Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Chapter 73 Strange Little Man

"When you get back, remember not to mention the Blue Butterfly to King Asura... What does that mean? Is Yi Yang acting crazy again?"

Lan Ying stared at the letter in her hand, puzzled. Yi Yang had suddenly sent her a message, and she thought something terrible had happened, but this was all? What Blue Butterfly? Was it one of those glowing things around the Asura King that always made people look flashy?

The letter essentially said that everyone had been mistaken before; the glowing creatures controlled by the Asura King weren't butterflies, but cicadas. After being severely beaten, Yi Yang, driven by his remaining sense of camaraderie, sent the letter to inform his companions to correct the mistake.

"It's just something for show, who cares if it's a butterfly or a cicada."

After confirming that there was no other information in the letter, Lan Ying burned it. She could create Gu worms through incantations. When she first saw that the cicadas beside Shou Wanjie could be controlled by their master, she had the idea of ​​studying and replicating them. However, after observation, she realized that those butterflies that emitted an unknown light, whether it was blue or green... oh no, cicadas, were not living creatures at all, but just some energy condensed into something else.

To be precise, those cicadas are special effects created by the user releasing their internal energy. They can be controlled and can be used to perform special functions, but they cannot actually be touched. Although Lan Ying's cursed insects are not living things, their initial creation still requires a prototype and a shell.

Unable to catch those coveted cicadas, nor able to replicate the inner strength they exuded, her desire to study them could only end in regret.

The ladybugs she had previously placed on the scholar were no longer usable; they represented the culmination of her efforts in cultivating them. If she wanted to make another batch, she would have to start from scratch.

For this matter, Lan Ying needed to find the shells of the cursed insects herself. In order to avoid the enemy, they collectively came to the south and made contact with the White Lotus Sect. After tasting the benefits, they even planned to integrate these fragmented sects so that they could be used.

If it weren't for Shou Wanjie's deliberate guidance, the illegal transmigrators would never have imagined that they could cooperate with the local cult, or even infiltrate the upper echelons to command the natives. Their sense of cooperation was relatively weak, and they were focused on capturing the main component of the Liaozhai world, namely the scholar Huo Huo, and had no idea how to utilize the natives.

After all, destruction is inevitable, and as outsiders, they will subconsciously separate themselves from the people of this world. Even if they are using others, it will only be to blend into the crowd and use others as shields.

Shou Wanjie: That's boring. Let me teach you how to make full use of the indigenous people.

Liu Qingyuan: Wait a minute, I already said I wanted you to join, not surpass me!

Making cursed insects requires raw materials, but now that the weather is getting colder, there are fewer insects to be found. Lan Ying doesn't know how long it would take to find them herself. With the example of the White Lotus Sect, she plans to follow suit and try to cooperate with other local monsters, just like her previous companion and the Painted Skin became sisters.

When it comes to knowledge of exotic plants and strange creatures, these local monsters know more; she only needs to play the role of a buyer.

"Let's just finish this stupid mission already."

……

It wasn't just Jia'er's mother who was entangled by the fox spirit; the wife of the Wang family in Beicheng was also among them. The two fox brothers, one fox and one fox, went to cause trouble, but in the end, they were both poisoned to death, and both families returned to a peaceful life.

Jia'er's father was amazed by his son's wisdom and decided to nurture him well. He brought back the three fox corpses, intending to process and collect them. This was quite an achievement.

As for Jia'er, he ran out of the house again, found Juan Shou Tian Yuan Wu Xiang, and returned the bottle of pills he had previously taken.

"You're just giving it back to me like that? Actually, keeping this pill will give me a solution if I get sick in the future."

Yuan Wuxiang looked at the medicine bottle that Jia'er had returned. Only a few days had passed, and only two or three pills inside had been used. In any case, these kinds of pills were almost free to make, so they didn't mind Jia'er keeping them.

The medicine bottle had actually been treated. As long as the bottle wasn't opened, most monsters wouldn't be able to tell that it contained a miraculous elixir made entirely of spiritual energy. The reason Mu Longjun was like that was simply because he was too sensitive to spiritual energy, and besides, he wasn't a monster to begin with.

Mu Longjun noticed this after inspecting the bottle, so he returned the medicine bottle to Jia'er with peace of mind. Otherwise, if he had gone to the bamboo forest in the garden with the pills in his pocket and squatted in the grass to observe the monster with his pure spiritual energy, it would have been no different from walking into a pack of dogs with a sausage around his neck. He would have been killed instantly without even showing his face.

“The fox is dead, and Mother has recovered, so we don’t need her anymore.”

Jia'er knew this was a good thing, but as good as it was, it wasn't something he could possess. It was fine for an immortal to have it, but it could easily cause trouble if it were in his own hands.

