The Five Rampancies Steal the Art, an Unexpected Visitor

The group entered through the main gate, passed through the ceremonial gate, went around the screen wall, and proceeded along the forest path.

Hearing the commotion, people rushed out from among the old, dilapidated halls not far away.

The men were dressed in gray military uniforms, and all of them were quite tall. Some were casually carrying rifles, while others were clutching large bones with meat still attached.

The aroma of stewed dog meat filled the palace halls.

Who is coming to offer incense? Are the sacrificial offerings (animal husband, sheep, and chicken) prepared properly?

He looked closely and saw that the group of people who had come were all tall and strong, and carried guns.

Zhang Yi's men dismounted and, with agile movements and swift steps, surrounded the group in an instant.

The soldiers inside the temple quickly shouted, "Brothers, who are you? We are from Commander Liu of the Song-Pacifying Army!"

In Guanlin, there were originally dozens of Daoist priests and a temple keeper. Because he was skilled in medicine, he would provide free medical treatment and medicine on the 24th of the sixth lunar month, Guan Yu's birthday, and was quite famous.

Back then, Liu Xueya had been worshipping indiscriminately all over Luoyang, but when she came here to worship, the ceremony was the most grand ever, with gongs and drums leading the way, dragon and lion dances, and firecrackers going off all at once.

But after praying, he felt he hadn't gained anything. One day, he saw that most of the Daoist priests in the temple were thin and kind to people, and he suddenly slapped his forehead, realizing something.

Lord Guan was a valiant and extraordinary warrior, so of course he needed soldiers to bolster his prestige. It must be that these Daoist priests were too thin and timid, which displeased Lord Guan.

So he drove all the Daoist priests away and left a group of soldiers to guard the place.

It is said that later, the old Daoist priest who kept the temple even approached Liu Xueya and advised her: Lord Guan is proud of his superiors but does not humiliate his inferiors. He will not be subservient to the authority above him, nor will he arbitrarily bully the innocent and weak.

If Commander Liu shows leniency and treats the people of Luoyang kindly, he will be rewarded.

Liu Xueya was furious when she heard this.

Are you saying I'm bad to the people?

Second Lord Guan was loyal, and so am I. Let the brothers have a good time first; as for the common people... good days are yet to come.

Fortunately, Liu Xueya had not yet received the blessing of the Plague God at that time, and the old Daoist priest also had some skills, so she escaped and disappeared without a trace.

After this incident, Liu Xueya became even more attached to the temple and specially selected a group of taller, stronger soldiers who had been through battles to be stationed inside.

Lord Yuanli glanced at the group of people and found them all to be strong and healthy, which pleased him greatly.

"It seems this temple has no shortage of food and meat."

Lord Yuanli dismounted, took a bamboo tube from beside the saddle, and said, "Use my bamboo tube to fetch about half a liter of rice."

"Looking for a used knife from this area, and a new set of incense and candles."

Two of Zhang Yi's men stepped forward, took the bamboo tubes, and then led a Song-Pacifying Army soldier to find these items.

Lord Yuanli carried a bundle and walked to the main hall where the statue of Holy Emperor Lord Guan was enshrined. He casually placed the offerings on the table at the corner of the statue's base.

Thud!!

The offering table was pulled by the old, blond-haired Daoist priest, and it only stopped after taking five steps away.

The incense burner in the center of the offering table trembled slightly as it was moved, peeling off layers of dust.

Lord Yuanli still and untied the bundle.

The talismans inside the package were in three colors: yellow, blue, and purple. Each one was about three fingers wide and one and a half palm lengths long.

The cinnabar used to draw the talismans appears in varying shades because of the different colors of the paper itself.

There was no paste on the back of the talisman, but Lord Yuanli held it in his hand, placed it on the table, and it stuck firmly.

Hundreds of talismans covered the entire table, with paper hanging down from the edges.

The hall is filled with the lingering smell of incense from countless years, leaving the beams and plaques mottled with soot.

The hall is spacious and deep. In addition to Lord Guan, Guan Ping, Zhou Cang, Wang Fu, and Liao Hua standing on both sides.

Zhang Yi stepped over the threshold and saw the statues of Lord Guan and others. He then put his palms together and bowed.

After Cao Shaolin stepped over the threshold, he went straight to the offering table and said happily, "Will Lord Guan's strength all come to me in a little while?"

Lord Yuanli muttered to himself, then took a moment to ask, "Young Marshal, what do you know about Lord Guan?"

Cao Shaolin immediately replied, "For your sister-in-law, you've overcome countless obstacles and killed whomever you want. You're even more ruthless than me!"

"Every time I kill someone, I come up with a different reason. He only used 'sister-in-law' as a reason, and he's killed countless people. Hahaha, I love it!"

