STOTTD |Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty/Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zhou Xin quietly let out a breath of relief.

She circled the three-meter giant rat a few times and asked, “Just now, from what Shen Jibai (Shen Jibai) said, it was drunk and had lost its senses. Then how did it get drunk, what kind of wine did it drink? Did it turn into human form?”

At this, Shen Jibai turned his head away, leaving only a sharply defined side profile, with no intention of replying at all.

Zhou Xin: “……”

The yamen runner beside him quickly took up the conversation: “It turned into a young man, slipped into Changfeng Tavern, ordered a table full of dishes, and also drank three jars of cherry wine.”

Zhou Xin: “Cherry wine?”

“Yes! Cherry wine was once a special offering drink at the Shaowei Banquet. It tasted sweet and clear, but it had a strong aftereffect. Ordinary people would get drunk after just one jar, so it was later removed from the list. This Ao Yin (Ao Yin) drank three jars in one go, so losing its senses and going mad is not strange.”

“No.” Zhou Xin objected, “On the contrary, this is strange.”

The yamen runner: “?”

“A drunk person gives off the smell of alcohol all over their body, and their mouth is also full of the taste of alcohol.”

She stopped walking, pointed at the Ao Yin (Ao Yin) with one hand, and motioned for everyone to come up and smell it. “But there is no smell of alcohol on its body, and none in its mouth either. It shows that three jars of cherry wine are nothing much to it. Of course, this conclusion does not really hold up. The reason A Zhou (A Zhou) thinks it is strange is that demons are different from humans, and will not lose their senses and go mad just because they are drunk. It becoming like this must have some other reason.”

When the crowd heard this, they all nodded. There were even a few knife-wielding guards who came up to smell it, confirming her guess. “It really does not smell of alcohol.”

Shen Jibai also swept her with a faint glance, his ice-cold eyes carrying a hint of inquiry, as if he wanted to see what kind of trick she was really up to.

“Then, the key point is what it did besides drinking before it lost its senses,” Zhou Xin said. “Only by finding the reason it went mad can A Zhou (A Zhou) prescribe the right treatment and return it to its original size.”

“Is it that troublesome?” one of the yamen runners could not help but cut in. “Wasn’t it always enough to use a talisman to turn it back into its original form, and then it could be put into the demon-binding bag?”

Another yamen runner bumped him with his shoulder and said in a low voice, “Didn’t Lingyun Jun just say she lost her memory and does not remember how to cast the spell?”

“But before losing its senses, the Ao Yin (Ao Yin) had just been drinking alcohol and eating meat, and had done nothing else. The people in the tavern were all busy with their own things, and no one had any contact with it. How are we supposed to find the reason that led to its loss of senses?”

“Is that so…” Zhou Xin frowned and thought for a moment. “Then who did it attack first after going mad?”

The yamen runner standing beside Shen Jibai seemed to remember something, and suddenly slapped his thigh hard. “It was a scholar! He was frightened unconscious by the Ao Yin (Ao Yin), and he is still lying upstairs right now!”

“Lead the way.”

Zhou Xin made an inviting gesture.

The yamen runner led her back the same way. The diners in this building had already run off, even the shopkeeper was hiding. So when the two of them went up to the second floor, they saw that gentleman lying on the floor.

This man had delicate brows and eyes, red lips and white teeth. Even though his clothes were damaged and his figure looked miserable, he still carried a unique air of “emerging unstained from the mud,” as if white jade had been covered in dust, or an exiled immortal had fallen from grace.

Zhou Xin squatted beside him, her right hand hovering above him. She closed her eyes and sensed for a while, and detected a faint trace of baleful qi.

No wonder Linghe Zhenren gave a dispelling-evil talisman!

This Ao Yin (Ao Yin) was not drunk and out of its mind at all, it had clearly gone mad because baleful qi entered its body!

“Were this scholar and that Ao Yin (Ao Yin) close to each other?”

The yamen runner recalled for a moment before pointing toward a table by the window. “The Ao Yin (Ao Yin) sat there, the scholar sat at the table next to it. There were few people coming to eat at this hour, and at this window there were only those two tables of diners.”

