to help them.

When demons and ghosts help people, they always need to find a few suitable reasons, such as chivalry, blood ties, or gratitude. The relationship between Pianpian and Huacheng's child and the Luo family is already distant, so if they want to help, they can only use their strength against them.

"Why is it another decapitation?"

Ren Pingsheng poked the "headless corpse" on the ground with the end of his jade bamboo staff. They had just crossed the mountain when they saw a man carrying a carrying pole walking forward. The man himself was fine, just an ordinary mortal, but there was something wrong with his carrying pole.

The problem was that a headless corpse was hanging from the back of the carrying pole the man was carrying. More accurately, it was a headless body. Apart from being headless and hanging from the pole by the collar, the body showed no signs of decay. It looked like a person's body had been beheaded, but there was no further decomposition process.

Logically speaking, a headless corpse hanging on a carrying pole should be very heavy, but the people carrying the pole were completely unaware of it. It was only when they couldn't bear to look anymore and reminded the person in charge that they discovered it.

Upon seeing a headless corpse behind him, the man quickly swung his carrying pole and whipped it wildly until it fell to the ground before running away. The two men, seeing a village in the distance, and certain that the man wasn't possessed by any monster and wouldn't suffer further harm, let him go.

The body was simply thrown on the ground, lifeless, a true "headless corpse."

Jian Feidao recalled the headless ghost from before, and suddenly the corpse in front of him looked very similar to the other person, except that it couldn't move.

“Look with your enhanced vision… Ah, it’s gone.”

Ren Pingsheng also thought of the headless ghost that had chased after his head. Just as he was about to ask Jian Feidao to check if it was some kind of ghost that had come out to scare people, the corpse on the ground suddenly disappeared.

Since he was gone, they didn't care anymore and went to check the village ahead. They happened to see the person who had run away. There were still a few people gathered at the village entrance, talking in a circle. They didn't see that two more people had appeared behind them.

Judging from their conversation, a head had just fallen from the sky. The head was disheveled and its features were obscured. The cut on its neck was very clean, which startled people before it disappeared.

The person carrying the shoulder pole was a woodcutter, and combined with the headless corpse he saw, they could be pieced together to form a complete person.

"The head and body appeared in different places, and then they both disappeared?"

"Yeah, a head fell from the sky, that was terrifying!"

"Disappearing in an instant can only mean it's a ghost or a monster."

"A ghost story in broad daylight? Should we call someone to come and take a look?"

"Ghost hunting?"

"That thing appeared and then disappeared. Where are we going to catch it?"

"Who knows? I feel disgusted just looking at my own carrying pole now... Wait a minute."

The woodcutter and the others gathered together to discuss, but as they talked, they realized something was off. The people in front of them were all from the same village, and they saw each other all the time. They were very familiar with each other, but just now, when they were talking, it seemed like an unfamiliar voice had entered the conversation.

Having just experienced a ghostly encounter, he was still on edge. He turned his head decisively and saw a head of white hair and a staff with a bright green tip that resembled some animal.

At some point, Ren Pingsheng joined a group of people discussing something. He held a bamboo staff and wore a distressed expression that was exactly the same as everyone else's. Behind him was Jian Feidao, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

If one could ignore his distinctive clothing and white hair, Ren Pingsheng chatted amiably among the group, as if he knew them. Apart from the woodcutter who realized something was amiss and turned away, no one had noticed that Ren Pingsheng had infiltrated the discussion circle.

"Huh? Huh!"

But it doesn't matter, the woodcutter has already spotted him and made a sharp, explosive sound, followed by a rapid retreat.

He retreated a little too hastily and tripped over some loose stones. Jian Feidao quickly went over and pulled him back.

"Be careful."

From the moment Ren Pingsheng infiltrated the discussion circle step by step and started chatting with several people, Jian Feidao felt that something was going to happen. When a stranger suddenly sneaks into a discussion, no matter who the infiltrator is, they will be frightened the moment they are discovered.

"No need for such a big reaction, do I look scary?"

As the woodcutter cried out in alarm, the people who had been gathered together scattered in an instant, leaving Ren Pingsheng's surroundings empty.

"Perhaps it's the image of the traveler that frightens ordinary people."

For example, gray hair.

"...That sounds familiar."

Ren Pingsheng felt that he had heard Jian Feidao's words somewhere before.

Although they startled people, the two men were far more pleasing to the eye than the heads falling from the sky and the headless corpses hanging on the carrying poles. In addition, the woodcutter remembered that they were the ones who reminded him of the things hanging behind him. After the initial surprise, they resumed their conversation.

"There is no demonic aura, nor any yin energy."

After hearing that a human head had fallen from the sky, Jian Feidao deliberately searched the surroundings. There were no signs of ghosts or monsters causing trouble, but what had just happened was indeed beyond reason.

