How come the celestial technique I stole is so powerful?!-Chapter 379: Mad Taoist’s Numerous Doubts

Lin Xiaosu smiled slightly, "Daoist, I heard you stayed at Qingyuan Temple back in the day?"

"Yes!"

"I heard you broke the five precepts in one day?"

"That’s a real injustice!" the Daoist said. "I—oh no, this humble Taoist did break the five precepts, but how could it possibly be within one day? Killing, eating meat, drinking alcohol, and lying were on the first day; comforting the lonely female benefactor’s soul was the next day! Although it was less than twelve hours in total, it was indeed two days. Regarding the distinction between one day and two days, ’Ancient Discussions’ clearly states that one day is from midnight to the next midnight, and two days..."

Lin Xiaosu raised his hand, stuffing the stack of bills he was using as a fan into the Daoist’s hand: "Daoist, padding out the word count is fine, but being too deliberate might get you beaten up. The three thousand yuan I’m giving you isn’t a loan, no need to be too obvious about padding."

The Daoist cracked open a mouth full of yellow teeth, quite enthusiastic: "Okay!"

"Why break the five precepts in a day—oh, two days?"

The Daoist said, "Wanted to try a different cultivation life."

"Why are you making straw figures?"

"Lonely in the mountains, with no one for company, I make some straw figures to keep me company."

"But you occasionally sell them too."

"Hehe, to earn some living expenses." The Daoist was happy, seemingly proud of finding a way to make money in the desolate mountains.

"If we want to buy one, will you sell it?"

"Sell!"

"How much?"

"Retail price is 30, wholesale is 28."

"Can I ask the Daoist... to consecrate it?"

As Lin Xiaosu said this, Zhou Mei’s gaze tightened, fixating on the Daoist’s dim old eyes.

Consecration!

A term from the Buddhist lexicon.

Used here, it has meaning.

It means adding something special, imbuing the straw figure with some mysterious power.

"You’ve found the wrong person, young man!" The Daoist chuckled, "Back when I was a monk, I occasionally did consecrate, but I’m telling you the truth, monks’ consecrations are all scams. Now that I’m not a monk but a Daoist, I must be honest about consecrations..."

Lin Xiaosu said, "Actually, I came because of your reputation. I heard the straw figures you make possess a kind of magical power that can accomplish certain inconvenient tasks for me."

The Daoist’s entire demeanor brightened: "You’ve really found the right person! This humble Taoist cultivates the Dao, comprehends universal truths, and specializes in resolving worldly cause and effect. If you buy my straw figure, your wish is sure to be fulfilled."

"Then I’ll buy one?"

"Sure! Retail 30!"

"The money I’ve given you hasn’t been used up yet, won’t you gift one to me?"

"That’s just for consulting the Dao, about asking, not pursuing it." The Daoist said, "And the straw figure is about pursuing the Dao, so... extra payment!"

Lin Xiaosu stretched out his hand and handed over another red bill.

The Daoist extended his hand, fished out seventy yuan from a shabby pocket for change.

Very familiar.

"Any one will do?" Lin Xiaosu asked.

"Any one will do!"

Lin Xiaosu walked outside, his gaze sweeping over all the straw figures, casually picking one up by a leg, and nodded to Zhou Mei, "Let’s go."

Zhou Mei looked doubtful but at this point refrained from asking, standing up.

The Daoist laughed, "You’ve still got unused consulting money, come again next time and you can use it."

"Sure!"

Lin Xiaosu and Zhou Mei left.

The two climbed up to Tashan’s main road from his place, walking along the road until they reached the cliff’s edge.

This cliff, in front of the Tashan Police Station, when looking over from here, there’s a forest below, and on the other side of the forest is Liu Lin Temple.

That means, from here, a direct line to Lin Xiaosu’s home is actually less than a kilometer.

"That Mad Taoist definitely has problems!" Zhou Mei exhaled.

