Ita Era

Chapter 177 Divine Punishment
Ding Shi said, "You two go together and don't separate. I'll go to the west of the village and ask each household, while you go to the east of the village and ask each household. Come back here in an hour."

The three left Granny Liu's house. A black dot flew out from the little nun's body, flew to the second-floor attic, and entered the coffin. Granny Liu in the coffin pointed her finger at the black dot, pressed it to her ear, and listened to what they had just said.

An hour later, the three returned to Granny Liu's house.

Ding Shi said, "The three of them saw Granny Liu buy pork at the village entrance and then go home, and they never saw her again. I also looked at the meat stall for a while at the time, and I guess that's when the ghost mark was planted."

The monk said, "We obtained the same information as you: no one has seen Granny Liu since she went home."

Ding Shi looked at the quiet house and squinted, saying, "So, she's hiding."

At the hour of Ding, he ran, jumped, and passed through the thin wooden planks of the attic.

Faced with this impressive scene, the monk couldn't help but ask, "Could pure Force be the answer for this version?"

Xiao Ni said, "His strength lies in his high Force equivalent. If an ordinary person can get a 10-point bonus by concentrating Force in their left hand, he can get a 10-point bonus throughout his body. If he concentrates all his Force in his left hand, he can get a 100 or even 200-point bonus."

The monk said, "That's not how it works. If his left hand reaches 100 points of bonus, he has to give 20 points of bonus to his arm, otherwise he will injure himself. He does have a high Force equivalent, but more importantly, he is skilled in using the Force."

The coffin lid in the attic was half open. There was no one inside, only a piece of paper: "Tonight at 11 o'clock, under the locust tree by the village ancestral hall, exchange Wang Zhu for the Taoist nun. No waiting after that time."

Wang Zhu is getting married tomorrow morning and is currently staying at Tie Zhu's house.

Ding Shi crumpled the paper into a ball, rubbed it in his palm until it turned into pieces.

Ding Shi leaped down, but without the graceful lightness of a martial arts technique, he only crashed to the ground, sending dust flying everywhere.

"Ptooey, ptooey!" The two spat in unison.

Xiao Ni picked a grain of sand from her lips and angrily kicked Ding Shi. Ding Shi, feeling slighted, said, "Tonight at 11 PM, under the locust tree by the village ancestral hall, the final battle. If we win, we take the Daoist nun away. If we lose, Huang You can choose one of us to take away."

The monk and the young nun looked at Ding Shi together: We don't believe it.

Ding Shijing: Why?
Monk and Nun: Her goal in fighting three people was to take one away. Why didn't she just fight one person directly? Why didn't she just fight us directly?
Ding Shi: "That's how it is." If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do. Ding Shi didn't actually say the classic scumbag line, but that's the gist of it.

One reason was that Ding Shi didn't want to drag Tie Zhu's family into this again. Another reason was that Ding Shi didn't want to follow the other party's lead. And yet another reason was that Ding Shi wanted to stir up trouble.

There was nothing the monks and nuns could do if they didn't believe him. Ding Shi said, "Next, we'll liven up the village."

At the village entrance, the monk channeled his inner energy into his voice and roared, "Wanted: Murderer Granny Liu! 20 stab wounds for providing clues, 50 stab wounds for capturing her alive!" He then walked towards the village.

Xiao Ni was at the end of the village, walking and shouting like a monk.

As for Ding Shi, he is the investor, the strategist, and the big spender.

The Demon Mother may be alluring, but money is even more alluring. If you make offerings to the Demon Mother, will she give you 20 dollars? Besides, the Six Grannies are not the same as the Demon Mother.

Ding Shi stood on a locust tree branch, watching as many villagers began to take action. They knew that evil spirits rarely came out during the day. Since they had nothing better to do than idle after a long day, people from every household went out to search for the missing person.

