Daoist Hand Scroll

Zhang Chen snapped out of the old monk's words and looked at Xiao Lan, lying naked on the ground. He immediately lost his composure. Although Xiao Lan was not as pretty as Wang Yizhi, her petite five-foot-three frame, cute short black hair, and delicate features made her quite endearing. At that moment, her fair body lay right before Zhang Chen.

"I'd only ever helped Wang Yizhi change clothes, and she was wearing pajamas then... This..." Blood rushed to Zhang Chen's head, and he felt that he would surely get a nosebleed any second.

"Look not upon impropriety, look not upon impropriety!"

This time, Zhang Chen had learned not to do it himself. Instead, he used Telekinesis to control the monk's robe in his hand and draped it over Xiao Lan, who had fainted from the pain.

"I should've brought some clothes. I hope Wang Yizhi doesn't find out after we get back, or I'll really be finished. Forget it, I should roast this wild boar first and replenish our strength. I don't even know whether Xiao Lan ate anything in the lake."

Zhang Chen lifted the robed Xiao Lan and helped her lean against the Buddha statue. He then took out his only Blood Beetle and placed it into her arm.

On the small wooden bridge in the back courtyard of Rodin Villa

Jia Xin stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the thick white fog in the distance with a slight frown.

"It seems Master was right. One person alone cannot accomplish anything great. To pull this off, I'll need Zhang Chen's help. But there was such a massive surge of ghostly energy in the middle of the lake just now. I wonder if that guy made it out alive."

Jia Xin let out a deep sigh. As he looked at the tranquil surface of the lake, his thoughts seemed to drift back to a long time ago.

On a modestly sized flat mountain, a little boy trained tirelessly on the lonely peak day and night. From morning until evening, the only time he could rest was when he drank porridge at noon and at night, or when he slept.

One day, while the little boy was practicing his finger techniques, a girl about his age emerged from the forest on the mountain. She wore a pink little dress and had two ponytails. Standing some distance away, she watched him practice with wide, sparkling eyes full of curiosity.

At first, the little boy ignored her and continued training. Yet after several days passed, the girl came up the mountain every day to watch him. Whenever he practiced, he was so focused that he never noticed himself drenched in sweat.

So one day, the little girl brought an ice pop up from the foot of the mountain. But the mountain path was difficult and the climb was high, so by the time she brought it to the boy, only a tiny bit remained. The boy was deeply moved by this. He stopped practicing and sat with the girl on a large bluestone, chatting with her.

A year passed. No matter the wind or rain, scorching sun or downpour, the little boy never stopped training. And the little girl always brought him fruit and other things when she came up the mountain to see him.

The happiest part of each day for the boy was simply talking with the girl.

But one day, the girl disappeared. The boy trained all day without seeing her, and for the first time, he began to feel restless. He kept making mistakes in his practice.

That night, after dinner, the little boy secretly went down the mountain behind his master's back to search for the girl. But he went door to door and searched every street and alley without finding anything. An entire night passed with no news of her, and the boy's heart sank.

Then it began to rain heavily. The boy walked alone by a river when he suddenly saw someone in pink floating on the water ahead. That pink garment looked terribly familiar.

The boy panicked and immediately leaped into the river, swimming toward it. When he got closer, it was exactly as he feared—the little girl was already dead. A great deal of yin energy still lingered on her face, and a peach was tucked into the pocket of her pink clothes. Looking at the dead girl's adorable face, rage rose in the boy's heart. His eyes turned bloodshot, and he dove straight into the water, tearing the Drowning Ghost hiding below into pieces.

He held the girl's corpse as the rain beat against his cheeks. The drops falling from his face—he could not tell whether they were tears or rain.

The boy carried the little girl's body to her home, then turned and left, returning to the mountain. From that day onward, he never came down again. While training, he would only glance at the forest below, tears always glimmering at the corners of his eyes.

"Jia Xin, do you think Xiao Lan will be brought back by Zhang Chen? It's almost noon already. Didn't they say they'd be back in an hour or two?" A voice interrupted Jia Xin's memories.

Miao Shuangshuang stood anxiously behind Jia Xin. He turned around without saying anything and walked into the villa, but Miao Shuangshuang saw a tear on his right cheek.

The burning wood crackled with a "sizzle, sizzle." The wild boar roasting above it had turned a deep red all over, and its aroma had spread through the entire temple.

"I'm so hungry. It smells so good!"

Xiao Lan, who had been unconscious against the Buddha statue, gradually woke up after smelling the roasted meat. Zhang Chen naturally noticed the change. He shaped his Telekinesis into a blade, sliced off one of the wild boar's legs, and handed it to Xiao Lan behind him.

"Eat up. We can only return to the villa after we've filled our stomachs."

Xiao Lan seemed ravenous. She took the huge boar leg with both hands and began devouring it in large bites.

Seeing that she was all right, Zhang Chen tore off a roasted boar leg for himself and slowly gnawed on it. Xiao Lan was impressive—she finished an entire huge leg before she finally seemed full. Zhang Chen ate even more, finishing a whole hind leg and half the body before patting his bloated stomach and stopping.

"Swimming really drains you. I can't believe I ate this much in one meal. My first time trying wild game really feels great." Zhang Chen smiled.

