Twilight Boundary-Chapter 566 - 557: One Order, Seven Kills

It was apparent that when the hungry ghosts attacked various places in Mingzhou, someone had anticipated there would be commotion in Mingzhou. Neither the one on Old Yin Mountain nor the one from the Hu Family could remain hidden any longer.

They just hadn’t expected the commotion to be so great.

With a single command, seven were slain, and Mingzhou trembled.

Nobody knew how many spirits in hiding couldn’t even believe their ears when they heard the Zhensui Mansion Order clearly resound. But immediately after, they fell into an unseen ecstasy. In the night, countless voices shouted, "Great feast, truly a great feast! The Seventh Aunt in Green Stone Town wasn’t lying. Even we are invited by the nobleman to this grand feast!"

As for the Ghost Walkers scattered throughout Mingzhou—whether they truly knew how to set up an altar or merely went through the motions with an incense table—they too were stunned on the spot upon hearing the Zhensui Mansion Order ring in their ears.

"The Zhensui Mansion Order! The Zhensui Mansion Order! The Zhensui Mansion Order that disappeared for twenty years has reappeared!"

"Damn it! After twenty years of swallowing our anger, is it finally our turn for the Walking Ghost Path to act without having to justify ourselves to others?"

The Ghost Walkers with genuine skills understood this. For twenty years, the Zhensui Mansion had not appeared, meaning the Walking Ghost Path had lost a major foundation. After all, half of a Ghost Walker’s abilities came from folk practices—an accumulation of various Methods for handling ghosts, expelling evil, summoning gods, and warding off malevolent influences. The other half came from rules. With rules, Ghost Walkers could act with confidence, guarding the Yin Yang Life and Death Boundary with the assurance to converse with ghostly gods and evil spirits.

Many villagers knew, for instance, that if one had to spend the night in desolate mountains or wild fields, they could circle an area with tree branches. By laying a stalk of wheat across the entrance, they could then hide inside, protected from the invasion of yin souls and evil spirits. It wasn’t that the branches themselves possessed mana; rather, laying down the wheat stalk was equivalent to erecting a threshold. With this threshold, one’s abode became a Yang Mansion, and evil spirits dared not enter uninvited.

However, the rules had long been in disarray. Many dharma methods of the Ghost Walkers sometimes appeared to work only sporadically. Except for the methods of summoning gods and ghosts, the rest were hardly considered genuine skills anymore. This process had lasted for twenty years, causing the gradual decline of the Ghost Walkers. But now, hearing the Zhensui Mansion Order, these Ghost Walkers were instantly invigorated, and countless among them unhesitatingly accepted the command.

Sitting high on their altars, facing the eerie, wind-whipped night sky, they chanted incantations: "Souls to their place, humans to theirs! Let the human world remain pure, let all walk their destined paths!"

In their hands, some held Wooden Swords, some small flags, others bowls of water, simultaneously pointing, flicking, or sprinkling towards the front. This was the order; this was the Magic. Orders commanded ghostly gods; Magic connected heaven and earth. This was Walking Ghost!

A single altar, or one with faint mana, might not be worth mentioning. But when countless altars simultaneously activated their mana, it was as if a mighty, turbulent astral wind wove together, spreading across the land of One State, seemingly stirring up storms in the vast land of Mingzhou.

"HEE HEE, HA HA..."

In the eerie, vast night sky, figures in long white robes with obscured faces carried three incense sticks, leading the hungry ghosts, drifting under the cover of darkness to various different places.

The hungry ghosts were oblivious, and these guide gods carrying three incense sticks only knew to follow orders. Living humans who saw them would lose their souls, and even the dead who saw them would have to kneel by the roadside. But amidst their journey, they suddenly heard strange laughter.

Even their blood-red eyes showed momentary confusion, as if seeing mountains and plains covered in candlelight, hearing indistinct whispers. An inexplicable and deeply unsettling feeling arose within them. Then, they suddenly heard laughter right beside their ears.

The laughter was so abrupt that they froze, straining their eyes. They discovered the source of the laughter was the shrine at the nearby village entrance. It was pitch-dark, and they couldn’t see what was inside, but the laughter grew more and more wanton and bizarre. Gradually, laughter erupted from the surrounding desolate graves, from the ancestral tablets within houses, from the village wells, and even from some of the Old Fire Pits in the hamlets.

Better to fear ghost cries than ghost laughter.

The guide god holding three incense sticks halted, its body trembling slightly. Its eyes were fixed on the quietly burning three incense sticks in its hands, watching in shock as they rapidly transformed into signs of great evil. Even these imposing guide gods were unexpectedly gripped by terror. In the midst of the endless laughter, they tossed aside the three incense sticks and tried to flee via the Yin Road.

But they couldn’t escape. Waves of Magic, a barrage of orders, and a multitude of altars barred their path. Loud shouts rang in their ears: "Ignoring yin and yang, marching troops on the Yin Road! By order of the Zhensui Mansion, kill!"

Countless iron chains CLATTERED from afar out of the night sky. The imposing guide gods were forcibly taken by these numerous Magic Altars, their ethereal figures seeming to be rent asunder as they were dragged directly before the various Magic Altars.

The hungry ghosts left midway stood in a daze, gazing at the unfamiliar surroundings. They should have been sent to the various Human Demon Generals, but abandoned en route, they became like lost lambs, surrounded by countless pairs of eerie eyes.

