Twilight Boundary-Chapter 524 - 516: Still Digressed
One was the prosperous and high-standing Tongyin Meng family. The other was the poor and struggling Old Yin Mountain Stone Box Village. But why would such a strange, yet strikingly similar, thing appear between these two disparate places?
The moment he realized this, Hu Ma felt his mind reel, and countless questions surged within him. But just then, the hunched clan elder, who had slowly risen to his feet, suddenly opened his mouth wide. A cloud of black mist spewed from his mouth. Within it loomed countless silhouettes of vindictive souls, which swiftly filled the entire village.
The Shousui man stood as a suppression object upon the Magic Altar, whose power, extending throughout the village, could be borrowed by Hu Ma. However, this swarm of resentful souls seemed to possess the might to shake the entire Magic Altar, causing a series of cracks and explosions. The yin souls in this village were already considerably more potent than any he had encountered elsewhere. Now, they had become so atrociously fierce that even Hu Ma’s incantations failed to suppress them.
In an instant, the sky filled with bizarrely merry, smiling faces as little ghosts eagerly extended their hands, desperately clawing towards Hu Ma as if longing for an embrace.
CRACK!
At that moment, Hu Ma felt the air around him grow several times heavier, a stifling pressure enveloping his entire being. He had no time for anything else; he quickly pulled a piece of candle from his sleeve and placed it before him. The slightest delay would have been too much; the vindictive souls were already upon him, furiously compressing the air around them.
Both the surrounding Gate Guardian Stones and Hu Ma, positioned within the Magic Altar, shook violently. His incantation nearly broke; several syllables became blurred and weak. Yet, gritting his teeth, Hu Ma immediately continued to chant, and the sound of his incantation abruptly grew much louder. It was as if another incantation, another voice, had overlaid Hu Ma’s own, instantly forcing back the vindictive souls that had surged forward.
What is that... Hu Ma’s heart trembled. He urgently looked around and saw clouds of dust scattering. The steles standing at the village’s perimeter had all developed cracks and were on the verge of shattering and collapsing. Yet, from within these cracks, a vague voice emerged, perfectly aligning with Hu Ma’s incantation, seemingly doubling the spell’s power. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
Granny... Hu Ma recognized the voice. A subtle emotion stirred in his heart, gently spreading. The Four-sided Town Gate Stones were erected here by Granny long ago. Perhaps while setting up the steles, Granny had also chanted this very curse. Since the Four-sided Town Gate Stones had always stood here, the incantation had remained, now resonating with his own, chanted ten years later. Looking closely, he could even see a blurred silhouette beneath each stele. It looked like Granny, chanting along with him, dispelling the sinister and oppressive resentment here.
Granny, I’ve learned my craft over these years. There’s no need for you to help me with your residual Mana anymore... Touched, his eyes grew moist, yet he managed a smile and said aloud, If you truly are here, I’d rather you chat with me later...
As he thought this, his incantation continued uninterrupted, and he stood up directly.
CRACKLE...
Meanwhile, seeing the yin qi being dispersed, the hunched elder suddenly raised his staff—thick as a stone pillar and seemingly woven from countless skeletal remains—and jabbed it straight towards Hu Ma, who was sitting cross-legged in the center of the village. The opponent shouldn’t have a corporeal body, being merely a shadow. Yet the thrusting Bone Wand felt terrifyingly real, laden with ominous yin qi and bearing a force akin to a Shousui man’s Death Transformation, aimed directly at him.
The Four-sided Town Gate Stones, along with Hu Ma, constituted five suppression objects. If it could destroy any one of them, it would be equivalent to breaking out of its cage. Compared to the Four-sided Town Gate Stones that had trapped it for ten years, it instinctively sensed Hu Ma was more vulnerable. Furthermore, since Hu Ma was the Fifth Suppression Object—the crux of the Magic Altar—it still chose to target him.
However, it seemingly hadn’t expected Hu Ma to rise to meet the incoming thrust of the staff. He took the initiative, and with a low shout, his soul light surged out, transforming above his head into a three-zhang-tall image of Hu Ma, complete with a green face and protruding fangs. Then, he stepped forward and solidly threw a punch.
In an instant, the thrusting staff shattered. Fragments of bone rained down, accompanied by cries and wails that made one’s eardrums throb. Hu Ma himself, however, remained expressionless. He sat down once more, and the Dharma Form around him vanished as he did so. His incantation continued without pause, but his expression turned cold as he formed a hand seal for a spell and pointed forward.
The air crackled. Although nothing could be seen, there was a distinct feeling of some powerful and strange force coalescing before him. The huge, hunched shadow, its Bone Wand just shattered by the Dharma Form Hu Ma had conjured, was staggering and unstable. It was then immediately engulfed by roiling yin thunder, which tore several large gashes in its body.
