The old lady who had caught up with them was unbelievably eerie. Considering the original distance and the entire night they had fled—a journey of over a hundred miles—she had managed to overtake them in an astonishingly short time. She no longer sounded human, but like an Evil Ghost.
When the old lady trapped everyone, Aunt Zhang immediately began to think about how to deal with her. According to Ghost Walker experience, she planned to first figure out the opponent's Path and then make a targeted move. However, she hadn't expected the opponent's methods to be so varied and complex that they couldn't be deciphered in her haste. Seeing that someone on their side had already fallen prey to a trap and that the remaining people were growing increasingly nervous, Aunt Zhang decided to set up the altar and confront her directly. Now, Hu Ma could only choose to help Aunt Zhang as her protector.
He possessed the skills of a Shousui man, which made it easy to protect himself. But when it came to shielding others from this bizarre and sinister old lady, who appeared and disappeared like a phantom, he had a frustrating sense of having strength but no idea where to direct it.
The wailing around them grew louder. The old lady's hoarse voice became more unnerving and unpleasant, creating an almost unimaginable oppressive atmosphere in the air. The fog rolling in from outside the forest grew thicker layer by layer, reducing visibility to less than ten feet. The old lady, sitting on a sedan chair carried by paper men, flickered in and out of sight, her eerie laughter seeming to echo from everywhere. Her hollow eyes scanned the people present, her hand, clutching a handkerchief, beckoning softly to them.
The remaining coachmen and workers had squeezed their eyes tightly shut. But somehow, one coachman couldn't keep his eyes closed. Peeking through a narrow slit, he immediately saw the old lady grinning at him from not far away. With a cry of terror, he collapsed to the ground.
Hu Ma reacted quickly. Spinning around, he glimpsed the old lady drawing something out of the coachman's body. He hastily spat out a True Yang Arrow, tearing a gash in the surrounding yin wind. But it only wavered for a moment before being swallowed up, completely ineffective.
Hu Ma gritted his teeth, thinking, What on earth is this ghost path?
At the same time, while he was reeling from shock and anger, Aunt Zhang squatted down and untied the bundle she carried on her back. Usually, she took items out of it, but this time, she unfolded the bundle entirely, spreading it on the ground. Inside were various bottles, jars, incense bundles, and paper money. Sweeping these aside, she revealed patterns of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches on the bundle's inner cloth.
Aunt Zhang appeared tense, yet her hands remained steady. She quickly lit a small oil lamp and gripped a peculiar black bone tightly.
HUFF... HUFF...
As soon as she lit the oil lamp, the fog outside the forest stirred. A gust of yin qi blew in, as if an Evil Ghost, with a mocking expression, had gathered all its strength and was forcefully blowing at the oil lamp.
"Not good!"
Hu Ma knew how crucial the oil lamp was for someone casting Magic—much like the fire in the brazier during his own rituals, which must never be extinguished. He rushed forward to help protect the oil lamp, but heard Aunt Zhang whisper, "Shopkeeper, just protect the people; don't worry about anything else."
Hu Ma paused, stopping in his tracks, and looked closely. He saw the oil lamp flicker under the yin wind, nearly going out several times, but it persistently stayed lit, even burning brighter than before.
Is that even possible?
Hu Ma was taken aback.
「At the same time, while they were surrounded by fog and chaos, unaware of it, an aged woman adorned with an ornate headdress and jewelry knelt on a slope several miles away outside the forest.」
A sedan chair carried by two paper men stood beside her. In front of her, she knelt before a memorial tablet marked with numerous incense burns. Feeling the presence of another caster, she felt a slight shock. Can't blow out her oil lamp?
In contrast to her eerie playfulness within the forest, she appeared exceedingly anxious and serious outside. She immediately began to bow fiercely toward the memorial tablet, mumbling incessantly about offering young boys to the spirits for protection in return. With each kowtow, the memorial tablet seemed to quiver slightly.
「Meanwhile, inside the forest...」
A gale unexpectedly rose, intensifying the fog by several magnitudes. Everyone felt their hair stand on end, their vision blurring as it seemed four or five ghostly figures emerged from the mist. One by one, they crouched before the oil lamp, gathering their strength to blow it out, almost reducing the flame to a mere speck.
Yet Aunt Zhang stared straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to them. She casually grabbed a handful of powder—apparently a mixture containing vermillion—and sprinkled it toward the lamp.
WHOOSH!
With a sudden blaze, the tiny flame of the oil lamp erupted. The fire surged outwards with the sprinkled powder, burning the four or five ghostly figures until they sizzled and shrieked, forcing them to scramble back into the mist in a flustered, wretched retreat. Looking again at the lamp, the flame stood robust, showing no signs of extinguishing. Even the surrounding yin wind seemed to weave around the flame, daring not to approach it.
In this oppressive atmosphere, the lamplight illuminated Aunt Zhang's face, which remained calm. Holding the black bone tightly in both hands, she began to chant quietly.
"Heaven and earth grow dim, ghosts bar the way,
My chant invites the Five Evil Gods this day.
Five Evil Gods descend, ghost fights ghost,
Souls scatter, spirits fade, no life remains."
Immediately, countless Evil Ghosts charged forth, each wielding weapons, descending upon them. Everyone present felt surrounded by countless Evil Ghosts. For a moment, they couldn't distinguish truth from illusion, overwhelmed by a terror so extreme it felt as if another self within their bodies was about to be forced out.
But just then, Aunt Zhang, who had been quietly chanting, stopped. Her voice fell silent, and she slowly raised her head. Her clasped hands slowly extended forward, then opened.
Instantly, an unimaginable, frigid aura gushed forth from the bone fragment in her grasp, soaring into the sky. The force was so violent it formed a whirlwind that swept in all directions, instantly blowing the dense fog away. The shadowy figures within the mist were subjected to astonishing compression and tearing.
RIP... RIP... RIP... RIP...
Even human ears could hear sounds like thick paper being torn. The shadows hidden in the fog were torn to shreds by this newly emerged aura, one after another. The previously oppressive, chilling atmosphere was instantly replaced by this overwhelming aura of the Evil Spirit.
What?
Feeling this change, Hu Ma's eyes almost popped out of his head. He knew that inviting spirits was a powerful technique of a Ghost Walker, but what on earth had Aunt Zhang summoned that was so ferocious?
PTUI!
「At the same time, outside the forest...」
The old lady kneeling before the memorial tablet underwent a drastic change in expression. She jerked her head up and saw that the memorial tablet before her was now covered in fine cracks. Then, it shattered, crumbling to the ground. Her ears filled with the sounds of countless struggling shrieks, desperate cries of agony, and the sensation of innumerable furious hands grasping futilely at her.
Stunned for a moment, her complexion turned from deathly pale to a sickly blue-green, and she suddenly spewed a mouthful of blood.
"Such power, such power..." she muttered to herself. Her body scrambled to its feet. Ignoring the broken memorial tablet and the paper men, she stumbled away in a panic-stricken escape.
Broke the Magic that quickly?
By now, Hu Ma, though shocked by the ferocity of what Aunt Zhang had summoned, understood the priorities. The old lady who had chased them all this way was formidable, but Aunt Zhang was even more so, having instantly broken her Magic. He had to rush out now, find the old lady who cast the Magic, and eliminate her to prevent future trouble.
"Those two are our own, don't hurt them..."
At that instant, he heard Aunt Zhang's anxious voice. Quickly looking, he saw that the fog had dissipated. The surrounding dark shadows had either vanished or fled, leaving only two behind. Their faces were partially transparent, faintly recognizable as the coachman and the worker. It turned out their souls had been called out, and they were now anxiously trying to return to their bodies.
The being Aunt Zhang had just summoned nearly harmed them as well. But with Aunt Zhang's reminder, the Evil Spirit she had invited suddenly froze. Vaguely, it seemed to transform into a tall, blurry figure standing before her. It stared at her for a long moment, then suddenly slapped her across the face, rebuking, "You shameless hag! You summoned me, and now you want to boss me around?
"Forget waiting until you're twenty-five. After this trip, prepare to get married..."