After walking around for a while, Xiao Ni and the monk started raising the price: "50 dollars for providing clues about Granny Liu, 200 dollars for capturing Granny Liu alive." Now, even Tie Zhu, the village chief, and the funeral shop employees joined the search for Granny Liu. Apart from the village chief asking a few questions, no one else cared why Granny Liu was wanted or who she had killed.

A middle-aged man ran quickly toward Xiao Ni and whispered, "Grandma Liu is at the brick kiln." The brick kiln was located deep in the west of the village and was a place for firing bricks and tiles, but it has now been abandoned.

Xiao Ni immediately shouted, "Sixth Granny is at the kiln, charge! Brother, I'll give you the money once it's confirmed."

The middle-aged man asked, "You're not lying to me, are you?"

Xiao Ni said earnestly, "A middleman doesn't lie to a middleman."

The monk responded with a shout, and then nearly two hundred villagers, carrying farm tools and implements, swarmed toward the kiln.

Ding Shi followed behind and then saw a black mist rise into the sky and fall to the ground like a cannonball, forming a black mist shockwave that swept through the villagers.

Almost simultaneously, the previously cloudless sky instantly changed, with dark clouds surging and three bolts of lightning ripping through the sky, striking the kiln directly.

Ding Shi was stunned for a moment; he hadn't expected things to escalate to this extent. He hadn't anticipated Huang You's massacre of the villagers, nor had he expected Heaven to send down lightning directly.

If Huang You didn't go on a killing spree against the villagers surrounding him, what else could he do? Scare them away? No, because Ding Shi would raise the price: 500, 1000, 2000... Two catties of pork for only one knife, four thousand catties of pork right in front of you, are you willing to fight for it?

Huang You made the best choice, using the massacre of villagers to intimidate them, but she also paid the price.

However, Ding Shi felt it wasn't that simple.

Granny Liu's body was charred black, her clothes seemingly melted away, tightly wrapping around her already small frame. The monk stepped forward and gently kicked her, instantly shattering Granny Liu's body into countless pieces.

The village chief's voice startled everyone: "Quick, save them!"

More than forty villagers were lying on the ground, dozens of villagers nearby were coughing and vomiting incessantly, and villagers further away were feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

Xiao Ni cast a dispel spell, and the three villagers covered by the spell immediately recovered. Xiao Ni cast a second dispel spell, a third…

However, even though Xiao Ni used up all her magic, she could only save the living villagers; the more than forty villagers who had already fallen closed their eyes forever.

Huang You is dead, and the young nun saves people, so the villagers direct their anger at the monk for losing their loved ones. As for Ding Shi, he doesn't appear at all; he's the behind-the-scenes financier, the client, and no matter how many people die, someone will always take the blame for him.

Of course, Mr. Ding had principles; if he had known so many people would die, he would never have acted recklessly.

The monk didn't implicate Ding Shi; instead, he wisely fled. Ding Shi was a man of his word; he went to a funeral parlor and spent $1 to buy $200 worth of paper money to burn for the thieving heaven.

The funeral parlor was incredibly busy. The village chief first comforted the families of the deceased villagers, then began organizing the villagers to collect the bodies. However, there were only fifteen coffins available. Tie Zhu and the other carpenters immediately went home to work on them, noting that they didn't need to be painted, just enough to cover the bodies. Even so, ten coffins were still short.

The village chief took it upon himself to requisition coffins from empty houses and then pay for coffins that others had prepared for him.

The encoffining was not completed until 11 p.m. The village chief told everyone to go home, and the coffins were placed on an open space near the kiln. The burial would be arranged first thing tomorrow morning.

According to the customs of Tianmen Village, the burial site for villagers is the main hill of Sanlifen (Three Mile Graves). However, digging more than 40 graves in one morning is simply too difficult. In the end, they could only be buried in the same pit as outsiders, with a single coffin and a wooden plank as a tombstone. Therefore, the village chief was worried that the deceased's family would cause trouble.

The meeting between the village chief and several elders was held at Tiezhu's house. It was nothing special; they just discussed the arrangements.

