Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Xu San and Xu Si exchanged a glance.

Originally, the two of them were somewhat resentful after hearing Cheng Mo's words.

But after Wang Zhenqiu said that, the two of them lost their minds.

The two men stood to the sides in perfect unison, exposing Wang Zhenqiu.

Cheng Mo cracked his knuckles with both hands, looking at Wang Zhenqiu with a friendly expression: "You rascal, long time no see. Shall we have some intimate interaction?"

Wang Zhenqiu took three steps back, crossing his hands in front of him: "Next time, next time for sure."

Xia He finally couldn't help but speak up: "Golden Retriever, what happened to you? You seem distracted."

Wang Zhenqiu lowered his hand and sighed, "Alas."

The sigh was drawn out, and combined with his melancholy eyes, it did seem to make sense.

Xia Liuqing walked over quickly, slapped him on the back, and turned to Xia He, saying, "Look at him, he looks like a woman, and sometimes he's just like a woman, getting his period every few months."

Xia He: "???"

Xu San cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on track: "You two have come from afar. Although you are entrusted by Master Xia, as the hosts, we cannot be impolite and must give you a welcome feast."

Xu Si lit a cigarette and offered one to the two of them, then continued, "It's still early, so I'll show you around Heng'an City first. It's an ancient city with thousands of years of history, and there are many historical sites here. Later, we can try some of Heng'an's local delicacies."

Cheng Mo waved his hand: "I don't smoke, thank you. Let's get down to business. I'm quite curious what has stumped Grandpa Xia."

He looked at Xia Liuqing: "After all, although the old man is so old and his strength has declined significantly, he still has a lot of experience."

Xia Liuqing blew his beard and glared: "Hey, you brat, are you trying to insult your master Xia indirectly?"

Xia He chimed in, "Could you please show us the problem and explain the situation? If it can be resolved quickly, that would be ideal. If it's complicated, at least let us be mentally prepared and discuss it further, how about that?"

Xu Si glanced at Xia He with some surprise, and nodded to himself—these two are indeed discerning people.

After all, they were only invited by Xia Liuqing, and the company did not send an invitation immediately. Now that the two brothers were standing here, it was only natural for the other party to take advantage of the situation.

However, these two didn't do that; instead, they immediately got to work. That's what you call being considerate.

Xu Si took the cigarette out of his mouth: "Then I also have something to tell you two first."

Cheng Mo: "You go ahead."

Xu Si abandoned his usual roguish demeanor and became more serious: "The matter I've asked you two to handle is a confidential project of the company. Therefore, I'll need you to sign a confidentiality agreement, which Master Xia has already signed."

Cheng Mo looked at Xia Liuqing.

Xia Liuqing nodded with a gloomy expression.

Cheng Mo looked at Xia He again, and Xia He shrugged: "It's okay."

Cheng Mo nodded to Xu Si: "Alright, shall we sign the documents first?"

Xu Si waved his hand: "There's no need to be in such a hurry. Let's go into the company first."

Several people followed Xu Si inside.

After entering the company gate, walking through the corridor, and going up to the third floor, Xu Si led the group to a large conference room.

The meeting room was empty. On the long table were a computer, a projector, and a stack of documents.

Xu Si took out two documents from the stack and pushed them in front of Cheng Mo and Xia He: "Take a look, you two. This is a confidentiality agreement. There's nothing wrong with it. Just sign it."

Cheng Mo took the document and looked it over carefully—it was almost identical to the one Liao Zhong had them sign last time, except for the specific confidential items.

Xia He finished reading and nodded to Cheng Mo.

After confirming that everything was correct, the two signed their names and affixed their thumbprints.

Xu Si put away the documents, walked to the computer, and turned on the projector.

The projection screen lit up.

Xu Siqing cleared his throat: "This matter originated from a task assigned to our North China branch by the company leaders—to research divine weaponry."

The projector showed footage of Nuo opera and traditional opera from various regions. Nuo masters wearing masks danced in front of a bonfire, their masks both ferocious and solemn; Peking Opera actors appeared on stage, their large banners fluttering behind them.

Xu Si continued, "Simply put, it's armor powered by the power of faith."

Xu Si pressed the remote control, and the screen switched to the meeting room. The employees of Na Du Tong and several people from the entertainment industry were sitting together. Tea sets and documents were laid out on the table, as if they were having some kind of seminar.

