Twilight Boundary-Chapter 738 - 729 Code Name Nu’er Hong (Extra - for Votes)

The Ten Gates of Haishou: infinite calculations, endless transformations.

To harm someone, there was no need to show one's face. One merely had to calculate the position from afar and burn a single incense stick.

But those targeted by this Magic needed to realize it and immediately move from their original position to avoid harm.

Ultimately, this was because the Haishou Path was ill-suited for direct duels. Its Magic typically targeted an opponent's home, using it as a focal point to inflict harm from afar.

With one hand holding the carriage and coffin, and the other leading Little Hongtang, Hu Ma swiftly traveled several miles but still found his cultivation diminishing. He realized that the other's skill was immense, and this "Loss" position covered an extremely vast area.

He made a decision in an instant. Placing the carriage and coffin on the ground, he then said to Fourth Miss Zhou and Immortal Miaoshan, "Someone is causing trouble in the shadows. Stay here and watch over things for me. Don't move."

As he spoke, with a wave of his large sleeve, twenty-four magic flags fell, encircling the coffin and the people within.

He took a deep breath to clear his mind, scanned his surroundings, and pinpointed the location. The Heaven Measuring Boots appeared on his feet, and he sped away.

Ordinary people afflicted by the Haishou Path's Magic could only flee; they had no way to retaliate.

However, someone equally skilled in the arts of the Haishou Path could calculate their attacker's position and even counter-attack by burning an incense stick for them, thereby reversing the "Loss" and "Growth" dynamic.

Hu Ma had some understanding of the Haishou Path but didn't know its calculation methods. However, he possessed abilities from the Shousui and Walking Ghost Paths to deal with it.

First, he established a Walking Ghost Altar to suppress the local feng shui, making it harder for the opponent's methods to affect people.

However, completely suppressing it was impossible. The saying "Haishou overcomes Walking Ghost" wasn't just empty words.

Having protected his companions, he focused his mind and body, using the Walking Ghost technique to observe qi. Since this area was a "Loss" position, there had to be another spot designated as a "Growth" position, where earthly qi would be vigorously surging.

By observing the qi, he could discern the opponent's whereabouts. Once he rushed there, the outcome would be largely decided.

If a Haishou Path practitioner was approached by a Shousui man, their life was ninety-nine percent forfeit.

Hu Ma had been deeply embittered lately. Now, faced with this sudden turn of events, his expression was already cold. A spiritual light flashed from the Heaven Measuring Boots at his feet, and the surrounding scenery blurred as it rushed backward. In an instant, he had dashed more than ten miles away.

Above, the clouds had parted. In the moonlight, he clearly saw a figure crouching beside a wild hill, burning incense!

"Who are you, and why do you harm me?" Hu Ma shouted, his voice carrying the force of the Five Thunders Golden Toad Roar, making the air around him vibrate.

As he shouted, his feet stamped large pits into the ground. He lunged forward, his grab powerful and heavy. Even the incense burning before his opponent suddenly flickered and bent askew from the force.

The crouching figure merely tilted their head slightly, showing no fear. A contemptuous and strange smile appeared on their face. Scrambling aside on all fours, they instantly vanished.

A Hidden Word position?

Seeing the opponent vanish right before his eyes, Hu Ma realized the other's great skill. They had actually calculated the Hidden Word position just as he attacked, stepping into it and disappearing from his sight—a truly rare feat.

So, he halted his momentum and stomped his foot. The immense force shook the ground, causing the earth within a radius of tens of Zhang to churn and heave as if an earthquake had struck.

The person who had escaped into the Hidden Word Sect was jolted out by the tremor. Yet, they weren't flustered in the slightest. Instead, they used the force to leap into the air, clapping and laughing, "This kid is fierce! No wonder the Daluo Dharma Sect chose him to play this game of double agents with us..."

As they spoke, their body flipped upside-down, hands tracing circles.

At the moment he heard their voice, Hu Ma's face abruptly changed. What?

But just then, a sudden whirlwind blasted from afar. The wind was so fierce Hu Ma had to squint, feeling its force was no less than when he faced the Meng family's cruel Ghost Generals before the City of the Dead.

And at the whirlwind's end, a graceful figure became faintly visible. She wore light-colored clothes and walked forward quietly. When the wind reached its peak intensity, she suddenly flickered, appearing before Hu Ma with shocking abruptness, her slender hand reaching for his face.

Shangqiao?

Realizing the threat, Hu Ma stood firm, countering with a powerful Big Stone Breaking Hand, clashing forcefully with her.

Yet his opponent met the Shousui man's powerful blow without any sign of panic. She merely retreated lightly, borrowing the force of his attack, and slowly pulled a red thread from her sleeve, which she then bit.

Then, her palms twisted and turned. In an instant, she had intricately woven the red thread into a vague, long strip. Her little finger gently hooked the line.

A faint BUZZ!

Though the sound was minimal, the ground beneath Hu Ma's feet suddenly caved in. An invisible, mournful wail echoed as two massive arms burst through the soil. They seized Hu Ma's legs, and yin qi flooded into his marrow—this was clearly a technique from the Execution Soul Path.

Meanwhile, the person from the Haishou Path seized the opportunity. Their figure flipped and transformed as they rapidly circled Hu Ma, lightly hanging lanterns of black, red, yellow, and green around him.

