Chapter 1 Waking from a Dream

It was as if waking from a phantom dream. The prosperous and peaceful village from moments ago now appeared as a scene of desolation and ruin before Hu Ma.

Weeds grew rampant everywhere, houses had collapsed, and bones were scattered across the ground. Some still had tattered strips of rotten flesh clinging to the joints. Countless yin winds blew from every corner, weaving together into a terrifying net.

Even the real, full faces that had been crowding around him just now were rapidly drying up, fading, and transforming into grotesque, rotten, sinister, and resentful visages. Their figures became shadowy and indistinct, and with a gust of yin wind, they all vanished without a trace.

"The things here are so fierce, they don't even play by the rules..."

Surrounded by the layers of yin wind, Hu Ma sighed in a low voice.

The seven steps he had just taken had a purpose, called Tagang Budou (stepping on the Dipper array), a method recorded in the *Zhen Sui Shu* (Book of Guarding the Year), which allowed one to walk directly out of the enchanting illusions of demons and evil spirits.

No matter how deep or real the illusion was, or how deeply one was deluded, as long as they took these seven steps, they would return to reality.

He was carrying the skills of an *rufu shousui ren* (Year-Guardian), ordinary evil spirits could not delude him. A breath of yin energy would likely be incinerated by the fiery energy within him.

But the enchantment of this place seemed to be silent and imperceptible. Even though he was vigilant from the moment he entered the village, he was still deluded by the ghosts in this village. Even knowing he was deluded, he couldn't find a flaw in his five senses.

If he didn't have the method from the *Zhen Sui Shu*, wouldn't an ordinary *rufu shousui ren* be deluded to death?

"Hoo..."

As he was thinking, the bone-scraping yin winds around him gathered more and more, becoming stronger and stronger, blowing directly at his face. It seemed to be mixed with the curses of countless villagers, such as not knowing how to appreciate favors, or that if he grabbed their hand, he had to marry them, etc.

Although it sounded absurd, he even felt that the weight of each yin soul in this village was heavier than the soldiers commanded by Yin Jiangjun (Yin General). They had exceeded the weight that a yin soul should have.

"Pay homage to heaven and earth, communicate with the true spirit."

"The Qi of the five directions listens to my command, the five suppressions form an altar with power and prestige."

"...Rise!"

Facing the rolling yin wind, he dared not be careless. He gritted his teeth, secretly circulated his power, and in an instant, his whole body transformed. With one foot stomping down, his magical power rippled out, vaguely forming a correspondence with the surrounding Zhenmen Shi (stone of suppression) connecting the five suppressions.

The Zhenmen Shi around the Juehu Cun (Village of the Extinct Lineage) were erected by Grandma back then. The stones bore the names of every villager before their death, trapping them, and also serving to set up the altar.

He knew he was being deluded, but he still followed the illusion to get here because of this reason.

This was where the fifth suppression should be located. Arriving here, with the four Zhenmen Shi, plus himself who had transformed into death, he could set up the altar and enclose all the evil ghosts in this Juehu Cun within the altar.

*Hula!*

As the altar rose, Hu Ma felt his body turn icy cold, as if countless cold steel needles were piercing into his limbs and bones, and his entire cultivation was rapidly depleting.

This Juehu Cun was really not a good place to set up an altar.

Setting up an altar required finding a place with good Feng Shui, a high place, a clean and tidy place, a place with the Qi of fortune and prosperity, but this Juehu Cun was completely the opposite, every aspect was extremely poor.

Any proper *zou gui ren* (ghost walker) would not set up an altar here, otherwise, before they could subdue the ghosts, they would be crushed to death themselves.

However, fortunately, Hu Ma was a *shousui ren*, able to withstand it. After the altar was set up, the Zhenmen Shi on all sides faintly resonated, helping him share some of the backlash from the evil land.

"Hulala..."

Similarly, along with the altar, the already fierce and turbulent yin wind around him suddenly intensified. The wind was mixed with countless vague, pale faces, directly grabbing at Hu Ma's face, uprooting the withered grass around him.

The evil ghosts in this village also seemed to realize that someone was setting up an altar, and their ferocity instantly exploded.

The Zhenmen Shi on all sides were shaking under the impact of this yin energy, faintly showing signs of collapsing. As the Zhenwu (suppression object) at the very center of the altar, the impact Hu Ma received could be described as indescribable.

"Fellow villagers, can't we give each other some face?"

But facing this group of resentful ghosts, Hu Ma maintained a calm state of mind, slowly sat down cross-legged, his hands folded in front of his lower abdomen, and began to chant a mantra in a low voice.

The *Zhen Sui Shu* had four great mantras, which were the most useful skills besides the Zhen Chong Fu (Demon Suppression Talisman).

Xing (Punishment), Xiao (Dissipation), Sha (Killing), each mantra had its own unique points.

With these four mantras, Hu Ma was equal to having four methods to retrieve the Hu family's keepsake, but what he was using now was the most time-consuming and energy-consuming: Shenguang Xiao Nie Zhou (Divine Light Dissipation Mantra).

Not to kill all the resentful ghosts in the village, nor to subdue them, nor to torture them with cruel punishments.

