Twilight Boundary-Chapter 523 - 515: The Realm of the Five Extremes

It was as if waking from an illusory dream; the once prosperous and peaceful village now lay in ruins and desolation before Hu Ma’s eyes.

All around, weeds grew rampant, houses collapsed, and skeletal remains littered the ground. Some were dried bone fragments, impaled on skeletal joints. Countless ghostly winds blew from every corner, weaving into a terrifying net.

Even those once real, full faces surrounding him quickly withered and receded, turning into hideous, decayed, eerie, and venomous visages. Their forms became shadowy, and with a gust of yin wind, they vanished without a trace.

"The things here are simply too fierce to obey any rules..."

Amid the gusting yin winds, Hu Ma sighed softly.

The seven steps he had just taken had a method called "Stepping Gang and Fighting," noted in the Age Suppressing Book, which allowed one to walk straight out of the enticing illusion of the evil spirits. No matter how deep or real the illusion, or how entranced one was, simply taking those seven steps would bring one back to reality.

He was imbued with the skills of the Shousui man, and ordinary evil spirits dared not enchant him, lest they risk being scorched by his inherent fire qi. Yet, the allure of this place was silent and imperceptible. Despite entering the village on high alert, he was still bewitched by its ghosts. Even knowing he was ensnared, he could not discern any flaw through his senses.

If not for this method from the Age Suppressing Book, wouldn’t an ordinary Shousui be bewitched unto death?

WHOOSH...

As he pondered, the bone-scraping yin wind gathered more intensely, blowing directly at his face, mingled with the curses of countless villagers complaining of being unappreciated or demanding marriage just for holding hands...

Absurd as it sounded, he even felt that the yin souls in this village were each weightier than the soldiers under the Yin General’s command, surpassing the burden a single yin soul should carry.

"Honor heaven and earth, communicate with True Spirits."

"Let the Five Directions Qi heed my command; Five Towns Form Altar with power."

"...Rise!"

Amidst the turbulent yin wind, he dared not be careless. Gritting his teeth, he secretly began his practice. In an instant, his whole body transformed. He stomped his foot, and his mana surged outward, vaguely corresponding with the Four-sided Town Gate Stones, connecting with the Five Towns as suppression objects.

The Gate Guardian Stones around Juehu Village, set by Granny in her time, held the names of every villager who once lived there, trapping them. They could also be used for setting up the altar.

Despite knowing he was trapped, he had followed the illusion here precisely for this reason. This place was exactly where the fifth suppression object should be. Coming here, the Four-sided Town Gate Stones, coupled with his own Death Transformation, would allow the Magic Altar to be set, encircling the Evil Ghosts within it.

SWOOSH!

As the altar rose, Hu Ma felt an icy coldness sweep through him, as if countless freezing steel needles were piercing his limbs. His entire cultivation was rapidly consumed. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

This Juehu Village was truly not a favorable place for setting up an altar. Setting up an altar required a place with good feng shui, elevated terrain, cleanliness, and auspiciousness. Yet, this village was the complete opposite, lacking in every way. No sane Ghost Walker would set up an altar here; otherwise, the rising altar, rather than subduing ghosts, would first crush oneself. However, it was fortunate that he was a Shousui man and could endure. Furthermore, after setting up the altar, the Gate Guardian Stones also subtly resonated, helping him bear some of the Evil Land’s backlash.

WHOOSH...

With the altar’s rise, the already violent yin wind intensified. The wind was now filled with countless vague, pale faces reaching straight for Hu Ma, tearing up the dead grass around him by the roots.

The Evil Ghosts in the village seemed to sense someone had set up an altar, and their ferocity exploded. The surrounding Gate Guardian Stones, impacted by the yin qi, rocked and swayed, appearing close to collapse. As the altar’s central suppression object, Hu Ma faced an indescribable onslaught.

"Fellow villagers, can’t we show each other some courtesy?"

But facing the resentful ghosts, Hu Ma maintained a calm demeanor, slowly sitting cross-legged with his hands joined at his abdomen, softly reciting incantations.

The Age Suppressing Book contained the Four Great Curses, the best methods aside from those of the Zhensui Mansion. Each curse had its unique essence. With these four curses, Hu Ma had four ways to retrieve the Hu Family heirloom. However, he now chose the most time-consuming and energy-draining one: the Divine Light Exorcism Curse. His aim was not to slaughter all the resentful ghosts in the village, nor to tame them, nor to torture them. From the words of Old Man Yangpi and others, Hu Ma understood that Granny had pitied these villagers. She preferred not to scatter them forcefully and instead used a method to bind them, intending to help when the time was right. Though the others didn’t know the Hu Family heirloom was here, Hu Ma still intended to honor Granny’s last wishes, doing as she said, even if choosing the Dispel Curse seemed more taxing and troublesome.

