Twilight Boundary-Chapter 743 - 734: The Catastrophic Form of Wind and Thunder

Actually, there was no need for Little Hongtang to go and remind her; Immortal Miaoshan had already stepped down from the carriage.

She had listened to the conversation between that doctor and Calculation, and now stood at a distance, glancing towards the village.

Even though her heart felt empty, just the expression on her face alone reflected a kind of compassion for the world.

Then, she gently beckoned Little Douguan over, as if everything was under control, and whispered, "In the Disaster Stealing Sect, how do they measure the disaster aura again?"

"?"

Little Douguan was taken aback, then shook his little head and hurried to climb into her carriage.

Underneath a pile of jewelry, clothing, snacks, and trendy items, he found a dusty box.

He felt relieved that even though Aunt Miaoshan was not diligent in her duties, at least she hadn't discarded the essentials of her old trade.

He carried the box down, opened it, and while arranging the suitable items for her, he used his hands to gesture and carefully recounted for her.

Immortal Miaoshan picked up a small, oddly-shaped scale and a sectioned piece of green Tai Sui, tucked them into her sleeve, and with a horsetail whisk in hand, slowly walked towards the village.

As she passed the crowd of villagers, she sighed softly, and the horsetail whisk in her hand swept over their heads.

Because she was naturally blessed and had once organized the Lantern Festival in Shima Town, now, as the horsetail whisk swayed slightly, a gentle breeze blew over, dispersing the disaster aura above the villagers' heads.

Although it wasn't enough to eliminate the disaster, it did help clear their minds.

The horsetail whisk swung, driving away the black mist that surged toward her, and she walked gracefully to a courtyard in the village. Seeing how tidy the gate and wall of this household were, she grabbed a handful of soil from the ground before the threshold.

She pressed down on the left side with the green Tai Sui and placed the soil on the right, observing it carefully.

After a while, she put away the scale and said, "The doctor was right; there truly is a disaster."

"What is she doing…"

From afar, Hu Ma watched with curiosity and looked towards the nearby Bean Official.

Little Douguan watched Immortal Miaoshan earnestly, seemingly worried she might be doing something wrong.

Seeing that she had measured it, he also relaxed and said, "Master, Aunt is measuring the disaster aura."

"In these afflicted places, the weight differs from elsewhere. But because everything here is affected by the disaster aura, an ordinary weight can't measure it."

"But Tai Sui is an object of constant weight. Using a fixed weight of green food as the Dingzi allows it to be measured."

Hu Ma found it intriguing and asked, "So, what happens once a disaster is measured?"

"Once a disaster is found, one must seek out the disaster object."

Little Douguan shook his head, the two plumes on his hat bobbing up and down. Little Hongtang watched from the side, an amused expression on her face.

Bean Official said, "Disasters are intangible, yet they need to latch onto something in the world, and that is the disaster object."

"Although in the jianghu's Paths, only the Disaster Stealing Sect's name includes the word 'disaster,' many actually deal with disasters."

"Everyone faces various disasters and difficulties in life. Can anyone truly escape them? It's just that the Shousui man is strong enough to endure, while the Walking Ghost Sect prays for blessings and invites ghostly gods to ward off disasters…"

"Of course, that's in the past. Now ghostly gods don't care about these things; they're avoiding disasters themselves..."

"...Unless we stop eating beef and truly bring the incense of the pond god into this world."

"But essentially, ninety-nine percent of the people in the world, when faced with disasters, can only hide; if they get through it, that's it."

"Only the Disaster Stealing Sect is different. They are skilled in the art of collecting disasters and can take the disaster from a place. However, even members of the Disaster Stealing Sect cannot carry too many disasters on their bodies."

"It gets too heavy to bear, so aside from collecting disasters, they also need to release them."

"In the process of collecting and releasing, saving or harming lives becomes intangible; this is the skill of the Disaster Stealing Sect."

Hearing Little Douguan's clear and logical explanation, Hu Ma became interested and smiled, saying, "If that's the case, wouldn't it be easy for people in the Disaster Stealing Sect to do good deeds?"

"They collect disasters among people and release them in desolate places; wouldn't that save countless lives?"

"Disaster objects are not immortal; they can't be so easily concealed."

Little Douguan shook his head and said, "The strength of a disaster object is measured by people's weight."

"If each person's weight were the same, then saving one hundred people here when collecting disasters would mean owing the disaster object one hundred people."

"When releasing the disaster, one would have to harm one hundred people in that location to avoid endangering the Disaster Stealing Sect member."

"If the number harmed isn't enough, it's as if you owe the debt yourself. You, your family, and friends would all have to pay up, and even then, it might still be insufficient…"

Listening to this, Hu Ma was reminded of the Meng family, realizing it was the same principle.

What was different was that the Disaster Stealing Sect sought disasters everywhere, while the Meng family deliberately invited disasters down.

"Of course, in this world, everyone's weight is different."

Seeing his master asking him in such detail, Little Douguan couldn't help but feel proud.

He puffed out his chest, the two small plumes on his head quivering even more fiercely, and said, "When encountering someone with a heavy fate, killing that one person can save a hundred. This is why the Disaster Stealing Sect is also skilled at observing fate."

"Every time they collect a disaster, they must carefully calculate how much they've gained or lost. Only by balancing the account will they not suffer a backlash in the end."