At that moment, Xiao Lan gently poked Zhang Chen's back with her finger.

"Um... did you change the clothes I'm wearing?"

Only after filling her stomach did Xiao Lan realize that she had somehow been dressed. Blushing, she asked Zhang Chen.

"This is the second time someone's asked whether I changed their clothes, but their attitudes are worlds apart."

Zhang Chen blushed as well and slowly said,

"After the scales on your body were removed, you fainted. I found this monk's robe in the building in the back courtyard. I was afraid you'd catch a chill, so I put it on you."

"Oh, um, I won't tell that girl Wang Yizhi."

Xiao Lan understood Zhang Chen's embarrassment. After all, he had saved her, and she had fainted naked in the first place. There was nothing else he could have done.

"Thank you." Zhang Chen could tell that Xiao Lan was a very sensible girl. Under such circumstances, being able to understand him was something most people could not do.

The two were still somewhat awkward, neither knowing what to say. After quite a while, Zhang Chen finally spoke.

"This afternoon, once it gets a little later, if everything's fine, we can consider heading back to the villa. Your friend Miao Shuangshuang is very worried about you."

"Is Miao Shuangshuang okay?"

"Of course she is. You're the only one something happened to here. With Jia Xin at the villa, nothing should go wrong there. But the biggest issue is that we need to get back quickly, because I told them I'd return for lunch at noon."

Xiao Lan nodded and braced herself against the Buddha statue, trying to slowly stand. Perhaps because she had eaten, she was able to take slow steps this time. But before long, she was drenched in sweat and had no choice but to sit down again.

"If you still can't walk this afternoon, I'll carry you back first. It's fine. Don't force yourself." Zhang Chen found it truly admirable that, after going through something so terrifying, she still refused to give up.

Xiao Lan merely smiled and continued to persist in walking.

With nothing else to do, Zhang Chen pulled out the Daoist Hand Scroll from his waist.

He opened the first page. On the far left, two vertical lines of characters had been lightly written with a brush.

"If someone sees this old monk's scroll, it means I have already failed."

Zhang Chen then turned to the second page, which was filled with dense writing like a diary. However, it was all about the old monk's ordinary life after entering the temple.

Only when he turned to the final page did Zhang Chen stop and read it carefully.

"This old monk traveled the four seas in pursuit of a quiet life, free from all worldly entanglements, so that I might seek my Great Dao. But when I came to Jiaoping Village, I knew that a peaceful life would be impossible.

In May 1932, I first came to Jiaoping Village. I had intended to leave after begging for alms, but I discovered that everyone in the village had fallen to demonic ways. They would not eat the fruits and vegetables grown from the earth, consuming only raw animal flesh. I knew that if this continued, one day the villagers here would suffer a devastating calamity and might even threaten the people outside.

I carefully searched along the village and, sure enough, found a river of blood behind it. The water looked clear enough to see the bottom, but it was actually mixed with the vital blood of a Blood Demon. The abbot once told me that there were countless evil people in this world, but Blood Demons were exceedingly rare. Every Blood Demon would leave corpses floating for a hundred miles and blood flowing for a thousand.

I was not afraid. I merely felt that my strength was too limited and my cultivation too shallow. Thus, I followed the river to this small island. Surrounded by this blood lake, it was difficult for even plants to grow here, let alone animals.

I expended tremendous effort to build this temple and settled here. With no food, I could not remain for long. Standing on the shore, I saw that a massive house across the water gave off a bloody aura so suffocating that it was hard to breathe. But with my meager strength, going there would be no different from smashing an egg against a rock.

However, I discovered that while the bloody aura from that house was powerful, it seemed to have been sealed by some force and could not leak out. It could only control the villagers downstream by influencing the lake water.

I had traveled the world in pursuit of the Great Dao, and before this great evil, I attained enlightenment.

After returning to the temple, I could neither drink tea nor eat food. For the living beings between heaven and earth, I ultimately abandoned my mortal body and attained the Dao. I cast the relic formed from my body into a well in the back courtyard, using it to preserve the living beings of this land.

If an enlightened cultivator comes here in the future, they may retrieve my relic from the back courtyard. But once it is taken, the Blood Demon in the white house must be eliminated. Otherwise, the relic will become a curse, and you will be unable to reincarnate for all eternity."

—Daoist Hand Scroll

"So relics really do exist. Once she's recovered enough, we'll go investigate that well in the back courtyard."

Zhang Chen had seen in novels and on television that relics were treasures capable of suppressing demons. If he had one, he would have a better chance against that Blood Demon.

"My Telekinesis proficiency rose to 93% after using it underwater just now. I wonder if it'll become stronger when it reaches 100%. Once I get the relic, I'll return to the villa. Wang Yizhi must be worried sick."

"Ah!" Xiao Lan, who had been walking nearby, accidentally fell again. Zhang Chen hurriedly used Telekinesis to support her body and placed her on a prayer mat. Xiao Lan looked at him with a blush, somewhat embarrassed.

"In a little while, come with me to the back courtyard. Once we get this done, we'll return to the villa."

Zhang Chen quickly smiled as he spoke. Xiao Lan nodded and replied with a single word, "Okay."

"Rumble!" Just then, a muffled thunderclap sounded in the previously clear sky, and heavy rain began to fall...

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