Chapter 37 Understanding and Choice

Understanding Lao Junmei’s intentions also meant faintly grasping the path he had forged.

The most important thing about oneself was not the Dawei Tiangong General Dharma, but understanding one’s own destiny. Understanding this also meant understanding that this Dharma was something cultivated from within, innate to oneself. How could it truly be stolen by others?

Everything was just beginning; one had only just stepped onto the threshold of this path.

This was also the reason he admired Lao Junmei. This person could have directly taken over his body, leaving the complete path within him.

But this person only gave him this gift and left the choice of how to embark on this path, whether to truly step through this threshold, to himself…

…He was waiting for himself to make this decision after having clear thoughts.

A subtle touch even stirred within his heart. Hu Ma found it difficult to articulate what kind of intangible shock this belonged to…

…Was this the most precious thing for a reincarnated person?

Twenty years ago, Lao Junmei decided to give this ignorant infant a kind of respect.

With the lighting of the nine incense sticks, Hu Ma had never felt his body as heavy as it did now.

But looking at this world, he only felt everything was light and飘飘 (piāopiāo, floating).

In the distance, countless soldiers were still surging, heads bobbing. It was the fear in King Pan’s heart that had mobilized all his troops, a full ten thousand soldiers. Just the sound of them rushing across this battlefield was enough to make one’s courage crack.

Not to mention, in the distance, the tightly closed gate of Oxheart City seemed to be opening, with soldiers charging out.

Beyond what the naked eye could see, in the shadows and darkness, there were even more dangerous auras surging.

But Hu Ma faced this black mass of a battlefield without the slightest worry.

*Whoosh!*

At the same time, behind him in the large cart, twenty-four altar flags flew up, encircling the entire battlefield.

Borrowing the lingering blessed aura of the Myozen Hermit’s ancestral worship, the twenty-four altar flags erected an altar on this ominous battlefield. They carried an orthodox and ancient aura, even somewhat overbearing, forcibly blocking out all kinds of unorthodox techniques from the battlefield.

Only one person could manipulate these altar flags so skillfully.

And only one person could erect this altar more authentically than this Hu family’s descendant.

At this moment, Hu Ma felt more than just gratitude; he even wanted to laugh.

Never had he felt so grounded, so light on his shoulders, and the shadows in his heart swept away in any moment than this.

"A living person stands between heaven and earth, bearing the sun and moon on their shoulders!"

This sentence flashed in his mind for no reason, and then he took a step forward, shielding Zhou Si Guniang (Fourth Sister Zhou) behind him.

Facing the oncoming rolling iron cavalry, he lightly raised the Judge's Blade in his hand and blew a breath towards it.

Rolling baleful aura surged up.

But now, relying on his own Daoist cultivation, Hu Ma's breath was even stronger than when the Five Fiend Evil Ghosts were alive. It surged forward, hazy and indistinct, like a black tide, instantly knocking down a large swath of the approaching soldiers.

Horses neighed and people roared, struggling to get up, but their legs were weak and their feet were sore, and they couldn't get up at all.

Only their faces were pale, filled with a terrifying look of fear.

But this was not enough, not nearly enough.

In his waist pouch, the Disaster Snake from the black bag could no longer hold back. It suddenly poked its head out of the bag’s opening and, taking advantage of Hu Ma’s unpreparedness, slithered out in a puff of smoke.

The moment its body completely left the black bag, a rolling disaster wind suddenly rose in the depths of the battlefield. People and horses, even the rain of arrows in the sky, were blown off course, and countless soldiers felt dizzy and disoriented.

With a *crack*, even the military banner standing beside King Pan, where he was located, was suddenly broken in mid-air.

The flag surface lost its strength and fell limply.

The Disaster Snake swallowed the Toothless Lord and also swallowed the disaster from that village. Now that it appeared on this battlefield, it also brought the disaster of that village into the battlefield, meaning King Pan’s twenty thousand soldiers would collectively bear the village’s pathogenic qi.

It wouldn't be so severe that twenty thousand soldiers would die like the villagers, but they would all show symptoms.

Hu Ma was somewhat surprised by the Disaster Snake's usefulness, took a steady look at it, and did not stop it.

…Of course, even if he tried to stop it, he didn't know if the Disaster Snake would listen to him.

Just taking a look, he saw that although the battlefield was chaotic, there were still countless soldiers, especially in the depths of the night. Even the guards in Oxheart City realized the chaos outside and opened the city gates, sending out soldiers.

If there was a stance, now would be a good time to annihilate the Pan Mountain Army, but unfortunately, Hu Ma's stance was not on either side.

He suddenly raised the Judge's Blade and thrust it into the ground.

He stepped on the hilt, gritted his teeth, cast another spell, and then pulled it fiercely towards himself.

"Rumble!"

Borrowing the power of the altar erected around the battlefield, he pulled an object from the Underworld to this battlefield.

Mud and soil splashed under his feet, and a dark, sticky object broke out of the ground. Hu Ma stood on top of this object, and his figure seemed to grow taller. In this battlefield, the tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides felt the yin cold and heavy weight of this moment.

