Chapter 349: Chapter 348 Task Three, Register a Little Demon

“Daddy is awesome!”

“Daddy is awesome!”

Just like the scenarios in films and TV series, the little girl’s father dies in the mouth of the fish monster. The lake water turns red with blood instantly, attracting the other adults’ attention.

The fish monster only reveals a small part of its body, and the humans on the shore show expressions of fear after a glance at it.

“There’s a monster!”

With a loud roar, everyone scatters, running towards higher grounds.

At this moment, someone recalls something and yells out quickly, “Didn’t a Taoist priest just come to our village to rest? Let’s have him check it out!”

Everyone reacts simultaneously, led by the village elder, they set off to find the person.

Soon, the Taoist priest comes with a bunch of tools to exorcise the monster.

He performs an exorcism ceremony and dances, creating a lively scene.

Through the water mirror, Du Gang couldn’t sense the cultivation level of these people, but he could tell from the Taoist’s mumbled mantras that this man was a charlatan, his tricks surpassing his magic skills.

With a loud yell from the Taoist priest, a large, flat fish slowly rises to the surface.

“Heave ho!”

“Heave ho!”

The villagers lift the large fish with great effort.

Meanwhile, the village elder brings the money collected from every household to the Taoist priest.

“Master, thank you!”

After politeness, the Taoist priest takes the silver, and seriously says, “Everyone, the monster has already been caught, whatever you do with it is up to you!”

As soon as the words fall, the angry crowd becomes excited.

“Kill it!”

“Isn’t it already dead…”

“Then kill it again!”

“I want revenge…”

Just as the crowd is getting worked up, a sudden voice rings out.

“You’re all wrong. He’s not the culprit!”

As soon as the words fall, everyone turns to look at the source of the sound.

A disheveled man steps forward and leans towards the large fish. He regrets, “It’s just an ancient fish, docile by nature, optimistic in character and quite a decent character, a pity it grew a little too large…”

“Who are you?”

The villagers are unhappy with what he says and glare at him angrily.

The disheveled man smiles and says, “I am Chen Xuanzang, the undutiful disciple of the Great Vehicle Buddhism, an exorcist.”

“We know about the ancient fish, but we’ve never seen such a big one!”

The village chief shakes his head, “The priest said that it was possessed by a monster…”

Chen Xuanzang quickly brings out a scroll in his hand, points to a page and says, “Chief, see, it’s really not the monster you’re looking for…”

Seeing someone interfering with his business, the yellow-robed Taoist priest starts to get angry. However, instead of arguing, he has a new idea.

With a scream, he jumps out, distress spreads across his face. “A good father was brutally murdered by the monster. The innocent victim’s family is devastated, how could you say such things…”

Upon hearing this, the already grieving crowd is ignited.

In the frenzy, they hang up Chen Xuanzang under the Taoist’s instigation.

Watching this scene, Du Gang takes a deep breath. At least, everything went as he expected, following the script.

When should he make a move?

He slightly ponders for a moment but doesn’t hastily reveal himself. He continues to wait.

He suspects that the fat monk from earlier laid a trap and is using Chen Xuanzang for an unknown purpose.

It’s quite possible that, similar to ‘Journey to the West’, Chen Xuanzang is made to propagate Buddhist teachings on his journey to the west.

“Everyone, don’t worry. The monster has been caught. This place is now safe…”

In the scene, even without hearing anything, Du Gang could still understand the Taoist priest’s words through lip-reading.

This is not entirely because he is good at lip-reading, but because the old film was deeply ingrained in his mind, allowing him to recall the lines even now.

“Splash!”

“Splash!”

Imagining the sounds of bodies plunging into the water, the joy after the calamity, everyone singing and dancing in the water. Some young and energetic blokes even started flirting with honest women.

“Hey, it’s dangerous. Let’s run!”

Chen Xuanzang, hanging in mid-air, spots the monster approaching in the distance and loudly warns everyone.

Unfortunately, everyone was convinced that the monster was gone. No one heeds his advice, they continue their revelry, laughing and singing.

“Look this way, look that way…”

A popular woman is singing in the water when suddenly, something enormous leaps out of the water. “Plop!” and the woman disappears.

The commotion instantly freezes. Everyone’s eyes go wide as they gaze at the vacant water surface, their eyes filled with horror and fear.

The next second… “Run!”

No one knows who shouts, but everyone suddenly awakens as if from a dream. They all turn around to swim towards the shore, like a rush of ducks, striving to be first, fearing that they will die in the monster’s mouth.

