Chapter 1 How Come There's No Movement Again?

On the Zhu Men Town side, Hong Deng Niangniang (Red Lantern Goddess) saw that she was truly about to collapse. Even the Left Protector was seriously considering escaping. But suddenly, the resentment inexplicably retreated from the town.

Along with it, the vengeful ghosts and evil spirits that had already rushed into Zhu Men Town and crowded before it dissipated cleanly. If it weren't for the lanterns torn to shreds by the vengeful ghosts, scattered on the ground, one would have thought it was an illusion.

They didn't know how such powerful vengeful ghosts came to be, and even less how they suddenly disappeared...

Only pairs of eyes stared blankly at the red lanterns in the temple, already unable to describe the doubts in their hearts, as if they were seeing Hong Deng Niangniang for the first time...

"Could it be that her usual timidity is all an act?"

Even the Left Protector, Shen Hongzhi, was suspicious: "She shouldn't have this ability..."

While Di Guashao (Sweet Potato Burn) scratched her head, the jade hairpins swaying back and forth, her eyes full of doubt: "She could withstand the first wave, fine. But she could actually withstand the second wave. This Hong Deng Niangniang's limit is very high. Should I find a chance to test her later?"

In this confused atmosphere, Hu Ma slowly sighed, inwardly marveling at Zhang Agu's (Aunt Zhang) quick wit and intelligence.

As the current master of the Zhen Sui Fu (Town Demon Bureau), he understood even more that apart from the few people he had temporarily scraped together, Zhang Agu, who had followed him to the opening of the Zhen Sui Fu for the first time and participated in the trial of ghosts, was considered qualified.

Looking out of the town again, he felt even more relaxed. This relative of his, in his eyes, seemed a bit clueless...

But no matter how clueless, having reached this point, she should understand some things, right?

He hoped she could step up. The reopening of the Zhen Sui Fu couldn't be too low-key. If their skills weren't enough, it would make him, the master of the Zhen Sui Fu, feel a little embarrassed...

...Could it be that I have to carry the Zhen Sui Ji Jin Jian (Demon Suppression Golden Mace) out and introduce myself to everyone, saying that I am the new master of the Zhen Sui Fu?

...Doesn't everyone want some face?

...

...

"As you command!"

Outside the town, when the Tian Ming Jiang Jun (Heavenly Mandate General) easily spoke Bai Er Fu's (Hundred Children Cauldron) name, even the Zhen Li Jiao (Truth Sect) members and several altar masters following him visibly paled for a moment.

But after a long while, they still saluted the Tian Ming Jiang Jun and immediately went to prepare.

The night grew deeper, as if all things in heaven and earth had fallen into a deep nightmare. Only three miles away, in Zhu Men Town, the red lanterns still emitted a faint red light, but they were extremely far away from people.

And in this thick darkness, it was even harder to know how many people worried about the situation in Mingzhou, who were now completely confused, not knowing what the Zhen Li Jiao was doing this time, back and forth, repeatedly.

They all lived in Mingzhou. Even if they hadn't dealt with Hong Deng Niangniang, they had at least heard some of her stories. How could she hold on for so long against the Zhen Li Jiao?

Some people even began to suspect whether the Zhen Li Jiao was deliberately playing cat and mouse, going back and forth to deliberately raise the value of this Hong Deng Niangniang, in order to make their achievements seem greater...

Full of anticipation, they discovered that after the Tian Ming Jiang Jun gave the order, the group of over a hundred followers behind him stepped forward one after another, took out white scarves from their arms, and tied them on their foreheads, looking like they were wearing mourning clothes.

In the middle of the circle, there was a black cauldron of unknown origin, as if it had never been washed, with obvious traces of blood and grease on it. These people with white scarves wrapped around their foreheads gathered in front of the cauldron and shed tears.

Around them, the Qing Fan (Green Banners), which should theoretically have become ordinary objects, actually swayed again, and the people waving the banners circled them slowly, chanting some kind of incantation at the same time, looking gloomy and strange.

And those who were surrounding the black cauldron suddenly, someone took the lead and cried out:

"My son, I shouldn't be wearing mourning for you as your father, but I pity you for your tragic death, and I can't care about seniority, so I've come to sacrifice to you..."

"..."

With this one person taking the lead, more cries followed, one by one, sounding sincere and heartfelt, the sadness on their faces, the tears in their eyes, all didn't seem fake at all.

As they cried harder and harder, suddenly the person who started crying first felt uncomfortable in his stomach, his body softened, and he lay down on the edge of the cauldron, retching, and actually vomited a black, strange little ghost out of his stomach.

Following closely, others also vomited, one by one, black shadows with astonishing baleful aura were vomited into the cauldron, and the sound of wailing followed.

Inside the cauldron, baleful aura instantly steamed up. People in the distance couldn't see clearly, only vaguely seeing black arms or hands occasionally reaching out to the edge of the cauldron, but being pulled down by something in the cauldron.

Whoosh...

The surrounding banners moved without wind, and the surrounding temperature dropped sharply, as if it had turned into the coldest month of winter.