He had summoned Yin Thunder. This was the most potent method of expelling evil that Ghost Walkers could master after Entering the Mansion. Correspondingly, there was also the summoning of Yang Thunder, which was even more vigorous and fierce, but required a Yuan Yang Body to deploy. However, summoning Yang Thunder was a merciless act that could easily scatter an opponent’s soul, and it was also extremely draining on one’s own cultivation.
Having executed these two techniques consecutively, Hu Ma had already retreated within the Magic Altar, his incantation never ceasing. The two methods were remarkably efficient and seamless, yet because they spanned two different Paths, observing them evoked a peculiar sensation.
And just at this moment, Granny’s incantation ceased. It seemed Granny herself was slightly shocked, her expression one of astonishment. How should I put this? It’s not that it’s impossible... It’s just, I feel a bit wistful. This grandson of mine... he’s really gone astray after all...
Of course, gone astray or not, it was undeniably effective.
The massive black figure, after taking Hu Ma’s punch and the bombardment of roiling yin thunder, began to show signs of imminent collapse, its enormous, composite body wavering. Seizing the opportunity, Hu Ma continued reciting the Dispel Curse. As strands of black resentment vanished, the yin qi surrounding the figure diminished, and it even began to shed pure yin bodies one by one. These pure yin bodies trembled, sometimes flickering into indistinct human silhouettes, looking lost and helpless. These were the yin souls of the villagers from Juehu Village. Their resentment had been dispelled, and they were no longer influenced by that strange entity.
As these villagers’ yin souls detached from it, the massive, hunched shadow became even more stooped and dejected, shrinking with each passing moment. This entity, which had cultivated for ten long years in Juehu Village just to barely take form, was now rapidly diminishing. To describe it, it was like a painstakingly nurtured Column of Cultivation that was now fading swiftly.
To this entity, the Hu Family’s Divine Light Exorcism Curse was akin to Sweet Potato using her paper money to buy the life of a living person. Of course, when Sweet Potato bought a person’s life, no one could resist her; they weren’t even aware of it. This entity, however, was ferocious to the extreme. Although yin bodies kept falling from it, its remaining parts grew increasingly nimble.
Hu Ma even saw that amidst the swirling yin wind, the clan elder of Stone Box Village, his face ashen with rage, began to shout desperately at him, "How bitter this is!"
"Your family trapped us here, and now you want to stop us from becoming immortals too?"
This kind of monstrous thing, talking about becoming an immortal? Are you serious? Hu Ma thought, his eyes remaining fixed on the entity.
Sure enough, the Dispel Curse dealt a heavy blow to the entity. As more yin bodies fell away, it became increasingly unable to sustain itself and began to collapse. Yet, on the clan elder’s face, contorted with wails and pleas, a look of hatred appeared. Seemingly sensing the impending crisis, he suddenly roared, gathered his remaining strength, and lunged straight at Hu Ma.
At this moment, it no longer resembled a human form. It looked more like a shifting mass of soft, black mud, or perhaps, a living piece of Tai Sui Blood and Flesh, sustained in this world by the yin bodies of the clan elder and a few of his kinsmen. As it lunged, it writhed constantly, vigorously trying to drag back the bewildered yin souls that had just detached from its form. A rich stench of blood assailed his nostrils, instinctively evoking a profound, unfounded terror.
So, you’re finally willing to shed your disguise, are you? At that very moment, Hu Ma abruptly raised his head, staring fixedly at it, neither dodging nor flinching, his heart cold and resolute. But I’ve dealt with things far more formidable than you...
Facing this lunging entity, he didn’t dodge or flinch, treating the bizarre and ferocious creature as if it were nothing. In his hand, he already held a Fire Stick, which he brought close to the candle, igniting it. When the candle first ignited, it bore only a bean-sized flame, carrying no Mana. Although shielded by the Mana of Hu Ma’s Magic Altar, which prevented the chaotic yin wind from snuffing it out, the flame merely burned normally, appearing negligible.
But as the candlelight illuminated Hu Ma’s face, the lunging behemoth inexplicably halted in mid-air the instant the flame flared, as if it had forgotten how to pounce. A counterintuitive scene unfolded. Clearly, the ferocious clan elder only needed to lunge straight ahead to tackle Hu Ma. Yet, as the candlelight brightened, it froze in place, as if this tiny flame alone barred its path.
For a moment, the surrounding wind died down. Only Hu Ma’s incantation resonated from the steles all around, echoing back into the village, sounding omnipresent, sacred, and solemn. Within the village, both the drifting resentful souls and the giant, hunched figure in its depths began to dissolve rapidly under this incantation, their resentment vaporizing into nothingness.
