Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Chapter 136 Jungle Maze

Something had indeed happened to Master Li. He followed the message from his junior brother and, in his haste, hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings. As a result, he suddenly stepped into a place that resembled an illusion, where his junior brother was and a nest of vicious mountain demons.

Key point: a whole bunch.

The mandrill mentioned here is not an ordinary animal, but a huge, extremely ferocious-looking humanoid monster, like a demon. This thing does not know any magic, but its body is very durable, with skin of copper and bones of iron, and is impervious to swords and spears. With one claw, it can crush a person's bones.

Since it's called a mandrill, it naturally lives deep in the mountains. Occasionally, it will run into nearby houses, climb in, and eat people. These creatures usually appear alone, and it's quite a rare sight to see a whole nest of them.

But given the feelings of the two parties involved, they certainly didn't want to witness such a strange thing.

"You brat, where did you get yourself into trouble with these monsters?"

The two Taoist priests stood on the tallest tree in the area, temporarily avoiding the attack of the mountain demons. These creatures were huge, with the tallest reaching almost two stories high. Standing on the ground would only result in them being beaten.

Looking at the several monsters eyeing him menacingly below, Master Li felt a sharp pain in his temples. These creatures were man-eating and could not be allowed to live. However, if he and his junior brother cooperated, they could fight back and kill the mountain demons.

But the biggest problem here isn't the mountain demons, it's the surrounding environment. They seem to have fallen into some kind of formation. If the two of them use all their strength to kill the mountain demons, and then something else jumps out from the side when they're exhausted, it will be troublesome.

The reason his junior brother called for help was also because of the surrounding formation. However, he was too hasty and didn't clearly tell Li Daoshi to watch his step, causing Li Daoshi to make the same mistake and get trapped as well.

Actually, Master Li also had his problems. He had previously traveled with Jian Feidao and Ren Pingsheng. With two innate beings traveling together, their safety was maximized. Because of their outstanding appearance, others would avoid them. In terms of observing danger, the two of them could always spot it before Master Li. This habit became so natural that he forgot to observe his surroundings.

"I don't understand either."

The young Taoist priest being questioned looked down at the scene below and helplessly cried out that he was wronged.

"I heard there were zombie outbreaks nearby, so I came up the mountain to check it out. I never imagined there would be a maze here, and a whole nest of monsters! There's actually a whole nest of these things!"

This junior disciple looked like a young man, far too young for the typical image of a Taoist priest, and didn't seem convincing enough. Because of this, few people sought his help to exorcise demons; he was usually just passing through when he heard about strange occurrences in the area and decided to handle them himself.

They say it's better to mend the fence after the sheep are lost, but when it comes to monsters causing trouble, it's too late to find someone after something happens. Besides, he looks young, so people think he doesn't have much real skill. When they find out that monsters are causing trouble, they don't look for him, who looks like a young man who has just come of age. They would rather go to a charlatan with a goatee and a banner that says he is some kind of fortune teller.

If he waits for others to come to him to exorcise demons, it will be too late. It's better to take the initiative, help the people in secret, and leave without a trace after the deed is done, keeping his identity and name hidden.

However, doing this could easily lead to a problem: he wouldn't get detailed information and could only probe along the general direction. Then, this probe failed, and instead of becoming a behind-the-scenes hero, he stepped into the mandrill's den and couldn't get out.

He also realized that he was surrounded by a maze, and that he couldn't deal with both the mandrills and the potential dangers of the maze on his own. So he sent a message to the nearest person for help. At the time, he was also dealing with several mandrills trying to catch him while sending the message, so he made the message brief and forgot about the maze.

"You're born with a bit of bad luck, can you please stop rushing headlong into things?"

"But zombies are dangerous, I was just acting out of desperation..."

"boom!"

"Roar!"

Unable to catch its prey above, the mandrill below began attacking the trunk. Once the tree fell, the two people hiding above would naturally have to come down.

Mandrills are huge and can't climb trees, but they can easily smash through walls and houses. So instead of hiding in the abandoned houses around them, Master Li and his companions found an old tree.

They originally intended to carefully observe their surroundings and figure out the maze before fighting the mandrills, but the other side clearly didn't have that patience and only wanted to snatch the rare "delicious food" and share it.

The tree was very thick, but it couldn't withstand the attack of several mandrills. With each attack, five deep claw marks would appear on the trunk, and it wouldn't be long before the tree fell.