“Monster!”

“Help!”

Everyone is shouting, creating a chaotic scene like the end of the world.

At the shore, the village chief stops the Taoist priest, who is still holding the silver collected by the villagers, “Priest, what’s going on!”

The Taoist priest is also a little scared. He wants to flee but is stopped. He can only console them, “Everyone, stay calm. You will be safe once you get ashore!”

At this point, people need a bit of comfort, they trust what he says.

“Yes, everyone stay calm. We’ll be safe once we get ashore!” The village street wanderer also comforts himself.

But at this moment, a suction cup like a tentacle shoots out from the water. It “whooshes,” latches onto the street wanderer, and pulls him into the water.

The street wanderer hangs in mid-air, his eyes incredulous and unbelieving. He can only feel disappointed as he faces the Taoist priest.

Usually, I am the one deceiving people. I didn’t expect that today, I was deceived by someone. I didn’t lose my wealth, but I’m about to lose my life!

“Splash!”

A splash is heard, but no image of him resurfacing appears. This street wanderer disappears under the water surface.

“Aaah~~!”

The people on the shore are all stupefied, their souls scattered, their deities unguarded, fleeing in all directions.

After a series of chaos, Chen Xuanzang, with his ordinary body, uses his wisdom and the principle of leverage of a seesaw to successfully bring the fish monster ashore.

“Kill him!”

“Kill him!”

Once the fish monster is ashore and turned into a manlike figure, seeming less terrifying than before, the fury of all the villagers is ignited once again. They clamor to kill the fish monster.

“Make way, make way!”

At this moment, Chen Xuanzang quickly squeezed through the crowd and ran to the front.

“Everyone listen up, leave it to me, I’m a professional exorcist!”

Having previously shown his dedication to saving others, Chen Xuanzang had won the villagers’ trust. Therefore, when he spoke in such a manner, everyone quieted down.

Seeing this, Chen Xuanzang laid out a piece of rag on the ground and placed his ritual tools on it one by one.

Among them were a flute that could produce sound, a wave-drum that could cheer up children, an echo tube that could play music when rotated, and a bell that could keep rhythm with a clapperboard, all of which were musical instruments.

If a stranger were here, they would definitely think Chen Xuanzang was a musical maestro.

Of course, Chen Xuanzang did not use these ritual tools. Instead, he took out the treasure he was best at and which his master had taught him with the most dedication: a book of three hundred nursery rhymes.

After opening it to the first page, Chen Xuanzang gave a shy smile and then opened the rotating echo tube.

“Toot, toot, toot~” a catchy melody began to play.

All the villagers, including the fish-like monster, were startled, expecting Chen Xuanzang to demonstrate some sort of unprecedented magic, their eyes widening.

Soon, the prelude ended, and Chen Xuanzang began to sing.

“Child, child… why are you so naughty?”

All those present, including the fish-like monster, wore expressions of shock.

“Bullying, deceiving… why did you do it?”

After the shock came a wave of absurdity and bizarre.

But the villagers thought, he didn’t seem like a lunatic, so could this be a special method?

Out of caution, all the villagers kept still and silently watched.

However, the fish-like monster felt somewhat offended.

Death was death, and it was bound to die, but to be humiliated like this. How could it bear this?

“Be a good child… believe in love!”

“Caring is in your heart… full of color!”

According to the rules of the rivers and lakes, once it came ashore, it was doomed, no longer struggling. But the insulting sound in front of it made it feel it could still struggle.

“Goodness, come back to me soon!”

“My embrace is always open for you …”

“Naughty, if you truly regret, you will always be my beloved child…”

“Turn around, become a dutiful child!”

“The true nature of humanity is as innocent as a child!”

At this point, the fish-like monster couldn’t bear it anymore. With a ferocious face, it raised its fist and smashed it heavily toward Chen Xuanzang’s head, who was singing passionately to its face.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

Under the shocked gaze of the villagers, the fish-like monster severely beat Chen Xuanzang.

As everyone caught off guard and unsure what to do, a pair of jade-like slender hands suddenly emerged from the crowd, grabbing the fish-like monster’s hair.

“Swish!”

The fish-like monster was instantly dragged away from Chen Xuanzang. Following that, a woman with a mischievous smile at the corner of her mouth, struck the monster’s head with punches like a torrential rain.

The villagers felt a wave of exhilaration watching this onslaught.

