Zhu Tiedan let out a long breath of relief, his legs going soft as he collapsed onto the ground. “Mommy...”

He had heard plenty of strange village tales before and had even seen shamans and spirit mediums perform rituals, but this bizarre experience was something entirely new to him. But alongside the fear, excitement also rose in his heart.

It was no wonder the gang leader treated Master Chen with such reverence and demanded everyone show proper respect. Any sign of disrespect was punished with three stabs, leaving them with six holes. With someone so powerful backing them, what was there to fear?

If he sucked up enough, maybe he could even learn an immortal art himself!

Then, whenever he fancied some pretty young girl, he could simply drug her and carry her home. Whenever he spotted a wealthy household, he could use some sorcery to spirit their valuables away.

Wouldn’t that kind of life be as blissful as an immortal’s?

It wasn’t entirely Zhu Tiedan’s fault for indulging in such fantasies. The mystic path held the highest status in Jianghu, and not everyone had the opportunity to come into contact with them, especially lowlife hoodlums like him.

He knew nothing about the rules and taboos of the mystic path, nor could he imagine that the kindly old Daoist at the City God Temple was actually the most terrifying person in all of Xianyang.

While Zhu Tiedan daydreamed outside the village, Zhou Peide had also completed his preparations. Dressed in black and carrying long spears and blades, he stood guarding the official road leading toward Xianyang with several disciples .

They were waiting for Li Yan to be lured out so they could hack him to death.

Zhou Peide had entered the Dark Jin Realm many years ago. Though his talent was insufficient to reach the Jin Transformation Realm, his muscles and tendons pulsed with power. Every movement of his body carried hidden force, and he could control it precisely.

That was the difference between those who had just entered the Dark Jin Realm and those who had reached the peak. When others used hidden force offensively, he could neutralize it with equal force. Those lacking sufficient cultivation would lose their rhythm after one exchange, fail to sustain their hidden force, and be beaten to death.

In other words, Zhou Peide alone was enough to deal with Li Yan. With several assistants added on top, success was virtually guaranteed.

As he stood at the crossroads with sword in hand, murderous intent continued to fill Zhou Peide’s eyes. He waited only for Li Yan to arrive so he could personally torture and kill him.

***

The moonlight was dim and ghostly. Everything within Shangyi Village lay in darkness.

Since everyone had been rushing to meet the deadline, they had worked from dawn to nightfall. The moment the lamps were extinguished, people immediately fell into deep sleep. Loud snores rose one after another.

“Woof! Woof!”

Some dogs in the village seemed to sense something unusual. They pricked up their ears and sprang to their feet. But after barking a few times, they simply lay back down again.

At a street corner, the tiny wooden puppet crawled through the darkness like a spider. The painted costume of the Dan role made it look extraordinarily eerie. All of its yin energy seemed sealed within the puppet body itself. Thus, while the village dogs sensed something abnormal, they did not continue barking warnings.

***

At the ritual altar outside Xianyang, Chen Fakui sat cross-legged before the altar, eyes tightly shut. His hands kept forming seals as he chanted nonstop under his breath.

The puppet moved as though receiving commands, rapidly darting through the village alleys. Before long, it arrived outside the Wan Family residence.

However, before it could even approach, the stone hitching post at the entrance trembled slightly. Larger households in the Guanzhong Plains almost all had horse-tethering pillars at their gates.

But the Wan Family’s pillar was different. A tiny stone lion had been carved atop it, an ancient relic from the Qin-Han era. Suppressive objects had also been buried beneath it.

Ordinary evil entities could not approach at all.

Moreover, that was only the hitching post. The brick carvings along the walls bore phrases such as “Bring Glory to Ancestors and Descendants” and “Virtue Builds Reputation.” Their weathered calligraphy clearly came from Tang Dynasty relics.

There were also woodblock deity paintings pasted at the gate, doors, central hall, well, stove, and latrine. The worship of these six household gods had been passed down since the Zhou Dynasty. This was the grand residence of the Artisan Sect after all; how could it possibly be ordinary?

Those ancient objects had all received incense worship over the years. The uninterrupted incense offerings to the six household gods had already condensed divine astral qi, not to mention the Artisan Sect ancestral hall in the back courtyard.

When Li Yan first arrived, he had already sensed how extraordinary the place was. That was why he felt safe leaving to drink with Zhao Luzi.

But Chen Fakui had clearly anticipated this long ago. He suddenly opened his eyes, picked up the peachwood sword from the altar, and attached a talisman to it. His right hand formed a seal and pointed forward as the yellow talisman instantly burst into flames.

At the same time, the puppet seemed to become wrapped in a hazy mist. Avoiding the main entrance, it climbed the side courtyard wall like a spider, slipping past all the residence’s defenses without triggering them.

Its stiff wooden face slowly emerged above the wall...

Inside, Wang Daoxuan was fast asleep. On the neighboring bed, Sha Lifei’s thunderous snoring shook the room so badly that Wang Daoxuan could not even maintain his spirit concentration in peace. However, there was no helping it.

Because of the recent workload, nearly every room was packed with people. Many Artisan Sect disciples were even sleeping shoulder to shoulder on communal beds.

As honored guests, having a private room was already preferential treatment. How could they ask for more? The last two nights had been exactly the same. Combined with the mental exhaustion from reading throughout the day, Wang Daoxuan dozed in a hazy half-awake, half-asleep state.

