Take Off Her Clothes?

That was why many ordinary Daoist spells could harm common people but had no effect on the highborn. As the saying went, magic could not touch the nobility!

The Effigy Curse was different, though. No matter how strong a person's fortune, it could still harm them in secret...

Since ancient times, who knew how many major Witchcraft Curse cases had erupted within imperial palaces? Countless princes and imperial consorts had died under such spells!

And that was to say nothing of princes' and marquises' estates, or the secluded mansions of wealthy households!

That was why Tang Changsheng had said that those who practiced Witchcraft generally were not people of the martial world... Most had been kept in the service of powerful families in ancient times.

Now, in this world, heaven and earth were in the grip of a great calamity. Daoist arts were withering, while technology advanced by leaps and bounds.

Even ordinary cultivators were hard to find, let alone those who practiced the Effigy Curse!

Yet the girl's condition bore a striking resemblance to its effects.

The terror on her face grew deeper and deeper, as though she had fallen into the abyss of a nightmare and could no longer claw her way out...

Tang Changsheng saw it clearly. With a cold snort, he dipped a finger in cinnabar and drew two quick strokes between her brows.

People had three souls and seven corporeal spirits. After death, all of them dispersed.

The seven corporeal spirits, in particular, were bound to the body. When someone lay ill in bed, they began to slip away one by one even before death. Only when the final breath ceased did the three souls depart.

That was why people dying of old age after a long illness often grew confused before they died.

Medicine might call it dementia, Parkinson's disease, or something similar. To the Daoist sects, it meant the seven corporeal spirits had begun to disperse.

But someone struck by the Effigy Curse had those spirits forcibly driven from their body. They could be left in a state worse than death, or even reduced to an unthinking fool...

By drawing Talismans between the girl's brows, Tang Changsheng had sealed her Heavenly Heart so her principal soul would not be lost. Only then could he deal with the rest!

Sure enough, once the two strokes were in place, the terror on the girl's face gradually eased.

But before long, the marks between her brows rapidly dried and faded, then rose as wisps of mist.

Ruan Wenhua and the two bodyguards watched the supernatural sight with bated breath, hardly daring to breathe at all.

They were perceptive men, and they knew the girl's condition. They understood perfectly well that what they were seeing was no magic trick.

Tang Changsheng seemed to be battling a powerful, evil force within her body...

They were afraid the slightest loud noise might send everything scattering...

Then the girl's condition seemed to take a turn for the worse, and they nearly cried out.

Blue veins rose beneath her delicate skin, one after another, as though insects were burrowing through her flesh!

Tang Changsheng gave a cold snort, but his heart tightened. This is bad.

He knew his own limits. Although he had kindled his Heavenly Heart, he had yet to build his Spirit Terrace and could not wield his powers at will. Each time he settled into meditation to kindle his Heavenly Heart, it took an hour or two.

With advance preparation, that would have been fine. But how could he kindle it so easily when trouble struck without warning?

And the girl's condition, however he looked at it, was far from good. He had nowhere near enough time to prepare.

Fortunately, he knew his limitations. He immediately took a long, slender stick of incense from a wooden box on the altar, handling it with great care.

He hated to use it, but he had no choice now.

It was Calming Incense, a secret preparation passed down by the General's Temple. Ordinarily, it was nothing extraordinary.

Its ingredients were much more expensive than those of ordinary incense—a single stick cost nearly ten thousand.

But that was not what made it truly remarkable. Its real wonder was that the box had rested as an offering on the altar before the deity for decades.

That gave it a power freshly made incense lacked... Only a sect like the General's Temple, with centuries of history, could produce something so precious...

That was what a legacy meant!

There were so many things that looked worthless, yet when you truly wanted one, no amount of money could buy it.

In that respect, the General's Temple far surpassed True Person Lü Yuanhua's Primordial Yang Abbey.

True Person Lü's abbey covered dozens of acres. Everything was brand-new, splendid as a prince's estate.

But if Lü Yuanhua knew what he was getting and had the chance to trade, he would gladly pay extra to exchange it for Tang Changsheng's unassuming General's Temple, with its seven or eight old rooms!

While the newly rich showed off luxury cars and beautiful women, every table and chair in a true noble household—even its bowls, chopsticks, cups, and plates—could be a fine piece hundreds of years old.

Auction any one of them, and it might well fetch enough to buy one of those luxury cars...

With centuries of history behind it, the General's Temple could rightly be called a great house in this regard!

So the chance to become a disciple of the Primordial Yang Abbey, taught personally by True Person Lü Yuanhua, held no attraction for Tang Changsheng at all!

As soon as he lit the Soul-Soothing Incense, a faint fragrance emerged. Its smoke was far thinner than ordinary incense smoke, barely there at all.

But the moment the girl caught its scent, the pain on her face eased. The raised blue-purple veins slowly sank back beneath her skin.

Her face grew peaceful as she slept, and she even began to snore softly and sweetly.

"Whew..." Seeing that the Soul-Soothing Incense had worked, Tang Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Incense offered before the Deity Statue for over twenty years really does work!

According to the sect's rules, whatever I use, I must replace. Since I've taken from this box, I'll have to put another box here and let it receive offerings.

That was how a sect with a long legacy conducted itself... One had to consider future disciples in everything, rather than squander whatever one pleased.

"Master, is she better?" asked a man who looked like a bodyguard, his waist bulging beneath his clothes. He wiped away a cold sweat.

Though they had done nothing, they had sensed how close the danger had come.

"What happened to the young miss? Was she possessed by some devil?"

"Better?" Tang Changsheng shot him a sidelong glance and scoffed. "Not even close!"

"Ah!" Everyone cried out. The girl's face had relaxed, so they had assumed she was cured. None had expected Tang Changsheng to say that...

"Take off her clothes!" Tang Changsheng barked.

"What?"

"Strip off everything she's wearing..."

"What?" The two bodyguards stared at him.

"If you don't want her to die, hurry up!" Tang Changsheng snapped as he swiftly laid out everything he needed to save her.