Twilight Boundary-Chapter 547 - 538 Serve for Lady

"Huh? Why is there no movement again?"

On the side of Zhu Gate Town, the Red Lantern Lady saw that she was truly about to fall this time. Even the Left Protector had to seriously consider fleeing, but suddenly noticed that the resentful energy inexplicably withdrew from the town.

The resentful ghosts and evil spirits that had already rushed into Zhu Gate Town and swarmed to the front of Zhu Gate Town vanished completely. If not for the lanterns torn apart by these resentful ghosts, strewn here and there on the ground, one might think it was an illusion.

They did not know how such powerful resentful ghosts had arrived, nor did they know how they had suddenly disappeared...

Pairs of eyes fixed in a daze on the red lantern in the temple, unable to describe the bewilder หัด and doubt in their hearts, as if recognizing the Red Lantern Lady for the first time...

Could it be that she pretends to be timid all the time?

The Left Protector, Shen Hongzhi, was filled with doubt in her heart. She shouldn’t have this kind of ability...

Meanwhile, Sweet Potato was scratching his head, the jade hairpin swaying back and forth, full of suspicion. It’s one thing if she survived the first wave, but to survive the second wave too, this Red Lantern Lady has a high threshold. Should I find a chance to test her in the future?

In this fog of confusion, Hu Ma slowly sighed, inwardly admiring Aunt Zhang’s cleverness and wisdom.

As the current Master of Zhensui Mansion, he understood even more that aside from a few people he had hastily gathered, merely serving to make up numbers, Aunt Zhang—who had followed him from the start to witness the reopening of Zhensui Mansion and had carried out the task of interrogating spirits—was the truly competent one.

Looking out towards the outskirts of the town, his heart eased further; this relative of his, in his eyes, seemed somewhat muddle-headed...

But no matter how muddle-headed she was, having reached this point, shouldn’t she understand some things by now?

He hoped in his heart that she could show some backbone; the reopening of Zhensui Mansion to the world couldn’t be too low-key. If their skills were insufficient, it would indeed put him, as the Master of Zhensui Mansion, in a difficult position...

...Should I carry the Demon Suppression Golden Mace out and introduce myself to people as the new Master of Zhensui Mansion?

...Everyone wants to save face!

「...」

「...」

"As you command!"

Outside the town, when the Heavenly Destiny General, with a relaxed demeanor, spoke the name of the Hundred Child Cauldron, even the Truth Sect followers and several Altar Masters beside him visibly paled for a moment.

But after a long while, they still bowed to the Heavenly Destiny General and immediately went to prepare.

The night deepened, as if all things in heaven and earth had fallen into a deep nightmare. Only three miles away, in Zhu Gate Town, the red lantern still emitted a faint red glow, yet it was extremely distant from the people.

In this dense night, unknown numbers of people worried about the situation in Mingzhou were now utterly confused, unsure of what the Truth Sect had been doing with their repeated back and forth, this way and that.

Being in Mingzhou, even without interacting with the Red Lantern Lady, they had at least heard some things about her. How could she withstand the Truth Sect for so long?

Some even began to suspect, Did the Truth Sect deliberately play cat and mouse, deliberately trying to raise the Red Lantern Lady’s status to make their own achievement seem greater?

Amid their hopes, they discovered that after the Heavenly Destiny General issued his order, the group of over a hundred Truth Sect followers stepped forward, pulling white cloth from their bosoms and tying it around their foreheads, looking as if they were wearing mourning clothes.

In the center of the circle was a black cauldron of unknown origin, looking as if it hadn’t been washed and bearing distinct stains of blood and fat. Those with white cloth tied on their foreheads gathered around the cauldron, tears flowing down their faces.

All around, the green banners that theoretically should have been ordinary objects started swaying again. The people holding the banners circled them slowly, chanting a spell, their appearance eerie and bizarre.

Those gathered in front of the black cauldron suddenly had someone take the lead and began to wail: 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"My son, as your father, I should not mourn for you. Yet, pitying your miserable death, I disregard the hierarchy of generations and come to specially mourn for you..."

"..."

With this person’s lead, more cries followed, one by one, they sounded genuinely heartfelt; the sorrow on their faces, the tears in their eyes, all did not seem fake.

As they cried harder and harder, the first to cry out suddenly felt a pang in his stomach, his body went limp, and he slumped against the cauldron’s edge, retching. He actually vomited out a small, black, grotesque ghost.

Immediately following, others also vomited, one by one, black shadows with terrifying baleful energy were spewed into the cauldron, accompanied by wails and cries.

The cauldron instantly surged with baleful energy. Those in the distance couldn’t see clearly, but they vaguely saw black arms occasionally reaching up to the edge of the cauldron, only to be dragged down by something within it.

WHOOSH...

The banners around waved without wind, the temperature around dropped sharply, as if it had turned into the dead of winter.

Behind them, the people of the entire Mingzhou Prefecture City felt chilled to the bone. Unknown numbers of ancestral tablets worshipped in their homes suddenly became unsteady and fell directly from the incense table, trembling and shaking unceasingly.

