David Bennett, who had been so smug, suddenly wilted.

Chapter 003: The Taiyin Soul-Severing Blade

A strange thing had happened recently at the village clinic.

There had been quite a few deaths.

The clinic was owned by the The Bolton Family, who were renowned healers in Fulong Village. It was said that their ancestors once served in the imperial palace during the previous dynasty—after all, it seemed that no folk clinic could open its doors without claiming to have a court physician in the family history.

However, the The Bolton Clan truly possessed superb medical skills, and since the clinic opened, they had saved many villagers.

As their reputation grew, more and more outsiders came to the clinic for treatment.

Some of these patients were too ill to travel, and after failing to recover, they dared not return home. So, they stayed at the clinic.

Of course, these were all seriously ill patients.

Recently, it was these gravely ill patients who had been dying—one per day!

The day before yesterday, one such patient suddenly regained consciousness before dying, and said, “Breath as cold as ice, pupils without reflection, seeing stars in daylight, embracing yang yet not warm—what is the cause? Lend me a breath.”

After leaving these words, the man died that very night.

Upon seeing this, the other patients fled that night. One with a broken leg was even carried away by a blind man.

They all knew—the clinic was haunted!

Charles Foster went to investigate the clinic at the time but found nothing amiss, so he left a talisman from the Astronomical Bureau at the door. If it was just a minor ghost or wandering spirit, this talisman would be enough to drive it away.

No one died at the clinic last night, and the The Bolton Family was overjoyed. Upon waking, they rushed to worship the talisman at the door before even relieving themselves, only to discover that their morning pee had soaked their pants—the talisman had burned down to just a stub...

This ghost was fierce!

Originally, Charles Foster had planned to investigate the clinic again today, but the county had suddenly discovered a vengeful spirit. The main seal of the Astronomical Bureau summoned all four minor seals in the county to hunt it down, so he had David Bennett handle the case in his stead.

David Bennett couldn’t sit still and ran off after spending half a day at the clinic.

Charles Foster was furious about this, so when David Bennett shamelessly asked if he could have roast chicken for dinner, Charles Foster told him to go eat chicken droppings.

Feeling dejected, David Bennett went to mooch a meal off his village cronies, while Charles Foster shut himself in as night fell. This left William Clark bewildered: he wanted to practice the “Eight Trigrams Soul-Returning Blade,” but had no one to guide him—he only had a blade manual.

He was even more confused after returning to his room—the manual was gone, and now he didn’t even have that.

He clearly remembered stuffing the manual into his chest during the day, but now, stripped bare (he’d even caught two lice), he still couldn’t find it!

Thinking of the window that had mysteriously opened during the day, William Clark felt a chill run through him.

Too many strange things had happened today!

After all, today was Qingming Festival!

He also recalled the strange appearance of the Creation Furnace earlier and quickly sat cross-legged, closing his eyes.

As his breathing calmed, the Creation Furnace appeared in his mind’s eye.

Unlike before, this time the furnace was no longer still—blazing red flames burned beneath it!

The fire scorched the furnace, and a booklet slowly rotated at its mouth.

William Clark understood—the missing manual had also been sucked into the furnace.

The fire beneath the furnace gradually died down, and when the flames went out, the manual at the mouth of the furnace disappeared.

Seeing this, he instinctively opened his eyes, and the manual reappeared before him.

But it was not the “Eight Trigrams Soul-Returning Blade,” but the “Taiyin Soul-Severing Blade”!

He flipped through it in confusion and found that the texture of the pages had changed—from rough to fine. The training diagrams inside had also changed, becoming more detailed and thorough.

Besides the training diagrams, the manual now included detailed explanations. Previously, David Bennett had mentioned that the “Eight Trigrams Soul-Returning Blade” given to him by Charles Foster was the most basic blade technique of the Astronomical Bureau, usually practiced by Star Rovers and Strongmen.

The technique itself was simple, but the waist blades issued by the Astronomical Bureau were longer than ordinary blades, giving them a wider range of control. Combined with the technique, they were quite lethal—enough to handle ordinary ghosts and monsters.

But the “Taiyin Soul-Severing Blade” was different!

Its core moves included chopping, stabbing, lifting, slashing, wiping, carrying, spreading, pulling, and intercepting, with endless variations such as biting blade severance, pushing blade rotation, pulling blade flat stab, chopping blade advance, tail-lifting ring change, stabbing and intercepting, leg-guarding wrist-cut, startling upward strike, and so on—truly unpredictable.

No matter what kind of attack it faced, this technique had a counter. Once a move was successfully executed, the entire set could be unleashed in succession, scattering the enemy’s soul!

Simply put, this blade technique excelled at dragging opponents into its own rhythm, then defeating them with a wealth of experience.

As for how many routines it had? There were countless. As the old saying goes: “Like a sow wearing a bra—one set after another.”

And that’s not all—the most powerful aspect of this technique was the “Taiyin” itself!

The sun is called “Taiyang,” the moon “Taiyin.” The “Taiyin Soul-Severing Blade” could temporarily borrow the power of moonlight at night, greatly increasing its might. When mastered to perfection, even ghosts and gods would not dare to face its edge.

After reading the introduction, William Clark was filled with excitement. He threw off his covers and leapt up, wishing he could master the technique immediately and go slay a couple of ghosts to kick off his career.