The Dharma Ends, the True Way Is Gone

Splash!

Another bout of dizzying disorientation swept over him.

When Huang Bai opened his eyes, he had already arrived in a new realm.

Before him stood a bustling metropolis, filled with towering buildings and endless traffic.

Yet tucked away in the corners of those prosperous high-rises was a crowded slum.

The buildings pressed tightly against one another, like bricks haphazardly piled together, fighting over the pitiful sliver of sunlight above. Cheap clothes hung from the crumbling balconies, dripping water down into the already narrow alleyways and making them even more slippery. Cockroaches and rats occasionally darted out of the sewers, vanishing through the shadows in a flash.

This place was none other than Kowloon Walled City.

Amid the dense maze of buildings, a vermilion hall had somehow been squeezed into existence.

The temple walls were mottled and overgrown with moss, covered in messy chalk graffiti left by children. Beside the red gates sat incense sticks, candles, yellow paper, burial clothes, and other sundries. The stale scent of paper ash mingled with incense, rushing straight at him.

Several old characters were written on the plaque above the entrance:

Kowloon Wong Immortal Shrine.

The deity enshrined here was Wong Tai Sin, who had attained the Dao during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Wisps of incense smoke curled through the air like gauze as worshippers seeking peace, marriage, and fortune came and went.

An old Daoist priest with white hair and beard, who looked remarkably presentable, leaned back in a grandmaster's chair and dozed off, showing little interest in the worshippers passing by.

"Daoist Zhi Gang, how much is this yellow paper?"

"Ten bucks a stack." Old Daoist Zhi Gang did not even open his eyes.

"That expensive?"

"Buy it or get lost." Daoist Zhi Gang waved him away impatiently, utterly unconcerned about losing business.

"Fuck your mother, your whole family can die!" The worshipper's face flushed red as he cursed his way out. If not for the old Daoist's half-dead appearance, he would have thrown a punch long ago.

Wong Tai Sin was the most popular faith in Hong Kong. Wong Tai Sin temples everywhere thrived on abundant offerings, yet the believers in this area came only in twos and threes, leaving the place desolate.

It was not that the people of Kowloon Walled City did not believe in ghosts and gods. It was simply that the old Daoist's temperament was too vile. He cursed worshippers at the slightest provocation and even drove them out of the temple.

Huang Bai stepped up to the old Daoist and said, "Hello, Daoist priest. I'm here to apply for the position of temple caretaker."

According to the identity arranged for him by the Heavenly Dao Talisman Edict, he was merely an ordinary citizen applying to become a temple caretaker in this realm. As long as he successfully remained here, he could obtain ordination papers and become a Daoist priest.

The old Daoist glanced at Huang Bai, a trace of scrutiny in his eyes.

"It's not up to me. It's up to Wong Tai Sin. The caretaker of Wong Tai Sin's temple must be an upright person."

"Go offer a stick of incense to Wong Tai Sin. If you pass Wong Tai Sin's test, you can become the temple caretaker."

"Alright." Huang Bai was inwardly astonished. Could there really be immortals and gods in this world?

He was more inclined to believe that immortals and gods did not exist. If they truly did, then it would not be the Miscellaneous Affairs Department managing supernatural incidents, nor would ghosts and monsters be allowed to run rampant.

Huang Bai entered the temple, lit three incense sticks, and bowed devoutly in worship while his divine sense swept the surroundings.

Just as he had guessed, there was not the slightest trace of anything supernatural.

Whoosh!

At that moment, the portrait of Wong Tai Sin hanging on the wall drifted down to the floor.

Daoist Zhi Gang entered just then and said, "You're hired. Salary's three thousand, no food or lodging included. If you want to stay in the temple, two hundred bucks will be deducted every month. If you don't want the job, go somewhere else."

"I accept."

The old Daoist handed Huang Bai a blue Daoist robe and rambled on:

"No stealing incense money. The temple's main business is selling incense, candles, and spirit money. No discounts. Throw out anyone who tries to haggle."

"If someone asks for a talisman to ward off evil, just copy the talismans on the wall for them."

Daoist Zhi Gang pointed at the image on the wall.

Huang Bai focused his eyes and saw that it was actually a movie poster for Mr. Vampire. In the poster, Uncle Nine held a sword in one hand and a talisman in the other, looking majestic as zombies and ghosts fled in panic.

"This... this works too?"

This old Daoist was obviously a fraud.

"Why wouldn't it?" At this, Zhi Gang's expression turned solemn. "Although I'm a Daoist priest, I still need to tell you something—there are no ghosts in this world."

"Stories about spirits are nonsense, the boring fantasies of mental patients. Don't get close to them, or you might get hauled away as a mental patient yourself."

"I understand."

In the days that followed, Huang Bai settled down in the temple.

Daily life in the temple was utterly ordinary. There were no Daoist arts or mystical foundations, only the mundane necessities of life.

Every day, Zhi Gang simply basked in the sun, looking like a man waiting to eat and die. Huang Bai took over all temple affairs.

