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

Shen Xingzhuo covered his face with his sleeve, tilted his head slightly, and the thick, dark medicine in the bowl turned into a thin stream, silently disappearing into the sleeve of the hand holding the bowl.

She never imagined that the Taoist arts she had painstakingly practiced back then could be used in something like this.

Granny Yang took the empty bowl from Shen Xingzhuo, her cloudy eyes slowly turning to make sure it was truly empty before a faint smile appeared on her face.

Her voice was thin and weak: "Now that you have taken the medicine, please concentrate on copying the scriptures."

Granny Yang lowered her eyes and nodded, but her actions did not reflect the submissiveness she displayed.

She pressed him heavily against the table and handed him a Hetian jade pen.

"The master instructed you to copy ten copies of the Heart Sutra within three days. In order not to delay the time, please start writing now."

Shen Xingzhu raised an eyebrow and casually flipped through the original text of the sutra, confirming that it was indeed the Heart Sutra.

What does this mean?

Using a special pen to suppress evil spirits, copy scriptures for worshipping Bodhisattvas, and then make offerings to an evil statue?

She didn't rush to reply to Granny Yang, but instead looked at Runyu, who was quietly standing to the side.

"Take the children to the side hall to settle them in first," she said, seemingly still worried, and added, "Be careful not to bump or knock them over."

Runyu bowed her head in agreement, holding Pei Xi in one arm and carrying the basket containing eight meatballs in the other, and left silently.

Pei Xi seemed very reluctant to leave her mother's side. Her little mouth opened slightly under the membrane, but she stopped making a sound under Shen Xingzhuo's gentle gaze.

Seeing that she ignored her for a long time, Granny Yang became impatient and handed her the pen again, lowering her voice and saying in a threatening tone:

"Young lady, you are now in the ancestral hall, beneath the statue of the deity. Please behave properly! Do not offend the gods!"

Shen Xingzhuo then glanced casually at the jade statue behind him.

"Then let's see... whether you can bear the righteous spirit of the orthodox Taoist scriptures I've written."

A broken incense stick landed on the paper with a "thud," causing a spark.

Granny Yang's face changed drastically, and she kept muttering, "The incense for the dead! A huge taboo, a huge taboo!"

She hurriedly picked up the broken incense stick and put it back into the incense burner.

Taking advantage of this moment, Shen Xingzhuo pulled out a piece of yellow paper from his Qiankun bag and quickly folded it into a gold ingot.

The spiritual energy was quietly infused, and the golden light of the ingot was contained, yet it looked even more substantial.

Shen Xingzhuo stood up, and the white brocade on her Miaochang crown floated in the air with her movement.

She hung the copper longevity lock that Runyu had prepared earlier around Granny Yang's neck and said gently, "Granny, calm your nerves."

Then he stuffed the gold ingot into Granny Yang's hand.

"Please, Granny, help me cover this up."

Granny Yang kept her lips tightly closed, but her eyes rippled when she saw the gold ingot.

Shen Xingzhu smiled slightly, quietly gazing at her, and said, "I'm young and impetuous, and this is my first time copying scriptures in such an important place as the ancestral hall. I'm really nervous..."

"Granny, you are an old and experienced person in this household. Please give me some guidance. Tell me if there are any taboos to be aware of when copying scriptures?"

With a glint in her eyes, Granny Yang tucked the gold ingot into her sleeve, squatted down, and pretended to tidy up the papers that had been burned with incense.

"Since Miss has asked, this old servant shall say a few words..."

"Copying scriptures requires utmost piety, and one must fast and burn incense. During fasting, one must not eat rice or drink dew. Only well water at midnight can moisten the throat and tongue."

Shen Xingzhuo nodded slightly.

Granny Yang continued, "When copying scriptures, no matter what sound you hear behind you—the wind, footsteps, or anything else..."

"Do not answer!!!"

