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, safety talismans, and similar items were displayed right outside its gates.
During this time, Huang Bai occasionally helped people inspect feng shui and houses. He also took on jobs involving prayers for blessings, rituals, house protection, and exorcisms.
Before long, the temple gradually became more lively.
Sandalwood incense lingered within the temple, accompanied by a faint, unusual fragrance.
Huang Bai sat cross-legged before the cauldron, his eyes closed as he cultivated.
After a while, a faint hissing sound came from his sleeve. Then, the Three-Headed Cobra slowly poked its heads out.
It was the Belt-to-Snake Technique.
In his daily life, aside from refining ritual tools and nurturing the altar, Huang Bai also made time to practice magical arts.
Of Wong Tai Sin's four great secret incantations, the Belt-to-Snake Technique and Vajra Divine Sword Curse were the ones he had been practicing most often lately.
After one 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 gradually stopping.
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, staring longingly at the ball but not daring 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 in small bites.
"What's your name?"
"Which building do you live in?"
The child still did not answer. He only kept his head lowered as he ate the orange.
Seeing his white hair, Huang Bai had already more or less 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 came from outside.
"Little Bai! Little Bai!"
A disheveled woman with a dazed expression hurried inside. 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, still muttering under her breath.
"Why did you run over here? And you even ate big brother's food. Hurry up and say thank you."
Public housing manager Uncle Yan followed behind her.
Uncle Yan caught his breath, nodded at Huang Bai, and said helplessly, "This mother and son are quite pitiful too. After her husband died, Yang Feng went a little mad. 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 fine man, then suddenly his temperament changed completely. He even went and assaulted a female student. After things blew up, his family fell apart, and he died too."
At that, Uncle Yan shook his head. He did not wish to say more. Once he confirmed the child had been found, he turned and went back to his own business.
Huang Bai stood where he was, his gaze resting on the mother and son's retreating backs as something stirred faintly in his heart.
His temperament changed completely?
That did not sound like an ordinary case of a ruined family and a dead man.
"Come on, let's go home..." Yang Feng held tightly onto her child's hand, seemingly afraid that he would run off again.
"Sister Feng."
Huang Bai suddenly called out, stopping her.
Yang Feng stiffened all over and slowly turned back. Her eyes darted about, and she did not dare look directly at anyone.
"Would you like to do some odd jobs here?" Huang Bai asked calmly. "Cleaning, helping organize things. Three hundred dollars a day."
Yang Feng was visibly stunned.
"I... I can?"
She gripped the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, shrinking into herself as though she could not believe anyone would dare hire her.
"You can." Huang Bai nodded. "There are still quite a few empty rooms in the temple. If you're willing, you can stay here for now as well."
Yang Feng did not agree right away, but uncertainty had already appeared in her eyes.
Looking at the child's snow-white hair, Huang Bai inexplicably felt something he could not quite put into words.
This child was very strange.
If he walked the path of cultivation, he might enter the gate quickly.
If Huang Bai left this world someday, perhaps Heavenly Dao Temple could be entrusted to this child.
Late that night, intermittent sobbing suddenly drifted from an old public housing building.
The crying was soft, yet it bored straight into people's ears. It seemed close one moment and far away the next, floating through the night and making one's back crawl.
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 dead bastard, which bitch is singing in the middle of the night?"
"Damn it!"
The drunkard cursed as he continued forward. The moment he turned into the dim stairwell, a gust of yin wind rushed toward him.
He shuddered, sobering up a little.
He looked at the empty stairwell, still forcing himself to curse, though 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 stretched three feet out, blood tears streaming from her eyes as she stared down at him.
"A ghost!!!"
That scream instantly tore through the silence of the night.
A series of dull thuds followed. The drunkard slipped, then tumbled all the way down the stairs.
Early the next morning, beneath the trees outside the public housing estate, neighbors had already gathered in a circle and were chattering away.
"Did you hear? Asshole Cheung 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 for the rest of his life."
