Chapter 551 Noble Decree

Loud shouts and rumbling hooves sounded like muffled thunder, tearing the suffocating night into streaks of bright light.

The sound of hooves grew louder and closer, the shouts deafening.

They had to shout; this wasn't a time for shyness. In the chaos, with so many people, who would know they were coming to the rescue if they weren't loud? Oddly, although they were shouting about protecting the Red Lantern Goddess, they didn't stop at the Vermillion Gate Town. Instead, they rode straight past, heading towards the front of the town to confront the True Logic Sect troops.

The shouts caused the Red Lantern Goddess and Left Protector Shen Hongzhi, who had been furious all night but hadn't left the town, to feel a surge of emotion. "What's going on?"

"Originally, the people in the town who worshipped us, the incense masters, all ran away when things looked bad. But now, those from the outer villages are coming?"

"The Goddess's prestige... is actually this high?"

"And Master Xu... he was clearly the fastest to run. I even called him too cunning... but I didn't expect him to not run, but to go out and find reinforcements for the Goddess!" As she was about to faint from excitement, Di Gua Shao beside her suddenly changed her expression, realizing something, and ran out secretly, not knowing what she was doing.

"The Grain Protection Army, the Grain Protection Army actually came so quickly?"

As these troops gathered in front of Vermillion Gate Town, the True Logic Sect troops on the opposite side of the True Logic altar were visibly thrown into disarray. Many were frightened by the sight, their eyes clearly betraying their fear, and their mounts grew restless.

Those secretly gathering information were dumbfounded. What had started as a struggle within the sect, at most at the level of the altar gods, had suddenly become a battle for destiny, a confrontation of armies. It was ridiculous for those people to shout about protecting the Goddess's carriage; what altar god had thousands of troops to protect them? Those in Ming Prefecture City with sharp eyes understood the difference and vaguely guessed at some terrifying truth. They were all clever people. When the troops had gathered from afar, the momentum was great and they couldn't see clearly, but now, looking closely, they saw that the True Logic Sect's troops were disorganized, their eyes panicked, and the leaders all looked weary.

In contrast, although the Grain Protection Army's clothes were patched, they were all full of morale and murderous intent, rushing in with excitement on their faces.

An answer formed in their minds, but they couldn't believe it. "The True Logic Sect's troops have been blocking the mountain peasants in the front, but they suddenly appeared here..." "...Could it be that they broke through and fought their way here?" "How could those peasants have such great ability?"

"Moon..." "This is even more interesting than I thought..." Hu Ma didn't need to turn around to know who was coming and what their expressions were.

He found it amusing. Xu Xiangzhu was certainly capable. But the True Logic Sect wasn't a joke; there were many experts in their ranks. Hu Ma had thought that Yang Gong would need until tomorrow, or even the day after, to push to Vermillion Gate Town, but he didn't expect Xu Xiangzhu to bring so many helpers that they arrived in a day and a half.

"This Xu Xiangzhu is going to take off..." Even in this tense situation, Hu Ma couldn't help but let his thoughts wander. For the Grain Protection Army, Xu Xiangzhu had recruited so many powerful helpers, mostly night watchmen, which perfectly made up for the Grain Protection Army's shortcomings. His contribution was unimaginable.

And for the Red Lantern Society, Xu Xiangzhu had brought the Grain Protection Army and so many shopkeepers to protect the Goddess. The Goddess had both face and substance. How should she reward him? If they rewarded him according to his merits, Xu Xiangzhu's position might even rise above Second Pot Brother's, right?

While Hu Ma was letting his thoughts wander, Hu's cousin, wearing a black dress, behind the True Logic Sect altar, became even paler.

Earlier, whether she saw Seventh Grandmother or the Soul-Fetching Executioner, she was resentful, but all her resentment was less intense than seeing the Grain Protection Army appear here now.

"So... so..." Her eyes seemed to glaze over. "Those... those from the mountains are also... also his people?"

"That's the Emperor Seed he chose to compete for this destiny." The Soul-Fetching Executioner and the Grain Protection General stood together; some things didn't need to be said explicitly.

She just couldn't believe it. Earlier, she had guessed that the Grain Protection General in the mountains might be the cousin's choice, which was why they were stopped when they went to the village to arrest people. But now that it was confirmed, she couldn't believe it.

"The four hall officials are one thing, but he even chose the Emperor Seed. How could he choose such a person?" Seeing her expression, Hu Ma knew what she wanted to say and frowned.

The battle for destiny shouldn't be revealed in public. In this world, the noble lords all had their own chosen Emperor Seeds, but they couldn't be spoken about openly.

