Forbidden Sorcery

Before long, Lü Yuanhua emerged, his face livid. "Good, good, good! So my Primordial Yang Abbey truly does have hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Someone here even knows how to cast the Effigy Curse! Remarkable. Truly remarkable!" An uproar broke out among the crowd.

The Effigy Curse was forbidden sorcery, notorious throughout the land. Not only cultivators but officials and the imperial court itself regarded it with dread.

The court had even laid down a law: any sorcerer who cast the Effigy Curse would have three generations of his family exterminated!

And now someone in the Primordial Yang Abbey, which Marquis Wu valued and trusted so deeply, knew the Effigy Curse. What would the marquis think when word got out?

Once they heard the matter involved the Effigy Curse, no one dared speak up for Master Chengyang anymore, sincerely or otherwise...

Whether or not Master Chengyang had any connection to the person who had cast the Effigy Curse...

The fact remained that someone had first tried to use it against Tang Changsheng. When that failed, Master Chengyang had stepped in. Naturally, people would take them for accomplices...

And not one of them dared risk a crime that could see three generations of their family exterminated!

The Daoist who had come with Master Chengyang had been blustering just moments ago, loudly demanding justice for him. Now he stood to one side, dazed, his whole body shaking like a sieve!

Ordinary Daoist arts could not touch the exalted!

They could not harm princes, generals, and high officials protected by the fortune gathered around them.

The Effigy Curse was different. It could take the lives of those exalted figures.

Even if a noble household was as deep as the sea and guarded by a host of men, it could still make a powerful lord—one who sat among the highest ministers and enjoyed every luxury the world could offer—die inexplicably, without a sound...

No wonder every exalted figure loathed such sorcery to the bone!

None would show mercy to anyone connected with the Effigy Curse. Exterminating three generations? They would gladly execute nine!

Above all, they could not allow the Effigy Curse to spread. Who knew when it might claim their own lives?

In short, the fellow who had accompanied Master Chengyang was out of luck. Master Chengyang was under suspicion, and he could not escape it either. If he was handed over to the authorities, he was sure to die—and might well drag his relatives down with him.

The Daoist trembled without stopping. His face was deathly pale, and he could barely stand.

Everyone around him kept their distance, as if afraid of catching the plague!

If Tang Changsheng had been clever, he could have spoken a few words in the man's defense. That would have shown his magnanimity and repaired some of the damage his ruthless attack had done to his reputation.

It would also have changed how the outer-court Daoists saw him...

After all, though they now avoided the man like a venomous snake, deep down they could not help feeling like foxes mourning a dead hare.

More than one or two of them had plotted against Tang Changsheng and spoken ill of him behind his back!

Had Tang Changsheng done this, he would surely have won more of True Person Lü's favor. He might even have changed the outer-court Daoists' opinion of him and earned their gratitude...

Those who had spoken ill of him would no longer fear his revenge, either!

Tang Changsheng understood all of this perfectly. He simply had no intention of doing it.

For one thing, he was the head of the General's Temple. Why should he stoop to currying favor with a crowd of bystanders?

Besides, Tang Changsheng had no intention of staying here forever, much less becoming True Person Lü Yuanhua's disciple!

He still did not know how that key had inexplicably brought him back last time. But if it had happened once, it could happen again.

As for cultivation methods, the General's Temple lacked nothing.

Tang Changsheng was stuck at the stage of lighting his heavenly heart mainly because heaven and earth in his own world had undergone a tremendous upheaval.

Cultivation there was difficult. What he wanted to know now was whether he could use the Bagua Mirror—the key—to travel freely between the two worlds.

The vital energy in his original world had merely dispersed after a great calamity.

As long as he could reach this world, where vital energy was abundant, he could cultivate properly anywhere!

He was the head of the General's Temple, with its substantial holdings to look after. He was no barefoot man with nothing to lose, free to abandon everything...

His thoughts grew clearer. He cupped his hands toward Lü Yuanhua and said calmly, "Thank you for your guidance and hospitality these past few days, True Person Lü. I have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

Xin Chengying grew anxious and wanted to persuade Tang Changsheng to stay. But Lü Yuanhua said nothing, so Xin Chengying held his tongue and watched Tang Changsheng stroll away at ease.

"Daoist Tang has considerable aptitude," Lü Yuanhua said with a trace of regret, "but he is proud and haughty, and his methods are a little too ruthless."

Lü Yuanhua had wanted to keep him, but Tang Changsheng had made such an enemy of the outer-court Daoists. He could hardly dismiss every last one of them for Tang Changsheng's sake.

The words of invitation rose to his throat again and again, but in the end he did not speak them.

Only after Tang Changsheng had left the Primordial Yang Abbey did he finally feel his whole body relax.

Whatever the reason, he had stirred up a nest of demons and monsters inside the abbey. Now that he had left, surely none of them would come after him again?

Even so, Tang Changsheng remained cautious. He appeared to wander the streets at leisure, but all the while he watched for anyone following him.

He found that the people of the city treated anyone dressed as a Daoist with great deference. They either stepped aside and bowed from a distance or greeted him with ingratiating smiles...

Clearly, Daoists held a high position in Suxu City.

Their reputation did not seem particularly good, though. Among many of the poorer townsfolk, fear outweighed respect.

Tang Changsheng gave a cold smile. The outer-court Daoists recruited by the Primordial Yang Abbey were a mixed lot.

Who knew what harm they had done in the city under the abbey's protection...

True Person Lü Yuanhua served as Marquis Wu's state preceptor. Daoists meddling in government was already a grave taboo. Add so many ill-chosen, overbearing disciples to the mix, and it was no wonder the people resented them.

That only made Tang Changsheng more certain that leaving the Primordial Yang Abbey had been the right choice... Staying would sooner or later invite disaster!

Lost in thought, he kept walking and soon passed through the city gate.

Soldiers stood at the gate collecting taxes from those entering. Tang Changsheng was leaving, and when the soldiers saw his Daoist robes, they were eager to oblige. They let him through without difficulty.

Beyond the city wall lay what seemed another world. Large stretches of paddy fields spread near the gate, while farther off, dense woods and winding rivers filled a landscape of exceptional beauty.