"Auntie Wong said she saw a female ghost in red floating past upstairs this morning too."
Someone suddenly remembered something.
"Didn't they say the Heavenly Dao Temple that just opened nearby is very effective? Why not ask Daoist Huang to give it a try?"
Over the next two days, the ghost-haunting rumors grew more and more outrageous.
Three more people were injured, and even fewer people dared go out at night.
A-You lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
He had not wanted to meddle in this matter, but now that people had been hurt, he could not bring himself to keep pretending he had seen nothing.
"What a pain."
A-You sighed, but still climbed out of bed.
He walked before the divine statue, performed Dipper Steps, formed a sword gesture with his fingers, and softly chanted an incantation.
"Essence of all jades, born of Heaven and formed by Earth, dragon inscriptions and Phoenix Script, arranged before me, talismans fly swiftly, traversing the spirit heavens..."
His movements were practiced. In the blink of an eye, he drew several talismans. Then he picked up his Peach Wood Sword and headed alone toward the haunted building.
The night was dark and windy, with black clouds pressing overhead. The public housing estate was pitch-black. Management here had always been 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 if 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 someone standing ahead.
A-You softened his footsteps and quietly approached.
When he got closer, he saw that it was Zhong Jiu.
Zhong Jiu held an incense burner emitting green smoke, his expression darker than usual.
"A-Jiu, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
Zhong Jiu looked back at him and made a quiet gesture.
"Shh."
"I came to check on the situation too."
Only then did A-You relax.
It turned out 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.
"Wuu wuu wuu..."
Negative Chi surged out from around the stairwell corner, gradually gathering into the figure of a female ghost in red.
A-You gripped his Peach Wood 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.
The wall to one side suddenly rippled in layers, as though its stone surface had turned to water.
The moment Zhong Jiu saw this phenomenon, his expression changed.
Then, under the two men's watchful eyes, a figure in Daoist robes stepped out of the wall.
It was Huang Bai.
Huang Bai raised a hand and sent out a streak of golden light.
Whoosh!
The golden light cut through the air and struck the female ghost's soul body directly.
"Aah!!!"
The female ghost let out a shrill scream. Her soul body shook violently, and even the surrounding air seemed to tremble from her cry.
Many people instantly fell into nightmares.
"So vicious."
Huang Bai spoke coldly. His hands shifted as he formed the Five Hells Formula and visualized Blazing Fire Hell.
In an instant, a warped illusion of fire appeared around the female ghost. Her once-thick ghostly energy barrier was soon scorched thin.
Bang! Bang!
Huang Bai fired two more Solar Curses. Streaks of golden light slammed into the female ghost one after another, making her scream repeatedly as her soul body swayed wildly. She was clearly unable to hold on much longer.
Huang Bai lunged forward. His ritual sword left its sheath, and with a flash of sword light, he cleaved the female ghost in two.
Her soul body shattered, and yin energy scattered in every direction.
This ghost had not even managed to get close to him before dying.
A-You stood there, stunned for a moment before coming back to himself.
"This Daoist Huang... he really has this kind of ability."
He had known Huang Bai was no ordinary person and had guessed that this young man possessed some real methods.
But seeing Huang Bai cut down the ghost so cleanly still left him shocked.
Zhong Jiu frowned as well.
"What kind of method is this..."
"Passing through walls, golden light, a Light-Opening Divine Sword, an illusion of a fire hell... If he isn't a Highest Clarity Talisman Tradition Daoist, then what path does he follow?"
Just then, Huang Bai suddenly turned around, his gaze sweeping over them like lightning.
"Who's there?"
A black shadow flashed from his sleeve. The Three-Headed Cobra soared into the air, hovering in midair with its tongues flicking out, its ferocity 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, impressive skills."
A-You stepped out as well. After pondering for a moment, he could not help voicing his own conclusion.
"Neither Zhengyi nor Quanzhen, worshiping neither ghosts nor gods... Could you be one of the Transcendent Daoists?"
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