Chapter 31: Mama Di Causes Trouble

PS: A quick note in advance: Mama Di's disciple A-Hao has been renamed Jiahao to distinguish him from the A-Hao who is One-Eyebrow Daoist's disciple. Also, there are definitely differences between the novel's setting and the movie's; there is no need to dwell on the details.

"Host: Zhang Cheng"

"Profession: Daoist Priest"

"Rank: Seventh Grade"

"Strength: 5.2"

"Physique: 5.1"

"Agility: 5"

"Intelligence: 5"

"Cultivation Method: 'Valley Clothing Heart Scripture' Lv5 (0/800), 'Supreme Three-Five Capital Merit Scripture Seal' Lv9 (5000/12800)"

"Spirit Refining Art Lv4 (0/400)"

"Equipment: Universe Patchwork Robe (↑), Hundred-Year Peachwood Sword (10/10), Five-Thunder Command Token (1/1), Evil-Refining Treasure Gourd, Fire Crow Pot, Thousand-Mile Mountains and Rivers Map, Universe Bag, Eight Trigrams Mirror"

"Merit: 930"

On this day, after Zhang Cheng finished his practice, he checked his status panel; he was still a long way off from the tenth level.

Thinking about how a single Capital Merit Qi-Refining Method required tens of thousands of merit, not to mention the cultivation methods for the subsequent levels, he had to be even more diligent.

He had already been practicing at One-Eyebrow Senior Brother's Daoist temple for a month. It was time to go visit the other senior brothers' temples.

Just as Zhang Cheng walked out the door, he saw One-Eyebrow Daoist walking in hurriedly.

He quickly asked, "Senior Brother, what is the rush?"

One-Eyebrow Senior Brother sighed and said, "It's that troublemaker, Mama Di."

Zhang Cheng asked a question he already knew the answer to: "Senior Brother, what happened to Senior Brother Mama Di?"

One-Eyebrow Daoist explained, "That good-for-nothing Mama Di is always aiming too high while having low ability. He only learns a smattering of any Daoist art, yet he is arrogant and conceited.

Recently, he threw a tantrum with Master and left the mountain in a huff, wanting to open his own Daoist temple.

Junior Brother A-Ying introduced him to a corpse-driving job, but this jerk ended up falling out with A-Ying just because A-Ying said a few extra words.

A-Ying is worried that this good-for-nothing Mama Di will get into trouble, so he told me about it. Junior Brother, I want you to head back to Ren Family Town immediately and help A-Ying."

Zhang Cheng quickly agreed; this time, Mama Di had truly caused a massive disaster.

He hurriedly packed his things and traveled through the night to rush back to Ren Family Town.

Just as he returned to the Manor of Righteousness, Zhang Cheng happened to run into Uncle Nine, who was dressed and ready.

Lin Jiuying asked in surprise, "Junior Brother, why have you returned?"

Zhang Cheng quickly explained, "One-Eyebrow Senior Brother was worried, so he asked me to come back and help out. Besides, I don't have anything else to do."

Lin Jiuying nodded and said, "That's fine. With Zhe Gu watching the Manor of Righteousness, I'm not worried. How about this: Junior Brother, come with me. Sometimes it's not convenient for me to step in."

Zhang Cheng nodded. He didn't even enter the Manor of Righteousness and went straight with Uncle Nine toward Ren Family Village.

Ren Family Village was the ancestral home of the Ren family; it was from here that they had emerged.

The village head of Ren Family Village was Ren Fa's cousin. Ren Tian Tang was Ren Fa's uncle and the biological brother of his father, Ren Weiyong. Come to think of it, it was tragic; both brothers had become zombies.

Therefore, this job was only given to Mama Di to transport Ren Tian Tang's corpse back to Ren Family Village for burial because Ren Fa was showing respect to Uncle Nine.

However, Mama Di was such a slob that Lin Jiuying, who had a bit of a clean-freak nature, said a few words about it.

And then the two of them had a falling out.

Zhang Cheng was worried that Ren Tian Tang had been injected with hormones by that Westerner, so he went to find Mama Di in a great hurry.

To Lin Jiuying, this looked like Zhang Cheng was worried about Mama Di. He felt deeply gratified.

However, by the time they reached the place where Mama Di had been staying, the place was already deserted.

Zhang Cheng thought to himself that this was bad, and he quickly asked Uncle Nine, "Senior Brother, which path did Senior Brother Mama Di take?"

