Twilight Boundary-Chapter 678 - 669: Loyalty Comes First Sweet Potato

"I told you not to leave, so there's no way you can!"

The moment Hu Ma issued the command in the Zhensui Mansion, a murderous aura surged from him. His eyes, cold and sharp, fixed upon Eldest Master Meng.

When he saw the Golden Armored Warriors being obstructed by the various Lords, he had already decided to capture the man himself.

Speaking of which, the relationship between the Meng family and the Hu Family was truly intriguing. The Hu Family's dharma methods, whether it was the Walking Ghost Path or the Zhensui Mansion, seemed to counter the Meng Family in every aspect.

Yet, precisely because the Meng Family was countered by the Hu Family, they had also devised various means to resist the Hu Family's techniques. Just like now; no matter how formidable the Zhensui Mansion or how powerful the Golden Armored Warriors, Eldest Master Meng could vanish without a trace.

Impossible to hold, with no trail to follow.

However, aside from the Hu Family's methods and the Zhensui Mansion, he still possessed the Great Mighty Sky General Seal Technique and its Dharma Image.

The true skill of a Shousui man lay in quick reactions and accurate identification. Once he had his sights on you, Eldest Master Meng, did you really think you could escape?

Of course, Hu Ma had never imagined that just as his Mana surged, his robes whipping in the wind, and he flashed out of the Zhensui Mansion, preparing to unleash his power and use his Shousui Path abilities to pursue and apprehend the man, he would suddenly hear the clamor of gongs and drums up ahead.

He saw, amidst the dense, dark clouds before him, a contingent of ghost soldiers and Ghost Generals approaching triumphantly. Leading them was a figure seated in a wooden basin.

Behind her, tightly bound by the Ghost Generals and struggling fiercely, was Eldest Master Meng.

The sight of her stunned Hu Ma. "Wait... why are you here?"

The person in the wooden basin, upon seeing Hu Ma, immediately tilted her head as if to confirm. Though she couldn't see Hu Ma's face clearly at that moment, upon hearing his voice and observing his reaction, she instantly became overjoyed.

She scrambled to her feet from the wooden basin, waving her hands vigorously. "Senior, Senior! I heard you were stirring up trouble here again..."

"I came to help!"

Looking at Sweet Potato's excited face, Hu Ma pinched himself a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

So... this only confused him more?

Taking a closer look, Sweet Potato appeared rather disheveled. Her small face was smudged with soot, and her wealthy madam's attire, despite her efforts to keep it neat, was torn in numerous places.

Looking around her, he saw a motley crew of Ghost Kings and ghost soldiers—tall, short, fat, and thin. Some had lolling tongues or had been cut in half at the waist; others were missing arms or legs. They incongruously sported human-skin drums and tattered flags. They looked as wretched as could be, yet each one was inexplicably elated, determined to present themselves as a proper army. And then there was Eldest Master Meng, held captive by them, his face a mask of utter despair...

"Wait a minute..."

It took Hu Ma a long moment to recover his wits. "Can someone please explain how you appeared here?"

"Eh?"

Sweet Potato looked utterly surprised. "Wasn't it you who asked me to come, Senior?"

This baffled Hu Ma even more. "Me?"

"Yes..." Sweet Potato answered with absolute certainty. While she helped hand over the captured Eldest Master Meng to Hu Ma, allowing the Golden Armored Warriors to restrain him, she began to chatter proudly, "Back then, wasn't it you who sent me to West Mountain Road in Wazhou?"

"How could I dare not take Senior's instructions to heart? So, I went down the list and dealt with them one by one!"

"I was worried I hadn't done a good enough job, so I even dealt with a few extra who weren't on the list..."

"You dealt with a few extra? You actually did that?" Hu Ma looked completely shocked. "If you were so dedicated, how come I never saw you return to report?"

Sweet Potato said, "Because I ran into a big one, someone I couldn't handle!"

Hu Ma was stunned. "There's actually someone you couldn't handle?"

"It was that Ten Miles Slope Grass Can God in Wazhou. He's a Ghost King, after all, with incredibly profound dharma methods!"

Sweet Potato stated, "Back then, I had only refined about thirty or forty percent of the Human Demon General. I had barely reached the Entering the Mansion level, so I was no match for him."

"...Honestly, that's on me!" Hu Ma listened and could only reflect on his own decision. "Sending you at that time to deal with a Ghost King-level entity was indeed putting a bit too much pressure on you."

"Although, I always believed that with your abilities, fighting those above your realm shouldn't have been much of a problem..."

Hearing this, Sweet Potato was instantly moved. "See? In the end, Senior, you're the one who trusts me the most..."

"This favor of recognizing my talent is hard to repay, not to mention the two thousand jin of Blood Food you promised?"

"At that time, I thought that no matter what, I couldn't let you, Senior, be disappointed. So, I began to rack my brains..."

Why is it that when I hear her say 'rack my brains,' I subconsciously feel a little scared? Hu Ma mused inwardly, forcing himself to perk up. "And then? Your brilliant plan was...?"

"At that time, I thought..." Sweet Potato said, "I definitely couldn't beat that Ghost King alone. But with more people, it should work, right?"

"Blood Qi suppresses evil spirits, after all!"

"Of course, a powerful ghost of that caliber isn't someone you can deal with by just grabbing a few villagers. So, I inquired about the local situation and learned about a certain Waguan Mountain Three-Headed Jiao, a grasshead king with tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, whose influence spanned several Prefectures."

