The sudden roar not only startled the surrounding wild dogs, but Aunt Zhang was also taken aback.
She turned her head in surprise to glance at Hu Ma, but she did not forget to swing the Bangzi in her hand, seizing the opportunity to strike at a nearby wild dog.
Her strength was not great, but when the Bangzi hit the wild dog, it howled in pain. Additionally, she deliberately targeted the strong and ferocious wild dogs. The Bangzi, wrapped in red string, relentlessly struck the heads of those wild dogs; with each strike, the wild dog let out a yelp.
At the same moment, Hu Ma dared not delay and charged directly towards the leader of the wild dogs in the grave circle.
The saw-toothed knife in his hand had jagged edges that looked terrifyingly menacing.
The wild dog leader in the grave circle originally had a sinister, cunning expression that seemed human. However, when struck by the Five Thunders Golden Toad Roar, it momentarily lost focus, revealing deep fear. It wanted to escape but couldn't.
Shocked, it decisively turned around, aimed its rear at Hu Ma, dug its front paws into the ground, and let out a fierce bark. But it was useless. It had barely opened its mouth before it ended up with a mouthful of dirt.
Hu Ma dared not be careless; he treated this wild dog leader with the same seriousness as he would a human master. Not knowing what strange effect its bark might have, Hu Ma kicked up a cloud of dirt and sand as he charged forward. He followed up with a solid step, delivering a "Mountain Opening" move, and the saw-toothed knife slashed down fiercely.
SPLAT!
The vicious dog was shaking its head, trying to rid its mouth of sand when suddenly, with a dull thud, its head burst open.
Dodging to avoid the splattering, filthy blood, Hu Ma took advantage of the momentum and followed up with another cut. This slash, coming from the side, chopped the dog's head right off.
A dignified leader of wild dogs, with so many packmates under its command, now had its head lying on the ground. In its quickly dimming eyes, a touch of unwillingness seemed to linger, and sand was still trapped in its mouth.
Hu Ma withdrew his knife and flicked the blood from its blade. He intended to look around but suddenly realized that things were not yet over, and his expression turned somewhat tense.
Even though the dog's head had already fallen, its body stubbornly refused to collapse.
It continued to retreat. Meanwhile, the human face-shaped sore on its back shockingly opened its eyes. The area resembling a mouth even stretched open wide, emitting a wailing cry.
How bizarre? Hu Ma instinctively swung the saw-toothed knife horizontally, aiming to hack off the human-face sore.
"Stop, I'll take care of it!"
At that moment, he heard Aunt Zhang's voice. Hu Ma reacted instantly, adjusting his knife's trajectory, drawing a phantom arc in the air, and plunging the blade into the ground to dissipate its momentum.
Looking up, he saw Aunt Zhang rush forward with the Bangzi wrapped in red string and strike the human-face sore on the decapitated dog's body.
The sore, which had been emitting a sharp, eerie wail, quieted with the first strike. After another hit, the crying stopped entirely. Upon closer inspection, the mouth area of the sore appeared to be sewn shut with red string.
The sore gasped as if for breath, then soon grew silent, and the dog's body finally toppled over.
"Watch over me, make sure they don't bite me."
Sitting by the wild dog's body, Aunt Zhang placed the Bangzi beside her and began chanting silently.
Hu Ma didn't need her reminder. He scanned the surroundings only to find his concern was unfounded. His earlier roar had scared the surrounding wild dogs into a chaotic retreat, and they were long gone from sight.
Only four or five remained—those Aunt Zhang had struck with her Bangzi. Their mouths, too, appeared sewn with red string. They whimpered and crouched on the ground, not daring to move.
This red string, however, seemed unreal. At first glance, it was there, but if you rubbed your eyes and looked again, it was gone.
"Shiqing Talisman commands the Abyssal Penalty, the golden axe leads and the thunder drum roars."
"Weapons in the billions transform into True Spirits, Jing Xiao's division purges disease and plague."
...
Turning back to look at Aunt Zhang, Hu Ma saw her chanting over the dog's carcass for a while, softly knocking the human-face sore on the dog's back with her Bangzi. With each strike, the sore shrank, until, after a dozen or so times, it completely disappeared.
Only then did Aunt Zhang slowly stop. She picked up the Bangzi, stood up, and turned to explain to Hu Ma, "The human-face sore on its back formed because it consumed too many corpses, growing heavy with resentment. If it were struck open with a knife, it would trigger a plague."
"I used a Plague Extinguishing Spell to dispel the evil energy."
"I've learned something new," Hu Ma said, looking at the remaining wild dogs. "What do we do with these?"
"No need to bother with them," Aunt Zhang said, glancing at the few wild dogs she had struck. "If we had only killed the leader, another would eventually rise among the remaining wild dogs to take its place."
"They'd still dig up graves and devour corpses, and haunt the roads like beggar corpses, breeding evil energy and learning to summon other evil spirits to harm people. But now that I've struck them with my Bangzi, they're cursed and dare not eat human flesh anymore."
