Never had he experienced such a dangerous situation. Two of his greatest skills were suddenly suppressed at the same moment.

The Zhenchong Bureau couldn't be summoned because the other party had disrupted the ten gates' positions.

But the Dawei Tiangong General Dharma Idol (Great威天公General 法相) was something he had cultivated himself. Although he had indeed taken shortcuts along the way, it was still something he had comprehended and condensed bit by bit. How could it be so easily restrained, even taken away, in front of these two people?

He felt unwilling, but unable to use his abilities of shousui (守岁) and zougui (走鬼), he could only feel helpless.

This sense of helplessness even made a bizarre thought jump out in Hu Ma's mind…

Could it be that he couldn't use these two great skills because they weren't really his?

The Dawei Tiangong General's ability was on Old Junmei's life.

The Zhenchong Bureau was on the lives of the Hu family's descendants.

Was it because he had never wholeheartedly become either of these that these two abilities…

Had never truly belonged to him?

"Bold妖人, release my friend…"

At this moment, a loud shout rang out not far away. A slender figure rushed over, her footwork wondrous, her fist solid. As soon as she appeared, she struck towards the Daughter Red's back.

Although her boxing was fierce, she still maintained the decorum of a noble lady. Even though this punch was meant to save someone from behind, she still shouted loudly, so she didn't appear to be ambushing.

It was Miss Zhou Si.

Although Hu Ma had told them to wait over there, Zhou Si wasn't Hu Ma's subordinate, so of course, she wouldn't listen.

Seeing that things were not good, she rushed up to help.

"Heh, the Zhou family?"

But the person codenamed Daughter Red only sneered. She allowed Miss Zhou Si to punch her, but she landed lightly, revealing only a paper doll. She reappeared more than thirty feet away, gently plucking out a string of white beads in her hand.

Each bead was crystal clear, looking like it was made of ground bones.

"As expected, the Hu family and the Zhou family are all in cahoots, all are the Da Luo Fa Jiao's (大罗法教) claws!"

In her sneering voice, she snapped the bead's string and then scattered them forward. Where they landed, each turned into a white-clothed female ghost, fluttering and rushing towards Miss Zhou Si, truly a trick of turning beans into soldiers.

The people of the Xinghunmen (刑魂门) were all good at raising, controlling, and refining ghosts, but her trick of scattering beans into soldiers was amazing, with each one possessing the ability of an anshen (案神).

Miss Zhou Si's shousui ability was already top-notch at the entrance level, but she was temporarily trapped on the spot.

But just as she attacked and trapped Miss Zhou Si, she suddenly felt a gust of yin wind pounce towards her. Her heart stirred, and she lightly dodged.

She saw Little Red Tang sneaking over from the darkness, trying to hug her leg, but she dodged it. The red thread in her hand flew lightly, wrapping around Little Red Tang's wrist, about to pull Little Red Tang over, but she couldn't pull it.

She was slightly surprised and took a closer look at Little Red Tang, suddenly realizing, "A little ghost that ran out of the underworld?"

A look of envy appeared on her face, and she smiled softly, "Little sister, how about coming with me?"

"I'll buy you candy to eat!"

"…"

Little Red Tang was very fierce, showing her sharp teeth, snapping the red thread with a *gabeng* sound. While being fierce, she shrank back.

Her ultimate move was to hug legs as a little ghost. If she couldn't hug, she had to slip away quickly.

In this moment of depression, Hu Ma also knew that Miss Zhou Si and Little Red Tang were rushing to rescue him, but he didn't expect that this person codenamed Daughter Red had such powerful means that even these two couldn't save him.

For a moment, his mind sank, and he felt that the nail stuck in the Dawei Tiangong General's forehead was digging deeper and deeper, even his brow was aching, as if it was nailed into his body.

Not only could he not use his shousui ability, but even his attention had become uncontrollably scattered and difficult to maintain.

At this moment, at the altar, Immortal Miaoshan had already rolled up her sleeves and shouted, "I'm going to help the leader!"

"Oh dear, Auntie, you can't go…"

Little Douguan desperately tugged at Immortal Miaoshan's sleeves, shouting, "Their skills are all much greater than yours!"

"If you go, you'll be sending yourself to your death…"

Immortal Miaoshan was very angry and raised her whisk, threatening to knock him, saying, "How dare you be so disrespectful to the leader?"

Little Douguan hurriedly hugged his head and said, "Auntie, have you forgotten which sect you are from? You don't need to go up to help!"

"I advised you to choose this sect because it's easy to save your life…"

Immortal Miaoshan reacted, frowning and said, "I don't think the skills in this sect are of much use."

"You see, in the sect, Senior Brothers never expect me to really accomplish anything."

Douguan said, "That has nothing to do with the skills Auntie you learned."

As he spoke, he gesticulated, and Immortal Miaoshan moved slightly, half-believing, finally not going to help, but instead stuck the whisk into the back of her neck, then found her baggage, rummaged for a while, and took out a gourd.

She shook it, and then pulled open the stopper. Little Douguan had already jumped to the side, took out a fire starter, and carefully lit the dry yellow weeds around him.

