Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 867 Master and Disciple's Blind Date
Faced with his master's teasing, Xiao Ran's response was simple: he formed a hand seal, and countless black snow blades fell like a rainstorm.

The Yinshan Taoist opened his hands, looked at the falling black snow, and even picked up a handful and put it in his mouth to savor it carefully.

"It diminishes blessings, reduces fortune, shortens lifespan, robs wealth, brings bad luck, and increases career."

As Yinshan Daoist sipped his drink, he said, "Good lad, your master has so little merit left, and you're going to squander it all."

After saying that, the Yinshan Taoist gave a cold laugh and tore open the collar of his clothes: "It seems that I should show you my true skills."

The collar was torn open, revealing a tattoo on his chest.

It was a toad, but unlike the three-legged golden toads commonly found in feng shui, it was a giant six-legged frog with six huge poisonous sores on its back and a five-poison coin hanging from its mouth.

"Cuckoo..."

The six-legged giant frog opened its eyelids, as if it had come to life, and made a loud croaking sound. With each breath, it swelled up in front of the Yinshan Taoist's chest, and in the blink of an eye, it swelled from the size of a palm to the size of a washbasin.

what? ?

Upon seeing this, Xiao Ran became alert. He quickly reviewed the contents of the [Suppressing Scripture], but found no record of such a thing.

"Cuck!"

At this moment, the giant frog opened its mouth wide and inhaled, sucking in all the black snow.

At the same time, the six poison spores on his back split open, revealing sharp teeth, and emitted a series of strange, cacophony laughs.

"Hahaha, delicious, delicious, have some more!!"

"Good disciple, you present your master with such a snack as soon as we meet. Very good, I will give you a gift later as well."

Each of the six mouths spoke differently, but judging from the voices, all six mouths belonged to the Yinshan Taoist.

This bizarre scene immediately put Xiao Ran in a difficult position.

In the art of curses, Xiao Ran asked himself if he could be as well-versed in the mysteries as the evil Lady Dongzhu, but he was still unique and had his own school of thought.

This curse technique of mine, when combined with the Six-Character Measuring Sword, is incredibly powerful. Even professionals, or those extremely powerful evil spirits, will have their luck diminished under this technique, forcibly entering a state of decline and decay.

However, the toad on the chest of the Yinshan Taoist was actually able to counteract his curse, which greatly shocked Xiao Ran's understanding.

However, the more this was the case, the more Xiao Ran wanted to understand what was going on with the Yinshan Taoist's methods. If he couldn't even figure out the other party's methods, wouldn't he always be restrained by the Yinshan Taoist?

Xiao Ran immediately held nothing back, raising her hand and throwing out dozens of joss paper in one go, while simultaneously forming hand seals.

In an instant, the dark clouds in the sky began to swirl, the wind and snow in the air suddenly stopped, and a chilling wind swept up from the ground.

Though the wind is invisible, it blows as if cutting bones, and its force is so strong that it hurts the spirit. One cannot see or hear anything, and the wind carries a fishy smell that feels like oil on the skin. If you ask why the wind is so strong, you can only sigh and say that you are a miserable person.

Even Yinshan Daoist's face showed a strange expression. Last time in Guizhou, Yinshan Daoist had noticed that Xiao Ran's curse technique had already been mastered.

But I never expected that this kid would take the art of cursing to such an extent.

"Okay, okay, okay!"

He said "good" three times and gave Xiao Ran a thumbs up. "My little foxes, my little foxes, no matter what my purpose was in taking you as my disciple, you are now the most outstanding disciple I have ever taken in. I am proud of you."

He began with a string of praises, but then the Yinshan Taoist changed his tone: "What a pity, what a pity. The book I passed on to you back then, the [Suppressing Scripture], only has the first half. You only know the art of cursing, but you don't know the method of suppressing."

Xiao Ran was not surprised by Yinshan Daoist's words.

When Madam Dongzhu learned that she was a disciple of the Yinshan Taoist, she took out the Zhenjing (a classic text on Taoist magic) and let her read it. Madam Dongzhu was very excited at first, but after reading it once, she threw it back to her.

Although she didn't say it explicitly, her disdainful expression and contemptuous attitude spoke volumes.

Therefore, Xiao Ran's curse techniques were always developed and explored by himself, based on his own soul cultivation techniques, and he gradually figured them out from the bottom up.

Therefore, although Xiao Ran was surprised to hear Yinshan Daoist's words, he did not waver. He kept changing his hand seals, trying to bring out the full power of his curse technique.

Seeing that Xiao Ran wouldn't listen to his advice, Yinshan Daoist stopped talking. He could hold on, but the two chubby guys beside him were starting to show abnormalities.

"Gu Gu Gu Gu...!"

The six-legged toad on the Yinshan Taoist's chest suddenly swelled to twice its original size, then curled its tongue and swallowed the Five Poisons Coin it was holding in its mouth.

In that instant, Xiao Ran was suddenly alerted, and an extremely bad premonition came over her.

"Cuck!"

A croaking sound came from the toad's mouth, causing the surrounding world to change color. The swirling snow, the dark forest, and even the invisible yin wind he stirred up all lost their color in an instant, solidifying into a deathly, oppressive, and suffocating pure black and white!

