Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Cheng Mo squatted down and tapped Zhao Guizhen's head; the thud sounded somewhat hollow in the night.

Zhao Guizhen gradually woke up amidst the lingering buzzing sounds, his eyelids trembling, and a hoarse groan escaping his throat.

"It hurts..." he gasped, groaning.

He was awake, but not fully conscious. After being in pain for a long time, he belatedly thought: Why didn't I rub it with my hands?

He then found himself unable to move.

I tried to lower my head, but my chin was pressed against something cold and soft, and I couldn't lower it at all.

When I tried to look up, the back of my head bumped into the same soft obstacle.

He strained to twist his neck, his vision limited, and could only see two pairs of feet—one pair wearing pink sneakers with slender ankles; the other pair wearing old cloth shoes covered in mud with large knuckles.

Zhao Guizhen was shocked, his voice trembling: "Who...who are you? What have you done to me?!"

Xia He bent down, her face hidden in shadow, and deliberately dragged out her voice, making it sound sinister: "You... can't see your own body now, can you? Guess, is your body still attached to this remaining head?"

Zhao Guizhen felt a chill run down his spine and immediately roared, "Stop lying to me! I can feel my body! They're right down there! What kind of sorcery have you used to trap me?!"

Cheng Mo chuckled beside her and said to Xia He, "Look, he still thinks he's perfectly fine."

Xia He pouted: "This person isn't very bright."

As she spoke, she lifted her foot and stomped hard on the muddy ground next to Zhao Guizhen's head.

Zhao Guizhen immediately felt a vibration coming from the area that belonged to his torso and limbs. Then, the soft and cold, damp wrapping around him suddenly tightened, and pressure came from all directions, squeezing his chest, waist, abdomen, arms, and legs.

The suffocating feeling of being buried alive tightened instantly.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Zhao Guizhen struggled, his voice filled with panic.

"Madmen! You two are madmen! I am Zhao Guizhen, a direct disciple of the Shangqing Sect! Do you know what offending the Shangqing Sect means?! You will face endless retribution! You will be ostracized by the entire world of supernatural beings!"

He spoke faster and faster, trying to intimidate the other party with the name of his sect, but the ever-increasing pressure around him made his breathing disordered, revealing his fierce but weak nature.

Cheng Mo scoffed inwardly.

Before the Lunar New Year, my master attended a Taoist seminar in Zhongnan Mountain. After returning, he mentioned that the Shangqing Sect was in a tense atmosphere recently, and when other Taoists inquired about it, they gave vague and evasive answers.

At that time, Cheng Mo was focused on cultivation and didn't pay much attention.

When he saw Zhao Guizhen in the village earlier that day, he felt that there was a sinister air about him, unlike a righteous cultivator. When he heard the name, he recalled the events in the original story and became suspicious.

When the guy came to spy on them that night, his malice was almost undisguised, and Cheng Mo was about 70% certain.

Now that he's using the name of the Shangqing School to intimidate people, it only confirms the remaining 30% – he's not a top disciple of the Shangqing School at all, but a scoundrel who injured his fellow disciples and fled in panic!

Cheng Mo's voice suddenly turned cold: "Are we crazy? Then, what are you to those babies you killed? A demon? Zhao Guizhen!"

Xia He was a little dumbfounded. She turned to look at Cheng Mo, because this line wasn't in the script they had just discussed!

This guy is so evil?! Killing babies?!

Little Taoist priest, why didn't you say so before? If I had known earlier, I would have dug the pit even deeper and bigger!

Zhao Guizhen was struck dumb, his mind went blank, and all that remained was a frantic scream:

Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Even within the Shangqing Sect, they only speculated that he might have practiced that forbidden technique; there was absolutely no way they could be certain that he killed the infant! He kept this secret extremely well hidden, not even daring to utter it in his dreams!

How could these two upstarts, who appeared out of nowhere, possibly know?!