So he frowned slightly and said, "How he chooses is his business. I'm an executioner; I only kill people."

"What?" This sentence, which was part of a conversation, suddenly stunned a group of people. "What executioner? That masked guy..." "Damn... isn't that my brother Hu Ma?"

"Does he think we wouldn't recognize him just because he's wearing a broken mask?"

"Where is he?"

That cousin from the Hu family didn't listen to what Hu Ma was saying. The changes in everything were too different from what she had imagined, and she suddenly became anxious. She stared straight at Hu Ma and shouted, "I want to see him. I'll talk to him directly." "...With my status, it should be enough for me to just see him once, right?" Looking at her anxious expression, Hu Ma just shook his head indifferently and said, "Before I came, he also said that even if we're relatives, we haven't seen each other for decades and are already estranged. It's best to keep some distance."

"You..." This cousin from the Hu family was momentarily enraged, clearly dissatisfied with the words "estranged" and "distance," but before she could say anything else, Hu Ma interrupted her directly. "Don't say any unnecessary words to me."

"The executioner asks questions, speaks reason, and divides the incense."

"If you have something to say, go to the Reasoning Hall. I'm just an executioner. Just relaying this message to you is already a waste of time."

These words were indeed suitable to be said by an executioner, but the coldness within made the cousin from the Hu family almost tremble with anger. The anger was clearly rising, but she forcibly suppressed it. "It's turned out differently than we expected." "I came to Ming Prefecture with great sincerity, just to see him and say some words between our own people."

"But I didn't expect that he would use only a 'delaying' tactic to force us into this situation." "But I still want to ask you to relay a message to him: we... we are not his enemies. Blood is thicker than water; we are the most well-intentioned people in this world towards him."

"This concerns the Soul-Fetching path, the world's destiny, the yin and yang realms. Who knows how many people are watching the Hu family? In the end, we're all part of the Hu family. Does he... does he really think he can support this Suppressing Evil Prefecture alone?" The surroundings were silent. Everyone felt as if a huge stone was pressing on their hearts, making them feel heavy and even cold in the neck.

The ancestor of the Soul-Fetching path, the Hu family of Suppressing Evil, one of the ten surnames, even just mentioning their name at a critical moment could scare away wandering gods and wild evil. Could their secrets be spoken of publicly like this? You're saying it so easily, but now that we've heard it, are you guaranteeing that you won't silence us? "Alone?"

But just as the cousin from the Hu family said these words, Hu Ma smiled faintly. There were some things that could be said on this occasion. So he bowed slightly and stepped aside.

In this scene of two armies converging, filled with murderous intent, in the dark night, suddenly, the sound of a suona horn rang out from afar.

The next moment, strange shadows appeared, and the troops of the Grain Protection Army hurriedly cleared the way.

In the darkness, a small sedan chair appeared. The porters in front and behind the sedan chair were all strong yellow weasels. Sitting in the sedan chair was an old woman with a pipe. She stared with her small eyes, curiously looking at the people around her.

"Grandmother, Grandmother..." As soon as the old woman appeared, two shouts suddenly rang out from the Grain Protection Army.

It was Zhou Datong, wearing crooked armor, who suddenly had two golden and silver dolls burst out of his luggage.

They ran to Seventh Grandmother's sedan chair, pointing at Zhou Datong and complaining that he bullied them.

Following this, a gust of yin wind suddenly wrapped around the Grain Protection Army's formation from afar. It was a group of little ghosts, surrounding Zhang Agu.

After she established the altar and exempted the Ming Prefecture yin ghosts from forced labor, she was brought here. She still possessed the power of the altar. Behind her stood the shadows of two golden-armored warriors, looming, their gazes slowly turning and landing on Hu Ma.

Following this, the light of the red lanterns on the Vermillion Gate Town's side lit up uncontrollably, illuminating one side of the night sky.

Finally, Hu Ma, holding his blade, slowly raised his head, facing the Hu family's collateral line, facing the True Logic Sect's troops, even facing Ming Prefecture City, and the three uncles in the city, and even the Meng family, the most powerful people in Ming Prefecture.

He said slowly, "He said that this Suppressing Evil Prefecture is not his own."

"It belongs to the world."

"Regardless of demon, origin, sect affiliation, cultivation level, anyone who is willing to abide by the rules and protect this world of the living can enter the Suppressing Evil Prefecture as an official."

His voice wasn't loud, but it borrowed a gust of wind blowing from Old Yin Mountain, reaching straight into the vast Ming Prefecture City, causing countless hearts to tremble.

"And you..." Hu Ma finally looked at the cousin from the Hu family and said softly, "He doesn't see you as enemies."

"You are just outsiders."