Genius Detective

Chapter 934: The Magical Performance

Master Liao wore a black robe with a bagua1 on the back as well as Taoist headgear on his head. He held a fly whisk, and walked in front in an awe-inspiring manner. Qingfeng and Mingyue, the two "Taoist boys", followed behind him, and then there were numerous disciples, just like the stars surrounding the moon.

Chen Shi, Lin Dongxue, and kk were in the middle.

Behind them were Old Man Lu, his men, and his two "sons."

Chen Shi thought that after being a swindler for a long time, he had even ended up fooling himself. He actually believed in the “Five Elements Reincarnation”. What a pitiful and hateful fellow.

Lin Dongxue whispered, "There’s no chance to get out!"

"Go with the flow!" Chen Shi said, "When the magic duel starts, we can take advantage of the chaos to slip away."

"Actually, I really want to see the two fake Taoist priests fight. It will definitely be very exciting… kk, where are Little Worm and Old Taoist Master?"

kk replied in a low voice, "They’re laying in ambush, and will come out halfway to tear down the stage. A good show is guaranteed tonight… By the way, why are you trying to get away?"

kk still didn't know about the blood stains and Lin Dongxue gestured for him to stay silent.

They finally arrived at the room where the altar had been set up. Master Liao flicked the fly whisk to the left and to the right twice. The disciples assumed their positions. Chen Shi, Lin Dongxue, and kk found places to sit down. One disciple shouted, "You can't sit there. You’re blocking the ritual!"

After they moved elsewhere, he said again, "No, not there, you’re blocking the Feng Shui."

"Then where should we sit?" Chen Shi asked helplessly.

The disciple looked around, pointed under the pillar by the door, "Sit there and don't move around."

"What if we need to go to the toilet halfway through?"

"Hold it! Why are there so many things you need to do? Are you sincerely here to watch?" The disciple glared.

Sitting on the floor, kk complained, "There isn’t even a mat, haii!"

Lin Dongxue looked at the door behind them. "It's easy to get out from here. It's pretty good."

After everyone had taken their positions, Master Liao placed the knife that Chen Shi had bought from the supermarket for 19 yuan respectfully onto the table, and stuck incense sticks into the incense burner. Chen Shi saw him cover them up with his robe’s sleeve and smear some powder onto the incense sticks and incense candles. Master Liao then flicked the fly whisk from left to right, reciting an incantation. With a swish, the sandalwood incense sticks as well as the incense candles spontaneously ignited, and smoke rose upwards in spirals. Master Liao pointed and shouted, "Ignite!"

People who didn’t know better might think that the sandalwood incense sticks and the incense candles had ignited by themselves when Master Liao pointed at them. In fact, the opposite was true. He was waiting for the white phosphorus on them to come into full contact with the air and reach the ignition point, before performing this action.

Chen Shi laughed secretly. He really was a swindler after all.

Master Liao threw the fly whisk from one hand to the other. He formed hand seals with one hand while waving the fly whisk with the other, reciting the incantation. "Humans and deities aren’t at peace. Informing the essence of the Way, the seven spirits who protect life, and the three revered Taoist deities, the immeasurable Master Chunhuang is here, and he’s ordering the Demon Lord to show up quickly! Hurry and obey the order!"

He recited the incantation and exercised his magic powers as if he was suffering from constipation. His whole body was trembling. Upon seeing this, Old Man Lu hurriedly lowered his head and chanted along.

A disciple suddenly stood up. "It's not good, Master. Quickly withdraw your magical powers…" He pointed up to the ceiling, "It is the Mid-Autumn Moon, and the Yin energy is very strong. Your spell just then opened the doors of hells. The devils, demons, ghosts and monsters are charging here!"

"How many have come?"

The disciple poked his temples with both hands, looked towards the ceiling, and reported, "Your disciple used his third eye and saw a total of 147 million and seventy-three demons of the lower realm!" He answered dramatically in an exaggerated way.

kk murmured, "Is that supposed to be funny? Even if he has the third eye, can he count such a specific number at a glance?"

