Twilight Boundary

What else could be done except solving one problem after another? Go back to the Manor and hide?

If someone truly formidable came and he couldn't fight them, then he would just escape. But instead, the situation was such that evil spirits were rising everywhere, though none were insurmountable.

Handling them one by one wasn't difficult, but there seemed to be no end.

He had just dealt with the problem of the child being harassed by the Night Crying Man when news arrived that a certain family's eldest daughter had been enchanted. He had just gone over, tied up the girl, pinched her fingers, and sent away the possessing spirit, when yet another living person in a different family suddenly disappeared.

He had barely pulled someone out of a well when it was reported that another child had started crying, and all the surrounding torches had extinguished, impossible to relight.

Hu Ma and the others couldn't ignore these pleas. Whenever they resolved an issue in one place, another immediately demanded their attention. Just as they found a moment of respite, without even a chance to catch their breath, a new group of people would arrive, crying for help.

Could they ignore it?

If not addressed, even a minor evil spirit could cause a catastrophe.

Yet if they went, the disturbances were continuous, allowing no rest.

Rushing back and forth like this, they had already gone through two days and a night. Hu Ma and the Manor's workers were utterly exhausted, yet the troubles around them only seemed to multiply.

"Still haven't found it?"

Hu Ma led a group of workers, dashing around the Manor's surroundings. Meanwhile, on the desolate mountain beside Zhu Men Town, Great Incense Master Zheng Zhi'en accepted a food box just delivered by his old servant. Upon opening it, he found wine and meat.

He picked up a piece of fatty meat with his chopsticks, then took a sip of wine with a satisfied slurp.

From the look of sheer enjoyment on his face, it seemed as if he were savoring his last supper.

Yet, while he indulged himself, the green-clothed children beside him remained kneeling on the ground, their faces turning livid from the biting mountain wind.

One of them, finally unable to bear Zheng's display of comfort, shot a cold, dark look towards Incense Master Zheng and asked harshly, "Why the rush, Senior Brother?"

Incense Master Zheng smiled at that green-clothed child. "To force someone out," he said, "you need to stew them over a slow fire."

"You see, Old Master Qingyi merely blew a few breaths, and chaos erupted in several places. Whether it was Grass Heart Hall, the Mingzhou Prefecture government, or plum bossom lane, none of them initially wanted to intervene. However, the cries of the people ultimately forced them to take action."

"Even the Manor, which I never expected to step in, decided to act."

"I originally thought he would hide, cowering in some hole. That way, this pot of oil would get even hotter..."

"What's the use of them taking action?"

The green-clothed child said coolly, "If they all take action, and that person is mixed in with them, wouldn't it be even harder to find him?"

"If no one took action, then he truly couldn't be found," Incense Master Zheng stated slowly. "Since they did act, it will be difficult for them to withdraw."

Seeing his seemingly confident demeanor, even the somewhat unhinged green-clothed child found him abnormal. He sneered, "But if you keep dragging this out, what if those people can't hold on and some of them die?"

"If they die, they die..." Incense Master Zheng said lightly. "Without deaths, how could the situation reach the intensity our esteemed guest desires?"

The green-clothed child beside him finally understood Incense Master Zheng's intentions. His expression changed slightly, as if only at that moment did he truly comprehend the kind of man he was dealing with.

It wasn't just him; even the Evil Ghost mask beneath the fluttering Yellow Banner seemed to exude a chilling wave of yin qi.

The green-clothed child seemed to hear the mask speaking. His expression suddenly turned dark and sneering. "Incense Master Zheng," he said, "regardless of how things unfold, the crime of plunging an entire prefecture into chaos is not a minor one..."

Incense Master Zheng slowly picked up another piece of meat, placed it in his mouth, and chewed deliberately, as if determined to savor every last bit of its flavor, to commit this taste to memory.

Then, he chuckled self-mockingly and murmured, "Of course, it isn't minor. If it were, how could it ever have fallen to me?"

"Mage, I beg you, the children have started crying again..."

"Mage, hurry and save us! My mother has attracted something unknown and is crying and shouting, wanting to jump into the well..."

"Mage, please go take a look! Someone from the Zhao Family is stuffing handfuls of salt into their mouth; they're about to choke themselves to death..."

Voices intertwined as Hu Ma ran around without pause. People constantly came calling. Some even directly brought individuals afflicted by the disturbances, blocking his path and kowtowing.

Even the donkey was exhausted and had to be led back for a rest before being brought out again.

Hu Ma eventually stopped wanting to ride the donkey cart, relying instead on the Shousui man's stamina and his own two legs to run back and forth.

He couldn't count how many disturbances he had resolved. He only felt that the Shousui man's body was nearing its limit, his head was spinning, and the world around him seemed to tilt and swim.

Yet he couldn't refuse to help. Helping saved lives; not helping meant watching people perish.