They looked up in extreme horror and saw that what appeared under Hu Ma's feet was actually a dark, sticky iron coffin, the coffin lid popping outwards.

The next moment, a figure with arms held out horizontally, extremely heavy, jumped out from inside the coffin.

It was just a figure, but the baleful aura on its body actually solidly suppressed the entire battlefield, and the area within a hundred *li* was silent.

Immediately, Hu Ma revealed his Dharma form, held up the General’s Order, and shouted in a deep voice, "Advance!"

Inside this iron coffin was the Yin General that he had dragged into this battlefield. With the General's Order given, it took a heavy step forward, black qi surging around it. Where it spread, boundless Yin soldiers appeared, suddenly charging forward to kill.

Faintly visible, there were some small leaders in this group of Yin soldiers, the former Guan Prefecture Hungry Ghost Heavenly Mandate Generals.

He could sense the sorrowful qi floating above this battlefield.

He could see in the dim shadows countless ghosts who had once been used as military rations, crying and cowering, hiding in the shadows.

He had once been the source of the disaster, leading the hungry ghosts to eat people, but now, he bore the hopes of these ghosts.

He personally led the Yin soldiers and charged into this vast battlefield.

The Yin soldiers crossed the border, and the killing intent was like a tide.

Regardless of whether they were inside or outside Oxheart City, whether they were attacking or defending, the tens of thousands of soldiers at this moment were no longer a match for Hu Ma alone. Countless iron cavalry were swept into the Yin soldiers around the Yin General.

No matter how powerful the army's experts were, no matter how many strange techniques they possessed, they were all pierced through the chest by the Yin General’s outstretched arms. It was not until this moment that King Pan seemed to suddenly awaken.

He fell under his own royal flag, his spirit trembling, and he shouted in despair, "Immortal, Immortal, spare my life…"

"Who exactly are you? I am willing to surrender, I only ask that the Immortal retract his divine powers and spare my life…"

“……”

Hu Ma slowly walked forward from among the Yin soldiers, his gaze passing through countless afterimages, landing on his pale face.

Listening to his shouts, Hu Ma also seriously considered how to answer.

Unlike when he first arrived, he now had too many identities to choose from.

Successor of the Great Virtuous Teacher, Master of the Non-Eating Oxen, Head of the Hu Family of Suppressing Evil, Ghost Gate Road’s Executioner…

But after serious thought, he still earnestly looked at King Pan and replied in a low voice, "I am just a common Jianghu (martial world) vagrant, an ordinary citizen, surnamed Hu, named Ma."

"Born from the common people, coming from the common people, not burdened by reputation or harm, only because I saw you drive soldiers to find food, kill people to fill the army, irrelevant to great righteousness, irrelevant to fame and fortune, only because I saw this injustice, so I came to kill you!"

King Pan’s face was filled with despair; he did not ask what he wanted to ask.

No matter who this person was, what his background was, he would probably not refuse the allegiance of a grassroots king with twenty thousand elite soldiers.

Only those common people who were eaten and used as military rations would not spare him.

So he didn’t know how to answer, and Hu Ma strode over, raised the Judge's Blade, and a large head flew up.

……

……

"Lao Junmei's path has been explored by him…"

In a place farther away from the battlefield, when Hu Ma summoned the Yin General, this battlefield was already covered by his hand.

Even the slender woman with a look of emotion seemed a little puzzled. She sighed softly and looked at the woman holding the white cat in her arms, "But I don’t quite understand why the few of you from Ming Prefecture would be willing to do this…"

"Do what?"

The woman holding the white cat said indifferently, "You wanted to tell us about his background, didn't we listen?"

"You wanted the people from our Ming Prefecture to come and settle this matter, didn't we take action?"

“……”

The other mysterious figures were all silent, unsure how to answer for a moment, but suddenly thought that one person had not yet appeared.

The reincarnated people in Ming Prefecture shouldn’t all be so confused, right?

“Hahaha, I’m here…”

Just as they were thinking about whether or not to directly rush into the battlefield and make a final break with the chosen one, they suddenly heard a silver bell-like laugh in the distance, followed by an indescribable rolling yin wind.

Everyone's expression changed, and they turned to look, only to see a huge sedan chair, comparable to a residence, being carried by thousands of little ghosts from the depths of the night.

Inside the sedan chair was a exquisitely dressed young woman covered in blood, excitedly rushing to their side, and then quickly brushed past them, turning her head and shouting.

"I'm leaving!"

"You guys hurry up too, there's a big guy behind who insists on coming with me…"

“……”

Before everyone could even react, they followed her gaze and looked behind them. In an instant, their expressions changed drastically. They only saw in the darkness countless servants standing three *zhang* tall, with white paper pasted on their faces and wearing pointed tall hats, surging over the ground.

"It's the Li family's Impermanence Army…"

Before the words could even finish, the rolling servants had already rushed close, instantly disregarding friend or foe, and even the woman holding the white cat was rolled into the rolling yin stream, disappearing without a trace.

(End of Chapter)