Highest Clarity Talisman Tradition, Transcendent Daoists

Heavenly Dao Temple.

This temple was unlike ordinary temples. It did not stand aloof or keep people at arm's length.

Incense sticks, candles, yellow paper, paper effigies, peace talismans, and such were displayed right outside its entrance.

During this period, Huang Bai occasionally helped people inspect feng shui and houses, while also taking on jobs for blessings, rituals, house protection, and exorcisms.

Before long, the temple gradually began attracting more visitors.

Sandalwood incense lingered within the temple, along with a faint, elusive fragrance.

Huang Bai sat cross-legged before the cauldron, meditating with his eyes closed.

After a while, a faint hissing came from his sleeve. Then, the Three-Headed Cobra slowly poked its heads out.

It was the Belt-to-Snake Technique.

Aside from refining his weapons and nurturing his altar, Huang Bai also made time to practice Daoist arts.

Of Wong Tai Sin's four great secret incantations, the Belt-to-Snake Technique and the Vajra Divine Sword Curse were the ones he had been practicing most often lately.

After completing a round of cultivation, Huang Bai slowly withdrew his power.

Just then, a ball suddenly rolled in through the doorway.

Thump, thump, thump.

The ball rolled all the way to the offering table before slowly coming to a stop.

Huang Bai looked up and saw half a small head peeking in through the temple gate. It was a white-haired child, standing timidly at the entrance and staring longingly at the ball, yet too afraid to come inside.

Huang Bai glanced at him and casually picked up an orange from the offering table.

"Come here."

The child froze for a moment. After hesitating, he slowly shuffled inside.

Huang Bai handed him the orange. After taking it, the child said nothing, merely lowered his head, peeled it in silence, and ate it one bite at a time.

"What's your name?"

"Which building do you live in?"

The child still did not answer, keeping his head down as he ate the orange.

Seeing his white hair, Huang Bai had already roughly guessed who he was.

This child was most likely the one that madwoman took everywhere with her.

Sure enough, before long, an anxious woman's voice called out from outside.

"Little Bai! Little Bai!"

A disheveled woman with a dazed expression rushed in. Only when she saw the child did she finally let out a breath of relief.

"Mom."

Little Bai called out.

The woman hurried over and pulled him into her arms, muttering softly all the while.

"How did you run over here? And you even ate big brother's food. Hurry up and say thank you."

Behind her was Uncle Yan, the public housing manager.

Uncle Yan caught his breath, nodded to Huang Bai, and said helplessly, "That mother and son are quite pitiful. After her husband died, Yang Feng became a little deranged. She spends all day wandering around the public housing estate with her son."

Huang Bai glanced at the woman.

"How did her husband die?"

Uncle Yan sighed.

"Who knows? He used to seem like a perfectly decent man, but then his personality suddenly changed. He actually went and assaulted a female student. After the matter blew up, his family fell apart, and he died too."

At that, Uncle Yan shook his head and did not wish to say more. Once he had confirmed the child was safe, he turned and went back to his work.

Huang Bai stood where he was, his gaze resting on the backs of the mother and son as something stirred faintly in his heart.

His personality suddenly changed?

That did not sound like an ordinary case of a family falling apart.

"Come on, let's go home..." Yang Feng tightly held her child's hand, seemingly afraid he would run off again.

"Sister Feng."

Huang Bai suddenly spoke, stopping her.

Yang Feng's body stiffened. She slowly turned around, her eyes shifting uneasily as she did not dare meet anyone's gaze.

"Would you like to do some odd jobs here?" Huang Bai's tone was calm. "Cleaning, helping organize things. Three hundred Hong Kong dollars a day."

Yang Feng was clearly stunned.

"I... I can?"

Her hands tightly clutched the hem of her clothes. Her whole body seemed drawn in on itself, as though she could not believe anyone would dare hire her.

"You can." Huang Bai nodded. "There are still plenty of vacant rooms in the temple. If you're willing, you can stay here for now as well."

Yang Feng did not agree immediately, but hesitation had already appeared in her eyes.

Looking at the child's snow-white hair, Huang Bai inexplicably felt something he could not put into words.

This child was strange.

If he walked the path of cultivation, he might enter the discipline very quickly.

If Huang Bai ever left this world, perhaps Heavenly Dao Temple could be entrusted to this child.

Late that night, intermittent weeping suddenly drifted from the old public housing building.

The crying was soft, yet it drilled into one's ears. Sometimes near, sometimes far, it drifted through the night and made one's spine tingle.

A drunkard carrying a bottle staggered upstairs.

The sound of a woman crying poured into his ears like the wind, making his already muddled head even more irritated.

"You damn bastard, which bitch is singing in the middle of the night?!"

"Fuck!"

The drunkard cursed as he walked forward. The moment he turned into the dim stairwell, a gust of icy wind hit him head-on.

He shuddered, sobering up somewhat.

He stared at the empty stairwell. His mouth kept spewing curses to keep up his courage, but his legs had already begun to weaken.

The next moment, he looked up and saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A woman in red hung in midair, her long hair dangling down. Her tongue protruded three feet from her mouth, blood tears streamed from her eyes, and she stared down at him.

"Ghost!!!"

The scream instantly tore through the silence of the night.