Hu Ma nodded and gave Bean Official an approving glance, though it was a pity there was no Blood Food at hand to reward him.

Looking up, he saw Immortal Miaoshan had finished measuring the disaster and was entering the gate of this home. Shortly after, she came out holding a bowl and a chopstick.

She tossed the bowl upward and used the chopstick to hold it aloft.

It wobbled but didn't fall.

Then, she signaled to Bean Official with her eyes, gently swung the horsetail whisk, and began to slowly walk around.

In front of the pot boiling herbal medicine, the doctor pointed in the direction of the mountains and said, "I don't understand disasters, but I remember that the walking ghost went in that direction to eliminate the disaster."

Immortal Miaoshan said with displeasure, "If you don't understand, then don't talk nonsense."

While speaking, she gently swung the horsetail whisk and walked a few steps in several directions.

But indeed, when she walked towards the mountains, the wobbly bowl seemed to spin faster. And so, having a clue, she walked straight ahead.

Yet the surrounding villagers didn't know what they were doing.

They only saw this beautiful little lady, who didn't seem to be of the mortal world, gently waving her horsetail whisk. Instantly, their previously hazy heads felt much lighter.

A strong desire to survive arose, and they struggled to get up, kneeling on both sides of the road, bowing to Immortal Miaoshan.

"Aren't you going to help her out a bit?"

Seeing this, Hu Ma also got down from the carriage and said to Fourth Miss Zhou, "If there's real danger, she's no match for you."

Fourth Miss Zhou hesitated and said, "At first, I thought this sister was good, but later I found out she's not on the righteous path."

"Those people of hers incite rebellion everywhere, who knows how many they've harmed!"

Hu Ma said, "Even if she isn't a good person, she's saving lives now. Someone like her, who doesn't walk the righteous path, is trying to save people, yet you, a disciple of the Ten Surnames, just stand by and watch?"

Fourth Miss Zhou immediately felt deeply ashamed and quickly followed.

After a few steps, she suddenly tilted her head, thinking: Wait, I'm not their bodyguard...

Forget it, not important.

Hu Ma watched from behind. Seeing that the doctor had also thrown down the stick he used for stirring the herbal medicine and was following Immortal Miaoshan, Hu Ma told Calculation to stay put and got off the carriage.

Calculation clearly perceived something amiss and signaled to Hu Ma with his eyes, but Hu Ma only slightly nodded, quickening his pace to walk alongside the doctor.

As they walked, he said, "This plague in the village seems severe. It's all thanks to your remarkable skills, Doctor."

The doctor walked slowly, smiling calmly as he said, "I am just a wild doctor, with no remarkable skills, only doing my best."

Hu Ma said, "But it seems to me that without you here sustaining the villagers' lives, they would have long been wiped out?"

The doctor turned around with a smile, his eyes shining from beneath his gray hemp clothing, and said, "If they were truly wiped out, who do you think should be held accountable for that debt?"

The two of them walked slowly, maintaining a distance of thirty to fifty feet from Immortal Miaoshan. Just as they were speaking, a low cry was suddenly heard from up ahead:

"Found it."

It turned out that as she walked using the chopstick to balance the bowl, the closer she got to the mountains, the faster the bowl spun.

But just as she reached a spot by a rock cliff, the bowl suddenly fell to the ground without warning. It landed on the dry grass and shattered into pieces.

Her expression immediately turned serious; she gripped the horsetail whisk in her hand, her gaze sweeping over this seemingly unremarkable hillside as she formed a hand seal for a spell:

"Wind and thunder roar as Heaven itself descends! I call upon wind and thunder to reveal the disaster!"

"Wind and thunder rise, disaster's form appear!"

"Go!"

When the mantra was finished, she pointed her finger. However, nothing changed in the air—no thunder was heard. Instead, Little Douguan jumped out from behind a tree, holding a gong, and with all his might, he began to BANG on it.

This noise was loud and abrupt, a jarring sound in the deathly quiet forest.

Amidst the clamorous BANGING, the earth in the seemingly empty forest suddenly stirred, and something broke through the soil.

It was black and vile, its body rotting all over. It looked like a rat, but it was the size of a newborn lamb.

At its appearance, the surrounding sky seemed to darken by several shades, as if a pall had descended over everyone, making them feel extremely uncomfortable.

"What a Toothless Lord, still trying to escape?"

Immortal Miaoshan sneered upon seeing it and, with a flick of her hand, pulled a silk thread from within her horsetail whisk.

The Toothless Lord was a term in the Disaster Stealing Sect for these disaster objects.

Because disaster objects are intangible and need to attach to worldly things, the Disaster Stealing Sect had identified twelve types of objects prone to attachment and categorized their traits as follows:

A toothless rat, a toothless cow, a spleenless tiger, a lipless rabbit, an earless dragon, a legless snake, a gallbladderless horse, a spiritless sheep, a tailless monkey, a kidneyless chicken, a gutless dog, and a tendonless pig.

The tip of that thin thread seemed like a hook; if flicked out, it would instantly entangle the object, a testament to its intricate craftsmanship.

Her posture and technique were impeccably graceful, harmonious with the rhythm of the Great Path as the thread flew straight and true.

And then, it missed!