CHAPTER 469: CHAPTER 463: THE WANDERING GODS FROM ALL SIDES

"Hmm?"

Feeling a strange movement on his arm, Hu Ma’s face changed suddenly. He turned and swung his blade across, slapping hard on his left arm.

The evil energy on the blade, sensing its owner, instinctively retracted back into the blade. But Hu Ma applied full force in that slap, and with a loud snap, suppressed whatever was trying to act up within his left arm.

He was somewhat surprised. The thing sealed within his left arm was extremely hard to expel; Big Red Robe had helped seal it at first, and he had nailed it to his bone with the finger of a Yin General. Yet unexpectedly, it still attempted to escape at this critical moment.

Was it because even it couldn’t bear the methods of Young Master Meng?

Thinking about it, it was amusing. The tactics of this Young Master Meng were truly brutal, ruthless, and decisive.

Hu Ma had thought that since his reincarnation, the cruelest tactics he’d witnessed were the blood sacrifice of three villages using sweet potato, and the massacre of his entire Witch Clan by Monkey Wine.

Yet he hadn’t expected to see even more brutal methods so soon.

It was that Young Master Meng. His audacity far exceeded Hu Ma’s imagination. Refining a Yin General could still be seen as a casual endeavor; using the Grass Head Eight Declining Gods could be said to destroy the Lantern Festival. But now, unleashing the Meng family’s special skill, humans serving ghosts...

...having overheard his conversation with the Iron Steed Grand Hall Officer earlier, what more needed to be said?

These were indeed methods aimed at him, just like with the Yin General, all to keep an eye on him in Mingzhou, all to force him to sit down for a talk.

Compared to refining the Ghost General Platform with the Yin General and using ghost soldiers to monitor him, now the method was more blatant and malicious.

If a comparison must be made, what he was doing now was no different in essence from when Grandma Cui buried the Nightmare Warding Object under the crooked-neck tree to harm him while he was in Dayang Village.

If there was a difference, it was merely the scale. Instead of burying it under a tree, it was a mass grave or a haunted burial mound.

But the key was that all these things happened right before him, and he witnessed them all. If he hadn’t come to Shima Town, he would have remained ignorant and inexplicably suffered significant losses.

Yet fate was fascinating. Because he came here, the sinister methods of the Meng family repeatedly played out before his eyes, making the situation more nuanced.

Then, Hu Ma’s eyes grew cold, his teeth slightly clenched. The Meng family never forgot about the Hu family for a moment, and as a descendant of the Hu family, how could he forget them?

Before, he had been cautious and vigilant, afraid of being discovered. Yet at that moment, he genuinely and solidly developed murderous intent towards the Meng family. This intent wasn’t solely due to anger.

It was because of fear!

In this world where bizarre paths could end lives, wouldn’t anyone be afraid when such a powerful family constantly plotted to take your life?

To put it bluntly, even his final decision to involve himself wasn’t because he was noble enough to do it for the One Coin Sect, or for the No-Eating Beef, or for the townspeople of the whole town. It was because he knew the Meng family came here with an agenda against the Hu family.

He just wanted to see the methods the Meng family prepared.

And now, he had seen it!

"Since that’s the case, let us truly use the Hu family’s Age Suppressing Book to duel with your Meng family’s Tongyin Skill!"

As his thoughts turned rapidly, he gritted his teeth, pulled out a piece of Life Incense from his arms, and decided to summon Little Hongtang, prepared to truly set up the altar and reveal the identity of a Hu family member.

The Meng family had their secret maneuvers, but he had already made preparations in Shima Town for setting up the altar, aiming to seize the opportunity to confront them when they grew too powerful.

Of course, setting up the altar would also be quite troublesome. The Meng family would immediately know he was here, and his identity as a Hu family member would be hard to hide, leading to many possibly passive situations later on.

Moreover, even after setting up the altar, there was no guarantee that he could end the Meng family members’ lives here. He could only scare them, make them realize that the Hu family knew of their intentions—akin to striking the mountain to shake the tiger.

With setting up the altar, at most, he could gain a thirty percent advantage. But with no Reincarnator present, Shima Town was isolated and helpless; what better method was there?

But just as Hu Ma pondered setting up the altar, in an instant, he suddenly sensed something was not right.

He saw countless Ghost Flags waving and Evil Ghosts crawling densely, laughing chaotically, about to engulf the entire Shima Town. Inside the town, whether they were disciples of the One Coin Sect or those invited to witness the event, all were terrified and incapable of any response.