Cao Shaolin clenched his fist excitedly.

"Last year I shot and killed a bunch of students; my fingers hurt from pulling the trigger so much. When I have Lord Guan's skills, I won't even feel my hand getting tired wielding a machine gun with one hand, will I?"

Lord Yuanli shook his head. "Killing someone is best done with hands or a knife. Killing with a gun is too bland."

As they were talking, his men brought over incense, candles, and bamboo tubes, and placed them on the offering table.

There was also an old knife about two feet long.

Judging from the shape of the handle, this should have originally been a cow-tail knife, but the blade is broken off.

The remaining half of the blade appears to have been frequently sharpened, as its edge is very sharp.

Lord Yuanli picked it up and blew on the blade.

"It's a knife that often kills chickens and dogs, but it's also killed quite a few people."

Lord Yuanli's left hand traced lines on the blade with his fingers together, the strokes flowing like dragons and snakes, from the hilt to the tip, "But it still lacked a certain freshness."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Cao Shaolin's eyes lit up. He took the knife and stabbed the Song-Pacifying Army soldier who had led the way to find the item to death.

When the soldiers outside saw that someone had been killed, they became enraged; some raised their guns, while others tried to flee.

But Zhang Yi's men acted faster, shooting them in the wrists and ankles.

Cao Shaolin, like a tiger among sheep, leaped into the crowd and stabbed them one by one.

Adjutant Yang, standing behind Zhang Yi, whispered, "The Song-Pacifying Army also surrendered to Lord Cao, this..."

Zhang Yi remained unfazed. "Liu Xueya won't fall out with the young marshal over something like this."

Adjutant Yang said, "Should I go into the city ahead of time and inform the man surnamed Liu of the young marshal's identity?"

"So that if he receives the news, he won't hastily send someone over and offend the young marshal."

Zhang Yi simply said, "No need."

Adjutant Yang had no choice but to suppress his worries for the time being. He knew there was an underground organization in Luoyang and wanted to make contact with them to spread the word as soon as possible about how they had seized Guan Yu Origin Canon text.

But now it seems we can only wait and find another opportunity later.

The outside was too heavily guarded. Several men, wounded by bullets, crawled into the hall, crying and struggling to survive.

Lord Yuanli ignored everything happening around him and behind him, focusing solely on chanting divine incantations.

As the old, blond-haired Daoist chanted incantations, his eyes became even narrower and longer, with upturned corners. His face was quite long, and his cheeks were very full, with a rosy complexion.

Just like all images of benevolent deities and compassionate Guanyin.

It was as if he had used a spell to give himself a superb theatrical makeover, enabling him to befriend immortals and keep company with ghosts and Ghost God.

Cao Shaolin jumped around behind him, tumbling and crawling as he killed people, laughing heartily.

This young marshal Cao started killing people when he was eight years old; killing was his greatest pleasure.

The blood-soaked knife was returned to Cao Shaolin.

"Good!"

Lord Yuanli slightly raised his eyelids, took the knife with his right hand, and with his left hand smeared with blood, he smeared a red mark on Cao Shaolin's forehead.

"Once the altar is opened, I cannot move. Colonel Zhang, you must do your utmost to protect the Dharma for me."

Lord Yuanli gave an order, and before anyone behind him could respond, his voice suddenly became drawn out.

"Five, rampant, law, master..."

As the old Daoist priest with yellow hair chanted, the red jade pendant at his waist suddenly lit up like a half-burnt candle.

The two new candles on the altar were suddenly lit.

These two flames were scarlet as blood and thick as oil, without a single other color.

Lord Yuanli's eyes suddenly widened, and he gripped the entire blade with his left hand, wiping all the blood onto his palm before slapping the incense burner.

"Move, change, the sky, change, the sun!"

The incense burner made a loud clanging sound.

Under the influence of Lord Yuanli's power, the blood-red palm print seeped into the material of the incense burner.

The rest of the incense burner was dark gold, except for the handprint area, which looked like it was originally carved from a single piece of red jade.

The five fingers are clearly visible, shining brightly.

A cold, long wind blew from inside the main hall outwards.

But the wind lingered only around the main hall.

Adjutant Yang noticed that the blood of those who had just been killed was rapidly fading in color as the wind blew on it.

It's like a safflower that has dried up and turned black.

The corpse's clothes were covered in spots, and the smell of blood was gone.

Cao Shaolin stood there like a wooden stake.

Lord Yuanli stood still, but his clothes rustled incessantly, accompanied by the sound of incantations.

In the wind, Adjutant Yang and the others all felt the increasingly oppressive atmosphere, making it hard to breathe.

Zhang Yi turned around, made a gesture, and the group simply scattered to different corners of the courtyard.