Whether they can randomly kill a mandrill is uncertain, but in any case, Master Li and his group can no longer stay in the tree.

"This place is very strange. Find the key to the formation as soon as possible and break the illusion. I will lure the mountain demon away."

After saying this, Master Li took out a talisman and lit it along with the whisk in his hand. Rings of fire shot down and ignited the fur on the mountain demons' bodies. The burning pain made them stop fighting temporarily. Another young Taoist priest jumped down at the right moment and transformed into a swallow in the air and flew away.

Fortunately, the mandrills below were all howling from the flames and had no time to pay attention to the swallow, otherwise he would have been slapped by the mandrills as soon as he flew out.

There are two possibilities for the mazes that exist deep in the mountains and forests: one is that they are formed naturally due to certain special conditions, and the other is that they are man-made. Judging from the gloomy sky above that makes it impossible to tell the time of day, and the unusually large groups of mandrills, the situation here should be the latter.

Man-made mazes suggest that there are more unseen dangers behind them, but at the same time, man-made mazes are not as complex as naturally formed ones, and are easier to break.

The biggest obstacle here is this nest of mandrills. Even one of these creatures is troublesome, as they are invulnerable to weapons and extremely ferocious. The fact that a whole nest of them could be kept here is beyond any other explanation than human intervention.

"Senior brother, please hold on! I will find the array's core as soon as possible!"

After a few flaps of its wings, the swallow disappeared, leaving only this sentence in the wind, as if it were afraid that its senior brother would perish here.

As for Master Li, he ignored his junior brother who had turned into a swallow and flown away, and continued to attack with fire while also looking for a place to land.

Mandrills are creatures with tough skin and bones, so you definitely can't cut them with weapons. But they are still living beings with fur, so they are definitely afraid of fire.

"Perfect, I'll use you guys to test my new spell."

……

"A formation combining Buddhism and Taoism? That's certainly unique."

Looking at the messages he received today, Cang realized that since when had his place become a "delivery point for all the 'whys'"? Whenever they encountered something strange, people would either tell Liu Qingyuan (the main body) or send messages to Cang.

Sometimes, Liu Qingyuan would even send letters asking Cangti to ask the Taoists on Laoshan Mountain some questions. Even though he had the system as a cheat, he still had to go through the motions of asking the natives.

Cang: Why don't you ask the one in your head what's going on? What's the meaning of sending all the messages to Laoshan?

"A combination of Buddhism and Taoism? Interesting, who came up with this idea?"

The old Taoist priest, with his white hair and beard, stroked his beard. Ever since he met Cang, he had been exposed to all sorts of new things, and today was another one.

The combination of Buddhist and Taoist formations is indeed novel. Although both ultimately utilize spiritual energy, their theoretical foundations are different. While it's not impossible to mix and match them, it places high demands on the users.

"The creator is unknown, and what is sealed is a large snake pit, which may have other secrets."

It's not surprising to find snakes in a cave, but a snake den of this size, with a "snake king" tens of meters long, is beyond the norm. The formation is complex and can even conceal the actual scene, as if afraid that the snake den will be seen by others.

There was nothing left to do in Laoshan, so the old Taoist priest agreed to help find the spiritual veins, and then disguise them to fool the group of illegal travelers.

The locations that Qingyangzi identified as potentially containing spiritual veins were the result of their joint discussion. They did indeed contain spiritual veins and were also part of an "ambush," waiting for the enemy to think they could finally finish the job before launching a major upset.

This somewhat protracted and unethical method initially led Liu Qingyuan to believe that the natives would not agree to act with him, since they all knew who the remaining illegal transmigrators were, and that he had both manpower and military strength, so raiding their hometown was not out of the question.

Unexpectedly, the people of this world readily agreed. The Ninth Prince even descended from the sky to ask if he wanted to bring people to disguise themselves. It can be seen that the natives harbored deep resentment towards the illegal transmigrators.

How could it not be deep? They're like cockroaches, impossible to kill or find. Since Liu Qingyuan said this method would solve the problem once and for all, a little trouble is nothing. They've experienced the situation of directly capturing the enemy only to have them escape several times already, and they really don't want any more escapees to torment them.

Now that everything was alright in Laoshan, Cang bid farewell to the old Taoist priest and left Laoshan to visit the snake cave in Changqing County. On his way, he saw a streak of light hovering in the sky, circling around like a bird that couldn't find its home.