"His soldiers had all seen blood. If he helped, getting rid of this Ghost King shouldn't be a big problem."

Hu Ma immediately understood her idea but found it instantly absurd. "Anyone who can become a grasshead king is an exceptional individual, a dragon among men. Even if the king himself is reckless, his subordinates are highly skilled individuals. How could they be so easily tricked by you?"

"Besides, if they're both in Wazhou, how could you be sure this grasshead king wasn't acquainted with that Ghost King?"

"Senior, your foresight is truly godlike..." Sweet Potato sighed. "That Ghost King was actually the Protector God of the Three-Headed Jiao..."

Hu Ma was even more astonished. "Then you..."

"I didn't trick anyone..." Sweet Potato said. "I just found out where the Three-Headed Jiao's ancestral tomb was and buried three hundred jin of Blood Food there."

Hu Ma: "???"

Sweet Potato elaborated, "Then I went and provoked that Ghost King. Oh, he was so furious! He chased me for more than three hundred li. And as he chased me, he ended up at the Three-Headed Jiao's ancestral tomb and smelled the scent of the blood energy..."

"I have to say, Senior, when that evil spirit saw the Blood Food, it truly couldn't control itself. It completely forgot about chasing me, and all considerations of friendship or rules went out the window..."

"If I were the Three-Headed Jiao and saw the state of the ancestral tomb, I wouldn't have spared that Ghost King either..."

Who the hell could spare him after that? Hu Ma thought, surprisingly feeling no sense of relief. He was genuinely terrified by Sweet Potato.

Looking at Sweet Potato, who was still flushed with excitement and clearly hadn't had her fill of adventure, Hu Ma took a long time to process everything before sighing deeply. "So, to kill that Ghost King, you instigated the Three-Headed Jiao."

"But because the flaw in your plan was spotted by capable people under the Three-Headed Jiao, to rid yourself of that huge trouble, you then 'persuaded' several other prominent families and two grasshead kings to go make trouble for the Three-Headed Jiao..."

"...Anyway, what's with that little flag of yours?"

Hearing Hu Ma's question, Sweet Potato immediately presented it like a treasure. With a wave, a gust of yin wind howled, and it sounded as if tens of thousands of ghosts were wailing.

"Picked it up!"

"Yes, yes, you 'picked it up'..." Hu Ma sighed helplessly. "You picked this flag up from their battlefield. Feeling it would be a waste otherwise, you collected the souls of all the soldiers killed on that battlefield into the flag."

"And as a result, because the incident escalated too much, you caught the attention of the Impermanence Li Family. They came to apprehend you, and having no other option, you fled into the underworld, stormed through the Ghost Gate, and hid at the Clothes Stripping Pavilion?"

"Yes!" Sweet Potato said proudly. "I know the Impermanence Li Family all too well. Once I hid beyond the Ghost Gate, they stopped chasing me."

"...However, perhaps because I stirred up a bit too much trouble, they still didn't want to give up."

"Then, they even asked the Meng Family to come over and catch me!"

Hu Ma's mind raced, connecting the dots. When he first arrived, he had indeed seen the Meng Family and Noble Zhang joining forces to catch some 'evildoer.' He asked, "Knowing people were coming to catch you, you still dared to come closer? Shouldn't you have run as far away as possible?"

"That was the plan at first..." Sweet Potato said. "But I don't know why, just as they were about to grab me, they suddenly seemed to receive some urgent news and retreated hastily. I thought, how could they give up halfway through trying to catch me?"

"Every other time, they wouldn't rest until they caught me!"

"Since they gave up on even me, it must mean something important is happening here. So, I decided to follow them and take a look..."

"Just as I reached the outskirts of the City of the Dead, I met those two kind people—a young man and a young woman. They told me this was the City of the Dead and that some important figures were fighting intensely inside, urging me to leave quickly."

"I figured they weren't telling me the details because they thought my status was too low. So, I took out the token you gave me, Senior—the one for a Walking Ghost Sword-Catching Small Hall Officer."

"Upon seeing it, those two suddenly got very excited..."

Sweet Potato's expression turned serious and earnest as she continued, "When I heard a Walking Ghost Great Sword-Catcher was here, fighting someone?"

"How could I hide then?"

"Senior's business is my business too!"

"So I immediately brought over this group of good brothers I met down below!"

"I..."

Listening to Sweet Potato's lengthy, animated explanation, Hu Ma found himself at a loss for words.

After a long pause, he let out a low sigh. "I really... thank you..."

"We're on the same side, why be so polite?" Sweet Potato waved her hand dismissively, then craned her neck, looking around. "Is there anything else that needs resolving here?"

Hu Ma took a deep breath and gently waved his hand. Four Golden Armored Warriors immediately approached. Amidst the flickering golden light, Eldest Master Meng's yin soul was seized, bound in chains, and pierced with golden spikes. Without further ado, he was dragged into the Zhensui Mansion and pressed beneath the incense burner. Hu Ma then lowered his head and looked down.

Below the City of the Dead, the endless skeletons had returned to their slumber. Only faint glimmers of light remained, like distant eyes watching Hu Ma.

After a long moment, he let out a soft sigh, averted his gaze, and said, "Let's head up first!"

"There's nothing more to do down below, but it's still lively up above. It's time for the Meng Family to pay a hefty price for provoking a Reincarnator..."