Chapter 285 It's Not the Same as It Used to Be
The two men and the fox waited at the temple gate for a while and waited for the first person to go up the mountain except them.
However, it was not ordinary people who came to worship the monster, but three Taoists.
The mountain fog had not yet completely dissipated in the early morning. Three Taoists came from the dead branches and weeds. The first thing that caught my eye was a flickering golden color. They were two Taoists wearing yellow robes. One of them looked slim even in the loose robe, and even looked slimmer. The other one held up the robe. Behind him was a Taoist wearing a blue robe, and gradually became clearer from blurry.
At first glance they looked strange, but upon closer inspection, all three were acquaintances.
The two Taoists in the front wearing yellow robes are Taoist Master Jiang and Taoist Master Qingxuan, and the one behind them wearing a blue robe is Junior Brother Ma.
"Eh? Fellow Daoist Lin Jue? Lord Luo?"
Taoist Qingxuan was the first to speak, and was very surprised.
"Fellow Daoist Lin." Daoist Master Jiang also bowed and said hello, "Long time no see."
"Brother Lin!" Junior Brother Ma saluted.
"Brother Qingxuan, Fellow Daoist Jiang, Junior Brother Ma." Lin Jue was also surprised, "Why are you here too?"
"Recently, some women in the capital were killed inexplicably, and many of their families came to our temple. We inquired and found that it was related to an evil god here. It happened that there was no movement in the Guanxing Palace and Juxian Mansion for several days, so we came to take a look." Taoist Qingxuan looked at them, "Are you here for this too?"
"Same." Lin Jue replied, "Thanks to the letter of introduction from Brother Jiang, we are now affiliated with Juxian Mansion. The recent murder of a woman caused quite a stir in the capital, and Juxian Mansion had no one available, so I was pulled here to investigate as soon as I returned to the capital from my junior sister's Fengshan."
"We are really destined to meet." Taoist Qingxuan shook his head. "We met when we were exorcising demons in Huizhou, and we also met when we were exorcising demons in the capital."
"Yes."
Although they said they were destined to be together, in fact, neither party seemed very happy. Instead, they felt helpless, so helpless that they even wanted to laugh.
It was all right when I was in Huizhou. There were only two famous fairy mountains in Huizhou, one was Mount Qiyun, one of the four famous mountains of the Talisman Sect, and the other was Mount Yi, a secluded mountain. The rest were all wizards and sorcerers. If they encountered any slightly powerful monsters, wouldn’t Mount Qiyun and Mount Yi have to intervene?
It's no surprise to encounter it.
But I am in the capital now.
There is the Stargazing Palace in the capital and Jade Mountain outside. There are also thousands of strange people in the Juxian Palace, which is several times more than the Taoist priests of the entire Qiyun Mountain and Yishan Talisman School, the Lingfa School, and even the Danding School combined. If there were more useful people and more capable people who were willing to eliminate demons, they would not have met here.
"Alas, Fellow Daoist Lin is affiliated with Juxian Mansion. Juxian Mansion has a capable person in the capital who can be used." Taoist Qingxuan sighed and asked, "How is Fellow Daoist Lin and Lord Luo's investigation going?"
"We just arrived not long ago, at most a quarter of an hour earlier than you. We didn't find any trace of the monster in the temple, nor did we find any trace of its origin or whereabouts. We only found that the temple had no name, and the statue had no spirit. It seemed that it had long expected that one day the Astronomical Observatory or you would come to visit it."
Lin Jue said, and paused:
"We did find two pieces of talisman paper, one for the eyes and one for the ears. They were quite magical and interesting, but just when we were trying to use them to communicate with the monster, the two pieces of talisman paper burned up."
"Eye talismans? Ear talismans?" Taoist Qingxuan himself was a talisman-maker, so he was naturally very sensitive to this. "The statue of the deity has no spirit, which proves that it does not absorb the aura of incense and has not taken the path of incense. Is it using these two talismans to monitor and eavesdrop on what is happening in the temple?"
"That's my guess..."
"What does the talisman look like?"
"perhaps……"
Lin Jue gave them a rough description of what the talisman paper looked like, and knowing that they were from the talisman sect, he took the opportunity to ask for advice.
"It doesn't sound like an orthodox talisman. It should be a talisman bestowed by a spirit who has the ability to spy and eavesdrop and is extremely powerful. It could also be a rune talisman bestowed privately by the gods in heaven, and the monster is using it to borrow the magical skills of this spirit." Taoist Jiang said calmly.
"It has a bad temper and doesn't want to talk to us." Lin Jue said, "I wonder if someone from Juxian Mansion has angered it before."
"Um……"
Taoist Qingxuan nodded repeatedly, looking thoughtful: "Have you two found anything else?"
"No." Lin Jue shook his head, "But Mr. Luo believes that it cannot be completely confirmed that it was the one who did it for the time being."
"Why?"
