Chapter 1 Opening the Mountain!

"Inviting the Gods!"

At this very moment, as the heavens and earth echoed with an ethereal sound, twelve harbingers of disaster, from twelve different directions, converged upon Black Mountain Old Ghost.

Blown by the strange wind into the forest, Black Mountain Old Ghost appeared as dark as midnight. The Chuyang village, led by the Dayang village, began the mountain worship ceremony on the eighth day of the lunar month.

Sages held incense, guests observed the ceremony, and the common people prayed.

Erye (Second Master) was the incense bearer. With a red silk sash around his waist and three incense sticks in his hands, he walked step by step from Dayang village. Beside him, villagers danced with two grass dragons they had made.

Behind him were musicians, their gongs and drums resounding. Every ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), he would stop to place the incense sticks on the roadside, and then someone would offer him another three.

This was to pay respect to the spirits and gods of all paths. The grass dragons led the way, the gods lowered their heads, and even wandering souls received incense.

Following the grass dragons were the village elders, men and women. The senior members carried offerings of millet and small beans, while the younger ones carried paper figures and incense, burning them beside the incense sticks.

They made their way to the mountain worship site, in front of Huma Granny's shrine, where incense tables and spirit tablets had already been set up.

General Baoliang and other dignitaries from Ming Prefecture who had come to observe the ceremony were already waiting. They watched Erye, protected by the two grass dragons, solemnly approach the incense table.

He placed the three incense sticks in the incense burner, stepped back three paces, and respectfully kowtowed, leading the others.

After three kowtows, he rose to his knees. The old clan elder handed him a yellow scroll. Erye unfolded it and loudly recited the prayer, words meant for the ears of ghosts and gods, filled with blessings and warding off disasters.

Outside the village, such prayers were usually written by someone skilled in rhetoric, but in the village, they were simple and easy to understand, filled with a sense of rustic sincerity.

After each section, he would kowtow, rise, offer incense, and a person would present offerings.

The villagers behind him, and even the observers, kowtowed along, burning incense and paper offerings on the ground.

The forest filled with the smoke of incense, and a mysterious, ancient aura gradually arose within it, lingering and enveloping the people worshipping the mountain.

The mountain wind grew fiercer, and the darkness overhead grew heavier, but within the thick, warm scent of incense, the fierce wind seemed to be held at bay.

...

...

"Are you... are you alright?"

Not far from the mountain worship ceremony, Zhao Sanyi and Chen Abao, among others, didn't even bother with the Meng family's eldest daughter, who had fallen to the ground. They rushed to support Huma, their faces filled with worry, and a clear sense of guilt in their eyes.

"I... I'm fine."

Huma took several deep breaths, thinking to himself that inviting disaster indeed came at a great cost.

He had his natal spirit temple protecting him, and sacrificing the fourth incense stick was akin to giving it away directly. The Meng family should bear the karma, but there was still an invisible backlash, nearly causing him to lose his mind and cough up a mouthful of blood.

But without that blood, the act wouldn't have been so convincing.

"Wonderful, mystical..."

Amidst their concern, the madman who had crawled out of the coffin clapped his hands and cried out. He was looking directly toward the mountain worship ceremony: "So, Master Hu had already prepared himself. This preparation is good, this preparation is good..."

"Borrowing the temple god to ward off disaster is a good method, but not enough, haha, not enough..."

"Twelve disasters, never seen before. The Meng family has gone all out this time. Master Hu can't stop it..."

"..."

"Twelve disasters?"

Zhao Sanyi and the others had already guessed that the strange phenomena in the mountain were caused by the Meng family ignoring their advice and inviting disaster. But hearing the number "twelve" still shocked them greatly.

He suddenly turned to look at the madman. Because the people who worked for the Sun family didn't interact much with the other ten surnames, he didn't recognize who it was. But just from his words, he could guess his identity.

"How is that possible? The Meng family... they're really that ruthless?"

He was alarmed and shouted, then suddenly his sleeve drooped down, wide as a bag. He quickly reached into his sleeve and pulled out a basket of eggs. Without looking, he lifted the basket high and threw it to the ground.

The eggs overturned, countless of them broken.

He quickly crouched down and counted the eggs in the basket, his face turning deathly pale.

Twelve!

The broken eggs, no more, no less, were exactly twelve.

"This damn..."

He paused for a moment before suddenly yelling, "That guy, is he really a madman?"

"Twelve disasters, he doesn't think about how he's harming others, or whether his Meng family has enough good fortune to bear these twelve disasters?"

"..."

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, even Chen Abao and Zhou Si Xiaojie (Miss Zhou the Fourth) fell silent. Huma, who had coughed up blood and was slowly regulating his breathing, his face gradually recovering, sighed heavily.

