https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-246-Paper-Figures-Carrying-a-Sedan-Chair/12915734/
Chapter 247: Aunt Zhang Summons a Spirit (Third Update)
Chapter 247: Aunt Zhang Summons a Spirit (Third Update)
The old lady who caught up with them was truly bizarre. Despite the distance they had originally covered and the hundred miles they had traveled during the night, she managed to catch up in a short time.
Her voice no longer sounded human but rather like an evil ghost.
She had trapped everyone, and Aunt Zhang immediately began to think of ways to deal with her. Following the experience of a ghost walker, she wanted to first understand the other party’s methods before taking targeted action. However, she hadn’t expected the other side to be so unpredictable, making it difficult to discern her true nature.
Seeing that someone in their group had already fallen victim, and the remaining people were becoming increasingly tense, Aunt Zhang had no choice but to set up an altar and confront the old lady head-on.
Hu Ma could only choose to help Aunt Zhang. With his skills as a Year-Guardian, protecting himself was easy, but protecting others from this strange and sinister old lady was a different matter. He felt a sense of helplessness, not knowing where to direct his efforts.
The wailing cries grew louder, and the old lady’s hoarse voice was both eerie and unpleasant, creating an overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere.
The mist from outside the forest rolled in layer by layer, almost obscuring everything within a few yards. The old lady, who was being carried in a sedan chair by paper figures, appeared and disappeared, her eerie laughter echoing everywhere.
Her hollow eyes scanned the scene, and the hand holding the handkerchief waved gently at everyone.
The cart driver and the apprentices had already tightly shut their eyes.
But for some reason, the cart driver couldn’t keep them closed. He opened them slightly and immediately saw the old lady, her mouth twisted into a grotesque smile, not far from him.
A sudden scream broke out, and he fell to the ground.
Hu Ma reacted quickly, turning around and catching a glimpse of the old lady. She was pulling something out of the cart driver’s body. Hu Ma immediately spat out a True Yang Arrow, tearing through the surrounding cold wind.
But it only wavered for a moment before being overwhelmed, showing no effect.
Hu Ma clenched his teeth, thinking, “What kind of ghostly technique is this?”
At the same time, Aunt Zhang had already squatted down and opened her bag. She usually took things out of the bag, but this time she spread the bag on the ground, revealing a pattern of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches underneath.
Aunt Zhang looked tense but her hands were steady. She quickly lit a small oil lamp and gripped a strange, black bone.
“Huff...”
But just as the oil lamp was lit, the mist outside the forest swirled, and a gust of Yin Qi suddenly blew over, as if a ghost with a mocking expression was using all its strength to blow out the oil lamp.
“Not good!”
Hu Ma knew how crucial the oil lamp was for the ritual. Just as he was about to step forward to protect it, he heard Aunt Zhang whisper, “Young Sir Shopkeeper, just protect the people. Don’t worry about anything else.”
Hu Ma hesitated, then calmed down and focused his gaze.
The oil lamp, buffeted by the Yin wind, flickered several times, nearly going out, but it stubbornly refused to extinguish. It even brightened up, shining more brightly than before.
“So powerful?”
Hu Ma was genuinely surprised.
At the same time, Hu Ma and the others were enveloped in the mist, busy and confused. Unbeknownst to them, outside the forest, just a few miles away, another old lady with jewels in her hair was kneeling on a hill.
She was kneeling in front of a sedan chair carried by two paper figures, and in front of her was a spirit tablet that bore the marks of incense and smoke.
She sensed that the other party was also performing a ritual and was slightly startled: “Her oil lamp can’t be blown out?”
Unlike the eerie mockery inside the forest, the old lady outside was extremely tense and serious. She immediately started bowing vigorously to the spirit tablet, muttering prayers for the ancestors to protect them, promising to offer a young boy in return.
The spirit tablet seemed to sway slightly as she bowed.
At the same time, inside the forest, a sudden gust of wind rose, and the mist that had been spreading became several times thicker. Everyone felt a chill, and their vision blurred. They seemed to see four or five ghostly figures emerging from the mist.
Each of these figures crouched in front of the oil lamp, using all their strength to blow at Aunt Zhang’s oil lamp, almost reducing it to a tiny flicker.
But Aunt Zhang’s eyes were vacant, as if she wasn’t even noticing them. She casually grabbed a handful of powder, mixed with cinnabar, and threw it toward the oil lamp.
“Hiss!”
The oil lamp, which had been reduced to a tiny flame, suddenly burst into a bright light, burning outward and scorching the four or five ghostly figures, causing them to scream and flee back into the mist.