Not only they felt good, so did Miss Duan, who never stopped punching the monster until she finally took a pouch engraved with the Bagua Map from her waist. With a sweep and a cover, the large fish-like monster vanished, leaving only a palm-sized cloth pouch.

“This demon-capturing pouch can seal demons inside. After being refined for 49 days, it can completely eliminate them…”

A hearty voice rang out.

Miss Duan looked up and saw the crowd consciously parting into a path. A man and a woman walked leisurely towards her, creating an image reminiscent of a fairy couple.

The man, with a smile at the corner of his mouth, spoke nonchalantly.

Miss Duan frowned slightly, “Are you here to steal my business too?”

Du Gang merely smiled and shook his head, “Trying to get rid of this little demon seems rather trivial for us to make a special trip. We just happened to come across the situation and have the means to kill this creature…”

Upon hearing this, Miss Duan realized that they were experts and she smiled faintly, “May I ask who you are?”

Seeing this, Du Gang quickly saluted, cheerfully saying: “We are from the Five Elements Sect Qisha, my sister-like disciple Tian Lang and I wander Jianghu, slaying demons and monsters, nice to meet you, miss!”

Miss Duan, who usually enjoyed hearing about Jianghu affairs, was thrilled by this encounter. Hastily returning the salute, she began introducing herself, “I belong to the Duan Mansion of Potian City…”

She stopped there, a bit dejected. After all, her family was just a small local force compared to these warriors from Jianghu. She was still an unmarried woman and if her father heard of her introduction, she would probably never be allowed to leave the house again…

With these thoughts in mind, she momentarily forgot to continue introducing herself.

Du Gang guessed what she was thinking and chose not to pry further, smiling, “Why doesn’t Miss Duan hand over the demon object in your hand to me to deal with?”

Miss Duan breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Du Gang not dwell on her background. She nodded, and casually tossed the doll from her hand.

Before Du Gang could act, Zhang Xinyi, who had already been on guard, thrust out a sword.

“Ssssss!!!

In an instant, the fish-like creature inside the doll was slain.

Just as Zhang Xinyi turned to Miss Duan with an air of triumph, a surprising message echoed in her ears.

[Successfully registered a demon, Task Three Progress: 1/3]

Zhang Xinyi looked at Du Gang with astonishment.

Previously, even the Demon King had been unwilling to register. Now, however, a small demon was recorded. Was Du Gang crazy?

Was it possible that this country girl had caught his attention, making him lose his composure?

There was disbelief in her heart.

On the other hand, Miss Duan knew nothing about what she was thinking. Upon seeing the fish monster killed, she couldn’t help but give a sigh of relief, then turned to smile at Du Gang, saying, “Thank you for your help…”

After all, aside from her martial skills and the inherited Indeterminate Flying Ring, she didn’t have any special means to catch demons.

Even the demon-catching bag she held was picked up in the Black Market, so it wasn’t exactly a valuable item.

At this moment, Chen Xuanzang, who had never had any interaction with exorcists, found this interesting and quickly stepped forward to greet the trio.

He quickly introduced himself, “Greetings, fellow Daoists. I am Chen Xuanzang, an as-yet untonsured disciple of the Mahayana Buddhism…”

“Mahayana Buddhism?”

Before Du Gang could ask him anything, Miss Duan was the first to express her doubts.

Residing in Potian City, she certainly knew about the famed Mahayana Buddhism, but she found it hard to believe that the man, who could not resist a little demon, was its disciple.

Chen Xuanzang was a bit embarrassed but still asserted, “Indeed… I heard from my master that we, his disciples, are from the Tathagata Monastery of the Mahayana Buddhism…

“Haha!”

Miss Duan burst into laughter, “You, from the Mahayana Buddhism? I wouldn’t even believe if you said you’re from the Theravada Buddhism!”

Du Gang, seeing this, hold his tongue and expressed no desire to ingratiate himself with Chen Xuanzang. He saluted the two of them, saying, “Fellow Daoists, my disciple-sister and I need to leave in a hurry without notifying our sect mates. I’m afraid they’ll worry. Therefore, we bid you farewell here. We’ll talk another day!”

His words easily won the favours of the two self-proclaimed half-practitioners. They quickly returned the salute and bid him farewell.

And so, the four of them went their separate ways. After Du Gang and Zhang Xinyi left…

Miss Duan, who considered herself half a Daoist, started mocking Chen Xuanzang, “So, you call yourself an exorcist?”

“Nursery rhymes for children…”