Chapter 8: The Six Arts of the Taoist Master

  "You're crazy!"

  The woman in black and the cyan wolf were extremely disheartened, their words also weak and powerless. Without a doubt, Wang Guanlan's words had put too much pressure on them. If they really became that "centipede" as Wang Guanlan said, it would be impossible for them to survive or die, they would rather die than suffer such torture.

  "Think about it, woman. What can San Shizi give you now? He can't give you anything. You've devoted yourself to him for so many years and repaid all the great kindness he's shown you. Why be so obsessed with him? Of course, if you're interested in my 'human centipede', I won't force you!"

  Under Wang Guanlan's gaze that was almost abnormal, the black-clothed woman finally yielded.

  …………………

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  "It turns out that apart from Yicheng's industry, one of San Shizi's concubines also has the potential to become a Taoist priest. No wonder this guy couldn't wait to make his move as soon as he heard I had become a Taoist priest!!"

  Although the Ning Wang Fu is one of the many aristocratic families in the Great Qi Dynasty, it has limited resources for Taoist cultivation. This is also a common problem among aristocratic families in this world. The scarcer the resource, the less likely it can be evenly distributed, and the best steel should be used on the blade.

  It just so happened that among the princes of the Wang family in this generation, no one showed any talent for Taoism at first. It was precisely because of this that the third son had spent a great deal of effort and time to find a woman with potential as a Taoist and took her as his concubine. Of course, this woman only had the potential to be a Taoist at that time.

  After taking in this concubine, the third son had been carefully cultivating her, expending a great deal of resources, and finally turned her into a first-rate adept. In his plans, if this concubine could grow up to reach the third rank, he would formally take her as his secondary wife. Under the current situation where talented adepts were scarce in this generation, it was highly likely that she would become the candidate to inherit the Wangfu's Secret Array Mirror World. She would also inevitably become his greatest help in contending for the Ning King position in the future.

  Unfortunately, human calculations are inferior to heavenly ones, and out of nowhere appeared a Wang Guanlan.

  He had passed the imperial examination, grasped the divine art, and obtained the legacy of a master in the misty valley. Most importantly, he was the biological son of Ning Wang, King Wai Shing, and the younger brother of his third grandson. This alone would have made him feel hopeless, not to mention taking that concubine as his secondary wife or formally making her his crown princess. He couldn't compete with Wong Kwan Lan, so he hastily took drastic measures.

  The existence of the Taoist, even for a warrior, is a very mysterious thing. The secrets of the spiritual world can only be touched by those who have truly reached the seventh level of Qi refinement.

  However, one thing is clear: the means of a Taoist are extremely cunning, and the longer it takes, the more difficult it will be to deal with Wang Guanlan as a Taoist. To kill him, he must be given a fatal blow when Wang Guanlan has just become a Taoist and his means are still limited, which is why this assassination attempt seems somewhat hasty.

  Wang Guanlan looked at the woman in black, believing more than half of what he said, but it was impossible to fully believe. In many details, this woman had obviously played tricks. Looking at her, there seemed to be a desire for survival in her eyes, which was also normal, because no one wanted to die.

  But Wang Guanlan was destined to disappoint her.

  "Not only is your appearance elegant, but your eloquence and wit are also top-notch. If I didn't need to use your corpse to establish my dominance in Yicheng, I might have spared your life. What a pity!"

  Crack

  Wang Guanlan didn't hesitate to twist and break the black-clothed woman's neck, while using his internal energy to shatter her brain and internal organs into powder. Then, he similarly dealt with Qing Xian, thoroughly killing him.

  After killing two people, Wang Guanlan stood up and opened the Five Elements Array. Everything in Antu Inn returned to normal.

  "Too young!!"

  At the moment when Antun Inn was restored, four figures appeared almost simultaneously in front of Wang Guanlan. These three people were Tianbao and his three Huā Lí Wèi companions. As the leader of the four Huā Lí Wèi, Tianbao's gaze towards Wang Guanlan had a hint more fear and a hint less confidence.

  This fourteen-year-old youngster is actually a Daoist priest, and what's more, he's a rare formation master among the Daoist priests!!

  This result filled Tianbao with unexpected surprise, and Wang Guanlan no longer dared to have a single disrespectful thought.

  Taoists are extremely rare, and even in the eyes of ordinary people, Taoists are just figures that exist only in legends. All the Taoists who walk among humans are fakes. However, Tian Bao is one of the small leaders of the Wangfu Hu Li Wei, responsible for guarding the Wangfu. Of course, he has some understanding of the greatest guardian force of the Wangfu, and also has some rumors about the existence of Taoists.

