The General's Temple Returns to the Fray!

At the other end of the call, Zhang Dacheng sat in a broad executive chair. He hung up and remained silent for a long time.

Unlike the gaunt Zuo Xingfa, he was somewhat younger and carried himself with considerable presence.

His luxurious office covered more than two hundred square meters and was imposing in the extreme. It belonged to Zhang Dacheng, the boss of Dacheng Industries!

Everyone in Lower River knew of Zhang Dacheng's vast influence across both the underworld and legitimate society.

After taking the call, this powerful man stayed silent for a long time. His face remained as still as an ancient well, betraying nothing.

But anyone who knew Zhang Dacheng understood that his silence alone meant he had encountered something extraordinarily difficult.

At last, a trace of pale fear appeared on his face, along with a deeply buried fervor and delight.

Zhang Dacheng finally made up his mind. In a rare move, he pressed the call button and phoned his trusted subordinates directly, without going through his secretary.

Barely ten minutes later, his two confidants, Song Da and Ruan Wenhua, arrived in the office.

Both men had followed Zhang Dacheng for at least twenty years and knew him better than anyone. His personal call left them uneasy, with no idea what had happened.

Then Zhang Dacheng said, "The General's Temple called me just now."

"What?"

Song Da and Ruan Wenhua nearly leaped to their feet. No one understood what that meant better than they did!

Ruan Wenhua asked in alarm, "They haven't called us since the old master died, have they?"

Fear and dread threatened to engulf him like a flood. He waited for an answer as though grasping for a straw to save his life.

Ruan Wenhua was known among Zhang Dacheng's men for his resourcefulness, yet now he was frightened half out of his wits. For once, Song Da did not mock him...

In truth, Song Da was hardly faring any better. His calves were beginning to cramp.

If the General's Temple had spent centuries in Lower River without putting down roots that reached into every corner, wouldn't that be a joke?

To put it bluntly, both Zhang Dacheng and Zuo Xingfa had been cultivated by the General's Temple as part of its outer circle.

Zhang Dacheng had started with nothing and become a local powerhouse in little more than a decade, all thanks to the General's Temple's protection!

If the three great families of Lower River had once been the General's Temple's most devoted patrons and generous benefactors,

then Zhang Dacheng and Zuo Xingfa had been little more than vicious dogs raised to guard its gates!

No one knew better than they did how terrifying the General's Temple was!

Such arrangements had once been commonplace in the martial world. The General's Temple had controlled Lower River this way for centuries...

But after the old master died, rumors spread that the General's Temple's magic had begun to fail...

In any case, the General's Temple had not contacted Zhang Dacheng for nearly twenty years.

They had almost come to believe they were free of its control!

Now, after twenty years, orders from the General's Temple had come down once more. The call left them shocked, panicked, and terrified!

A ruthless glint flashed in Song Da's eyes. "I heard some formidable outsiders have set their sights on the General's Temple. Could it be that the temple can't hold them off...?"

His meaning was clear: if that was true, they would not mind joining in to finish the General's Temple off!

"No..." Zhang Dacheng said evenly, a carefully concealed hint of pride at the corner of his mouth. "If the General's Temple couldn't handle those outsiders, it would never have contacted us again.

"Now that they've called me, there's only one possibility..."

Ruan Wenhua blurted out, "The young master has finally achieved mastery in his cultivation!"

Song Da trembled faintly. "That means... that means the General's Temple is returning to the fray?"

"Almost certainly! I didn't quite believe what Zuo Xingfa said last time, but now..."

A fierce light flashed in Zhang Dacheng's eyes. "Find every one of those outsiders who crossed into our territory. Leave none alive!"

Song Da agreed at once and strode out, brimming with murderous intent.

Those outsiders might be formidable, but Zhang Dacheng's men were local snakes with roots sunk deep into this place.

Digging the outsiders out would be all too easy!

Meanwhile, a faint smile played on Tang Changsheng's lips. "Master often said that only someone with skill can hold a blade. Give one to someone without skill, and he'll only hurt himself..."

The General's Temple still possessed supernatural arts, so it could naturally bring those unruly men of the martial world to heel.

But if the General's Temple lost its power and still tried to command them, they might well turn on it!

That was why Tang Changsheng had never considered asking them for help before illuminating his Heavenly Heart, no matter how dangerous things became!

Now that he had illuminated his Heavenly Heart and could cultivate all manner of Daoist arts, he could reclaim those former sources of power one by one!

Every great power needed people who could not stand the light, people to do things behind the scenes that could not bear scrutiny.

From nations down to multinational corporations... even banks collecting debts relied on people from the martial world.

The General's Temple was no exception!

Ancestors, rest assured. Now that I have illuminated my Heavenly Heart, I will restore our sect to its former glory!

Never before had Tang Changsheng felt as confident in himself as he did today!

But confidence was one thing. Strength mattered even more!

Tang Changsheng sat silently for a long while, considered the matter, and made up his mind.

Even though he had illuminated his Heavenly Heart, advancing his cultivation was no easy task. Nor were powerful supernatural arts easily mastered.

Therefore...

Refining Yin Soldiers as guardians and securing his own safety had to come first!

Tang Changsheng looked at the corpse on the floor, and a strange light appeared in his eyes...

He could not leave the corpse there for long. Even setting aside the trouble it might cause in the temple, the summer heat would soon make it rot.

For many people, disposing of a body without a trace was a technical challenge, nowhere near as simple as ordinary people imagined.

But Tang Changsheng knew at least seven or eight ways to do it.

Dead Man Mountain lay not far from the General's Temple. Throwing the corpse there would be the simplest, cleanest solution.

He acted at once, searching the corpse until he found a few odds and ends, but nothing that could establish the dead man's identity...