Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but Thunderbolt Taoist Sect

Chapter 137 Naming in Hell

With just a few notes, Cang shattered the surrounding zombies. Before he could put away his zither, some strange sounds rang out beside him, like the sound of a mirror being broken, and a sound of something cutting through the air gradually became clearer.

Then he saw a kestrel flip out like a wheel, and the other person fell to the ground and rolled a few times, turning into a person dressed as a Taoist priest.

The spot where the person had been found emitted eerie smoke, and he carried a hint of yin energy. Thinking of the zombie that had clearly acted strangely earlier, Cang's hand rested on the bowstring again.

"Stop! Wait, wait!"

The person who fell to the ground sensed danger and turned around to find a person carrying a zither and dressed in a dark purple robe about to make a move. Although he did not recognize the person or even see what the person around him and in front of him looked like, it did not stop him from knowing that the other person was very powerful.

Relying on the sense of crisis he had developed from traveling all over the country, the young Taoist priest sprang to his feet and stopped the opponent's suspected attack.

"Senior, please take a good look. I am a person, a living person!"

"If you are a living person, where does the yin energy on your body come from?"

As soon as the other person was thrown out, Cang noticed that the few wisps of yin energy on this person were not from something outside, but were naturally present in their body.

"Yin energy? It's that pit again... This is something I was born with. My surname is Guan, my name is Songsheng, and I am a legitimate Taoist priest with a certificate of ordination. I'm here to deal with the problem of corpse transformation in the vicinity."

Cang stared at the other person for a while, and seeing that the other person was indeed a living person and did not cultivate any evil or crooked path, but was somewhat similar to the Taoists on Laoshan Mountain, he lowered his hand and put away the zither.

Given the disparity in military strength between the two sides, it's not too late to fight again if anything unexpected happens.

“… I was scared to death.”

With the imminent danger of being attacked averted, Song Sheng could finally breathe a sigh of relief and properly observe the things and people here. The key to the maze had been broken, and his senior brother would be out soon, so he could rest for a while.

The surrounding trees were strange, seemingly following some kind of pattern. On the ground around them were... severed limbs, long fingernails, and bluish skin—these were zombies that had turned into corpses, completely shattered and beyond repair.

Then there was the person who almost attacked him with the zither. He had heard of cultivators who used music as weapons, but that was all he had heard of. This was the first time he had actually seen someone fight with a musical instrument.

Having just survived a dizzying ordeal of breaking through an array, Song Sheng emerged feeling lightheaded and only able to make out a blurry outline. Now, looking closely, he was once again grateful that he had sensed the danger and called a halt to the other party.

First, there's the wide purple outer robe, a color that not just anyone can afford. Underneath, there's a black short jacket and a gray undershirt. The gray part seems to be in the style of an ordinary Taoist robe. The outer robe also has valuable jade ornaments, making him look like someone of noble status who wouldn't be here.

His hair color was also very special, it seemed to be light brown, but Song Sheng felt that he saw some purple. His hair crown was also very complicated, with a layered design. If he wasn't sure that he was still in the mortal world, Song Sheng would have thought that he had rolled and broken through the formation to the sky.

Moreover, the other party's aura was really strong. Being stared at like that with such an expressionless face gave him a strange sense of oppression. The last time he was this restrained was when he was a child and used a fire talisman to set his master's beard on fire.

"boom!"

Before Song Sheng could explain anything further, several more sounds came. Master Li realized that the maze had been broken, so he jumped out with his peach wood sword in hand. Behind him were the mountain demons, who had also come out now that the maze was no longer binding them.

The space within the maze was vast. From the perspective of the two trapped individuals, they were in an abandoned village with no end in sight. The sky was gray and the boundaries could not be found in the distance. However, once they actually broke out of the maze, they discovered that the place was not large, just an inconspicuous clearing in the deep forest.

If there were no suspected zombie limbs on the ground, it might be less noticeable.

"Senior brother..."

Song Sheng hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"What's the matter?"

"...When did you learn the Flame Sword Technique?"

The Taoist priest was holding his own peach wood sword. Song Sheng recognized the peach wood sword, but what surprised him was that the peach wood sword was burning fiercely. The mountain demon that followed behind had several charred sword marks on its body, which were obviously caused by this sword.

Aren't peach wood swords for exorcising demons and fighting ghosts? When did their sect develop such powerful swordsmanship? Their master didn't teach it.

"Uh……"

Master Li couldn't explain this either. How could he explain it? That he knew several sword immortals with superb swordsmanship and learned it from their moves? That reason sounds absurd.

