Chapter 566 One Decree, Seven Kills

It was clear that when the hungry ghosts attacked various parts of Ming Prefecture, some had already anticipated that Ming Prefecture would be stirred up. Whether it was the one in Old Yin Mountain or the one from the Hu family, neither could hide any longer.

They just hadn't expected the commotion to be so great.

One decree, seven kills, Ming Prefecture was shaken.

Who knew how many monsters hiding in the shadows, upon hearing the clear sound of the Zhenchong (Suppression of Evil) Bureau's decree ringing in their ears, couldn't believe their ears. But then, they fell into a formless ecstasy. In the night, countless voices cried out:

"What a feast, truly a great feast! Seventh Granny from Qing Shi Town didn't lie. Even we are being invited to a banquet by important people…"

"..."

And the ghost runners spread throughout Ming Prefecture, whether they truly knew how to set up an altar or only knew how to casually arrange an incense table, were stunned upon hearing the Zhenchong Bureau's decree ringing in their ears:

"The Zhenchong Bureau's decree, the Zhenchong Bureau's decree, the decree that disappeared for twenty years has appeared…"

"Damn it, after enduring for twenty years, is it finally our turn, the ghost runners, to not reason with others?"

"..."

Ghost runners who understood the true skills knew that for twenty years, the Zhenchong Bureau's absence meant that the ghost running path had lost a major foundation. After all, half of the ghost runners' skills came from the common people, accumulated from various methods of treating ghosts, pacifying evil, inviting gods, and dispelling demons.

The other half came from rules. With rules, the ghost runners were tough, guarding the boundary between yin and yang, life and death, with the confidence to converse with ghosts, gods, and demons.

It was like how villagers mostly knew that if they were to spend the night in the wilderness, they could circle themselves with tree branches and place a stalk of wheat in front to avoid the invasion of yin spirits and evil entities. It wasn't that the tree branches had magical power, but that the stalk of wheat acted as a threshold.

With this threshold, where they were was considered a yang dwelling, and yin spirits couldn't enter without permission.

But the rules were already chaotic, and many of the ghost runners' methods sometimes seemed to work and sometimes didn't. Apart from the methods of inviting gods and ghosts, almost nothing else was taken as a true skill.

This process lasted for twenty years, causing the ghost runners to gradually decline. But now, hearing the Zhenchong Bureau's decree, the spirit of these ghost runners was immediately lifted. Who knew how many people unhesitatingly accepted the decree.

Sitting high on the altar, facing the dark and desolate night sky filled with evil winds, they chanted incantations: "Souls return to where souls belong, people go where people belong, the pure and bright human world, each goes its own way!"

Holding a wooden sword, or a small flag, or holding a bowl of water in their hands, they pointed, poked, and sprinkled forward. This was the decree, this was the law, the decree connected to ghosts and gods, the law connected to heaven and earth, this was being a ghost runner!

If it were just one altar, or if the magical power was weak, it wouldn't be worth mentioning.

But when countless altars simultaneously unleashed their magical power, it was like a vast gale interwoven together, permeating the land of a prefecture, as if the land of Ming Prefecture had suddenly stirred up wind and clouds.

"Hehe, haha…"

In the dark and desolate night sky, there were things wearing long white robes and with blurred faces, holding three incense sticks in their hands, leading hungry ghosts, taking advantage of the night to float towards different places.

Those hungry ghosts were ignorant and unaware, and these guiding spirits holding three incense sticks only knew to obey orders. If living people saw them, they would lose their souls, and if dead people saw them, they would have to kowtow by the roadside. But on the way, they suddenly heard strange laughter.

Even their blood-red eyes were momentarily confused, as if they saw candlelight all over the mountains and fields, and heard some vague murmuring in their ears. A kind of extremely uncomfortable feeling inexplicably arose in their hearts, and then they suddenly heard laughter coming from their ears.

This laughter was abrupt, and they suddenly stopped, trying their best to see, only to find that the one making this laughter was actually the shrine at the entrance of the village.

It was dark and nothing could be seen inside, but the laughter became more and more unrestrained and strange, and there were more and more of them. Gradually, laughter rang out from the surrounding desolate tombs, ancestral tablets in houses, the bottom of wells in villages, and even some old fire pits in the villages.

Not afraid of ghosts crying, only afraid of ghosts laughing.

The guiding spirits holding three incense sticks stopped in their tracks, their bodies trembling slightly. Watching the three incense sticks burning quietly in their hands, they were rapidly changing shape, actually turning into an ominous sign.

Even the dignified guiding spirits actually felt terror. In this endless laughter, they threw away the three incense sticks in their hands and tried to escape through the yin path.

But they couldn't escape. Paths of law, paths of decree, altars upon altars, blocked them, loud shouts echoed in their ears: "Ignoring yin and yang, borrowing the yin to march, obeying the Zhenchong Bureau's decree, kill!"

Countless iron chains flew from the night sky from afar with a clatter. The dignified guiding spirits, forcibly restrained by countless altars, their light and飘飘 figures looked as if they had been torn apart, and were directly detained in front of the various altars.

And the hungry ghosts left in the middle of the road were dazed, looking at everything around them that was unfamiliar. They should have been sent to the sides of various human-demon generals, but left on the way, they became like lost lambs, surrounded by strange eyes.