  He knew that the term "Taoist" was a vague concept, referring to mysterious beings who could manipulate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. However, due to differences in the objects being manipulated and the methods used, Taoists would also delve into various mystical realms beyond ordinary attack and defense spells. As a result, they were divided into different schools, with six being the most famous, known as the Six Arts of the Taoist, namely: Array, Talisman, Elixir, Instrument, Chariot, and Ghost.

  These six arts each have their own subtleties, and each has its own unique characteristics. However, the majority of practitioners only scratch the surface of these six arts and do not truly master them. Even among the secretive practitioner clans, only a handful of families pass down these six arts as their main tradition. Therefore, true masters of the six arts are extremely rare, and each one's status is naturally above that of ordinary practitioners.

  Among these special Taoists, the Array Masters are the most popular and respected. The reason is simple: whether it's a martial arts school, a secret Taoist school, or a powerful family clan in the world, they often regard array techniques as the last and most important line of defense for guarding their gates, homes, and mansions.

  Innumerable sects and aristocratic families have array formations guarding the most important places, such as the Secret Array Mirror World of the Ning Wang Fu. However, these array formations are often inherited from ancient sects and aristocratic families that have been passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years. In peacetime, they require maintenance, and in wartime, they need to be activated, all of which requires an array master. Except for a few rare sects and ancient families that specialize in array formations, no one can guarantee that their family or sect will produce an array master every generation. As a result, array masters have become a scarce resource.

  The same principle can be applied to other skills, but compared to alchemists who need countless spiritual medicines to cultivate, equipment refiners who consume a large amount of rare materials, symbol makers who require extremely high intuition, beast tamers who have undergone countless hardships and the most feared ghost masters, array masters only need to memorize some arrays to enter the door, making them much easier to cultivate. Once an array master has made progress, they are equivalent to a mobile attack and defense fortress, their value is by no means lower than that of other types of mages. Such a cost-effectiveness ratio makes them more popular.

  Tian Bao knew that the Secret Array Mirror World was the last line of defense for the Ning Wang Fu, and it was also clear that among the new generation of people in the Ning Wang Fu, no one had the potential to become a practitioner, let alone an array master. However, with Wang Guanlan's display of ability today, if it were to spread within the Ning Wang Fu, his status would immediately rise to be on par with the four princes, as he was almost certain to become the next controller of the Mirror World. His position in the Ning Wang Fu could even be said to be more important than that of Zong Lao Wang Xiantang.

  "Get these corpses cleaned up and thoroughly searched, the eighteen mountain bandits' bodies should have a large sum of wealth on them. After searching, preserve their corpses and this woman's corpse well. Hmph, I'd like to see what kind of expression that young master will have when he sees these corpses!"

  "Yes!" Tian Bao responded, and then led Tian Cheng and Tian Yu to start handling the scene. As for the others at An Tun Inn, including Wang Guanlan's entourage and the merchants who stayed overnight at the inn, they were no longer a concern for Wang Guanlan. This matter would be handled properly by Wang Qing.

  It is believed that after this incident, the news of being a formation master will spread to the palace in the shortest time possible. By then, even if the third son wants to make another move, he will have to consider the attitude of the entire palace.

  Of course, this is just the first step.

  The King of Ning had four princes, all of whom had the right to inherit the throne in principle. Of course, the eldest son had the greatest opportunity, which was a matter of course and did not need to be said. It was precisely because of this that among the four princes, except for the eldest prince, the other three princes had some power but not to the point of defying heaven. For example, why the third prince was in such a hurry this time was because of Wang Guanlan's identity as a Taoist and also because Yicheng was one of his sources of wealth, with annual profits accounting for 40% of the third prince's total income. Suddenly, it was going to change hands, could he not be anxious?

  Unfortunately, he who is impatient can't eat hot tofu. This time, he was thoroughly defeated and lost big, and also provoked Wang Guanlan. Since the third son wanted to deal with him, then Wang Guanlan would naturally not show mercy either. He wasn't someone who would be hit without hitting back. On the contrary, this guy had a very small heart, and would definitely retaliate, belonging to that kind of personality where if you slap me once, I'll directly kill you.

  Today he killed one of Sansei's confidants, but it is still far from enough.

  "Since you're so blind, I don't mind letting you exit the competition for the throne prematurely. Although your chances were slim to begin with!" Wang Guanlan gently stroked the soft sword in his hand, feeling the waves of heat emanating from this mid-grade artifact, and a sly smile spread across his face. "This time's harvest isn't bad. Should I pretend to be weaker again and let him send more people to assassinate me? That way, maybe I can have another big haul!"

  "All fourteen items have been cleared from the mountain bandits' bodies, please take a look!" Tian Bao held up a black bag and spread it out in front of Wang Guanlan.

  The bag is not big, and there are not many things inside, but without a doubt, the value is extremely high. To say nothing of other things, just the silver tickets alone amount to over 2 million taels, equivalent to three months' income of the Ning Wang Fu.