Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 1: My Name is Chen Huangpi

Within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the peaks were majestic and perilous.

Atop Mount Yuqiong, inside the Pure Immortal Temple.

The main hall stood ten meters tall.

On the mud-and-plaster walls hung three portraits of a Daoist.

Chen Huangpi stood with his back to the portraits, a medicine classic in his hands, lost in deep thought.

Some time ago, his master had gone mad from his cultivation practice.

He insisted that he actually had three masters.

The first master wore a purple robe, the second a white robe, and the third a green robe.

He had even removed all the original statues of deities from the Pure Immortal Temple and personally painted three portraits of himself to replace them.

He claimed that the Pure Immortal Temple did not support idlers, and certainly not idle gods.Since they were all just freeloaders anyway, it was better to worship himself.

Chen Huangpi thought it made a lot of sense and figured he would replace them with his own portraits after his master passed away.

Suddenly, Chen Huangpi put down the medicine classic.

"Master is here."

As soon as he spoke, a white-haired old Daoist in a purple robe, trimmed with black and embroidered with red plum blossoms, ran in, shouting as he came.

"Huangpi'er, Huangpi'er!"

"Ma... First Master, what is it?"

Chen Huangpi had subconsciously started to say "Master," but upon seeing the color of the robe, he quickly corrected himself.

His master was as stubborn as a mule.

If he said he had three masters, then he couldn't get their identities wrong or mix up the hierarchy.

Otherwise, he would get angry.

And when he got angry, it took half a day to coax him out of it.

Chen Huangpi had no desire to make him angry.

The purple-robed old Daoist drooled as he said excitedly, "Huangpi'er, your master has calculated with his fingers. Today is your birthday. After today, you will be nine years old."

Chen Huangpi shook his head. "First Master, you remember it wrong. Last year at this time, I was only seven. After today, I should be eight."

"But you said the same thing last year."

"And the year before that."

"And the year before that one."

"Then I suppose I must have remembered it wrong. Let's start counting from the beginning. After today, I'll be eight."

"Alright then. It would be great if you were nine."

The purple-robed old Daoist seemed secretly disappointed, wiping away his drool unwillingly.

Chen Huangpi shook his head to himself.

Master's madness was getting worse.

He would have to patrol the mountains more often to gather herbs. It was too cruel for his master to be so crazed at his age.

"Master, I'm heading into the mountains. I'll be back tonight to make you meat soup."

Chen Huangpi picked up a brass oil lamp and started to leave.

The purple-robed old Daoist drooled and said, "You must be back before dark, or you might run into unclean things blocking your path."

"I know."

Chen Huangpi's voice gradually faded.

The purple-robed old Daoist stood where he was, his stomach growling with hunger.

Suddenly, the old Daoist's expression changed in an instant. He scrambled onto the meditation cushion where Chen Huangpi had been sitting, took a deep breath, and said with a look of pure bliss, "Fragrant, so fragrant. More fragrant than before. If only Huangpi'er were nine."

"Just one more year, one more year."

"No, no need to wait."

If Chen Huangpi had been there, he would have definitely exclaimed, "Second Master, why are you out during the day?"

Because at that moment, the old Daoist's purple robe had already turned white.

...

The mountain path was rugged and slippery, and the canopy of trees blocked out the sun.

Chen Huangpi carried a pack on his back, a brass oil lamp hanging from his waist, his steps as swift as the wind.

The mountains were dangerous and full of strange evils.

Patrolling the mountains to gather herbs was no easy task.

It was fine during the day, but if one was still out at night, it was easy to encounter unclean things.

A few days ago, while patrolling for herbs, Chen Huangpi had been delayed by heavy rain, and the sky had turned dark.

A headless man had blocked his path.

The man immediately asked Chen Huangpi if he had seen his head.

Chen Huangpi said no, so the man demanded Chen Huangpi's head.

Chen Huangpi only had one head and was certainly not willing to give it up.

Unexpectedly, the man offered to buy it with money.

A whole string of coins!

Chen Huangpi hesitated for a long while before telling the man that selling it was fine, but he had to go back and cook for his master that night, and he couldn't do that without a head.

