Chapter 1 The Beginning

The normally soft and pliant Shopkeeper Wu suddenly became filled with murderous intent, surprising everyone from the Tan'er Sect.

Everyone feared the Tan'er Sect because they understood demonic arts.

Whether it was hypnotizing and stealing children, scaling walls to deflower women, or bringing disaster and misfortune upon people, it was impossible to defend against.

If they were hiding in the shadows, even the most skilled person could fall victim. Last year, they pulled off such a big case by simply having a lost child crying in the street. Wu He, kind-hearted, went to ask, but was unexpectedly sprayed with a mouthful of Yin energy by the child.

She had also learned some skills, but couldn't use any of them. She was subdued just like that. When she woke up, the boiling oil paste had already been prepared, ready to be poured on her.

The old shopkeeper, heartbroken for his daughter, relied on his skills to try and save her, but was surrounded by the Tan'er Sect, who had been waiting for him. As a Level Three Shousui Ren (Year Keeper), he only retained seventy percent of his skills and barely managed to escape with Wu He.

After settling his daughter down, he rushed back to the village, but the red lanterns had already been blown out. A group of shop assistants were tortured beyond recognition, and the blood offerings had been stolen.

At that moment, he lost completely. From beginning to end, he was played like a fiddle in their hands.

But that was when they were in the shadows. Now, they were facing each other head-on.

The old shopkeeper had been holding back for a year, hiding the secret of the blood offerings, and finally cornered them, gaining the upper hand.

This meant that many of their signature moves couldn't be used. They couldn't care about anything else. They all picked up the altars, some chanting spells, some biting their fingers and dripping blood onto the altars, each using their own methods.

In this kind of direct confrontation, the Tan'er Sect could only rely on the Tan Gugu (Altar Maiden).

Although they had fewer methods, this Tan Gugu was a formidable and troublesome thing.

The Tan Gugu was created through demonic arts and possessed a natural aura of ferocity and resentment. Moreover, it had been subjected to torture, so the more it was tormented, the stronger its hatred and resentment became.

However, the Tan Gugu hated not others, but precisely those who raised it.

So these people all knew how to maximize the Tan Gugu's resentment and how to control it. There were four methods.

One was chanting spells, which could command the Tan Gugu, stimulate its resentment to harm people, but if the resentment was insufficient, they had to feed it their own blood, which could strengthen the resentment.

If that was still not enough, they had to feed it limbs, which could elevate the resentment to another level.

Of course, this spell had limitations. Even if they fed it a finger at a time, the number of times it could be used would gradually decrease.

The peddler Hu Ma encountered had been forced to feed an arm, so the resentment suddenly increased.

Chanting spells was control, feeding blood was blood sacrifice, and feeding limbs was body sacrifice.

There was also the most sophisticated, which was dirty sacrifice.

Now, of course, they were reluctant to do body sacrifice, and even more afraid of dirty sacrifice, so they only used blood to feed it, increasing the Tan Gugu's resentment.

But facing the Tan'er Sect people urging the Tan Gugu's resentment, sharp as knives, cutting flesh and blood, Shopkeeper Wu showed no concern at all. With a wave of his arms, he had already opened the ghost gate, walking quickly, looking like he was walking in the underworld.

"Chi" "Chi" "Chi"

For a time, all around him were sounds of things breaking through the air. Those Tan'er Sect people didn't care about propriety. All kinds of flying needles, hidden weapons, lime powder, and poisonous smoke sprayed towards the old shopkeeper, almost drowning his body.

But the old shopkeeper was a Shousui Ren, having learned real skills, and plus he had been guarding against the Tan'er Sect's dirty tricks for a long time. He swung his sleeves, deflecting everything.

As they crossed paths, his hands were heavy and his feet were firm, smashing the bones of several people.

The previously arrogant and wild Tan'er Sect demons couldn't help but panic, exclaiming in alarm.

But on the other side, Wu He, the girl who had put on the dog blood, hated these people the most. When Shopkeeper Wu kowtowed to these people just now, she couldn't accept it. Now that it was time to fight, she should have done her best.

But what Shopkeeper Wu said really surprised her: "So, Big Brother's intention is to take this batch of blood offerings and fly away after getting revenge?"

"Then doesn't that mean Big Brother never planned to leave a way out for Hu Ma and the others...?"

"..."

Her mind was in chaos. Wearing the dog skin, she couldn't speak, but when she pounced, she was obviously slower.

"Silly girl..."

Shopkeeper Wu watched in all directions, listening on all sides. Surrounded by this group of Tan'er Sect people, he really didn't dare to be careless. Noticing Wu He's slight hesitation, how could he not understand her thoughts?

The girl had never understood why he didn't explain things clearly and had to hide it from the boy from the mountain village.

She really thought that he was doing all this just for revenge, but she didn't understand that revenge was nothing. Survival was the most important thing.

If he could block these Tan'er Sect people, kowtow, and send out this batch of blood offerings in exchange for a solution to the Zao Chu (Livestock Creation) technique she had been afflicted with, then so be it. There was no need to really attack the Tan'er Sect people, and Hu Ma naturally wouldn't have to suffer all that resentment.

His daughter could be saved, Hu Ma could live, and he would have gained a great advantage, but the key was that the Tan'er Sect didn't have it.

Shopkeeper Wu had thought of this possibility before, but he still held a glimmer of hope in his heart.

But another preparation had to be made, which was, if the Tan'er Sect really didn't have a solution, he would intercept this batch of blood offerings.

