How come the celestial technique I stole is so powerful?!-Chapter 378 Mao Ren Kill

The people who made these Mao Ren figures in both cases were directed by the same person.

As the investigation continued, they were completely at a loss; every single Mao Ren incident pointed back to the same person!

And that person is extremely mysterious.

Lin Xiaosu had been listening with an air of nonchalance.

But at this moment, his expression changed somewhat: "Who is this person?"

Miao Ruolan said, "This person, many years ago, was a high monk of the ’Yuan’ generation from Qingyuan Temple. But after committing five great transgressions of the Buddhist path in one day, he was expelled by the then abbot. He lived alone in a stone cave on top of Tashan, practicing cultivation. As he practiced, his hair grew out, and he stopped being a monk and turned to the Taoist path. Some villagers called him ’Taoist Monk,’ while others called him ’Mad Taoist.’

"Taoist Monk, Mad Taoist? The lunatic who carved ’Good men and women, seek flowers and ask for willows’ on the cliffside?"

"That’s him!" Miao Ruolan said, "You know him too?"

"When I was in high school, during a spring outing, I took a wrong path up Tashan and ended up at the entrance of his cave and saw him with my own eyes. At that time, he looked neither like a monk nor a Taoist, more like an abandoned elderly widower."

Zhou Xi laughed, "Yes, when we were in school, he was transitioning from monk to Taoist. At that time, he was just an ordinary old man. I heard he even fancied the Widow Feng from your Old Tashan Village and invited her to his cave. But Widow Feng was still young then and a favorite among many countrymen, so she took it as a great insult and cursed him at his cave entrance for an entire afternoon, keeping his head down. Afterward, he behaved and became a Taoist."

Mentioning this funny story, both women laughed.

Lin Xiaosu also chuckled lightly, "Technically speaking, the Mao Ren incident is superstitious without a doubt. You guys don’t need to get involved."

Zhou Xi blinked, "What about you? Are you getting involved or not?"

"I might be falling from grace now. Really, I don’t feel like dealing with anything without pay..."

Before he finished speaking, the door of the Detective Agency was pushed open.

A spring breeze blew through, whether it was the scent of flowers or a person, it was pleasant anyway.

Zhou Mei, in a police uniform, stood valiantly in front of Lin Xiaosu: "When did you get back?"

"Last night!"

Zhou Mei’s gaze swept over the faces of the two women: "Are you free today?"

"Currently... pretty free."

"How about coming out with me for a walk?"

"Sure!"

The two of them went out.

It was a bit quiet in the Detective Agency.

Zhou Xi’s gaze quietly moved over, landing on Miao Ruolan’s face: "Sister Lan, if Zhou Mei is asking him to handle a case, is there any money involved?"

"The county police budget is tight; there wasn’t any money before," Miao Ruolan said.

"Brother Lin just announced he doesn’t take on projects without pay, and the next moment he’s up and running... If it’s not for money, what’s he after?"

Miao Ruolan shot her a glance, too lazy to respond.

In the car, Zhou Mei’s gaze swept across Lin Xiaosu’s face: "What time did you get home last night?"

"Pretty late; they were all asleep," Lin Xiaosu replied honestly.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

Lin Xiaosu frowned, "Why do I suddenly feel that no matter how I answer, it’s a bit ambiguous?"

"Just tell me if you slept well or not, because I have a brain-teaser that needs your clear-headed analysis," Zhou Mei said.

"Mao Ren killing? Am I right?"

"You know?"

"Before you came in, they just told me about it."

"That makes things easier. To be honest, this was originally a non-issue, just some superstition. But the more I investigate, the more uneasy I feel. I think there’s a ghost living in the cave under my police station... Know what that lunatic is doing in there?"

"What’s he doing?"

"Making Mao Ren! He’s made a bunch of them!"

Lin Xiaosu was shocked, "The Mao Ren, he made them himself?"

"Yes, he didn’t just provide ideas for killing; he personally made the Mao Ren. He used the wild grass found everywhere on Tashan, and his technique is extremely crude. But these Mao Ren have been given an eerie quality. When I saw the ones he placed outside, honestly, they gave me goosebumps."

"Shall we go take a look?" Lin Xiaosu suggested.

"Now?"

"Now!"

The car stopped at the base of Tashan, and the two started walking up the mountain.

They didn’t take the old path up Tashan but another detour.

This detour hadn’t been used for many years, so nature had taken over, doing its simple yet brutal restoration. Without use for three years, the path was overgrown with branches and vines and essentially gone.

Fortunately, both of them were extraordinary people, easily maneuvering through the dense forest.

As they rounded a large tree above, they saw a line of words inscribed on the cliffside: Good men and women, seek flowers and ask for willows.

This was carved by the Mad Taoist, or, then, the abandoned monk from Qingyuan Temple.

No one knew what was going through his mind while carving those words.

However, the people from Qingyuan Temple and those who believed in Buddhism found the words quite glaring. Luckily, the main path up Tashan was on the other side, and this detour was neglected. Otherwise, the words would have certainly been erased from the cliff.

It was indecent after all.

Today, as the two climbed the mountain and gazed again at the words they’d seen as children, their feelings were somewhat different.

