Chapter 1 The Different Skills on the Altar

"The skills on the altar are indeed different..."

While chanting the snake-driving incantation, Hu Ma couldn't help but sigh with heartfelt admiration.

To be fair, the methods of a Zou Guiren (Ghost Walker) might not be inherently superior to the *Zhen Sui Shu* (Tomb Guarding Book), but Hu Ma had used the *Zhen Sui Shu* before. Although powerful and overbearing, he only knew *what* to do, not *why*.

He could use it, but after using it, he didn't know how it succeeded, nor how it failed. The only reference was the incense reading, purely like operating a large, sophisticated instrument according to a reference manual.

But now, having learned the Zou Guiren's methods, he was progressing from shallow to deep, experiencing every detail personally, giving him a wonderful feeling that he never had when learning the *Zhen Sui Shu*.

He even had a feeling when witnessing the wonders of this altar, "Standing on the altar, wouldn't I have nothing to fear, no matter what the opponent throws at me?"

"Setting up an altar is a last resort."

Just then, Zhang Agui seemed to understand what Hu Ma was thinking and said in a low voice, "Setting up an altar is the Zou Guiren's entry point, but it's also an opportunity to enter the altar with your life and exchange for a chance to fight those things head-on."

"Zou Guiren usually exorcise evil and suppress ghosts by using various methods. If you understand the methods, you can cure the evil spirits."

"But in this world, there are many evil spirits, many demons, and even more insidious evil spells that are impossible to guard against. Zou Guiren can't cure so many. When there is no other way, they must set up an altar."

"Once an altar is set up, you can fight anything you encounter."

"But after setting up the altar, there is also a disadvantage. You can't leave. You can receive any move the opponent makes, but when the opponent's move comes, you can only receive it. You can't run away."

"After setting up the altar, you often have to invite a spirit, which is why."

"..."

"Indeed..."

Zhang Agui's words immediately sobered Hu Ma up. There is no such thing as a perfect solution in this world.

Setting up an altar only gave the Zou Guiren the ability to face evil spirits head-on. There were naturally wonders, but they also suffered a lot of corresponding losses.

Turning his head to look at the front of the altar, he had driven those snakes and insects together, but that was all he could do for the time being. He couldn't deal with them for the time being. Now they were still in the altar, but they couldn't harm people, but he needed to use the power of the altar to suppress them.

If it were a Tomb Guardian or someone else, there would be many more ways to deal with it. If all else failed, they could run away, but the Zou Guiren, with the altar here, couldn't run.

...Then why is abandoning the altar the first thing you learn in the *Zhen Sui Shu*?

"Benefactor, focus on casting the spell, leave it to me!"

Just as he was thinking, looking at the mass of snakes and insects tangled together, and hadn't thought of a good solution, Butler Zhou beside the carriage had already rushed over anxiously.

He also had a good eye and knew what Hu Ma was struggling with. While shouting, he raised his hand, and silver light flashed in his hand. Just handful after handful of silver nails rained down on the ground.

When Hu Ma's snake-driving incantation stopped, the snakes and insects were about to struggle to swim out again.

But the silver needles were inserted into the ground. If they wanted to come out, their bellies would be cut open by the silver needles on the ground, a ghastly sight.

Immediately afterwards, Butler Zhou came forward again, and without knowing what he took out, he took two sips into his mouth, then took a deep breath, and suddenly spat forward.

A large amount of flame was spat out of his mouth, fiercely burning towards the snakes and insects.

The snakes and insects were scorched and turned over, and the flames sticking to their bodies did not extinguish, burning into their bones.

It must be said that, in terms of appearance, his move was much more fancy than Hu Ma's.

"The skills of the Acrobatics School are still useful..."

Hu Ma also took a deep look at Butler Zhou, wondering what he was thinking, but he turned his head first and focused his attention on the altar.

Now that the two sides had probed back and forth twice, although he was setting up the altar for the first time, he was still quite satisfied. The altar was set up steadily, and he had not been disrupted by the opponent's moves.

But next, it would probably be the real deal.

Looking at the red incense sticks inserted next to the altar, he was ready to invite the spirits.

Now he had to see what tricks the other party had so that when the Goddess of Universal Salvation of Suffering, Hong Deng Niangniang (Red Lantern Goddess), came, they could be wiped out in one fell swoop.

He was thinking in his heart, and he already had a complete idea in mind, but before he could say anything, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his forehead, as if a nail had been hammered in.

He hurriedly reached out to touch it, but there was nothing, but the feeling of a nail being hammered into his forehead was real and clear.

Before he could react, Zhang Agui had already said in a deep voice, "Be careful, the other party has begun to make a move."

...

...

"Strange, the other party's altar is set up differently from yesterday..."

Inside the forest, seeing that the snake formation was broken and the craftsman's nightmare magic seemed to have no effect on the other party's altar, he felt uneasy.

Cui Ganniang clearly didn't understand and said in a low voice, "I fought with their female Zou Guiren last night. That girl has extremely deep mana, but her altar is full of evil energy. She borrowed the power of the Wu Sha Shen (Five Evil Gods) to set up the altar!"

