Zhang Juan indeed had a fiery temper. She actually brought a large group of people back to cause trouble, and judging by her furious demeanor, she seemed ready to kill Shui Miao. Zhang Juan’s husband, Li Ermou, originally was a small-time hooligan in town, idle and lazy all day. The people he brought this time were mostly his gang of disreputable friends.
These people were slackers, idlers, and habitual tricksters who engaged in all sorts of mischief, deceit, and theft—they were truly capable of any evil deed.
Today, this group had come to help Li Ermou seize the family inheritance.
Logically, Zhang Juan shouldn’t have acted this way, but as the saying goes, “He who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and he who stays near ink gets stained black.” After marrying Li Ermou, Zhang Juan had been mingling with these slackers every day. Over time, her heart had turned dark. Moreover, Zhang Juan had thought about it repeatedly after returning home and felt that Zhang Ling was acting suspiciously. Normally, Zhang Ling was gentle and honest, not even daring to kill a frog. But after being missing for two days and returning, he had completely changed—he dared to hit people, and hit them so harshly!
Therefore, Zhang Juan felt that her younger brother had some issues.
However, just as the group arrived at the doorstep, they saw the black-clothed Mabo standing in front of the gate. Li Ermou and Zhang Juan feared no one else, but they had a bit of fear toward Mabo, because she was the village’s eastern-end spiritual medium, very powerful and untouchable. The gang of ruffians, shouting loudly, suddenly saw Mabo and immediately stopped their steps.
Mabo looked emotionlessly at Zhang Juan and pointed at the piled luggage beside her, saying, “Juanzi, take your things and leave. Your youngest brother is now my junior apprentice, and I won’t let you harm him. Today, whether you want to give me face or not, you have to give it.”
“What!?”
As soon as Mabo spoke, everyone was shocked, and even the young woman behind her was surprised, quickly glancing at Shui Miao beside her.
“Mabo, this is my family matter!”
Zhang Juan got a bit anxious.
Mabo gave a sinister smile, “I’ve already made myself very clear. Are you saying this means you don’t want to give me face?”
On the ground beside Mabo lay a bamboo basket, inside which were several paper figurines—some male, some female, some old, some young. Mabo turned, squatted down, picked up the paper figurines one by one, and placed them on the ground indifferently. Then she said to the figurines, “Ancestors of various families, today I, Mabo, have been ordered by the Great Immortal to protect my junior apprentice’s family. The matters of these younger generations, their rights and wrongs, as an outsider I shouldn’t comment much. Please, ancestors of various families, appear and speak for me…”
After finishing her words, Mabo began chanting incantations toward the paper figurines. After finishing the incantations, she directly turned and walked into the courtyard.
Seeing this scene, Li Ermou and his gang were stunned, looking at each other in confusion, not knowing what to do.
Zhang Juan frowned and, swallowing hard, shouted at Mabo, “Mabo, you’re really bullying people! This is my home. Zhang Ling must be under your control. My younger brother used to not even dare to step on an ant. This time he returned and beat our family of three. Now you come out causing trouble again! If the ancestors appear, they will support me, definitely not you!”
Zhang Juan yelled loudly but dared not cross the line of paper figurines.
Five or six paper figurines lined up at the entrance, moving slightly in the wind, making people feel uneasy.
If Mabo had indeed summoned the ancestors of each family, then stepping over these paper figurines would be a great insult to the ancestors.
As a village person, Zhang Juan naturally knew how powerful Mabo was, so she argued loudly, accusing Mabo of being the real villain.
Indeed, as soon as Zhang Juan spoke, Mabo’s face darkened. She “plopped” to her knees before one of the paper figurines and muttered, “Old Master Zhang, you’ve heard this yourself. I, Mabo, have always worked for everyone’s benefit, always seeking fairness, never taking sides. Today, your descendants speak of me this way. Even if you don’t respect me, you must respect the Great Immortal’s authority and restore justice for me. Otherwise, I won’t accept it, and neither will my Great Immortal.”
To outsiders, Mabo kneeling and speaking like this meant nothing.
