Chapter 126

"The matters in Guazhou are settled..."

Come to think of it, my ostensible purpose was just to eliminate the Jitu Snake God. I hadn't even considered targeting the Yan family or the so-called Iron Barracks Army. It was purely because so many transmigrators had gathered together, and we were bored.

Since it wasn't part of the original plan, Hu Ma didn't dwell on it too much. He simply had Bu Shi Niu take over to avoid wasting resources.

Of course, what those unruly fellows thought afterward was their business. He only knew what was most important at hand. While Brother Erguotou was helping with preparations, he returned to the blood essence mine with Old Abacus, Wu Ya, and the recently successful and excited Zhou Datong.

He instructed them, "Guard the mine well. When spring arrives next year, people will be sent to harvest it properly!"

"..."

Only Old Abacus still worried, "Speaking of which, the hundred and ninety *jin* we agreed on..."

"Would I ever shortchange you?"

Hu Ma said, "Not only will this mine be harvested next year, but I'll also have a batch coming from Mingzhou. Take as much as you want."

"..."

Old Abacus was taken aback, "Don't, don't be like that. Suddenly being so generous makes me uncomfortable..."

"I'm serious."

Hu Ma said, "However, a major client will probably be coming to our mine soon. Don't ask him anything else. Give him whatever he wants, as long as the mine has it..."

"How major of a client is this?"

Old Abacus was indignant, "How much are we selling him each Blood Essence Pill for? Which security bureau will escort it? Or will we hire our own people?"

"Why didn't you discuss these business matters with me first?"

"..."

Hu Ma was a little helpless and leaned in to whisper something.

Old Abacus's face turned pale, "That evil spirit is actually coming back?"

"This is his home, and his sister is here. Where else would he go?"

Hu Ma sighed and patted Old Abacus on the shoulder, "Anyway, you're not an outsider. You'll be handling the handover with him later."

He now looked at Old Abacus with some sympathy.

It was only after discussing the Blood Essence handover with Monkey Wine that he learned that Monkey Wine had seen Wu Ya in Guazhou and had taken a few glances, of course seeing how Wu Ya had apprenticed to Old Abacus and how Old Abacus had taught her.

"He's not bad to Wu Ya."

Monkey Wine said, "That's why I took back the Gu that was planted on him..."

Old Abacus wasn't easy either...

Earlier, in Stone Horse Town, Hu Ma had used Monkey Wine's Gu worms to eavesdrop on the conversation between the Second Young Master of the Meng family and the Shou Sui Hall Official, learning that Old Abacus had a strange origin, claiming to be a disciple of a national teacher, of the Eleventh Clan, but wouldn't easily take sides...

If he wouldn't easily take sides, why had he been following him, and actually helping him in many ways, inside and out?

Now, only Monkey Wine and himself knew this old guy's background. He was reluctant to kill him, but Monkey Wine might not be.

However, this old brother wasn't bad. By helping him, he had established a relationship, and by taking Wu Ya as his apprentice, Monkey Wine would show mercy, and he had firmly established himself without revealing anything.

In that case, he would just extract more of what was in his stomach, without rushing to reveal these things.

Once everything was arranged, he returned to Mingzhou. Returning here, one was to call Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu to bring a team of soldiers to help him send the Blood Essence hidden in the Qing Stone Town estate back to the Blood Essence Mine, as the first funds for Monkey Wine's use.

The other was to watch over Aunt Zhang and have her officially set up an altar one more time.

"Shopkeeper, are you going to kill people again?"

Aunt Zhang had already experienced a scene of rolling heads, and now her headless little ghost was changing its appearance every day.

Now, hearing that she was going to set up an altar and recite names again, she couldn't help but be surprised.

"Auntie, don't worry, this time should be different."

Seeing Hu Ma's confidence, Aunt Zhang had no choice but to gather her courage again, still holding the Hundred Ghost Record that Hu Ma had given her, and set up an altar around Qing Stone Town, reciting the names one by one.

She was really worried that if setting up the altar didn't work again, she might have to cross out a large number of names on the Hundred Ghost Record, but she didn't expect that this time was different. As soon as the altar was set up, she was greeted by rolling Yin winds.

The flames of the candles in front of the altar rose wildly, soaring to a height of ten *chi*, illuminating the surroundings with a ghostly atmosphere.

As she stammered and recited the names on the Hundred Ghost Record, she saw a flash of ghostly figures in front of the altar. Ordinarily, after reciting the names, she would need to say what they were being invited to do and what offerings were being made, but she hadn't even finished reciting...

Moreover, the ones summoned this time didn't say anything, but simply kowtowed to the ground in front of the altar, behaving obediently.

Aunt Zhang was surprised and continued reciting the names on it.

"Wuwuwu..."

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, ghostly figures loomed on the ground, and the entire process was simplified to the extreme. Just one name summoned the ghosts and gods.

Seeing them kneeling in front of the altar, some three *zhang* tall, some covered in armor, some with overwhelming Yin energy, Aunt Zhang felt a little scared.