For example, the monk with the dragon in his alms bowl last time—when the other party beckoned, the medicine bottle flew out on its own. Jia'er had no way to deal with it. He could use his wits to poison the fox that was harming his mother, but everything he did was based on the premise that the fox did not know his true identity.

"A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime." Jia'er had heard similar principles since childhood. His family was just an ordinary merchant, and his father was getting old and couldn't keep the elixir safe.

The fox is dead, and Mother's spirits have recovered. Although her health is still poor, after all, she had been tormented for so long, thanks to these few miraculous pills, she has not developed any other ailments. She has been examined by a doctor and is advised to rest more.

"You really don't want it anymore?"

"No more."

Jia'er shook her head firmly. The young boy in front of her answered with exceptional decisiveness. Despite being only ten years old, his composure surpassed that of most adults.

"What Mulongjun said is right. You will surely achieve great things in the future."

Yuan Wuxiang touched Jia'er's head again, and Jia'er looked up at his hand with the silk glove on his head. When there were ordinary people in front of him, Yuan Wuxiang tried not to conjure up a silver fan or other weapons and wore gloves as usual.

Jia'er didn't care much about what Mu Longjun had said to the two immortals in front of him; he was more concerned about the hand that touched his head.

"Taoist Master."

"What's the matter?"

Is there something else in your gloves?

However, no matter how she thought about it, Jia'er couldn't understand why the silk gloves felt so hard, not at all like the hardness a human hand should have.

However, with Jia'er's imagination, he couldn't think of the prosthetic limb aspect. He only thought that the gloves Yuan Wuxiang wore had some hidden secrets, such as appearing to be ordinary silk but actually being impervious to knives and spears.

"Ah, this..."

Yuan Wuxiang was stumped by the question. There was nothing else in his gloves except for a pair of rather unusual hands. Every time Jia'er was patted on the head, she would look up and know that he had discovered something, but she never expected him to ask it this way.

"Indeed, there is a secret hidden beneath the gloves; they contain all eighteen kinds of weapons."

Juan Shoutian was planning to be a little cheeky, and what he said wasn't entirely wrong.

"However, this young master's most powerful ability is telekinesis..."

"It goes without saying."

What telekinesis? Oh, telekinesis to eat pancakes? Never mind then, let's skip this topic.

Jia'er's father was on the same boat as the Mu family. Now that he has returned home, it means that all the boats in this batch have resumed normal operation. The fact that Master Mu was able to quickly turn around when his boat was blocked indicates that their boat is also very close to its destination. Now, Ling Ziling and Ren Yunzong have also gone ashore again.

As soon as she got ashore, Ling Ziling quickly said goodbye to the Mu family. Just as she was about to run away, Ren Yunzong pulled her back. He had been prepared for this, so how could he let her run away?

If Shuangxiu were here, they would find that Ling Ziling's escape momentum is very similar to that of the little dragon they encountered. Both of them shot out like arrows, only to be pulled back as soon as they got going.

"It's time to go back."

Ren Yunzong spoke calmly, but he didn't hold back at all. Ling Ziling's cultivation level now was worlds apart from when she was a child, and he really couldn't control her without using a lot of force.

As they walked out, one was sightseeing while the other was looking for someone, and both of them were intentionally slowing down. They didn't need to do that when they went back; they could just turn into light and go back.

"Ah Zhen, are you really not going to reconsider your previous suggestion?"

Our Master Lingling attempted to negotiate.

"The White Lotus Sect is so arrogant, we might as well go and suppress them before we leave, just to rid the people of a scourge."

"The White Lotus Sect is dealt with by the imperial court. Our identities are special, and going there might backfire."

Ren Yunzong certainly didn't object to eliminating evil for the people, but since neither of them were officials of the imperial court nor local chivalrous thieves, and the White Lotus Sect was in a complicated situation, entangled with both the common people and the political situation of the imperial court, they, as outsiders, actually had no right to interfere in these matters.

If you happen to run into them, it's fine to deal with them casually. But if you actually go after their headquarters, the local officials might not be grateful, and might even issue a warrant for your arrest.

Two Taoist priests with magical abilities went to fight the White Lotus Sect, which had ties to Buddhism. This phenomenon was easily distorted in the eyes of those in power. To put it nicely, it was a conflict between religious figures from both sides; to put it bluntly, it was suspicion that someone else wanted to replace the White Lotus Sect and establish a new cult.

After all, this kind of thing seems to happen frequently within the White Lotus Sect. When others see two Taoist spirits enter, they develop this kind of idea due to a path dependency.

"Why not just scare them instead of fighting them?"

"Why are you scared?"

