Chapter 1 When a Conspiracy Brews, Calamity Descends

It was during that clandestine meeting in Plum Blossom Alley, amidst closed doors and flowing wine, that as the Five Vicious Gods exhaled their baleful aura, chaos erupted near Laoyin Mountain in Ming Prefecture.

The seeds of this great turmoil had been sown seven days prior, when the Five Vicious Shrine envoys entered Ming Prefecture to gather treasure and create misfortune. However, at the very beginning, no one imagined that this chaos would escalate to such a degree.

Especially since the main force behind this chaos, the small Mule Caravan, was originally a group of businessmen based in villages and hamlets. Although their business was substantial and they had some fierce young men, they were, in the end, ordinary people who weren't even considered part of the martial world.

When dealing with them in the past, even a shopkeeper from a village under the Red Lantern Society could make them serve good wine and tea, and if they glared at them, they would obediently kneel and kowtow, without even the right to ask why.

And when the Red Lantern Society gathered a group of Jianghu (martial world) practitioners to hunt down the Five Vicious Shrine envoys, they didn't pay any attention to the people of this Mule Caravan.

Just a bunch of commoners afflicted by misfortune, let them cause a ruckus. Who in the Jianghu cared about that?

As a result, the Mule Caravan was ignored for the first few days, merely looting grain everywhere. Gradually, their hands became stained with more and more lives, and their own baleful aura grew accordingly.

As they made trouble, those who had been deluded, or those who saw the granaries emptied and the fields withered, worried about the harvest in the coming year, or were simply ill-intentioned and were already part-bandit and part-commoner, all joined in the commotion.

After several battles, their numbers grew even larger.

Especially in the area where the Five Vicious energies converged, the hearts of the people were already agitated, fierce, and tyrannical due to the influence of the evil aura. After a series of arson and killings, it attracted even more people, snowballing.

By this time, those Jianghu practitioners who initially didn't pay any attention to these disaster-stricken commoners gradually realized that something was wrong.

As the banditry became more and more rampant, the Jianghu practitioners who entered the mountains to hunt down the Wealth Vicious Shrine envoy gradually clashed with them, creating rifts, and even directly fighting when disagreements arose.

The outcome of the fighting surprised the Jianghu practitioners.

A master performer from the Ba Xi Men (Acrobatic Arts Sect) thought about showing off his skills to scare away these people who were robbing grain everywhere. But after one trick, the bandits in front were startled, but those in the back couldn't see at all. They pushed and shoved each other and rushed forward.

While shouting, they all attacked with pitchforks and hoes. He was knocked down in a few blows and trampled to death by the crowd.

A Shou Sui Ren (Night Watcher) who brought two disciples killed two of the leaders of the other side as soon as he came up. He thought that the rest of the bandits would finally realize how powerful he was and quickly run away, right?

Unexpectedly, these bandits were all red-eyed. They couldn't see what was happening in front of them, only knowing that there were only three people on the other side. Who was afraid of him? They all pushed and shoved forward. In one charge, the two disciples of the Shou Sui Ren (Night Watcher) were hacked to death.

The Shou Sui Ren (Night Watcher) master was shocked and angry. He turned around and ran, desperately fighting his way out.

As for other sects, whether they were Hai Shou (Headhunters) or Zou Gui (Ghost Walkers), they all had their own abilities, but when they encountered such a large-scale gathering, even one that was swept up by a rolling baleful aura, they were even less of a match.

The Hai Shou (Headhunters) sect was good at killing people invisibly, but who could you kill in the face of the dark, indistinguishable crowd of people, not knowing who was a commoner and who was a bandit?

If you really wanted to set up a big scheme, you would be afraid of attracting backlash!

The Zou Gui (Ghost Walkers), on the other hand, were not good at close combat. It was not easy to summon a few small ghosts, but as soon as they met, they were washed away by the baleful aura on these people, dying without a sound.

These were just a few accidental encounters in the middle, mostly ending with the defeat of the Jianghu practitioners. Many Jianghu practitioners were extremely shrewd. Seeing that the situation was not good, they didn't fight at all and hid far away.

Now, it was the seventh night of gathering treasure and creating misfortune. A large group of Jianghu figures, led by the Red Lantern Society, were chasing after the Wealth Vicious Shrine envoy, arriving in the area of Qing Shi Town, while the fierce bandits who were burning and killing everywhere were also gathering from all directions, arriving in this area.

The two sides happened to meet here. From a distance, they saw that there were many people on the other side, and they were all somewhat afraid of each other, forming a brief standoff.

And in this confrontation, just as the Five Vicious Gods shouted loudly, all the bandits, as if they had heard a summons, suddenly had a surge of violence in their hearts, and pushed forward in a frenzy.

"Not good..."

Among the Jianghu figures, most of them didn't understand what was going on, thinking about why there were so many bandits. Ming Prefecture was originally peaceful and quiet. They hadn't heard of such a large group of bandits appearing. Should they scold them a few words?

But the Right Protector of the Red Lantern Society suddenly reacted and hurriedly shouted, "Goddess, quickly tell our people to retreat."

The Red Lantern Goddess was also shocked. She could feel the heavy baleful aura on these bandits. They were not bandits, but like hundreds of minor negative spirits, and the rolling baleful aura frightened her.