The ceremony lasted for almost half an hour. The corpses had turned to dust, the chanting in the hall had subsided, and the air had become increasingly still.

Adjutant Yang's ears twitched slightly as he heard voices and footsteps coming from outside the temple.

"... I could have just come by myself with Commander Liu's warrant; I'm truly sorry to have troubled you to come along."

The path through the woods between the main gate and the ceremonial gate.

An old man dressed as a traveling doctor, carrying a medicine chest on his back, adjusted his glasses.

Huo Ming walked beside him and said gently, "It's alright. Guanlin Luoyang is the only one among thousands of temples. I myself wanted to come and see it."

This itinerant doctor was none other than Guanlin's former temple keeper. After failing to persuade Liu Xueya, he changed his appearance and went into hiding.

He mastered the arts of concealment and Divine-Travel Jia Ma, and was a successor of the Daoist medical school.

In ancient times, Daoist priests could not gather herbs in the mountains without good stamina. Some herbs were found deep in caves, coexisting with large groups of bats and venomous snakes, or even produced by deer and tigers. They had to hide themselves to avoid disturbing these wild animals.

Because Chu Tianshu wanted to summon the sorcerers of Luoyang.

The underground organization specifically contacted this doctor and revealed some information.

The temple keeper was willing to work together to find a cure for the poison, but he brought up Guanlin Temple, hoping to transfer these soldiers away and put them under control.

Upon hearing this, Huo Ming came over to see for himself.

As they spoke, the two had already crossed the ceremonial gate and gone around the screen wall.

It was just a wall separating us; everything felt normal from the outside, but as soon as I crossed it, I immediately felt something was wrong.

The two men saw strong, muscular men scattered throughout the courtyard.

I saw scattered clothes and powder inside and outside the threshold of the main hall.

There was also the old Daoist priest with yellow hair inside the hall, and the blood-red candlelight.

Huo Ming's heart tightened. He stopped the temple keeper with his hand and was about to step back when he suddenly felt a surge of Origin Canon power within his body, causing his pupils to contract.

"Um?"

Lord Yuanli remained standing, but turned his upper body slightly backward, his face showing surprise.

"Zhao Yun's Origin Canon?! You should be under the command of the Han Prefecture, how come you're in Luoyang?"

Upon hearing this, Adjutant Yang's expression changed.

Zhang Yi's expression changed as well, instantly filling the air with murderous intent. He shouted, "Fire!"

His dozens of men were all highly skilled marksmen; they could fire at targets within a hundred meters without even aiming.

But they were still slower than Huo Ming.

Before Zhang Yi could finish speaking, Huo Ming suddenly drew his two pistols.

BOOM BOOM!!

It sounded like only two gunshots.

But six or seven people nearby had already been shot, their blood splattering everywhere.

Sparks also flew from trees and walls.

Zhang Yi blocked with his palm, and in his palm was a flattened, smoking bullet.

What limited Huo Ming was not his own eyesight or accuracy.

The problem was that the firing pins of the two guns in his hands couldn't keep up with the speed he wanted to achieve.

The gun's performance is inadequate, which is why two or three bullets missed the target.

"Walk!!"

Huo Ming swept his arm towards the doctor, who reacted quickly, leaping up and stomping on Huo Ming's arm.

The doctor swiftly darted past the screen wall and decisively fled.

Lord Yuanli suddenly pushed his right hand out from mid-air.

A dark, fan-shaped palm shadow, over twenty meters in size, struck Huo Ming from mid-air.

Huo Ming's gun flashed repeatedly.

Just as the palm shadow was about to touch the muzzle of the gun, the force of the bullet neutralized it.

But Huo Ming's two gun barrels also showed slight signs of cracking, and his heart sank.

This old, blond-haired Daoist's strength was truly astonishing; he was no match for him.

Zhang Yi rushed out of the hall without uttering a sound.

To the onlookers, all they saw was a dark figure flash past the warhorse, and the spear hanging on the side of the horse was taken away.

The horse's mane and tail were all stretched straight in one direction, as if being pulled by a slanted airflow.

Ugh!!

Zhang Yi wielded his gun and traversed the entire courtyard.

Huo Ming fired two shots in quick succession, but the bullets were deflected by the flashing gun barrel.

Just as Huo Ming was about to use his pistol to meet the gun barrel of the other side.

Zhang Yi suddenly twisted his body and dodged to the side.

A crater was blown into the ground.

Adjutant Yang gripped the Mauser pistol with both hands, the muzzle pointed directly at Zhang Yi's leg.

Seeing the opportunity, Huo Ming leaped up, dodged past the screen wall, and disappeared without a trace.

"Old Yang?!"

Zhang Yi had no time to chase after them, and looked back in disbelief.

"You betrayed me?"

(End of this chapter)