Talismans

The place his sect had spent centuries preparing was filled with countless powerful restrictions and defenses. Before, he could not light up his Heavenly Heart, so however formidable they were, he could not use them... But now things were different!

He did not rush to act. Instead, he took out a bottle of medicinal wine and removed his shirt.

A spot on his arm where the Yin Soldier had barely grazed him had already turned a frightening blackish blue. The area had long since gone numb, without a trace of feeling left.

Tang Changsheng shuddered at the thought. That thing wasn't right. It couldn't have been some ghost or demon. It was definitely a Yin Soldier.

If it had been a ghost, it would have had to be at least as powerful as a malevolent ghost. Something like that could never appear in a place like Primordial Yang Abbey!

In other words, someone was trying to set me up?

But who?

Tang Changsheng could not guess, but he had a vague sense that it was not True Person Lü and his disciple.

After all, if those two wanted to deal with Tang Changsheng, they would have no need for tricks. They could finish him off with ease.

Right. I heard Primordial Yang Abbey has thrown open its doors and is recruiting Daoists from everywhere. They're a mixed lot. One of them might well control Yin Soldiers...

He was deeply dissatisfied with his own performance. He was the heir and sect master of the mighty General's Temple. Even if he had never seen a Yin Soldier before, how could one have scared him stiff?

If he had not pulled out the Bagua Mirror on the spot, Tang Changsheng might already have lost his life...

The more he thought about it, the more he regretted it. Looking back, Tang Changsheng could think of at least seven or eight ways he could have handled the situation.

Yet when it came down to it, the sole heir of the General's Temple had nearly pissed himself in fear. If his master found out, he would probably break Tang Changsheng's legs with a stick, then throw him down the mountain before he disgraced the General's Temple any further...

In the end, he might bear the title of sect master of the General's Temple, but his training was still lacking!

With a wry smile, Tang Changsheng rubbed the medicinal wine between his palms until it warmed, then spread it over his arm.

A prickling pain gradually returned to the arm that had lost all sensation.

It was a sign of life returning and blood flowing again. The wound left by the Yin Soldier had begun to heal.

Next, Tang Changsheng had to prepare properly and give that so-called developer who had come last time a thorough reckoning!

If he did not kill one to warn a hundred, the fear inspired by the thugs who had died all over the ground last time would not last long!

But every Daoist art rested on the same foundation: lighting the Heavenly Heart and beholding the Embryonic Light.

Tang Changsheng could now light his Heavenly Heart and cast spells, but it took him too long. A real enemy would not stand around like a fool for an hour or two while he settled into meditation.

So Tang Changsheng could only prepare in advance and draw talismans. When the time came, he could use them at once!

The process, however, proved far harder than he had imagined.

He sat in meditation for well over an hour before finally entering stillness and lighting his Heavenly Heart.

Only while keeping the Heavenly Heart lit could he visualize the complete talisman, chant the incantation, and draw it on talisman paper in one unbroken effort.

Only talismans drawn while the Heavenly Heart was lit would work.

What was more, he had to maintain a peculiar state that was both still and not still. At the very least, the Heavenly Heart could not go out while he was drawing...

Maintaining that state was harder still!

Drawing a single Spirit Talisman nearly did Tang Changsheng in. He had to light his Heavenly Heart three separate times before he succeeded.

It took him over an hour to light the Heavenly Heart each time, yet a single thought might arise, let his conscious mind take over, and snuff it out immediately.

Then he had to start all over again. After repeating the process throughout the night, Tang Changsheng finally drew one talisman.

And Tang Changsheng was naturally quite gifted.

He had also practiced the fundamentals of seated meditation since childhood, which was why he learned so quickly. In less than a night, he had mastered drawing his first talisman. But in the mirror, Tang Changsheng saw that his face was deathly pale, with a faint bluish tinge between his brows.

He looked dreadful from head to toe!

Lighting his Heavenly Heart over and over had nearly burned through the last of Tang Changsheng's strength, like a lamp running out of oil...

According to his sect's records, disciples of the General's Temple usually took three to seven days to draw their first Spirit Talisman after lighting their Heavenly Hearts.

They had to light the Heavenly Heart again and again, training without food or sleep until they were familiar with the process...

That ordeal could wear a person down to a hollow husk!

One of Tang Changsheng's grandmasters had gone through this very trial and emerged with every hair on his head turned white...

Fortunately, the General's Temple was a major sect with centuries of history and was no stranger to such problems.

It naturally had several ways to address them. And Tang Changsheng was now the General's Temple's sole heir and sect master.

With all its resources in his hands, he certainly would not stint on himself.

He carefully took a pill from the sect's stores and swallowed it.

It was called a Spirit-Restoring Pill, made specifically to repair this kind of damage to the mind and spirit.

It could even treat damage to the Primordial Spirit, a condition a hundred times more troublesome than Tang Changsheng's present state.

That alone showed how precious the pill was!

Tang Changsheng remembered that its principal ingredient was a thousand-year-old wild mountain ginseng.

These days, such a thing was priceless. You could not buy one even if you had the money.

The General's Temple's treasured medicine lived up to its reputation. Soon after he swallowed the Spirit-Restoring Pill, the weakness, nausea, and headache brought on by exhausting his mind and spirit faded away.

Its effects continued for seven days. Not only did lighting his heavenly heart again become easier, but each time he lit it, its glow seemed a little brighter...

Tang Changsheng still wanted to cultivate some kind of spell so he could take revenge on the developer pulling the strings.

But the very next morning, a man entered the temple. Without a word, he bowed several times and offered incense, then took out a stack of photographs and showed them to Tang Changsheng.

The photographs showed a blood-soaked corpse that had died horribly. There was scarcely a patch of intact skin anywhere on its body. Both ears had been cut off, and only black hollows remained where its eyes had been...

It was enough to make anyone's skin crawl at a glance!

Show those photographs to an ordinary person, and they might piss themselves on the spot!

Tang Changsheng's expression did not change. He did not recognize the man in the photographs, but somehow he knew the corpse in them had to be that developer who had sent the thugs up the mountain!