The Mage Is Here!

After several generations of consecration at the General's Temple, it had become a precious ritual implement! It was remarkably heavy, far heavier than iron, and weighed heavily in the hand. Tang Changsheng often left it on his desk and used it as a paperweight...

In an age like this, even an implement of this caliber had lost nearly all its spiritual power.

Of course, there was another reason: the General's Temple had no shortage of implements at this level...

Tang Changsheng kept one wherever he regularly spent time, precisely to guard against situations like this. Whenever he needed one, it was close at hand.

He simply had not expected to need it today!

Without the Heavenly Canopy Ruler, Tang Changsheng might well have fallen victim to the sneak attack.

He could imagine what would have happened if he had been holding an ordinary wooden stick instead. Even if he had beaten the bat to death, the Three-Corpse Worm would have invaded his body.

The thought sent another chill through him. He shut the doors and windows tight, lit a stick of incense for his Yin Soldier, and ordered him to guard the room and watch the entrances.

Seeing Tang Changsheng so tense, Ling Xiaoyu hardly dared breathe for fear of disturbing him. Her little face turned deathly pale.

"Don't be afraid. It's all right now. My Yin Soldier wounded the person casting spells outside. Even if he survives, he'll be badly hurt..."

Tang Changsheng gave a cold laugh as he spoke. All those preparations had not been for nothing!

He lit his Heavenly Heart and illuminated his Sea of Consciousness, then examined every part of his body from within. After checking Ling Xiaoyu as well, he found no sign that either of them had been affected. Only then did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

All manner of sinister arts circulated among practitioners, each stranger than the last and impossible to guard against completely.

Witchcraft Curse techniques were especially treacherous and unpredictable. No matter how powerful you were, a moment's carelessness could leave you open to an attack!

Though the General's Temple had inherited five orthodox arts of the Mysterious Gate, it also possessed plenty of methods involving Witchcraft, ghost-rearing, and other ways to kill without shedding blood!

He knew their dangers better than anyone!

From now on, I need to practice the Sun Body-Washing Method in earnest...

Tang Changsheng made a fierce resolve. If he cultivated the Sun Body-Washing Method to a high enough level, a surge of True Fire within him would refine any evil creature or corpse worm out of existence. Why would he fear anyone's sneak attacks then?

"What a ruthless, ruthless bastard..."

Down the mountain, a car was weaving along the road like a drunk.

Da Xiang, at the wheel, was shaken and terrified. "Ruthless, so ruthless... The main temple really is in a league of its own. The sect master's inheritance is formidable. He's even consecrated a Yin Soldier..."

Through his torn-open shirt, a wound could be seen running from his chest down to his lower abdomen. The whole gash was blue-black, with deathly pale skin around it. It was a horrifying sight.

The car sped faster and faster through the dark night. Da Xiang's face was pale beneath a bluish tinge. "But if he thinks he can deal with me that easily, he can dream... Heh, heh. Let's see whether he saves those people or not!"

Tang Changsheng still had to save Zhang Dacheng's injured men. He could hardly leave his subordinates out in the cold when they had been hurt working for the General's Temple.

So, after successfully ambushing Da Xiang, Tang Changsheng hurried down the mountain early the next morning to check on Song Da and the other wounded men.

Ling Xiaoyu had insisted on coming with Tang Changsheng to see what was happening. She was bursting with curiosity and energy. It took him ages of coaxing to persuade her to stay behind.

He told her that once he left, no one would be watching the General's Temple. What if someone broke in? He asked Miss Ling to do him the favor of looking after the place.

Besides, the ever-curious Ling Xiaoyu was fascinated by the various documents and records passed down in Tang Changsheng's archive.

She had been reading them with relish. Tang Changsheng promised to let her browse the archive...

None of the material he had collected needed to be kept secret, and that was how he finally got her to stay.

Chen Family Hospital was not the largest hospital in Lower River. The largest hospitals were usually public ones.

But it was certainly the best. It was one of the private hospitals run by Lower River's prominent Chen family!

The moment Tang Changsheng entered, he sensed a strange atmosphere throughout the hospital.

It grew even stranger when he reached the inpatient building.

Word had spread that the renowned mage of the General's Temple had come in person. The hospital's administrators and numerous doctors were waiting outside for him.

The mood in the crowd was peculiar. The people of standing kept their heads down and said nothing.

Behind them, however, ordinary doctors and nurses whispered cutting remarks.

"Serves them right. Did they think dredging sand for that boss would be easy? Now they've got what's coming to them."

"What sand dredging? I heard they're Xingfa Gang men. Last time, I even saw Zuo Xingfa himself bring people here to check on them!"

At the mention of Zuo Xingfa, everyone drew a sharp breath.

"So they're Xingfa Gang men? Maybe this is payback for all the wicked things they've done."

"Pah! Stop talking nonsense. If you want to die, don't drag us down with you. Who are we to gossip about the Xingfa Gang?"

"But it must be payback. How else could that man have ended up like that?" the speaker insisted stubbornly.

"Enough, enough. Make way, make way... The mage is here..."

At the news of the mage's arrival, the noisy crowd fell utterly silent.

Even the stubborn young men who had acted afraid of nothing moments before grew frightened and instinctively hid behind others.

Some of the older people, those in their forties and fifties, almost dropped to their knees without thinking.

The younger ones no longer held tradition in quite the same regard.

Yet in that atmosphere, all the stories they had heard about the General's Temple since childhood came flooding back.

The patients staying at the hospital, along with those who had come for treatment, heard the news too. Awed and curious, they waited at the side of the path and turned their eyes toward a group that had just arrived.

Zuo Xingfa, Zhang Dacheng, the hospital administrators, the local police chief, and many others came forward, gathered around one man like stars around the moon.

The mage was very young. His loose blue Daoist robe was neither new nor worn out, but he still looked thin and frail beneath it, his face strikingly pale. His features were unremarkable, yet his eyes shone brightly.