And behind them, the people in the entire Mingzhou prefecture city felt cold all over, and countless ancestral tablets enshrined in their homes lost their balance and fell directly from the incense table, trembling and shivering.

Outside the city, the Tian Ming Jiang Jun just watched coldly, a faint madness and ferocity already emerging in his eyes, as if he saw the scene that had once happened in Guanzhou returning before him again.

Years ago in Guanzhou, there was continuous famine.

This year, it reached its extreme. Drought and famine caused no harvest in the fields, and the people lived in hardship, to the point of exchanging children for food and reopening the human meat market.

The Zhen Li Jiao emerged in response to the situation and preached in Guanzhou, seeking opportunities to refine spells. The elders of the sect, seeing the suffering of the people, took a cauldron and taught the members of the sect: "The suffering of the people breaks our hearts. Since you are willing to cultivate blessings for the people, how can you not understand their suffering?"

"They cook and eat their sons and daughters, how can you not? If you cannot, how can you understand the truth of the world and save the troubled times?"

"..."

Therefore, they took the lead and set up a large cauldron, only for those displaced people who didn't even have a cauldron to cook their children and eat them. Before and after, although it was called Bai Er Fu, how many children were cooked?

But this was not all. After lending it to countless people to use, the elder gathered the members of the sect and threw their children into the cauldron, only shouting to eat with the people and participate in the truth.

Led by him, loyal followers all brought their children and threw them into the cauldron, cooking a soup together and sharing it, and thus all gained great fortune.

Now, this Tian Ming Jiang Jun was going to use this method to re-sacrifice the Bai Er Fu, borrowing the magic power in the cauldron to break through the many tribulations set by the group of demon people in Mingzhou, harming the lives of the people of Mingzhou and saving the people of Guanzhou.

Those onlookers, seeing the Zhen Li Jiao members gathered together, knew that they were casting a spell, but didn't know what kind of spell. But no matter how far away, the baleful aura that rushed over was enough to make everyone feel frightened, even holding their heads and daring not to listen to the cries of the children.

But even if they covered their ears, the cries of the children would still drill in.

Even tens of miles away from here, the cries of the children were still clearly audible, as if they were by their side, right next to their ears, hanging on their necks and crying.

"He finally used such evil things in Mingzhou..."

Not far away, the person in the sedan chair seemed unable to bear the baleful aura and evil nature in the cauldron, ordered the porters to move away a little, and then sighed lowly: "The Zou Gui (Walking Ghost) path has always hated this thing the most, it's good that he used it..."

"Now that he's used it, my cousin should show up, right?"

"But..."

She instructed the maid by the side of the sedan chair: "Send a letter to the altar, tell the three uncles that the matter here is no longer something a junior like me can suppress."

"Ask them, along with that adult, to come here to preside over the overall situation!"

"..."

"..."

"What the hell is that thing?"

When countless dense cries of babies and children sounded, the people in Zhu Men Town also felt their scalps tingle.

The scene was too strange. They originally didn't even understand how Hong Deng Niangniang had escaped the two previous arrests, but now the movement was even more terrifying than the previous two times, as if countless crying dolls had suddenly appeared around the town.

In the invisible shadows, there were strange shadows creeping back and forth everywhere, and pairs of eyes that were extremely hungry stared fixedly at every piece of flesh on their bodies.

The Left Protector, Shen Hongzhi, didn't even know what it was, but her instinctive fear instantly overwhelmed her, and all the hairs on her body stood on end. She jumped up quickly, followed her instinct, and just wanted to escape immediately.

And Hong Deng Niangniang in the temple also emitted a great red light, urging and shouting, just wanting the Left Protector not to leave her here.

'It's okay to take my natal lantern and leave, I don't want this temple anymore...'

'...'

But they didn't expect that when they heard the crying, the small shopkeeper from Qing Shi Town, whose presence was almost zero, sighed softly when the crying sounded, lifted his robe, and slowly stood up.

"Shopkeep..."

Di Guashao glanced at him and immediately said, "...Small shopkeeper, what are you going to do?"

"Of course, I'm going out to help Hong Deng Niangniang!"

Hu Ma reached into the ox cart, took out the ghost-headed broadsword that was still in its sheath, and tucked it under his arm, while laughing: "I said I came to help, it's not good to watch the show here all night?"

"You..."

The Left Protector reacted and looked at Hu Ma's indifferent appearance, already a little incomprehensible: 'Is this kid so reckless?'

But she was shocked by Hu Ma's demeanor and didn't really say anything. Then she saw Hu Ma taking the knife, but turning his head to look at her, and said: "Protector, I saw you wearing a smiling face mask earlier, it looked quite nice, can I borrow it?"

The Left Protector was shocked by his demeanor and subconsciously said: "It's in the room... You... what are you going to do?"

Hu Ma walked straight to her room and smiled: "These people only bully us in Mingzhou, daring to use all kinds of evil spells here, do they really think there are no rules here?"

(End of this chapter)