Yes, in his contact with the innate being, Master Li was showing a subtle tendency to assimilate with him, which was mainly reflected in his gradually increasing physical attacks. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to cut through the mountain demon's body, which was as hard as a rock.

"Are there any people left in the formation?"

Cang sensed the energy fluctuations in the air; the maze must have completely shattered.

"That's all, just the two of us."

Upon seeing Cang's appearance, Master Li knew that he was a Xiantian person like Ren Pingsheng and the others. He accepted the question well. However, he was a little surprised that Cang was not dressed in white with white hair this time. He had seen three people dressed in white in a row. He wondered if this was some kind of rule.

Because he acted so naturally, Guan Songsheng and Cang couldn't help but glance at him. Songsheng was surprised that his senior brother wasn't surprised at all to see someone dressed so uniquely, while Cang guessed from the other person's attitude that he might be the recipient of the Feixin message.

Since there's no one left inside the maze, we just need to deal with these mandrills.

"Back off."

Since they were acquaintances of his companions, Cang didn't mind helping them out, so he stepped forward and formed a hand seal.

"Senior brother, he..."

Master Li knew how destructive this group was, so he quickly pulled his junior brother back, moving so fast that they left afterimages, making sure they were at a distance where they wouldn't be affected.

As for how to judge this distance, the farther the better, and it would be even better if there were cover around.

As Song Sheng was being pulled backward, he sensed something was wrong. How could his senior brother be cooperating with the other party so skillfully?

"Senior brother, do you know him?"

"No, I don't know him."

"Then how did you..."

They're so obedient; they actually backed down when told to. It must have been difficult for them to fight so many mandrills, but that doesn't mean they couldn't. It wouldn't be fair to just hand it all over to them, would it?

Moreover, he noticed that this senior was clearly carrying a sword, but wasn't using it now, and he didn't know where the zither had gone. Did the other party intend to fight the mountain demon bare-handed? This thing can't be fought head-on!

“But I know a few people who are similar to him.”

Master Li watched Cang's movements. As the other raised his hand, a golden, Tai Chi-like pattern flashed by.

"King Subduing Heaven - Descending from Heaven".

"Boom!"

"Hey, what's that sound?"

The residents at the foot of the mountain looked up at the sky, and they seemed to hear the sound of blasting coming from the mountains. But there was no war now, so why would they use artillery to blast the mountain? Even if someone wanted to do that, the landlord would definitely not agree.

"Could there really be zombies in the mountains? Or is this the work of demons?"

"You actually believe that kind of thing? I bet it's just some kid who got drunk and ran into someone's graveyard and got caught."

Without lighting at night, if you see a figure staggering around the graveyard, who can tell if it's a living person? On a dark and windy night, both sides might think they've encountered a zombie.

"But why is there such a loud noise out of the blue? Hey, did that young Taoist priest go into the mountains a few days ago?"

At this point, some villagers remembered the young Taoist priest who had come before. Because he looked so young, they assumed he was just joking around and ignored him.

Now that I think about it carefully, something's not right. When I saw him go into the mountains, why didn't I hear anyone say they saw a Taoist priest come out of the mountains? It's been a while, and there's no way to get to the other side of the mountains. Could that young man have gone into the mountains?

"...It seems I didn't see him come down from the mountain."

"That sound just now..."

"boom!"

Another deafening roar, like a mountain exploding, terrified the people below into silence. They merely glanced at the flock of birds that had been startled into flight, then shut up and went about their own business.

The perspective returns to the mountain. Master Li skillfully uses his sleeve to block the occasional small stones that are thrown at him. Looking at the pile of dead mountain demons on the ground, his expression is not surprised at all. He uses his other hand to fan away the dust that is being raised and looks at his dumbfounded junior brother beside him.

Do you know why you need to step back?

"……understood."

One person killed a whole nest of tough-skinned mandrills with just a few spells. How could they not retreat? They were practically human cannons; if they didn't retreat, they would blow them up too.

This is what caused the destruction; this person is truly a god!

Cang, who had done all this, said nothing. He simply turned around, took out the letter he had sent earlier, and let go. The envelope flew on its own and whooshed into Master Li's arms, causing him to stumble.

"What...letter paper?"

He had indeed expended some energy fighting in the maze, but it shouldn't have caused him to stumble at the slightest touch. When he saw a streak of light slam into his chest with considerable force, Master Li almost thought it was a hidden weapon.

When he reached into his pocket, he found a letter inside. The force of the impact was immense. Could this letter be some kind of magical artifact?

