“A-Gu, something's not right.”

After killing the scout ghost, Hu Ma was ready to see what other tricks they had up their sleeves.

More importantly, once they were all drawn into the game, he wanted to figure out their strengths before asking Mother Red Lantern to come and deal with them in one fell swoop.

But unexpectedly, after their initial probing, before they could make any further moves, Hu Ma, sitting on the altar, began to feel extremely uncomfortable. It was as if his collar was too tight, and he felt like he was being strangled.

He tugged at his collar a few times, but the feeling wouldn't go away.

The night wind blowing around the altar had also become cold and gloomy, even giving off a chilling, bone-piercing sensation, with a faint stench in the air.

He looked back several times, but couldn't see anything happening around him, which made him feel uneasy. He looked down at the altar, and the oil lamp was flickering erratically.

He turned to ask, but before he could speak, he was suddenly startled.

He turned his head sharply and saw the objects on his altar shaking and scattering, as if something invisible had suddenly jumped onto the altar and disturbed them.

"They're using dirty tricks."

A-Gu also saw it, and her dark face looked solemn. She glanced around and whispered, "These opponents are dishonorable. We set up the altar to fight them with magic, but they resorted to despicable means first."

"It seems they have someone skilled in Hai Shou magic, using it to destroy the feng shui of our altar."

"We chose a good place to set up the altar, but they've turned it into an ominous place."

"..."

Hu Ma frowned and whispered, "What should we do?"

"Find protectors."

A-Gu whispered, "Usually, when setting up an altar, if conditions allow, we need to find protectors, or strongmen, to guard against these unexpected events."

"Protectors?"

Hu Ma was taken aback, "Do we have protectors?"

"Of course, we do."

A-Gu whispered, "We zou gui ren all raise small messenger ghosts, and they are our protectors when we set up an altar!"

Hu Ma immediately understood and found it interesting. He quickly burned incense with A-Gu. As the incense drifted out, Xiao Hongtang was already squatting in front of the altar, staring with wide eyes.

After a while, in the darkness not far away, the headless ghost also stretched out its arms and groped its way over.

Hu Ma was a little helpless and said to Xiao Hongtang, "Give him his head!"

"I didn't take it!"

Xiao Hongtang took out her little basket, opened the cloth to show Hu Ma. Inside were dried meat, a rattle-drum, and some strange things, but no paper head.

Hu Ma was a little surprised, and then he heard Xiao Hongtang say, "It just fell down the slope over there, I saw it, but I didn't pick it up."

"Ah?"

Hu Ma was a little embarrassed, "Then why didn't you help him hold it?"

Xiao Hongtang said, "Hu Ma-gege told me not to pick it up."

"..."

Hu Ma was speechless for a moment. There was nothing wrong with that. Xiao Hongtang was an obedient child.

He took a deep breath, not bothering to say anything more, and said to Xiao Hongtang seriously, "Gege is doing serious business, someone is messing with me. You are my protector now, Xiao Hongtang. Take him with you, and go look around to see if there's anything causing trouble."

"If you find it...beat it up!"

"Beat it up hard!"

"..."

Xiao Hongtang blinked in surprise at Hu Ma's words.

Hu Ma looked at Xiao Hongtang deeply and said, "If you do a good job, there will be good food to eat!"

"...Right, before you do anything, take him to find his head!"

"..."

Xiao Hongtang became excited and nodded vigorously. She turned back into a gust of wind and ran away. She came back after a few steps. The headless ghost had just groped its way to the altar and was pulled away by her.

A-Gu looked at Hu Ma in surprise and sighed softly, "Shopkeeper, you really have a talent for being a zou gui ren."

"This seems to be something in your blood..."

Hu Ma also sighed softly, sat down in front of the altar, and felt very fresh. He moved his ears and eyes, taking in all the movement around him.

This trip was to learn the ways of the zou gui ren. Compared to the contents of the Zhen Sui book, the methods of the zou gui ren seemed a little superficial, but they were like keys. The more he understood, the more he understood the Zhen Sui book.

And now that he had set up the altar, it was as if he had opened a new door. Every movement and every stillness gave him a new experience.

How to put it?

This was a completely different skill from the shou sui ren. The shou sui ren lived on the body, from the outside to the inside, but the zou gui ren set up an altar, as if becoming the center of this area, from the inside to the outside.

"A-Gu, after setting up the altar, is it important that three zhang three is a sacred place?"

While carefully experiencing it, he didn't forget to ask.

"The beginning of the altar, is three zhang three."

A-Gu said, "The deeper the Taoism, the thicker the magic power, it can reach six zhang six, and then nine zhang nine. The wider the range, the greater the ability."

"Then..."

Listening to her, Hu Ma suddenly thought, 'Earlier, I used the method on the Zhen Sui book to bring the green-clothed evil ghost from half a prefecture away, what level is that?'

