"Something like that..."
After hearing him out, the old Taoist looked thoughtful. "It sounds like a Rakshasa Bird."
"A Rakshasa Bird?"
"An evil Yin creature born from Death Qi. It isn't truly a bird, but it often takes the shape of one. Its claws and fangs are sharp, and it excels at transformation and deception. It often comes out at dusk and dawn to harm people." The old Taoist was still sitting on the steps, his posture anything but proper. "I've never seen one myself. When I was young, before I went up the mountain to become a Taoist, I heard that someone in the neighboring village had been harmed by one. Later, after I became a Taoist, I heard the truth about these creatures from my master.
"They can fly because they're made of Qi, but they don't fly very high, because they're made of Death Qi. Death Qi is turbid and can only sink to the ground. Blades, spears, and arrows don't do much damage to them; only when they take on a tangible form can you hurt them more seriously.
"Death Qi is also connected to human corpses. They learned the Transformation Technique from people, and they also learned how to peer into people's hearts from them."
The old Taoist paused, then sighed.
"There used to be more of them during the years of war and chaos. But it's been many years since anyone last heard of one. I didn't expect one to show up again now."
"So that's how it is."
Lin Jue understood his sigh.
Cloud Crane Taoist was probably several decades old. Though he hadn't lived as long as most dynasties, that was still enough time to witness some ups and downs. The changing times might seem faster and more tangible to him than