Thus, as the mysterious and obscure incantations echoed through the village, the gusting yin wind around him was suppressed by his chanting. The sinister ferocity in the wind seemed to dissipate, becoming much more serene.

Yet, as the sound of his incantations resounded, they further stirred deeper entities within the village; clouds of yin qi churned like towering, angry waves, and more powerful entities emerged from nooks and crannies.

In one blink, it was as if he saw a mob of vicious villagers led by clan elders cursing at him; in the next, only swirling yin wind remained, filled with eerie, vicious faces shifting shapes, intent on tearing Hu Ma to shreds.

But Hu Ma did not grow angry. Instead, he could understand the root of their viciousness, realizing the necessity of using the Divine Light Exorcism Curse to resolve the plight of Juehu Village. ’Juehu’ was inherently a heart-wrenching term. Connecting it with this village was even more unbearable. They had done nothing to provoke Heaven or anger men. It was merely a bad harvest one year, followed by consuming a seemingly edible piece of White Tai Sui. After eating it, the entire village perished. Fate played cruel tricks; to perish overnight was sorrow itself. For an entire village to die, for the living to depart with no one to perform funerary rites, such was resentment. For bloodlines to be severed with no continuation, such was desolation. In death, they had no support, no one to inquire after them, wandering, unable to depart, such was abandonment. Granny had pitied them, unwilling to use harsh means to scatter the vindictive souls entirely. She could only bind them. But they misunderstood Granny’s kindness, feeling only restraint, and thus bred intense hatred. Sorrow, resentment, desolation, abandonment, hatred—these five sentiments intertwined and brewed for ten years, finally forming what might be the world’s most unique Juehu Village.

"Do not say the heavens and earth are unjust, for the heavens and earth are inherently so."

"Do not bemoan being orphaned and alone; the dead are inherently tranquil, while the living are ever sorrowful..."

A Juehu Village like this, perhaps even the most skillful Mage couldn’t resolve it. But the Hu Family’s Divine Light Exorcism Curse was perfectly suited. However, this rare experience left Hu Ma with mixed feelings. He had always admired the thunderous methods of the Shousui man—either do nothing or do it to the extreme. Seeing blood often enough had hardened his heart. However, handling the village’s affairs according to Granny’s last wishes gave him a glimpse of softness. The Ghost Walker traditionally employed two major methods: expelling evil and Soul Calming. He had only used expelling evil before; this marked his first time using Soul Calming, and he faintly felt a connection that transcended life and death, yin and yang. What is Soul Calming? It is nothing more than the living offering a shred of heartfelt sentiment to the departed, across the boundary of life and death, yin and yang. Perhaps only this sentiment could traverse life and death?

Filled with emotion, his heart grew calmer. He continued the uninterrupted recitation of the Divine Light Exorcism Curse, distinctly feeling the cold, bone-piercing resentment evaporating in tendrils as his chanting resonated through the village.

SWOOSH!

But just then, Hu Ma suddenly sensed something. He lifted his gaze from the candlelight and looked deep into the village.

By now, the resentful souls in the village had nearly taken tangible form. While unable to shake his Magic Altar, they weaved swiftly, forming a vast, eerie shadow. The dark qi on it was being dispelled by Hu Ma’s spell, yet some strange and resilient core remained utterly unaffected. It grew heavier, driving these resentful souls to rapidly fuse.

Glimpsing it, he faintly saw the hunched, withered figure of the clan elder from his illusions, draped in a blue longevity robe. Adhering to the robe were the pale faces of the villagers. In the howling yin wind, the figure’s stature seemed colossal; despite its hunch, it nearly surpassed the height of the Four-sided Town Gate Stones.

"That is..." Hu Ma muttered, his mind whirling.

He recalled this village’s history. The villagers hadn’t died peacefully; instead, they were poisoned by eating Tai Sui Blood and Flesh. Crucially, after death, they had been trapped here, unable to leave or significantly affect the outside world. Thus, fermenting day and night, mutually devouring and multiplying for ten long years, they had gradually birthing such a peculiar existence... And the most crucial point was, upon seeing it, he suddenly found it familiar, as if he had glimpsed it once before—the Meng Family Ancestor! At that moment, his heart clenched. He suddenly realized something: Granny had left the Hu Family heirloom here not just for him to retrieve. She was also trying to tell him something critical when he came to get it.