CHAPTER 485: CHAPTER 479 THREE GREAT STRANGE TECHNIQUES (THIRD UPDATE)

"Have you witnessed the methods of the Meng family people?"

The resentful words of Second Young Master Meng drilled into Hu Ma’s ears, "You’ve pushed me this far. I’m already doomed to die, but you’ll all join me in serving our ancestors..."

"This is the price for offending the Meng family; this is what it means to be a member of the Meng family..."

It felt as if a thousand faces were watching Hu Ma, a thousand voices murmuring countless different things, but the loudest belonged to that Second Young Master Meng.

In Hu Ma’s illusion, Second Young Master Meng had already become one of the faces on the shroud of that distant existence. Yet, he still clung to his arrogance and hatred, as if venting his resentment toward Hu Ma with these final words.

The voice was grating, but Hu Ma actually didn’t want to hear it at all. In his dizziness, he only saw a few familiar faces on that shroud.

They looked at him with worry, their mouths seeming to move, urging him to leave quickly. Hu Ma even saw them struggling, trying to break free from the shroud to help him escape.

However, they had long since become part of that shroud. No matter how much they struggled, it was all pointless, all in vain.

At this moment, he felt only irritation and powerlessness. If not for the existence of the Lifebound Spirit Temple, Hu Ma felt he wouldn’t even be able to think normally; his Divine Soul would have long since collapsed before this thing.

Beyond the grating voice, the entity that had descended upon Second Young Master Meng also revealed a faintly peculiar gaze, subtly tinged with greed. Slowly, gradually, it extended its slender, long fingers toward Hu Ma, which trembled gently.

Faced with those fingers, Hu Ma had the instinct to flee, but stronger than that was the raging fury burning within his body. He relied on the Lifebound Spirit Temple to maintain his ability to think, and he borrowed this fury to remain standing.

Maybe there was still some strength left in him...

This strength could allow Hu Ma to turn and stride away, to get as far from this ghostly thing as possible.

However, the sorrow and anger from deep within his bloodline compelled Hu Ma to focus all his attention and slowly raise the saber in his hand.

He pointed it fiercely at the figure of Second Young Master Meng before him—or rather, at the Meng family’s ancestor.

He had long since completed Shousui and Entering the Mansion, his body renewed. But it seemed there were always ancient things buried deep within his bloodline that could truly draw him into this world, making him hate certain things...

"The item that took the strength of nine oxen and two tigers to retrieve from Fox Coffin Village in Old Yin Mountain back then was intended as a life-saving treasure. Who would have thought it would be needed here first..."

At the same moment, Er Guotou sighed softly, pulling a compass-like object from his sleeve. It was inscribed with characters like Ding, Ji, Xin, Gui, representing Heavenly Stems and astrological signs. It also depicted Wu, Wei, Shen, You, representing Earthly Branches, alongside mountains and rivers. It looked very ancient and somewhat tattered.

Originally, its Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches were split into two halves, one for him and one for Miss White Wine. But after a few successful major operations, Miss White Wine no longer needed her half and returned it to him.

This was certainly his greatest treasure, a life-saving item. It was said to be related to the already vanished founder of the Walking Ghost Path. He had gone through countless hardships to retrieve it from Fox Coffin Village and nearly died there. He only managed to keep his life thanks to Old White helping to deliver a message.

"I obtained this thanks to your help, and now I’m using it to save your life. Seems reasonable, doesn’t it?"

Er Guotou sighed with a touch of helplessness, marveling at the mysteries of fate and lamenting how truly lucky that fellow Old White was.

It was a good thing he treasured this item so much, always keeping it on his person for fear of theft. Otherwise, even if he wanted to help now, he wouldn’t be able to.

Of course, this was also indicative of a Reincarnator’s cautious nature—always considering the possibility of his identity being exposed, ready to forsake everything and flee. Naturally, the most precious things had to be kept close at hand.

Correspondingly, in a dense forest, a white cat strolled leisurely among the trees. At times, her form changed into that of a woman in a white dress, her expression cool and her features indifferent; at other times, she became a seven-tailed white cat.

When in her womanly form, she would gently make calculations with her fingers, continuously recording the layout of her surroundings. Her pace quickened, and in a trance-like moment, it seemed as if the entire forest was filled with this white-clad woman, pulling out red threads one by one, weaving the whole forest together.

One after another, petite and exquisite bells were strung on the red threads.

And when her form flickered, almost blurring, the image of a white cat would appear, its eyes narrowed to vertical slits, the copper bell on its neck jingling softly, like an ancient spell slowly permeating the forest.