But to Zhang Juan, who had seen Mabo’s power before, this was an extremely malicious attack. Zhang Juan turned pale with fear, quickly knelt on the ground, and began kowtowing to the paper figurines while crying, “Ancestors, Old Master, it’s me, Zhang Juan! My life is so bitter! Since childhood, I was raised as an adopted child, but I still carry the Zhang name! Now my elder brothers have passed away, my husband and I have taken care of the elders—whether we have merits or not, we’ve endured hardships! Now we’re being driven out of the house, and my younger brother is under your control. Please, ancestors, help us!”
Zhang Juan shouted loudly, crying and wailing, attracting many villagers to gather around.
Such an event happening so early in the morning caused everyone to watch from afar, afraid to gossip.
“Damn the Great Immortal!”
Suddenly, Li Gang, the son of Li Ermou, rushed into the courtyard wielding a cleaver, kicked over several paper figurines, and charged at Mabo with the cleaver, yelling, “Damn it, pretending to be a ghost! I’ll kill you!”
Li Gang swung the cleaver straight at Mabo…
“Stop!!”
Zhang Juan reacted quickly and shouted loudly.
Li Ermou also rushed to stop his son—killing someone would lead to execution.
But at that moment, Li Gang’s body suddenly froze, his mouth twisted, and his eyes rolled wildly.
Seeing their son like this, Li Ermou and his gang of hooligans were stunned with fear.
Mabo still knelt on the ground.
At this moment, Mabo slowly lifted her head and asked Zhang Juan, “Do you admit your mistake or not?”
“I… I…”
Zhang Juan, stubborn by nature, couldn’t swallow her pride. Instead of responding to Mabo, she continued crying and shouting, pleading with the ancestors to help her.
Seeing this, Mabo turned and knelt, bowing four times to the frozen Li Gang…
After finishing the bows, Mabo stood up.
Li Gang immediately collapsed to the ground, motionless. Li Ermou was startled and rushed forward, only to find his son already lifeless!
“Old witch! You killed my son!”
Li Ermou suddenly roared and charged at Mabo, ready to fight to the death. At that moment, a sudden gust of cold wind blew, stinging Li Ermou’s eyes painfully, causing him to roll on the ground in agony.
Seeing this, the gang of hooligans turned and fled.
At this moment, Shui Miao suddenly saw a dark mist rising from the ground, forming a wall-like barrier. Several ghosts appeared behind the mist, pushing forward and blocking the crowd.
“Could this be the legendary ghost wall?”
Shui Miao’s mind stirred. Until now, he hadn’t seen the Great Immortal act, only sensing a dark aura guarding Mabo. Now, as Li Ermou’s gang tried to escape, the elderly ghosts emerged from the ground one by one, forming a wall of dark mist. This greatly intrigued Shui Miao—why was Mabo targeting these people?
Seeing they couldn’t escape, the group quickly knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Mabo and begging for mercy.
Mabo gave a cold snort, walked up to the group, and began slapping their heads while saying, “I told you not to behave well, I told you to hang around aimlessly. You dare to come to our Shuilong Ridge to cause trouble? You all want to die, right? I’ll beat you to death, beat you to death…”
Mabo’s actions resembled an elder scolding disobedient descendants.
But Shui Miao noticed something odd about Mabo’s behavior. She struck each person’s crown three times in a rhythmic pattern—not too hard, definitely not painful. Yet Shui Miao noticed that the heads of those beaten immediately turned dull and lifeless. This reminded him instantly of a common saying among fortune tellers: “a darkened hall of fate.”
The crown of the head is the human body’s “sky window,” used to absorb yang energy during the day and yin energy at night. Now, Mabo was injecting dark energy into their crowns, forcing their yang energy and vital essence to escape through their mouths and noses. As a result, they would suffer great losses of vitality and endure a long streak of bad luck.
Could it be that the Great Immortal within Mabo was absorbing their vital energy?
Thinking this, Shui Miao’s mind stirred. He quickly stepped up beside Mabo and saw that she was indeed inhaling deeply. Shui Miao, now only able to see dark energy and no other types of energy, could only judge whether Mabo was absorbing the group’s vital essence by observing her breathing.
Seeing Shui Miao approach and stare at her intently, Mabo hesitated slightly, immediately changed her hand gesture, gave the person’s head a light push, and turned away angrily, saying, “All of you, get out! If you dare to come back to our Shuilong Ridge again, I’ll make sure you never return!”
“Mabo, I… I… I know I was wrong…”
Seeing her son and husband lying on the ground, Zhang Juan finally gave in.
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