“Where is this? Who am I? What am I doing?”

Hongdeng Niangniang (Red Lantern Goddess) had been at the Zhumen town outside of Mingzhou city, watching her temple being built day by day, her heart filled with anticipation and anxiety.

As usual, she kowtowed in all directions every day, praying that the expert hiding in Mingzhou City would not make things difficult for a weak woman like herself. But suddenly that night, as she was kowtowing, she felt a pull, and part of herself was involuntarily drawn over.

She was startled, thinking that the expert had detained her.

But when she descended into this desolate wilderness and saw the young shopkeeper at the altar, she suddenly realized:

"Why is it him?"

Confused, she slowly came to her senses: "I've been… invited?"

When she saw the half-burned red incense, she immediately understood what was happening.

Logically, only her Hongxiang (Red Incense) disciples and worshippers could borrow her power, but they had to recite her name, offer their lives, and be respectful, and she had to be willing to lend it to them.

This kind of summoning without warning, especially summoning her power and spirituality directly, could only be done in two situations:

One, someone with great power had directly detained her.

The other was a special reward she gave to her disciples.

Running such a large blood sacrifice gang was tiring.

When the disciples made great contributions, they couldn't be treated poorly, but could everything be rewarded with blood sacrifices?

It wasn't enough!

The blood sacrifices were limited; she needed them, her superiors needed them, the left and right protectors needed them, and the worshippers all wanted them.

Some were given more, some were given less, but they couldn't be denied.

If everyone was given too much, what would be left for her?

Moreover, rewarding every contribution with blood sacrifices wouldn't highlight the value of special contributions. So, Hongdeng Niangniang, who had been troubled by this matter, decided, on the advice of her most trusted right protector, to give these disciples a special reward:

"What is blood sacrifice? What is promotion? If blood sacrifices are given too much, they become worthless. If you promote them to the end, they should be killed off."

"So, you give them a chance to live."

"Anyone who has made great contributions will be given half a stick of incense, promising that as long as they burn it, you will share three-tenths of your power to save their lives."

"Anyway, this thing doesn't cost a penny, and they won't be willing to use it easily when they get it. Niangniang, you just get a good reputation without actually running around to save their lives..."

"..."

Hongdeng Niangniang really didn't know it could be like this.

After trying it out nervously, she found it surprisingly useful, and all the rewarded disciples were extremely excited.

The right protector was so clever...

The little shopkeeper who had helped her in the fight earlier was the same. His contribution wasn't big, but it happened to be helpful at a crucial moment.

She felt bad about giving him too much blood sacrifice, but if she didn't give him any, everyone in the blood sacrifice society would be watching her. So, Niangniang, on the advice of her right protector, gave him half a stick of life-saving incense and brushed the matter aside...

...But you're actually using it?

Didn't the right protector say that everyone would only keep and hide this kind of thing and wouldn't use it?

At this moment, Hongdeng Niangniang was really in a complicated mood and didn't know what to say. But before she could figure it all out, she suddenly saw something: "That's not right. This kid not only invited me over, he actually set up an altar..."

Doesn't he understand the rules of the road!

It's one thing to invite me to save your life, but setting up an altar means you want to be on equal footing with me...

Or even, you're on the altar, and I'm below it. What's this big-browed, big-eyed shopkeeper trying to do, rebel?

Realizing this, Hongdeng Niangniang was really dissatisfied and even wanted to get angry. But she suddenly saw the little shopkeeper look up, probably realizing that she had arrived, and his face immediately lit up with joy.

He said to a dark-faced but pretty girl next to him, "Okay, Niangniang is here."

"A-gu (Aunt), don't worry. Our Hongdeng Niangniang, everyone in Mingzhou City knows that our Niangniang is the kindest, building temples and burning incense, a righteous god who saves people from suffering."

"I said, invite her over, no matter how many demons come looking for us, we'll feel safe."

"..."

Zhang A-gu was stunned by these words: "Usually, you don't seem to say such good things about your Niangniang..."

Hongdeng Niangniang, who was about to get angry, was also obviously stunned when she heard this: "This is on the altar, little shopkeeper, don't talk nonsense..."

The altar connects heaven and earth; who knows who will hear these words!

...Although, it does sound pretty good!

...

At the same time, while Hu Ma was praising, he was staring at the red lantern. It didn't seem like she was too angry, and it didn't seem like she wanted his life.

He was immediately relieved; he had appeased her.

Knowing that the situation was critical, he didn't have time to say more, so he immediately chanted a spell and shouted:

"Hongdeng cang ming gui jiao e (Red Lantern Hides the Beautiful Ghost), Fa Niang Fa Jia guo ming qiao (The Magical Goddess Crosses the Nether Bridge)."

"I beseech Niangniang to descend her power, holding the red lantern to illuminate all directions!"

"...Hu Ma, the shopkeeper of the Qing Shi Town branch of the Hongdeng Society, respectfully requests Niangniang to descend!"

"..."

