"What?"

Zhao Laohan had barely solved the problem of the poltergeist in Ganzi Village and hadn't even caught his breath. His heart, which had been hanging by a thread, hadn't even had time to settle down when he was suddenly bombarded with so much news. The workers in the village were all taken aback.

They couldn't help but turn to look at Hu Ma, and the commoners who had just been helping out were also stunned, blinking their eyes, at a loss for what to do.

"As expected, it's not so easy to solve..."

In Hu Ma's heart, the most terrible guess was being confirmed step by step.

He couldn't help but grit his teeth slightly, the muscles in his cheeks bulging, but he couldn't show it too obviously. He forced himself to remain calm and said, "What's the panic? Such a big deal in Ganzi Village was solved as soon as we said it would be. Don't panic. Tell me one by one what happened."

"Someone, please fetch a basin of water to wash my hands and face."

"..."

The commoners who had rushed over to report the news were all talking over each other, but it was impossible to understand anything.

They only knew that the evil spirits were causing a lot of trouble, but usually, there were very few evil spirits around the Red Lantern Goddess Village, and they were all well-behaved and particularly honest. Why were they suddenly causing trouble now?

Hu Ma turned around and washed his hands in the wooden basin that had been brought over. He was thinking anxiously in his heart. Only after using the opportunity to wash his hands to calm himself down did he turn around, accept the towel handed over by some villager, wipe his hands, and say to everyone:

"I know everyone is anxious, but don't be anxious first."

"No matter what evil spirits are causing trouble around here, there are so many of us, what are we afraid of? We'll solve them one by one."

"I don't believe there's any evil spirit that can stand up to so many of us."

"We can't control places that are too far away. Within a radius of ten *li*, no matter what it is, I'll make them behave."

"Let's go, and see what the heck is causing trouble again!"

"..."

The commoners, who had been full of fear, were immediately relieved when they heard Hu Ma's words. They picked up their hoes and sticks one by one and wanted to follow Hu Ma to help.

Zhou Datong and the others had already packed up the things on the donkey cart. They even specially scooped up a large bucket of manure water and surrounded Hu Ma, striding towards the outside of the village. Unexpectedly, they were suddenly greeted by Li Wazi, who was swaying his hips as he walked into the village from the outside.

"Little Shopkeeper, something big has happened..."

As soon as he saw Hu Ma, Li Wazi shouted, "I'm here to beg you to save my life. Our family's Xiao Sanzi has a relationship with your goddess, you can't just ignore us..."

"Seventh Aunt?"

Hu Ma was stunned for a moment and said, "Didn't you already move?"

Li Wazi shook his head, twisting his body, and said, "I can't move, I can't get out..."

Hu Ma was slightly surprised: "What do you mean you can't get out?"

"..."

Li Wazi twisted and turned, his eyes rolling around, but because he was close to Hu Ma, others couldn't hear what they were saying. They just thought that this worker in the village was being a bit effeminate, but they didn't expect that he was confirming Hu Ma's final guess:

"Not only did someone breathe a breath here, but someone also blocked the surrounding roads, not allowing the wronged souls in this area to leave casually..."

"I can still hear a voice, forcing us to make trouble."

"Our family is fine, we have some Taoism on us, but those who are not firm enough are not guaranteed..."

"..."

"As expected, they even blocked our way to escape..."

Hu Ma gritted his teeth slightly and nodded slowly. He didn't know what the person behind the scenes was planning to do, but there was no doubt that he had counted on himself to escape.

The breath of a great evil spirit may have been enough to make the evil spirits in this area, which were originally insignificant, start to make trouble, turning things that were not originally evil spirits into evil spirits, and making those who were originally well-behaved unable to hold on and start harming people...

But what was his real purpose?

If they were really targeting him and the workers in the village, wouldn't it be better to just kill them directly?

Why use this kind of method, like frying oil in a raging fire step by step?

He was confused in his heart, but time was running out.

Among these people who had followed him into the village to eliminate evil spirits, there were originally many strong laborers from neighboring villages who had come to help. Now that they had just solved their problems, they heard that their own homes were on fire, and they hurriedly looked at Hu Ma, their eyes full of pleading.

If he showed even a little weakness now, he was afraid that the panic would spread.

But Hu Ma couldn't immediately agree to anything. He just forced himself to remain calm and said in a low voice to Li Wazi, "Seventh Aunt, the villagers are in trouble, can you help?"

Li Wazi said, "I'm not very close to them."

Hu Ma said, "The villagers are like this, you help me, I help you, and we'll become close by helping each other."

"Later, I'll tell everyone about how righteous you are. Who wouldn't want to offer you brown sugar eggs?"

"..."

Li Wazi tilted his head and looked at Hu Ma, then suddenly covered his mouth and laughed: "Little Shopkeeper is up to no good, plotting against us..."

"But we don't help for nothing, how many chickens will you give us this time?"

"..."

When Hu Ma heard that there was a chance, he laughed heartily and said, "Just counting the number isn't enough, is it?"