"And then?" Lin Xiaosu said, "Are you going to arrest him?"

"That’s the annoying part, there’s no legal basis to arrest him," Zhou Mei said.

"So even if you know he’s got problems, you can only let him be free there," Lin Xiaosu said, "Just let it go."

"Let it go? Even you have cases you can’t solve?"

"The way you say it, am I a god?" Lin Xiaosu said, "There are plenty of cases I can’t solve, anyway, this case isn’t even a case legally. For the villagers, just explain things clearly, no matter how superstitious they are, there are still some who are not. The ones who are jumping around are just some illiterate old folks whose families are constantly calming them down."

Zhou Mei thought about it and agreed...

It was the elderly who reported it.

The troublemakers in the village were also just elderly.

Their descendants weren’t involved and were even constantly working on their old folks at home.

Killing straw figures holds no weight legally.

Reports weren’t even entertained.

It’s even starting to calm down now.

After realizing this, she let go of her obsession with solving the case, shifting her gaze down the cliff: "All this time, I’ve been down there at night."

"Hmm? Did you find a wild lover to play wild down there?"

"Get lost!" Zhou Mei glared at him, "I’ve been practicing martial arts down there!"

"Martial arts? How’s it going?"

"Watch!" Zhou Mei stretched out her hand, and a leaf was in it.

Swish!

The leaf whipped through the air, snapping a branch ahead cleanly.

"Flying Flower Picking Leaves, you’re impressive!" Lin Xiaosu expressed surprise at just the right moment.

Zhou Mei was a bit smug, "After your second development, my Rejuvenation Secret Technique has greatly improved. In time, I might not even need a gun!"

This was truly her point of excitement.

Police must use guns to enforce the law.

However, there are extremely strict regulations on gun use.

In fact, it’s not very convenient.

Zhou Mei plans to take a different path from the two women at the Detective Agency; her first-stage goal on the Ancient Martial path is to: abandon the gun!

Over the course of more than ten days, she frequently consulted Miao Ruolan and truly navigated the True Qi path in her arm, developing her own Divine Skill: Flying Flower Picking Leaves.

Currently, this skill is something she is vigorously practicing; it hasn’t yet reached a level to truly subdue enemies. One can imagine the excitement if it were to debut in a police battlefield.

It could potentially shift all police attention from Genetic Transformation to Ancient Martial Cultivation.

After all, the risks of genetic modification are too great. Little Sun is already ruined...

When she said the last sentence, her expression was somewhat sorrowful...

Lin Xiaosu furrowed his brows slightly, "Little Sun is already ruined?"

"Yes, he was originally a young man in his prime, just out of school, who loved to learn. He was chosen to be a target for Genetic Transformation. His family even held a grand celebration for it. However, before the firecracker debris could be cleaned up, the bad news came that his Genetic Transformation failed. After several months of rescue attempts, it was ultimately futile. He became a vegetative state, and the doctors said there’s no hope for awakening." Zhou Mei’s voice carried a hint of sadness.

Lin Xiaosu also felt regret for Little Sun.

This Little Sun was Zhou Mei’s former partner.

When Lin Xiaosu first opened the Detective Agency, it was Little Sun who ran the errands...

The agency has been in business for less than a year, and the person who did the running around back then is forever ruined.

"It’s almost noon; I’ll go arrange a meal for us. You hang out here. When the meal is ready, I’ll call you!" Zhou Mei went up the slope behind the cliff to the Tashan Police Station.

Lin Xiaosu stayed alone on the cliff.

After she left, Lin Xiaosu raised his hand, and the straw man he had recently obtained from the Mad Taoist was brought to his eyes.

To anyone else in the world, this straw man seemed ordinary.

But perhaps only he felt it was extraordinarily unique.

Because he possessed the Heavenly Tao Primordial Spirit.

The Heavenly Tao Primordial Spirit searched the interior of the straw man, seeing each straw in detail.

