Twilight Boundary-Chapter 744 - 735: One Man Carries a Hundred Lives (Last Day for Monthly Ticket Lottery)

It was supposed to be a sure thing, but she hadn't expected her skills to decline after so many years without practice.

Immortal Miaoshan suddenly couldn't care less about her dignity. Panicked, she cried out, "OH NO!" and scrambled to recapture the calamity, only to see it moving with incredible speed, on the verge of escape.

"Where do you think you're going…"

Just as she was panicking, a figure suddenly darted out from the side—it was none other than Fourth Miss Zhou. Her agility and reflexes were far beyond what Immortal Miaoshan could compare to.

From over a hundred feet away, she still flashed forward, intercepting the Toothless Lord, and with a flying kick, sent the creature, which was mid-leap, tumbling back towards Immortal Miaoshan.

Immortal Miaoshan was immediately taken aback and exclaimed, "How could you kick something like that? Quickly, take off your shoe and burn it!"

"What?"

Fourth Miss Zhou didn't immediately understand, still thinking her kick had been rather brilliant.

Hu Ma flashed to Fourth Miss Zhou's side, helped her take off the shoe she had used to kick the Toothless Lord, and tossed it into the bushes. He then pulled a Fire Stick from his robes and threw it in after the shoe.

Flames immediately blazed up, consuming the shoe and the dry grass completely. He turned back to Fourth Miss Zhou and said, "Don't feel bad about the shoe. I'll get you a new pair."

Fourth Miss Zhou had to stand on one leg, wearing only white socks. She instinctively tried to hide her stockinged foot behind her other leg, her face flushing crimson with embarrassment.

Looking back, they saw Immortal Miaoshan had bound the Toothless Lord and was calling out urgently,

"Bring the vat!"

"..."

The Bean Official nearby immediately tossed aside his gong, ran behind a tree, and then came rushing over, carrying a large water vat.

Everyone in the Theft Disaster Sect had their own specialized item for collecting disasters; some used cloth bags, while Immortal Miaoshan specifically used a vat.

No one knew whose family the vat belonged to; Little Douguan had simply brought it over. But there was no time to worry about such details. Immortal Miaoshan flicked her silk thread, tossed the grotesque thing—which was clearly rotten and looked like it had been dead for days—into the vat, slammed the lid on, and began to rapidly chant a curse while circling the vat.

With the calamity inside the vat, as she chanted the curse, it would gradually be pacified, completing the seal.

Even though Immortal Miaoshan's foundational skills seemed rather lacking, when it came down to it, she had once nurtured ten vats of Blessed Corpses in the One Coin Sect, which was quite a significant undertaking.

Though her calamity-capturing techniques were rusty, she had plenty of experience.

As she chanted the curse now, the effects were excellent, and the commotion inside the vat gradually subsided.

But who could have expected it? Just as the sealing of the calamity seemed on the verge of success, several wails suddenly pierced the air from the direction of the distant village.

The wails were extremely sharp and sudden, and after only two sounds, they abruptly vanished.

But immediately afterward, an eerie wind suddenly began to howl, blowing from the village towards the mountain.

Hu Ma had just helped Fourth Miss Zhou burn her shoe, leaving her standing on one leg. His figure flickered, and he reappeared beside the doctor.

He had been silently watching Immortal Miaoshan search for the calamity and capture it, but the doctor's eyes always seemed to carry a hint of a smile that wasn't quite a smile. Especially when the wails from the village sounded, the doctor's figure swayed slightly, as if he wanted to leave.

Hu Ma reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, saying calmly, "Do you absolutely have to kill me?"

"And for that, you're willing to harm all the villagers?"

"..."

The doctor, seeing Hu Ma appear before him, showed no sign of panic. He allowed Hu Ma's hand to rest on his shoulder, simply turning his head to smile at him. "They were already supposed to die. I merely forcibly extended their lives, allowing them to cling to a breath. How can you say I harmed them?"

Hu Ma narrowed his eyes and asked softly, "Codename?"

He had already noticed something amiss back in the village. Those who practice medicine are naturally compassionate, dedicated to healing the sick and saving lives. But on the other hand, they become accustomed to life and death, sometimes growing cold and unfeeling. People of the Siming Path could heal illnesses and, more importantly, save lives. The mark of entry into this Path was the ability to save someone who was supposed to die. Those who advanced further understood the very essence of longevity and could forcibly extend a person's life. With a single word, they could decree life or death. But possessing such an ability didn't mean they would use it recklessly. Sickness is a natural part of life and death. This doctor, despite not knowing how to capture the calamity, had been keeping these villagers alive by a thread. But if the calamity wasn't removed, these villagers would die sooner or later, merely prolonging their suffering for a few more days. His skills were clearly not weak, yet he was engaged in this futile endeavor. There could only be one reason: he was here waiting for him, Hu Ma. So, when Immortal Miaoshan began to capture the calamity, the doctor had also withdrawn his Si Ming Magic. Thus, the villagers, who were already meant to die, would suddenly have their lifespans dissipate at this very moment. The calamity hadn't claimed any lives initially, so it wasn't very powerful. But now, just as it was about to be sealed, it had suddenly snatched lives, becoming instantly stronger. And just like that, trouble had landed squarely on Hu Ma and his companions.

"Codename Fall and Hit Wine. My compliments," the doctor said, turning with a smile despite Hu Ma's words. "I bear no personal grudges against you, but this village was indeed harmed by your Hu Family."

"Had I not sustained their lives, they would have died silently. It's clearly a debt owed by your Hu Family, but I fear you, a descendant of the Hu Family, are not even aware of it."

"Now that I've had them wait until you arrived, let's see if you can bring yourself to abandon them…"

"..."