"Later, whenever you come to the village, you'll have chickens to eat, and we'll specially choose the ones with the fattest combs to raise for you, how about that?"

"..."

Li Wazi, or rather, Seventh Aunt, immediately lit up and hurriedly replied, counting on his fingers: "We've made a profit, we've made a profit. We couldn't run away anyway, and we've earned so many chickens from the Little Shopkeeper. Do you think this is a good deal?"

It was only when he had almost finished speaking that he suddenly realized in surprise that he hadn't left Li Wazi's body yet, and he immediately screamed.

Li Wazi's body went limp, and there was a rustling sound in the corner, and a string of yellow figures ran out.

"..."

Hu Ma didn't expect that this Seventh Aunt was not very smart, and she said the calculations in her heart in front of him.

But precisely, he had to take this hit...

At least he had a helper, and he finally felt a little comforted. Hu Ma then led the people to continue walking outside, while whispering a few words to Xiao Hongtang beside him, asking her to quickly run to Old Yin Mountain.

Afraid that she wouldn't be able to get out, he also grabbed a handful of soil from under the old tree stump and gave it to her.

First, to test whether she could run out, leaving a way out, and also to say hello to the old tree stump first, in case she couldn't escape, he would have to pick her up.

Before long, they had arrived at another village where evil spirits were causing trouble. From afar, they could hear the children's cries rising and falling in a large house, hysterical, which made people feel a kind of creepy feeling.

"Is it a night crying ghost? Or some other evil spirit?"

When Hu Ma arrived at this village, the village head had already ordered people to take all the children in the village to a courtyard, anxiously pacing back and forth. Beside him were the heartbroken adults, but these children were all crying loudly, and no matter how much they coaxed them, it was useless.

Even the yellow dog in the yard seemed to be frightened by the children's cries, and crawled into its kennel, its tail clamped tightly.

Hu Ma came over, took a look, and also felt his scalp tingling.

On the way here, he had already thought about the reason why these children were crying endlessly at night. Sometimes, it was because they had encountered a wandering ghost called the night crying ghost. At this time, they only needed to burn incense and recite a curse, and they would be fine.

But now, although the weather was gloomy, it was daytime, and so many children were crying here all at once. How powerful was the thing that was causing trouble?

More importantly, he didn't even know the curse to send away the night crying ghost...

But he couldn't not come, and he had to be the first to come, after all, it was the children who were in trouble here.

"All the adults stand further away. Those who have ancestral tablets at home, please bring them over. Call over all the laborers in the village as well."

There was no way, Hu Ma could only whisper his instructions first, ordering people to stay far away.

He himself stood outside the courtyard, took a deep breath towards the group of crying children, and suddenly bowed gently.

Four Ghosts Salute the Door.

This unique skill was to use the body of a watchman to open the Netherworld and activate Yin energy.

One bow could kill people, could strip souls, but if used skillfully, it could also shock the haunting Yin souls.

Of course, this had to be done very carefully, after all, these children were too young. If the bow was not done well, the night crying ghost haunting them would not be sent away, but instead harm the children.

Hu Ma only dared to do this because he had gradually deepened his skill after refining the fourth viscera.

The people in the surrounding villages were just watching. Hu Ma stood steadily, bowing gently, as if a gust of wind blew past.

This wind was Yin but not cold, gently caressing the face.

Even more astonishing was that as Hu Ma bowed outside the village, the children inside, who were crying loudly and whose voices were all mixed together, suddenly stopped crying. Some of them, who were already crying very uncomfortably, suddenly coughed loudly, their faces turning red.

"Could this be a god?"

Even the village head had never seen such a skill, and he was stunned, looking at Hu Ma, who had straightened up.

The parents who were heartbroken for their children were about to rush over to take care of them.

"Adults, don't get close yet."

Hu Ma hurriedly shouted: "Please bring the ancestral tablets and place them around. Even if they are weak, they can't ignore their own children and grandchildren."

"Then let the strong laborers, prioritizing those who have not lost their *yuan yang*, surround the children and sit down." (*Yuan yang* refers to the original yang energy or vital essence of a man)

"Light a strong fire around the courtyard, and change it when it burns out. As long as the torches are burning, everything should be fine. If all the torches go out, send someone to notify me."

"..."

This was also something that could not be helped.

If it was in the Da Yang Stockaded Village, this kind of thing could be directly taken to the old fire pond.

But the villages here did not have such ancient traditions as Da Yang Stockaded Village. Even if they had ancestral tablets, there were not many, so they could only make do with them.

"Ma Zi, Brother..."

But Zhou Datong, who had just solved the problem here and was being urged by the villagers beside him, approached again from the side, anxiously saying: "Huang Gou Village is also haunted, the people from Mazha Ridge said that people were lost, the people from Douzi Shop said that there was something crying in the empty house..."

"The commoners are all asking for help, what should we do?"

"..."

Hu Ma took a deep breath and said, "Go to the nearest ones first, solve one if we can solve one."

(End of Chapter)