Tao Yaoye asked, “Since the demon bird is looking for Zhang Guanjia, have you tried letting the demon bird meet Zhang Guanjia?”
Xiang Zhengchang sighed, “We don’t need to make the demon bird and Zhang Guanjia meet. A few days ago, the demon bird came directly to Zhang Guanjia’s home and shouted ‘monster!’ at Zhang Guanjia before flying out the window. We don’t know where it went.”
“We didn’t know what to do, so the two immortal elders came.”
Tao Yaoye thought for a moment and guessed, “Is Zhang Guanjia a monster? Is the demon bird warning you to be careful of him?”
There are kind-hearted creatures among the demons, some taking human form and some revealing their true form to warn people of impending disasters. For example, the great demon king Zhu Yan is considered an ominous beast in folklore, as his presence signals great chaos. However, the truth is that Zhu Yan came to the central continent from the demon realm to warn the human race of the impending chaos, and he did so out of kindness. Of course, the misunderstanding among the people is partly Zhu Yan’s fault, as he is too afraid to speak due to his social anxiety. The silent and fierce appearance of the demons makes it difficult for people to believe that they are kind-hearted creatures.
Perhaps this demon bird is the same, warning the people of Taiping Township that Zhang Guanjia is a monster.
Xiang Zheng was a little embarrassed to refute the beautiful fairy from the immortal sect, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that Zhang Guanjia was not a monster.
“Zhang Guanjia grew up in Taiping Township since he was a child, and the elderly can testify to that. He also has two younger brothers, Zhang Guanyi and Zhang Guanbing. The three brothers have a deep bond, and Zhang Guanjia now runs a private school to teach children Confucianism and cultivate immortality. He is one of the few teachers in Taiping Township.”
“If he were a monster, it would be…”
Tao Yaoye did not agree with Xiang Zheng’s point of view. “Demons are long-lived creatures, and many of them will stay in one place for decades, gradually aging like mortals. When they have seen all the scenery in that place, they will fake their own death and come out of their graves in a new place to start over.”
Xiang Zheng didn’t know how to respond to Tao Yaoye’s insight.
Lu Yang gently shook his head and pointed out a loophole in Tao Yaoye’s guess. “If Zhang Guanjia is a monster, he must be a powerful monster. How could he tolerate a small demon bird’s nonsense? Perhaps the demon bird was killed by Zhang Guanjia before it could say anything.”
Tao Yaoye didn’t argue back, as what Lu Yang said was true.
Lu Yang stood up. “Regardless, we still need to meet Zhang Guanjia.”
Xiang Zheng quickly led the way. “Please follow me, Dao Masters.”
On the way, Lu Yang pointed out Xiang Zheng’s mistake in addressing them. “We are all cultivators striving for immortality, and even if we are only at the foundation establishment stage, or even if we become true immortals or transcend the tribulation, we are not qualified to be called immortal elders. Xiang Zheng, you can call us Dao Masters.”
Xiang Zheng smiled apologetically but didn’t dare to treat Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye as ordinary foundation establishment cultivators. Less than one out of ten foundation establishment cultivators could advance to the golden core stage, and Seek Tao Sect disciples were definitely golden core cultivators, with achievements that he couldn’t imagine.
Before long, the three of them arrived at Zhang Guanjia’s residence.
“Old Zhang, there are visitors. Open the door.”
The wooden door creaked open, and Zhang Guanjia stood behind it with a wooden expression.”Let me introduce, these two are disciples of Seek Tao Sect, here to help us get rid of the monster bird.”
Upon hearing the words “Seek Tao Sect”, Zhang Guanjia’s expression changed. He helplessly said, “I am not a monster, you can’t just believe whatever the monster bird says. It even called me ‘uncle’ and wanted to play with me. Why don’t you let some uncles go play with the monster bird?”
Xiang Zheng awkwardly smiled and said, “We were just wandering around and happened to come across you.”
Xiang Zheng was a diligent and conscientious official, and with his words, Zhang Guanjia could only welcome the three of them into his home.
Zhang Guanjia’s home was a two-in, two-out house, with only one person living in it, making it seem empty.
Zhang Guanjia was over forty years old and still unmarried.
No matter how they talked, they couldn’t avoid the topic of the monster bird. Zhang Guanjia said angrily, “I have never seen that monster bird before. Who knows why it called my name?”
“I have never left Taiping Village in my entire life. The farthest place I’ve been to is Quhe County. How could I know the monster bird?”
“Every day, students ask me if I am a monster. Some students are afraid of being eaten by me, so they complete their homework on time every day!”
“Even my neighbors came to me, saying that they had an enemy at the Foundation Building stage in Quhe County and asked if I could secretly kill him for a good price!” Zhang Guanjia gritted his teeth as he spoke, wishing for a fight with the monster bird to clear his name.
As an ordinary person, he became a monster just because the monster bird called his name. It was simply unfair!
After a conversation, the three of them didn’t get any useful information, but they listened to Zhang Guanjia complain about how much the monster bird had affected his life for two hours.
Fortunately, Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye quickly expressed their determination to slay the monster and eliminate the harm for the people. Zhang Guanjia was satisfied and stopped complaining.
“The monster bird is here again!” Someone outside the house shouted and ran away from the monster bird.
Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye heard the commotion and immediately put away their playful attitude, took out their magic weapons, left the courtyard, and confronted the monster bird.
“Be careful, two Daoists!” Xiang Zheng asked the villagers to keep quiet and stay away from where the monster bird appeared.
Lu Yang held the sword hilt. As long as the monster bird had any intention of attacking people, it would face the situation of being split in half by the cold light.
Tao Yaoye took out the red paper umbrella, which was her magic weapon, the Thousand Illusion Umbrella. When the umbrella was opened, it was like a dream, and the enemy drowned in the illusion without realizing it.
Lu Yang carefully made a gesture, indicating that he would scout ahead, and Tao Yaoye nodded.
The monster bird landed on a house in a village. Lu Yang walked stealthily like a cat, quietly approaching his prey.
Lu Yang was extremely vigilant, his muscles tense, and he was ready to draw his sword and fight at any time.
Optimistically, he estimated that the monster bird was at the seventh level of Qi refining, which was the best result. In the worst case, the monster bird was a monster at the later stage of Foundation Building, making it difficult to fight and even more difficult to win.
Finally, he saw the monster bird that had troubled Taiping Village for twenty days.
The deep green feathers were extremely bright and shiny, and from the corner of its eye to its neck was a large patch of red, red and green, quite eye-catching.
Lu Yang recognized the origin of the monster bird at a glance. The monster bird came from the depths of a dense jungle, feeding on figs and berries, and was good at imitating human speech.
It was a parrot.