Chapter 1 Setting Up the Altar

"To set up an altar, you must first choose the site, then prepare the altar-suppressing objects, and then establish the rules."

Even the hired carriage knew that being targeted by the beggar gang meant trouble. They didn't even want the money and wanted to leave. Hu Ma and the others naturally understood that they couldn't avoid this, so they simply stopped and prepared to confront them head-on.

Seeing that there was no turning back, Aunt Zhang patiently explained the principles of setting up an altar to Hu Ma.

"The altar site should be in a high place, a spacious place, a clean place, and a place with good feng shui."

She had already looked around, so she drove the donkey cart to a slope and pointed to a spot, saying, "We are setting up a proper altar, so the place must be good. But there are also some who set up evil altars, and they might do the opposite."

"However, sometimes you have enough preparation to set up an altar and can carefully choose, but sometimes you don't have a choice, so you can only try to pick a good place as much as possible..."

"This hillside is fine. It overlooks the road and gathers qi and hides the wind. Only..."

"..."

"Yes!"

Hu Ma stood where Aunt Zhang had chosen and looked forward.

Beside him, the coachman and the helper busily drove the donkey cart behind him to the roadside, leaning against the mountain wall, just guarding it.

Aunt Zhang also untied her bundle and spread it out in front of Hu Ma. She picked out the useful items from the bundle, such as incense, candles, paper money, oil lamps, and a bowl of clear water, yellow banners, and other things.

At the same time, she explained, "If you want to set up an altar, you need altar-suppressing objects."

"Altar-suppressing objects are not meant to suppress evil spirits, but to suppress the altar. By suppressing the altar, you can better cast spells."

"My mother taught me that the best altar-suppressing objects are those that have been offered in front of the incense table in a proper ancestral temple, imbued with the aura of incense. The next best are those that have circulated among the people and have been used, imbued with human aura. The worst are those that are tainted with yin energy and filth."

"Among the objects tainted with yin energy and filth, there are also considerations. They can be tainted with yin energy and have evil aura, but they must not be filthy, otherwise using these things to set up an altar will be harmful."

"..."

"So, the altar-suppressing objects I found before were not the best, but the worst?"

Hu Ma vaguely understood. *Zhen Sui Shu* mentioned altar-suppressing objects, but didn't really care about them. Most of what he had collected later was based on guesswork. Now it seemed that some of the things he had collected were useful, but not considered the best.

But to be fair, looking at what Aunt Zhang had laid out, mostly bone fragments and copper coins, they weren't the best either.

"Once you're prepared, you must enter the altar."

Aunt Zhang placed the items in front of Hu Ma. The last thing she placed was an oil lamp, with a little oil inside, and no shade.

It seemed that setting up an altar in the wild, a gust of wind could blow it out.

But Hu Ma had seen little ghosts blow out lamps before, but they couldn't blow out the oil lamp in front of Aunt Zhang, so he knew this oil lamp was not as simple as he thought.

"A zouguiren (spirit walker) enters the altar with their life on the line. Once the altar is set up, it concerns their life."

When Aunt Zhang said this, she was particularly solemn and earnestly said, "Shopkeeper, you must be careful. Once the altar is set up, the lamp is your soul, the altar is your body, the incantation is your words, and the spell is your life..."

"...This is no child's play!"

"..."

Logically speaking, the spells in *Zhen Sui Shu* had already been used, so learning from the zouguiren (spirit walker) again wouldn't be too risky.

But Hu Ma sensed Aunt Zhang's worry, so he honestly agreed, perked up, and listened carefully.

Aunt Zhang was also an honest person, carefully teaching Hu Ma the rules and considerations of setting up an altar, what to pay attention to, what to look at, how to invite spirits, and how to protect himself, without holding anything back.

Behind them, the donkey cart had stopped, and the coachman and the helpers were hiding behind the cart, nibbling on flatbread while secretly watching the two of them setting up the altar.

Seeing that they had stopped, the beggars who had been following them also sensed something and hid far away, not daring to approach. Before long, it was dark, and looking up, they could only see the starry sky, vast and wide.

Hu Ma looked down, and the stars in the sky were reflected in the bowl of clear water in front of him, as if the stars had entered his altar.

He carefully wrote down the rules that Aunt Zhang had told him and compared them with the spells in *Zhen Sui Shu*. He became more and more certain that many things in *Zhen Sui Shu* were in the same vein as the zouguiren's (spirit walker) altar setting.

However, *Zhen Sui Shu* was indeed too brilliant and domineering. At first glance, there were many differences from the zouguiren's (spirit walker) rules, and even some details were contradictory.

In a word, *Zhen Sui Shu* was direct, domineering, and didn't pay much attention to foreplay...

Of course, now he was here specifically to learn the skills of the zouguiren (spirit walker), and although he had stolen a lot, he hadn't yet reached the point where he could integrate the two sets of rules. He didn't know what the differences in some details represented, so he didn't dare to change them rashly.

Since he was setting up an altar according to the zouguiren's (spirit walker) rules, he would honestly follow them.

