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Chapter 567: No More Hiding
Chapter 567: No More Hiding
"Oh no!"
The order spread like an avalanche, stirring up the entire Mingzhou, but the first to notice were those who had raised the altars within the city.
Hu Ma, the Pacifying Evil Office Official, had not kept it a secret. With every word and decree, the seven characters of 'kill' were spoken with righteousness and clarity, echoing throughout Mingzhou, even reaching the spirits and demons who heard it loud and clear.
The Hu Clan's side branch, who had set up an altar using the entire Mingzhou City, naturally heard it as well, and their faces turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. They rose abruptly, their anger overwhelming them. With a wave of his hand, he swept the offering fruit incense burner from the incense table onto the ground and shouted sternly, "This ignorant child, does he know what he's doing?"
"What's going on?"
The commotion startled Hu Xi, the Hu Clan's Elder Sister, and the two clan uncles guarding the clay statue of the Governor God. Although they were not the ones who had raised the altar, they couldn't hear the noise. However, with their skills in the Ghost Walking Ways, they still sensed an unusually chilling feeling.
Their hairs stood on end, and their souls felt as if something was blocking them. This was often a sign of nearby spirits and gods watching, an innate sense of reverence. But with the altar of an entire city nearby, where did this feeling of being suppressed come from?
"He..."
The third uncle of the Hu Clan, Hu Feng, who had taken the initiative, spoke with a trembling voice, "He's not hiding anymore, but how dare he..."
"Raising an altar for the entire state, summoning the ghosts and gods of the state, without restrictions or sealed weapons, and taking on all the sins of the Netherworld..."
"How could he have the guts to do this? Can he bear the consequences?"
At these words, both the Elder Sister and the two clan uncles were stunned, "We only wanted to teach him a lesson..."
"But he broke all the rules in one go?"
"Does he know that according to the rules of the Ghost Walking Ways, what he's doing is even more outrageous than those hungry ghosts?"
"..."
"..."
"Report..."
Meanwhile, in Yang Gong's camp, scouts rode in on fast horses, following the previous group of scouts who had brought news of the hungry ghosts.
The scouts reported that the wandering ghosts had set up altars everywhere, summoning various spirits and demons to slay the hungry ghosts. In villages and towns, groups of young men, calling themselves the Grain Protection Army, were gathering and marching. Upon hearing this, both Yang Gong and the strategist Iron Mouth were shocked.
The commotion was so great that they couldn't process it all at once.
"Jiao Zhu, Jiao Zhu..."
The strategist Iron Mouth suddenly remembered the words Miao Shan Xian Gong had whispered to him, and it all became clear, "No wonder Jiao Zhu said we didn't need to worry about the altar in Mingzhou City, and that he could suppress the evil energy of those hungry ghosts..."
"He can definitely suppress them, even if there were ten times more hungry ghosts!"
"But who is behind this, Jiao Zhu or the young master of the Ten Surnames Hu Clan?"
"We, Bu Shi Niu, have never considered the Ten Surnames as nobles. We rebel against them, but now, the foolish young master of the Hu Clan has pulled off such a feat..."
"The key is, his methods seem similar to ours, Bu Shi Niu."
They couldn't help but smile bitterly, feeling foolish, "Could it be that Jiao Zhu has convinced the young master of the Ten Surnames, and now the Pacifying Evil Hu Clan has become our Bu Shi Niu's fellow disciples?"
Before they could digest all the alarming news, more reports came in. Some of the troops gathered under the name of the Grain Protection Army, entrusted by the spirits and gods, had already dispersed the surrounding evil ghosts and were rushing to join them.
Yang Gong quickly led his men to greet them. He saw groups of young men from various places, dressed in mismatched clothes, without proper weapons, but their numbers were real.
Each of them exuded a powerful aura, and they were all strangers to Yang Gong. Yet, they were acting on their own initiative under the name of the Grain Protection General. Just a glance between them felt like they were part of the same group.
"General, it's time to enter the city!"
The strategist Iron Mouth, standing by Yang Gong's side, took a deep breath as he watched the scattered flags of the volunteers. He whispered a suggestion.
"Enter the city?"
Yang Gong turned in surprise and looked towards Mingzhou City, where over ten thousand hungry ghosts still lingered, their hungry ghost auras filling the air. He said, "Earlier, the master advised me to be patient and let the enemy make the first move. Now that we're about to fight, does he have a brilliant strategy?"
"A brilliant strategy?"
The strategist Iron Mouth said, "There's no need for strategies now. Let's just charge in with full force. The hungry ghosts are suppressed, so we have no worries. It's time to show our true skills!"
"With everyone watching the Grain Protection Army from all sides, if we win this battle and enter the city with dignity, your reputation will be established!"
"..."
"..."
"Suppressed!"
At the same time, in Red Gate Town, no one understood the changes in Mingzhou's destiny better than Hu Ma.
He took the stone box from the ox cart and placed it by his side. Through the sacred altar, he could see that the various Wandering Ghost Ways in Mingzhou had already merged into one, suppressing the altar in Mingzhou City.