"We initially borrowed the methods of the court entertainers, and then supplemented them with weapon-forging techniques, disassembling a set of armor into six parts and forging them in batches."

Cheng Mo looked at those images, but his heart remained unmoved.

He knew about these things before.

Before attaining Qi, he had studied almost all the methods of cultivation.

Later, he traveled down the mountain and discussed the methods of performing arts with Xia Liuqing, and also talked with Wang Zhenqiu about the divine mask.

and so--

Cheng Mo interrupted Xu Si: "I understand all of that, Lao Si, just tell me what exactly went wrong? Did the researchers have their souls invaded after donning the divine armor? Or is it something else?"

Xu Si smiled and said, "That explains why Master Xia invited you, Master Cheng, to come. You saw the problem at a glance."

Xu Si smiled and said, "That explains why Master Xia invited you, Master Cheng, to come. You saw the problem at a glance."

Cheng Mo looked at Xia Liuqing: "This is the introductory stage of performing arts, right? You should be able to easily detach that part of your faith."

Xia Liuqing shrugged: "You'll find out as you watch."

Xu Si pressed a button on the remote control.

The scene shifts to a laboratory where several staff members in white coats are busy at work. On the table is a set of armor—breastplate, shoulder armor, arm armor, wrist guards, skirt armor, and leg armor, arranged separately in six parts, each piece covered with intricate patterns.

A man in his thirties walked into the frame and, with the help of staff, put on the armor piece by piece.

Helmet, breastplate, arm guards...

The moment the last piece of leg armor was fastened—

The screen suddenly went completely white.

The entire screen was white, and I couldn't see anything.

Cheng Mo waited a moment: "That's it?"

Xu Si shook his head and pressed the fast forward button.

The timecode on the screen jumped rapidly—one hour, one hour and ten minutes, one hour and twenty minutes.

Two hours later, the picture returned to normal.

There was only one person left in the laboratory—the man in the armor.

He stood motionless, the patterns on his armor faintly glowing. The researchers, the instruments on the table, the folders, the water glasses—all were gone. The laboratory was empty, not even a chair remained.

Cheng Mo sensed something was wrong: "Shouldn't someone be monitoring the surveillance in the lab in real time? Why hasn't anyone come yet?"

Xu Si pressed pause.

Xu San pushed up his glasses, his expression somewhat unnatural: "I was in the monitoring room at the time."

"The surveillance footage was all normal. After the divine armor was put on, there was footage of other people interacting with it, and the instruments were all functioning normally. Eventually, the divine armor was removed, and everyone left one by one. It was at this moment that we discovered the problem."

Xu Si's lips twitched slightly: "The surveillance footage shows everyone coming out. But the lab door is still closed."

He pressed play.

In the scene, Xu Si leads several people into the laboratory.

The moment the door was pushed open, everyone was stunned.

Xu Si waved his hand and led several employees to rush forward.

The man simply raised his hand lightly, like fanning himself.

They were all pushed away by a ripple, crashed into the wall, slid down, and couldn't get up for a long time.

The people behind continued to rush.

The man moved his other hand.

A gust of wind swept in from the depths of the laboratory, gentle and unhurried, like a spring breeze. But when that wind blew on a person, they were swayed to the side, their feet barely touching the ground, as if they had been picked up and thrown out.

The remaining employees still wanted to rush up.

The man glanced at them, and everyone froze in place.

The man looked away, and the pebbles fell to the ground with a clatter.

The whole process took less than a minute.

……

The image freezes.

Xu Si's voice came from the side: "After the battle, only the people wearing the divine armor were still standing, while a bunch of us were all lying on the ground. Fortunately, no one died."

Cheng Mo looked at the groaning employees of NaDuTong on the screen, then turned to look at Xu Si with a strange expression.

Xu Si leaned back in his chair, a cigarette dangling from his lips, unconcerned: "There's nothing to say about being less skilled. Besides, do you even know who that guy is? Losing to him feels like an honor to me."

Cheng Mo asked in confusion, "There are such powerful superhumans in the company? Over thirty years old..."

It seems there isn't a corresponding person; a tiger doesn't look like that.

Xu Si's lips twitched: "I'm not talking about the person wearing the armor, but the godhood corresponding to that armor."