Further south, a man in a white robe, carrying a lantern, slowly sat cross-legged, a black leather drum placed before him.

He almost ignored the menacing ghost soldiers passing by less than a mile away. His eyes were fixed on the direction from which the eerie aura billowed, and a hint of fanaticism actually flickered within his usually indifferent eyes.

"This world still holds some interesting things, ah..."

He murmured to himself, set aside the flute in his hand, and instead picked up two black leg bones to use as drumsticks, gently tapping them against the drum.

"THUMP!" "THUMP!" "THUMP!"

When Hu Ma raised the saber in his hand and pointed it at Second Young Master Meng, a strange sense of determination had already formed within him.

But as he was now, facing the entity on Second Young Master Meng, the disparity in strength was still too great and obvious.

Even though arrangements had already been made around him, he was still uncertain about the ultimate outcome if this duel truly erupted.

That Second Young Master Meng—or rather, the entity on him—clearly didn’t take Hu Ma, who had now raised his saber, seriously at all. Within its vacant eyes, the jealousy and mockery of Second Young Master Meng himself would flicker at times, and at others, the greed of that ancestor.

However, just as Hu Ma raised his saber, a heavy drumbeat suddenly began to sound from the south, behind him.

The drumbeat was slow and resonant, as if some ancient faith was being transmitted through its rhythm. In that instant, throughout the mountain forest, the chilling winds ceased, the Vengeful Ghosts fell silent, and a potent aura gradually intensified.

Hu Ma’s heart also seemed to beat in time with the drums. Wherever the sound of the drums reached, the entire mountain forest seemed to gain a kind of heavy rhythm.

It was as if this slumbering land was slowly awakening. The drumbeat grew deeper and slower, like its breath. With the appearance of this sound, even the omnipresent sense of oppression and coldness significantly diminished.

Is this gu? Hu Ma’s heart stirred slightly. No, this must be a Witch...

"WHOOSH!"

Following the drumbeat, to Hu Ma’s west, Er Guotou, who was sitting cross-legged on a mountaintop, placed the compass before him and kowtowed respectfully several times. Then, he lit an incense array beside the compass and planted the large black flag he carried into the ground.

Taking a deep breath, his expression grave, he placed the five fingers of his right hand into the compass and slowly began to turn it.

The black flag standing beside him suddenly unfurled in the wind. The incense array burned even more vigorously, and billowing smoke instantly spread to the surroundings.

RUMBLE!

The moment the compass began to turn, Hu Ma felt the world spin, as if the very earth beneath his feet was shaking from within. Immediately after, the stars seemed to shift and constellations realign, directions switched: east became west, and west became south.

"Hmm?"

As this change occurred, Second Young Master Meng, who stood with his hands behind his back, seemed to sense something was wrong. He stopped; the greed and jealousy on his face slowly vanished. He looked up, somewhat bewildered, at the profound night sky.

"Yin and yang nurture, all channels flourish; evil spirits submit, myriad generals follow in form."

At the same time, in the southeast, Miss White Wine, dressed in a white skirt, was making calculations as she slowly raised her slender, jade-like hand, which wore a jade-green bracelet. A hint of cold mockery seemed to flash across her cool face.

"It’s already a dead thing, why bother coming to the mortal world to make a show of power?"

The next moment, she pulled a piece of light white gauze from the sleeve of her other hand and, with a WHOOSH, tossed it into the air. The white gauze instantly spread out rapidly.

Throughout the forest, the interwoven red lines all gently pulsed at this moment. The white gauze followed the direction of the red lines, spreading rapidly. In an instant, it obscured all lines of sight and cut off all senses.

Where Hu Ma stood, it suddenly felt as if an eerie, ethereal mist was rising from the ground in all directions. It continued to ascend until it covered more than half the sky, mingling with the night, making it impossible to tell where one was.

"What is this?"

As these changes occurred, even Second Young Master Meng’s expression switched to that angry, hateful one, now mixed with a bit of terror and a dazed confusion stemming from his inability to understand what was happening.

The moment he had called down the ancestor, he had been like the center of this entire world. Yet now, he seemed to have plunged into profound chaos.

They’re all showing their true skills, huh...

Feeling the three Strange Techniques, powerful enough to seemingly alter heaven and earth, emerge from three different directions, Hu Ma’s heart clenched with excitement for a moment. The earlier pressure instantly dissipated, and he even gave a cold smile as he looked forward.

He wasn’t looking at Second Young Master Meng, but at the entity he had summoned. The hatred surging in his heart finally had an outlet. He gritted his teeth slightly, "Since you’ve come down..."

"...then why don’t you suffer a slash from my saber too!"