For Tie Zhu's family, the bigger problem is Wang Zhu's wedding tomorrow. The scheduled time for the wedding procession is 9:00 AM tomorrow, and there's a high chance that another inauspicious time will be involved. Someone must go to Banxi now to inform the groom's family to change the auspicious time to the afternoon.

As for how Wang Zhu ended up at Tie Zhu's house, Tie Zhu explained that Wang Zhu was an orphan and it would be inconvenient for her to get married, so he and Cuihua adopted her as their goddaughter and she left Tie Zhu's house.

Ding Shi accepted the job of going to Banxi and set off with a tung oil lamp lantern.

Despite the major incident in the village, Ding Shi hadn't seen the Daoist nun or Sha Bi. He wasn't concerned about Sha Bi's fate; his intuition told him that the cockroach was not only unharmed but thriving. As for the Daoist nun, Ding Shi assumed she had most likely been captured by Huang You. Now that Huang You was nothing but dust, the monk and the nun would be searching for the Daoist nun thoroughly tomorrow.

Ding Shi had already made up his mind. Tomorrow, he would hire a villager to become his true love and go see Feng Qiniang. Among the villagers who seemed to have some spiritual insight, Ding Shi's favorite was the sixty-year-old Third Aunt. Her words could bring the dead back to life; by hiring her, he wouldn't even need to say a word, and Feng Qiniang would already be defeated.

Thanks to Ita for changing the rules; all you need to do is marry your lover by the sacred tree, no kissing required. If kissing were required, Ding Shi would rather complete the basic mission than the advanced one.

At midnight, Ding Shi took a lantern and went out. At first, he didn't notice anything, but after crossing the three-meter bridge, Ding Shi looked back and saw what appeared to be a person wrapped tightly in clothes standing on the other side of the bridge. The distance was more than seven meters, and Ding Shi couldn't see clearly.

Judging from his physique, Ding Shi ruled out the possibility of the monk, the nun, and the fool.

The suspected person walked step by step onto the three-meter bridge and approached Ding Shi. Ding Shi did not retreat, but placed the lantern on the branch of a small tree. Then Ding Shi saw the Ghost Mother, who looked exactly like the portrait.

Tiger's head, dragon's feet, woman's body.

Ding Shi pulled out the double forks on his back, also known as loach forks, which were 1.2 meters long and had metal heads attached to wooden sticks.

The Force is activated throughout the body, with 80% of the Force being mobilized and flowing through the body, instantly condensing into a shield and instantly enhancing attack power.

Ding Shi had experimented and found that as long as he did not continuously use more than 30% of his Force, his Force would be inexhaustible.

Tonight, we have no choice but to fight with our backs against the wall.

Taking the initiative, Ding Shi's legs moved like motors, lunging towards the Ghost Mother. The Ghost Mother transformed into black smoke and fell backward, then transformed back into the Ghost Mother. But since Ding Shi had already made his move, he didn't want to leave empty-handed. He caught up with the black smoke, gathered his primal force in his left hand, grabbed a handful of black smoke, and with a clash of forces, the black smoke was pulverized by the surging primal force.

The solidified demon mother spat out a mouthful of black blood. Ding Shi attacked again, and the mudskipper fork flew out of her hand. The demon mother transformed into a phantom black smoke and fled towards the paddy field on the left. The mudskipper fork, which had no elemental force and only physical attack attributes, passed directly through the black smoke.

The Ghost Mother was very clever; she knew that once Ding Shi entered the paddy field, no matter how high his Force was, his speed would be severely restricted.

Ding Shi wasn't stupid either. He sprinted and jumped, grabbing a handful of black smoke with his left hand.

The Black Smoke Demon Mother took shape in the paddy field. Without hesitation, ignoring her injuries, she immediately transformed into black smoke and fled another ten meters or so. This time, Ding Shi did not pursue her; he withdrew most of his primal force.

No matter how fancy the moves are, they're not as useful as pure Force.