Immortal Miaoshan, facing Little Douguan's expectant eyes, aimed the gourd mouth at the faint clusters of flames.

The next moment, something seemed to spit out of the gourd. The flame actually formed a line of fire, extending straight forward, quickly burning to the side of Hu Ma and others. Suddenly the weeds swayed around, the flames rising, burning more and more vigorously.

"This is…"

Facing Immortal Miaoshan's attack, even Old Suanpan, who was anxiously and frantically making some decisions, was stunned.

The flag that had already been taken out was slowly stuffed back into his crotch, his eyes widened.

As soon as the fire started, even the Daughter Red and the people from the Haisoumen (害首门) were slightly startled. The people from the Haisoumen had to raise the lanterns higher to avoid being burned.

The people from the Xinghunmen also narrowed their eyes, spitting out a mouthful of yin wind to prevent the fire from burning them. Taking advantage of their distraction, Hu Ma keenly noticed and immediately gritted his teeth, wanting to raise himself up, but unexpectedly, he didn't succeed.

As soon as he raised up, the nail took the opportunity to drill into his forehead, causing unbearable pain. He seemed to be a snake nailed to the board.

And this extreme pain also made his unwillingness suddenly dissipate, and his thinking began to become uncontrollable.

The Dawei Tiangong General Dharma Idol had almost no flaws, why could the other party nail him down so easily? Even suppressing his spirit, making it impossible to use his skills?

It was fate!

He vaguely understood in his heart, thinking of the glance he took on the bridge.

It was precisely because his life was a patchwork, three lives twisted into one, and each one had a great impact on this world, with great weight, so they could only be entangled together, but never merged into one.

Also, because they didn't merge into one, there was a possibility of being nailed down separately by the other party, even the possibility of having this life extracted.

If it was only one life, then the other party, while extracting the Dawei Tiangong General Dharma Idol, would be extracting himself. It would be impossible for him to remain while the Dharma Idol was taken away.

The subtleties were so complex that it was difficult to summarize in one word. Only when the other party forcibly extracted the Dharma Idol did he truly feel the difference between these three lives. Only in this near-death moment, the horse-lantern-like retrospection could reveal the truth.

Also, at the moment of seeing through this method, Hu Ma suddenly captured the key, gritting his teeth.

The nail was nailing the Dawei Tiangong General Seal, or rather, nailing his life. In a trance, Hu Ma could even see the illusion of a nail piercing through his life palace.

At this moment, he had no time to think too much about other things, even to verify the truth. He just had a thought, and then became ruthless. His three pillars of Daoist cultivation suddenly burned out at the same time, and rolling purple Qi steamed up at this moment.

With a *boom*!

Whether it was the people from the Haisoumen or Daughter Red, their faces changed, and they hurriedly looked down.

They saw that the Dawei Tiangong General Dharma Idol had actually become real at this moment, incomparably heavy, dragging the chains wrapped around it with a *gabeng* sound. But Hu Ma had become silent, his whole person seeming to have lost his breath.

After a slight pause, she hurriedly used her magic power. Several iron chains clanged, about to drag the Dawei Tiangong General Dharma Idol into the coffin and seal it up.

But at this moment, Hu Ma gently exhaled.

He took the initiative to burn out his three pillars of Daoist cultivation, and his whole person returned to the state of emptiness.

The human body had vitality, and Daoist cultivation was vitality. With the three pillars of Daoist cultivation burned out, it was no different from being dead.

Normally, in this situation, the body would die, a mouthful of *yangqi* (殃气) would be exhaled, and then he would enter the intermediate yin, waiting for the separation of the three souls and seven spirits, becoming a true dead person.

And at the moment of entering the intermediate yin, a person's consciousness would dissipate, that is to say, at this time, people cannot think…

There was only an unusually relaxed feeling.

As if, coming to the intermediate yin realm, he had almost detached himself from the Dawei Tiangong General Seal Dharma Idol, and also detached himself from the identity of the Hu family. At this time, he was just himself, unaffected by those troubles, only himself, free and at ease.

"Shasha shasha…"

At the same time, there was also a subtle sound, as if it was ringing in his ears, something huge was approaching.

The thing's gaze was falling on him, surprised and helpless.

It seemed to feel that it shouldn't be like this, but seeing that Hu Ma had indeed sunk into the intermediate yin, it could only modify Hu Ma's lifespan and weight one by one, and re-record it on the book.

But just as Hu Ma was about to fall into a deep sleep, two places on his chest suddenly burned with pain.

These were the places where Granny had used iron hooks to pierce through and hang him up. They had long healed, but now they ached again, as if hooks had re-entered his body.

Hu Ma woke up in this pain, and also understood that he had indeed come to the intermediate yin body state that Old Suanpan had spoken of. An invisible sense of ruthlessness rose up, and he desperately opened his eyes, anger rolling out of his eyes.

The method of the Tongyin Meng family, the method of cultivation, word by word, clear and incomparable, appeared in his heart.

"The method of Tongyin (通阴) cultivates Daoist cultivation, and snatches lifespan from God!"

"Come!"

Chapter 20 Tongyin