Effigy Curse

Tang Changsheng had lit his Heavenly Heart only a few days ago, and it was still very weak. Just looking for a moment had nearly exhausted him. He was about to draw its light back when he suddenly sensed something wrong. At that moment, a shadow as thin as paper slipped through the crack beneath the Quiet Room door.

The shadow crept forward a couple of steps, then saw the Sky-Net Canopy and the Azure Jade Four Symbols Diagram.

Its face had no discernible features, only a flat outline like a human shadow. Yet the corner of its mouth seemed to split open in an eerie grin.

Then an oval patch of darkness appeared in its hand, resembling a mirror.

It cast out another shadow, like a mirror reflecting light, and shone it onto the Sky-Net Canopy.

The light on the Sky-Net Canopy, invisible to ordinary eyes, was immediately blocked by the shadow.

The paper-thin figure grew bolder. A brush formed from shadow appeared in its hand, and it swaggered over to the Green Dragon in the Azure Jade Four Symbols Diagram. With two strokes of the brush, it sealed the dragon's eyes.

The light of the Green Dragon guarding the front immediately wheeled about as though it had gone blind...

Tang Changsheng saw it all clearly, and his heart cried out in alarm.

Someone was trying to harm him!

Someone else who had only just reached this stage of cultivation might have found the sight amusing.

But as the heir to the General's Temple, Tang Changsheng had heard far too much about the underhanded tricks of the martial world, even if he had never experienced them himself.

How could an ordinary demon or ghost possess such cunning?

This was plainly a spell cast by a master of sinister arts!

And for it to happen just as he was cultivating in seclusion—whoever was behind it clearly meant him harm.

Tang Changsheng immediately withdrew the light of his Heavenly Heart and ended his cultivation. When he opened his eyes, cold sweat had soaked his back...

Fortunately, lighting his Heavenly Heart had sharpened his spiritual senses. That was why he had felt something amiss and noticed the shadow. Otherwise, he would have been in trouble!

But now that he had seen it, the one in trouble would be...

Such underhanded tricks could not stand the light of day; they worked only from the shadows. Once discovered, they were easy to break.

That was precisely Tang Changsheng's situation. If he had failed to notice, the shadow could have destroyed his defenses. While he was deep in meditation, it would have had a thousand ways to harm him.

But Tang Changsheng had stopped cultivating and regained consciousness. His Primordial Spirit had retreated, and his Heavenly Heart was hidden. Striking at him now would not be so easy.

With his Heavenly Heart hidden, Tang Changsheng could no longer see what the shadow was doing.

He gave nothing away, pretending he was still deep in meditation. Even his breathing did not change in the slightest.

Thanks to Tang Changsheng's more than ten years of breathing exercises, his breathing and heartbeat barely changed even after he woke.

The shadow figure noticed nothing at all.

Then Tang Changsheng felt a faint, chilly draft brush his mouth and nose, carrying an odd medicinal fragrance. His heart tightened. Here it came!

Without thinking, Tang Changsheng unleashed a shout that cracked like spring thunder.

Then he bit the tip of his tongue and, driving the refined breath within his belly outward, spat fiercely ahead!

A scream sounded faintly through the bloody mist, then vanished in an instant...

Beyond several courtyards, a scream suddenly rang out from a room in the outer compound.

A black-robed Daoist sat before an altar, casting a spell. All at once, he reeled as though someone had punched him in the face. Blood streamed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and he toppled backward...

The mist of blood Tang Changsheng had spat slowly dispersed.

A cold smile touched Tang Changsheng's face. Blood from the tip of the tongue was intensely yang in nature. It could break not only evil influences, but spells as well. Anyone resorting to such underhanded tricks could not be especially capable. They must practice crooked arts and lack the ability to refine their internal energies.

Tang Changsheng had broken the spell with that mouthful of blood. The caster would be gravely wounded, if not dead!

His cold smile faded, and he stood with his hands tucked into his sleeves, pondering. In his current situation, who would want to harm him?

It certainly would not be True Person Lü Yuanhua. For someone who could so easily guide another person to open their Heavenly Heart, killing an entry-level cultivator like Tang Changsheng would be no harder than crushing an ant.

Then who could it be?

He walked slowly out of the Quiet Room and paced the courtyard with his hands behind his back, turning the question over in his mind. Tang Changsheng slowly pondered his worries.

Primordial Yang Abbey truly was no place to cultivate. Its rules were far too lax.

Lü Yuanhua and his disciple Xin Chengying might be good people, but neither had the ability or experience to manage the abbey. Everything there was a mess.

Last time, a Yin Soldier had ambushed Tang Changsheng. Now, even while cultivating inside the Quiet Room, he had nearly fallen prey to someone skilled in the Effigy Curse...

Witchcraft and the Effigy Curse were said to be tools for harming people in imperial palaces and princely estates, those sprawling mansions and splendid residences. Why would someone at Primordial Yang Abbey know how to use them?

And why use them against him?

He could not make sense of it, but he felt more strongly than ever that Primordial Yang Abbey was a mire of trouble!

Just then, someone knocked at the courtyard gate.

"Is Fellow Daoist Liu there? This humble Daoist, Master Chengyang, requests an audience..."

A moment later, Tang Changsheng saw two Daoists standing outside the courtyard gate. One of them spoke in a gentle voice.

Master Chengyang? What was this fellow doing here? Did he not know that people in seclusion were not to be disturbed? He truly had no manners.

Tang Changsheng frowned but went to meet him. "Fellow Daoist Chengyang, what brings you here?"

Master Chengyang seemed to have been drinking; a faint smell of wine clung to him. Now he pointed at Tang Changsheng in a fury. "Tang Changsheng, what merit or ability do you have? Why should True Person Lü treat you this way?"

Tang Changsheng took a step back, frowning more deeply. Had a little wine given this coward courage? Had he come here drunk to make a scene?

"Fellow Daoist, are you drunk?" Tang Changsheng asked in a low voice.

"Drunk?" Master Chengyang flew into a rage. His gaze grew deep, boring into Tang Changsheng's eyes. "Tell me, Brother Liu, what merit or ability do you have that True Person Lü would take a liking to you and want you as his disciple?"

"What?" Tang Changsheng shuddered slightly.

His mind loosened, and his attention was drawn against his will to Master Chengyang's eyes. They were like bottomless pools, as though they would swallow Tang Changsheng's entire consciousness. Yet in the depths of those bottomless pools, there was a pinprick of dark green light.

But deep within those bottomless pools flickered a pinprick of ghostly green fire.