Chapter 519 Suppressing Evil with the Golden Mace

"Senior, it is indeed time for me to retrieve the keepsake of the Hu family..."

He remembered when he first learned the art of guarding the year, Shopkeeper Wu Hong had told him that the Guardian of the Year was the least involved in karma?

But fate had decreed that he could only walk the path of the Ghost Walker, which was most entangled in karma...

But the strangest thing was that when the pressure on his mind reached its peak, the identity of the Transcendent vying for the world, the identity of the Hu family's descendant blocking the Meng family, even the identity of the blood food gang's little shopkeeper, who just wanted to be left alone, had become a rebel leader...

...It felt lighter!

It was probably like sweet potato liquor that had accumulated countless debts of yin and resentment; he might as well give up and stop caring since the debts were already too many to worry about.

So what was there to think about? A bitter smile touched his lips as he retracted his gaze and lightly bowed to the Mountain Lord before him, just going through the motions, afraid that this Senior Mountain Lord would hide away again if he bowed too deeply.

Then, he simply stood up and walked straight toward the millstone. His mood had become so stable for the first time since his reincarnation, as if the wind in the village had stopped.

He didn't know why, but when he reached the box, he couldn't help but look at the stone tablet still standing on the east side of the village. Now, the magic power on the tablet had completely dissipated, and the traces left here by Granny had disappeared.

But Hu Ma still saw her, as if she was standing by the stone tablet.

Hu Ma nodded silently to Granny, then turned around and went straight to the millstone.

Within his body, something deep within his blood seemed to be awakening. His identity as a Transcendent, the cautiousness of the blood food gang's little shopkeeper, all dissipated at this moment. He had only one identity left: the descendant of the Hu family, taking over his responsibilities.

So, he straightened his clothes, his expression solemn, and slowly stepped forward, bowing to the iron box.

At this moment, even the wind in the village seemed to have completely disappeared. All the Yin spirits in the village raised their heads and watched Hu Ma bow to the box.

Only Hu Ma's voice rang out: "Descendant of the Hu family, here to request the soldiers!"

"Whirr..."

The moment he spoke, the iron chains wrapped around the box instantly turned into sections of rotten straw rope.

Inside the box, lying the dark, heavy bronze mace, the Bi An (mythical wild beast) Dharma纹 with human faces and tiger claws on it, seemed to come alive, slowly stretching its body, its sinister gaze falling on Hu Ma's face.

Hu Ma rose, meeting the gaze of the Dharma纹 on the mace, slowly extended his palm, reached into the box, and grasped the mace handle. His entire Four Pillars Dao practice entered the incense burner, and the soul light around his body faintly flared up. Then, he lifted it upward with force.

"Hmm?"

With this effort, a trace of surprise arose in his heart again.

He remembered that when he borrowed the keepsake before, this keepsake was extremely heavy, and even with his Three Pillars Dao practice, it was exceptionally difficult to lift. Therefore, this time, he directly used Four Pillars Dao practice to lift it.

Although there was only a difference of one pillar of Dao practice, there was still the difference between inside and outside the Fu Gate (realm), and compared to that time, his strength was more than three times greater?

But holding this thing, he still felt it was so heavy, as if there was no difference from the last time he lifted it. One hand was not enough, so he used both hands to lift the iron mace out of the box.

Then, bit by bit, he raised it above his head.

Rumble!

The moment the bronze mace passed over his head, the nine sections of the mace gradually collided, emitting sounds of clanging, like invisible thunderclaps exploding one after another. Rolling gusts of wind came uninvited, swirling around Hu Ma's body and lifting the corners of his robe high.

Vaguely, Hu Ma seemed to have a hallucination, as if he had appeared in a place similar to a Golden Luan Hall (imperial palace), but it had inexplicably more sinister and solemn intent. He heard an extremely loud voice, high above, shouting sternly:

"Now bestow upon the suppressing-evil Hu Clan the Suppressing-Evil Golden Mace, to strike ghosts and eliminate evil, to destroy gods and attack temples. Do you dare to accept it?"

"Once you accept this mace, you must guard the boundary between Yin and Yang, the order between humans and ghosts. From the Nine Heavens Yin Division above to the Eight Sceneries Yellow Springs below, there is nothing that cannot be struck if the rules are violated. Can you bear this burden?"

"..."

"..."

Sound after sound of invisible shouts poured into Hu Ma's ears, shaking his whole body numb, as if his spirit was about to be unable to withstand the pressure. If there was even the slightest hesitation or guilty conscience, it seemed that his bones would be crushed by this mace.

But he gritted his teeth and held on, holding the mace steady, letting the shouts and thunderclaps echo in his ears. He only uttered a heavy shout:

"I dare!"

"..."

With a sound of agreement, the wind instantly spread in all directions. The aura on the mace, with him as the center, suddenly spread toward the entire dilapidated and oppressive village, forming countless overlaps, echoing one after another.

