Chapter 559 Setting Up the Altar to Suppress Ghosts

"Hmm?"

Upon hearing Fairy Miaoshan say such a thing, Hu Ma seemed intrigued, his gaze fixed on her face.

Fairy Miaoshan was clearly hesitant, as if afraid of angering Hu Ma. She lowered her voice and said, "Shishu, when we first arrived, my fellow disciples and I had already discussed it."

"'We are all used to handling matters and have seen much. Mingzhou has excellent momentum, even better than the place we had prepared for so many years. This shows that Shishu is different from us, clumsy people.'"

"'But in truth, Mingzhou is unlucky, encountering the trouble it should least have encountered. Guanzhou has suffered natural disasters for years, with demonic figures from the Dao of Banditry emerging, leading to a life of destitution. In fact, Bu Shi Niu had already gone there, preparing to take advantage of the chaos to rise up.'"

"'But in the end, they couldn't take over and had to retreat, allowing the Zhenli Sect to pick up the pieces. Why is this? It's not that the shixiong's (senior male apprentice) means were insufficient, but that Guanzhou was too miserable, so miserable that to succeed, one would have to use heaven-defying methods and do things that were utterly heartless.'"

"'Bu Shi Niu, under the Xian Shi's (Honorable Teacher) guidance, ultimately couldn't bring themselves to make people eat people, even using them as military rations. Instead, they were constrained and defeated.'"

"'Now, the hungry ghosts of Guanzhou have become a force to be reckoned with..." Saying this, she shook her head and lowered her voice, "Now, facing this group of hungry ghosts, it's not that Mingzhou won't work, but that none of the other provinces have the ability to deal with them.'"

“But that would be difficult for them.”

“Every time there's a bloody battle, Mingzhou can't take it anymore.”

Hu Ma asked, “Outside Mingzhou City, a demon is using the city as an altar and has invited an evil being to sit in town. Tell me, if you want to break the other party's altar, how should you proceed? Even a minor yougui (wandering ghost) like you, famous far and wide, feels constrained when you come to this town. Where will other people be able to fight if they are summoned?”

“If their altar is big, then we'll set up an even bigger altar.”

“The noble from the mountains will take action and has already given me some guidance, but to break the thing in the city, we still have to rely on our own abilities..."

"Ah?" Bao Liangjun was startled by this question.

Hu Ma said, “The noble only said, ‘Do it without restraint. Anyway, if something happens, I'll take full responsibility.’”

Aunt Yigu was stunned for a moment and busily wiped her mouth, saying, “There must be more than in my house.”

“If Mingzhou has a City God that has been worshipped for generations, who could suppress that gloomy hungry ghost aura every time, perhaps there would still be some hope..."

“...already has the advantage.”

“"Shishu (martial uncle), don't think we shizhi (martial nephew) are useless. Actually, if you give us a little more time, or if the shixiong (martial brother) who are handling major events in more distant places come over, maybe we can think of a way..."

If it were someone else, they would probably ask clearly and only act when they were sure. However, Fairy Miaoshan trusted Hu Ma greatly and immediately excitedly left the house to discuss with her fellow disciples. Before leaving, she suddenly reminded him, "My luggage is here, Shishu, please watch over it for me."

This sentence startled everyone present. Although they had long understood their identity in their hearts and knew that this identity was bestowed by the noble from the mountains, they couldn't help but feel relieved when they suddenly heard it.

“Their methods are extremely vicious..." Speaking to this point, she clearly smiled bitterly. She didn't say the following words, but Hu Ma could understand. Although they invited the City God, that City God was on the other side, essentially having a firm grip on Mingzhou's food supply.

Hu Ma slowly said, "To win, it must not be with heavy casualties, and the problem must be resolved as quickly as possible."

“For example, the Tengzhou Fire Crow Army, the Wuzhou Gourd Army, the Caohu White Fish Army, and the Lianzi Army and White Banner Army are all extremely powerful, but it's hard to say if they would have an advantage against this hungry ghost army, let alone Zhang Agu, who was hastily assembled in Mingzhou..."

“If they invited something powerful, then we will invite something even more powerful than them.”

“Earlier, I was a disciple of Bu Shi Niu, and I traveled the world. I already knew that there were some ambitious people who had been secretly preparing to compete for the power under the heavens. Among them were many powerful things raised in private.”

Hu Ma was not polite and directly greeted everyone, then sat down and said.

Fairy Miaoshan was slightly surprised in her heart as she listened. They had only just detected that these hungry ghosts had appeared in Mingzhou, and because they appeared from time to time, they didn't know the quantity. She only remembered that two months ago, the disciples of Bu Shi Niu were watching there and thought there were 100,000 of them.

When it came to wandering ghosts, it could be said that every village had them. Even if not every village, almost eight or nine out of ten did. No one could count how many there were.

Hu Ma helplessly waved his hand. What time was it to be worried about luggage?

Hu Ma had already known this, so he pondered slightly and said, "Bu Shi Niu has countless talented people. Doesn't anyone have a good idea?"

But when she was about to go out, she still thought about it and turned back to lock the small door of the courtyard. After all, there was chaos everywhere now, and Dou Guan had said that Miaoshan's dowry was precious...

"These hungry ghosts number 80,000?"

“Many people, dead hearts, sins on their bodies, neither human nor ghost.”

