In the side hall, Huang Huai stood beside the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan, dressed in a Daoist robe. His features were regular, and he was quite handsome, too.
Ever since Huang Huai had changed into a Daoist robe and entered the side hall, Chen Wei, who was busy tidying up, had kept shooting him strange looks.
With no one else in the side hall yet, Huang Huai couldn't help asking Chen Wei, "Brother Chen, why are you acting so secretive? Have you never seen me before?"
Chen Wei wasn't embarrassed at all. Instead, he studied Huang Huai with a straight face. "I'm telling you, Xiao Jiu, did you get some subtle cosmetic surgery or something? We only missed one night, so why do I feel like you've become so much more distinguished? Especially in that Daoist robe—you look like some eminent Daoist disciple who's stepped straight out of ancient times. Just standing here, you could make who knows how many young ladies swoon."
Huang Huai glanced at Chen Wei. "No matter how smooth you talk, I'm still not staying here with you once Shanshan gets here."
At that, Chen Wei's face immediately fell, and he wore an utterly hopeless expression.
As they spoke, some tourists entered. They were a mother and daughter, one in her thirties and the other about sixteen or seventeen. As soon as they stepped into the side hall, both glanced at Huang Huai and Chen Wei, but their gazes naturally settled on Huang Huai, as though he had some kind of allure.
Huang Huai keenly noticed that the teenage girl's expression seemed a little off.
The mother held the girl's hand, a troubled look on her face. She walked up to the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan and knelt reverently on a prayer mat.
The girl beside her showed no reaction. Her mother tugged at her and whispered, "Qianqian, hurry and kowtow to Old Master Guan. Ask him to bless you and help you recover soon."
The girl clearly seemed to resist from the bottom of her heart, but under her mother's tugging, she still knelt there unwillingly. Even so, though she was on her knees, she showed no intention of kowtowing.
Meanwhile, the mother pressed her palms together and prayed to Holy Lord Emperor Guan with utmost sincerity. "If Your Lordship is divine, please bless my Qian'er and help her recover soon. If your blessing comes true, I'll have a golden statue made for Old Master Guan..."
Huang Huai stood nearby, his senses keen. Though the mother's voice was very low, he heard every word clearly.
At this, Huang Huai couldn't help glancing at the girl.
After burning incense for Holy Lord Emperor Guan, the mother and daughter went on to burn incense and pray to all the other deities in the hall. They worshipped every god they saw.
To be honest, Huang Huai had seen this kind of thing more than once: people suffering from illness, especially diseases that medicine could not cure, driven to despair and left with no choice but to pin their hopes on elusive gods.
More tourists entered the hall. Many who saw Huang Huai looked at him with strange expressions, and some even couldn't resist secretly filming him on their phones.
At that moment, several young, beautiful women who looked no older than twenty were kneeling in a row before the statue of Holy Lord Emperor Guan, bowing their heads to it.
Anyone paying close attention, however, could tell that as they worshipped the statue, the women were secretly glancing at Huang Huai in front of them, their eyes shining with an unusual light.
Yet even though Huang Huai could feel their gazes on him, he kept his eyes straight ahead.
After a whole morning of this, he had grown somewhat numb to those looks. Almost every tourist who came to burn incense and pray, young or old, male or female, would sneak a glance at him.
Once he noticed this, Huang Huai knew it had to be because of him.
He had helped out in the hall before, and although people had occasionally filmed him, there had only been a handful of them. It had never been this ridiculous.
Thinking about the changes in himself, he could only put it down to having succeeded in Foundation Establishment the previous night and condensed his Primordial Spirit and True Spirit.
Huang Huai hadn't expected that condensing his Primordial Spirit and True Spirit and experiencing a surge in spiritual power would change his bearing so much—and affect ordinary people so strongly.
Now that he understood what was going on, Huang Huai could only smile wryly to himself. He had only just condensed his Primordial Spirit and True Spirit. The surge in spiritual power affecting other people wasn't something he wanted, either.
If a few days passed and he had fully adapted to the surge in spiritual power and gained complete control over it, then all the effects caused by that surge would naturally disappear.
Unfortunately, Huang Huai had no renowned master to guide him. Even Emperor Lord Xuan Yuan had only lectured on the Dao, never touching on any general knowledge outside the cultivation method.
Relying on a single cultivation method, Huang Huai had condensed his Primordial Spirit and True Spirit all on his own. No one had told him how to rein in his outwardly manifesting spiritual power, so he could only adapt slowly and feel his way forward bit by bit.
By the time half the day had passed, Huang Huai had gotten a taste of what it was like to be the center of everyone's attention. Fortunately, he was resolute enough not to be swayed by other people's gazes.
And thanks to Huang Huai, the incense offered to Holy Lord Emperor Guan had suddenly become much more plentiful. Before, it was considered good if three or five out of every ten visitors entered the hall to burn incense for him. But with Huang Huai standing beside the statue, eight or nine out of every ten tourists came forward to offer incense.
"Oh no! Someone's going to jump off the cliff!"
A sudden shout rang out in the distance. Xunzhen Temple wasn't very large, and more than one person was shouting, so the commotion quickly stirred up a crowd.
Huang Huai heard it clearly from the side hall. His expression changed slightly, and he immediately said to Chen Wei, who was momentarily stunned, "Brother Chen, keep order here. I'll go see what's happening."
Watching the tourists rush outside in a chaotic flood, Chen Wei nodded at Huang Huai. "I've got things here. Xiao Jiu, be careful."
Several hundred meters from Xunzhen Temple stood a spacious viewing platform. Not far from it loomed a sheer cliff. From the platform, visitors could gaze out at the rolling mountains, verdant pines and cypresses, and drifting clouds and mist. It was one of the temple's scenic spots.
Many tourists chose to take in the view from this platform.
Because the sheer cliff was so dangerous, Xunzhen Temple had specially built a chest-high railing around the platform's edge. Great Daoist Master had also arranged for one of his disciples to keep order there. So, until now, nothing had ever gone wrong.
By the time Huang Huai arrived, he could already see a dense crowd gathered around the viewing platform. At a glance, there were at least several hundred people.
Jiang Ming, the fourth disciple of Great Daoist Master, was trying anxiously to talk a girl down from beyond the railing. A woman nearby was crying and trying to climb over the railing, but several tourists held her back with all their might, afraid she might climb over and get into danger as well.
The cliff's edge was still one or two meters beyond the railing, but if someone climbed over, who could guarantee they wouldn't lose their footing and fall?
"Qianqian, don't scare your mother! If something happens to you, how will I go on living?"
"Qianqian, come back! We'll go home. We won't look for doctors anymore or pray to the gods. Mom will stay with you..."
Their cries rang across the mountainside, as heart-wrenching as a cuckoo calling with bloodied cries. Everyone around them watched with heavy hearts.
Huang Huai hurried through the crowd and recognized the girl beyond the railing, as well as the woman screaming herself hoarse for her daughter. They were the same mother and daughter who had prayed to Holy Lord Emperor Guan for a blessing in the side hall that morning.
Jiang Ming was drenched in sweat as he struggled to keep order while continuing to talk the girl beyond the railing down. The moment he spotted Huang Huai, his eyes lit up. "Xiao Jiu, hurry over and help! You're young, about the same age as this girl. Maybe you'll know how to talk her down. We absolutely can't let her jump..."
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