The hungry ghosts, all laden with sin, their very Karma Souls having departed their bodies, were a calamity when gathered in large numbers and led by Human Demon Generals; even ghostly gods dared not provoke them. But scattered as they were now, they were reduced to frightened refugees, trembling and glancing warily at their surroundings. The desire to devour and the terror of being devoured always coexisted within them; it was just that now, the latter had been brought to the fore.

SPLASH...

In the Niu Family Bay area, a hungry ghost had seized grain and was eager to cross the river to the more fertile lands on the other side.

Suddenly, the calm river surged with massive waves several zhang high, sweeping the hungry ghost, boat and all, into the water. The hungry ghost struggled to stay afloat, desperate to keep its head above water, but its legs were ensnared by the pale, dead arms reaching up from the riverbed. No matter its abilities, it was being drowned alive.

"What manner of spirit dares harm my soldiers?"

The Human Demon General on the shore was furious. Clenching a blade in his teeth, he leaped into the water to slay the offending spirit.

But all he heard was a wild, cackling laugh as an ancient turtle, its shell as large as a millstone, surfaced in the river. The turtle fled through the water, still laughing, stirring up powerful undercurrents as it went. The Human Demon General chased with all his might but couldn’t catch it, forced to watch his subordinates drown.

"AIYO!"

Villagers hiding on both riverbanks saw this scene. They rushed out, a mix of shock and joy, crying out:

"The River God has changed! The River God has really changed! Not only does it no longer demand sacrifices from us, but it has also learned to protect us common folk!"

"We must build a temple! This time, we absolutely must build a temple for the River God!"

This outcry startled the ancient turtle in the river into a shiver. Splashing water high onto the banks, its voice carried resentful curses:

"Who dares build a temple? Who dares build a temple?" he roared.

"Previously, when I extorted Blood Food from you, you built a temple to trap me. Now, I am obeying the orders of the Zhensui Mansion’s Old Master to help you protect your grain, and you want to harm me in return?"

Further deep in the mountains, villagers had lit torches, piling huge stones and broken logs at the entrances to their village to prevent hungry ghosts from rushing in to seize grain.

But just as they saw the hungry ghosts—slow-moving yet unstoppable, and seemingly endless in number—about to storm the village, they suddenly heard the wails of foxes and the cries of ghosts from the mountain. Giant stones tumbled from the cliff faces like an avalanche, crushing countless hungry ghosts.

In the chaotic and bewildering scene, some people even vaguely saw that the trees themselves appeared to come alive, their branches eagerly extending, burrowing one by one into the wounds on the hungry ghosts’ bodies.

With SIZZLING sounds, they absorbed blood and flesh, their branches and leaves trembling with apparent pleasure.

Facing the upheaval, most of the common folk were at a loss. But then—in their dreams, in the dead of night, from behind door panels, from beneath hearths—came the scolding voices of their deceased fathers, mothers, and great-grandfathers:

"You good-for-nothing descendants! You can’t even protect your own food!"

"Now that a noble person has taken charge and the Food Protection General is leading the way, even we, the dead, must protect the grain! And all you know how to do is hide at home and cry?"

Jolted awake by this severe scolding from their ancestors, the living quickly organized their able-bodied young men. Rallying under the banner of the Food Protection General, they hunted down and slaughtered hungry ghosts everywhere they went. With ghostly gods protecting them, their momentum was unstoppable.

The Food Protection General’s power had grown significantly. In just half a month, his forces numbered over fifteen thousand. This sounded like a considerable number at first. But compared to the entirety of Mingzhou, it was still pitifully few. After all, no matter how renowned the Food Protection General became, his renown only attracted those in the mountains who already knew of him, mountain bandits seeking to carve out a future for themselves, or the Private Soldiers maintained by the nobles and masters in the cities.

For ordinary folk, putting down their hoes to take up blades was almost tantamount to a death sentence. However, being harshly berated by their ancestors changed things. The number of people who took up mattocks and dung forks multiplied severalfold.

The fighting spirit of the Food Protection Army might have been greater than that of ordinary peasants, but these hungry ghosts were, in turn, more ferocious than the Food Protection Army.

Yet, who could have predicted it? It was precisely these honest families—people who would never abandon their modest plots of land as long as they had a mouthful to eat—who, once they cast aside their hoes and took up arms, unleashed a surging tide of human vitality that thoroughly suppressed even these hungry ghosts...

When these countless changes swept through Mingzhou, even the mountain lord in Old Yin Mountain had not foreseen such an outcome. He sighed in resignation. I asked you to help Mingzhou avoid this calamity of war, but you ended up dragging everyone in Mingzhou into it...

Then again, you’re right. Solving it all at once is a more thorough way to help the people of Mingzhou avert disaster.

His tone seemed to carry a hint of complaint, yet the corners of his mouth twitched, unable to suppress a smile. He saw Mingzhou itself becoming a grand altar, with ghostly gods as its soldiers, and an overwhelming tide of human vitality already engulfing the entire state.

He pondered for only a moment. Then, with a gentle flick of his wide sleeve, his gaze swept over several sinister and dreadful spots within Old Yin Mountain. He smiled and said, "The Zhensui Mansion Order originates from Mingzhou, and everyone can act upon it."

"Since that’s the case, you all might as well go out and join the excitement!"

"After all, you are spirits of Mingzhou too, are you not? If you establish a good standing now, you’ll save yourselves from being implicated along with me in the future."

And so, just as the entirety of Mingzhou was already a tempest of change, its destiny seething like a cauldron, several more gusts of malevolent wind suddenly blew forth from Old Yin Mountain. They swept towards various parts of Mingzhou, and in an instant, this already white-hot situation was fueled with yet more prime kindling...