If a Shousui man confronted evil spirits, it was a straightforward clash, with neither side gaining any advantage, relying solely on skills.
But the Ghost Walker’s Path was different, allowing them to achieve a lot with little effort, never using more than necessary.
Ironically, the things Ghost Walkers often encountered could only be dealt with using such minimalistic tactics; a head-on confrontation might lead to failure.
For instance, like now, faced with this eerie and sinister entity rushing directly at Hu Ma, intending both to interrupt Hu Ma’s chanting and to forcibly devour and rge with him.
Relying on this Magic Altar for a direct confrontation, even the Gate Guardian Stone that had supported them for a decade might not withstand it; Hu Ma’s Shousui body might also find no advantage.
Thus, Hu Ma lit this candle.
When he realized this entity sowhat resembled the ng Family Ancestor, Hu Ma was already prepared. Previously, when dealing with Second Young Master ng, he had discovered the ominously fierce and terrifying entity they bowed to, not sothing ordinary Magic could counter.
However, while that thing was formidable, in the human world, it easily got lost.
It needed sothing from this world to see this world.
At that ti, the ng Family Ancestor descended, using Second Young Master ng’s eyes to observe. Here in Juehu Village, this entity relied on the eyes of these yin souls in the village to see.
When it could see, it exhibited endless ferocity; when blind, it was just powerless rage.
When dealing with the entity Second Young Master ng invoked, Hu Ma relied on Er Guotou and others, using the Three Great Strange Techniques to change the feng shui orientation, cutting off the ng Family Ancestor’s gaze. Now, Hu Ma used the candle fla to confuse the eyes of these yin souls.
Seeing the entity apparently falling into confusion, Hu Ma, continuing his chanting, took out talisman paper after talisman paper, burning them on the candle in front of him.
He threw the burning talisman papers into the air.
As the talisman papers burned down bit by bit, turning into specks of ash, a crackling sound began to echo. From the surrounding darkness, countless iron chains and shackles erged, swirling tumultuously as they flew towards the clan elder to bind him.
They intertwined, binding him tightly.
At this mont, Hu Ma was burning the Chains Character talisman. While continuously chanting the Dispel Curse, if Hu Ma wanted to use the power of the Chains Curse, he could only do so by ans of talisman paper.
Fortunately, having practiced much, he had prepared many. As he burned them one by one, until the talisman papers were depleted, it was as if he was continually chanting the Chains Curse. With the entire village as his Magic Altar, every blade of grass and every tree beca available for his use.
The entity, realizing the chains closing in, was clearly enraged. It struggled fiercely with terrifying strength, breaking chains segnt by segnt and scattering them everywhere. Yet, each ti it broke free from so, more chains, like spirit snakes, would imdiately surge forth and coil around it.
It uttered a roar like sothing from the depths of a nightmare, charging left and right, desperately trying to find Hu Ma. The entire village shook like an earthquake, forcing even Hu Ma to pause burning the Chains Curse talisman paper and protect the candle.
Yet in that montary pause, he sensed sothing, slightly raised his head, glanced outside the village, and a hint of lant and regret showed on his face.
「 」
"Can he... really do it?"
Outside Juehu Village, separated by so distance, as Hu Ma dealt with the entity, the people there were constantly on edge.
Second Master and Old Yangpi, left outside, didn’t know what was happening inside, but they could feel that place turning into hell. The relentless cries of fierce ghosts flooded their ears, almost making them unable to sense Hu Ma’s presence.
It was hard not to worry that Hu Ma, having entered the village, had been devoured by a fierce ghost. But recalling Hu Ma’s trump card when entering the village, they felt he wouldn’t be so easily defeated.
They could only suppress their worries, continuously telling people to burn incense, burn paper offerings, and bring more offerings back to the village.
Gradually, wisp after wisp of incense smoke began to rise outside the village.
The robust young n they had brought along gradually dispersed, encircling Juehu Village to form a giant ring. The smoke from the incense began to waft upward, drawn by a mysterious aura, drifting toward the village.
Without needing instruction, when the incense was lit, so villagers began speaking to those in the village. After all, ten years ago, it was a normal village, with connections of marriage and kinship to nearby communities:
"Third Aunt, your village was ill-fated, sacrificing everyone’s lives for a mouthful of food..."
"Fourth Uncle, oh, the dead shouldn’t linger. Staying in the human world only brings suffering. Take this opportunity, now that Walking Ghost Granny’s grandson is here to help, and let go..."
