Both time-traveled characters ended up as villainous henchmen.

One night passed.

The way the children addressed He Nian has changed again.

He went from being a "great hero" to "Master He".

"Pirates are villains and demons, so isn't Brother He Nian, who eliminates them, just like the righteous Taoist priest in the story who slays demons and monsters?"

It's unclear which child mentioned it, but it unexpectedly gained the approval of all the children, and the name quickly spread throughout the town.

Not only the children, but even the surviving adults began to call He Nian "Master He".

As a result, the various Taoist stories that He Nian told to the children also became well-known to the residents of the town.

Thus, He Nian's image in the eyes of the people of Ilit Island changed from a stranded boy who had been shipwrecked to this place to He Daozhang, a hermit master who had traveled from afar to this place.

He Nian was speechless about this. He tried to stop it several times, but to no avail. In the end, he could only let it go.

Two more days passed, and the cleanup work in Ilit Town was basically completed. The remains and names of the deceased were also compiled. Next, it was time to bury the dead.

According to the original procedures of the Isle of Irit, the funeral should have been presided over by Edmund.

But as He Nian's reputation as a reclusive master spread, even though people didn't understand the funeral rites He Nian had performed before, they were now willing... no, they could say they actively asked He Nian to hold funerals for the people who died on Irit Island in the special way he described.

Suddenly entrusted with this important task by the town's residents, He Nian was slightly at a loss.

However, he did not refuse. After all, it was just a ceremony, and it would be good to make the people of Irit Island feel more at ease before leaving.

He has decided to leave Irit Island in a while.

He Nian knew that the locals did this mainly because they hoped to gain some spiritual comfort from him, a strong man.

They hoped to regain the hope that the people of Irit Island had gradually lost in their lives from this mysterious "Taoist Master He" from outside.

Mayor Derek's death unveiled the darkness hidden on Elrit Island and caused the things the islanders had always believed in to begin to crumble.

This sense of devastation was especially intense after the town suffered a devastating blow.

In the end, the people of Irit Island chose to bury the mayor.

Derek's family left Irit Island by boat on their own.

Everyone tacitly accepted this, neither stopping nor attacking Derek's family, and simply let them leave.

He Nian didn't say much about it, nor did he intend to interfere.

Aside from figuring out more ways to use the innate domineering energy within him, he focused his energy on the upcoming funeral.

During his free time when he was tired from cultivation, He Nian began to upgrade his ritual equipment. He made various magic swords, copper bells, Bagua plates, and talismans one by one. He even had the townspeople help build an altar.

Then, thinking that whether he was herding one sheep or two, he had the townspeople gather the remains found in the quarry together and prepare to bury them all at once.

Finally, seven days after the town of Irit was attacked by the pirate crew, He Nian chose a new auspicious burial site on the island and began a grand funeral ceremony.

Of course, he did not completely copy the entire process of He Nian's ceremony this time, but made appropriate adjustments based on the local customs and traditions of Ilit Island.

The ceremony went very smoothly, and with the combined efforts of the town's residents, everyone was successfully buried in just one day.

Under the sunlight, the townspeople gazed at the neat rows of graves, and a sense of inexplicable peace slowly rose from the bottom of their hearts.

He is gone, but everything will begin anew.

On the other hand, He Nian, who had just finished the ceremony, did not return to the town with the residents to participate in the banquet.

He took the shoddy magical artifacts he had made and returned to the quarry.

The quarry is now unrecognizable after being bombarded by pirates.

The terrain and landforms have been greatly altered, and several large pits, tens of meters deep, have appeared where the original mines were located.

And in the depths of the earth, buried by rubble, countless corpses lie dormant, unable to be retrieved and buried.

"As expected, we can't just ignore this place..."

He Nian's nose twitched slightly. After the lingering smell of gunpowder dissipated, a cold aura mixed with deep resentment slowly emerged.

Even before the incident, the depths of this mine had already given rise to ghosts and monsters. Now, after being bombarded by pirates, even more people have perished there. In addition, the feng shui has been altered, which may breed even more terrifying things.

He Nian couldn't let this go unchecked, and he also wanted to investigate the reason behind the ghost that had caused the abnormal movement of his internal power.

That being said, He Nian was unaware of how the pirate world dealt with demons.

"This is getting tricky. Do we have to manually dig open a mine shaft and then leave it to bake in the sun...?"

He Nian looked at the ruins of the quarry in front of him and fell into thought.

Just then, he suddenly felt a more special and mysterious power converging towards him.

This force did not come from within him, but from the outside world.

It did not originate from heaven and earth, but from other people, from people's hearts, from the people of Irit Island.

"This is the power of all beings' wishes... incense offerings?!"

After carefully considering it, He Nian found a similar description in a Taoist classic text passed down from someone else in his memory.

He now embodies the power of the wishes of the people of Irit Island.

The reason for this was the funeral ceremony he had previously presided over.

"The power of will..."

He Nian looked at the golden power of wishes on her body, which had almost materialized, and her mind trembled. She sensed more details within the power of wishes, "These are the prayers and aspirations of the people of Irit Island for a better life, and..."

"Trust in me."

He Nian sensed the complex thoughts and aspirations of the people of Irit Island from the power of wishes gathered within him.

The wishes of the people of Irit Island are extremely complex, including wealth, love, family affection, and many other things. However, these complex wishes have one thing in common: trust in He Nian.

They believed He Nian, believed the story He Nian told, and believed He Nian's ritual.

They believe that He Nian and these rituals can bring them new hope.

Surrounded by this trust and vision, the answer to the quarry disposal problem that had previously troubled He Nian slowly emerged.

He had a gut feeling that, with the power of these wishes gathered around him, he could use a one-man exorcism technique that would actually work!

Without much hesitation, He Nian immediately made a hand seal and assumed the posture of performing a ritual, and he didn't need to consider the subsequent changes at all.

All that could be seen was the power of wishes gathering in front of him, and his innate domineering aura surged forth, draped in the cloak of the power of wishes of all living beings, before dispersing into the collapsed quarry.

Deep into the underground mine shafts that were buried deep underground.

A moment later, as specks of golden light slowly rose from the ground of the quarry, the chilling aura and resentment that had previously enveloped the entire quarry dissipated completely.

"The power of all beings' vows—this is a miracle of all beings..."

Looking at the scene before him, He Nian couldn't help but sigh.

He knew that it was the people of Irit Island who truly dispelled the resentment and deathly atmosphere of the place; he had only played a role in stimulating and guiding it.

"The aspirations of all beings, or rather, the dreams and desires of humankind..."

He Nian looked excited; it seemed he had discovered something incredible again.

"That's a Devil Fruit!"