And so, amidst this continuous rushing, when he was finally led by a throng of panicked villagers to the front of Shiyazi Village, his heart sank into despair...

There, he saw several women with vacant expressions, their eyes wide and unseeing, unresponsive to any calls.

"What could have snatched their souls away...?"

Looking at them, Hu Ma felt his head throb. He had finally encountered something beyond his understanding.

Over the past two days, he had managed to resolve several problems, albeit with difficulty, often only treating the symptoms and not the root cause.

But what he faced now was something he truly did not understand at all.

Could he simply shrug and say he didn't know?

Facing the villagers' terrified yet expectant gazes, Hu Ma, for a moment, didn't know how to explain the situation to them.

He simply didn't know what the people behind all this were thinking. Did they realize how many lives these evil spirits would claim once stirred up? How many living, breathing human beings would be snuffed out so easily?

Or did they simply not care?

And as for himself, rushing back and forth, dealing with these seemingly endless incidents—did it truly have any meaning?

The people of this world didn't seem to care about their own lives. Why should he, a Reincarnator, an outsider, concern himself with such matters?

Just at that moment, as the overwhelming chaos of events threatened to break Hu Ma, a man carrying a pole on his shoulder quietly made his way through the agitated villagers.

One end of his carrying pole supported an iron kettle with water heating up inside; the other end carried scissors, razors, towels, and similar items. He looked like a traveling barber.

He squeezed through the crowd, set down his pole, and cupped his hands towards Hu Ma with a smile. "Little Master, do you need a hand?"

Hu Ma was startled. He gathered himself and replied politely, "And you are, venerable master...?"

"I'm just a barber," the barber said with a smile. "But we're all neighbors here. When folks run into trouble, how can you not lend a hand if you're able?"

Looking at the man's sincere expression, Hu Ma felt a momentary daze.

The barber, however, didn't say much more. He simply cupped his hands again towards Hu Ma, then took out a bundle of incense, a few talismans, and a red line used for facial threading from his pole. Holding one end of the thread in his mouth and the other in his hand, he approached one of the soulless women.

He tied the thread to her finger, led her around in two circles while murmuring softly, and suddenly, the woman let out a loud cry. She had actually cried out—her soul had returned!

"This..."

Hu Ma was overcome with emotion. The sudden, unexpected joy even made him feel slightly dizzy.

"Let's go!"

Overjoyed, he bowed deeply and respectfully to the barber, then urged the donkey cart onward, ready to head to the next location.

Unexpectedly, just as he left the village and entered the path by the fields, an old ox approached them. A child with braided hair rode on its back, while an old man, surrounded by several villagers, slowly led the ox.

Upon seeing Hu Ma, they shouted, "Little Mage, you don't need to come to our village anymore!"

"This Old Master here helped us resolve the old lady's problem!"

Hu Ma was taken aback. He quickly jumped off the donkey cart and bowed respectfully to the old man leading the ox.

"Old Sir, you..."

"Haha, no need to call me Old Sir. It sounds too formal, and I'm not used to it."

The old man leading the ox grinned, revealing a dark, cavity-ridden set of teeth. "Little brother," he said, "I heard about all the work you've been doing around here."

"Just now, some folks sent word that things aren't peaceful over at Huozi Ridge. Let's all head over and see!"

Hu Ma immediately agreed. He turned the donkey cart around and followed them. The little child on the ox's back turned and giggled at him.

He and the old man walked towards Huozi Ridge. The area was already beyond the ten-mile radius of the Manor, but Hu Ma didn't dwell on that now. As they drew near, he saw from a distance a surge of yin qi rising into the sky. He drew a sharp breath, knowing this was something formidable.

But just then, pausing on a slope, he looked into the distance. On the small path leading to Huozi Ridge, he saw numerous figures hurrying in their direction.

There were hunchbacked old men, Martial Artists carrying swords and spears, and shyly-acting women with heads adorned with flowers...

Hu Ma even saw a stooped old woman with a cane walking towards him. She nodded and smiled, "You've done well, young man..."

For a fleeting moment, Hu Ma thought he saw Granny praising him. But when he rubbed his eyes, he saw it was a stranger, an old woman whose attire was merely somewhat similar. She smiled, greeted him, and walked past.

"Old Sir, this is..."

It was an ordinary scene, yet looking at it, Hu Ma felt an immense shock well up inside him, his voice turning hoarse.

"Just lending a hand..."

The old man leading the ox glanced around and smiled. "Wherever evil spirits cause trouble, Ghost Walkers must go."

"Someone sent word to us via a little ghost, letting us know about the chaos here. All the Ghost Walkers within a hundred miles who could make the journey have packed their gear and come over."

"These are troubled times. If neighbors don't help each other out when they encounter problems, how could anyone survive...?"