These were the words usually said in the society when inviting Hongdeng Niangniang to descend, but this kind of invitation could only be done with the specially made red lanterns from the village. But Hu Ma couldn't care less now.

First, he used these words to show his respect for Niangniang, and then he raised the red wooden sword in his hand and shouted, "Please protect your disciple's life, Niangniang! This disciple will recite your name day and night to thank you for your great kindness!"

He spoke extremely politely, but the red wooden sword in his hand suddenly pointed, and the red lantern next to him floated up.

Niangniang was in the red lantern, involuntarily drifting towards the evil ghosts coming out of the forest.

At the same time, in the forest, as Cui Gan Niang (Cui Godmother) used the sole of her shoe to hit the four jars, rolling strange fragrance floated out of the forest. The green mule, which had been cast with some evil spell, was also rushing towards the altar like crazy, panting heavily.

At this moment, Niangniang floated into the air, the red lantern eerily illuminating the surroundings in a bloody red.

"Whoosh..."

The fragrance floating out of the forest rushed to the side of the red lantern, causing the lantern in mid-air to sway precariously.

"This kid..."

Niangniang hadn't had time to react when she was attacked by several evil ghosts, and she was startled:

"Did you run outside to challenge someone else's territory?"

"How are there so many strong ones?"

"..."

But before she could really react, the four evil ghosts that had emerged from the forest had already surrounded Hongdeng Niangniang and were biting her.

The evil ghosts that had been slapped by the sole of the shoe were extremely resentful and had no blessings to speak of; they were truly evil ghosts.

At the same time, Hongdeng Niangniang, who had received a little incense because she was preparing to build a temple, was also dizzy from the plague energy on the crazed green mule.

All the anger in her stomach was released at this moment.

"Do you really think I'm easy to bully?"

The red lantern floating in the air suddenly shone brightly, eerily, and fought with the four evil ghosts.

The four jars of evil ghosts were painstakingly raised by Cui Gan Niang and were extremely powerful, but Hongdeng Niangniang had only descended a few traces of her true spirit onto the altar, but she still suppressed the four jars of evil ghosts.

"Our Hongdeng Niangniang is so mighty..."

Hu Ma was on the altar and could see more than just the light of the red lantern.

He could vaguely see Hongdeng Niangniang rolling up her sleeves and fighting with the four evil ghosts, her hair disheveled.

He was first shocked, then filled with emotion: "When will Little Hongtang be able to learn this skill..."

"...Little Hongtang still has a lot to learn; it's so difficult for her to deal with a cat ghost."

"..."

But this joy in his heart didn't last long. He smelled a stench and quickly looked forward. He saw the green mule with its stench rushing straight towards the altar a few zhang away, and it would soon reach the altar.

This crazed animal looked quite frightening, and what's more, the animal looked problematic?

"Shopkeeper, don't let that animal come over..."

Zhang A-gu, who was watching from the side, was startled and said anxiously, "The other party is using a disease spell, the lowest of the low. If that animal comes over, it will not only ruin our altar but also infect us with disease."

"Wicked ways..."

Hu Ma became cautious and, listening to Zhang A-gu's instructions, chanted a spell and casually pulled a stalk of rice straw from the side and threw it forward.

"Plop..."

At this time, the altar's magic power was strong, and Hu Ma just threw it casually. The rice straw landed on the edge of the altar, but the rushing animal suddenly tripped, as if its hooves had been tied with a rope, and it fell directly to the ground.

But the animal had gone mad. It only knelt on the ground before struggling to get up again, rushing towards the altar with its pale eyes, running faster and faster, rushing more and more urgently.

Hu Ma also resisted the urge to have the watchman go up and kill it. Instead, he followed the method taught by Zhang A-gu, picked up a stone from the ground, chanted a spell, and threw it over the altar, directly onto the ground.

"Bang!"

This was even more powerful than the rice straw he had just thrown. The green mule was about to rush in front of him, but it seemed to have hit an invisible wall and fell heavily.

It was running too fast, and this time it directly broke its neck.

"Amazing..."

Although he had done it with his own hands, Hu Ma also had a sense of being enlightened and deeply admired it.

Little did he know that Zhang A-gu, who was helping him protect the altar, couldn't help but widen her eyes as she looked at him: "This..."

"This is the first time he's set up an altar; how can he be so good at it?"

...

"The other party's altar is difficult to break..."

At the same time, in the forest, Cui Gan Niang and the others were already red-eyed with anxiety.

Stopping the animal was a small matter. It was only intended to contaminate the other party's altar and make it more difficult for him to cast spells, but the red lantern they had invited was really powerful.

The pressure from the altar was overwhelming. The four jars of soldiers had only lasted for a moment when they suddenly heard a jar explode. The bones inside were struggling, as if trying to climb out of the jar, but they only climbed out halfway before slowly melting into black water.

The remaining three jars were also obviously shaking violently, being crushed by endless pressure, as if they would explode at any moment.

Who exactly had they encountered? The altar was righteous, and the ghosts were fierce; it was so difficult to deal with...

(End of this chapter)