Chapter 463 Fortune Exhausted

"What the hell is going on?"

Just as Hu Ma and Monkey Wine were conversing and making arrangements, the situation in Stone Horse Town was becoming increasingly dire.

Gusts of cold wind swept through the town, chilling the bones of the people attending the Lantern Blessing Festival, making them dizzy and disoriented. The joy and excitement brought by the festival were collapsing like sandcastles, quickly dissipating.

Even Old Master Sun and the others, who were sitting at a table in the inn, watching the events unfold in the street, were panicking.

Some of them were looking for an opportunity to escape, but others were considering the taboo against eating beef and felt that they should help the town in its time of need.

It wasn't that they couldn't escape, but they felt they should at least exchange a few blows with someone, preferably getting seriously injured but not killed, so they could recover afterward. This way, even if the people from Bu Shi Niu (Do Not Eat Beef) came looking for them, they would be blameless and even considered to have suffered for their efforts!

But how could they help now?

They had mustered their courage and were even prepared to face the shousui (year-guardian) Da Tang Guan (hall official) when he stormed in, but they never expected that the first to arrive would be these intangible, invisible ghosts.

They didn't even know what these things were doing, yet they had already reduced the town to a scene of wailing and chaos.

Especially Old Master Sun and Hall Master Tang, as shousui, couldn't even see their opponents. Even if they wanted to put on a show of strength, where could they direct it?

"Old White Face..."

In their panic, some people shouted at Wu Laolao's (Old Woman Wu's) adopted son-in-law, "You're supposed to be good at dealing with this kind of thing, aren't you? Why don't you show us your skills and help drive away the evil spirits?"

"Drive away my ass..."

Wu Laolao's adopted son-in-law was almost in despair, clutching a bowl in his trembling hands. "I, I know too much about these things. Today, today none of us are going to have a good time. Those outside, I'm afraid..."

"...I'm afraid every single one of them is more ferocious than my old mother-in-law!"

The cold wind roared and swirled, and the kneeling townsfolk turned pale, their life force waning. The Dharma Kings on the altar frantically dipped their hands into the "ambrosia," trying to resist the omnipresent decay, but they discovered that the bowls they were holding were already empty.

By this point, they were unable to protect the people around them. One by one, they collapsed weakly, their faces filled with despair as they gazed at the night sky.

"Venerable Master, what do we do?"

Meanwhile, on the mountain east of Stone Horse Town, in the main house of the headquarters, the ten large vats guarded by Immortal Maiden Miaoshan were emitting eerie, sinister laughter. Some of the vats were overflowing with blood-red liquid.

The surfaces of some of the vats even had spiderweb-like cracks.

Things were being thrown out of them, covered in foul-smelling mucus. There were hairpins, dark silver ingots, and bracelets covered in verdigris.

This was the One Coin Sect's headquarters. When believers came to worship or join the sect, they had to deposit half of their wealth into the vats to cultivate fortune. The fact that the things inside were now being thrown out indicated a rebellious intent.

Sitting among the ten large vats, she could feel strange and surging yin winds blowing in from outside the town, putting pressure on the vats and causing the things inside to stir, emitting a fierce aura.

White Fan was terrified, doing his best to stay away from the vats while shouting, "The fortune in the ten vats will soon be exhausted, and the fortune corpses will turn into evil corpses!"

"Venerable Master, Venerable Master, think of something! If this continues, years of accumulation will be lost in an instant!"

"Do you think I can't see that?"

Immortal Maiden Miaoshan hated White Fan's slyness. When she had come to manage the One Coin Sect, she had wanted to choose a deputy, but why had she chosen a performer?

While cursing him inwardly, she looked anxiously toward the town, thinking nervously, "If this continues, the One Coin Sect's years of accumulation will be destroyed. Not only will the Lantern Blessing Festival be ruined, but I and all the blessed followers will be cursed."

"Where is the Venerable Master?"

The Venerable Master had lent her the red lantern. Now that such a situation had arisen, he should quickly offer some advice!

"Young Master Meng, isn't this going too far?"

At the same time, watching the once brightly lit Stone Horse Town now shrouded in dark clouds, with eight bizarre phantoms bowing to the town and countless struggling souls within, Da Tang Guan Tie Jun frowned.

"What? Is the adult feeling soft-hearted?"

Beside him, the Meng family's second young master, dressed in a green robe, smiled and said, "The world has been chaotic for too long. There is no emperor's sacred name above, and no yamen's whip below. Naturally, everyone has forgotten the meaning of rules."

"However, it's good that things are getting lively inside. We can use this opportunity to make these ignorant fools wake up and recognize who is the master of the court."