The headless corpse disappeared before the eyes of the two innate beings, without much energy fluctuation. It wasn't a trick by a monster, and Jian Feidao was still more inclined to believe that the other party was a ghost.

The head disappeared in the chaos. They were all ordinary people, and they couldn't figure out how the head was gone. It was already a miracle that they weren't scared away when a head suddenly fell from mid-air.

Given the abundance of ghosts and monsters, Ren Pingsheng felt that whether the head and body belonged to the same person was still up for debate.

Their original goal was to reach a town further ahead, but given the situation, the villagers were all ordinary people, and if it were some kind of highly aggressive monster, they would be powerless to fight back.

Whether it's a ghost or a demon, they all become active at night. The two decided to stay in the village for the night. Staying up all night wouldn't have any effect on their health, and they didn't have any urgent business, so they decided to stay and observe the situation.

"With so many heads severed, was there some major case in the past?"

Ren Pingsheng asked the people around him about the headless ghost that chased his head in the mountains and the headless corpse he saw today. The reason why they looked alike, apart from the fact that the bodies had no signs of decay, was that the two had a clean cut on their necks.

If it's an accident, the chance of dying by decapitation is very low. If you die in the mountains, it's more likely that you were bitten by wild animals or fell to your death. If you die at the hands of bandits, an ordinary machete won't leave such a clean cut. It takes a lot of force to decapitate someone, and it's easier for bandits to kill someone by stabbing them in the chest.

Such a clean, decisive decapitation requires, on the one hand, that the victim not struggle or be unable to struggle, and on the other hand, that the force of the strike be sufficient to decapitate the victim in one stroke.

"...Why are you two so familiar with these things?"

To explain, Ren Pingsheng laid out his analysis directly. After listening to this, the villagers finally raised their hands with trembling hands to ask a question.

They ran away in fright at the sight of corpses and heads, paying no attention to the appearance of the wounds on their necks, nor whether the cuts were flat or slanted. These two looked like immortals descended from heaven; how could they be so skilled at such bloody things?

He was dressed all in white and looked like a strange, otherworldly being, but the first thing he said was how to behead someone.

"Well... I guess that's based on experience."

There's nothing else in the Bitter Realm except for a lot of dead people and ways of dying, especially being beheaded or blown to pieces.

"So, have any major cases ever happened here before?"

However, in the Bitter Realm, those born with innate abilities possess immense strength and numerous divine weapons. They can split mountains in two, and severing a head with a single stroke is not difficult. This world is dominated by ordinary mortals, and the only thing that can cut such a clean wound and meet the hypothetical conditions is the guillotine used to execute criminals.

Regardless of whether it was a wrongful conviction or not, cases involving direct executions are definitely major cases. As for whether the beheaded person was causing trouble out of resentment or someone was using the body, those are issues that can only be discussed later.

"It feels like we're solving a case, like we've stolen someone else's job."

"Let nature take its course, isn't that what the traveler said before?"

Although he claims to be sightseeing, Ren Pingsheng has actually done very few things that are actually related to that.

"A big case..."

"I heard that they executed several leaders of the White Lotus Sect in the past."

"...Why is it the White Lotus Sect again?"

As expected of a folk cult with a history of hundreds of years, they seem to be able to create related cases all over the world.

……

"I've already said there are monsters, why can't you understand!"

In a town not far from the village, a wealthy young man named Chu Yintai was screaming in a frenzy. His family was quite well-known in the town. He had gone out for a stroll today, intending to have some fun, but halfway there he saw a dead man's head roll out and then quickly disappear. He was so frightened that he ran back home. When he told his friends about it, they didn't believe him.

The head appeared suddenly and then disappeared just as suddenly. It was obviously not normal. Chu Yintai was afraid that he had been possessed by an evil spirit, so he hurriedly ran back, afraid that he would be haunted by something unclean.

But apart from himself, no one around him believed him, because Chu Yintai's story was so incoherent that it left everyone confused. They just assumed he was having a drunken dream and was talking nonsense when he woke up.

However, Chu Yintai's family was powerful and influential, and no one dared to offend him. Even if they didn't believe it in their hearts, they still spoke in a relatively mild manner. If it were someone else, they would probably have already started laughing at the other person upon hearing such a thing.

Even with the softened attitude, Chu Yintai still felt something was off. In his view, anything that wasn't an explicit agreement was an act of opposition.

Others didn't believe him, and Chu Yintai had no desire to stay any longer; he was going to ask someone to capture the demon right now.

At this moment, Chu Yintai didn't even realize that he had just seen a head suddenly appear and disappear in front of him. He didn't even know if the other side was a monster, but he was already clamoring to ask someone to catch the monster.

His friend, who was listening to his story, realized that his words were indeed incoherent and his sudden action was completely illogical. He was about to leave when he saw people, and someone tried to stop him and tell him to calm down.

However, because of Chu Yintai's family background and status, they still couldn't extend a helping hand; Chu Yintai and his group were simply too powerful to offend.