Kidding?

At that moment, something seemed to stir. It shifted slightly, sending a tremor through the pool. The ghostly green glow swelled to the size of a lantern, and a vast body could be glimpsed undulating beneath the water. What green flame? What lantern? Those were the eyes of a behemoth lurking below!

Now disturbed, it swept its tail, and its enormous body pressed toward Tang Changsheng through the darkness, as though it would swallow him whole in the next instant.

But Tang Changsheng laughed. "Showing off tricks before a master... Soul-Dazing Art... Break!"

At his sharp command, the dark, bottomless pool, the ghostly green eyes, and the serpent-like monster all vanished.

Only Master Chengyang remained. His handsome face, once wearing a gentle smile, had twisted beyond recognition. Blood ran from his nose and eyes, making him a ghastly sight.

"You... you dared break my spell..." Master Chengyang glared at Tang Changsheng with venom in his eyes.

Tang Changsheng gave a cold smile and drove a lightning-fast punch into Master Chengyang's throat.

There was a faint crack. Master Chengyang's larynx shattered. He made choking sounds, trying to speak, but could not force out a single word. He fell to the ground and clutched desperately at his throat. Moments later, he convulsed and died.

"Brother Chengyang..." The Daoist who had accompanied him had yet to react. He had never imagined Tang Changsheng would strike to kill.

He even ran over to check Master Chengyang's injuries. Master Chengyang gripped his neck in agony, his eyes rolling back as harsh, rasping sounds escaped him. Before long, he was dead.

"Ah! Brother Chengyang is dead! Somebody, help! There's been a murder!" the Daoist cried in panic.

His cries quickly alerted the young Daoist attendants in the courtyard, then spread through the entire abbey.

Tang Changsheng smiled coldly, tucked his hands into his wide sleeves before his chest, and watched people arrive one after another, their faces stricken as they came to see the dead man...

Master Chengyang had been asking for death. To play such a contemptible mind-bewitching trick on an heir of the General's Temple!

Though Tang Changsheng's sect, the General's Temple, had declined, it had once been a renowned major sect in the Lower River region, keeping the motley demons and monsters of the martial world in check for hundreds of miles around.

The Spirit-Urging Art Master Chengyang had used was admittedly more sophisticated than the tricks people usually called spirit-urging or hypnosis.

But to the General's Temple, those were tricks it had left behind centuries ago.

Before long, even True Person Lü Yuanhua and Xin Chengying had been alerted. They hurried over, demanding, "What happened?"

The Daoist who had come with Master Chengyang said bitterly, "This villain killed someone! He killed Brother Chengyang!"

Lü Yuanhua frowned slightly and went to examine the body. Seeing that Master Chengyang had died from a shattered larynx, his frown deepened. The blow had been vicious in the extreme.

By then, several dozen people had gathered around, all talking at once.

"What a ruthless heart, smashing his throat like that..."

"Even ordinary gang members wouldn't strike so viciously. That's the sort of move a military spy would use..."

As they talked, they cast Tang Changsheng openly hostile looks.

They had disliked Tang Changsheng from the start. Now that he had killed Master Chengyang of the outer courtyard, the other Daoists there feared they might share his fate and hated Tang Changsheng all the more.

Only then did Tang Changsheng speak, unhurried. "True Person, please hear me out. Master Chengyang and this Daoist said they had come to visit me. Before we had exchanged more than a few words, Master Chengyang used the Spirit-Urging Art on me. I noticed it..."

Tang Changsheng spoke clearly, explaining what had happened in a few simple sentences.

On examining Master Chengyang, Lü Yuanhua found blood at his mouth and nose and a dark blue-black cast around his eyes. One glance told him that a spell like the Soul-Dazing Art had been broken and rebounded on its caster.

That was what had caused his condition. "Brother Chengyang was only joking with you," the Daoist said in grief and anger. "Even if he used the Spirit-Urging Art, he had no intention of killing you. Why did you have to strike so viciously?"

"Exactly. It was only a joke. You're part of Primordial Yang Abbey too. Chengyang certainly wouldn't have seriously hurt you. Why did you have to kill him?"

"Yes. How can someone so young have such a vicious heart?"

"If one of us played a joke on you, would you kill us too...?"

Tang Changsheng smiled faintly. Master Chengyang had come to ambush him and used the Spirit-Urging Art. He had plainly meant no good. Whether he would have dealt a killing blow, Tang Changsheng could not know.

Was he supposed to wait until Master Chengyang's spell had him under its control, just to see whether the man would kill him?

He smiled disdainfully but did not argue. Instead, he said calmly, "Ordinarily, I would never strike so hard. But I was practicing in meditation just now when someone tried to attack me in secret...

"That had only just ended when Brother Chengyang came to play his joke. The timing was unfortunate. How was I to know whether he was allied with the person who used that sinister art?"

Lü Yuanhua frowned. "You said someone nearly attacked you while you were cultivating. Do you have proof?"

"Of course," Tang Changsheng said. "One look and you'll know, True Person."

"Very well. I'll have a look." Lü Yuanhua gave everyone a searching glance, swept his wide sleeve aside, and entered the quiet room where Tang Changsheng had been cultivating.

The others surged after him, each trying to be first inside to investigate.

Xin Chengying tugged at Tang Changsheng's sleeve and asked softly, "Fellow Daoist, is everything you said true?"

"Of course it is," Tang Changsheng replied calmly.

"Ah, you don't know. My master thought highly of your aptitude and character. He had planned to take you as his disciple, but after what happened today, I'm afraid... Ah..." With a long sigh, Xin Chengying squeezed into the quiet room to look for himself.

Tang Changsheng felt a stir in his heart. He was no fool. How could he have failed to see what True Person Lü Yuanhua intended?

Unfortunately, Primordial Yang Abbey was no good place for quiet cultivation. The outer courtyard had recruited too many disciples of all sorts, and neither Lü Yuanhua nor his disciple had done anything to put it in order. It had become a den of schemes and shadows...

In truth, Tang Changsheng had already decided to leave. He had merely seized on the affair with Master Chengyang as a pretext, giving himself an excuse to go!

After all, he had received so many benefits from Primordial Yang Abbey. Without any excuse at all, saying he wanted to leave would not have been easy!

Tang Changsheng stood with his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.

For the moment, he cared little about becoming Lü Yuanhua's disciple, an opportunity that had so many others red-eyed with envy.

Nor was he particularly concerned about what Lü Yuanhua would find.

The traces of what that little shadowy figure had done to the Sky-Net Canopy and the Azure Jade Four Symbols Diagram still remained. Anyone with a discerning eye would see them.