"They're the stronger ones, and other wild dogs can't outmatch them in the fight for dog King."
"This way, this pack of wild dogs is unlikely to become a major threat again."
Can it really be like this? Hu Ma found himself amazed, marveling at Aunt Zhang's extraordinary skill—using a Bangzi wrapped in red string to make a dog stop eating corpses. At the same time, he lamented how even these wild dogs seemed to operate under a kind of strange and strict order.
Now, looking around, the matter was resolved. It was just a pity about that piece of cured pork on the ground, which was now tainted with dog blood. Ordinary dog blood might be fine, but this was the blood of a corpse-eating dog, making the meat unfit for consumption.
"Let's leave it for them," Aunt Zhang said, glancing at the crouched wild dogs nearby. "In times of natural and man-made disasters, humans struggle to survive, and so do dogs."
"They can no longer eat corpses, and they'll have to compete with other dogs; life won't be easy for them."
"Yes." Even Aunt Zhang is willing to give it up; as the dignified Shopkeeper of the Blood Food Gang, how could I still be reluctant to part with this piece of cured pork?
Hu Ma nodded and walked out with Aunt Zhang.
Feeling curious, after taking a few steps, he suddenly asked, "Aunt, you've always been kind to people, and also to evil spirits. But when you saw the wild dog leader just now, why did you seem to have such strong killing intent?"
Aunt Zhang walked on silently for a moment before saying softly, "Because it could no longer be controlled."
"If it had only gained cultivation, it would be considered a spirit. But it ate too many corpses and had already become a monster."
"In the eyes of Ghost Walkers, some things can be dealt with, others cannot."
"For those you can reason with, you show mercy. For those you can't, you strike first to gain the upper hand. This wild dog ate corpse flesh until it became a monster; eating living humans was only a matter of time."
"It encountered us, so it wouldn't devour us. But any other people it met would certainly not have escaped."
"Of course, I suspect it has already eaten living people. Otherwise, the resentful energy in that human-face sore wouldn't be so intense..."
Eating humans warrants elimination? Hu Ma pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "The evil spirit in the woods earlier had obviously also eaten humans, right?"
These words brought a reaction from Aunt Zhang, who glanced at him and said softly, "No wonder Dad Zhao said you like to tease people..."
"Indeed, the evil spirit in the woods has eaten humans, but I can't fight it..."
"Anyway, as long as it has eaten humans and continues to cause trouble, even if I can't deal with it, a powerful Ghost Walker will eventually take care of it."
I'm not teasing, just curious... Hu Ma thought, beginning to understand Aunt Zhang's perspective.
Ghost Walkers were a category of people, an entire Path.
Aunt Zhang's thinking was quite simple: as long as all Ghost Walkers thought this way, a powerful one would eventually deal with that evil spirit. Even if there wasn't a single powerful one available, once they had some free time, they could gather some fellow practitioners to deal with it.
Hu Ma sighed internally. Such thinking is sound, but in these times, when would anyone truly be free enough to act on it? Everyone is just struggling to survive!
When they returned to the bier, they found the carter and the assistants looking alarmed. A circle of flames beside the cart had not yet fully died down.
It turned out that after Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang left with the cured pork, Housekeeper Zhou, the carter, and the two assistants overseeing the cart and coffin suddenly noticed shadows of wild dogs darting back and forth along the road, letting out threatening growls. The wild dog leader not only wanted to devour Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang in the grave circle but had also directed the other wild dogs to seize the coffin.
But although Housekeeper Zhou no longer roamed the jianghu, his sharpness remained. He quickly picked up a stick nearby, traced a large circle around the donkey cart, clapped his hands, and said to the carter and assistants, "Don't worry, these wild dogs can't get through."
The carter and assistants looked at Housekeeper Zhou with some surprise and suspicion. Throughout the journey, it was evident that Aunt Zhang possessed skills, and the Young Master was composed and capable, always carrying his knife. Only this lame old housekeeper seemed merely to watch over the cart. And now he picks up a stick, draws a circle around the cart, and claims the wild dogs won't come in? What's this? Is he an Immortal or something?
But as it turned out, shortly after Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang left, the surrounding wild dogs, seemingly receiving some kind of signal, suddenly leaped out from the shadows, whimpering as they poised to charge at those inside the circle.
But before the wild dogs could truly advance, Housekeeper Zhou muttered incantations and suddenly pointed forward. Instantly, flames leaped up in front of the dogs, encompassing the donkey cart, burning fiercely and forming a ring of fire.
The wild dogs were terrified, truly intimidated, and dared not come closer.
Then, a sound resembling both a toad's croak and a clap of thunder boomed nearby, sending all the wild dogs scattering in all directions.
The carter and assistants were all stunned. Casually drawing a circle that bursts into flames? Could this old housekeeper truly be an Immortal?
Their respect for him at that moment surpassed even that for Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang, who had just returned, making Housekeeper Zhou feel rather smug.
He finally recaptured the feeling of the Trick Door's old days of roaming the jianghu.