The man paused for a moment, then agreed that he could take his head the next day, but only if he signed a contract.

Hearing there was such a good deal, Chen Huangpi agreed.

The next day came, and Chen Huangpi waited and waited, but the man never came to collect his head.

Instead, a signed booklet appeared in the main hall.

And Chen Huangpi was a string of coins richer.

...

Chen Huangpi patrolled the mountain for a good while.

His pack was already filled with medicinal herbs: ginseng, cardamom, white cardamom, goji berries, and star anise.

You could say he had everything he needed.

Just as he was about to head back.

The brass oil lamp hanging from his waist suddenly grew human facial features and called out, "Chen Huangpi, Chen Huangpi!"

"Huang Er, what are you calling me for?"

The brass oil lamp said, "Don't go back to the temple. I've overheard the Temple Master say several times that he wants to eat you. But since you're not nine yet, he gnaws on me instead. Look, I have so many bite marks from him."

As it spoke, the brass oil lamp grew slender arms and pointed to the bite marks on its body.

But Chen Huangpi shook his head. "Huang Er, don't worry. Master's teeth are bad. He can't bite through you."

"Nonsense! You're not the one being bitten."

"Chen Huangpi, let's run away! Don't you want to see the outside world? Today is a great opportunity."

Of course, Chen Huangpi wanted to see the outside world.

In fact, he had never seen another living person besides his master his entire life.

But his master had gone mad.

Chen Huangpi had to cure him; otherwise, he couldn't leave with a clear conscience.

"There will be more opportunities in the future!"

"Sigh, I can't convince you."

The brass oil lamp sighed helplessly. Seeing that it couldn't persuade him, it simply grabbed a handful of yellow mud and smeared it over its body, covering the bite marks.

Just like that.

The once-gleaming yellow lamp became dirty and grimy, showing no hint of its strangeness.

Chen Huangpi quickened his pace to return.

The path here had been difficult because he had to patrol for herbs.

On the way back, all he had to do was walk.

But just then.

A loud noise suddenly erupted from the distant mountains.

Boom!

Boom!

The sounds came one after another.

Chen Huangpi frowned, leaped to the top of a tree in a single bound, and in the next second, a massive, bluish-black, monstrous figure entered his vision.

The figure was dozens of meters tall, with no facial features. Its body was entirely bluish-black, with a bare chest. Its head, shaped like a treetop, was covered in tumors. A giant mouth split open its chest, filled with interlocking fangs and a blood-red tongue covered in barbs. At this moment, it stretched out its hands, each palm holding a giant eye that seemed to see through everything.

With every step the monster took, the earth trembled, dust flew, and trees fell.

With every move, black smoke swirled around it.

Wherever the smoke touched, whether trees or grass, everything turned scorched black, as if it had been polluted.

Several figures in black shirts were streaking through the air, seemingly being chased by it.

Chen Huangpi recognized this monster.

It was one of the deity statues his master had moved out of the main hall.

One time, when Chen Huangpi got up to pee in the middle of the night, he saw it circling outside the Pure Immortal Temple. When it saw him, it said it was too cold outside and not as warm as inside the temple.

Feeling sorry for it, Chen Huangpi was about to invite it in to sit for a while.

But his master had suddenly appeared, and the creature, terrified, quickly vanished into the night.

He remembered his master saying at the time: "It has been corrupted. If you let it in, it will eat you. Our Pure Immortal Temple absolutely does not allow a fourth man-eating thing."

Chen Huangpi had been frightened and had searched for a long time but couldn't find the other three man-eating things.

After that, Chen Huangpi never saw the mutated deity statue again.

He never expected to run into it here today, and it was out before the sky had even turned dark.

And just at that moment.

The mutated deity seemed to sense something, and the palm with the eye suddenly turned towards Chen Huangpi's position.

"Huh! It still remembers me."

Chen Huangpi's heart jumped. He quickly leaped down from the treetop and used all his strength to run towards the Pure Immortal Temple.

And just then.

A voice sounded in Chen Huangpi's ear.

"Little child, are you from around here?"

