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

"Sizzle—"

Shen Xingzhuo chuckled.

"Yeah?"

She asked casually, her playful gaze falling on the imposter shop owner before her, then turning sharp and menacing.

"But wasn't it you who's always been following me?"

The imposter shop owner was startled and quickly took a few steps back.

The greed and smugness in those triangular eyes froze instantly, replaced by a panicked feeling that their scheme had been exposed.

"H-how could it be me!" His voice was hoarse, and his tone was three points higher than usual. "If it were me, why would I tell you!"

Shen Xingzhuo looked at him, her voice indifferent.

"When people lie, they unconsciously raise their voices to avoid appearing guilty."

"And—" she sniffed lightly, "you smell too strongly of mutton. Even if you cook vinegar and a corpse to cover it up, it will be difficult to completely eliminate the smell."

"Besides, you've been following me since the sleepless night. Back then, you didn't intend to meet me, so you didn't try to hide your presence."

She held up a finger and shook it, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

"The smell was so strong it almost made me sneeze. Overall..."

Shen Xingzhuo winked at her and said mischievously, "Little sister, you still need to practice."

She took a step closer.

"But I really want to thank you for telling me so much important information."

She was so sincere it seemed like she was provoking the other person.

Sure enough, the fake shop owner's face darkened instantly upon hearing this.

The creaking sound from the gap in the ceiling gradually grew louder.

A few clumps of dust fell precisely into the iron pot through the crack, causing the liquid inside to boil instantly and splash onto the ground.

Several holes were instantly corroded into the ground.

A cold wind rushed out from the cracks in the ground, and the room temperature plummeted to freezing.

Outside the window, the dark red thorns spread wildly, like a swarm of snakes that had caught the scent of blood.

Shen Xingzhu shook his head.

This child has quite a temper...

As she thought about it, she had already taken out the knife she had forged herself.

He held the long blade and the short blade in his hands, and his eyes turned dangerous.

Shen Xingzhuo leaped up like a cheetah, his twin blades flashing coldly in the air, slicing through thorns one after another.

Blood kept gushing from the broken ends of the thorns.

The blood didn't fall to the ground; instead, it stretched out in the air, turning into chains that lashed out at her with menacing force!

"Kill him! Kill him! Then take his place!"

That inexplicable voice echoed in Shen Xingzhuo's mind once again.

A dark glint flashed in her eyes. 'It seems I've truly angered her.'

Thinking of this, Shen Xingzhuo immediately closed his eyes.

When the mind is focused and the five senses gradually diminish, the mind's eye is opened.

The world before her eyes lost its shape, transforming into countless flowing "qi".

Even though the imposter shopkeeper was enraged and his soul was in turmoil, he only had a few faint wisps of energy left, barely enough to outline a human form.

Shen Xingzhu instantly understood the true meaning of "hollow man"—

A hollow person is not without a soul, but rather their soul is insufficient to fill the vessel that is their body.

They can force their bodies to function, but once the body dies, the remaining soul will be unable to stay due to exhaustion.

Such a weak soul cannot control so many thorns.

Shen Xingzhuo's eyes were sharp. He put away his short blade with his right hand, and with his fingers forming a sword, he drew an extremely perfect talisman.

"Heaven and earth are a prison, yin and yang are a lock; wherever the Qi flows, all souls are bound! So be it!"

A few strands of gold burst from her fingertips and disappeared into the swirling thorns.

In the blink of an eye, the thorns were bound together with golden thread and turned into firewood.

The fake shop owner, drenched in cold sweat, collapsed to the ground.

Shen Xingzhu stepped onto the pile of thorns and said in a low voice, "Are you going to come out on your own, or do I have to drag you out?"

The air in the kitchen was silent for a few seconds.

Shen Xingzhu snorted coldly, his right hand forming a claw as he reached for the thorns.

She pulled the slender figure out of the thorns, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it on the ground.

Floating.

The name immediately popped into Shen Xingzhuo's mind.

Almost the instant it froze, strange changes began to occur in the kitchen.

The embers from the fireplace rose and mingled with the grease that had accumulated in the air over the years, turning into a charcoal pencil.

The tattered pieces of paper that were originally on the stove have now been pieced together into a small sheet of paper.

The charcoal pencil writes on the paper on its own.

While waiting, Shen Xingzhu tore the curtain into long strips and tied up the counterfeit goods.

After doing all that, she turned her head and quickly glanced at the contents of the note.

That's the layout of the Thorn Inn.

Below the drawing was a line of information that excited her.

【Thorn Inn Rules - Part Three】

[1: Love can awaken the princess. Remember, only love can.]

[2: Be careful with children; don't believe fairy tales.]

[3: Piao Piao can see souls and determine their affiliation, but please don't challenge him with difficult questions.]

[4: To leave the hotel, a settlement must be reached. To stay, there must be a compelling reason to remain.]

[5: The world outside the hotel is not important; what matters is the people you can see and touch right now.]

[6: You can become a new person, but you have to live with the characteristics of other people.]

[7: Death does not mean disappearance; death is an expression of love.]

It turns out that the idea of ​​not believing in fairy tales has two meanings:

One meaning is that fairy tales are false, while the other meaning is that you shouldn't believe what children say.

The second rule now completes the tenth rule of the previous guest guidelines.

When the last piece of the puzzle is in place, it means that all the explicit rules of this ghost story have been unlocked.

At that moment, the ghost story began again.

[The mystery "The Thorn Hotel's Sleepless Night" is 40% complete! Given that this mystery is rated S difficulty, an extra reward is being awarded for this progress.]

[Congratulations, Chosen One, you have gained the ability to view mission progress.]

[Congratulations to Tianxia Kingdom! 3 invading strange tales have been randomly eliminated! 20 tons of uncontaminated grain have been obtained!]

The people of Tianxia were very excited.

But what Shen Xingzhuo cared about was the visualization of the task progress.

With a slight thought, a semi-transparent progress bar appeared before her eyes:

Hidden Quest: The Vanishing Rule - 30%

[Hidden Mission: Kill the Hollow Man] — 0%

[Main Story Exploration] - 40%

Sure enough, the illusion rules discovered earlier accounted for a very small percentage of the hidden quests; the remaining 60% had to be discovered from the people in the inn.

Shen Xingzhuo's gaze fell on the soul that she had crumpled into a ball.

It can now be confirmed that it is Piaopiao.

Rule 3 mentions Piao Piao's ability to see souls and determine their affiliation.

The ghost before us carries the aura of the underworld. Only ghosts who have been to the underworld can have the ability to determine the affiliation of a soul.

but……

The rules mentioned that she could trust someone, and specifically stated that Piaopiao was someone who could be trusted.

Recommendations for ghost stories...

She remained skeptical!

So how can we prove that Piaopiao will definitely tell her the truth?

Shen Xingzhuo thought for a moment and took out the reward item from the previous ghost story—a substitute puppet.

"By the Supreme Decree, may your lonely soul be liberated. May you attain enlightenment and ascend to the heavens. So be it!"

She recited the soothing incantation and placed Piaopiao into the substitute puppet.

The puppet is her binding prop, and she shares a spiritual imprint with it.

In this way, she could not only order Piaopiao around, but also understand its inner thoughts.

She would immediately detect if it lied.

Shen Xingzhuo looked at the imposter shop owner on the ground; there was one last thing he needed to confirm.

Her gaze then fell upon Piaopiao, and she asked softly, "Tell me, who is she?"

Piao Piao struggled violently inside the puppet, and only after Shen Xingzhuo hit her head hard did she mechanically utter a few words.

"She is, Liya."