My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

Lin Zhenyuan, standing beside Zhao Damang with blood on his shoulder, had a different feeling.

He did not know the other person.

In that desperate situation, all he cared about was the safety of his son, Lin Yunfeng, and his unwavering resolve to live and die with his brothers.

Upon seeing this Taoist priest, who seemed to have descended from heaven, I was not only shocked, but also filled with astonishment and... a touch of instinctive awe.

Especially seeing the reactions of Zhao Damang and those bodyguards—it was a deep-seated respect and trust, not a pretense.

Who exactly is this Taoist priest?

Ye Qingfeng walked to the center of the courtyard and stopped three zhang away from the paper figures.

He looked up, his gaze sweeping over the stiff paper figures before finally settling on the butler on the steps.

"We meet again." Ye Qingfeng smiled calmly at Zhao Damang and the others.

"However, this situation does not seem suitable for further discussion. Let me resolve the troubles here first."

After saying this, Ye Qingfeng turned to look at the butler over there.

The butler stared intently at the white flame in Ye Qingfeng's palm. For the first time, an expression appeared on his pale face—not anger, not fear, but an extreme, almost twisted, apprehension.

"Who... are you?" The butler's voice was no longer cold; instead, it carried a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.

Ye Qingfeng did not answer.

He raised his left hand and gently blew on the white flame in his palm.

"call--"

It wasn't blowing air, but some invisible force brushing across the flames.

The white flames suddenly surged!

It's not that it's gotten bigger, but that its radiance has become even brighter!

Pure white light surged out like a tide, instantly filling the entire courtyard!

When the paper figures were illuminated by the white light, wisps of black smoke rose from their bodies, and they made a hissing sound as they corroded.

"Give rise to the yin wind!" the butler shouted, forming a hand seal.

The paper figures below the steps all raised their paper fans and fanned them wildly!

A chilling wind, ten times stronger than before, rose from the ground!

The wind carried mournful wails of ghosts, swirling up ashes that formed a black tornado that hurtled straight toward the white flames in Ye Qingfeng's palm!

This is going to be a head-on confrontation!

The bodyguards' hearts were in their throats.

They had just experienced firsthand the terrifying power of this cold wind—it could extinguish even a pine torch in an instant, leaving not a single spark behind.

The flame in the Taoist priest's hand was indeed wondrous, but it was, after all, just a small ball...

Can it be blocked?

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the black tornado collided with the white flames.

Then--

Disappeared.

It wasn't blown away, nor was it swallowed up; rather, like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun, it melted away silently the moment it came into contact with the sun.

The eerie wind, the ghostly wails, the ashes of paper, the black smoke... everything vanished completely the moment it touched the white flame's light, as if it had never existed.

The courtyard returned to peace.

Only white flames burned quietly, their light gentle, as if the earth-shattering tornado of the past was merely an illusion.

The butler's face was completely distorted.

"Impossible... This is impossible!" he roared hoarsely.

Ye Qingfeng finally looked at him, her eyes calm and indifferent:

"This fire is called 'Samadhi True Fire'."

As soon as he finished speaking, the white flame in his palm slowly rose into the air.

When it rose to a height of ten feet, the flames exploded silently, turning into countless tiny white specks of light, like stars in the sky, sprinkling onto every paper figure in the courtyard.

The light fell on the paper figure.

"laugh--"

The soft sound was like snow falling on burning charcoal.

The paper figures began to burn.

It's not the kind of burning that's ignited by flames, but rather a process of erasing existence from the inside out, from a point to a surface.

There were no screams, no struggles.

More than thirty paper figures, enveloped in white light, transformed into wisps of green smoke, rising and dissipating.

In less than three breaths.

In the courtyard, apart from the butler on the steps, there was not a single paper figure.

Only the ashes scattered on the ground prove that they once existed.

Ye Qingfeng withdrew his gaze and looked at the butler on the steps.

The butler trembled all over, wanting to escape, but found his feet were nailed to the spot, unable to move.

I wanted to speak, but my throat felt like it was being choked, and I couldn't make a sound.

Ye Qingfeng raised his hand and pointed at him in a daze.

A tiny white spark separated from the myriad of sparks and drifted toward the butler.

It was slow and light, like a feather.

But when the butler looked at that spark, it was as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

He struggled desperately, and his blue cloth robe was torn apart by an invisible force, revealing what lay beneath—

It is not a human body.

Instead, it was a frame made of bamboo strips, with thick paper covered with skin and clothes drawn on it.

The paper was yellowed and the edges were curled, indicating that it was quite old.

This "housekeeper" is also a paper figure!

A white spark drifted to the paper doll butler's chest and gently fell.

"No--!!!"

The butler finally spoke, a non-human roar that sounded like paper scraping.

Then, flames ignited.

It didn't spread from a single point, but rather the entire paper body simultaneously emitted white light from the inside out.

In the white light, the bamboo frame turned to ashes, the thick paper turned to wisps of smoke, and the features in the ink painting became distorted, blurred, and finally disappeared.

As the last wisp of smoke rose, the paper butler vanished completely.

Only a small clump of ashes remained on the steps.

The white light spots slowly converged, reforming into a ball of white flame, which flew back into Ye Qingfeng's palm.

The flames shrank, the light dimmed, and finally turned into a spark that disappeared into his sleeve.

Darkness returned to the courtyard.

Only the candlelight emanating from the main hall.

And eighteen dumbfounded bodyguards, as if in a dream.

Lin Zhenyuan was the first to come to his senses. He knelt down with a thud and kowtowed three times to Ye Qingfeng.

"Master, you saved my life... I, Lin..."

He choked up, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Zhao Damang and the other bodyguards also knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.

Ye Qingfeng flicked his sleeves, and a gentle force lifted everyone up.

"No need for formalities." His tone remained calm. "What I have done is all in accordance with my conscience. Even if it weren't for you, I would have destroyed these evil spirits."

However, at this very moment—

"boom--!"

Inside the main hall, the originally warm and dim candlelight suddenly turned into a ghastly green!

Green light burst out from the cracks in the doors and windows, making the courtyard look eerie!

At the same time, a chilling resentment, ten times stronger and colder than before, surged out of the main hall like a tangible tide!

"Giggle giggle..."

A chilling laugh, like the grinding of bones or the crumpling of paper, came from deep within the main hall.

The laughter was filled with resentment, anger, and a kind of hysterical madness.

"Good...very good..."

A shrill female voice rang out, each word sounding like fingernails scraping against a coffin lid.

"You destroyed my house, killed my servants, ruined my plans... You filthy Taoist priest, do you really think you can act so arrogantly in front of me just because you've learned a few petty tricks?!"

Before the words were even finished, a burst of green light shone brightly in the main hall!

A figure dressed in a bright red wedding gown slowly floated out from the inner room.

She wore a phoenix crown and a beaded curtain veiled her face, but through the swaying beads, one could see a face as pale as paper, yet exceptionally beautiful.

It was Wan'er, whom Lin Yunfeng had been longing to hear about.