"First, Mr. Luo thought that this monster had been here for a long time, but it had never killed anyone. Second, this monster took human oil from both men and women, but all the victims were women." Lin Jue said with a laugh, "To be honest, we have encountered similar things before and have been fooled once."
"That makes sense." Taoist Qingxuan nodded and smiled, "Mr. Luo was once the lieutenant of Changning County. He was good at solving cases back then. Even if it doesn't make sense, I am willing to believe Mr. Luo."
Everyone likes to hear compliments. Luo Gong, who was standing next to Lin Jue, could not help but raise his hand and cup his fists with him to show that he couldn't bear it.
"From what you said before, the monster must have known you were coming." Daoist Jiang continued, "Someone from Juxian Mansion came here before and tried to embarrass it, but it never backed off. I guess it's not a weak character. I guess it's already on its way here."
"is it?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the fox raised his head, stretched his neck, and looked towards the distant mountains and forests.
Everyone looked over as well.
I saw deep grass and thick white fog in the spring. Although I could hear some rustling sounds, it was difficult to tell whether it was the wind blowing the grass or something coming towards this direction.
When a few people were on alert, they suddenly saw two tall figures appear on the right and were startled.
It really was an evil ghost with a green face and fangs, more than ten feet tall, bare-chested, as strong as an ox, with curved claws like golden hooks, densely packed teeth like sharp swords, and a huge steel fork in his hand. Its eyes were like lanterns, flashing with fire. It stared at the few people and strode towards them, breaking through the woods and grass.
They look like two yaksha ghosts!
When the few people suddenly saw them, it was like turning a corner in the forest and seeing two elephants running towards them, which brought a huge psychological impact.
All attention was drawn to them at once.
Even the usually vigilant fox was no exception.
At this moment, several sounds of breaking through the air were heard.
Dozens of sharp arrows shot out from the grass and woods on the other side and shot towards the crowd.
"Sui Su Su Su..."
The arrow came too quickly and too hidden, and with all the attention on the two Yakshas, by the time Lin Jue reacted, it was already too late to use magic.
In short, the fossil method was used hastily.
Fortunately, Luo Gong was standing on his left.
I saw Mr. Luo raised the hand holding the knife, moved it to the right, turned his wrist, and the scabbard turned into a flower again.
Two snaps!
It was difficult to tell whether the Taoist turned into stone first or the scabbard touched the arrow first. Everything happened in a flash. In short, the two flying arrows were blocked by the scabbard one after another, and Luo Gong grabbed another arrow shot at him with his left hand. The whole process was extremely easy.
The fox beside him also immediately burrowed into the ground.
Then there were a few more jingle sounds.
Lin Jue turned back into a human and glanced at him out of the corner of his eye——
Taoist Qingxuan, Taoist Jiang and the other two were originally mortal bodies, but since they dared to come here, they had made preparations and had asked for the golden body protection amulet in advance. At this moment, golden light suddenly burst out from their bodies, blocking the flying arrows for them.
"Sui Su Su Su..."
Another volley of arrows came. This time Lin Jue was prepared.
With a thought and a wave of his sleeves, a fierce gust of wind blew out, crashing forward like a wall.
More than a dozen arrows shot over and hit the strong wind head-on. They were immediately shaken violently like willow leaves and dry grass in the wind. Some were hit back, while others lost their aim and fell to the ground.
Rumble!
The mountains and forests shook on both sides.
The two Yaksha ghosts on the right strode forward and directly knocked away the branches. For a moment, they seemed even more terrifying than the Yaksha that Lin Jue had encountered in the Qingdi Temple.
Running from the left were a dozen soldiers in rattan armor, also covered in shiny oil, all with a wolf head on top. They moved swiftly, jumping over the grass and thorns.
Lin Jue threw it without hesitation.
"Wow..."
A field of beans is scattered into the sky and swells in the wind.
Half of them turned into twelve armored soldiers, who fell to the ground with a bang, and their armors collided with each other with neat and heavy sounds.
Half of it turned into twelve flying swords, shining brightly, circling in the air along with the spell.
I just made a flying sword, so I’ll try it out on you!
"Don't worry, my three Taoist friends. Leave it to me." Lin Jue said, "Lord Luo, please protect me."
"Can you handle it, fellow Daoist?"
Taoist Qingxuan looked around with some fear. He had already drawn the long sword from his waist and took out two pieces of talisman paper and held them between his fingertips. As far as he could remember, Lin Jue did not have such a skill.
"it is good!"
Luo Seng replied calmly, and with the same sneer, he drew the long sword from his waist.
As soon as the long sword was unsheathed, a strong murderous aura was released. Even Taoist Qingxuan, who had no Taoist skills at all, felt a chill and his hair stood on end.
He turned his head to look at Mr. Luo, then looked around.