Outside the city, the Heavenly Destiny General merely watched coldly, his eyes already showing faint traces of madness and ferocity. It was as if he had seen a scene that had happened before in Official Zhou replaying before his very eyes.

Years ago in Official Zhou, famine had been unceasing.

That year, it had reached its peak, with drought causing famine and no harvest from the fields. The people’s lives were so hard that they had resorted to exchanging children to eat and reopening the markets for human flesh.

The Truth Sect seized the opportunity to preach in Official Zhou, refining their Magic opportunistically. An elder within the sect, noticing the people’s suffering, took a cauldron and admonished the sect members, "The people’s suffering is heartbreaking. Since you wish to cultivate fortune for the people, how can you not empathize with their pain?"

"They boil their sons and eat their daughters. Why can’t you do the same? If you can’t, how can you comprehend the True Principles of the world and save the Chaotic World?"

"..."

Thus, he led them, setting up a large cauldron provided only for those displaced people who lacked even a pot to cook their children in. In total, though called the Hundred Child Cauldron, the children cooked in it numbered far more than a hundred.

But that wasn’t all. After lending it to countless common folk, this elder gathered the sect members, cast their own children into the cauldron, proclaiming they would eat together with the common folk to comprehend the True Principles.

Led by him, the loyal sect followers all brought their sons and daughters and cast them into the cauldron, simmering them together into a single stew, which they then divided and consumed, thereby all attaining profound attainment.

This Heavenly Destiny General intended to employ this method once more, to re-consecrate the Hundred Child Cauldron, borrowing the Mana from within the Cauldron to shatter the numerous tribulations set for him by these demon people of Mingzhou, sacrificing Mingzhou’s fate to save the people of Official Zhou.

Those observing from a distance saw the Truth Sect followers gather, knowing they were casting a spell, but unaware of what kind of Magic they were performing. Regardless of the distance, the onrushing baleful aura was enough to instill terror in everyone, to the point where they hugged their heads and dared not listen to the wailing of the children.

Even if they covered their ears, the cries of the children still found their way in.

Even dozens of miles away, the children’s wails still remained clear, as if they were beside them, ringing in their ears, as if a child was hanging on their neck, crying.

"He ultimately decided to use such an evil object in Mingzhou..."

Nearby, someone in a sedan chair seemed also unable to withstand the baleful aura and evil nature from the cauldron, ordering the bearers to move further away before sighing quietly, "The path of the walking ghost has always detested this object the most. It’s good that he has used it..."

"With it in use, shouldn’t my cousin finally make an appearance?"

"But..."

She instructed her maid beside her, "Send a message to the Altar, tell my three uncles that matters here are beyond what a junior like myself can handle."

"Ask them, along with that esteemed Lord, to come here and take charge of the overall situation!"

「...」

「...」

"What is that thing?"

When the cries of innumerable infants and children resounded, the people in Zhu Gate Town suddenly felt their scalps tingle.

The scene was so bizarre that they could not understand how the Red Lantern Lady had evaded capture those two previous times, and now this current commotion was even more terrifying than the previous two, as if countless sobbing babies suddenly appeared around the town.

In the unseen shadows, peculiar shadows skulked around, climbing back and forth. Countless pairs of eyes, starved to the extreme, stared intently at every piece of flesh on their bodies.

The Left Protector, Shen Hongzhi, even without knowing what it was, was instantly engulfed by an instinctive fear, all the hairs on her body stood on end, and she leaped up swiftly, driven by instinct to flee at once.

Inside the temple, the Red Lantern Lady’s red light flared intensely, and she was frantically shouting, desperate for the Left Protector not to abandon her there.

At worst, take my Lifebound Lantern and leave, forget this temple...

...

But none of them imagined that upon hearing the cries, that little shopkeeper from Green Stone Town, whose presence had been practically nil, suddenly let out a low sigh, lifted his robe, and slowly stood up.

"Pro—"

Sweet Potato gave a glance and immediately spoke, "Little Shopkeeper, where are you going?"

"Naturally, I’m going out to assist the Red Lantern Lady!"

Hu Ma, while reaching into the ox cart, pulled out the Ghost Head Big Blade still sheathed, tucked it under his arm, and said with a smile, "I said I came to help. I can’t just sit here and watch the show all night, can I?"

"You..."

The Left Protector reacted, looking at Hu Ma’s composed demeanor, and found it somewhat difficult to comprehend. Is this kid really that reckless?

Yet, stunned by Hu Ma’s composure, she couldn’t find the words to speak. Then she saw Hu Ma take the blade, turn his head to look at her, and say, "Protector, earlier I saw you wearing a smiling face mask. It looked quite nice. Could I borrow it?"

The Left Protector, surprised by his demeanor, instinctively answered, "It’s in the room... You... what are you going to do?"

Hu Ma headed straight for her room, laughing, "These people are just bullying us, thinking there’s no one in Mingzhou. They dare to use any Demon Art or evil skill here. Do they really think there are no rules here?"