The oil lamp’s flame was now robust, showing no sign of extinguishing.
The cold wind surrounding them seemed to swirl around the oil lamp, hesitant to approach the flame any closer.
Amidst the stifling and chaotic atmosphere, the light from the oil lamp illuminated Zhang Agu's face, which remained calm. She clutched a piece of black bone in her hands and began to murmur a spell quietly.
"Heaven dark and Earth dark, the ghost shield the door, chanting to summon the Five Shackles."
"Five Shackles descend, ghosts fight ghosts, souls dissipate and lives cease."
"..."
"..."
Watching Zhang Agu chant and set up the altar, Hu Ma, despite his busyness, glanced over and was slightly surprised. "Why isn't she using a binding object?"
He usually used the techniques from the Year-Guarding Book to set up an altar, which was simple enough, but Zhang Agu seemed even simpler.
On the other side, the old woman outside the forest felt the ghost trying to extinguish the oil lamp being forced back and was momentarily taken aback. "Where did this Ghost Walker come from, and how does he have such deep magical power?"
But she hurried over, fearing they might escape, and even without enough people, she wanted to prevent any unexpected incidents.
She bit her lip hard, breaking the skin, and spat blood onto the spirit tablet. Then she stood up, hopping around in the night, looking eerie and mysterious.
Suddenly, the mist in the forest grew thicker.
Everyone felt as if the mist was a tangible presence, pressing down on them, making it hard to breathe. Whether it was Hu Ma, Zhou Manager, or the apprentice crouched on the ground, clutching his head and shivering, their hair stood on end.
Even with their eyes closed, they could sense countless entities moving within the mist.
Paper figures carrying the old woman's silhouette flickered in and out of the mist, accompanied by green-faced, fanged ghosts.
Suddenly, a bone-axe broke through the mist, aiming straight for the apprentice on the ground.
Hu Ma swung his knife to block, but the axe dissolved back into the story, maintaining the tension and the atmosphere.
---
Hu Ma swung his knife, but it only blocked the air, and the axe reformed into mist.
But then, countless ghosts surged from all around, each wielding weapons and hacking down at them. Everyone felt as if they were surrounded by an endless horde of ghosts, unable to distinguish what was real and what was not, feeling an overwhelming sense of fear.
It felt as if another self within them was being forced out.
But at that moment, Zhang Agu, who had been chanting softly, suddenly stopped and slowly lifted her head.
Her hands, which had been holding the bone fragment, extended forward and then opened.
The bone fragment in her hand suddenly emitted an unimaginable cold aura, which shot up into the sky.
The force was so intense that it formed a gale that swept away the thick mist, and the shadowy figures within the mist were compressed and torn apart.
"Rip" "Rip" "Rip" "Rip"
The sound of thick Paper Tearing" could be heard by human ears.
The shadows hidden in the mist were torn to pieces one after another.
The oppressive and cold aura that had just filled the air was instantly replaced by a fierce and malevolent presence.
"What?"
Hu Ma's eyes nearly popped out in shock.
He knew that summoning spirits was a powerful technique for Ghost Walkers, but what Zhang Agu had summoned was unexpectedly so fierce.
"Phew!"
At the same time, outside the forest, the old woman who had been bowing before the spirit tablet suddenly changed expression.
She looked up and saw that the tablet in front of her was already cracked and then shattered, and she heard countless cries of struggle, despair, and anger, along with countless hands reaching out futilely.
She stood there for a moment, her face turning from white to green, and then she spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Such skill, such skill..."
She muttered to herself, but her body quickly stood up, not bothering to pick up the shattered tablet or the paper figures, and stumbled away.
"To break the other's spell so quickly?"
Hu Ma, though shocked by the ferocity of what Zhang Agu had summoned, knew the gravity of the situation.
The old woman who had been chasing them was formidable, and Zhang Agu was even more so, having instantly broken the other's spell. Now, he needed to go out and find that old woman, cut her down, and prevent any further trouble.
"Those two are our people, don't hurt them..."
But at that moment, he heard Zhang Agu's anxious voice. He quickly glanced over and saw that the mist had dissipated, the black shadows had vanished, and only two remained.
Their faces were semi-transparent, vaguely recognizable as the cart driver and the apprentice, who had been called out of their bodies and were now desperately trying to return.
Zhang Agu's reminder caused the malevolent entity she had summoned to pause.
It seemed to transform into a tall, indistinct figure standing before her. After a moment, it suddenly slapped her across the face, yelling, "Old hag, you summoned me, yet you're giving orders."
"Stop waiting until you're twenty-five; after this trip, prepare for your wedding..."
(End of Chapter)
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