Gamers Are Fierce

The short man continued, "Daoist Xi Menzi claimed that the Rakshasa Bird's perception far exceeds that of ordinary people. He feared that before the hunter could get near, it would have already fled a thousand li away. He proposed to go and slay the creature himself."

The master immediately asked what preparations were needed. Xi Menzi the Daoist said that a fine horse would suffice. A servant brought over a horse. With a push against the ground, the Daoist's figure floated up eerily and mounted the horse. He spurred it into a charge out of Long County. Departing in the early morning, he returned before noon, holding the head of the strange bird, dripping with fresh blood.

"Bravo! Slaying a demon every ten steps, leaving no trace for a thousand li!"

The stout man, hearing this, was completely captivated. He couldn't help but applaud and cheer for Xi Menzi the Daoist, becoming his devoted fan in that instant.

The short man continued, "With their great vengeance suddenly achieved, the whole family wept with joy. Xi Menzi the Daoist, full of righteous indignation, refused the reward money. Instead, he performed a spell, forming a Sword technique hand seal with his fingers and touching the foreheads of the newlywed couple who had lost their eyes. Viscous, stinking blood flowed from the newlyweds' pitch-black eye sockets. Amidst the terrified onlookers, tiny eyeballs began to grow in the couple's hollow sockets. They started small but grew rapidly upon exposure to the air. Within a few breaths, their sight was miraculously restored."

The thin man, who had first mentioned the rumors about Xi Menzi, couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment, "Does such miraculous divine magic truly exist in this world?! I've heard many tales of extraordinary individuals from various places, but even Hermits most skilled in the Qihuang Technique probably couldn't restore sight to eyes that have lost their eyeballs. Xi Menzi the Daoist is truly a divine being!"

Such inconceivable and bizarre tales were perfect for accompanying drinks. The three men drank and toasted, all deeply impressed by Xi Menzi the Daoist's heroic actions.

"After Xi Menzi the Daoist cured the newlyweds, he faced the tearfully grateful crowd but still refused any money. He accepted only some simple vegetarian food before leaving Long County. He then went to the village previously attacked by the Rakshasa Bird and cured those who had been blinded there."

In the next room, the monk Qi Yu furrowed his brows and remained silent. He himself was quite skilled in the Qihuang Technique and could concoct various medicinal pills from ordinary herbs. But he did not believe that regrowing eyeballs in their sockets was possible; it was completely beyond his understanding. Perhaps only the legendary Daluo Golden Immortals who roam the heavens could revive the dead and mend broken bones. How could some unknown countryside Daoist achieve this? Qi Yu shook his head. This suddenly famous Xi Menzi the Daoist is probably just a charlatan using Illusion Techniques, he concluded.

"By the way, I've also heard of another righteous deed by Xi Menzi the Daoist." The thin man set down his wine cup and began, "To the west of Lvzhou lies Yue City, where a strange event occurred today. Two street performers from the jianghu were parading through the city with a massive black dog, garnering much attention. This black dog had a face that was half-human and half-canine. It moved in postures unlike ordinary dogs, could speak human language, sing folk songs, and even converse fluently when questioned by the curious onlookers. The crowd of watchers was immense, and the performers' bowl overflowed with coins."

"The County Governor of Yue City, a man who loved such novelties, heard of this and ordered his Servants to bring in the performers. He wanted them and the black dog to perform at his elderly mother's banquet."

"The two were overjoyed. They were merely lowly street entertainers from the jianghu and never imagined that one day the County Governor would invite them into his home for a performance. They promptly told the Servant they needed to prepare and change into proper attire at their lodgings."

The Servant, lacking the patience to wait, let the performers go to their lodgings on their own while he took the black dog immediately to the County Government.

When the County Governor saw the strange dog, he couldn't help but be startled. He asked offhandedly, "Are you human or dog?"

The strange dog answered, "I do not know."

The County Governor then asked, "Why do you follow those two men?"

The strange dog still replied that it did not know.

After several inquiries, the County Governor began to feel that something was amiss. This unusual hound is too mentally agile for a dog, almost naive and childlike, like a human child, he thought. So, he beat around the bush, asking the dog for information about the two street performers.

The black dog simply said that the performers usually lived on a boat. During the day, they took him out to attract an audience, and at night, they locked him in a wooden barrel. "One day, the barrel wasn't locked," the dog continued. "I quietly stuck my head out to look around. I saw the two performers in the cabin handling lifelike wooden puppets and discussing something about 'skins.' Under their feet lay an unconscious, elderly beggar."

The thin man paused, then said in a deep voice, "The County Governor was shocked and confused. He urgently ordered his men to apprehend the two performers, intending to use harsh torture to find out why they had kidnapped the beggar. However, when the Government Officials rushed to the performers' small boat, the performers had already vanished. Only the unconscious beggar was left at the bottom of the cabin. The County Governor commanded the Government Officials to search the entire city. Amidst the mounting uproar, Xi Menzi the Daoist, who had just entered Yue City, stopped one of the officials and claimed he might know the origins of the performers and the black dog."

Xi Menzi again? In the next room, the Buddhist monk Qi Yu couldn't help but wonder, Why is this man always so free, stirring up trouble everywhere?

The thin man continued his story, "The Government Official took Xi Menzi to the County Government. There, the Daoist saw the black dog and sighed deeply. He made a hand gesture for a Sword technique, then drew it down the dog's back. A seam instantly cracked open in the black dog's skin, and from it tumbled a seven or eight-year-old child with deformed limbs and ulcerated skin all over."

The stout man was utterly astonished, almost dropping his cup. "A child?!"

"Yes." The thin man slowly said, "Xi Menzi told the County Governor that this black hound was actually created by some vile and cruel low-level Cultivators who practiced Evil Magic. They would find children around three years old and smear poison all over their bodies until their skin completely ulcerated. Then, they would sprinkle on another layer of medicine and cover the child with freshly flayed black dog skin. The child's skin would regrow, fusing with the dog fur. Using sorcery, they would make the child grow a dog's tail. By keeping the child constantly confined in a barrel, its limbs would become deformed, rendering it unable to stand, only crawl. Thus, they created a 'talking dog' monstrosity to attract audiences and collect money."

SMASH!

Hearing this, the stout man was consumed with rage. He crushed the thin wall of his wine cup and muttered angrily, "Truly wicked and utterly inhuman!"

"Indeed." The thin man sighed. "This technique of 'creating beasts' is extremely cruel. Out of ten children subjected to it, nine cannot survive the repeated agony of skin replacement. Those two performers had likely taken countless children's lives. They kept the beggar hidden in the cabin, also intending to kill him, flay his skin for their 'medicine,' and create the next human-faced dog."

The short man, equally enraged, eagerly asked, "Then what happened?"

"The County Governor of Yue City, filled with righteous indignation, immediately swore a solemn oath to bring the two fiends to justice. However, Xi Menzi said that the two likely knew the city's Government Officials were pursuing them. He suspected they had already used their technique to temporarily transform themselves into livestock and hide within the city, making them difficult to track. The County Governor was greatly troubled. Xi Menzi, however, smiled faintly. First, he used his arts—just as he had cured the blind couple—to casually heal the child's ulcerated skin and deformed limbs. He asked the County Governor to take good care of the child. Then, Xi Menzi left the County Government, went to the marketplace, closed his eyes to concentrate, and listened to all the sounds within the city. After a moment, the Daoist suddenly opened his eyes. He leaped up, striding over rooftops and tiles, and crossed most of Yue City. Finally, in a dark alley, he found the performers. They had transformed into two dogs and were about to squeeze through a dog hole to flee the city. Xi Menzi apprehended them."