As the voice fell, Chen Huangpi felt his feet leave the ground.

Turning his head, he saw the black-shirted figures from before appearing beside him. One of them, an old man with a goatee, was holding him with one hand.

Chen Huangpi nodded obediently.

Someone said in surprise, "I've long heard that there are still remnants of people living in these Hundred Thousand Mountains. I didn't expect it to be true."

Someone else sized up Chen Huangpi. "Sinews of steel and bones of iron. He's a Body Tempering realm cultivator."

Chen Huangpi didn't know what the Body Tempering realm was.

He couldn't cultivate anyway, so if these people said he was, then he was.

"Stop wasting time. It's about to get dark, and this cursed thing will become even more terrifying."

Someone glanced back at the mutated deity statue in hot pursuit.

He wasn't sure if it was his imagination.

When the cursed thing was chasing them just now, it wasn't this fast. Suddenly, it was as if it had been injected with chicken blood, covering a hundred meters in the blink of an eye. Its massive figure moving through the forest was as terrifying as an earth dragon turning over.

The goateed old man quickly asked Chen Huangpi, "Old man, let me ask you. Since you live nearby and are dressed as a Daoist boy, there must be a temple nearby, right?"

"The sky is about to turn dark. Could we borrow the protection of your temple's deity for one night?"

When night fell in this world, it was as if it wore a different skin, teeming with evil and strangeness.

Without the protection of a deity, unless your cultivation was heaven-defying, you couldn't withstand the countless evils that emerged from the darkness.

The old man and his group had brought a deity statue with them on this trip deep into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, but the moment they used it, it was swallowed by this evil deity.

They couldn't even send a message back.

The group had never seen such a terrifying thing before. They were scared out of their wits and fled for their lives.

Chen Huangpi really wanted to remind them that the deity chasing them was from his temple, but before he could speak, the old man interrupted him.

"Rest assured, just this once. We will not linger past tomorrow morning, and we will be sure to thank you generously!"

A smile spread across Chen Huangpi's face. "Alright then, I'll lead the way."

After speaking, Chen Huangpi suddenly remembered something and his expression turned wary.

"But what if you go back on your word?"

The old man and his group instantly grew anxious.

The mutated deity behind them was closing in. At the threshold of life and death, there was no time for so much haggling.

"I'm an old man. Would I lie to a child?"

"That's hard to say, unless..."

"Unless what..."

Chen Huangpi shook his head and took out a small, yellowed booklet. "Unless it's in black and white, signed and sealed. Otherwise, I don't believe you."

"Sign! I'll sign it right now!"

"You all have to sign."

After the group quickly signed, Chen Huangpi happily said, "I'll show you the way. There, fly east."

With Chen Huangpi guiding them, the group finally saw a glimmer of hope for survival.

Each of them used every ounce of strength to fly forward, swallowing qi-restoring pills one after another, completely ignoring whether their energy cores and meridians could handle it.

Seeing that Chen Huangpi was about to be taken away, the mutated deity roared at the sky in a rage.

Chen Huangpi shrank back into the goateed old man's arms in fear.

"Don't be afraid, child. Even if I have to damage my foundation, this old man will not let this cursed thing catch up to you."

"Mhm, mhm!"

Chen Huangpi nodded obediently.

Not far away, within the dark and gloomy mountains.

A Daoist temple was faintly visible amidst the mist.

Just as the group stepped through the mountain gate, the sky instantly darkened. The entire world seemed to be covered by a black cloth, without a single star shining through. Only a hazy red moon flickered in and out of view, like someone blinking.

The mutated deity stopped in its tracks, unwilling. The large mouth on its chest spat out a human-sized statue. The statue looked alive, its brows furrowed, its body corroded by black smoke, making crackling sounds.

As soon as it was released, the statue immediately opened its eyes and tried to escape.

But before it could, the mutated deity slapped it into pieces.

The latter roared, swallowed it completely, and crunched on it while watching Chen Huangpi and the others walk through the mountain gate. Finally, it unwillingly faded into the darkness.

A new author writing for the first time. Please add to your collection and support me.

(End of Chapter)