There was no mystery inside the straw man, but the grass that made up the straw man was itself a mystery.

With the Primordial Spirit as a probe, he sensed a strange energy aura.

Extremely mysterious, extremely distant.

The straw man looked slack and crude, but under the Heavenly Tao Primordial Spirit, each piece of grass was connected in a very esoteric way.

Indescribably mysterious, indescribably profound.

What kind of mystery does this straw man conceal?

Lin Xiaosu looked ahead, his thoughts bringing him back to the person of the Mad Taoist...

In this county, not many people knew about the Mad Taoist, and even those who did often focused on how he broke the Five Precepts in a single day, sought to marry a widow in his mountain loneliness, and was angrily scolded by her with hands on hips.

But Lin Xiaosu’s perspective was always different.

The first point: How old is the Mad Taoist really? He was part of the ’Yuan’ generation in Qingyuan Temple; the current abbot there is from the ’Kong’ generation, and under Kong is Hui. In current secular Buddhism, the majority are from the Hui generation, meaning he is two generations above the leading monks in Buddhism.

His age couldn’t be young.

According to rumors, the day he broke the Five Precepts was thirty years ago.

Even at that time, people mocked him for being old and disrespectful.

A young monk in his twenties, no matter how rebellious, wouldn’t be called disrespectful for old age; only around fifty would that term apply.

That means, he should reasonably be over eighty by now, yet judging by his appearance today, he looked at most fifty.

His age is a mystery.

The second point: Lin Xiaosu seemed not to focus on the cave, but in reality, his Heavenly Tao Primordial Spirit had scanned around inside it. The cave had nothing to speak of, which was to be expected, but when there wasn’t even anything to cook with, it surprised him. Yes, there was no sign of cooking in the Mad Taoist’s cave.

A person living alone in a cave, not eating?

Biological features are a mystery.

Now there’s this straw man, with the energy aura on it being a mystery.

He and Zhou Mei approached the Mad Taoist at the same time, but Zhou Mei had no clue, while Lin Xiaosu simply analyzed and found everything to be a mystery.

If it were elsewhere, Lin Xiaosu might not bother following up. After all, this world had long surpassed traditional thinking, with even ancient relics coming to light. What species couldn’t exist?

But this is Old Tashan.

His home is less than a kilometer straight-line distance from here.

A place where a person who creates straw men that can kill invisibly resides – who wouldn’t be alarmed?

He must figure out the basic principle of this killing method...

Otherwise, when stepping outside, how could he feel at ease?

Yet, with all his detective theories, with his unrivaled detective Miracle Techniques, he hit a blind spot.

How to resolve it?

The saying goes, when in doubt externally ask Chang Ye; internally, ask Big Yellow.

Lin Xiaosu opened the Space Secret Realm, and the straw man in his hand suddenly vanished without a trace.

The straw man drifted through the Space Secret Realm, appearing beside the Time Space River embankment.

Big Yellow floated on a lotus, frowning, listening to Lin Xiaosu’s account...

After Lin Xiaosu finished, Big Yellow was also a bit puzzled: "It sounds very much like the Law of Cause and Effect from the Heavenly Tao Seven Techniques, but across the Time Space River, I can’t sense this energy aura personally, and can’t make an accurate judgment."

"Law of Cause and Effect?" Lin Xiaosu’s mind surged with turmoil.

Heavenly Tao Seven Techniques!

Law of Cause and Effect...

The Law of Cause and Effect is the most mysterious among the Heavenly Tao Seven Techniques.

It involves the Heavenly Tao’s cause and effect, elusive and intangible.

Its basic theory is: all things in the Heavenly Tao have cause and effect, which are linked in a chain; touching the line of cause will move the line of effect, therefore, killing is possible.

As long as you sever a crucial line in the Heavenly Dao Cause and Effect Disc, the corresponding person will inexplicably suffer from the cause and effect.

This is a murder method ten thousand times more esoteric than killing across space.

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