He could not help regretting it. Had he known it would be like this, he would have gone into the mountains with Li Yan. At least there would have been peace and quiet.

Knock knock.

Suddenly, he heard knocking at the door. Then came a voice calling softly, “Daoist Wang, Daoist Wang.”

The voice sounded blurry, but it resembled Li Yan’s. This was the Soul Calling Art. Ghostly entities did not truly predict thoughts when calling someone’s name. Instead, they exploited cracks within the human heart.

Just as Li Yan once worried about his grandfather and thus heard his grandfather’s cries for help, Wang Daoxuan, half-asleep, had just been thinking of Li Yan.

Naturally, what he heard was Li Yan’s voice.

Wang Daoxuan replied groggily as he rose. “Oh, you’re back?”

But the instant he spoke, his entire body jolted violently. Before he could react, Wang Daoxuan suddenly felt his body turn light as darkness engulfed his vision. With a thud, he fell from the bed onto the floor.

Sha Lifei was startled awake. “Huh? Wang Daoxian, what’s wrong with you?”

He hurriedly climbed down to help him up. Only then did he discover Wang Daoxuan’s eyes were tightly shut. His teeth were clenched, and fists balled tightly, but he was utterly unconscious.

“Someone come quickly! Hurry!”

As the cries rang out, candles lit one after another throughout the dark courtyard...

***

Outside the village, Zhu Tiedan sat absentmindedly pulling weeds by the roadside. Suddenly, he felt his body grow heavy again, while icy coldness spread across his back.

His entire body stiffened as sweat beaded on his forehead again. Fortunately, after earlier experiences, he had become somewhat bolder. Remembering Chen Fakui’s instructions, he dared not turn around to look. Instead, he immediately leaped onto his horse.

With a snap of the reins, he galloped away at full speed. In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, he spotted Zhou Peide waiting along the road.

Clasping his fists, he yelled, “Third Master, the job’s done. I’ll be taking my leave first!”

Seeing the puppet clinging to the man’s back, Zhou Peide’s eyelids twitched violently. He hurriedly stepped aside to let him pass.

Once the horse disappeared into the distance, Zhou Peide stared at the village expectantly. Meanwhile, Zhu Tiedan, being the simple brute he was, mistook the fear in Zhou Peide’s eyes for admiration of his heroic performance tonight.

A surge of pride rose in his chest. Urging the horse onward, he sped all the way back to the hillside outside the city. Seeing everyone waiting for him, he grew even more pleased with himself.

Thinking of the heroes in opera stories who infiltrated enemy camps alone, he dramatically leaped off the horse, walked forward with a theatrical swagger, dropped to one knee, and clasped his fists in an opera-style salute.

“Big Brother! I have fulfilled the mission!”

The moment he finished speaking, his eyes rolled back.

Thud!

He collapsed to the ground, losing control of both his bowels and bladder.

Meanwhile, the puppet crawled back onto the ritual altar like a spider.

Chen Fakui merely glanced at him indifferently. “His condition is nothing serious. Borrowing his living Yang qi and life force allowed the puppet to break through the defenses. Once he returns home, he’ll suffer a severe illness. Keep him out of the wind and sunlight and nurse him carefully. He may recover.”

Yuan Qu did not care in the slightest whether Zhu Tiedan lived or died. Instead, he respectfully clasped his fists and asked, “Master Chen, is Li Yan dead?”

Chen Fakui shook his head slightly. “The man wasn’t there. I only captured the living soul of the Daoist beside him. Li Yan will come looking for us soon enough.”

As he spoke, he picked up a gourd from the altar. Removing the stopper, he pressed the mouth of the gourd against the puppet’s mouth and formed a seal.

He quickly pulled the gourd away and immediately resealed it. He then pasted a yellow talisman over it.

Only after finishing did he turn and ask, “How goes the matter on your side?”

Yuan Qu quickly bowed. “The people we hired work efficiently. The remaining numbers should be completed tonight. I’ve already sent men to collect the goods.”

Chen Fakui nodded. Just as he was about to speak, his brows suddenly furrowed. A sinister wind swept across the hillside, causing the altar candles to flicker violently.

An inexplicable sense of dread gripped his heart. He immediately grabbed two crescent-shaped wooden divination blocks from the altar, raised them to his forehead, and kowtowed toward the ancestral deity.

These divination blocks were curved into the shape of a crescent moon. One side curved outward, representing yin, while the other was flat, representing yang.

Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!

He threw them three times, but each time, both sides landed yin-side up.

Chen Fakui’s expression changed drastically as he cried out in terror, “Not good, the Patriarch is warning me!”

He immediately began frantically packing away the altar’s ritual instruments, blowing out candles and tearing down talismans.

He hurriedly pulled a sack from beneath the altar table and shouted angrily, “Put out the fires! Everyone, stand beside me!”

Though Yuan Qu and the others had no idea what was happening, none dared ask questions. They quickly gathered around the altar. Meanwhile, Chen Fakui scattered powders like white ash, salt, and other substances across the ground, drawing a massive circle around the group.

After finishing, he snapped with a stern expression, “Shut your mouths! No matter what you see, do not make a sound! Whoever dares utter even a single noise, I’ll kill him immediately!”

The instant his words fell, violent winds erupted in the distance. Even the sky seemed to darken. To their horror, Yuan Qu and the others discovered the surroundings had suddenly become deathly cold. A layer of white frost spread rapidly across the ground.

Then, upon that frost, countless footprints began to appear...