One could even say that it was firmly suppressed, without any room for resistance.
He also saw countless figures in white robes, holding three incense sticks, leading the starving ghosts. Now, they were being captured by those who had raised altars in various places. The starving ghosts left stranded along the way, confused and without a master, had their ghostly auras dissipating.
If the Heaven's Will General had intended to destroy the foundation of Mingzhou with a poisonous move, then he had made a miscalculation.
The starving ghosts were filthy, so he wanted to send them to various places in Mingzhou. Firstly, to disrupt the Grain Protection Army's morale, and secondly, to stir up the altar in Mingzhou.
However, he hadn't anticipated that the water in Mingzhou was flowing water. These scattered starving ghosts had their filth washed away, and without their ghostly auras, they were just like commoners. How could they possibly be a match for the living people and spirits in the villages and mountains?
At this moment, those who were still guarding the outskirts of Mingzhou City, upon seeing this, could still resemble starving ghosts. It seemed that the Heaven's Will General had acted swiftly, not wanting to lose everything.
But in fact, it didn't matter anymore. From the moment the Exorcist Decree was issued, the fire started to burn, and those who were involved had no chance of escape.
As he thought about this, he slowly stroked the stone box with one hand, while the other hand suddenly grabbed the redwood sword and turned to pick up one of the four talismans he had prepared in advance—the killing talisman. He lit it with an oil lamp and waved the wooden sword into the night sky.
He muttered, "If it's time to kill, why be polite?"
"..."
At the same time, in various places in Mingzhou, the starving ghosts had already captured the Guide Spirits holding the three incense sticks and brought them to the altar.
These Guide Spirits also had magical powers, but unfortunately, there were altars everywhere in Mingzhou, and because all the altars were centered around Hu Ma's altar, they had absorbed the aura of the Pacifying Evil Office. As a result, they couldn't resist and were taken to the altar, feeling terrified in their hearts. However, they subconsciously struggled and shouted fiercely:
"How dare you, mere mortals, be disrespectful to us, the gods of the Yin and Yang platforms!"
"..."
These words genuinely startled many of the Wandering Ghost Men.
The gods on the altar were categorized into four types: platform, altar, mansion, and palace. These platform gods were, in simple terms, errand runners for various aristocratic families. They usually didn't interact with commoners, only accepting blood offerings from the aristocratic families, and unlike the altar gods, they didn't have the qualifications to build their own small temples. They were often only worshipped beside the ancestral temples.
But even if they were small gods, they were still gods. Once the Wandering Ghost Men invited them, they had to show respect, and if their magical powers were strong enough, they could even control them.
However, offending the gods was no small sin.
Just as they were feeling conflicted, they saw the candles on their altar blazing brightly, and from within, it seemed as if two figures in black robes had emerged, both with their hands on their waist sabers, their faces obscured, and only their murderous auras could be felt.
The Wandering Ghost Men were also startled, and they suddenly realized, "The Exorcist Decree isn't a joke; they say kill, and they kill. They even worry that we can't bear this responsibility, so they've directly borrowed the swords!"
Without any hesitation, they shouted and cast spells on the altar, and the two figures in black robes immediately stepped forward and pinned them down.
"Kill!"
As they spoke, they drew their waist sabers and directly chopped off their heads. The candles trembled, and with a 'whoosh,' the flames exploded, scattering everything.
"Clap, clap, clap..."
In Mingzhou City, in front of the sacred altar, the master of the main altar hadn't even reacted to the commotion caused by the grand altar that had been raised in Hu Ma, and the heavy karmic consequences, when he heard a sound of shattering.
In a panic, he opened the black cloth-covered boxes beside the sacred altar and saw two rows of wooden statues, carved from trees and wrapped in white hemp cloth, splitting open at the neck, and small, round heads rolling down.
Muffled voices could be heard from within, "It hurts, it hurts so much..."
"This is the foundation of the Hu Clan. How dare they be so ruthless?"
The master of the Hu Clan's main altar had already jumped up, clenching his fists and pounding the air, then looking up at the second and fourth brothers on the upper floor: "Second Brother, Fourth Brother, we can't hold on any longer. If this continues, we'll all be trapped in the city."
"The only option now is to ask the Governor God to take action and forcefully break his altar!"
The two people upstairs also had grim faces, gritting their teeth, but eventually, they slowly stood up and offered an Eight Trigram Scroll to the clay statue of the Governor God, saying in a low voice, "Even if you don't understand, there's a limit. Doing this is like dragging the entire Hu Clan to their graves, isn't it?"
"..."
"..."
"Are they finally taking action?"
Hu Ma saw the rolling incense smoke in the sky above Mingzhou City beginning to gather in one place and knew their move.
He took a deep breath and coldly smiled, "You have the protection of the Governor God, but do we not have our own?"
He looked up at the Red Lantern Lady's altar god temple, then through the sacred altar, he coldly snorted, "Little Red Lantern, go and bring the Governor God to me!"
(End of Chapter)
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