Chapter 451 Paying Respects to the General

"He's here?"

At that moment, Hu Ma took a deep breath, immediately feeling the increased pressure.

While kicking the Yin General two *zhang* away, he looked up and saw the outside of the town where the night was so dark it seemed the sky had fallen. He could hear countless wails of ghosts and howls of spirits, and even the chilling sound of rattling chains.

The Yin General, kicked away by his foot, seemed stunned. He stood up stiffly and watched as semi-transparent shadows rushed towards him, one after another, as if becoming part of his body, shadows around him.

The constantly increasing power and vast *youhun* (netherworld spirit) energy caused Hu Ma's heart to thump. He took two steps back.

The Yin General looked like a walking corpse, his body rigid and claws sharp. But that wasn't his greatest strength. His greatest strength lay in his ability to turn resentful souls into Yin soldiers, like living people, to charge into battle.

If only ordinary resentful souls like those from last night were close to him, it would be fine. Although influenced by him, they gained extremely powerful abilities capable of suppressing people's magic treasures, but they were, after all, old souls, about to dissipate.

But now, the souls drifting towards the town were newly dead. One by one, they became tainted by the Yin General's aura, appearing much more solid, as if summoned back to the mortal world from the underworld, standing straight behind him.

Faced with the surging evil energy, Hu Ma even felt like he was facing an entire army alone.

"Roar..."

At the same moment these resentful souls flew over, the Yin General's earth-shattering aura seemed to make the town tremble.

Old Man Sun, who had been eavesdropping on the wall, staggered back, vigorously digging at his ears as if someone had stuffed a burning piece of charcoal inside.

The others were shocked, jumping up and down. The oil lamps, cups, chopsticks, and bowls rattled, and cracks appeared, before bursting open.

On the streets, the common people crammed into the narrow houses felt their legs shaking uncontrollably. They heard a commotion as if they had stumbled into a military camp, their faces pale and blank.

"What is it? What's outside?"

Someone cried out in fear, "Could it be... could it be that the people surrounding us have broken in?"

But only people shouted. No one could give an answer. In an unnoticed corner, the Old Abacus knelt before Master Ma, kowtowing several times. Seeing Master Ma slowly drinking wine from the trough, not even glancing at him, he became angry and alarmed, and cursed:

"What do you all think this is? That's the Yin General..."

"Once this kind of thing is refined, it can forcibly plunder luck. Just one act of mustering troops here will bring three years of misfortune to the entire Xiling Dao..."

"Fate, luck, and blessings are the three great taboos in our line of work. People without enough skill don't even dare to calculate them, and can only resign themselves to fate. But now, how come more and more people dare to touch this..."

"That thing outside wants to forcibly muster troops, seizing the luck of Xiling Dao. Could it be that he also plans to become an emperor in the future?"

"..."

"It has to be something like that to be worthy of the name of you Meng family..."

As the corpse energy raged, even vaguely gathering momentum, Hu Ma took a deep breath, forcibly calming down, staring intently at the Yin General before him.

He could feel the Yin General's rising aura and, at the same time, sensed the General's Token hidden within his body through the pressure emanating from the Yin General.

The General's Token seemed to be under tremendous pressure, trembling slightly, on the verge of being suppressed.

The weapon's ferocity harming its master was, in essence, a curse, more potent than any tangible damage.

Because the General's Token was in his possession, the thing before him was being restrained and suppressed. However, as the thing's power grew stronger, it was placing more and more pressure on him.

It was like lifting a giant cauldron to smash someone. The heavier the cauldron, the better. But if the weight of the cauldron suddenly increased several times, even dozens of times, before he could smash the cauldron down, he would be crushed into paste.

"Heh heh..."

Feeling the rolling living souls attaching themselves to him, the Yin General's withered body seemed to fill up at that moment. Just now, he had been beaten down by Hu Ma, his stomach cut open, and the spirit-leading talisman removed and torn apart, looking as pathetic as a broken sack.

But now, with the living souls attaching themselves, his flesh and blood were rapidly stitching together.

Even the talisman armor on his body seemed to be subtly changing, transforming into a neat, majestic, and bizarre armor that symbolized his status.

In the next moment, new, azure eyes seemed to grow in his empty eye sockets, staring fixedly at Hu Ma. He leaped high, extending his arms, his sharp claws plunging towards Hu Ma's chest.

"Not good..."

Even Fairy Miaoshan in the town behind him was shocked at that moment, desperately waving her horsetail whisk, wanting to rush forward to rescue him.