"..."
The voices were not loud, nor were their words entirely coherent; they spoke whatever ca to mind, yet their words carried a simple sincerity.
This world belonged to the living; the dead should not remain here.
At its core, this was the principle: life and death were separate, yin and yang divided.
「 」
"They say the Zhen Sui Hu Family are the progenitors of the Walking Ghost Path, but looking at this... why do I feel like these people are actually our masters...?"
But as the incense smoke from outside drifted in, Hu Ma, who had been protecting the candle fla, felt a slight relief and slowly released his hand.
He no longer needed to guard the candle fla; in fact, the fire now burned more steadily and vigorously. The smoke from the incense outside entered his altar, adding a mysterious and profound presence to his Magic Altar.
The candle fla no longer needed protecting and could now better conceal him. Even the chains summoned by burning the Chains Curse talisman paper were much thicker than before, like stout vines, quickly wrapping around the clan elder.
Understanding where this change ca from, he sighed softly in his heart: So, having learned so many Magic techniques and practiced so many skills, only now do I truly understand the simplest truth... The most effective thod against these entities is simply the breath of the living...
Realizing this, he let go of so of his remaining anxieties.
Hardly needing to worry about himself anymore, he cald down. He silently chanted the Dispel Curse, stripping the remaining yin body from the entity. Simultaneously, he used the Dispel Curse to dispel the resentnt and sorrow in Juehu Village, restoring these yin souls to their original, pure state.
The imnse chains wrapped around it slowed its movents further, changing its initial struggle to re writhing. Its ferocity had nearly vanished at that mont.
So many yin bodies fell from it that it nearly lost the strength to support itself. Its pitch-black body faded, becoming a re writhing gray shadow lying on the ground.
Even the yin soul of the clan elder at its core showed a bewildered expression on its fierce face, instinctively struggling to break free from the entity’s grasp.
"One who betrays... destiny... will ultimately be... abandoned by destiny..."
At that mont, the Four-sided Town Gate Stones gradually quietened, standing solemnly. The surging force within the village paused briefly; the surrounding wind died down, becoming unusually silent.
Yet at that mont, faint, fragnted, slightly obscure sounds erged, startling Hu Ma inwardly.
He continued chanting, simultaneously looking ahead. An eerie scene confird his suspicion.
With yin souls dropping off it, only a shadow was left among the tangling chains. It was slowly rising from the ground, supporting nurous chains. It had no features, no Seven Apertures, just a vague human shape. Its body was a bleak, pure white, without a single impurity.
Standing steadily there, it evoked a feeling of indescribable mystery and nobility.
Now, even the clan elder’s yin soul struggled to erge from it. The entity could no longer speak through the yin soul. Thus, these few words were spoken by the entity itself.
For it, this was almost against its very instinct.
Every word was spoken with extre difficulty, the blurry words slowly discernible: "You and I... co from the sa place..."
"You... remnants of civilization... have forgotten your roots, breached the contract... you shall suffer... Eternal Punishnt..."
"..."
What is that?
Hu Ma was shocked; it felt like it touched the most hidden parts of my heart. I almost stopped my incantation, wanting to hear what it said.
But my quick reflexes forced to endure, continuing the incantation. Internally, I was in turmoil, feeling a terror as if soone had seen through everything.
Yet that thing had no eyes.
Hu Ma didn’t know why it uttered such bizarre words. But now, as he was in the process of retrieving the Hu Family token, he didn’t know what would happen if it truly managed to speak its piece.
RUMBLE!
But just then, with Hu Ma’s relentless chanting of the Dispel Curse, the clan elder’s yin soul finally separated from it. The entity couldn’t completely speak its words before the Zhen Sui Hu Family’s token.
As the clan elder’s yin soul was stripped away, its body suddenly beca incredibly heavy. Seemingly having lost the last thread of yin soul support, it could no longer remain in the human world. The place where it stood suddenly collapsed as if a gate to the underworld had been opened.
Or one could say, it was itself a gate to hell, and wherever it was, was not the human world.
Even the endless chains binding it were torn apart by its imnse power. The entire village seed to sink abruptly, as if in a landslide.
RUMBLE!
Among the Four-sided Town Gate Stones, two toppled over under the imnse force.
Juehu Village was thus breached, its buildings all turning to dust. But none of this compared to the imnse shock in Hu Ma’s heart.
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