To others, it sounded like he was trying his best to suppress the unease in his heart. He fixed his gaze on the madman from the Disaster Stealing Sect and said in a deep voice, "Mountain worship, mountain worship..."

"Can the mountain worship ceremony in this Black Mountain Old Ghost... ward off the disaster for my young master?"

"..."

"Not enough, not enough..."

The madman who had crawled out of the coffin didn't seem to mind that Huma had buried him earlier. Or perhaps, he had found something fun to do and completely forgot about Huma.

He jumped around clumsily, looking like a madman, but his steps were strangely precise, as if he were rapidly measuring some location. Finally, he knelt on the ground and crawled forward on his knees for several zhang, coming to the foot of a cliff at the edge of the valley.

He gently raised his head and blew a breath.

The breath was so light that it was almost inaudible, but it suddenly formed a wisp of wind, scattering the withered vines, weeds, and tangled branches on the cliff, revealing an eagle's nest.

Everyone with good eyesight suddenly saw that there was a nest of eaglets, and a male eagle was spreading its wings, constantly flapping and threatening.

Beside it, there were more than a dozen colorful snakes, heads raised in attack, their eerie green eyes staring intently at the nest. They would occasionally arch their bodies, flicking their tongues, ready to strike, only to be met with the eagle's powerful strikes.

It was January, a time of freezing cold when snakes should be hibernating and eagles shouldn't be hatching, but they were all here, and the two were even together. The madman from the Disaster Stealing Sect stared intently at this scene, muttering:

"Master Hu is brilliant, thinking of using the temple god to ward off disaster..."

"Temple god, too little, too little, they're all hiding..."

"He was able to persuade one temple god to ward off disaster, brilliant, but it's not enough. Twelve disasters, no one can stop them..."

"He's just using the mountain worship to coax the few remaining temple gods to come and be his scapegoats, but this little bit of incense is far from enough, far from enough..."

"..."

As he kept muttering, everyone saw that on the cliff, no matter how fierce the eagle was, the snakes were closing in. It was clear that its strength was failing, and the nest of eaglets was in mortal danger.

‘The incense in Black Mountain Old Ghost might not be enough…’

Huma watched coldly, thinking to himself, ‘What if, we add incense from other places?’

...

...

With Black Mountain Old Ghost as the core, there were people sending disasters from eleven directions.

When a gust of Yin wind blew, forcing these disaster senders, who originally didn't dare to step beyond the boundary, out, the teams, composed of Meng family officials, retainers, and even relatives, completely lost control.

The Meng family's young master, far away in Yanzhou, didn't know why the situation had suddenly spiraled out of control, and neither did those guarding the disaster objects.

They were terrified when they saw the disaster senders actually stepping out of the boundary.

Some cried out in panic and tried to stop them, but before they could get close, the lambs, chickens, dogs, or ducks held in the disaster senders' arms would stiffly turn their heads, their empty eyes looking at them, and they would fall straight down.

Their bodies would instantly shrivel up, and dense swarms of black flies would emerge from their sleeves, collars, and pant legs.

Those who witnessed this tried to escape, but met the same fate after only a few steps.

Those nearby, knowing the danger, could only grit their teeth and continue sending the disaster. Those who were supposed to play music continued to play, and those who were supposed to carry ceremonial umbrellas continued to do so. But even then, some were still too frightened to play.

So, as they played, their faces turned red, and black blood began to flow from the trumpet they put to their mouths, dripping onto the road.

Those carrying the blue pennants, trembling with fear, swayed, and the white silk on the pennants drooped down, wrapping around their necks, tightening little by little until they fell.

The large disaster-sending team, composed of ceremonial umbrellas, guards, musicians, and members of the Meng family, seemed to be losing someone with every step they took.

But with each death, the disaster senders became more solemn, quieter, and their pace became faster. And the wind around them grew fiercer and darker.

They were disaster senders, and disaster was something from the underworld.

In the underworld, there was no concept of distance. When they arrived in the mortal world, they still followed the rules of the underworld.

Disaster objects couldn't see the mortal world's roads, so they were like having no roads in their eyes. Therefore, no matter how close or far they were from Black Mountain Old Ghost, some even needing to walk for months to reach it, it all happened in a daze.

When the shadow of Black Mountain Old Ghost appeared in their eyes, it felt as if they were only a few miles away from reaching the mountain.

...

...

"Receive the altar decree!"

But at that moment, following Erye's lead in offering incense in Black Mountain Old Ghost, ghost walkers across the land set up altars, receiving the orders from the Wen Shi Da Tang Guan (Inquiry Hall Official).

They led the people of various villages in burning silver paper and offering incense.

The surging power of wishes rose instantly.

The disaster senders, who were clearly close to Black Mountain Old Ghost, suddenly found their steps becoming heavier.

The shadow of Black Mountain Old Ghost in their eyes seemed to have suddenly become more distant.

(End of chapter)