“Hmm?”

Inside and outside the city, King Pan Mountain had been beheaded, generals and commanders killed, troops routed, and the dead lay like wild grass.

For the pitiful remnants of the common folk within and without Oxheart City, or those with any savings left, it was as if they had experienced a nightmare.

This whole time, they had been rushing around in search of food, the ordinary people either dying or being captured, looking neither like men nor ghosts. They never imagined that this nightmare would deepen even further tonight, almost beyond anyone's comprehension.

The Yin Soldiers passed through, their blades chilling, arcane arts flourished, and the dead covered the entire battlefield. Terrified, even the vengeful ghosts dared only to cover their mouths.

But at this moment, Hu Ma seemed extremely calm.

He didn't know why, but when he revealed his identity as the commoner Hu Ma to the slain King Pan Mountain, he felt an unprecedented sense of clarity in his heart, as if nothing could shake his inner self or cause him to be confused again.

After kicking King Pan Mountain's head to the side, he paid no further attention to anything else, and walked forward slowly.

With the Yin General's emergence, there was bound to be much to do.

The more Yin Soldiers, the better. Those who ate people should pay the price they deserved.

As for himself, his gaze was drawn to the billowing Yin winds surging through the wilderness between King Pan Mountain's troops and Oxheart City behind the battlefield. As that Yin wind swept past, he faintly heard a familiar laugh.

His heart stirred slightly. He wouldn't have minded meeting her, but he didn't expect the laughter to come and go so quickly, vanishing in an instant.

Immediately following that was an earth-shattering commotion, so intense that even with his current abilities, his heartstrings tightened slightly.

Focusing his mind, he slowly looked forward.

And when he looked, he saw hordes and hordes of white mourning robes fluttering in the night sky.

Surging and rolling like swimming fish, immersed in the night, most could only see the white mourning robes, floating in the night sky like wandering souls.

Some were the size of ordinary people, while others were incredibly large, as tall as thirty or fifty feet. Intermittently, there were sounds of clanking iron chains, huge white umbrellas, and a few red lanterns floating beside them, like a tide.

Colliding with the aura emitted by the Yin Soldiers led by the Yin General on this battlefield, they actually seemed to have a faintly overwhelming momentum.

Having seized back the nine pillars of cultivation – no, having reclaimed the nine pillars of cultivation – and witnessed the goodwill of those familiar people, Hu Ma was originally in the most relaxed state. Although there was still one last question that he needed to ask Granny, he was no longer afraid of meeting them.

However, this rolling Wuchang swept across the land, scattering all the strange phenomena hidden within the army formation.

Hu Ma frowned and looked ahead intently, seeing that the rolling Wuchang had also slowed down slightly.

Just as Hu Ma could not ignore such a strange group of beings resembling underworld messengers, they could not ignore the Yin army frantically harvesting the living on this battlefield.

Both sides slightly slowed their pace. Beneath the lightly fluttering white cloth mourning robes, cold gazes fell on Hu Ma. Then, two white mourning robes over fifty feet tall slowly floated to the front of the battle formation.

They seemed to have some kind of mysterious intuition, and when they raised their eyes, their gaze keenly landed on Hu Ma and Zhou Si Niang.

Then, silently bowing their heads, they slowly saluted.

The vast expanse of mourning robes also seemed to be performing a courtesy, slightly distancing themselves from this battlefield, as if making way.

After that, the two huge white shadows floated away, quietly departing.

"The things raised by the Wuchang Li family…"

Someone nearby breathed a soft sigh of relief. Hu Ma turned his head and saw Zhou Si Niang also staring wide-eyed as the endless mourning robes merged into the depths of the night.

Lingering fear in her voice, she whispered, "You scared me. I thought they were here to cause you trouble too. The Wuchang Li family's skills are very sinister, and the things they raise are also sinister. But it's so strange; these things usually don't come to the mortal realm."

"What exactly has attracted so many of them? Could it be that someone burned the Li family's ancestral graves?"

"..."

Listening to her words, Hu Ma suddenly thought of the silver-bell-like laughter he had heard in the night.

If it was her, it wouldn't be impossible…

However, with such coincidental timing, was she actually luring these ghostly things over to relieve him of his predicament?

Looking back, he saw that the altar flags previously placed around the battle formation had already been taken away. It seemed that the old brother had also left, choosing not to meet him for a detailed explanation, because they also had some things they needed to figure out?

Silently sighing in his heart, Hu Ma stopped thinking about it and instead focused his gaze quietly on Zhou Si Niang's face.

Zhou Si Niang, who had been curiously looking around, suddenly noticed Hu Ma's gaze and instantly stiffened.

Nonchalantly turning around, she surveyed the appearance of the battlefield.

Hu Ma said, "Do you need me to take responsibility?"

Zhou Si Niang was immediately struck by lightning, standing rooted to the spot, her face turning red all the way to the roots of her ears.