This was followed by several dull thuds. The drunkard slipped, then tumbled all the way down the stairs.

Early the next morning, neighbors had already gathered beneath the trees outside the public housing estate, chattering animatedly.

"Did you hear? Cheung Asshole from Building Three saw a ghost last night!"

"Really? How is he now?"

"He's still in the hospital. He didn't die, but he probably won't be able to stand again for the rest of his life."

"Auntie Huang said she saw a female ghost in red floating past upstairs this morning too."

Someone suddenly remembered something.

"Didn't they say that newly opened Heavenly Dao Temple next door is very effective? Why not ask Daoist Huang to take a look?"

Over the next two days, the ghost stories grew increasingly exaggerated.

Another three people were injured, and even fewer people dared to go out at night.

A-You lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

He had not wanted to get involved, but things had already escalated to the point where people were being hurt. If he continued pretending not to see it, he could not quite live with himself.

"What a pain."

A-You sighed and climbed out of bed anyway.

He walked before the deity statue, stepped through the Paces of the Dipper, formed a sword hand seal, and quietly recited an incantation.

"Essence of all jades, born of Heaven and formed by Earth, dragon script and Phoenix Script, arranged herewith; talismans fly swiftly, traversing all spirit heavens..."

His movements were practiced. In the blink of an eye, he drew several talismans, then picked up a peachwood sword and headed alone toward the haunted area.

The night was dark and windy, with heavy clouds pressing down overhead. The public housing estate was especially dark. Management here was already lax, and the streetlights were often left off at night, making the spaces between buildings feel even more oppressive.

A-You opened his Dharma Eyes and looked up. The rooftop was thick with yin energy, pressing down on the entire building as though it were shrouded in black mist.

"Strange."

"That woman has been hanged for a year. She never caused trouble before, so why did she suddenly go mad today?"

As he puzzled over it, he suddenly caught sight of a figure standing ahead.

A-You lightened his steps and quietly approached.

When he got closer, he saw that it was Zhong Jiu.

Zhong Jiu held an incense burner that emitted green smoke, and his expression was even gloomier than usual.

"A-Jiu, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

Zhong Jiu glanced back at him and made a silencing gesture.

"Shh."

"I came to check out the situation too."

Only then did A-You relax.

So it was not a coincidence. The two of them had actually thought of the same thing.

Soon, the crying in the stairwell rang out again.

"Wuwuwu..."

Negative Chi surged from around the stairway corner, gradually gathering into the shadow of a female ghost in red.

A-You tightened his grip on the peachwood sword and was about to step forward when Zhong Jiu grabbed him.

"Don't rush."

Zhong Jiu kept his voice low, but his eyes remained fixed ahead, as if waiting for something.

The next moment, an abrupt change occurred.

Ripples suddenly spread across one wall, as though its stone surface had turned into water.

The instant Zhong Jiu saw the phenomenon, his expression changed.

Then, under the two men's watchful gazes, a figure in Daoist robes stepped straight out of the wall.

It was Huang Bai.

Huang Bai raised a hand and released a streak of golden light.

Whoosh!

The golden light tore through the air and struck the female ghost's spirit body dead on.

"Ah!!!"

The female ghost let out a shrill scream. Her spirit body shook violently, and even the surrounding air seemed to tremble from that cry.

Many people instantly fell into nightmares.

"So fierce."

Huang Bai spoke coldly. His hand seals shifted as he formed the Five Hells Formula and visualized Blazing Fire Hell.

In an instant, a distorted illusion of flames appeared around the female ghost. Her formerly dense ghostly barrier was quickly scorched thin.

Bang! Bang!

Huang Bai fired two more Solar Curses. Streaks of golden light crashed into the female ghost one after another, making her scream repeatedly as her spirit body swayed wildly. She was clearly unable to hold on any longer.

Huang Bai lunged forward. His ritual sword left its sheath, and with a flash of sword light, he cleaved the female ghost straight down the middle.

Her spirit body shattered, and yin energy scattered in all directions.

That ghost had not even managed to get close to him before she died.

A-You stood there in a daze for a moment before coming back to himself.

"This Daoist Huang... he actually has this kind of ability."

He had known Huang Bai was no ordinary person and had guessed that the young man possessed some methods.

Yet seeing him dispatch a ghost so cleanly and decisively still shocked him.

Zhong Jiu frowned as well.

"What kind of Daoist art is this..."

"Walking through walls, golden light, the Light-Opening Divine Sword, a fire hell illusion... If he is not a Highest Clarity Talisman Tradition Daoist, then what school does he belong to?"

At that moment, Huang Bai suddenly turned around, his gaze sweeping over them like lightning.

"Who's there?"

A black shadow flashed from his sleeve as the Three-Headed Cobra shot into the air. It hovered there, flicking its tongues, its vicious nature fully exposed.

Zhong Jiu's expression shifted slightly. He immediately stepped out and raised a hand in greeting.

"Don't attack. It's me."

"Fellow Daoist, you have impressive skills."

A-You stepped out as well. After pondering for a moment, he could not help voicing his conclusion.

"Neither Zhengyi nor Quanzhen, worshipping neither ghosts nor gods... Could you be one of the Transcendent Daoists?"

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