The desire to eat people and the fear of being eaten had always been concentrated on them at the same time, but now, it was the latter that was evoked.

"Splash…"

In the Niujiawan area, some hungry ghosts seized grain and were eager to cross the river to the more fertile land on the other side.

But unexpectedly, a huge wave of several zhang high was stirred up in the calm river, directly engulfing the hungry ghosts, people and boats, into the river. The hungry ghosts struggled to swim, trying to expose their mouths and noses, but their legs were all grabbed by the pale dead man's arms at the bottom of the river, and even if they were capable, they would be drowned alive in the water.

"What kind of monster dares to harm my soldiers?"

The human-demon general on the shore was furious, a sharp blade in his mouth, he jumped into the water to kill the monster that was causing trouble.

But he only heard a burst of crazy laughter, and an old turtle with a shell like a millstone floated in the river, laughing and fleeing in the river, stirring up turbulent undercurrents from time to time. The human-demon general tried his best to chase him, but he couldn't catch up, and could only watch his men drown.

"Ah yo…"

The villagers hiding on both sides of the river saw this scene and ran out one after another, both surprised and happy, all crying out:

"The river god has changed, the river god has really changed, not only does he no longer ask us for sacrifices, but he has actually learned to protect our people…"

"Build a temple, this time we must build a temple for the river god…"

"..."

This sound frightened the old turtle in the river so much that he shivered, and several zhang of river water splashed onto the shore, with a resentful scolding:

"Who dares to build a temple? Who dares to build a temple?"

"I used to swindle you for blood food to enjoy, and you built a temple to trap me. Now I obey the Zhenchong Bureau's Grand Master's order to help you protect the grain, but you want to harm me instead?"

"..."

"..."

Even more, in the deep mountains, some villagers were lighting torches, with huge stones and broken wood piled in front of the village entrance to prevent hungry ghosts from rushing in to grab grain.

But seeing that those hungry ghosts, although slow to move, were unstoppable, and seeing that there were countless of them, about to rush into the village, they unexpectedly heard foxes crying and ghosts howling on the mountain. On the cliffs, huge stones fell one after another, like a landslide, smashing countless hungry ghosts to death.

In the dazed and chaotic scene, some people even vaguely saw that even those trees seemed to have come alive, and were extending branches one by one, drilling into the wounds on the hungry ghosts' bodies.

Sucking blood and flesh with a sizzle, the leaves trembled comfortably.

Faced with the great changes, the people were mostly at a loss, but in their dreams, in the night, behind the door panels, in the bottom of the stove, they suddenly heard the painful scolding of their dead fathers, mothers, and great-grandfathers: "Unworthy descendants, unable to even protect a mouthful of grain."

"Now there are important people in charge, the Grain Protection General is setting out, even we dead people have to protect the grain, but you only know how to hide at home and cry?"

Scolded bloody by their ancestors, the living people woke up in shock, and organized the young and strong, all under the name of the Grain Protection General, to strangle the hungry ghosts everywhere. Wherever they went, they were protected by ghosts and gods, and their momentum was unstoppable.

Now the Grain Protection General is powerful. In just half a month, there are already more than 15,000 soldiers under his command.

At first glance, it is already a lot.

But compared to the entire Ming Prefecture, it is only a pitifully small amount. After all, no matter how famous the Grain Protection General is, he has only gathered those in the mountains who know him, or mountain bandits who want to make a name for themselves, or private soldiers raised by noble masters in the city.

Asking ordinary people to put down their hoes and pick up knives is almost like taking their lives, but being scolded by their ancestors is different. The number of people who picked up hoes and dung forks has increased several times.

The bloodiness of the Grain Protection Army is greater than that of ordinary people, but the ferocity of these hungry ghosts is stronger than that of the Grain Protection Army.

But who would have thought that, on the contrary, those honest people who would not leave their three-point field unless they had something to eat, once they started throwing away their hoes and picking up knives and guns, the surging vitality would suppress these hungry ghosts to death…

"Alas…"

And when these countless changes appeared in Ming Prefecture, even the Mountain Lord in Old Yin Mountain was caught off guard, sighing helplessly: "I asked you to help Ming Prefecture avoid this war, but you have dragged everyone in Ming Prefecture into it…"

"…That's right, solving it all at once is helping the people of Ming Prefecture avoid disaster even more."

"..."

His voice seemed to be complaining, but the corners of his mouth couldn't be suppressed, and seeing that Ming Prefecture was the altar, ghosts and gods were the soldiers, and the surging popularity had permeated the entire Ming Prefecture.

He only used a very short time to think about it, and simply waved his sleeve gently, looking at the few gloomy and terrifying places in Old Yin Mountain, and smiled: "The Zhenchong Bureau's decree starts from Ming Prefecture, and everyone can issue decrees."

"Since that's the case, then you should also go out and join in the fun!"

"After all, you also belong to the monsters of Ming Prefecture, don't you? Now you have a good background, and in the future, you will be spared from being implicated by me."

"..."

Therefore, when the entire Ming Prefecture was already changing dramatically, and the fortune was boiling, several gusts of evil wind suddenly blew out of Old Yin Mountain and fell to various parts of Ming Prefecture. In an instant, this situation, which had already reached its peak, added a few more good branches…