Yet, faced with these endless hungry ghosts that threatened their lives, the citizens of Shima Town, who should have been extremely fearful and screaming, were not. The town, which should have been in chaos, suddenly fell into deep silence.

It was as if a black shroud had suddenly covered the town. The next moment, when the multitude of ghosts entered the town, all lights were extinguished, all sounds ceased, leaving only a dead silence.

Not only did all voices within the town disappear, but it also seemed to become a black lake. Even the Yin Ghosts that surged into the town seemed to hesitate at that moment.

"What is this?"

Outside the town, the Second Young Master Meng, who didn’t know what he had summoned, also seemed unaware of the change. A peculiar expression emerged on his cold, hollow face, as he woodenly looked toward the town.

Beside him, the Iron Steed Grand Hall Officer noticed something was off, slowly opened his eyes, and showed a look of surprise.

CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.

Yet just as everything fell silent, and the entire world seemed to have darkened, several clear beats of a rattle suddenly sounded in the pitch-black night.

The sound of the rattle was incredibly distinct, yet it appeared strange in this atmosphere because it was typically used by street performers to attract patrons, signaling that a performance was about to start.

With the whole Shima Town frightened by the eerie cries of ghosts, who would have the mind to listen to such tricks at this time?

But the rattle sounded precisely at this time.

Moreover, with the sound of the rattle, lamps suddenly appeared. It was an oil lamp, glowing from the depths of darkness, illuminating a face painted with greasepaint—a comical face with twinkling eyes and moving features.

The entire town was dark except for this spot, so the Yin Ghosts flew toward it. This painted face suddenly burst into loud laughter, cupped his hand over his mouth, then blew forward, sending a fiery cloud rolling over a range of dozens of yards.

Countless resentful ghosts were incinerated by the fiery cloud, hissing and screeching as they burned.

Immediately following, as if ignited by this fiery cloud, the lamps in the town began to light up one by one, illuminating a range of three to four yards each.

In this light, the opera performer on the stage stomped to the rhythm of the rattle, waving a large flag mightily, sweeping up many of the Yin Ghosts invading the town, then shaking them vigorously into oblivion.

Then, the beat of drums and the blast of trumpets filled the air, the music soared to the skies, dispersing countless evil spirits.

In the streets, countless figures stood up. The one performing with large water jars spun them fast and skillfully, capturing numerous eerie ghostly shadows within the whirl.

The oil fryer, with hands and feet working in tandem, stoked the fire furiously, yet the fryer contained no fritters—only writhing, screaming Yin Ghosts filling the oil pot.

"Grandpa hugs, Grandpa hugs..."

The little granddaughter, who had been urging the white-bearded old man to hold her, suddenly changed her expression. She giggled, "No need for Grandpa to hold me. I’ll carry Grandpa..."

So, the trembling old man put her down on the ground. His large body used the little girl’s shoulders as support, and he flipped upside down, inching into the bundle on her back. Then the little girl untied the bundle, giving it a firm shake forward.

The opera singers, fortunetellers, jianghu wanderers, and tradespeople stepped forward one after another, using various methods against the Yin Ghosts rushing into the town. At the same time, a few of them slowly made their way through the crowd toward the town entrance.

But because their skills were so advanced, even the townspeople didn’t notice.

This Lantern Festival, which was supposed to feature a blessing from the Magic King, instead turned into a sudden parade of wandering gods, instantly scattering the Meng family-driven Evil Ghosts.

Amid the bustling parade, strange people revealed themselves one by one, smiling exultantly as they exited the town.

At the forefront was the leader of the opera troupe, who first stepped out. He wore a black opera costume, smirked with a flippant cold smile, swaggered over to Hu Ma, tilted his head, and studied him for a moment, seemingly dissatisfied.

But in the next moment, he suddenly clasped his hands together, then lightly patted his chest with his right hand, bowed to Hu Ma, and softly said, "Jin Chen, chief disciple of the No-Eating Beef Willow Sect, pays respects to our sect’s Virtuous Master."

As he began, the water jar performer, the monkey trainer, and the little girl who had carried the old man all rushed over. They bowed low to Hu Ma, and Chen Ehe and Song Daniu, disciples of the No-Eating Beef Pi Sect, declared, "We pay respects to our sect’s Virtuous Master!"

Throughout Shima Town, countless townspeople who had just appeared lost in misery and despair stood up, shedding their disguises, standing on the streets, rooftops, behind trees, and in oil pots.

They all bowed to Hu Ma, saying, "By order, the No-Eating Beef Disciples have come to pay respects to our sect’s Virtuous Master!"