Rules of the Strange: I Became a God in a Bizarre World Through Taoist Arts

"It has repeatedly deducted my personal rewards and restricted my magic with useless items. In the end, it wants to force me to give up the Dao and follow its rules."

Shen Xingzhuo lightly tapped the table with his fingertips, but when he looked up, his gaze was clear and sharp.

"My lineage has a teaching: 'Do not sacrifice your principles for the Way, nor use human connections to assist Heaven.'"

"The Tao follows the natural order. If I use this potion today to force growth, my resolve to follow the Tao will surely be destroyed someday!"

Her expression was serious. "This is the true purpose of ghost stories."

"It is guiding me... no, it is guiding all of us to become its prey."

Upon hearing this, Guan Shanyue and the others fell silent in shock.

It wasn't until my clothes were soaked with cold sweat that I came to my senses.

Yes, they all seem to have gotten used to the existence of ghost stories, used to struggling to survive under its rules, but have forgotten that under these unreasonable rules, there is still the possibility of resistance.

You could hear a pin drop in the command center.

Shen Xingzhu waved her hand in front of Guan Shanyue, her face beaming with a smile as warm as spring.

"Don't worry, my physical skills are just as good as mine, even without physical enhancement drugs."

"Okay!" Guan Shanyue breathed a sigh of relief and placed her hand on Shen Xingzhuo's shoulder.

"You've been staying up all night exploring the ghost stories, get some rest first." Her gaze swept around the room. "I'll have Qianling stay with you. If you need anything, you can always reach for her!"

After saying that, he looked at Lu Qianling again.

"You'll be in full charge of Xingzhuo during these few days of rest. I'll save some enhancement potions for you. Once Xingzhuo enters the strange tales again, you can go into seclusion."

Lu Qianling gave a standard military salute and responded loudly.

Shen Xingzhuo also replied with a reassuring emoji.

Guan Shanyue said no more, turned around and quickly left to deal with her myriad thoughts.

Personnel selection, drug distribution, rescue measures in dangerous occupied areas, and those difficult old fogies in the International Alliance...

The door closed.

Lu Qianling walked to Shen Xingzhuo's side and looked at her with a reserved yet expectant expression.

"Xingzhuo, shall I take you to the rest area first? Captain Guan has arranged a room with a view for you; you can see the most beautiful Milky Way from there, it's gorgeous!"

"Or...would you like to eat something first?"

Her eyes crinkled when she smiled, and there was a hint of envy in her voice.

"Our cafeteria chefs have recently invented some incredibly delicious ancient Blue Planet cuisine. You guys ate so well back in the day..."

Looking at her longing expression and bright eyes, Shen Xingzhuo suddenly felt at home in this unfamiliar place.

……

Ten days pass in the blink of an eye.

Shen Xingzhuo wasn't completely idle during these ten days. He first took a good rest, and then asked Lu Qianling for the forging materials.

Lu Qianling gave her the strongest metal of the interstellar era.

After seven days of work, Shen Xingzhuo finally made a handy knife.

She specially embedded a mechanism in the hilt of the knife. When pressed, it can fire a short arrow with a range of about three meters. This idea came to her after seeing the sniper rifle.

The things that appear in ghost stories are never unfounded.

Having a ranged weapon on hand in advance seems quite necessary.

She also changed into the combat suit prepared by Lu Qianling.

The technology of the interstellar era is truly impressive. This combat suit is not only impervious to water and fire, but also equipped with a four-dimensional spatial pocket, comparable to her hidden universe.

However, just to be on the safe side, she kept her Qiankun bag to prevent the ghost story from changing her clothes and losing all her equipment.

When Lu Qianling saw the hidden world in her sleeve, she asked about the talisman paper she used in the ghost stories.

Shen Xingzhuo immediately picked up a brush and drew ten talismans to ward off evil.

After testing, it was found that although the power of the talisman in the hands of others was not as great as when she used it herself, it was still enough to save the lives of special forces soldiers in critical moments.

In addition, Shen Xingzhuo and Lu Qianling also devised a set of body language codes.

To prevent a recurrence of a crisis like "physical stiffness," where people are unable to accurately assess the situation and needlessly undermine public morale.

After everything was ready, Shen Xingzhuo went to say goodbye to Guan Shanyue and the others.

As the white light enveloped her once more, the sky opened.

……

Wow, Sister Shen looks so cool in her combat suit!

[Who understands? I felt incredibly safe and secure these past ten days. I even felt like I was living in the ghost story invasion zone!]

[Me too! My house is in an area that was randomly purified, and I haven't heard any ghostly cries at night! My sleep quality has improved dramatically!]

[I also heard from friends in the occupied areas that after receiving the talismans drawn by Sister Shen, the special forces soldiers were as if divinely aided! The local mortality rate in the occupied areas dropped by 30%!]

The comments section was filled with people's admiration for Shen Xingzhuo.

Meanwhile, Shen Xingzhuo himself was being pulled into the central hall of a house by the white light.

She surveyed the layout of the room; it was an octagonal room with doors on each wall of varying heights and widths.

There is a table in the very center with eight pieces of pastry on it.

Alice in Wonderland?

She moved closer, the pastries emitting a sweet aroma, but there was no text prompting her to "eat me".

The sound of ghost stories then rang out.

Welcome, Chosen One, to the entrance to the second strange tale of rules.

There are eight delicious pastries in front of you. Please choose one and eat it.

Shen Xingzhuo had no doubts and immediately figured out that this must be the condition for entering the ghost story.

She chose her lucky purple color and put the pastry in her mouth.

The pastry melted in her mouth, and her body and clothes shrank to one-third of her original height, about 56 centimeters tall.

She waited for a while, but the ghost story didn't offer any new clues.

So, following the sequence of Alice in Wonderland, they chose a door that was the right height for her.

She opened the door and peeked out, but all she saw was darkness.

Just as she was considering whether to open the shop again to see if there were any new items, a strong force came from behind and she was kicked into the door.

Shen Xingzhuo: ...speechless.

But she quickly adjusted her posture in the air to avoid landing dead.

"Splat!"

It has a soft and bouncy feel.

Shen Xingzhuo landed smoothly, as if she had been bounced back on a trampoline.

However, just as she was about to stand up!

Where are her hands?

Where are her feet?

Her legs are so long!

"Hmph—"

What she let out was a crisp... pig squeal.

[Holy crap!!! What did I just see?!]

[Sister Shen has turned into a pig!!! ???]

Shen Xingzhuo in the ghost story was just as bewildered.

"snort."

"What kind of start is this?"

She was genuinely a little confused.

She even suspected that the ghost stories were targeting her!

They deliberately turned her into a pink and white piglet so that she wouldn't have fingers and wouldn't be able to use Taoist magic and talismans.

She really wanted to swear, but what came out was the squealing of a pig.

Shen Xingzhuo plopped down in the mud, feeling a bit exhausted.

However, a sudden itchy sensation came from my skin.

A dense rash quickly covered her pinkish-white pigskin, making her look quite gruesome.

Shen Xingzhu's eyes sharpened, and he quickly jumped into the nearby water trough to wash off the mud.

The rash gradually subsided.

And then, the eerie sounds of ghost stories began to drift in...