People Fight for a Breath of Pride, Gods for a Stick of Incense

Tang Changsheng was badly startled. It felt just like last night, when his spirit-visualization practice had drained every last bit of his essence, energy, and spirit, forcing him to take one of the precious medicines left by his sect.

That medicine was said to have been made from decades-old wild ginseng and dozens of rare medicinal herbs, compounded through a secret process. At today's prices, the ingredients for a single pill would cost several hundred thousand.

And that was before counting the labor, time, and everything else it took to refine it!

Add it all up, and one pill might well be worth over a million.

Even as the head and sole successor of the General's Temple, Tang Changsheng could hardly bear to take one during his ordinary cultivation.

Yet now, he had merely drawn in a single breath of sunlight essence, and it had already proved this powerful. Delight and astonishment surged through him!

His head grew hot and chaotic, long-buried memories rising unbidden. His blood raced faster and faster, his body temperature climbed, and his heart nearly leaped from his chest.

If this went on, his blood might reverse its course through his body, or his heart might rupture and kill him...

Just then, Tang Changsheng gave a soft shout, formed a hand seal, and began the Steps of Yu.

As his feet moved, the hot current within him followed, running along the path more than ten years of cultivation had made second nature. It surged up against the flow of his Governing Vessel and poured into his Heavenly Heart.

Boom...

Another tremendous shock rocked him. Light kindled naturally within Tang Changsheng's Heavenly Heart—not merely a candle flame, but something like a rising sun.

What fierce solar fire energy...

Only when his Heavenly Heart ignited did the force that had seemed ready to burst out of his body find an outlet. It poured into his Heavenly Heart in an unbroken stream.

At last, Tang Changsheng breathed out gently. His breath shot more than half a meter and scorched a leaf...

And he had taken only his first breath of sunlight essence!

He was a little alarmed, but also thrilled. The abundance of spiritual energy in this world far exceeded anything he had imagined. A single breath of Solar Light Qi had worked such wonders...

It was practically comparable to a medicinal pill from the other world!

By then, the red sun had begun to rise in the eastern sky.

"Excellent!"

Someone suddenly called out in praise. Tang Changsheng gave a small start, then felt a stab of irritation.

What was wrong with this person? Watching someone practice in secret was already a grave taboo, and now he had shouted without warning. If he startled a cultivator into sending his true qi down the wrong path, the consequences could be disastrous!

Even Xin Chengying, when he had seen Tang Changsheng practicing last time, had not dared interrupt. He had waited until long after Tang Changsheng finished and began to walk away before calling out...

With a trace of anger, Tang Changsheng looked up and saw five or six Daoists outside the courtyard.

The man at their head was of average height and in his thirties, with a fair face and a beard. Even standing still, he had an easy elegance and an air that set him apart.

He gave Tang Changsheng a slight smile, his charm hard to put into words, and said, "We've heard that Fellow Daoist Tang is no ordinary man and that True Person Lü thinks highly of you. Curious and full of admiration, we hoped to get to know you. We were rash just now; please don't take offense!"

Daoists from the outer courtyard, perhaps? What do they want with me? Tang Changsheng frowned slightly.

Still, he went forward to greet them politely. "So you're Fellow Daoist Master Chengyang. What brings you here?"

The man's words were courteous, but who was Tang Changsheng? He was, after all, the head of the General's Temple in this generation, not some green boy who had never seen the world.

He could hear a faint note of honey on the lips and a knife in the heart beneath Master Chengyang's manner and tone.

As for whether that loud praise had been well-meant or malicious, only the man himself knew. No amount of talk would settle it.

"We heard that Fellow Daoist Tang Changsheng had come to our Primordial Yang Abbey, and we've all wanted to make your acquaintance. Forgive us for dropping by unannounced. Would you do us the honor of joining us for an outing and a few cups of wine?" said another Daoist in a black robe, smiling.

"Gladly!" Tang Changsheng agreed without hesitation. He wanted to see what these fellows were up to.

But he deliberately asked, "We're guests lodging at the Primordial Yang Abbey. Is it all right for us to come and go so freely?"

Master Chengyang laughed. "Rest easy, Fellow Daoist. True Person Lü has always treated us as honored guests. There aren't so many rules binding us!"

Tang Changsheng understood. He, too, was the head of a sect, even if every last member of the General's Temple amounted to one person: himself.

Even so, he had some notion of how disciples ought to be managed.

Even the most easygoing Daoist abbey had its rules. If a Daoist lodged at a Buddhist monastery, he was expected to join the monks for their morning and evening services.

The monks would recite their Buddhist scriptures, and he would recite his Daoist scriptures, that was all...

If the rules were this lax for these people, didn't that mean the Primordial Yang Abbey thought little of them?

With that in mind, he considered his own situation: a private courtyard and four young Daoist attendants to serve him. That was hardly ordinary treatment!

The contrast gave Tang Changsheng an inkling of where Master Chengyang and the others stood.

The troubles of this world always came down to wine, lust, wealth, and pride!

Gods vied for a stick of incense; men fought for a single breath of pride!

Plainly, they resented him and had come to win back a little pride at his expense!

At that thought, Tang Changsheng's smile grew brighter. "In that case, it's settled!"

Inside, he sneered. A bean bun was still food, however humble it looked. The General's Temple might have declined, but its sole successor and head was not someone just anyone could trample!

Both sides hid their own schemes, yet on the surface they were all smiles and laughter as they headed out of the abbey.

Tang Changsheng had reason to feel secure. He knew these fellows wanted, at most, to humiliate him and make a fool of him. They would hardly dare resort to murder or arson!

And even if they did dare, Tang Changsheng, head of the General's Temple, had now glimpsed the Life Light and kindled his Heavenly Heart. Was he such an easy persimmon to squeeze?

That was why Tang Changsheng could go out with them without fear!

As they kept up their show of friendliness, talk naturally turned to many matters concerning the Primordial Yang Abbey.

Only then did Tang Changsheng begin to understand this world, the Primordial Yang Abbey, and even True Person Lü Yuanhua.

He also began to see why Master Chengyang and the others hated and envied him so much!

It turned out True Person Lü Yuanhua's background was far from simple. He had originally been a Rogue Cultivator.