The girl had to live. If the Tan'er Sect didn't have a solution, then he would take her to seek out experts in various places. If he didn't have blood offerings as a stepping stone, who would pay attention to him?

And to intercept this blood offering, it was absolutely impossible to alarm Red Lantern Niangniang (Red Lantern Goddess). He could only deal with these people himself.

Since that was the case, he had to rely on the boy from the mountain village.

After suffering at the hands of the Tan'er Sect, the old shopkeeper had thought for a long time about how to counteract the Tan Gugu's resentment. There were countless methods, but none of them were reliable. After thinking it over, he only came up with the substitution technique within the Xinghun Men Dao (Soul Execution Path).

As for Hu Ma...

"It depends on how lucky he is..."

As he thought this, Shopkeeper Wu moved around like an evil ghost, each move taking a life.

The surrounding Tan'er Sect people were also frightened, frantically stirring up evil arts. Waves of resentment enveloped Shopkeeper Wu.

But this resentment, which had always been effective, seemed to have no effect on Shopkeeper Wu.

"Having endured so much resentment, it seems that he has entered the formation and used the Si Gui Yi Men (Four Ghosts Salute the Gate) trick..."

Shopkeeper Wu was also calculating in his heart. Now, he felt relieved.

"Then he can't escape..."

"The Si Gui Yi Men trick, one hand opens the ghost gate, and the other hand must be prepared to close the ghost gate."

"One foot steps into the ghost gate, and the other foot must be prepared to step out of the ghost gate."

The old shopkeeper's expression tightened. Feeling that everything was as expected, he became even more calm as he moved.

He had indeed hidden a part of the truth from that boy.

Normal Shousui Ren need to first cultivate both hands, not one hand and one leg.

Cultivating both hands is to push open the ghost gate and close the ghost gate, but the methods he taught him were all correct, but the way he taught them was deliberately skewed, so that he could open but not close, enter but not exit.

As long as he used the Si Gui Yi Men trick, then afterwards, he would be firmly locked in, always blocking this resentment for himself.

Until he won this battle, or he died directly.

"It's all his fate!"

"Could it be that I really couldn't guess that Xu Ji's Hongmu Jian (Red Wood Sword) was so easily picked up by him for no reason?"

"Even now, I will do my best to eliminate the remnants of the Tan'er Sect, but whether you can hold on until then depends on how tough your life is!"

"..."

"..."

"The nemesis is coming so quickly..."

Earlier, in the village, Hu Ma and Da Tong, Zhou Liang, Zhao Zhu and others had already taken down the red lanterns that were raised on tall poles, each holding swords, guarding the lanterns.

They had expected that once something happened outside, the demons here would also understand that the old shopkeeper was not in the village, and would definitely not hold back any longer, but would really rush in to blow out the lanterns. But they didn't expect that their actions would be so powerful.

It was reasonable to think that no one knew what Shopkeeper Wu was planning, but the Tan'er Sect definitely had to blow out the lanterns. Once the lanterns were extinguished, they would have no worries.

The sound of the clapper was clear in the silent night.

The gate of the village had long been blown open by the Yin wind. One by one, the women, both real and fake, swayed their bodies and floated into the village, winking at the few people guarding the lanterns. Their faces, with their bright red rouge, were covered in twisted, stiff smiles.

At the same time, Xiao Hongtang suddenly rushed out, pouncing on a black shadow that had quietly touched Hu Ma's side, tearing and biting, fighting with squeals and shouts.

"These women... why are they a little strange?"

Inside and out were all dangers, Hu Ma was anxious, but seeing these women floating forward with infatuated smiles, Zhou Datong and others moved a little slowly.

"Shadow puppets!"

Hu Ma reminded loudly: "Didn't you see that their feet aren't touching the ground? Don't let them get close, or you'll be wrapped up in an instant!"

"Aiyo, what should we do?"

Zhou Datong and the others swept their feet, and it was indeed so. They were all shivering with fear.

Hu Ma shouted: "Take off your pants, piss on them..."

Zhou Datong and the others were stunned for a moment before reacting in a panic, pulling open their belts and sending several streams of water towards the shadow puppets.

Young people's fire is indeed strong, pissing a zhang against the wind.

Moreover, they were all real virgins. There was a custom in Doyang village for children to pee on the base of walls, because virgin urine can ward off evil spirits.

Hu Ma swept his wooden sword, sweeping away the black shadow that was fighting with Xiao Hongtang, and hurriedly picked her up with one hand, covered her eyes with the other, and turned to look. The shadow puppets hadn't been able to defend against this virgin urine, squealing and retreating, their bodies shrinking.

Some places were even broken, revealing the bamboo poles and rattan inside.

"Little steward, be careful..."

Before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Li Wa Zi, with a pale face, suddenly appeared silently behind them, stomping her feet coyly, and shrieked:

"The people outside are dripping blood on the altars, a big one is coming..."

"..."

Before the words were finished, the village was filled with gusts of Yin wind. From time to time, some real or illusory shadows crawled in, running around the yard.

"The Tan Gugu's resentment is coming..."

Hu Ma's heart sank slightly. He shouted, "Retreat into the inner courtyard. I'm going to use my special skill to welcome these old acquaintances."

Having stayed up all night, three chapters are offered. As usual, I will update more when I encounter climaxes, try to finish writing as soon as possible, so that everyone is not anxious, and also take the opportunity to ask for votes! Lao Gui is going to take a nap and continue fighting when I wake up.