I saw a group of soldiers wearing heavy armor rushing to the left, some holding knives, some holding swords, and some holding spears, and they collided directly with the group of soldiers in rattan armor. However, after the collision between the two sides, it was obvious that whether in terms of size, strength, or the solidity and heaviness of the armor on their bodies, the bean soldiers were superior.
Some of the rattan armor soldiers were stabbed through, some were knocked away directly, and some had half of their bodies cut off by a knife. The archers of both sides shot at each other, and the battle became extremely fierce in just a moment.
Another arrow was shot at Lin Jue, but was easily blocked by Luo Gong.
Suddenly, Taoist Qingxuan's pupils shrank as he saw a rattan armor soldier whose half body had been chopped off suddenly shrank and seemed to have become a cut paper man.
On the right, two Yaksha demons as big as bulls were running closer, one in front and one behind, holding steel forks. Looking at their ferocious faces and unstoppable momentum, even gods would have to retreat.
"Yaksha doesn't come out during the day. There's something strange about this Yaksha, so be careful, fellow Taoist." Taoist Master Jiang reminded from the side.
But all I heard was a spell.
Along with the spell, there was a sound of breaking air in the air.
The twelve flying swords were divided into two groups. Four of them shot out quickly and pierced directly into the eyes of the Yaksha ghost in front, faster than arrows. The remaining eight swords kept spinning in the air, with the blades reflecting the morning light, cutting through the Yaksha ghost's side and neck.
"laugh……"
How sharp is the reforged flying sword? The power and speed of the control method are also stronger!
No roars or wails were heard for a while, but the eyes of the Yaksha ghost in front were pierced by the flying sword, and the body was constantly cut by the flying sword, but no blood flowed out.
After only running two steps forward, the Yaksha ghost fell to the ground with a bang.
At first it still maintained its heavy body, fell to the ground with a bang and slid forward, flattening the grass on the mountain and pushing away the soil along the way. But after sliding for a while, it lost its weight and became a huge piece of paper.
The flying sword that was pierced into its body also fell to the ground.
Lin Jue looked at this scene with his eyes slightly condensed and he kept chanting spells, but with just a thought, all the flying swords changed direction. Even the flying swords that fell on the ground immediately flew up again and shot towards the Yaksha behind him who was still unafraid and still running towards him.
At the same time, another voice came from the side:
"This is the method of paper figurines. They are afraid of water and fire. Fellow Taoists can try to use fire magic to deal with them."
It was still Master Jiang’s voice.
Lin Jue did not spit out fire, but exhaled.
"call……"
It's like a gust of east wind, just right for the time of year.
The huge Yaksha had no way to avoid and was hit by the east wind. However, facing this breath, it not only had no ability to dodge, but also had no power to resist. In the blink of an eye, its body was covered with flowers.
Lin Jue thought to himself, as expected—
Since this Yaksha is made of paper, he is the same as the stone giant summoned by the "method of gathering stones into a general". His body is condensed and transformed by magic power, and the flower has a miraculous effect in breaking the magic power in an instant.
It is also the nemesis of this type of spell.
Instead, the fox listened to Master Jiang's words and spit out a breath of true sun fire. Although it caused some damage to the Yaksha, it was not as serious as imagined, which made Master Jiang frown.
In the end, this yaksha only ran two steps more than the one in front of it before it could no longer hold on. When it was still a few feet away from Lin Jue, its body began to fall forward. The only difference was that Hua Kai had instantly extracted the magical power from its body, and before it fell to the ground, it turned back into paper.
The bean soldiers on the other side were also extremely ferocious. With the help of the fox, they quickly killed all the vine armor soldiers.
The battle was over in just a moment.
"Paper Yaksha? Paper soldiers?"
Lin Jue frowned and thought, then with a wave of his hand, all the flying swords flew back, turned into beans, and fell back into his hand.
After this sword test, he was still satisfied with the combat effectiveness of the new flying sword.
"Yes, this is the paper figurine method." Taoist Jiang, who was obviously well-informed, said, "There are many such spells. This should be the paper figurine soldiers and paper yakshas. The soldiers and yakshas created by this kind of spell can be as tall and strong as normal soldiers and real yakshas, and have infinite power. However, they have a shortcoming, which is that they are afraid of water and fire. Normally, let alone spiritual fire, even ordinary fire can burn a powerful yaksha to ashes. If you don't know this weakness, a team of elite soldiers will find it difficult to deal with a yaksha, but if you know it, it will be very simple. But I don't know why these are not afraid of fire."
"As strong as the real Yasha?"
When Lin Jue heard these words, he was a little dazed.
Back in the Qingdi Temple, when I and my junior sister encountered that Yaksha attacking us, we spent countless efforts and fought very hard to defeat it. But now two Yakshas attacked at the same time, and I defeated them easily without using their weakness of being afraid of water and fire.
They didn't even have time to get close to him.
"Ah……"
Lin Jue couldn't help but laugh.
(End of this chapter)