He felt the streak of light looked somewhat familiar, and upon closer inspection, he discovered it was a flying message. No doubt about it, it was the kind of flying message used by the Primordial Beings for communication.

Normally, once the letter is sent from the sender, it will go directly to the recipient's location. If the recipient is in good health, they can catch it without it passing through other people's hands, ensuring the message is delivered without any problems.

However, this letter did not fly in a straight line; instead, it circled in the sky and lost its direction.

"The Dao Sword and the Vast Wanderer's letter?"

Cang reached out and grabbed the letter, then saw two familiar names. Because Master Li was not a Xiantian (a type of cultivator), he was not very familiar with this kind of flying letter. When Jian Feidao and the others sent the letter, in order to prevent the flying letter from being mistaken for a hidden weapon, they wrote the names on the envelope with large strokes to ensure that the person who received the letter would see it immediately.

Master Li hasn't seen the letter yet, which is convenient for Cang. The letter is obviously meant for someone, but it's flying around here like a headless fly, which is very unusual.

"There is a maze here."

Looking down from the area circled by the flying letter, Cang quickly noticed the strangeness of the place. Some of the trees were of similar thickness and were spaced about the same distance apart, clearly indicating that they had been transplanted by humans. The surrounding area was also filled with yin energy, and cold winds blew from time to time.

There's a problem, and a big one at that. It seems the person Jian Feidao and Ren Pingsheng are looking for is trapped in the maze. The environment inside and outside the maze is different, causing the flying message to also get stuck. The message can't enter the maze, and the person inside can't get out, so it can only fly in circles in the sky.

The individuals in disguise all possess extraordinary combat abilities and are mostly Taoist figures. It's highly unlikely that they would be trapped by the maze. Even if they couldn't break the maze through methodical means, they could physically break it with brute force. Therefore, those trapped in the maze are not innate beings but the original inhabitants of this world, who happen to know Jian Feidao and his group.

After understanding the reason, Cang walked into the forest. Accompanied by a rustling sound, a figure gradually approached.

The figure moved with unusual stiffness, swaying its head as if sleepwalking. Upon closer inspection, it was a walking female corpse, its body bluish-green with a pale gold face, dressed in tattered burial clothes, indicating it had been dead for some time.

The female corpse's target was clear: Cang, who had just approached. Once the distance between them had decreased to a certain extent, the female corpse confirmed that there was a living person in front of her. She immediately stretched out her arms, opened her hands into claw shapes, and charged towards Cang.

Seeing this, Cang simply stepped aside expressionlessly. The female corpse was not as fast as him and crashed straight into the big tree behind her. Her sharp fingernails were embedded in the tree trunk, and the female corpse stood in front of the tree.

"evil Dead?"

The female corpse turned around and sensed a living person behind her. She tried to turn around and attack again, but because her "claws" were stuck in the tree trunk, she could only roar and struggle.

As she roared, the sound of staggering footsteps approached from different directions. They had pale golden faces and bluish-purple skin; these were zombies who had followed the scent of the living. They gradually surrounded Cang.

"..."

Seeing this, Cang said nothing, only sighed softly, put away his whisk, and set up his Nu Cang Qin. Corpses inevitably carry corpse poison; regardless, it's best not to touch them directly.

The next moment, the sound of the zither echoed through the forest, stirring up birds one by one. The melodious music even penetrated the boundaries of the formation and drifted into the ears of the trapped people.

"...The sound of a piano?"

A swallow with somewhat ruffled feathers landed on a relatively intact rooftop. As it landed, it transformed into a young man dressed as a Taoist priest. He looked up and could only see the dim sky above. Here, the sun and moon were invisible, making it impossible to calculate time or determine direction.

But at this moment, he could clearly hear the direction from which the zither music came. Unlike those annoying mountain demons, this zither music came from outside the formation. The fact that it could penetrate the maze and enter this place showed that the player's cultivation was not bad and that he could use the zither music as a weapon.

"Could it be that a master has intervened? That's wonderful!"

Just when I was worried about not being able to find my way, this music coming from outside the maze was a stroke of genius. The other party was not affected by the maze, and the direction from which the sound came was the actual location.

The Taoist listened carefully, and after confirming the location, his eyes narrowed. He then leaped off the house, his body twisting and changing shape. This time, he didn't transform into a swallow, but into a kestrel.

Once it had identified its direction, the small kestrel flew straight toward a certain spot like an arrow.