It seemed this scholar had suffered this disaster simply because he was the closest to the Ao Yin (Ao Yin).

Zhou Xin said, “Go ask the shopkeeper whether he knows this scholar. Send someone to escort him home. It is better than just leaving him on the ground like this.”

“Yes.”

The yamen runner took the order.

She turned and walked out of the tavern, heading straight for the Ao Yin (Ao Yin) standing on the street.

Perhaps because they saw that the Ao Yin (Ao Yin) had been subdued and was no longer dangerous, more people leaned out from the shops on both sides of the street to watch the show. Even in front of the human wall formed by the yamen runners, some onlookers had gathered, pointing at the yamen runners and guards beside the Ao Yin (Ao Yin), talking all at once.

Seeing her come out, Shen Jibai finally spoke. His voice was still cold, but there was a hint of sarcasm in his flat tone.

“Found the reason?”

“Probably,” Zhou Xin replied.

At this, he frowned almost imperceptibly. “Probably?”

Zhou Xin ignored him.

Isn’t it just treating each other like air? Who couldn’t do that!

She took out the dispelling-evil talisman,夹 it between two fingers, murmured the incantation, and shouted loudly, “Break!”

The talisman paper ignited without fire. A streak of golden light lit up in the air, and as the halo kept moving through the air, it gradually gathered into a talisman script.

When the final stroke was completed, the yellow talisman at her fingertips burned out. The golden talisman floating in the air slowly moved toward the Ao Yin (Ao Yin). The instant it touched the Ao Yin (Ao Yin), a gust of yin wind suddenly rose from the ground. All the golden light surged into the Ao Yin (Ao Yin)’s body, dimmed for a moment, then burst out again, radiating dazzling, blinding golden brilliance!

Everyone was too close to the Ao Yin (Ao Yin), and the light stung their eyes so much that they could not keep them open, and subconsciously closed them.

Those people watching from farther away were not affected by the golden light at all, with no discomfort whatsoever. They watched with their own eyes as the Ao Yin (Ao Yin) raised its head and slowly spat out a stream of black qi.

After that, its body shrank rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it became smaller than a palm, and the golden light disappeared at just the right time.

“Look! That demon spat out a puff of black smoke!”

Perhaps this shout gave the onlookers courage, and the sound of murmuring suddenly grew louder:

“That fairy-like female priest, could she be the Lingyun Jun talked about in the rumors, the one highly valued by the Sage?”

“In the Eastern Capital, the only one who could make both the guards and Dali Temple come out together to help catch demons can only be Lingyun Jun!”

“Hearing about it a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once. Lingyun Jun is not as formidable as the rumors say. How could she have such a reputation for ‘snapping her fingers to capture demons’ and ‘slaying devils with a treasured sword’? I saw with my own eyes that she almost got eaten by a demon!”

“It must be exaggerated! How could anyone subdue a demon in the blink of an eye? Just look at how much effort they spent subduing this Ao Yin (Ao Yin)!”

“So ‘snapping her fingers to capture demons’ means this. Then what about ‘slaying devils with a treasured sword’?”

“This brother probably is not from Luoyang? The ‘treasured sword’ refers to Lingyun Jun’s magic artifact, the sword. I heard this sword has a spirit, and its nature follows its master. Ordinary demons cannot arouse its interest, and it will not easily leave its sheath. But once it does, it will definitely keep fighting until evil things die young.”

……

Zhou Xin slowly opened her eyes and saw the Ao Yin (Ao Yin), now smaller than a palm, lying weakly on the ground.

“It is fine now.”

At this, the yamen runner took the demon-binding bag from his waist, aimed the opening at the Ao Yin (Ao Yin), and the Ao Yin (Ao Yin) turned into a breeze and was drawn into the bag.

Shen Jibai, standing nearby, suddenly clenched his fist. His sharp phoenix eyes looked straight at her, and he said furiously, “So this is the memory loss and poor spellcasting that Lingyun Jun was talking about?”

Not good.

This person is about to not be able to hold back his primordial force again!

Zhou Xin immediately explained, “This talisman was given by Linghe Zhenren. The master must know something, and when he heard that Shen Jibai (Shen Jibai) sent people to invite him, he took out this talisman and handed it to A Zhou (A Zhou).”