"Precisely because they are just ignorant fools, how would they know the difference between the court and the common people?"

Da Tang Guan Tie Jun sighed softly. "They came here because they knew that food and medicine were provided here. Although they need to be taught a lesson, why is it necessary to have them all buried here?"

"Being born in this place, they are already destined to have shallow lives and little virtue. Even in times of peace and prosperity, they would still suffer from hunger and hardship, unable to escape disaster. Now, with the Eight Decaying Gods of the Grasses bowing to them, their fortune is further reduced, and they may not even be able to keep their lives..."

For a moment, he didn't know how to describe it, because he couldn't imagine how so many people in the town would die once their fortune was completely depleted.

Years of natural disasters, dying from illness? Earthquakes and landslides, dying in suffering? Soldiers and bandits passing through, corpses piled up in the wilderness?

The Meng family's second young master couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. "Da Tang Guan Tie Jun's words are strange. Didn't you issue an order to leave no one alive in this town?"

Da Tang Guan Tie Jun frowned. "Leave no rebel alive, leave no demon from the Shou Sui sect alive, leave no one who resists orders alive, leave no one who sits high on the altar, pretending to be a ghost, alive..."

"But now there are more than ten thousand people in this town. Are you really going to take a knife and kill them all?"

"No wonder everyone says that you shousui don't get involved in karma..."

The Meng family's second young master smiled and said, "Actually, it's not that you don't get involved in karma. I think you're just afraid."

"The biggest problem with your sect is that you have to do everything yourself when killing people. You're fierce against one or two, but when there are too many people, you soften up before they even resist."

Da Tang Guan Tie Jun frowned at these words, his face stern with displeasure. Logically speaking, since the other party was one of the Ten Surnames, it wouldn't matter if he made a comment or two about his shousui sect. But as a shousui Da Tang Guan, he was proud and arrogant, and he couldn't suppress his anger.

He didn't refute, but just snorted coldly and said, "The shousui have always been like this. Their skills should have been used on the battlefield. Now that we're wandering the martial world, who dares to let go?"

"But Young Master Meng, you..."

"First you kill servant ghosts, then you set up a ghost altar. You've done everything you should and shouldn't have done. Is it because you were angered by the people in the town over the Yin General's matter that you took such a ruthless approach?"

"A member of the Tong Yin Meng family shouldn't lack self-cultivation like this."

These words were already a subtle insult, but the Meng family's young master suddenly laughed and said, "Let Da Tang Guan Tie Jun know that I came up with the idea of using the Yin General to refine the ghost general platform after I saw the demon corpse in your hand."

"But since I came, even if I didn't have it, I would still refine it. Why do you think I brought the Eight Decaying Gods of the Grasses with me?"

"You..."

Da Tang Guan Tie Jun did hear something from his words and was shocked. Thinking carefully about the cause and effect, he felt a chill in his heart.

"It's all because the Hu family is too ignorant..."

The Meng family's second young master sighed softly and said, "They could have just abided by the major events set by the Stone Pavilion Alliance, but they had so many ideas and were so stubborn. They monopolized the Zhen Sui Fu (Demon Suppression Bureau), such a powerful tool, and hid themselves away, ignoring everyone."

"One of the dignified Ten Surnames, falling into a state of having fate but no luck, being noble but lacking fortune..."

As he spoke slowly, a coldness appeared on his face. Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile, "Da Tang of the Iron Stele Hall is not far from Gun Prefecture. Haven't you heard of the Five Evil Gods?"

Da Tang Guan Tie Jun's eyebrows twitched. He had heard of them, but he didn't want to get involved in this kind of topic.

"The Five Evil Gods were originally called the Five Benefit Gods."

The Meng family's second young master smiled and said, "They were originally used to cultivate fortune for the Hu family, but in order to better serve the Zhen Sui Fu, they forcibly cultivated them into five evils, hehe..."

"Evil energy in hand? How impressive? You must know that evil energy is something that cuts off fortune. Their Hu family lost their fortune because of the evil energy of the entire Zhen Sui Fu, resulting in the depletion of their bloodline and almost the extinction of their lineage."

"That Grandma Bai was somewhat knowledgeable. She drove away the five evil energies in advance and voluntarily returned to the ancestral shrine, wanting to protect her grandson's luck. It's a pity that she only had limited knowledge. Why didn't she do this sooner?"

Speaking of this, he waved his hand, as if the surrounding darkness had deepened a bit. "This town is just full of rebels, how is their life or death worth caring about so much?"

"I came here only to build the ghost general platform."

"You think there are too many people in this town, hehe, I think it would be even better if there were more..."