Just as he was thinking, he suddenly heard strange noises around him.

Xiao Hongtang and the headless ghost, as altar protectors, had turned the silent and eerie surroundings into a lively place in no time. From time to time, strange noises came from the gusts of night wind, a series of chases and fights.

Hu Ma quickly asked A-Gu to open his eyes with coffin-bottom mud. He tried hard to look over and saw Xiao Hongtang waving her fists under the starlight in the distance, vaguely fighting back and forth with a cat on the hillside, squealing and rolling all the way from east to west.

On the other side, the headless ghost was hopping up and down under a crooked-neck tree in the distance, as if reaching for something, its head falling off.

But with their commotion, the altar was temporarily at peace. The feeling of being strangled by the neck or something running around him when Hu Ma sat on the altar earlier had disappeared.

Now, it was empty, feeling the magic power on the altar, full of energy, and ready to fight.

But the forest in front was dark, and the other party still didn't make a move. Hu Ma was a little anxious, but he warned himself to be patient.

He learned a skill as a shou sui ren. The shou sui ren paid attention to taking the initiative and seizing the opportunity. Now, he had to be passive while setting up an altar to cast spells, which also required changing his habits.

He was about to say something, but suddenly, he was startled, grabbed the red wooden sword, and poked it at A-Gu's skirt.

A-Gu quickly retreated and was shocked to see a snake on the tip of Hu Ma's sword.

Everyone was shocked. Looking forward, they only heard rustling sounds, and they didn't know how many snakes had swam over.

For a moment, they felt their scalps tingle.

Many people are naturally afraid of snakes, and Hu Ma is one of them.

Especially now that it was night, and this world was not like the previous one, where there were street lights everywhere. Now, hearing the rustling sound in his ears, he didn't know how many snakes and insects were crawling around. The oil lamp in front of him only illuminated a small area, but he could already vaguely see many shaking shadows.

Even the cart driver and the shop assistant behind him exclaimed, it seemed they had also noticed the seriousness of the situation.

These bastards, fighting is fighting, but they are actually releasing snakes to bite people?

At this moment, Hu Ma was almost roaring in shock. Traveling the martial world was really different from usual. The people he met on the martial world would throw quicklime if they could throw quicklime, release snakes if they could release snakes, and use poison if they could use poison. They don't follow any rules at all…

Cursing secretly in his heart, he suddenly reached out and pressed his ribs, and suddenly burst out with a thunderous shout.

Like thunder, like toad croaking.

The people around him subconsciously covered their ears, and even the snakes and insects that had crawled to the front stiffened.

Hu Ma immediately swept with his red wooden sword, sweeping away the snakes and insects that had crawled to the front.

Although he swept away seven or eight snakes, which was not a small number, the rustling sound around him was still endless. The weeds were swaying, and there was a faint stench in the night wind, apparently there were still many poisonous snakes approaching.

"Don't panic, shopkeeper, they are testing us!"

At this moment, A-Gu, who had also been startled just now, reacted and reminded in a low voice: "Shopkeeper, this is the first time you have set up an altar, your senses are not keen enough, so the snakes and insects were able to sneak over and swam to the front of the altar."

"When we zou gui ren arrive at the altar, every word and deed is magic, and every move is technique. Snakes, insects, and ghosts cannot get close."

"They are taking advantage of your first time setting up an altar, wanting to see if you are careful enough!"

"..."

Being surrounded by snakes and insects unexpectedly, Hu Ma was indeed a little surprised, but after hearing A-Gu's words, he immediately calmed down and listened carefully.

Sure enough, being on the altar gave him a feeling of being sharp-eared and clear-sighted. Listening carefully, he could hear clearly where the snakes and insects were moving.

Among them, the three zhang three within the altar was the most sensitive, even able to "hear" what the snakes and insects looked like.

He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "A-Gu, how do we deal with these snakes and insects?"

A-Gu was a little surprised that Hu Ma calmed down so quickly, and said softly, "I'll teach you a snake repelling incantation, just recite it silently."

She whispered it in Hu Ma's ear, and Hu Ma immediately closed his breath and concentrated, sitting on the platform and chanting softly: "The sun rises in the east, bright and glorious, inform you snakes and insects, escape far and hide deep..."

Strangely enough, it was just an incantation, but as Hu Ma chanted it, it spread to the surroundings with the altar as the center.

The snakes and insects moving in the hills and fields, actually seemed to be affected by something, and crawled out of the grass, swimming towards a certain open space in front of the altar, one by one, entangled into a ball, making people's scalps tingle.

Inside the forest, the snake charmer was blowing the bamboo whistle vigorously, but the bamboo whistle suddenly went silent.

His face also changed slightly, and he turned to look at Cui Gan Niang: "Gan Niang, who did you offend? That altar is really strong!"

(End of chapter)