"But I rushed to invite you brothers over, and that's why."

"Those Wu Sha Shen are not so easy to invite. They are all gods in the mansion who have received incense and have great skills."

"Every time you invite them, you have to pay a great price, but I saw that the nun didn't even prepare yesterday and invited them casually, so I knew she must have paid other prices."

"I expected that she would definitely not be able to invite them a second time in a short period of time, so I rushed over today."

"But I didn't expect that the other party would set up an altar again today, and this altar is upright and has a feeling of being watertight."

"..."

"But they are not people who have entered the mansion."

The old man Shou Ye (Longevity Master) with a scar on his face smiled faintly and said, "Ganniang, you called us old brothers over to deal with a few kids. It seems like you're making a big deal out of it..."

"How did you get into a feud with these people? You still refuse to say it at this point?"

"..."

"Of course, I will tell you old brothers when the matter is done."

Cui Ganniang laughed dryly and said, "But now, let's help my sister get rid of a few things first!"

"Time is running out, let's finish the job early and have a drink earlier!"

"..."

Hearing her words, the others looked at each other and immediately busied themselves. Since the other party had set up an altar and was waiting, there would inevitably be a head-on collision. The initial probing was just probing, and they still had to show their true skills.

First, the craftsman who received the Qi Jia Xing Guan (Seven Shackles Punishment Official) from Cui Ganniang. He looked dull and honest, but his eyes also flashed with a fierce light.

He had received benefits as soon as he came, so he naturally had to work harder.

He picked up the wooden puppet given by Cui Ganniang, aimed it at the direction of the altar on the hillside, silently chanted the spell for a long time, then suddenly stopped, suddenly picked up a red paper, and pasted it on the head of the puppet.

Then, from the basket behind him, he took out a nail, aimed it at the puppet's head, and hammered it down hard.

"Bang!"

With one hit, the nail penetrated three-tenths of an inch into the wood.

With two hits, the nail had penetrated another inch and was firmly wedged into the puppet's head.

The people next to him felt a little uneasy in their hearts and didn't dare to look at the puppet with the nail hammered into its head.

Hammering nails into the head is the most vicious nightmare magic, no different from directly killing someone.

In normal times, if you want to use this method to harm someone, you must first get the other person's name, hair, or birthday information, the location of their residence, prepare everything, and then nail them.

But now, precisely because the Zou Guiren had set up an altar, right there in plain sight.

Therefore, he didn't even need to prepare. He aimed at the direction of the altar and directly started hammering the nail. This magic would inevitably be suffered by the person on the altar.

It is said in the martial world that harming the head overcomes the Zou Guiren, and that is the reason.

"Old brother is meticulous!"

Seeing the craftsman working hard, Cui Ganniang's eyes also had a bit of excited gloom.

While saying that, she sat down in front of the four black bone altars she had brought, her eyes looking extremely vicious: "That nest of hall ghosts was broken by your magic, but these four altars of soldiers and horses were also raised in reality. I want to see if you can handle it."

While speaking, she took off a shoe from her foot and kept patting the four altars.

While patting, she muttered something, her voice sounding as if she was crying. As she patted, the four altars began to shake, as if something was about to drill out of the altars.

Looking at her appearance, the people next to her understood how determined Cui Ganniang was to get those people.

Cui Ganniang is prestigious on this Pingnan Dao, relying on two magic weapons. One is the nest of hall ghosts. Once invited out, even people who have entered the mansion may not be able to cope with it.

But she was broken by the power of the Wu Sha Shen yesterday, and she had lost half of her skills.

But now, she has invited out these four altars of soldiers and horses. Inside, they are all evil ghosts that she has carefully sought out and refined.

The altar is full of resentment, harming people invisibly.

There is a method of raising altar aunts in the Acrobatics School, and Cui Ganniang's four altars can be said to be of the same lineage as the altar aunts, but even more vicious.

Now her spellcasting is exquisite. She needs to pat the bottom of the shoe forty-nine times to make the resentment of the things in the altar reach its peak. Otherwise, not to mention harming people, she will first harm herself.

As Cui Ganniang cast her spell, the two sedan chair bearers who brought her over reacted extremely quickly. Counting that she had patted seven or eight times respectively, they hurriedly took out four bundles of incense and burned them in front of the four altars.

Cui Ganniang patted the altar even harder, and the altar shook even more violently. The bundles of incense were like smoking a pipe, burning to the bottom in a puff.

Moreover, the burnt fragrance was actually absorbed into the altars.

"Four lords, wake up, it's time to eat..."

Only at this moment did Cui Ganniang suddenly stop patting with the sole of her shoe, turned over and kowtowed to the altar.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew around, and smoke began to come out of the four altars at the same time.

As if the fragrance they had just sucked in was now suddenly spit out at the same time.

It's just that the fragrance is extremely strange, with a cold air, and vaguely there are green-faced fangs of fierce ghosts, layer by layer floating towards the hillside outside the forest.

The manuscripts are a little bit behind, but it's a critical moment, so let's add another chapter to make everyone enjoy it.

(End of this chapter)