Chapter 2

Facing the person who issued the warning, the smell of blood and the unmasked killing intent made Tang Changsheng easily realize that these people were desperate bandits!

If it were in the past, when he could still command the Dharma Protectors, would Tang Changsheng have been polite to such people?

In the dark of night, he would have already ordered the Dharma Protectors to beat these bandits to a pulp with whips, turning their heads into mush.

Or, he wouldn't even need to do it himself. Any one of the three families in Xiajiang could have made these outsiders take a refreshing dip in the sea...

Of course, it wouldn't be an ordinary dip. Each person would be tied to a large stone and thrown into the open sea by a speedboat!

However, now that such a serious matter has occurred, the three families have remained completely silent. The serious implications of this are evident...

They are already filled with doubts about Tang Changsheng!

But, it's not surprising. Even now, Tang Changsheng has still not been able to enter the gate, see the light of the fetus, or manifest any magical powers.

The three families of Xiajiang have probably already had some suspicions!

Losing these, even if he is the head of the General Temple, others could easily give him a cold shot...

The General Temple, which has been passed down for hundreds of years and thirteen generations, would be cut off, just like many other cultivation sects, disappearing completely!

He opened the box and took out a small Eight Trigram mirror, only the size of a palm, but there was no doubt that this was the key that the General Temple treasured.

This key would unlock the greatest secret hidden by the General Temple!

The General Temple is now completely destitute and even Tang Changsheng has not ignited the Heavenly Heart, not stepping into the true path of cultivation.

If he were to be driven off Yin-Yang Mountain and lose the ancestral property, the General Temple would probably not be able to continue its lineage!

Now, Tang Changsheng only hopes that the legend of the sect is not wrong. This key must contain some earth-shattering secret, one that would make three great experts at the Celestial Realm fight to the death to obtain it...

And he, Tang Changsheng, can use this key to ultimately overcome the greatest calamity in the General Temple's 500-year history!

However, Tang Changsheng is ultimately uneasy. He finds it hard to understand why, after seizing the key, it was hidden for two or three hundred years without being used?

His curiosity was greatly aroused, but he would not open it in the main hall of the temple. Instead, he returned to the meditation room, the safest place in the temple.

This meditation room is also one of the greatest legacies left by the ancestors of the General Temple...

On the opposite wall, a pearl embedded in the wall emits a dim light, barely illuminating the entire eight to ten square meter meditation room.

The legend of the sect says that once this pearl goes out, the General Temple will immediately face a catastrophic disaster!

Fortunately, the pearl, though dim, does not seem to be about to go out.

Under the illumination of the pearl, there is a line of true incantation left by a certain generation of ancestors, which is the general guideline for the cultivation of the General Temple.

Tang Changsheng stared blankly and recited it softly: "I wash my body with the sun, refine my form with the moon, the Immortal supports me, the Jade Maiden follows me, the Twenty-Eight Mansions merge with me, a thousand evils and ten thousand impurities are washed away by water, a thousand sages and ten thousand ancestors comfort my form, the souls of the disciples, the five organs of the mysterious darkness, the Azure Dragon and the White Tiger, the formation of the spirits, the Vermilion Bird and the Black Tortoise, guard my body, as the law commands!"

He recited it word by word, his eyes flashing with complex emotions.

This is the Daoist purification spell, but for the General Temple, all cultivation techniques are included here.

It includes the Solar Body Washing Method, the Lunar Form Refining Method, the Four Spirits Life Protection Method, the Five Spirits Primordial Method, and the Nine Stars Heavenly Heart Method, these five advanced techniques.

No matter which technique one cultivates, one can reach a very high level and manifest magical powers.

Other disciples can only cultivate the other four techniques, while only the head has the资格 to cultivate the last technique, the Nine Stars Heavenly Heart Method, which is the General Temple's most profound technique, said to enable one to transcend the mundane and become a sage when cultivated to the extreme!

Of course, one can also cultivate all five techniques simultaneously...

Unfortunately, although these five techniques are in the hands of Tang Changsheng, the only heir and current head of the General Temple, he has not been able to successfully cultivate any of them...

If not for this, he would not be in such a predicament!

Tang Changsheng took out the small Eight Trigram mirror, which looked completely unremarkable, with a mottled green hue, just like a cheap imitation from a street stall.

"This is the so-called key!" Tang Changsheng's eyes were filled with an indescribable mix of strangeness and eagerness.

He did not feel the slightest disdain or regret for the appearance of the Eight Trigram mirror... the divine often conceals itself, this is a common truth!

To activate or open this key, it also requires the use of magical powers.

In this world, where technology is advanced and culture is developed, the ancient cultivation techniques are almost at a dead end.

Even Tang Changsheng, who has been practicing diligently since childhood for over ten years, has never had the opportunity to take the most important step of achieving Dao.

Even if Tang Changsheng's heart is as hard as iron and his desire for Dao is strong, he sometimes cannot help but feel disheartened...

"Perhaps it is true as people say, this is already the end of the Dao, where Daoist techniques are no longer effective. Using orthodox methods is already very difficult to enter the Dao..."

Tang Changsheng muttered to himself, but his eyes shone with determination: "Fortunately, I have also cultivated some heterodox methods for refining ghost soldiers... I can still use the technique of merging human and ghost forms..."

This is a low-level external method. In the past, such techniques would not even be considered by any disciple of the General Temple.

But now, even Tang Changsheng, the head of the General Temple, can only take a risky path!

As he spoke, he took out a soul-nourishing jade, which emitted a slightly cold aura.

For the past forty-nine days, he has been nourishing this jade with incense and his own blood.

Tang Changsheng could feel that the yang energy he had cultivated through hard work was gradually weakening, and his face became pale and weak.

Around him, a cold aura slowly gathered, and sometimes he could sense a vast grudge.

Even without a mirror, Tang Changsheng knew that his face was gradually turning pale and slightly green, looking extremely ghastly. If someone were to say he was a consumptive, they might believe it!

"This technique of merging human and ghost forms is indeed an extremely dangerous evil technique... If I had a choice, I would never choose this path... Unfortunately..."

Tang Changsheng muttered to himself, then mercilessly bit his finger, and a drop of blood fell onto the soul-nourishing jade.

"... Yin body spirit, quickly enter my body, quickly follow my form, open my spiritual orifices, all responses clear..."