Only when there were rituals for weddings, funerals, and the like did Zhi Gang take Huang Bai out with him.

There was still no trace of anything supernatural in any of it. It was all nothing but trickery and deception.

"Morning, Daoist Huang!"

"Daoist Huang! Take some fruit home with you."

Since taking over the temple's miscellaneous affairs, Huang Bai had quickly become popular with the neighbors thanks to his kind attitude.

At night, in the temple's side hall.

Under the dim night lamp, Huang Bai sat cross-legged, clasping the inner core in both hands. He visualized the Five Prisons and absorbed the inner core's immense medicinal power.

He could feel his divine sense strengthening bit by bit. It had now broken through the ten-meter mark.

Meanwhile, Zhi Gang had yet to sleep.

He draped an outer robe over himself, slowly walked to the window, and gazed out at the pitch-black night sky.

Kowloon Walled City in the dead of night was as silent as a massive coffin. The high-rises crisscrossed overhead, blotting out the sky and sun like the coldest, most sinister curtain, tightly covering the human world.

Those who were awake could only pretend not to see.

"Alas..."

Zhi Gang let out a soft sigh.

"The True Way is gone. The age of Dharma decline has arrived."

He was no reclusive master with a hidden identity, nor was he an enlightened cultivator pretending to be mad and foolish.

He was merely an ordinary man who saw things too clearly, yet could do nothing about them.

Knock knock knock!

A frantic pounding suddenly shattered the night's stillness.

"Daoist priest! Daoist priest!"

"Knocking on your mother's door! In such a rush to be reincarnated?" Zhi Gang cursed as he threw on his coat and hurried outside.

A middle-aged couple stood outside the door, their expressions panicked and their faces filled with terror.

"Daoist priest, save us! Our daughter's been possessed! Hurry and take a look!"

"What possession? Nonsense."

Zhi Gang's mouth remained as sharp as ever, but he still turned around and called Huang Bai out, following the couple to their home.

Along the way, Zhi Gang kept muttering:

"What ghosts, what gods, it's all fake. In this age of Dharma decline, immortals have withdrawn from the world, and ghosts and gods have vanished. There haven't been ghosts in this world for a long time."

He sounded as though he were lecturing others, yet also as though he were desperately trying to convince himself.

"Ahhh!"

The moment they reached the door, a sharp, piercing scream suddenly burst from behind the iron gate.

It sounded so shrill that it did not resemble a child's voice at all. It sounded more like something had been forcibly caught by the throat, making their scalps tingle.

They pushed open the door and entered.

The lights inside were ghastly white.

A little girl stood in the center of the living room with her back to them, utterly motionless.

The screaming abruptly stopped.

Crack crack!

The next instant, her head suddenly twisted one hundred and eighty degrees, her face turning directly toward them.

Her eyes were filled with resentment and chilling malice as she stared fixedly at everyone standing in the doorway.

The room instantly became so silent that a pin drop could be heard.

"A... a child's bones haven't fully grown in yet. Being a little more flexible is normal too."

Zhi Gang's Adam's apple bobbed as he forced out a line of nonsense that even he himself did not believe.

Even Huang Bai's eyelids twitched slightly at the words.

He had already tightened his grip around his ritual sword.

The ghosts in The First Commandment were extremely troublesome. Their possession methods were impossible to guard against, and once one came into contact with them, a ghost might burrow into their body. Even now, he did not dare say for certain whether his current cultivation could withstand it.

"Hehe..."

An eerie laugh came from the little girl's throat. In the next moment, she suddenly leaped onto the wall, scampering along it like a gecko before darting into the inner room.

Bang!

The door slammed shut.

"Daoist priest..." The couple's faces turned deathly pale as they looked at Zhi Gang as if begging for help.

Zhi Gang coughed twice and tried his best to look unconcerned.

"Ahem. The child's light, so jumping a little higher is normal too."

After saying that, he pulled two talismans from his sleeve and stuffed them into the couple's hands.

"Stick these two talismans on the door. That'll do it."

"Let's go."

With that, Zhi Gang turned and left, moving so fast that he was practically fleeing in panic.

Huang Bai followed him out, his brow slightly furrowed. He lowered his voice and said, "Daoist priest, that was clearly ghost possession—"

"Keep it down."

Zhi Gang's expression was more serious than ever. His voice seemed to squeeze out through clenched teeth.

Rapid footsteps sounded behind them.

"Daoist Zhi Gang, wait! You haven't taken the money yet!"

It was the husband chasing after them.

Zhi Gang halted, but did not turn around.

The man had already run up behind them, and there was even a strange lightness in his voice.

"Daoist priest, thank you so much. Xiaojia is much more normal now."

The instant the man drew close, his face turned deathly white. Two streams of bloody tears suddenly flowed from his eyes, his entire face twisting into something inhuman as he lunged at Zhi Gang!

Yet Zhi Gang seemed to have expected this all along.

He merely stood where he was, calm to the point of numbness, as though welcoming a death that had long been fated.

Buzz!

A longsword flew from its sheath, its gleam arcing like a rainbow.