"There are no secrets that stay hidden forever." Cheng Mo's voice was low, but every word was clear, striking Zhao Guizhen's tense nerves.

"Those parents who are heartbroken because of you, those families that have fallen apart, are watching you from the corners you can't see, cursing you, and waiting for you to go to hell."

Bang!

Cheng Mo lifted his foot and stomped heavily on the muddy ground.

"Ugh!" Zhao Guizhen groaned, feeling the pressure around him increase dramatically, the mud cruelly squeezing his internal organs and limbs. He wished he couldn't feel his body at all.

"No, no, no! That's not how it is! I didn't kill anyone! I just... I just led them to the Pure Land! Those children were born with great intelligence, but they were trapped in their tender bodies, suffering from birth, old age, sickness, and death. I was helping them to be free!"

Zhao Guizhen, panting heavily, stammered in his defense: "It's to help them ascend to the Pure Land sooner! This is merit! It's compassion! You don't understand... Tao follows nature, Buddhism is compassionate, I'm combining the two, practicing a convenient method..."

Bang!

Xia He was furious and couldn't hold back any longer, so she kicked Zhao Guizhen's head as he poked it out.

Zhao Guizhen's head lolled to the side, his vision went black, and he fell into a semi-comatose state of concussion once again, his incessant sophistry coming to an abrupt halt.

"Pah!" Xia He spat. "People are dead, what's with the talk of 'extreme bliss'? What a load of rubbish!"

Even without knowing the specific details, just by listening to this guy's twisted logic, she knew that this person had a serious problem!

"No, no, no... that's not it, they went... they all went to the Pure Land... I'm helping them... great merit... twenty-eight..."

Zhao Guizhen's mind began to wander, his breathing became increasingly difficult, and it seemed as if all the blood rushed to his head, causing him to ramble even more incoherently.

Cheng Mo pressed on coldly, "With such great merit, you must remember very clearly how many babies you sent to the Pure Land, right?"

Zhao Guizhen was dazed, but a strange light shone in his unfocused eyes: "Of course...of course I remember...great contributions...a total of...twenty-eight...they...were all very well-behaved..."

Before he could finish speaking...

Cheng Mo stomped down, burying his still-muttering head directly into the mud.

"Glug..." A few bubbles rose from the mud, and Zhao Guizhen could no longer make any sound.

Cheng Mo's chest rose and fell slightly, emanating a chilling aura that sent shivers down one's spine.

Xia He was startled and hugged Cheng Mo tightly, pressing her whole body against him.

"Little Taoist! Take a deep breath, relax, relax!" She told others to relax, but her own voice was urgent. "That scumbag deserves to die, but we can't let him turn us into a powder keg! It's not worth it, it's really not worth it!"

Cheng Mo took a deep breath of the cool forest air and slowly exhaled, the surging violence in his chest gradually subsiding.

He patted Xia He's hand, which was holding her stomach, and said, "Alright, I know. Stop hanging there and hurry up and clean up this pit."

"Hehe." Xia He smiled with relief when she saw that he had returned to normal. She let go of his hand, leaped out of the deep pit, and immediately grabbed the shovel stuck in the edge of the pit.

Snap! Snap!

She moved swiftly, quickly filling the soil that had just been dug out back in.

Cheng Mo also jumped out of the pit and leaned against a big tree next to him, watching Xia He work hard.

Hmm... I just finished dealing with some trash. Seeing the beautiful woman working so hard is quite pleasing to the eye and helps calm my mood.

After completely relaxing, Cheng Mo began to reflect on his impulsive actions.

The man was not unjustly killed, but the method was indeed a bit crude, and the consequences were not considered.

He still needed Ma Xianhong's help. Zhao Guizhen was one of the most promising talents in Biyou Village. If Ma Xianhong investigated, it would be bad if things fell apart.

Let's clean up the traces first and see how Ma Xianhong reacts. We'll then adapt to the situation.