Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 68 [It’s Not Cabbage]

Chapter 67 [It’s Not Cabbage]

A stream of energy shot out, and the lake water suddenly parted. A figure emerged from the water, firmly locked by the energy, and was pulled up, falling heavily onto the shore.

The figure was actually a little monster.

Like the two monsters before, it had a head of messy gray hair that had been soaked by the lake water and stuck to its head. Its face was hideous, its features were distorted, and its mouth was grinning, revealing a mouthful of messy fangs.

It's just that it's thin and smaller than the previous two monsters, but it's about the same height as an ordinary child.

The little monster raised its head and struggled for a while, baring its teeth at the old man and roaring.

The old man squinted his eyes, then slowly walked up and raised his right hand...

Snapped!
A big slap filled with vitality hit the monster's left cheek, and the monster immediately staggered to the right.

Snapped!
Another big slap on the right cheek caused the monster to stagger to the left again.

When the little monster raised its head again, it was no longer roaring, and there were several finger marks on each cheek.

His eyes became much clearer.

Seeing the old man raise his hand again, the little monster suddenly curled up into a ball, holding his head with his hands and whimpering in fear.

"Well, you should be a family of three. It's rare to see a mountain raven living in groups, and it seems you've developed a little bit of intelligence." The old man narrowed his eyes and stared at the little mountain raven. "Your evil spirit is quite strong, and it seems you've killed many people. I should have killed you with a sword. But I happen to be refining a magic weapon that needs evil spirit to nourish it, and you are suitable for it."

After pondering for a moment, the old man stretched out his hand and a golden light penetrated into the head of the little Shankui. Immediately, its body began to tremble and it rolled several times on the ground. Its bones stretched and contracted, its head and body began to change, and it even grew gray hair.

Finally it stopped moving and looked like a giant monkey lying on the ground.

The old man said in a cold voice, "I will store this magic weapon in your spiritual consciousness. It will absorb the evil energy from your body every day to nourish it. In ten years, your evil energy will be completely absorbed. This can be considered as a lucky chance to let you live for another ten years!"

Well, the kid next door raised an old turtle who is a demon cultivator, so it’s not too embarrassing for me, an old man, to raise a big monkey.

After saying that, the old man stretched out his hand and grabbed the big monkey in his hand, then his body turned into a ray of light and disappeared.

A few minutes later, the girl trembled on the ground by the lake, woke up, and screamed.

"Monster! Monster!!"

Then he was stunned and looked around.

I...where am I?
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Before dawn, a black car slowly drove in from the forest road.

When they reached the edge of the forest, the car stopped and Chu Keqing, wrapped in a woolen coat, got out of the car. She first looked up at the forest at dawn, then took a deep breath of cool air.

A trace of solemnity appeared on her pretty face, and she whispered, "It smells like evil..."

"Master Zi!" The assistant beside him had already caught up, holding the wooden box in both hands.

Chu Keqing took out her white jade compass, held it in one hand, and then slowly walked towards the forest.

In the forest road, two police cars slowly drove out and passed by Chu Keqing.

Chu Keqing frowned as she watched the police car leave, then whispered, "The police have been here, something must have happened here. Go ask them."

The assistant nodded and turned to make a phone call.

Chu Keqing stood at the edge of the forest, looked up at the forest, then held a compass in one hand and made hand gestures with the other, calculating something quickly, and then used the qi-gazing technique to watch carefully. Suddenly, she took a deep breath, bent down, stepped into the forest.

"Master Zi?" The assistant behind him was startled: "It's damp and cold in the forest, you..."

Chu Keqing waved her hand: "Quickly find out, and then come find me in the woods."

After saying this, she ignored the fact that her snow-white woolen coat was wet by the dew on the treetops and slowly walked into the forest.

In the middle of the night, Chu Keqing woke up from her dream. She was a Taoist practitioner with good cultivation and the blessing of Qigong, so she naturally felt the direction of the bloody evil spirit.

Although most of the bloody evil energy had dissipated when she discovered it, the remaining evil energy fluctuations still aroused her interest.

As a practitioner, how can you not find out what's going on when you encounter something like this?

