The Unremarkable Little Taoist Master

The black-robed man casually tossed the Jiangshi King Orb to the vampire and said, “This is the Jiangshi King Orb. Once you refine it, you will at least be as powerful as that Jiangshi King.” The vampire looked at the black-robed man with excitement on his face. The black-robed man continued, “I need you to train a group of people. Whether you conquer them or cultivate them, I need to see a group, or I will make your death a miserable one.”

The vampire nodded and asked, “Master, how long will it take?” The black-robed man murmured, “It may only be five years, so you need to be quick. You must be quick. Do you understand?” The vampire nodded to show he understood, but the black-robed man did not say anything further.

As the black-robed man was about to leave, the vampire hurriedly said, “Please wait, Master.” The black-robed man turned back and looked at the vampire. The vampire eagerly asked, “May I inquire about your name, Master?” The black-robed man removed his cloak, revealing the face of a man. If I were there at that moment, I think I would have shouted out loud-wasn’t this black-robed man Wang-Ge? How could he appear here?

The black-robed man smiled at the vampire, and the vampire felt as if he had plunged into an icy abyss; his body seemed frozen. The black-robed man murmured, “They all seem to call me Jiangchen¹.”

The vampire was taken aback; it was actually Jiangchen, the founding figure of the Chinese Jiangshi world?

The vampire felt an overwhelming excitement within, nearly shouting out loud. He looked thrilled, thinking about how he could serve you. The black-robed man coldly chuckled and said, “Work hard. I won’t mistreat you.”

The vampire nodded and replied, “It is my honor to serve you. I do not need any rewards.” Jiangchen did not say anything further, just nodded, leaving behind a single line, “Work hard,” before disappearing on the spot, leaving the excited vampire behind.

The vampire could no longer contain his excitement; he took out the Jiangshi King Orb and began to refine it. He closed his eyes, surrounded by dark energy.

The old daoist priest and I had been at the police station for over half a month without hearing about a single case involving a vampire committing a crime. This left us with a sensation like throwing a heavy punch into a pile of cotton-very uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Director Lou insisted on caution while closing a shocking case involving human skin. Since our performance on this mission had been excellent, the police station asked us for help again. This time, our destination was in the area of Xiangxi, and we had to discuss an ancient and mysterious profession.

Everyone must have heard of this profession: the corpse herder of Xiangxi. Its history is so old that we cannot trace it, but it is undeniably a profession with deep roots. Our target this time was this special vocation.

Recently, there had been a series of cases in Xiangxi involving missing corpses, and many tomb entrances had been disturbed. Initially, the police thought it was a case of grave robbing, but they gradually realized that this was not the case. Several graves had their corpses removed, while a large amount of gold, silver, and other treasures remained untouched.

Later, a few geomancers were consulted to investigate the cases, but even they mysteriously died while trying to get in touch with us. That’s why we were brought in; they hoped we could solve this issue.

With no choice, the old man and I accepted the mission. We quickly packed our belongings and boarded a military helicopter to begin this adventure.

We landed at night on the dark mountain. The two of us set up a simple tent and planned to spend the night there, deciding to reassess our strategy in the daylight.

Early the next morning, I got up early, standing on a hillside to practice a set of martial arts moves before meditating with my eyes closed. Once I finished meditating, I woke up the old man.

After a brief wash-up, we shouldered our packs and started walking up the mountain. We guessed that since we had been brought here, the village could not be far away, so we began our journey forward.

We didn’t know how long we had been walking. All I felt was exhaustion, with sweat streaming down my body like boiling water, and my throat felt as if it were on fire. When we reached the mountaintop and looked down with binoculars, we saw nothing but trees stretching endlessly, which filled us with a deep sense of despair. Suddenly, the old man shouted, startling me.

I looked at him with a bewildered expression, and the old man pointed into the distance, exclaiming, “I can see smoke rising not far from here! I suddenly feel overwhelming happiness!”

I quickly grabbed the binoculars to look in the direction he was pointing. To my surprise, I spotted curling smoke rising into the air. We could see the excitement mirrored in each other’s eyes.

With our hearts filled with joy, we stomped toward the village. It felt as if we had walked for a long distance, yet also as though we were getting close. Finally, we arrived at the entrance of a small mountain village, and upon seeing the surrounding huts, we couldn’t contain our suppressed emotions any longer. Bursting into laughter, we stepped into the village.

Not far from the entrance, we noticed a large tree where several old men were sitting in the shade with children. All of them looked curiously at us newcomers. An old man, leaning on a cane, slowly approached us. His face was etched with the traces of time, resembling the bark of an ancient tree.

As we stepped forward, the old man scrutinized us and asked, “Young folks, where are you from?”

We responded, “We are visitors from afar. We’ve been wandering in the mountains for several days, and we’re so relieved to find a village. We were hoping to get something to eat and rest a bit.”

The old man nodded and said, “Young folks, why don’t you stay at my house for a couple of days?” Naturally, we had no objections. So, we followed the old man from the village entrance to a small house at the southernmost end of the village. Along the way, we chatted for quite a while, learning that he was the village chief and also the oldest resident of the village, having been born and raised there.

Once we arrived at his home, the old man served us several flatbreads and some simple pickled vegetables. We wolfed down the food hungrily.

After we finished eating, the old man looked at our weary faces and led us inside the house. The simple furnishings indicated that the old man’s family was not very wealthy.

Having been exhausted from several days of travel, we quickly settled down to rest after a few pleasantries with the old man. Our sleep was incredibly refreshing, and when we finally opened our eyes, we realized it had grown dark outside.

I took out my phone and checked for a signal, but I found there was none. I sighed and put my phone away; it was precisely midnight.

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