Chapter 1

It is well known that the Red Lantern Goddess is just a newly established minor deity of the altar.

But the Lord of Truth, Zhong Benyi, is the legendary General of Heavenly Mandate, meaning he is blessed by Heaven and protected by ghosts and gods. He is also rumored to be supported by a noble person, possessing immense power. His followers all call him a wise ruler sent from Heaven.

Now, this General of Heavenly Mandate has appeared in Mingzhou for the first time, revealing his methods to the public.

But despite the sudden gust of wind and his impressive appearance, he didn't extinguish a single red lantern, nor could he drive back this minor deity of the altar. Doesn't the "Heavenly Mandate" seem to lack substance?

In that instant, everyone felt a blockage in their hearts, yet dared not vent it loudly.

Amidst countless gazes, the man riding the red-haired fire bull remained slightly silent, seemingly surprised by the profound foundation of this Red Lantern Goddess.

He also somewhat regretted not using his full strength, fearing casualties. He clearly felt that he was just a bit short of suppressing the Red Lantern Goddess.

However, under the watchful eyes of everyone, it was no longer appropriate to attack again. Therefore, he simply raised his head slowly, looked at the red lantern floating in the air, and said calmly, "The situation is urgent, I must ask the Red Lantern Goddess to forgive me, and not blame this general for being rude."

"This general came to Mingzhou because I saw the suffering of the people, the disasters, the evil spirits, the disordered Yin and Yang, and the man-eating demons. I only wish to raise an army of righteousness, from north to south, to exterminate the demons and bandits, and restore a bright and clear world to the people."

"Now, with lofty ambitions, I have gathered a hundred thousand righteous soldiers, but I only have a heart full of enthusiasm, and no food to fill my belly. I have come to Mingzhou to borrow ten thousand dan of grain and a thousand jars of blood provisions to serve as military supplies and facilitate great undertakings."

"When the bandits and demons are pacified, when I relinquish my armor and return to the fields, I will surely repay it tenfold. I am willing to take a blood oath as proof, with Heaven, Earth, ghosts, and gods as witnesses!"

Hearing his words, the gang members of the Red Lantern Society and the nobles who had followed him out of the city were all shocked.

Normally, the Blood Food Gang transported blood essence in jars of ten jin each. He asked for a thousand jars, wouldn't that be ten thousand jin of blood essence?

Even though the Blood Food Gang relied on blood essence for a living, who could have more than ten thousand jin of such precious things?

Most importantly, although his words were polite and full of righteousness, they also carried an undeniable pressure. All the sects looked worriedly at the Red Lantern Goddess, as if they could feel the invisible pressure on her.

The night air was cold and silent, the red lantern's light was eerie, but there was no movement.

At this critical moment, Shen Hongzhi, the Left Protector of the Red Lantern Society, could no longer hide behind. She stepped forward coldly, wiped the blood splattered on her face, and sneered, "Heh heh, you speak so nicely. If you really came to borrow blood essence, it's not like we can't discuss it."

"But you didn't even say hello before sending people to attack. Explain that. What does that mean?"

Hearing this, the General of Heavenly Mandate frowned, glanced at her, his gaze cold and sharp, making people afraid to look directly at him.

The Left Protector met his gaze, and couldn't help but tremble slightly in her heart, but only for a moment before she reacted. Not only did she not flinch, but she even met his gaze directly, glaring at him fiercely.

The General of Heavenly Mandate frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping towards the two Truth Sect altar masters in the field. The Truth Sect had always been strict in enforcing orders. If anyone disobeyed his orders and acted without permission, they would not be lightly spared.

Meeting his gaze, the two altar masters knelt down in a panic and said, "It must be a misunderstanding. We did see someone using our Truth Sect banner to cause trouble at the Red Lantern Society, but it is definitely not our people. Please investigate, General."

The Left Protector of the Red Lantern Society shouted, "Our Red Lantern Society brothers all saw it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears. Could we be mistaken?"

These two were caught in a fight for no reason, and they were truly confused. They couldn't tell what was going on, so they pretended not to hear anything and kowtowed to the General of Heavenly Mandate.

"There must be something fishy about this. Perhaps some daring demon is using my Truth Sect's name to damage the harmony. Red Lantern Goddess, rest assured, I will investigate and give your Red Lantern Society an explanation."

After saying that, he waved his hand and shouted, "First, take these two down, strip them of their altar master status, and interrogate them strictly. If you really disrespected the Red Lantern Goddess first, I will personally cut off your heads and offer them before the altar of the Red Lantern Goddess!"

Seeing that he spoke so sternly, the people following him immediately stepped forward,押住住押住住押住住pressed the two down, seized their weapons, and tied them up securely. The two of them looked wronged, but they did not dare to resist in the slightest.

Seeing this scene, everyone around was shocked. They were a little frightened by the aura of this General of Heavenly Mandate. At the same time, countless eyes looked over. Those with shallow vision felt that the General of Heavenly Mandate had taken the initiative to lower his head, seemingly losing face.

But those with keen eyes understood that he was putting the Red Lantern Society on the spot. He had immediately given them enough face, and also forced the Red Lantern Society into a corner. With this matter as a basis, would they lend the blood essence or not?