“If that is so, then why did Lingyun Jun delay using it?”

“If Shen Jibai (Shen Jibai) had not broken the Ao Yin (Ao Yin)’s fatal point with one strike, even if A Zhou (A Zhou) used eight hundred dispelling-evil talismans, she still would not have been able to break the baleful qi inside it.”

“Making excuses!” Shen Jibai clearly did not believe a single word. “What happened today, Shen will definitely report it truthfully to the court!”

…Fine.

Zhou Xin let out a deep sigh.

Perhaps seeing that the atmosphere, which had finally eased up, was tense again, the guards immediately changed the topic. “…Why does it feel like something is missing today?”

Shen Jibai gave a cold snort. “It is missing, Lingyun Jun did not call you all trash today.”

Zhou Xin: “?”

The yamen runner agreed, and chimed in, “She also did not use those two words to mock Shaoqing.”

The guards slapped their thighs hard and suddenly realized, “It really is!”

Zhou Xin: “?”

No wonder when they first met just now, Shen Jibai opened his mouth and called them trash, it turned out these two usually cursed each other like this!

To be at odds with a superior to this extent, that was really intense.

She awkwardly cleared her throat.

The yamen runner beside Shen Jibai looked over. Zhou Xin took the opportunity to point at the demon-binding bag at his waist and changed the topic. “How should the Ao Yin (Ao Yin) be handled?”

The yamen runner turned to look at Shen Jibai, and the latter immediately avoided his gaze.

These two usually did not get along, and when gods fight, mortals suffer. The yamen runner did not dare offend either of them, so he could only brace himself and test the waters. “Lock it up… in the Dali Temple?”

Shen Jibai did not object, so it seemed that was indeed the plan.

The yamen runner breathed a sigh of relief.

“It has already had its fatal point damaged, and it will not live much longer. There is no need to lock it in the Dali Temple,” Zhou Xin said. “Besides, this matter is somewhat suspicious, so it needs to be investigated.”

At her words, the demon-binding bag suddenly stirred violently, and the hamster inside seemed to be crying out in grievance, making nonstop “zhi zhi zhi” sounds.

Shen Jibai said coldly, “How do you want to investigate? Does Lingyun Jun understand rat language?”

Zhou Xin stretched out her hand, palm facing up, signaling the yamen runner to hand over the demon-binding bag.

“A Zhou (A Zhou) naturally has a way.”

The yamen runner was a little troubled.

This Ao Yin (Ao Yin) had shown its true form and injured people in public, making quite a commotion. It was bound to be taken back to Dali Temple to close the case.

He once again looked at Shen Jibai for help. The latter, for some reason, had a flash of sarcasm in his eyes. “What exactly is Lingyun Jun planning, might as well say it plainly.”

“What could A Zhou (A Zhou) be planning?”

“I have never seen Lingyun Jun stand up for demons.”

He said word by word, “The Dali Temple once received a complaint from a fish spirit who had been bullied by humans. Before Shen could even go to question it, Lingyun Jun killed the fish spirit and took its inner pill. When Shen questioned the reason, Lingyun Jun said that demons are demons, and even if they cultivate human form, they are not worthy of being treated as humans. How could she care about the truth now?”

After speaking, before Zhou Xin could explain, he drew his own conclusion.

“If you want a demon pill, just take it directly. Anyway, no one in Dali Temple dares to compete with Lingyun Jun, so why make up such a lousy excuse?”

It seemed this one’s prejudice against the original owner was deeper than ordinary.

After being coldly brushed off time and again, Zhou Xin no longer wanted to explain much. Anyway, he would never believe it.

“The Ao Yin (Ao Yin) was invaded by baleful qi, which is why it lost its senses and hurt people. But there is no baleful qi around here. Where exactly did the baleful qi that entered the Ao Yin (Ao Yin)’s body come from, has Shen Jibai (Shen Jibai) ever thought about that?”

She raised her eyes and once again met his gaze. Her tone was as sharp as his eyes.

“Or is it that Shen Jibai (Shen Jibai) sees that it does not have long to live, and that it has not really caused a death, and feels this case is too difficult to investigate, so he is just going to let it go like this?”