Granny Yang seemed to have remembered the incense used to sever the head, panting heavily with fear in her eyes.

"And most importantly, the ash in the incense burner must be replenished daily. But the bottom layer of old ash must not be disturbed! That's the root!"

"It's moving! This could be a disaster!"

Granny Yang suddenly stood up, stiffly bowed, and said:

"If there is nothing else, this old servant will take his leave."

After saying that, without waiting for Shen Xingzhuo's response, he turned and walked outside.

What's wrong with this old woman? She looks like she's being chased by a dog.

[Sister Shen: ???]

[Sister Shen's acting gets better and better each time, haha. If I hadn't brushed up on my knowledge about Taoist priests, I almost would have been fooled.]

But...aren't there too few rules for this ancestral hall? Only three?

[I don't think so. The previous rules only stated that the old woman would tell the truth when wearing the copper lock, but they didn't say that she would tell the whole truth.]

Yes, there must be more to say!

The flame of the eternal lamp flickered gently, casting swaying shadows of dragon and phoenix pillars on the wall.

Shen Xingzhu watched Yang Mama leave, then sat back down at the table and took off his hat.

This is the Miaochang Crown that Runyu specially brought for her, under the pretext that "the morning dew is heavy and I'm afraid my wet hair will harm my health."

She had noticed this when she tore open the brocade quilt earlier; the Pei family was a family of brocade artisans, and all cloth-related items were made of white brocade.

Therefore, the ornament hanging on Miaochang's crown must also be white brocade.

The white brocade hung down, just enough to drape over her body.

Rule Thirteen —

When you are dressed in white brocade, you can bribe Granny Yang with a child's longevity lock. She will tell the truth when she wears a copper lock, and lie when she wears a silver lock... Never let her wear a gold lock!

It is a yang rule, and it is correct.

She managed to extract three rules, which proved worthwhile in getting the incense offering to be severed.

Shen Xingzhuo slowly exhaled and picked up his brush to dip it in ink.

"When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajnaparamita..."

Her calligraphy is so powerful and elegant that just looking at it evokes a sense of grandeur and wonder about life.

The surrounding air seemed to freeze for a moment.

The ink in the inkstone was slightly "boiling," but it was immediately suppressed by the spiritual power that Shen Xingzhuo had concentrated at the tip of his brush.

She gently curved her lips into a smile, writing as she calmed her thoughts and sorted out the current chaos.

She has already firmly stepped into the trap of Yin and Yang rules.

Rule 15: Why is the child crying again?

This complaint, embedded in the rules, reveals an underlying logic—a child's crying is normal; it's abnormal if they don't cry.

Therefore, the rules established under this premise are even more worthy of in-depth study.

Rule Two: Children are blessed by Guanyin, so never respond when a child cries.

Rule 5: You must breastfeed your children yourself, and feed them immediately whenever they cry.

Shen Xingzhuo tapped the table lightly with the pen, recalling Pei Xi's loud crying under her father's oppressive presence.

The baby cried, but rules two and five cannot be fulfilled simultaneously, so she neither immediately fed the baby nor refused to respond.

Instead, she made the ambiguous gesture of wiping away his tears after his crying subsided.

Then... a butterfly mark appeared on the back of her hand, and a crow cawed.

Shen Xingzhuo paused, and a drop of ink rippled in the inkwell.

An even more astonishing idea popped into my head.

She slowly raised her hand, her fingertips tracing the side of her neck.

That spot was where Pei Xi had bitten open and sucked her blood...

Pei Xi had drunk her pure Yang blood.

So, will he be affected by this and no longer be a pure weirdo?

"variable……"

She murmured softly, in the seemingly inescapable predicament of the supernatural tale, her Dao blood created a variable...

Shen Xingzhuo's thoughts were churning, and just as she was about to try to untangle this mess—

"ah--!"

A short, terrified scream suddenly rang out from the side hall, violently shattering the deathly silence of the ancestral hall!