"It seems that this fellow Daoist is a friend of Dao Sword and Cangmang Walker."

The maze has been broken; sending messages via Fetion will no longer be affected and will successfully reach the recipient.

"The Dao Sword? Oh, the sword is not the Dao."

When Master Li saw the two large signatures on the envelope, he realized that when he was traveling with the two men, Ren Pingsheng addressed Jian Feidao by his given name, and Jian Feidao called Ren Pingsheng "Xingzhe" (Traveler). He was taken aback by the fact that Cang was addressing them by their titles so formally.

“I do know them, but I don’t know why they sent a letter… Matsuo, what day was it when you went into the mountains?”

Curious as to why the two would send him letters, Master Li opened the letter and read its contents. What he found was astonishing. He quickly pulled Guan Songsheng aside to ask him about it. The two checked the accounts and discovered that a considerable amount of time had passed.

Although they felt like no day had passed inside the maze, in the real world outside, the two of them had been missing for more than a day, and had finished a major task before they finally broke out of the maze.

If it weren't for the fact that Cang was passing by and attracted by this flying message, they would have been out in who knows how long. Guan Songsheng's scheme to trap his senior brother was truly brilliant.

"Why don't you reconsider and stop wandering around? Your master has raised you like a son. I'm really afraid that one day you'll die somewhere and we won't even know."

He always manages to fall into a huge pit; his luck is truly unparalleled. Moreover, Guan Songsheng's constitution is somewhat special. It is said that he almost fell into the hands of some evil spirit last time, but a particularly powerful fellow Daoist Yan happened to pass by and saved him.

"No, I'm afraid I'll bring bad luck to my master someday."

"...This is no reason for you, brat, to come out and bring misfortune upon us senior brothers."

The maze was broken, the mountain demon was killed, the local earth god didn't come out to fight the epidemic, the person who set up the maze didn't appear either, and the zombie transformation was also resolved. Cang was going to Changqing County, and Master Li happened to be going the same way, so he took his troublesome junior brother along. Anyway, that's how people in their sect behave: wander around, take action when they encounter trouble, and continue wandering if they don't. Their main focus is on adapting to changing circumstances.

However, after they left, the corpses of the dead mandrills changed. Their bodies gradually disintegrated, turning into wisps of dust that drifted away in the wind. The same thing happened to the bodies of the zombies.

……

"A maze with different time flows, is it the Rotten Axe Handle?"

There is a story about a man who went up the mountain to chop wood and saw some children playing chess. He went over to watch and ate something that looked like a date pit. After a while, he was no longer hungry. When the children asked him why he hadn't left, he discovered that the wooden handle of his axe had rotted away. This is known as "Rotten Axe Handle".

If Master Li and his junior brother had remained trapped inside, they might have starved to death, died of thirst, or been killed by the mountain demons. Seven days in the cave would have been like a thousand years in the world.

"Now that I think about it, this formation was extremely dangerous. Couldn't you have looked at your feet more carefully?"

As he spoke, Master Li glared at the young Taoist priest beside him. If looks could be used to attack, Guan Songsheng would probably have been beaten several times over by now.

"This is the Taoist priest's junior brother, how come you..."

Ren Pingsheng and Jian Feidao couldn't help but frown. This junior brother of Master Li was a bit strange.

"You think I'm strange, that I'm a living person but I have a sinister aura about me, right?"

Hearing someone call his name, Song Sheng immediately went over. He didn't care about anything else, as long as he could get away from his senior brother's glare, he was willing to do anything. Besides, his situation wasn't something that couldn't be told.

He even took the initiative to say it, so that some misunderstandings could be avoided in the future.

"I was born from a coffin, and I'm naturally imbued with a bit of yin energy, making me prone to attracting ghosts and bad luck. I have no choice but to become a Taoist priest. Oh, by the way, do you two know why my name is Guan Songsheng?"

"……Why?"

Sensing that the other party was trying to impress him, Jian Feidao asked the question cooperatively. He had done this kind of straight man thing countless times and was quite skilled at it.

The name Songsheng sounds like it's related to pine trees.

“I was discovered by my master when he passed by. At the time, he wanted to just call me Guan Sheng, but that was too simple. Since the coffin containing my mother was made of pine wood, I changed my surname to Guan and my given name to Song Sheng.”

"..."

Because it was a pine coffin, he was named Guan Songsheng. This naming method is just too hellish. That master was also quite something. Even when using materials on the spot, there's no way to do it this way. Who taught you to use a coffin as a material?!

"Alright, let's go check out the snake pit."

This topic is dangerous, let's not continue.