Seeing that Ling Ziling seemed honest, Ren Yunzong let her go. Even the boldest members of the White Lotus Sect could rebel. Now that he had taken Wan Jie and brought illegal transmigrators over, what could possibly frighten these people?

That could definitely provoke them, for example, by telling Shou Wanjie that his Cold Cicada was mistaken for Blue Butterfly, which would be a surefire way to anger them.

Oh right, after they got ashore, they heard that the blue butterfly was no longer by Asura King's side. It must have been that the person in charge changed these rumors after learning about this.

"It's simple, Zhen, go change your hairstyle..."

"There's a rat show up ahead, want to go check it out?"

"where?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Ziling's attention was immediately diverted. The so-called "mouse play" is a small stage built of wood, where mice wearing masks go up to perform, while people sing along from behind.

Whether they had received special training or the mice had become incredibly clever, they were able to put on this kind of performance. The mice's performance perfectly matched the lyrics. Such performers are rare even in the world of Liaozhai. Of course, we had to see this rare and wonderful performance.

Having put the matter of persuading Ren Yunzong out of her mind, Ling Ziling no longer thought about running far away and headed straight for the place where the rat show was being performed. Ren Yunzong smiled helplessly and followed her.

Fortunately, both of them had black hair, so they weren't too conspicuous in the bustling crowd. People around them were drawn to the various performances, and by the time others realized there was someone different next to them, they had already walked past.

The area around the port was bustling with vendors of all sizes, as well as ordinary people and street performers. There were all sorts of acrobatic performances on the street, each one different, from rat tricks to snake charms. Ling Ziling and Ren Yunzong strolled around and, thankfully, didn't encounter any strange or bizarre incidents.

Thinking about it carefully, although there are strange and supernatural beings in this world, most of them are ordinary people. They don't see monsters causing trouble every day. They just happen to encounter them more often than others.

"So, Ah Zhen, are you really not going to consider it? If Uncle Wu Huan is here, maybe she'll want to see it too."

After the initial excitement of the rat game subsided, Ling Ziling revived her previous proposal: if Ren Yunzong could visit the areas where the White Lotus Sect was active in the guise of Duanmie Chanti, it would definitely spark a huge discussion, divert the enemy's attention, and easily lure them into a trap.

Since we already have one undercover agent, adding a few more won't hurt. Working together might even have unexpected results.

"I do not want to cause panic."

Regarding the so-called unexpected effect, Ren Yunzong had the right to suspect that it caused panic among the people. Shou Wanjie had long pointed ears, and he himself had golden patterns all over his body. If the two of them were shining brightly in the White Lotus Sect, it would clearly be saying that the higher-ups of the White Lotus Sect were going to break through their limits and become inhuman.

The White Lotus Sect, which already had a history of rebellion and would only have more experience in armed rebellion in the future, suddenly had two obviously inhuman high-ranking members. They were powerful and had been subjugated by various factions. Ren Yunzong didn't even dare to think about what would happen to them in the end.

Even worse, they might be forced to wear yellow robes by fanatical White Lotus sect members. Forget it, the thought of that is suffocating.

"Using that image to scare them is fine, but they're allowed to summon demons to swindle money, while real demons aren't allowed to come and warn us... Ah Zhen, is there something over there?"

Ling Ziling's gaze casually swept across the base of the wall and clearly saw a small thing burrow into the alley. It was about the size of a palm and looked somewhat like a person.

There are many small animals the size of a palm, such as hedgehogs, mice, and sparrows. If they were really these things, Lingziling wouldn't care. However, her innate human vision allowed her to clearly identify the other party's shape. It was indeed a humanoid creature that walked on two legs, and it seemed to be carrying a package on its back.

Looking to the side, in the bustling crowd, no one noticed the little creature that flashed past the corner of the wall, but Ling Ziling was certain that it wasn't an illusion. She hadn't eaten any poisonous mushrooms, so seeing a little person out of nowhere could only mean that a little person had actually run past.

Seriously? Is it really all supernatural and bizarre stuff?

"Quick, Zhen, go see what it is!"

Ling Ziling pulled Ren Yunzong's sleeve and ran forward. There were so many kinds of small humanoid creatures: miniature people, house monsters, elves... She had to go and see what they were.

Then a magical scene unfolded. Not long ago, Ling Ziling was trying to run away but was stopped by Ren Yunzong. Now, Ling Ziling was actively pulling Ren Yunzong forward. Anyone who didn't know better would think that the two of them had been acting together from the beginning.

"This little thing shouldn't have any feelings of love or hate, right? If it does, Ah Zhen, let's just turn around and leave."

Although ghosts and foxes can be sentimental, sometimes they shouldn't be too sentimental, otherwise it won't be easy for the onlookers. This is a personal lesson that Ling Ziling learned from the Huang Jiulang incident.