Xiao Ran sensed something was wrong, and her body was immediately enveloped in black scales.

【Jiaolong Soft Armor - Paper Craftsman】Activated.

At the same time, Xiao Ran suddenly felt an invisible force squeezing her body, and her whole body felt like it was about to be torn apart.

In an instant, Xiao Ran could hear her bones cracking under the pressure. And an invisible giant python appeared on Xiao Ran's body. Although the python had form, it had no substance. Although it had no substance, it was able to entangle Xiao Ran so tightly that she could hardly breathe.

Yinshan Daoist did not hold back. He knew the relationship between himself and this wicked disciple. If he did not completely defeat this kid, he would probably not be able to do what he was going to do next.

"Quack! Quack!"

Two more loud croaks of frogs followed.

Suddenly, black smoke began to rise from Xiao Ran's body. Even with the protection of the [Dragon Armor], Xiao Ran felt a stinging pain all over her body.

Just then, Xiao Ran suddenly thought of something. He quickly took out an object from his spatial storage and threw it into the void.

"Mount Tai pressing down!"

The object Xiao Ran threw out merged into the void. Then, Xiao Ran formed a hand seal, and after a low whistle, the surrounding space suddenly sank.

Caught off guard, the Taoist of Yinshan nearly stumbled and fell to the ground. Upon closer inspection, he saw that a small phantom of Mount Tai had appeared above his head, pressing heavily against his chest and blocking the toad's mouth, making it difficult for the toad to open its mouth for a moment.

"Taishan stone?"

Yinshan Daoist's eyes widened. He remembered that he had suffered a great setback at Xiao Ran's hands last time because of this Taishan stone.

Unexpectedly, the same thing pressed down on him again the second time, and his face flickered between light and dark.

The Taishan stone can't hurt me, but the toad can no longer open its mouth.

Even the Taoist priest of Lianyin Mountain was unable to move for a time.

"go with!"

Seeing this, Yinshan Daoist immediately looked at Qingfeng and Mingyue and shouted. The two chubby men drew their watermelon knives and prepared to rush forward.

"There are more people, right?"

Xiao Ran patted the [Gourd of Yin Soldiers] at his waist.

In an instant, all the corpse slaves in Xiao Ran's hands—Six Eyes, Three Cents, Butcher, Archer, Painter…—were released.

At the same time, he took out the [Suppressing Calamity Token - Thief] with his other hand.

The image of the Yin General appeared behind him, and with a wave of his hand, hundreds of Yin soldiers surrounded Xiao Ran.

Even the expression on Yinshan Daoist's face became unnatural.

His eyes were fixed on Xiao Ran.

After a long stalemate, the Yinshan Taoist finally couldn't hold out any longer and softened his stance: "Disciple, I'm not here to be your enemy. I was the one who delivered the message to you in Guizhou last time. Instead of wasting time here with me, why don't we join forces?"

"Join forces with you??" Xiao Ran laughed as if she had heard a joke.

Yinshan Daoist was not angry at all, and even said very seriously: "You and I have a common enemy. If we join forces, one in the open and one in the shadows, we will surely make him suffer eternal damnation."

"Who is our common enemy?"

Although Xiao Ran had guessed a thing or two, she still wanted to hear Yinshan Daoist say it himself.

"Of course it's the Changchun Society. Let me tell you, the people from the Changchun Society are in the mining area right now, and they're quite skilled. They've already collected a lot of good stuff. If we keep wasting our time here, it'll only make our friends happy and our enemies happy."

Xiao Ran snorted coldly: "Old man, stop talking nonsense. If you want to cooperate, show some sincerity."

Without wasting any words, Yinshan Daoren immediately formed a hand seal. A stream of turbid air was exhaled from the six small mouths on the back of the toad on his chest. Then, the toad slowly relaxed like a deflated balloon until it completely transformed back into the tattoo on Yinshan Daoren's chest.

Instantly, the gloomy power that had been entwining Xiao Ran also dissipated.

The snow howled, the black and white hues of the forest faded, and the frozen space began to flow again. The illusory image of the Mount Tai stone pressing on the chest of the Yinshan Taoist also quietly dissipated.

Xiao Ran did not retract the Six-Character Measuring Sword or the Yin Soldiers and Corpse Slaves surrounding him. His gaze was sharp as a knife, locked on the Yin Mountain Taoist's ambiguous smile.

"Old man, put away your underhanded tricks and show some real sincerity."

Yinshan Daoist slowly fastened his robe, covering the strange six-legged giant frog tattoo on his chest. His face showed no anger, but rather an appreciation for his child's potential: "Tsk, little fox, you've truly inherited my paranoia. So be it."

He clapped his hands, and Qingfeng and Mingyue immediately stepped forward.

Qingfeng pulled out a thin booklet wrapped in layers of special oiled paper and sealed with talismans from his bosom, and stiffly handed it to Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran asked Liu Mu to take it. After tearing off the outer oil paper wrapping, there was a yellowed booklet inside.

Xiao Ran looked closely and saw the words "【镇经】" written on the booklet.

After Xiao Ran opened it, she only glanced at the contents before her brows furrowed slightly. The contents of this book seemed similar to the one she had been given before, yet they were different.

Most importantly, it mentions the difference between the so-called techniques and methods in divination and the core principles.

(End of this chapter)