"Monks breaking the precepts and getting expelled from the temple, is it really that damaging?" came Zhou Mei’s voice. "Could they truly transform from a Buddhist to a demon, and then start studying some demonic killing techniques?"

"I don’t know about that, I’ve never been a monk," Lin Xiaosu replied.

"Even if you wanted to be a monk, no temple would take you!" Zhou Mei shot him a look. "A little rascal like you, so flirtatious and lustful, whichever temple took you in would end up having the same outcome as this old madman — expulsion!"

"So... today’s visit can be understood as me, now, visiting my future self?" Lin Xiaosu said.

"If you turn out like that, who would play the role of Widow Feng from back then? That little Ye who keeps a lonely house in your home day and night, or Ruolan?"

"What nonsense are you spouting? How could little Ye and Ruolan in my home possibly be cursing on the street? The only one who could do something so shrewish is probably you!"

The two had a witty exchange and arrived in front of a cave.

Outside the cave, there was a row of Mao Ren.

They were made of mountain grasses.

Honestly speaking, quite crudely made.

But in the dark forest, they did have a bit of an eerie feeling.

Luckily, the sun was still shining brightly, dappling the sunlight through the trees, and Lin Xiaosu’s gaze fell outside the cave. Outside the cave, there was a large red flower.

This flower, the Red spider lily.

The Red spider lily is quite unique, blooming without leaves, and leaves growing without flowers, the flowers and leaves never accompany each other in life.

This peculiarity in biology grants it a sense of unattainable regret and also makes it a helpless existence on Naihe Bridge...

Behind the Red spider lily, the cave was dark.

In the past, Lin Xiaosu just passed by and never looked inside; today, he came specifically, and naturally, he could see clearly. The cave was extraordinarily deep.

An old man sat inside the cave, much like Second Uncle.

About the same age, a little over fifty, not quite sixty.

Dressed similarly, in Taoist robes.

If there had to be a difference, it was that this Taoist seemed to have fared worse than Second Uncle. He failed to woo Widow Feng back in the day, so without a wife, there was no one to wash his clothes for him, and his clothes were much dirtier than Second Uncle’s.

However, their lifestyles were astonishingly similar.

Beside him was a teapot, the tea stains were quite obvious.

A pack of cigarettes on the broken table, Red Golden Dragon, five bucks a pack.

A mobile phone playing Dong Chu ballads...

A pot of tea, a pack of cigarettes, a phone singing all night long.

This was probably the carefree style of elder people at that age.

At this moment, the old Taoist flicked his hand, a long trail of ash drifted off, his gaze lifted, and half of his head rose from the lounge chair, eyeing the two visitors — a handsome young man and a beautiful woman — Zhou Mei had changed clothes in the car, wearing a trench coat that concealed her police features.

"Greetings, Taoist Master!" Lin Xiaosu greeted.

The Taoist grinned widely, "What do you want?"

The moment he opened his mouth, it was in the local dialect that was as rustic as dust.

"Wanted to have a chat with you, Taoist Master."

"The Taoist path is deep, it’s not so easy to chat about... got to pay!" said the Taoist monk.

Zhou Mei’s eyebrows furrowed to some degree...

Pay?

I’m investigating a case, you need to cooperate; have you ever seen anyone investigating a case and still needing to pay the interviewee?

Lin Xiaosu laughed, "How do you charge?"

"One yuan per word! The first words are free, but then it’s one yuan per word after that."

Lin Xiaosu nodded, "Can I scan a code?"

"In front of the Taoist temple, using a phone to scan a code is inappropriate. Thus, I don’t play such games, cash is good!"

Lin Xiaosu raised his hand, a red hundred-yuan bill was handed over: "Let’s start with a hundred words."

"I already said 26 words just now, got to deduct 26 yuan, leaving 74 words... oh wait! I said so many words just now, let me count... 35 words, leaving 39 words, no wait, how many words did I just say in this sentence? Little bro, seems like there’s not much left of your money for words." frёeωebɳovel.com

Lin Xiaosu helped him calculate, "Not ’not many words left,’ but none left at all! Just ran out."

The Taoist stared at him, apparently unsure of the count himself...

Zhou Mei’s chest gently rose and fell, obviously agitated.

The 100 yuan was handed over, and after a bunch of nonsense from the Taoist, the money was directly gone.

And it was precisely out.

If you’re not a swindler, I’ll spell ’Zhou’ as ’horizontal’!

However, Lin Xiaosu sat down.

His attitude was exceedingly good.

He extended his hand, spreading out a wad of bills in his palm like a fan, waving them in the wind: "Taoist Master, I quite admire this style, let’s have a serious chat now!"

The Taoist’s eyes shone at the stack of bills Lin Xiaosu was using as a fan, very happily extending his hand, pulling out another small stool to offer to Zhou Mei. "Little bro, you look like someone doing big things, this old man doesn’t have much skill himself, just particularly likes young folks doing big things. Miss, please have a seat too, would you like some tea? Speaking of which, this tea was picked by me personally, looks like..."

Zhou Mei’s face twitched slightly, "Taoist Master, can we get straight to the point? You need to know that your words are basically bouncing out golden beans, you may have a blast bouncing, but our cash didn’t just blow in from the wind. Understand, just answer with one word."

"Yes!" the Taoist answered her with one word.

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