Ding Shi picked up the lantern and, as if nothing had happened, continued towards Banxi Village. However, he was somewhat agitated. He was certain that Heaven had only killed Granny Liu, not Huang You. He deduced that Huang You was using the power of the believers' incense offerings and the body of the Ghost Mother to continue her misdeeds.

It's not surprising that an old thing like Huang You, who is also a ghost cultivator, possesses all sorts of strange and unusual spells. Ding Shi had absolutely no idea what her next move would be. All Ding Shi knew was that she needed both a male and a female body; she had already taken control of the Daoist nun, and now she was missing a male body.

Ding Shi arrived safely at Banxi Village and explained the situation to the man. The man treated Ding Shi to a cup of rock sugar ginger tea. After resting at the man's house for a few hours, Ding Shi returned to Tianmen Village at dawn.

……

Day .

When Ding Shi returned to Tianmen Village around 8 a.m., the village was in chaos. A group of people, led by the village chief and elders, wanted to bury the deceased villagers. However, most of the families of the deceased villagers demanded a funeral of the same standard.

As mentioned earlier, the graves in Sanli are divided into two categories. The first category is the main mountain, which is the burial ground for the concubines of warlords and villagers of Tianmen Village. Their graves are dug into the mountainside. The concubines have separate graves, while the others have a large hole dug to accommodate the coffin, which is then placed in the coffin and repaired with bricks and stones.

The second category is side hills, mainly for outsiders and soldiers who died in battle. Their graves are dug downwards, coffins are placed in them, and then soil is covered.

The difference in the amount of work involved in the two projects is enormous.

The two sides are now stuck here, neither willing to give way.

Ding Shi watched and listened for a while, then leaned close to the anxious village chief and said, "They did it on purpose."

The village chief brushed a strand of hair from his forehead, puzzled: "On purpose?"

Ding Shi was surprised by the village chief's habitual female gesture, but didn't take it to heart, and asked, "Village chief, you know about ghost cultivation, right?"

The village chief looked at the opposing family members again and was startled. He whispered, "They are all followers of the Ghost Mother. What are they trying to do? Also, isn't Ghost Cultivator Liu Po? Wasn't she already struck dead by heavenly lightning?" These villagers, even if they become evil ghosts, will only cause trouble in their homes and won't harm the village.

Ding Shi said, "I don't know either."

At this moment, Xiao Ni and the monk protected Cuihua as they squeezed through the crowd and walked to the village chief's side, saying, "Cuihua has something to say."

Cuihua said urgently, "Village chief, we must arrange the burials immediately, otherwise so many dead people will become evil spirits and cause a riot of evil spirits."

The village chief asked, "What would happen if the evil spirits rioted?"

Cuihua took out two Soul Slave Talismans, one in tadpole script and the other in Sanskrit. Cuihua said, "This is the Soul Slave Talisman from my Huang family's secret technique. This is the Soul Slave Talisman that everyone has been using for the past few years. I've been going through my father's notes these past few days and discovered something strange. Once the evil spirits go on a rampage, the person who uses the Sanskrit Soul Slave Talisman will be controlled by the evil spirit within them. They are human, so they are not restricted by territory like evil spirits, and their abilities will also be greatly reduced."

Cuihua spoke ramblingly, and Xiao Ni summarized, "Those who have used the Sanskrit Soul Slave Talisman in recent years will become thugs. They will attack others indiscriminately, and they are very powerful, not something ordinary villagers can contend with. If the people they kill are not buried in time, they will become evil ghosts."

The monk said, "The worst thing is that the followers of the Ghost Mother may all be carrying Soul Slave Talismans. Evil spirits will enter their bodies and then control them, turning them into a new batch of thugs."

The village chief was filled with regret: "I knew about the Ghost Mother Worship Cult a few years ago, but since these people didn't seem to be doing anything wrong, I ignored it. I never imagined it would lead to such a disaster."

Ding Shi said, "The 'slanted sect' is the 'slanted sect'; if there's no near-field explosion, there will definitely be a far-field explosion."

(End of this chapter)