"Just a bunch of bandits, why do we have to disperse? I'll go kill two of them to vent my anger."

The Left Protector was the first to disagree. She had been schemed against by the Wealth Vicious Shrine envoy before and was actually bewitched by the gold and silver dolls, becoming a prisoner of a group of bandits.

Although the Goddess had rescued her in time, it made her, who was proud and arrogant, full of resentment. Now she wanted to take this opportunity to show off her skills.

But the Right Protector suddenly grabbed her and whispered, "Don't you want to live?"

"People in the Jianghu are indeed skilled, but you are not a Shou Sui, you can deal with ten or eight ordinary people alone, but if you encounter more than twenty, you are no match, and if you encounter more than thirty, two of you are no match."

"If you encounter more than fifty fierce bandits, even if there are five of you, it is best to hide, kill them slowly, and rushing directly into them is putting yourself in danger..."

"...At this point, even the Shou Sui Ren (Night Watcher) have to run away quickly, let alone a half-baked Xing Hun (Astral Soul) like you?"

"And now look, there are at least four or five hundred of those fierce bandits, and I don't know how many are following behind. Moreover, they are full of baleful aura, and we are less than a hundred people in total. Do you think we have a chance of winning?"

"..."

The Left Protector had never thought about this question, and said blankly, "A hundred Jianghu people against five hundred fierce bandits, one person against five, can't we win?"

"Not likely!"

The Right Protector said seriously, "You usually underestimate those at the bottom too much and don't understand this principle at all. Evil spirits are powerful at night, hurting people invisibly, but if you gather a group of strong men, bold and full of Yang energy, evil spirits will also retreat, and may even be blown away."

"This group of bandits has been affected by the baleful aura, they are bold and full of ferocity. Although it is not Yang energy, it is a baleful aura that is the opposite of Yang energy, and it is just as powerful. At the first encounter, it will weaken your magic power by three points, and when ferocity erupts, it will destroy your courage by three points."

"If it were normal, even if you had the ability, would you dare to fight a hundred vengeful souls alone? Just the Yin energy from each one could extinguish your life force and blow away your soul!"

"If you can't even fight a hundred vengeful souls, how can you fight a hundred bandits full of baleful aura?"

"Moreover, even if we take ten thousand steps back, and really fight, even if we can defeat them, who will pay for the dozens of deaths and injuries?"

"..."

While patiently explaining, they saw the group of bandits and disaster victims who had been swept up together, under the influence of the baleful aura in Huang Gou Village, rushing forward mightily, like a fierce wind blowing towards them, causing fear.

"Whoosh..."

The Right Protector was still anxious to have the Red Lantern Goddess issue an order, but now it was unnecessary. The Jianghu people at the front, seeing that the situation was not good, had already taken the initiative to run backwards, disrupting their own formation.

The Red Lantern Society and the Jianghu sects that were advancing and retreating together had people from various sects, especially the Red Lantern Society, where many were Shou Sui Ren (Night Watchers). They were originally the ones who had the most advantage and the most ability to survive in this chaotic situation.

So...

...the Shou Sui Ren (Night Watchers) ran the fastest, leaving those who were not good at direct combat behind.

Whether it was the Red Lantern Society or the gangs that advanced and retreated together with the Red Lantern Society, they were, after all, just Jianghu sects. They were naturally good at fighting and being ruthless on weekdays, but now, facing the bandits in Ming Prefecture who were full of baleful aura, they had lost their courage.

In fact, they even ran away with justification.

Suddenly talking about the Jianghu people of Ming Prefecture, everyone thought they were talented and powerful, as if they were amazing, but now, at the first encounter with the disaster-stricken bandits, they collapsed instantly.

"Before, he borrowed the means of the Jianghu sects to harm my shrine envoys and destroy my altar, did he really think he could scare me and I wouldn't dare to come over?"

Feeling the rolling baleful aura, the Five Vicious Gods in Huang Gou Village were laughing loudly. The rolling baleful aura seemed to form a black and substantial gale, blowing the green gauze curtains in the village rustling.

In these gales, people only felt boundless baleful aura, but when the gales blew on the green curtains, they vaguely squeezed out the appearance of ferocious ghost faces, as if there were countless evil ghosts inside, wanting to break out of the curtains.

"If he only has these means, it can only show that this family's fate is indeed exhausted..."

The voice of the Five Vicious Gods rumbled in Huang Gou Village, "If he is really willing to show his face in the officialdom of Ming Prefecture and ask those people to suppress me with their official status, I would still think highly of him, but since he wants to hide his head and tail and still wants to maintain that pitiful face, he will only turn himself into a joke!"

"After leaving Ming Prefecture, I have always kept my promise and haven't said anything about his family's affairs outside, but now it seems that there is no need to do so, haha..."

"..."

"So, this is your purpose?"

Facing this rolling baleful aura, Shan Jun's expression seemed even more calm.

The rolling gales gathered around the Five Vicious Gods were growing rapidly every moment, but he was not affected by them. He just frowned slightly, captured the key point of his words, and said softly, "A new emperor is going to be chosen, and those in the court are also uneasy."

"So you came to do such an outrageous test, to feel out the bottom line here, so that you can invest in other sects in advance?"

"Then which sect do you plan to invest in, Robbing Disaster? Or Communicating with the Underworld?"

(End of chapter)