Not only his own answer, but in fact, all the previous heads of the Hu family had made such an answer when they took over the Suppressing-Evil Golden Mace. Only by making a promise to the mace could one become the master of the Hu family of Zhen Sui (suppressing the year).

The rolling wind swept in all directions. The countless unowned wronged souls around him instinctively felt fear and trembled, not daring to look at Hu Ma holding the mace. In fact, even standing in this village, they couldn't stand firmly and were almost blown away by the wind.

"Your sins are deep. Although you were harmed by that filthy thing, you cannot escape the karma that clings to your bones."

At the same time, the Mountain Lord, who was watching the ceremony beside him, looked at Hu Ma raising the bronze mace, his blurred face somewhat sighed, but still whispered to the wronged souls around him: "Therefore, you need to worship him."

"The suppressing-evil Hu family can ignore your karma and send you to where you should go..."

"To reverse the chaos and punish gods and attack ghosts is precisely the Hu family of Zhen Sui..."

"..."

These Yin spirits had been decaying for a long time, and they might not be able to understand what the Mountain Lord was saying, but they had already been shocked by the mace in Hu Ma's hand. They knelt down one after another, without raising their heads.

And a strange scene appeared. As they knelt down to Hu Ma, the rolling wind seemed to immediately let them go, whistling over their heads, sweeping away the remaining gloomy resentment in the village.

Some remnants carried on these wronged souls were also blown away by the wind, and even their Yin soul bodies seemed to become much lighter. The Mountain Lord smiled and gently spread his right sleeve, and countless Yin souls all entered his sleeve.

Then, he slowly raised his sleeve and dabbed at his eyes. Although his face was still blurred, it could be seen that his face already showed sincere joy:

"The Hu family of Zhen Sui has someone..."

"..."

"..."

Whoosh...

Not far from the Stone Box Village, in the Da Yang stockade, beside the old fire pit, a gust of Yin wind suddenly rose, actually blowing up the ashes from the old fire pit, which usually would not fly up.

Within these ashes, there was also a faint Yin wind rising. It was noon, and the sun was shining brightly, but this Yin Qi seemed to not be afraid of the sun at all, but lightly followed the wind, hovering gently in the sky above the old fire pit.

As if it was a trick of the eye, a hunched old woman seemed to appear within it. She floated in the sky above the Da Yang stockade and nodded gently in the direction of the Jue Hu Village (village of the childless).

Her face was a comforting smile, and it seemed to carry some expectation. After hesitating for a long time, she finally followed the wind and drifted northward.

In the far north, in a remote and desolate ancient tomb, ten ancient ancestral halls stood quietly. In front of each ancestral hall, there was a brazier, and inside were flames that burned year-round, dimly illuminating the world.

Arranged in a circle, there were ten braziers in total. One of them had been extinguished for twenty years.

But at this moment, in that brazier, there was a faint firelight, like a tender seedling, poking out bit by bit, and then, as if accumulating twenty years of strength, it instantly soared.

In an instant, it soared into the sky, directly suppressing the other nine braziers, making them dim and dull. All together, they could not stop the light of this one brazier.

"What?"

The tomb keeper woke up with a start, staring at the rising flame. After a long while, he suddenly reacted and hurriedly rushed to the ancestral hall behind the brazier, opened the lock on the heavy black door, and rushed in.

"Crack crack crack..."

A subtle shaking sound rang out. He fixed his eyes and saw that the memorial tablets in row after row, and even the memorial tablets that looked somewhat new, were trembling gently.

The tomb keeper was so frightened that sweat broke out on his forehead. He suddenly shouted: "Quick, guard the body and return the soul, it's time to elevate the position of Granny Bai..."

"No..."

Before he could hold the memorial tablet with trembling hands, a heavy voice rang out outside. A tall figure stood outside the ancestral hall, slowly bowing, slowly bowing down.

After bowing three times, he said in a deep voice: "It's not Granny Bai, it's Granny Hu."

"A widowed mother, a woman, who did not receive the true teachings of the Hu family, but took on the responsibility of the Zhen Sui lineage with her aging shoulders, now her merits are complete..."

"...In this entire ancestral hall, who is more qualified than her to be called a member of the Hu family?"

"..."

"..."

At the same moment, in the Meng family's ancestral home, the Madam, who was being massaged on her legs by a maid and dozing off, was also awakened. She cried out in distress and hurriedly ran to the ancestral hall, complaining incessantly: "What's going on..."

"In previous years, there wasn't any activity for a year or two, but now, one is following another. Are you not going to let people rest?"

"..."

In several other places, the old farmer working in the fields, the colorful clothes walking in the martial world, the herbalist collecting medicine in the deep mountains, the wealthy man sitting quietly in the dark room, the yamen runner quietly lighting a fire in the government office, also raised their heads, their expressions surprised and delighted:

"This family hasn't really died out, has it?"

"Now that the Hu family has appeared, then the other families don't need to hide anymore. It's time to go out into the world and prepare for the Stone Pavilion Agreement..."

(End of this chapter)