"Leave people here to guard, and help the injured brothers back to town. Get some black oil ointment to treat their injuries."

Meeting the countless gazes, both open and hidden, Shen Hongzhi, the Left Protector of the Red Lantern Society, took a deep breath. Although she was a little reckless, she was smart and realized the pressure. She could only make arrangements first: "All incense burners, mount your horses and follow me to send the Goddess back!"

"Yes!"

People busily made arrangements, and some came over to ask, "Do we need to open the warehouse to check if the blood essence is okay?"

"No need."

The Left Protector shook her head and said, "There was blood and death here just now. It's too dangerous to open the warehouse at night. After you've cleaned up, open the warehouse and inspect it after the rooster crows."

She actually felt that there was no big problem. After all, she had been guarding around this warehouse just now. The brothers had worked hard and guarded it to the death, and no one had approached the warehouse door.

After giving instructions, she went back to the Zhu Gate Town temple to discuss the matter.

Before leaving, she subconsciously glanced at the crowd, "Where's that very energetic Xiaobaiyao from just now? I seem to have seen her before, I forgot her name. If we find her, we should promote her."

"The distribution hasn't even started yet, and I've already earned something."

At this time, Digua Shao (Sweet Potato Burn) had already run more than ten miles away in the chaos. She found a quiet and deserted graveyard, squatted down, took out a thick stack of paper money, and counted it slightly. She was immediately overjoyed, "It's still easier to buy the lives of your own people."

"When I came back from that mountain, I spent half of the paper money I had saved for several years in order to compete with Senior Lao Baigan (Old White Wine). I've earned back a lot all at once."

She triumphantly took out a handful and scattered it into the air, then chanted loudly, "I respectfully invite the ghost soldiers of the five directions, the Yin soldiers and ghost generals are the true spirits. I invite the true spirits to carry my sedan chair, three knives of paper money to buy passage."

After chanting, she stomped her foot. As the paper money fell to the ground, countless small ghost heads drilled out of the ground, beaming with joy:

"Is Grandma looking for someone to carry her sedan chair again?"

"I'll do it, I'll do it. Grandma is generous with her money. I've even called my third aunt and eighth aunt."

It turned out that this grandma was famous for being generous when asking people to carry her sedan chair. As soon as the order was given, there were so many little ghosts that even one from the grave stretched out its head, looking enviously at the paper money that had fallen near Digua Shao's feet.

"Haha, haha."

Looking at so many enthusiastic little ghosts, Digua Shao was also overjoyed, "Come, come, Grandma has plenty of reward money. Quickly bring my sedan chair."

In an instant, the Yin wind rose sharply, and the rolling Yin ghosts howled. From a distance, it looked like a black tide, wrapped in a paper sedan chair. Those who didn't know better would have thought it was the ghost king traveling, with hundreds of ghosts escorting him.

"If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to beat Senior Lao Baigan in the foot race."

Sitting in the sedan chair, enjoying the flattery of the little ghosts, she became even more smug, "I just don't know how Senior Lao Baigan's magic is working. If this deal really gets a few thousand jin of blood essence, wouldn't I have to sit in two sedan chairs from now on?"

While everyone else was dispersing and the chaos was subsiding, Huma was looking at the row of large vats in front of him, slightly dazed.

No, it's not that I'm ignorant, it's mainly because...

The harvest is a bit exaggerated.

He had heard from Hall Master Xu earlier that there were probably tens of thousands of jin of blood essence in the blood food warehouse, and he was already very excited, but he remained calm, knowing that this was mostly an exaggeration. After all, he was in charge of personnel and could not enter the warehouse to count it himself.

In reality, if there were seven or eight thousand jin of blood essence in this warehouse, it would be extremely ideal. Moreover, since there were originally two warehouses, it would be great if one warehouse had three or four thousand jin.

But now, looking at it, there were ten vats in just one warehouse.

He roughly estimated that if each vat contained more than a thousand jin of blood essence, wouldn't these ten vats contain fifteen or sixteen thousand jin?

No way, are there so many blood essence in the blood food warehouse here in Mingzhou?

Looking at Xiao Hongtang, who seemed tired at the moment, leaning against the wall, her eyes seemed to be a little listless from exhaustion. But after a while, she turned her head to look at the ten vats, and a happy smile appeared on her face again.

"Come, Xiao Hongtang, let's have some supper first."

Huma felt sorry for her. He casually opened a vat, took a piece of blood essence wrapped in oilcloth from the top, opened it, tore off a piece from the top, and brought it to Xiao Hongtang's face, handing it to her.

Xiao Hongtang's eyes lit up all of a sudden, and then she suddenly became alert, "Ten Ke!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Huma smiled, "Xiao Hongtang is so diligent, I'll give you twenty Ke."

"But it's not good to eat too much of this stuff, I'll save the rest for you first, and give it to you when you're hungry, okay?"

Looking at Xiao Hongtang, who seemed to have struck it rich, her eerie little ghost face had a sunny feeling. Huma touched her little head with satisfaction and sneered in his heart: Hehe, Xiao Hongtang, Xiao Hongtang, you're still too young.

"Don't even mention giving you twenty Ke, I'll earn enough to make me rich even if I give you a hundred jin per vat."