Lin Jiuying took out a compass, checked it, and pointed ahead, saying, "They went this way."

Zhang Cheng hurriedly followed Lin Jiuying on the road. By the time they arrived at the woods where Mama Di had rested, it was already daytime, and the campfire there had gone out.

There were footprints on both paths at the fork by the woods.

Zhang Cheng looked at the path with fewer footprints and said, "Senior Brother, I'll take this path."

Lin Jiuying didn't think much of it and nodded, "Good. I'll go this way and check on Mama Di. We'll meet up at Ren Family Village later."

Zhang Cheng nodded and quickly gave chase. Ren Tian Tang had been stolen due to Jiahao's carelessness; he only hoped he was still in time.

He walked along the mountain road the whole way, seeing no one, and the footprints were somewhat chaotic.

He didn't know how to use a compass to find people, so he could only honestly keep searching based on the footprints.

Not long after, he saw Ren Family Village at the foot of the mountain.

Although Ren Family Village was a village, its prosperity had long since exceeded that of a village.

The houses here were packed closely together, the streets were numerous, and there were many shops; it looked like the scale of a township.

Zhang Cheng saw Ren Family Village and sighed. It was all over now; Ren Tian Tang must have been stolen.

He wasn't familiar with the local situation, so he had no choice but to go down the mountain first, enter Ren Family Village, find an inn to stay in, and wait for Uncle Nine.

As it happened, Jiahao had lost Ren Tian Tang, then returned to the woods to meet up with Mama Di and A-Qiang, and headed back to Ren Family Town.

Once Lin Jiuying saw that his junior brother was fine, he went to Ren Family Village to meet up with Zhang Cheng.

The back-and-forth took them into the night. The two walked along the mountain forest path, unafraid of lonely ghosts or mountain spirits and monsters.

Lin Jiuying said with some relief, "Although Mama Di is a bit of a slob, he still has some sense of propriety and didn't cause any trouble."

Zhang Cheng wanted to say something, but felt it wasn't necessary to speak up and cause awkwardness between senior brothers; the matter would be exposed soon enough anyway.

"Ah!"

"A scream? How bold!" Lin Jiuying was furious and ran over immediately.

Zhang Cheng remembered that this was likely Ren Tian Tang biting someone, and he quickly followed. He had just been thinking about the matter being exposed, not expecting it to come so quickly.

The two arrived at the scene and happened to see Ren Tian Tang sucking the blood of another person.

Hearing the sound, Ren Tian Tang looked up, then dropped the corpse and charged forward.

Lin Jiuying looked by the moonlight and saw clearly that it was Ren Tian Tang, immediately cursing Mama Di, that bastard.

He then took out his Gold Coin Sword and threw it while casting a spell.

As a result, the Gold Coin Sword shattered instantly upon hitting Ren Tian Tang.

Lin Jiuying was shocked and also felt puzzled.

Zhang Cheng did not explain, immediately stepped forward and delivered a kick, knocking Ren Tian Tang back, then pulled out the large steel needle he had prepared long ago and stabbed it into Ren Tian Tang.

"Roar!"

Ren Tian Tang let out an angry roar, immediately shook off Zhang Cheng, jumped straight into the bushes, quickly rolled down the hillside, and disappeared.

This Ren Tian Tang was immune to Daoist arts, fearing only injections.

Zhang Cheng secretly thought it was fortunate he had prepared the steel needle, otherwise the outcome would have been hard to say.

Lin Jiuying hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Junior Brother, what is going on?"

Zhang Cheng shook his head and said, "This Ren Tian Tang seems just like the vampire I fought at Senior Brother One-Eyebrow's place before, immune to our Daoist arts.

So I used this steel needle to stab his heart. This steel needle contains silver, which happens to restrain Western ghosts."

Lin Jiuying suddenly realized and said, "So that's it. It seems Ren Tian Tang's disappearance and corpse-transformation have something to do with the Westerners.

Let's go, we are returning to Ren Family Town; Ren Tian Tang will definitely appear again."

Zhang Cheng nodded and immediately returned to Ren Family Town with Lin Jiuying.

As for Mama Di, who had caused the big problem, he also learned that his disciple Jiahao had lost Ren Tian Tang's corpse.

Worried about being mocked by his senior brothers, he immediately ordered Jiahao and A-Qiang to resolve the trouble at the Ren family's side, then planned to find Ren Tian Tang within a short time.