It seemed that she had only realized at this moment that this young man was indeed the one chosen by the mighty Tian Gong (Heavenly Duke) General Seal, the one destined to pass the three trials and twelve tribulations...

But he had only just pushed open a mansion gate, a young *shousui ren* (year guardian) who had not formally studied the Dharma body...

How could he possibly contend against such a fierce and evil thing with his own strength?

But just as she waved her horsetail whisk, wanting to rush up to save him, she was suddenly struck by the evil energy surging from the Yin General, causing the horsetail whisk in her hand to recoil against her face, leaving a red mark on her fair cheek.

When the Yin General had not yet transformed into the Yin General, the vengeful souls around him already had the power to suppress her magic treasures. Now that he had begun to take the shape of an Yin army, he was even more powerful. The surging evil energy alone was enough to shake her back.

But if that was the case...

In Fairy Miaoshan's terrified eyes, she saw a frightening scene. The Yin General leaped high, and in her eyes, it was no longer a demon corpse, but seemed to be a deep night, carrying rolling *yin* energy, directly crashing down on Hu Ma's body.

People in the know all understood that an individual could not compete with a guest of the hall because one was an individual and the other represented a clan. It was rare to see someone with a thousand *jin* (pound) of strength, but it was common for a hundred people to exert ten thousand *jin* of strength.

And now, Hu Ma was like one person confronting a god in the hall, or rather, facing the old fire pit that had been worshiped in a village for many years.

The pressure of all the ghosts was being commanded by the Yin General, about to smash down on his head.

"Hoo..."

At that moment, as countless shadows woven from semi-transparent people were about to completely submerge him, Hu Ma also took a deep breath and inserted all three sticks of *dao* (spiritual cultivation) into the incense burner.

Suddenly, the red sandalwood sword was planted into the ground, and then he simultaneously supported his ribs with both hands, triggering the resonance of the five viscera. But it was not only that. He was no longer a novice *shousui ren*. Having entered the mansion, he also had a more refined use for the Five Thunder Golden Toad Roar's specialty.

The pure Yang Five Thunder sound emanated from his mouth, resonating with thunder, as if suddenly spitting out a rolling flame.

With a "hoo" sound, this flame crashed into the Yin General who was lunging forward. The pure Yang energy almost blew away the seemingly endless *yin* soldier energy from him, dispersing it temporarily, like smoke.

But it was only for an instant. The Five Thunder sound lasted only a moment. The rolling *yin* energy on the Yin General, however, was about to condense again in an instant, just like a person under a waterfall who could throw a punch to make the waterfall pause slightly, but then it would still pour down.

Taking advantage of the brief dissipation of the *yin* energy, Hu Ma pointed one finger at the sky, one finger at the ground, and then lifted his left leg, suddenly stepping forward.

All seven orifices emitted *hao* (spiritual) light, which poured out of his body, vaguely forming a semi-transparent, more majestic and solemn version of him above his head.

This statue, also pointing one finger at the sky and one finger forward, was indescribably towering, fierce, and domineering. Most importantly, this statue had another arm under its ribs, holding something that looked like a token.

His expression solemn, slowly exhaling, eyes focused, he looked into the Yin General's azure eye sockets at close range, his voice condescending: "Kneel!"

"Thump!"

As if some invisible and terrifying force suddenly squeezed the earth, creating a chilling tremor.

Fairy Miaoshan was far away, and with all the wailing ghosts in between, she couldn't hear what Hu Ma said, but she saw Hu Ma's movements at this time and finally understood, momentarily losing her composure and blurting out:

"Kui Xing Kicks the Dipper?" (*Kui Xing kicks the Big Dipper - a posture associated with scholarly achievement*)

"He... he is cultivating a Dharma Image?"

"..."

"..."

Welcoming this shout, carrying hundreds of living souls on his back, or rather, equivalent to carrying hundreds of *yin* soldiers, the Yin General suddenly revealed a look of fear like a living person.

On his forehead, a dim talisman seal suddenly emitted a brilliant light at this moment, faintly resonating with the General's Seal held in Hu Ma's divine soul.

This talisman seal on his forehead was the one Hu Ma had stamped on him last night.

At such close range, the Yin General seemed to feel an indescribable pressure. His stiff, straight legs seemed to bend like wrought iron, and he suddenly knelt straight down on the ground.

With the General's Token in front of him, he could not help but kneel.

But with this kneel, those resentful souls influenced by him, especially those who had just attached to him, were also forced by an invisible force to kneel down with him, all kneeling in Hu Ma's direction.

"Thump!"

Following him in kneeling down was Fairy Miaoshan inside the town.

(End of Chapter)