From the words of Grandpa Lao Yangpi (Old Sheepskin), Hu Ma knew that Grandma said that the people in this village were pitiful and didn't want to directly disperse them, so she used this method to trap them, waiting for the right opportunity to come and help them.

Although those people didn't know that the Hu family's keepsake was here, Hu Ma still planned to carry out Grandma's last wishes. He would do what she said, even if choosing the Xiao Zhou (Dissipation Mantra) would be more difficult and troublesome.

Therefore, as the mysterious and blurred mantra resounded in this village, the rolling yin wind that swept in was suppressed by his chanting when it reached him. The sinister ferocity in the wind seemed to dissipate, becoming much more peaceful.

However, as the mantra resounded, it alarmed the things deeper in the village even more, and layers of dark clouds swept in, like raging waves.

More and more powerful things crawled out from the corners.

In the blink of an eye, he seemed to see a group of ferocious villagers, led by the clan elder, cursing at Hu Ma. In another blink of an eye, it was just a rolling yin wind, carrying sinister, venomous, and shape-shifting faces, wanting to tear Hu Ma to pieces.

But Hu Ma was not angry. Instead, he could understand the reason for their ferocity and understand the necessity of using the Shenguang Xiao Nie Zhou to resolve this Juehu Cun.

Juehu, was originally a shocking word.

Connected to this village, it was even more unbearable.

They had not done anything that angered the heavens and people. It was only because the village had a bad harvest that year, and they cut a piece of Bai Taisui (white *taisui*, a fungus), which normal people could eat, and after eating it, the whole village died.

Fate makes fools of people, dying overnight, is sorrow.

The whole village died, living people left the world, but no one sent them off, is resentment.

The bloodline is cut off, with no continuation, is extinction.

After death, there is no one to rely on, no one asks, wandering and difficult to leave, is abandonment.

Grandma pitied them, and couldn't bear to use harsh methods to completely disperse all the wronged souls in this village, so she could only trap them. But they didn't know Grandma's kindness, they only felt bound, and thus gave birth to strong hatred.

Sorrow, resentment, extinction, abandonment, hatred, five Qi intertwined, brewed for ten years, and finally formed this unique Juehu Cun.

"Don't say that heaven and earth are unfair, heaven and earth are inherently unfair."

"Don't complain about being lonely and helpless, the dead are inherently quiet, the living are always sad."

This kind of Juehu Cun, I'm afraid that even the most skilled *fashi* (Taoist priest) can't solve it, but the Hu family's Shenguang Xiao Nie Zhou is just right for the situation, but this rare experience also made Hu Ma feel complicated.

He had always liked the thunderous methods of the *shousui ren*, either not doing it, or doing it thoroughly. After seeing too much blood, his heart had hardened, but now, following Grandma's last wishes to deal with the affairs in this Juehu Cun, he had slightly experienced some softness.

*Zou gui ren* have always used two major methods: Chu Piao (ticket removal) and An Hun (soul pacification). He had only used Chu Piao before, but now it was the first time he used the method of An Hun, vaguely having a feeling of connecting life and death, yin and yang, and communicating with each other's minds.

What is An Hun?

Nothing more than the living giving some heart to the dead. Life and death are separated, yin and yang are the boundary, perhaps only this heart can penetrate life and death?

In his emotion, his heart became more peaceful, and the Shenguang Xiao Nie Zhou in his mouth never stopped. He could clearly feel that as his chanting echoed in this village, the cold, bone-scraping resentment seemed to be evaporating bit by bit.

"Shua!"

But at this moment, Hu Ma suddenly felt something. The gaze looking at the candlelight suddenly raised, looking towards the depths of the village.

Now the resentful souls in this village were almost substantial. When they were scattered and unable to shake Hu Ma's altar, they quickly roamed and intertwined, as if forming a huge, weird shadow.

The black Qi on its body was being dispelled by the mantra in Hu Ma's mouth, but there were still some strange and tenacious things that were not affected by Hu Ma's mantra at all. Instead, they became heavier and heavier, driving these resentful souls to quickly merge together.

Vaguely looking at it, it seemed as if he saw the thin and hunched figure of the clan elder in the illusion, wearing a blue Shouxiyi (burial clothing), which was covered with the pale faces of the people in this village.

The other party's figure became extremely tall in this rolling yin wind, and although hunched over, it was about to exceed the height of the Zhenmen Shi on all sides.

"That is..."

Hu Ma's mind quickly spun, and the history of this village appeared in his mind.

The people in this village did not die a good death, but were poisoned by eating the flesh of the Taisui. The most important thing was that after they died, they had been trapped here, unable to get out, and it was difficult to affect the outside world.

In this way, they fermented, devoured each other, and reproduced day and night. Over a period of ten years, they gradually gave birth to such a strange existence.

The most important thing was that as soon as Hu Ma saw it, he suddenly felt a little familiar, as if he had seen it once before...

Ancestor Meng!

At this moment, Hu Ma's heart suddenly contracted, and he suddenly realized a problem: Grandma put the Hu family's keepsake here, not only to wait for him to retrieve it.

She was also trying to tell him some key issues when he retrieved the Hu family's keepsake.