Smash This Wretched Temple!

[Announcement] Follow "Qidian Reading" for the latest news on the 515 red-packet giveaway. If you haven't managed to grab a red packet since New Year, here's your chance to show what you can do. Tang Changsheng had cultivated for more than ten years, and his yang energy was abundant. Even in winter, though he could not get by in a single layer, he never dressed very heavily.

But now Tang Changsheng wore layer upon layer of thick clothing, yet his hands and feet still felt cold.

He knew that the longer he spent refining ghost soldiers, the more yin energy would cling to him, and the greater the threat to his health would become.

But he could not worry about that now!

As the incantation ended, an even colder chill swept over him in an instant. Tang Changsheng felt as though he had fallen into an icy cavern...

At that moment, the luminous pearl hanging high in the quiet chamber suddenly reacted. A beam of light shone down, and the Eight Trigrams mirror began to glow. Light flowed across it without cease, while the eight trigrams seemed to turn into moving patterns of light and shadow, like a whirlpool.

A shrill scream rang out as the whirlpool forcibly sucked a shadow from Tang Changsheng's body.

Just then, thunder cracked, shaking every roof tile. The pearl set into the quiet chamber went completely dark, leaving Tang Changsheng alone in the blackness.

If the pearl went out, calamity was sure to follow!

Thunder rolled across the sky. A fierce wind shook trees as thick as a man's body, and moments later, rain began to fall.

At some point, the weather had changed. What had been a light rain suddenly turned into a fierce downpour, engulfing all of Yin-Yang Mountain and even the entire Lower River.

"Damn it, damn it..." The gang of thugs heading up the mountain cursed up a storm.

What rotten luck. What kind of godforsaken place was this?

If they had not been paid handsomely—and, more importantly, if getting back down the mountain did not mean another hour or more on foot—the thugs would have fled long ago!

"Come on, brothers, put your backs into it! We're almost there. Once we reach the temple, we can get out of the rain..."

Thunder swallowed the rest of his words.

Rumble...

The thunder went on and on. The sky had grown terrifyingly dark, like dusk, yet red and white bolts of lightning tore through it and struck down, making their hearts pound.

Fortunately, the temple was close. Around a bend in the mountain stood an old building with black tiles and gray stone, backed by green pines.

On an ordinary day, the temple might have looked quaint and charming.

But amid the rain and lightning, its swaying branches looked like ghostly claws. The dilapidated temple took on a savage air in the flickering flashes.

"I think there's something strange about this place," someone muttered.

"I think so too. Why does that shabby temple look so creepy?"

The more timid men were already quaking inside.

Their leader cursed. "Look at the lot of you! What's so strange about it? People can go up into space and down beneath the earth, and they're almost done developing gene drugs that make people live longer.

"And you're still talking about fucking ghosts? Go on! Get in there and smash that wretched temple!"

"Boss, didn't you say we'd get out of the rain first?" one of his underlings asked hesitantly.

"To hell with that. A little rain won't kill you. Let's smash the temple and be done with it. Just looking at the damn thing sends a chill down my spine..."

He had let that last sentence slip. In truth, even he thought the temple looked wicked, enough to chill him to the bone!

But stirred up by their boss, the underlings began to shout.

"Brothers, there are more than a dozen of us, all flesh and blood. What's there to be afraid of? It's broad daylight.

"And besides, there's thunder..." Since ancient times, folk belief held that thunder broke every spell and destroyed every evil spirit. Whenever thunder sounded, so the old stories said, Heaven was hunting demons...

"That's right! Even if someone's playing tricks, there's thunder and lightning right now. What the hell are we afraid of?" Reminded of this, the boss immediately shouted, "In a storm like this, what evil thing would dare come out? Brothers, let's smash it together!"

With that, he had roused all his underlings. They howled as they prepared to demolish the temple.

They had even brought gasoline, planning to douse the wretched temple and burn it to the ground!

After all, there was no one to see them in these desolate mountains. Besides, the people who had hired them were immensely powerful. This was hardly the first job of its kind they had done!

But just then, cries of battle rang out, making them all shudder. For a moment, they thought an ambush was waiting...

The cries grew louder and louder, swelling into the roar of countless troops locked in slaughter.

The men exchanged looks. They had all seen plenty of strange things, and almost as one, they cried, "Could it be a natural magnetic field?"

There had always been places where strange noises arose whenever thunder and rain came, even the sounds of armies fighting. In some places, people had seen the shadows of two armies clashing!

In ages before science flourished, people said lingering resentment was to blame—that the places were haunted...

But as science spread, a different explanation took hold: the terrain, rocks, and other surroundings might happen to form a magnetic field that recorded ancient events like an audio or video tape.

And when conditions were right, such as during a thunderstorm, it played the recording back...

That was the first thing the men thought of now!

Despite themselves, they looked toward the source. On a ridge of Yin-Yang Mountain, mist lay thick, and countless indistinct figures seemed to be fighting with all their might.

"Set the fires! Burn them to death!" voices shouted.

Then came what sounded like fire catching, and a red glow stained the mist the color of blood.

The men watched for a long time, swallowing hard. They guessed that a magnetic field had recorded some ancient battle, but seeing it with their own eyes, in weather like this, still felt profoundly unnatural.

If there had not been so many of them together to bolster their courage, and if they had not believed it was a natural phenomenon, they would have been scared witless by now!

Even the boss had to speak up to steady his own nerves. "Don't be afraid. It's just a magnetic field, a recording of some ancient..."

Before he could finish, the mist surged off the ridge toward the General's Temple. Within it, many shadowy figures carrying swords and spears came marching toward them.

Soon the figures drew close enough for the men to see them clearly: warriors in ancient robes with yellow scarves tied around their heads, closing in with swords and spears in hand.

"The long-haired rebels!"

The moment they saw those clothes, the men recognized them and cried out together, their scalps prickling.

P.S. Readers following along, do you still have any free appreciation votes or Qidian coins? The countdown for the 515 red-packet rankings has begun. I'm here to ask for your votes—please send any extra support and appreciation votes you can, and let's make one last push!