As soon as these words came out, Bao Liangjun, the Right Protector who was eavesdropping outside, and the red lantern opposite the temple, all verified it. They were hoping that the noble would give them an idea, but he only said that he would take responsibility. What did that mean?

He paused for a moment before his eyes turned slightly hot, and he said, "Could it be that we honest people have no means?"

All of a sudden, everyone was dumbfounded. They looked at each other, but Bao Liangjun still honestly said, "Shopkeeper, I don't like to exaggerate. I've been learning to be a wandering ghost since I was a child. In seventy years, I haven't seen such a big altar."

"It's enough."

Fairy Miaoshan was feeling troubled in her heart when she suddenly heard this sentence, and she immediately cheered up and said repeatedly, "Yes, yes, if that's the case, Bu Shi Niu has many capable people, so what's so difficult?"

“But you also saw that Mingzhou did invite the City God, but that City God is..." Only Aunt Yigu, in the corner next to her, blinked her big eyes, not knowing what it meant, and continued to deal with the pot of brown sugar eggs.

She walked out, turned around, and came to the small shrine of the Red Lantern Goddess, with a smile on her face.

“It's enough.”

“Everyone here is family, so there's no need to be polite.”

Hu Ma looked at her and slowly said, “The requirement I'm talking about refers to the situation where the ghost aura on these 80,000 hungry ghosts is suppressed, even cleared away. Can it be done?”

“Ah?"

"Ah... that..." Hu Ma looked at Bao Liangjun's expression. Without needing him to answer, he nodded, as if he had already heard the answer. Then, he looked at Aunt Yigu next to her, who had just put her mouth to the chicken neck, and smiled, "How many monsters are there in Mingzhou?"

“According to the rules, setting up an altar requires looking at the feng shui (geomancy), the terrain, and also looking at one's own Daoist cultivation, abilities, and what things are invited to the altar, and those, we..." Fairy Miaoshan looked like she was afraid that Hu Ma would blame her and said with a bitter face, "The time is too tight, even if there are means, there's no way to help Geng Heji train something. Secondly, this hungry ghost army is originally a rare and evil existence under the heavens.”

Fairy Miaoshan was stunned and made a bitter face. She really didn't know how to convey these words to those Bu Shi Niu shixiong (martial brother) who were waiting. It was so difficult to wait for the sect leader's order, and they all wanted to perform well, but how could the sect leader give people difficult problems as soon as they came? But the problem was, these wandering ghosts were mostly old men and shamans in the countryside. Even the skills they had were mostly self-taught. Whether they could be considered people of the Dao was still up for debate.

Hu Ma slowly said, directly causing Geng Heji's heart to tremble slightly. Was that noble going to rely on himself and these people to break the altar outside the city? Wasn't that a fantasy? Before he could finish a sentence, Hu Ma suddenly looked at her and said, “Aunt, how many wandering ghosts are there in Mingzhou?”

“Yes!"

“In the end, they're just some distant relatives of the Hu family in the mountains. Although they still have some good things in their hands, they've long lost their name. Now that they've torn their faces apart, they don't even have the slightest bit of final dignity.”

Hu Ma smiled, stood up, seriously bowed halfway to them, looked in the direction of Mingzhou City, and took a long breath, saying, "To break that altar, the method is inherently simple, isn't it?"

"Difficult."

He was being surrounded by a group of ferocious little ghosts, and he had to chant spells from time to time to appease them. Once he chanted too slowly, he might be beaten by those little ghosts who rushed up. Hong Deng Niangniang (Red Lantern Goddess), who was feeling aggrieved at the moment, also looked over.

The Right Protector Shen Hongzhi, who had been waiting here all the time, Aunt Yigu, who only woke up when it was dawn, and Bao Liangjun, who had been honestly guarding here all day.

Hu Ma knew what she wanted to say to him. Only Zhenchongfu (Town Worship Manor) could suppress the other party's altar.

He admired this sect leader, who seemed to know the specific number even without leaving his house. He pondered slightly and said, “If we only consider dealing with those 80,000 hungry ghosts, can't you group of professional rebels do anything?”

Hu Ma stopped her and said seriously, "Go and say it. Prepare early. Mingzhou's grain is already barely enough to eat, so it can't be wasted."

"...That's with our Bu Shi Niu's assistance. Otherwise, with just that Zhang Agu, they wouldn't even be able to fight. They would be scattered as soon as they charged."

"Everyone, I have already gone up the mountain to see that noble."

Bao Liangjun was the most sensible and knew that the situation was critical, so he quickly got up and asked with concern, "He... what did that noble in the mountains say?"

Hu Ma also carefully listened to Fairy Miaoshan's words before saying, "If we only consider dealing with these 80,000 hungry ghosts, is there really no way for you people who specialize in rebellion?"

The other party set up an altar and was waiting outside Mingzhou City, also waiting for Zhenchongfu to appear.

"The thing in the city doesn't need you to worry about."

"De de de (alright, alright, alright), there's no need to say those words. Let's just see your abilities."

As he said that, he lightly patted the table, directly got up, and said, "Time is of the essence. Tonight, we will set up an altar, behead the City God, suppress the hungry ghosts, and return peace and tranquility to Mingzhou's heaven and earth!"

He also carefully listened to Fairy Miaoshan's words before saying, "If you only consider dealing with those 80,000 hungry ghosts, is there really no way for you professional rebels?"