"Who are you people?"

Perceiving the severe threat, Hu Ma acted without hesitation. His body shivered as he revealed his Dharma Form. The Great Mighty Heaven Master General's shadow stood towering, shaking the surroundings.

"We are here to retrieve what belongs to us."

The standing figure, seeing the Great Mighty Sky General Dharma Form, remained unflustered. Their eyes gleamed as they sternly declared, "It's better you die understanding. My codename is Nu'er Hong. Red and White Grape are also people I brought out."

"You conspired with the Daluo Dharma Sect to steal the Dharma Form of our Reincarnator ancestor, Lao Junmei. Did you never think that one day, we would come to take it back?"

As they spoke, a coffin nail appeared in their hand, aimed at Hu Ma's brow from seven or eight Zhang away.

Reincarnator...

The moment he realized their identity, Hu Ma's heart plummeted.

I'm still trying to verify all of this, and there's so much I haven't figured out, but they couldn't wait any longer.

The State Preceptor had said that someone was investigating the matter of the Twelve Ghost Altars and that, sooner or later, the investigation would lead to him. It seemed they had indeed been investigating all along, and now, they had truly found him.

Unwilling to accept this, he gritted his teeth and shouted fiercely, "You came too soon!"

With Master Ping's help in mending and refining his skills, his entire repertoire of techniques had long since reached the peak of perfection. Even someone who had achieved Shangqiao would find it difficult to harm him easily. Now, as his Divine Soul surged, the air around him grew hazy and indistinct.

The surrounding lanterns were thrown into disarray by this spiritual wind, and he prepared to withdraw.

"You're using our techniques against us?"

But as Hu Ma unleashed his power, the Great Mighty Master radiating ferocity, the woman codenamed Nu'er Hong merely gave a sudden cold smile.

The coffin nail in her hand suddenly flew forward.

HISS!

The coffin nail wasn't aimed at Hu Ma but instead pierced the brow of the Dharma Form manifested from his body. This Great Mighty Master Dharma Form was already top-tier within the Shousui Sect, complete in spirit and energy, a nearly flawless and splendid technique.

But now, somehow, the coffin nail had easily pierced its forehead.

The next moment, it was as if a great door boomed open behind Nu'er Hong. From within, endless, ghostly chains emerged and instantly wrapped around the Great Mighty Master.

Two ghostly figures, each seven or eight Zhang tall, erupted from the ground. They grabbed the chains and pulled back with all their might.

Then, beneath Hu Ma's feet, a coffin ten Zhang high, its authenticity impossible to discern, rose straight from the ground. The lid flew open, and the chains began to drag the Great Mighty Master into it.

Nu'er Hong's face was an icy mask, her gaze sharp as she said in a chilling voice, "Don't you know that this Great Mighty Sky General Seal was collaboratively developed by many? From the moment this Magic was created, a way to break the Magic was left in our hands!"

Are they trying to seize this Dharma Form?

Hu Ma was greatly shocked, feeling an enormous tearing force emanating from his Divine Soul.

This is clearly the Dharma Form I refined myself! Yet now, it doesn't obey me at all, as if it's about to detach from my body and be sealed in that coffin!

"Bravo! Bravo!" the Haishou Path member beside him exclaimed, clapping excitedly. "This kid has a really solid foundation, but he hasn't achieved Shangqiao. All his techniques are still mortal ones."

"Be careful he doesn't turn the tables on you! I'll use this 'Impairment' artifice first to ruin his cultivation!"

As he spoke, he pulled open a cloth bag from somewhere and emptied its contents onto the ground.

A putrid stench wafted over; the items were surprisingly a pile of dead fish and rotten prawns.

As he burned incense and chanted incantations, he pointed towards Hu Ma from afar. Astonishingly, the foul smell of the dead fish and rotten prawns began to fade. They seemed to become fresher and fresher. Perhaps it was a trick of the deep night, making it hard to see clearly, but some of the fish and prawns even seemed to twitch slightly.

At the same time, a faint, putrid odor began to emanate from Hu Ma's body, as if he were decaying.

Of his own Three Column Tao cultivation, half a column vanished in an instant. The remaining two and a half columns, tinged with Purple Qi, also began to deplete at a visible rate.

I understand now. The Haishou Path practitioner is using the Wangsun Technique on me! My cultivation is being forcibly replaced by that pile of fish and prawns. Once my cultivation is exhausted, my Dharma Form will be forcibly taken!

Do I have to summon the Zhensui Mansion?

This thought had just anxiously surfaced in his mind when the Haishou Path member beside him laughed heartily, "Thinking of calling the Zhensui Mansion? We have plenty of experience dealing with them, you know..."

As he spoke, the floating lanterns around them began to spin rapidly. The positions of the Ten Gates shifted quickly, becoming chaotic. Hu Ma's heart sank.

With the power of his Great Mighty Sky General Seal suddenly suppressed, Hu Ma found that few of his Walking Ghost Sect abilities could be deployed in such an urgent crisis. Even the twenty-four array flags had been left far behind to guard the coffin.

And with the positions of the Ten Gates altered, even if he were to summon the Zhensui Mansion now, the Golden Armored Warriors wouldn't be able to find his location.

Caught off guard, he had instantly fallen into a deadly trap.