She had only set up an ordinary three-*zhang* altar. In the past, inviting ghosts and gods with such power would not have been enough even if she sold herself, but now, it was easy, summoned to the altar, as if she were in a dream.

Her skills were actually at their strongest when she was forcibly betrothed to the Five Fiends Evil Ghost.

Later, when the Five Fiends Evil Ghost was beheaded, her skills remained unchanged and even stronger, but she had lost ninety percent of them.

But now, as the altar rose and the ghosts and gods converged, it was equivalent to establishing a contract on the altar, and she would be able to summon them in the future. Wouldn't her skills suddenly become stronger again...

...more than a hundred times?

...

"Good, they're all sensible..."

Hu Ma nodded silently, standing behind the altar, holding the Punisher's Great Blade, and said softly to Aunt Zhang, "Auntie, the life of a ghost walker is hard, and it's difficult to get things done, but from today on, you can grant the names on this Hundred Ghost Record to others."

Aunt Zhang was excited, "Really...really can I?"

The path of the ghost walker had declined for twenty years. Although there were many ghost walkers between villages, few had great abilities.

But now, if the names of the hundred ghosts on this altar were taught to others, how much would change?

The name of one ghost was worth a unique skill!

On a grander scale, in the past twenty years, all sects had recognized that the Negative Spirit sect was the most powerful and numerous.

But now, the ghost walker sect was about to rise, at least enough to compete with the Negative Spirit sect...

Hu Ma nodded with a smile, "Yes, but please, all ghost walkers, follow the rules. Borrow the power of ghosts and gods to maintain the order of Yin and Yang. If they really commit crimes, the Town Suppression Bureau will not show mercy."

"..."

"Yes, yes."

Aunt Zhang had suffered losses, but not everyone who had suffered losses wanted to retaliate.

She was the kind of person who had suffered losses but only wanted things to be fairer, so she deeply understood the meaning of the word "rules" that Hu Ma spoke of.

Hu Ma, on the other hand, confidently entrusted this matter to Aunt Zhang, while he held the Punisher's Great Blade and walked through the densely packed ghostly figures kneeling in front of the altar.

Wherever he passed, the ghostly figures flickered, trembling. Even the Punisher's Great Blade in his arms seemed to sense the fear of these ghosts and gods. The blade hummed faintly, like a madman laughing grimly, scaring the ghosts even more.

"Huh?"

But it was only after walking behind the ghosts that Hu Ma stopped slightly and looked at a group of ghostly figures kneeling far away and trembling. These ghosts were much weaker than the ones called earlier, and they only dared to kneel far behind, not even approaching the altar.

Feeling strange, he said, "Why have you come? This altar has not summoned you!"

"Lord Hall Official, spare us..."

This question immediately caused a burst of crying, "It's not that we trespassed on the altar, it's that we had no choice but to come..."

"We were originally not ghosts or goblins, but the wandering spirits of the West Mountain Tao, originally following the orders of the Meng family, but a young lady went to the West Mountain Tao, and she was so fierce..."

"She killed ghosts and people there, even breaking our golden bodies, causing a great chaos, and muttering that except for those from the Hu family, everyone else could be killed, so, so we..."

"...came to seek refuge!"

"..."

"What the hell?"

Hu Ma was stunned. What was Sweet Potato Burn doing in the West Mountain Tao?

He had finished his business in Yanzhou, so why hadn't she returned to report?

Of course, it was a bit far away now, and there was no way to catch Sweet Potato Burn and ask. Anyway, he would accept those who took the initiative to come to the altar. After this roll call, he felt a little relieved, and was just waiting for news from Brother Erguotou.

"How about setting off tomorrow?"

Brother Erguotou was usually slow and procrastinating, but once he decided to help, he was very straightforward.

Hu Ma received his letter the night after he finished calling the names of the hundred ghosts and quickly said, "That's natural. Is everything settled?"

"You have the first priority, isn't it easy to find a transmigrator to do anything?"

Erguotou sounded triumphant, but couldn't help complaining to Hu Ma, "Miss White Wine doesn't speak nicely, she's cold, and why does her sister, Miss Red Wine, also like to say strange things?"

"Miss Red Wine is very easy to talk to..."

Hu Ma was curious, "What did she say to you?"

Erguotou couldn't figure it out, "I only said that you were going to the City of the Unjustly Dead and asked her to help find someone who had a way to smuggle in. She just asked, smuggling is easy, but the City of the Unjustly Dead is said to be hard to find, whether I was confident or something..."

"Of course I said yes."

"She asked me again, why the Yan family fell, the Guazhou Prefecture Lord closed the temple door, but Guazhou was covered in red lanterns overnight..."

"What could I say? Little Red Lantern became the Grand Hall Official of the mountain, wasn't it natural to come to Guazhou? What opinions could I have as a Right Protector?"

"As a result, after listening, she chuckled and didn't say anything..."

"..."

Listening, Hu Ma didn't quite understand. Miss Red Wine's mind was all on the matter of the transmigrators, what was she asking about the red lanterns for?