Although it was still very dark in the forest at dawn, Chu Keqing was not afraid because she was confident in her cultivation. She walked through the forest at leisure. She didn't know how long she had walked, but she actually passed through the forest and came to the wild lake in the valley.

"The evil spirit here is even stronger."

Chu Keqing frowned, looked at the compass in her hand, and then fixed her eyes on the location of the lake.

The evil energy gathered in the lake.

This place is not good... Chu Keqing shook her head.

According to the direction surveyed by the compass, the lake occupies the shady position in this valley, which is the coldest and most gloomy. Any evil spirit will flow to this location.

Because of the existence of the lake, when the evil energy flows here, it will be locked by the water. Over time, it will accumulate and not dissipate. After a long time, some indescribable strange things will inevitably happen.

She walked by the lake for a while, looking at the traces on the ground...someone had been here.

When they reached the edge of the woods, Chu Keqing's eyes lit up.

A small tree at the edge of the woods had broken, as if it had been torn apart by some force, and the trunk was shattered into pieces. She took two steps inside and saw another tree fall down, as if it had been directly broken by some force.

She stared at the trees, then reached out and gently pinched the broken trunk.

Vitality spread throughout her body, and she immediately felt the vitality surge through her fingertips, gently washing away the faint trace of evil spirit that had stained them.

It was like fire meeting fuel. The sudden change made Chu Keqing immediately have some guesses in her mind.

At this time, the phone rang. She took it out from her pocket. It was her assistant calling. After Chu Keqing answered the call, she said lightly: "I'm at the wild lake in the valley. Come find me."

After saying that, she put down the phone, walked in the woods for a while, then walked out of the woods and continued searching around the lake.

The assistant arrived quickly, but this time he drove over, entered the small road from the direction of the forest road, and finally circled to the edge of this wild lake.

Seeing Chu Keqing standing by the lake from a distance, the assistant quickly got out of the car and walked over, but she was not alone. A middle-aged man wearing a black leather jacket got out of the car.

Chu Keqing saw the middle-aged man and smiled politely. She walked over and said with a faint smile, "Director Wu, what alarmed you?"

"Ms. Chu, you're welcome!" Director Wu shook hands with Chu Keqing, then said with a smile, "I happened to be nearby when your assistant called. When I heard you were here, I just followed your assistant here."

Director Wu is the official person in charge of the nearby scenic area management and is acquainted with Chu Keqing.

Because this scenic area also contains several temples and Taoist temples, it's home to quite a few practitioners of the esoteric sect. During festivals and holidays, they hold rituals to attract tourists, often leading to interactions with leading figures in the esoteric arts world like Chu Keqing. "Director Wu, are you here to work at the scenic area so early?" Chu Keqing asked.

"Ah!" Director Wu shook his head. "I'm not working that hard. Something happened at the scenic spot in the middle of the night, and I rushed here before dawn."

The two knew each other well, and the matter was not complicated or confidential, so Director Wu treated it as a casual chat and told the story.

"Last night, police received a report from a girl who said she had been attacked in our scenic area. She had lost her phone and ran from the mountains alone. She ran out of the forest trail and onto the road, where she encountered a passing vehicle. She called for help and then called the police.

When the police arrived, they searched the mountain based on the girl's identification, but found nothing."

Chu Keqing smiled slightly when she heard this: "Really, you didn't find anything?"

Director Wu curled his lips and said, "That's strange. The girl said she encountered some kind of monster, some hairy monster with a bloody mouth and long arms and legs.

She also said that when she encountered a monster, the dog she brought with her fought with the monster to protect her and was bitten to death by the monster.

She ran out on her own, but somehow ended up fainting by the lake—here, this is the lake.”

"and then?"

"Then, the police searched the area for a long time but found nothing. They even mobilized the people on duty at our scenic area management office to go into the woods and search as well.

There are no monsters.

However, we did see some damaged trees. Our forest keeper said that they were probably hit by a wild boar or something like that.

As you know, the ecology has been improving in recent years, and the number of wild boars in this mountain area has increased. Last year, there was even news about wild boars running down the mountain and into the city.

Wild boar?