With preparations complete, he just waited patiently. The opponent hadn't arrived yet, so he wasn't in a hurry to light the oil lamp.

Taking advantage of this time, Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang also ate a little something.

Hu Ma also secretly took out one of the blood food pills he had prepared and asked Aunt Zhang to eat it to replenish her strength.

Aunt Zhang had been following Hu Ma for some time and had eaten a lot of green food and dried meat. Although she was surprised, she didn't act too unsophisticated. But when she saw this blood food pill, she was still quite shocked.

She knew that the Blood Food Gang was rich, but she was surprised to see someone so generous. Hu Ma whispered, "Eat it quickly, don't let the steward see it."

If he saw it, he would have to share another one...

"Mm..."

Aunt Zhang was a steady person, but she was also a young girl and wanted to taste the blood food pill.

But after eating it, she regretted it a little: "I heard that blood food pills are very expensive..."

"If we eat this blood food pill from you, shopkeeper, does that mean we can't ask for the thirty taels of silver that we agreed on earlier?"

"..."

Just as they were preparing, the night deepened, and everything was silent. The birds in the forest had all nestled down to rest.

But suddenly, in the dark forest in front of them, there were a few clangs of a wooden clapper, crisp and piercing. The birds in the forest were startled and flew away in a flurry.

Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang were both startled and looked towards the forest in front of them. They couldn't see anything clearly, but invisibly, they vaguely felt a dangerous aura quietly approaching with the night.

"The enemy has arrived."

Aunt Zhang whispered, "Start the altar!"

"Yes!"

Hu Ma immediately agreed and bit his middle finger, squeezing out a drop of blood into the oil lamp.

Then, he took out a fire starter and lit the oil lamp.

It was just such a simple action, watching the flame of the oil lamp, lightly leaping, and then slowly lighting up.

Hu Ma suddenly felt an incredibly strange feeling, as if, for a moment, he had merged into this oil lamp and become that small flame.

At the same time, the Dao power in his body was also vaguely triggered, and he felt a sense of unity with this oil lamp, as if the flame of the oil lamp had become his own Dao power, and he could use it like he used his Dao power.

Even the flame of the oil lamp was slowly growing with his Dao power.

However, he was, after all, a reincarnated person, and the life incense in the incense burner could be inserted or pulled out at will.

Therefore, this flame stopped growing when it reached the Dao power of about one incense stick.

Even so, the flame looked quite large, but it was vaguely blue, not as pure as the one Aunt Zhang lit.

"The altar is set up..."

Aunt Zhang also sighed softly, frowned, and looked at the oil lamp, saying, "It's just that there's death energy in your body, shopkeeper, so the lamp fire is not pure. In fact, it can be considered a ghost lamp, which easily attracts evil spirits. I should have advised you to quickly dismantle the altar..."

"Indeed..."

Hu Ma was also slightly startled and understood the reason.

He was a Shou Suiren (Year Keeper), and the Shou Suiren (Year Keeper) refines life into death, so there was originally death energy in his body.

What's more, he was dead without refining, so it would be strange if the lamp was normal.

And this was probably the reason why many paths could not be connected. After walking on one path for a long time, there would be obstacles on another path.

But...

...Why didn't he have this feeling when he set up the altar with the spells in *Zhen Sui Shu*?

Thinking about it carefully, the spells in *Zhen Sui Shu* were indeed different from those of the zouguiren (spirit walker) in this regard. When the zouguiren (spirit walker) sets up an altar, their life is put into the altar.

The altar is themselves, and they are the altar. Once the spell fails, they will immediately suffer backlash.

But the altar recorded in *Zhen Sui Shu* was different. They didn't enter the altar, and could even observe the incense and immediately abandon the altar and run away if they saw something wrong...

"Focus on the matter at hand."

He retracted his thoughts and concentrated on the altar in front of him. The half-burnt red incense had been inserted next to it.

He wasn't in a hurry to light it, waiting to figure out the other party's strength before inviting the Red Lamp Goddess over.

"Dong, dong dong..."

At this time, the sound of the wooden clapper in the forest rang again.

The sound was especially clear in this silent night, and it had a creepy feeling.

Suddenly, as the sound of the clapper rang, several of the birds that had been startled in the forest fell to the ground with a rustle, and the others flew away in panic.

Hu Ma was also startled and looked ahead sharply. He couldn't see clearly, but he could clearly feel that something in the night was quietly approaching, and wherever it passed, death energy permeated, insects were silent, and even the birds flying in the sky were falling to their deaths.

"Don't panic."

Aunt Zhang also noticed something and reminded him in a low voice: "You can't see it with the naked eye, you can see it when you sit on the altar."

"Once the altar is set up, thirty-three zhang (one zhang is about 3.3 meters) in front of the altar, thirty-three zhang (one zhang is about 3.3 meters) behind the altar, and thirty-three zhang (one zhang is about 3.3 meters) to the left and right of the altar are all your territory. You can see anything that comes in!"

"On the altar, whether it's an altar-suppressing object or a single grass or tree, you can pick it up and use it to perform your spells..."

(End of chapter)