Kicking a small stone on the ground with the tip of her shoe, with her hands behind her back, she said nonchalantly, "Look at you, what are you talking about? We're all martial world heroes. To save people, we acted expediently…"

Hu Ma nodded, bowed deeply, and said, "Then I thank Zhou Si Niang for the grace of saving my life."

Actually, he didn't necessarily have to say those words back then, but the method of transferring qi was indeed the most direct and effective method they could think of. Hu Ma couldn't forget or deny their kindness, as that would seem affected.

Seeing Hu Ma apologizing to her so seriously, Zhou Si Niang's cheeks turned even redder, with a vague sense of disappointment in her heart.

Back then, she really was just trying to save someone, right?

She didn't have any friendship with him. Speaking of which, they were still enemies, and there would be a contest sooner or later, but now it seemed like the gap was getting wider and wider…

What did he mean by saying "take responsibility"?

Matters of lifelong importance weren't that simple, especially since their identities were different. He had just fallen out with her father, making him run away so quickly…

…Of course, she was confident in convincing her father, but him!

He hadn't even found a matchmaker!

Without knowing why, the thoughts in her mind suddenly went out of control. Confused and dazed, as if walking in the clouds, she followed Hu Ma, returning to the edge of the battle formation together.

From afar, she saw Miao Shan Xiangu and Old Abacus and the others had already come to greet them. Looking at the appearance of Hu Ma and Zhou Si Niang, their expressions were somewhat fresh, wanting to speak but stopping.

Only Xiao Dou Guan sighed heavily, slapped his thigh, and then squatted down, looking worried.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Hu Ma looked at Miao Shan Xiangu, nodded, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Now Miao Shan Xiangu had stood up, but the spirit tablet she had offered up had not been put away yet. Now, on this battlefield, although the endless blessings had been scattered a lot by the Yin General, there were still some remnants. Hu Ma could naturally feel the source of these blessings.

This time, he had risked setting up this situation in order to see clearly this destiny and the attitudes of those parties.

In his heart, he actually understood that the more chaotic the situation, the safer he was. Some people didn't want him to die, but they wouldn't really let him fall into a desperate situation. Some people wanted to get something from him, so they wouldn't miss this opportunity. Seemingly dangerous, it was actually safer.

Even without the help of Zhou Si Niang and the others, he could actually be guaranteed. If he really encountered a dead end, the Da Luo Fa Sect would take action.

And if the Da Luo Fa Sect really wanted to take this opportunity to change his destiny, then it would attract others to intervene.

Now, although it was slightly different from what he had imagined, he had still seen clearly the thoughts of all parties.

After all, this situation had achieved its purpose.

However, there were also surprises. One was that those Mingzhou friends were indeed still his friends, which made him feel at ease.

The other was Miao Shan Xiangu.

With the blessings rising together, it not only triggered some kind of resonance within his destiny, as if making him feel favored for a moment,

but also affected this battlefield, helping him reduce some of the danger.

But what made him strange was that Miao Shan Xiangu had blessings protecting her body, he knew that, but these blessings…

…were they a bit excessive?

It was precisely because he held this curiosity in his heart that he looked towards Miao Shan Xiangu.

But he saw that Miao Shan Xiangu was looking back and forth between himself and Zhou Si Niang with a surprised expression, covering her mouth.

He suddenly realized that he had looked at the wrong person, so he turned his gaze to Xiao Dou Guan next to him.

"Okay, okay…"

Xiao Dou Guan met Hu Ma's gaze and immediately reacted, clapping his hands and laughing, "With Aunt Miao Shan here, sure enough, everything can turn bad luck into good fortune. The master's big trouble on the way to the capital this time has finally been resolved. He can go to the capital in peace, right?"

Hu Ma nodded and said, "So, she…"

"Aunt is the most blessed person in our Bu Shi Niu. All the uncles in the sect treat her like a little junior sister."

Seeing that Hu Ma had already guessed, Xiao Dou Guan said hurriedly, trotting over, taking Hu Ma's hand, leading him a few steps away, and said softly, "The eldest master uncle said it before."

"Aunt has a good life, natural blessings, avoids bad luck, and is happy."

"..."

Listening to his words, how could Hu Ma not understand? His heart was instantly shocked: "So, she is actually the one left behind by the Great Virtuous Teacher..."

In the entire Bu Shi Niu Dao lineage, the only person who was so pure that it was unbelievable.

The recognized little junior sister.

The person who usually liked Daoist clothes.

The person whose blessings were so profound that it was beyond imagination…

"Aunt doesn't know."

Xiao Dou Guan shook Hu Ma's hand hastily, his eyes almost blinking into cattail fans: "This is also the master's idea. His own karma is too great, and there are too many grievances left behind. He only wishes that Aunt can jump out of this fire pit, and even her real name and identity can be unknown…"

"…The only thing left behind is silver that can't be squandered even in ten lifetimes!"

(End of this chapter)