Chu Keqing thought of the broken trees she had seen in the woods. She smiled softly and asked, "And then?"

“We did find the dog the girl mentioned.

Oh, that dog was in a pretty bad state. When we found it, half of its body was left. Based on what the girl said and the on-site investigation, it must be her dog, a large one, a husky.

We guessed that the girl went into the mountains to paint and sketch, and when she returned home late she encountered a wild boar that was out foraging for food.

Her dog was killed by a wild boar and she ran away in fear.

As for the idea of a monster, it's probably just a figment of someone's imagination after being frightened."

Imagination... Chu Keqing smiled, said nothing, and slowly said: "Well, when people are frightened, their minds will indeed be confused and they will have illusions."

"Yes!" Director Wu nodded and sighed. "That girl was both unlucky and lucky. She encountered a wild boar, but she didn't suffer any serious injuries, just a little fright. She's lucky."

We're also thankful! If someone had died in the scenic area, with all the investigations and accountability going on, we wouldn't have been able to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Fortunately, nothing serious happened."

Then Director Wu asked Chu Keqing why she came here so early.

Chu Keqing casually made up an excuse and shook her head, saying, "I've been feeling restless lately and wanted to find a quiet place to meditate. I remembered that there are several temples and Taoist temples here that have places for meditation or retreat, so I came here to take a look."

Director Wu immediately smiled and said, "Ms. Chu, if you want to stay here temporarily, we would definitely welcome you! You are a well-known figure in the Taoist sect of Jinling Prefecture."

Chu Keqing smiled but said nothing - in order to travel around the world more conveniently, she did use the identity of a Taoist.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Director Wu, Chu Keqing declined Director Wu's invitation to visit the management office. She asked her assistant to drive Director Wu back, while she herself stayed by the lake and continued strolling.

She became more and more certain of one thing:
What kind of wild boar is that?

Gray hair, a bloody mouth full of fangs, long arms and legs, and a human-like shape.

Shankui!

Chu Keqing frowned... Logically speaking, Shankui were rare, and even if they existed, they would usually avoid people...

"That's the problem with this lake. Has the evil spirit been infecting it for too long?"

Thinking of this wild lake, over the years, several daring people have drowned in it almost every year.

This wild lake has existed for who knows how many years. In recent decades, the authorities have repeatedly called on, publicized, and issued warnings. There are even signs at the lakeside and at the foot of the mountain warning visitors not to swim in the lake...

But in this world, there are always those who are daring enough to seek excitement.

As the saying goes, good words cannot persuade a damned ghost.

Over the years, countless ghosts have died here...so the evil spirit left behind is getting stronger and stronger?

Thinking in her heart, Chu Keqing walked to the edge of a forest, and suddenly she cried out "Huh".

The dead branches and leaves on the ground were obviously trampled.

But there was only one trace on the ground, and it disappeared there.

She didn't know that this was the exact location where the monster that had chased Chen Yan was chopped into more than a dozen pieces by Gu Qingyi and then turned into black gas.

Chu Keqing squatted down and stretched out her hand to feel around on the ground for a while, when suddenly her heart was shocked! !

Her fingers slowly picked up a scrap of paper about half the size of her thumb from a dead leaf! !
After taking a closer look...it was talisman paper!!
Moreover, after it burned and released the talisman power, there was still a corner left that was not completely burned!
Chu Keqing shuddered.

Not only did she recognize that it was talisman paper, she even recognized its origin!

Before, Luo Qing was retaliated by Senior Chen Yan, and the talisman Chen Yan used was made of talisman paper of this kind!
The material is ordinary and can only be considered a common item in the world of metaphysics - Chu Keqing once visited a shop that sells this kind of talisman paper.

"Is it Senior Chen Yan? Who killed Shan Kui here?"

Chu Keqing's eyes lit up!
Of course, logically speaking, although the talisman paper is the same, there are many people buying it, so it may not be Chen Yan who made it.

but……

She absolutely did not believe that in Jinling City, besides Chen Yan, there was another master of Taoism who used this kind of talisman paper.

The probability of that happening is really too small.

A master who knows the art of talismans is not a cabbage.

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【Let’s get some tickets~】

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(End of this chapter)