"Hehehehe hahahaha!" Master Liao laughed as he raised his face upwards. "It’s good that they’ve come. This is the Demon Lord testing us. If we don't show our true skills, how would the Demon Lord agree to help me?!"

Chen Shi thought that the "Demon Lord" was probably picking his feet in prison right now.

They saw a pile of yellow paper on the table being blown up by the wind, and splintering automatically in mid-air, turning into paper people. Master Liao stood in place, sweeping back and forth with the fly whisk. The paper people would burst into flames and turn into ashes before they touched him.

At the same time, the lights in the room were flickering, and kk yawned for a long time. Chen Shi gave him a look indicating that he should be more serious.

This tossing and dancing lasted for over a minute, and all the ashes of the paper men lay under Master Liao's feet. Then a disciple suddenly shook his head and foamed at the mouth. Everyone was shocked and stretched out their hands to hold him down. The “possessed” disciple arched his body upwards, and the other people were bounced off very dramatically.

He stood up and shouted, "I’m the great snake immortal, the Demon Lord sent me to see what’s happening. Are lowly creatures like you fit to call upon the Demon Lord?"

They saw Master Liao pull out a sword made of copper coins from his sleeve, brandish it in his hand, poke the forehead of the “possessed” disciple, and shout, "Master Chunhuang is here. I won’t let a little demon like you act so presumptuously."

"Uh, Ah!"

The “possessed” disciple screamed, went flying into a pillar, and fell down unconscious.

Chen Shi thought that they had really put in a lot of effort.

These were all clearly fake, but Old Man Lu took everything seriously, staring intently with bated breath.

Master Liao put down his copper-coin sword and shouted, "The Greedy Wolf Demon Lord needs to show up quickly. Show up quickly! Hurry and obey the order!"

The incense burner in front of him suddenly exploded and a cloud of smoke rose up. A vague figure appeared in the smoke. Old Man Lu became excited and put his hands together. "Great Demon Lord, please grant me 12 more years of life."

Gloomy laughter reverberated in the room, and with the flickering of the lights, the atmosphere became a little eerie. Old Man Lu was trembling with fear and cold sweat kept trickling down.

"Brazen Demon Lord, if you don't obey your orders, I will surely make you perish."

After that, the disciples began to recite an incantation that harmonized together into a wave of sound. Master Liao opened his hand and sucked that ball of "evil smoke" into his sleeve. The figure of the Demon Lord also began to flicker, but when you listened carefully, you could hear the sound of a small motor. There was a small fan hidden in his sleeve, and the sound of the incantation was just to conceal its noise.

Old Man Lu panicked. "Master, don't put away the Demon Lord. Let me talk to him. As long as I can prolong my life, I will pay no matter what the price is, even if it costs my son's life." He pointed to the innocent Wang Haitao next to him.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid!" Master Liao calmed him down while subduing the demon. "I am just showing him his place as this fellow is very arrogant."

"Oh, oh." Old Man Lu nodded and sat back down again.

"I order you to show your true form!" Master Liao shouted. Naturally, his words weren’t directed at the supernatural being, but for his assistants.

Suddenly, the smoke dissipated together with the lighting effects, and the lights stopped flickering. A torn sock suddenly fell down from nowhere onto the altar table.

Master Liao was stunned, and asked his subordinates in a low voice without moving his lips, "What's going on?"

"I don't know! What I obviously put there was…" the subordinate replied blankly.

The torn sock flew up, spinning slowly in mid-air, and if one looked closely, a thin filament could be seen in the air. Of course, it wasn’t easy to spot under the cover of smoke.

The torn sock said, "I’m the true form of the Demon Lord Zhou Xiao. I’m now sitting in prison and cannot get out. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival but the prison only gave out half a five-nuts mooncake, which was super unpalatable. I want to eat one with a duck-egg yolk!"

It was clearly Sun Zhen's voice. kk covered his mouth and laughed until his whole body shook.

Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi were also cheered up instantly. The people who were about to tear down the stage have finally come. A good show really was about to begin.

1. Eight symbols used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts.