Whoosh!
The talismans pressed against Huma were instantly scattered and burned by the force from the depths of the Nine Hells.
In the next moment, like firecrackers across the ground, the footprints left behind by the Imperial Advisor to place restrictions on Huma and prevent his escape were easily shattered. With a crackling sound, all the restrictions were completely broken.
The immense power even distorted the ethereal figures around the Imperial Advisor.
Behind Huma, it was as if a gate to the Netherworld had been opened. Inside, one could vaguely see a figure hundreds of feet tall, dressed in a shroud, with a cold, unearthly aura in its empty eye sockets.
The night surged around them, and dark clouds rolled in. Beneath the towering shadow, Huma gritted his teeth, roared, and reached out to claw at the Imperial Advisor's face.
Just as the Imperial Advisor had clawed at his face before, now he returned the favor, a gesture of extreme humiliation, treating his opponent as unworthy of respect.
And he was certain he had the strength to back it up.
The Imperial Advisor was right. Those who had boarded the bridge possessed astonishing magical powers. He had been able to comprehend the life-nurturing techniques of the Zhou family because of the unique characteristics of the Year-Keeping Sect. Moreover, its core technique was a tortoise's ability to withdraw into its shell—capable of withstanding and evading, but not of attacking.
However, the Imperial Advisor was mistaken in one respect. Not every sect's core technique had to be cultivated slowly, bit by bit, through painstaking effort and dedication...
The Meng family was different.
The core technique of the Meng family depended on who could carry the burden of the Meng family's ancestor.
The more one could bear, the more powerful they became. The one who could bear the most was essentially in control of the Meng family's core technique.
"A Hu family member carrying the Meng family's ancestor, you..."
Even the Imperial Advisor found this shocking and absurd scene unbelievable. In his surprise and anger, his expression turned bizarre.
"This isn't the Meng family's ancestor."
Huma, on the other hand, looked pale as a ghost, feeling an unbearable weight on his back. Countless strange words filled his mind, his head spun, and the vitality of a living person was rapidly draining from his body.
Thankfully, he could barely endure it with his Nine Pillars of Daoist cultivation. Thinking of his former promises, he could only grit his teeth and roar at the Imperial Advisor, "This is just a monster that has devoured the spirits of the Meng family's ancestors..."
"Did you really think the Meng family were fools, unaware of what they were kowtowing to?"
"Back in Old Yin Mountain, after realizing that you had deceived the Meng family, Meng Da-xiansheng told me everything. He said that you had coaxed the Meng family into kowtowing to this thing, promising them endless benefits..."
"But as a result, the Meng family acted as your dogs, but the first one who wanted to exterminate the Meng family was your Great Luo Dharma Sect."
"As soon as you entered Old Yin Mountain, you were eager to silence the Meng family, but he had already told me everything before that."
"Including how to summon their ancestor."
"..."
As he spoke, Huma couldn't help but recall the shock he had felt when he first heard these words.
The Meng family was famous among the Ten Families for their kowtowing skills, and they had always been ridiculed for it. So, when Meng Da-laoye spoke to him from within the altar, he found it absurd.
He only said that this ancestor relied entirely on the Meng family's service to prevent it from causing trouble. In this matter, the Meng family's job was similar to that of the people of the Ghost Cave, only more refined.
When the Meng family was gone, and no one carried the ancestor, its resentment would grow fiercer, and sooner or later, it would cause disaster. So, he asked Huma to carry it. But at first, Huma only thought it was a joke. He and the Meng family were mortal enemies; how could he carry that strange thing?
Besides, even if he wanted to, he had no family ties to the Meng family.
It was then that Meng Da-laoye said, "The past cannot be changed. Lao Si was once hidden in your body, so you have been tainted with the Meng family's aura. Even if you refine it cleanly, once it existed, it existed."
"Moreover, that thing isn't our Meng family's ancestor in the first place, and it must be eager to come out, so as long as you try to summon it, it will definitely come."
It was this ghostly thing that had devoured the Meng family's ancestral spirit, allowing it to be so close to this world. At first, the Imperial Advisor had deceived the Meng family, saying that it could allow their ancestor to take a further step, and with this power of yin virtue, completely overwhelm the other Nine Families.
It did overwhelm them, but the Meng family also discovered that this was no longer their ancestor.
But what could they do at this point?
They just had to hold their noses and kowtow.
And what impressed Huma the most was the words that Meng Da-laoye roared through gritted teeth: "The Meng family has fought with the Hu family for decades, but in the end, you have to believe me!"
"I don't want to harm you, making you a puppet of that thing. I don't dare to expect that you will definitely take care of this matter, but if one day, the Great Luo Dharma Sect kicks your Hu family away, just like they kicked away my Meng family..."
"Then use this method!"
"Hehe, burdening the spirit, burdening the spirit, who says that carrying a ghost means being ruled by a ghost?"
"My Meng family has been communicating with the underworld for over a hundred years. Do you really think we only know how to kowtow, and that there isn't a single capable person among us? No, my Meng family has countless experts, and we have long had some understanding of the method of governing ghosts with people..."
"..."
"..."
In Meng Da-laoye's account, that Meng family ancestor was indeed an exceptionally strange and bizarre thing. If one had to describe it, it would be:
A ghost possessing a ghost.
Because it devoured the Meng family's ancestor, it was able to be so close to this world. So, to summon it down, the method was very simple: use the method of burdening the spirit, perform the art of summoning gods, and at the same time, recite the ancestor's honorable name.
And after summoning it, Meng Da-laoye also explained how to send it away and how to resolve it.
At that time, Huma naturally found it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, but he was very frank and only stated his condition, which was to have Huma speak these words to the Imperial Advisor on behalf of the Meng family.
This was the only condition he made in the end. He didn't want the Meng family to remain a joke even after it was destroyed.
Huma agreed, and now he spoke those words on his behalf. At this moment, the feeling of carrying such a heavy thing on his body and the rapid consumption of the Nine Pillars of Daoist cultivation within his body made him feel endless pressure, and his body was about to fall apart.
In fact, he was also grateful for having his Natal Spirit Temple; otherwise, the pressure he felt now would be ten times greater.
But at the same time, a subtle and extreme feeling arose within him. This endless pressure wrapped around him, making him feel as if he had the strength to overturn rivers and seas with every move.
As long as the incense of his life hadn't burned out, he even felt omnipotent.
"Whoosh!"
He took a step forward and reached out to grab the Imperial Advisor.
The rolling yin energy around him was stirred up, like dark clouds in the sky falling to the earth, endless, able to cover and suppress everything.
Although Huma had learned the method of summoning the Meng family ancestor, he hadn't learned how to use it. Therefore, he simply relied on the skills and instincts he had honed from Year-Keeping, forcibly attacking.
But even with such crude usage, it seemed to be enough.
The Imperial Advisor's expression had become extremely ugly. Earlier, when he had been manipulating Huma, he had looked like a celestial being, but now his face was ashen. He waved the horsetail whisk in his hand, and strands of silk spun around, vaguely filled with purple energy, like a shield.
But then, the shield was grabbed by Huma and torn to shreds. Endless iron chains surged out towards him.
His figure disappeared in front of Huma and reappeared behind him.
But then, Huma turned his head stiffly and strangely, and the iron chains still wrapped around him.
He also wanted to escape into the Netherworld, but Huma stomped his foot on the ground, and the ground became as hard as pig iron, making it impossible to escape.
That the dignified Imperial Advisor was forced to this point was truly a scene that no one had expected.
If it were anyone else, they would probably think of leaving far away, waiting for Huma's Daoist cultivation to be exhausted and the Meng family ancestor to retreat before returning. That would be the smart thing to do.
But the Imperial Advisor didn't want to let Huma go. Finally, at this moment, he sighed softly, no longer hiding the disappointment on his face, and shook his head gently: "I did underestimate the Meng family the most. Now, I have been outmaneuvered by them. It serves me right."
Now that Huma was carrying the Meng family ancestor on his back, his temper had also become strange. He opened his mouth, wanting to laugh loudly.
But he saw the Imperial Advisor raise his eyes resolutely after sighing: "I originally intended to let them appear after summoning the Twelve Ghost Altars, but now..."
"I can't worry about it anymore!"
"..."
In the midst of his words, his figure retreated rapidly, and countless talismans floated around him.
In the next moment, Huma had gathered the yin wind around his body and grabbed at him urgently. At this time, the Imperial Advisor was floating backward in a straight line, and the speed of his outstretched hand was much faster than the Imperial Advisor's. Seeing that he was about to grab him, he suddenly saw several dark shadows descending.
These shadows arrived especially strangely, appearing from all around in an instant, and raised their hands at the same time.
Huma knew the terror of the Meng family ancestor and was convinced that no one could withstand the monster's grasp. Even the Imperial Advisor had relied on his extremely skillful movements to avoid it several times just now.
But now, as he grabbed down with all his strength, he could even feel the strange and endless yin wind surging straight forward, like a great river, but he never expected that the four figures that had appeared would suddenly block Huma's astonishing grasp.
Even Huma found it hard to believe. He suddenly raised his head, his gaze swept across the few people in front of him, and his body stiffened slightly.
He immediately understood the reason.
The only ones who could withstand the power of the Meng family ancestor were Transcenders.
And the four figures that had appeared in front of him were precisely the ones he had seen: Daughter Red, Dit Da Jow, an old man from the Harmful Head Sect, and a young man with a demonic appearance and a snow-white face, whom he had not seen before.
Transcenders.
It was they who, by using the special characteristics of the Natal Spirit Temple, had blocked his grasp.
(End of Chapter)