As he spoke, his shoulder suddenly ducked, and a streak of white light shot out from his sleeve, forcing Hu Ma back. Simultaneously, he laughed loudly, "We doctors also make our living with knives, you know…"

"..."

If Hu Ma had acted then, he could still have captured him. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw ethereal figures drifting from the direction of the village, accompanied by the encroaching darkness of night.

Looking closely, he saw they were the likenesses of the gravely ill villagers.

After death, a person's spirit should enter the Intermediate Yin state, after which their seven souls disperse and their three souls depart the body.

But these villagers had been drawn by the calamity; their spiritual essences had not yet fully dispersed, nor had their awareness truly departed, before they were drawn here.

If they got close to the large vat, they would be consumed by the calamity inside. They would suffer the most miserable fate in the human world, utterly ceasing to exist.

Hu Ma's eyes narrowed. Without a moment's hesitation, he reached into Little Hongtang's basket and took out a bell.

It was the same bell Miss White Wine had lent him when he returned to Old Yin Mountain.

He shook the bell in a regular, clockwise motion. This was said to extend the lifespan of those nearby. Amidst the tinkling sounds, the approaching Divine Souls immediately slowed.

An invisible force even began to pull them back towards their physical bodies.

"You bunch of people who only dream of becoming immortals, when have you ever cared about the lives or deaths of the common folk?" the doctor's voice taunted.

"Having been reincarnated into this era, we knew long ago that this place was beyond saving. Better to make a quick, clean cut."

"Now that you're aboard the Daluo Dharma Sect's ship, why are you still pretending to be compassionate towards the common folk?"

As Hu Ma shook the bell, forcefully sustaining the villagers' lives, the doctor, while walking away, slowly raised his hand.

His wide sleeve swung open, and countless flickers of firelight from the surroundings flew into it.

Each flicker of firelight was from a deeply hidden oil lamp positioned around the village. They were all part of the Magic he had set up to sustain the villagers' lives.

As each lamp extinguished one by one, more villagers could no longer hold onto their lives and perished in an instant.

At that moment, the calamity in the vat struggled more fiercely, while the ringing of the bell in Hu Ma's hand grew faint and hoarse.

The Life-Shortening and Life-Extending Bell was not truly Hu Ma's; he had only borrowed it and could only barely manage to use it.

He could see he was about to fail in preventing the souls of the dead villagers from leaving their bodies and reaching the vat. A single misstep, and the calamity would instantly surge in power. It was likely that neither Immortal Miaoshan nor Fourth Miss Zhou would be able to escape the influence of such a powerful calamity. And all the villagers would become nothing more than fodder for this calamity.

"Quick, abandon the calamity and leave…"

Someone came running from a distance, shouting. It was Calculation, who had sensed something was amiss and was yelling at the top of his lungs.

With their abilities, saving the entire village was beyond them. However, they had more than enough skill to escape this calamity themselves. But should he flee? Yet, in that moment, Hu Ma felt as if he could see the doctor's cold sneer amidst the surrounding shadows. This whole affair had started because of him. If he hadn't arrived in time, if he hadn't known, then perhaps it wouldn't matter. But now that he knew, how could he possibly turn his back and flee?

He took a deep breath, his expression grim, and ordered in a deep voice, "Immortal Miaoshan, Fourth Miss Zhou, leave quickly."

"And act as my protectors. Ensure no one disrupts the area within a hundred zhang."

"..."

Hearing this, Immortal Miaoshan and Fourth Miss Zhou nodded quickly. As they spread apart to the left and right, Fourth Miss Zhou turned back and said, "In the future, call me Yingying!"

"Yingying, my foot! Is this really the time for that?!"

Hu Ma was speechless. He simply shot forward, and seeing the shadowy figures of the villagers being drawn from the village, he went straight to the large vat.

He quickly retrieved an item from his sleeve. It was a bag, its mouth bound with golden silk threads.

It was the very same bag that the mad son-in-law from the Theft Disaster Sect had given him on Old Yin Mountain to save his own life.

Since he knew this situation involved a calamity, Hu Ma had naturally brought this item with him. He couldn't help but find it a bit strange. Could that mad son-in-law have known he would encounter something like this and given him the bag for this very reason?

Though these thoughts crossed his mind, he didn't delay. He struck the large vat with his palm, shattering it. His control was precise, creating a hole just the size of a fist.

The calamity within immediately squeezed out through the hole. Hu Ma held up the bag and directly stuffed the calamity inside.

He tightened the mouth of the bag. The thing inside thrashed about wildly for a moment, then quickly fell still.

The item given by Benefit Sun's son-in-law was indeed much more effective than Immortal Miaoshan's methods; it suppressed the calamity with ease.

With the calamity captured, the souls that had drifted out of the village now had nowhere to go. They floated aimlessly and unconsciously throughout the forest.

Hu Ma raised the bell in his hand again and shook it in the regular, clockwise manner. All the villagers were sent back into their bodies, and they awoke with a start, as if from a dream.

"What a descendant of the Hu Family! What an evil-slaying artifact!"

But even as he saved the lives of all the villagers, the doctor's laughter rang out from the side, "Your destiny is indeed weighty. Your life alone is worth more than all these villagers combined, with plenty to spare!"

"But I'm eager to see if you truly have the courage to bear the weight of all these villagers' lives…"

"..."

As his voice fell, a malevolent wind suddenly swept through the mountains. Vaguely, a bizarrely shaped, hazy serpent, under deliberate guidance, began to raise its head.

In the wind, it seemed to catch Hu Ma's scent. Its face instantly lit up with ecstatic joy. Shaking its head and wagging its tail, it slithered over, like a suckling babe finding its mother.