Chapter 143 The Ancestors of the Village Who Died of Natural Causes

“Woooo……”

Shortly after Li Yunfei cast the Earth Deity Pacification Incantation, the villagers began to hear the chilling, eerie weeping of ghosts.

Initially, every single night, the villagers were disturbed by these ghostly cries, unable to find peace. They could never sleep well at night and were forced to catch up on sleep during the day.

Eventually, they slowly grew accustomed to it, much like people living right next to railway tracks. When the train passes by, the noise is... well, you can imagine. But given enough time, doesn't one get used to it anyway?

Besides, as long as they ignored them, the ghosts couldn't enter their houses, so what was there to be afraid of?

And if the ghosts *could* enter, would it make any difference whether they were asleep or awake? Death would be inescapable either way.

Today, however, the situation was completely different. Normally, the ghosts hadn't emerged by this hour. If not for the old man's phone call warning them, they would likely have spent a long while in nervous suspense.

Knowing now that the comrades from Zixiao were out hunting ghosts, they calmly turned off their lights and rushed to their windows to look outside.

Under normal circumstances, humans cannot see ghosts. However, if a ghost chooses to manifest itself, people can see them.

On the northwest side just outside the village, Li Yunfei and his team held water-bullet guns, each having slapped a Golden Light Talisman onto their bodies, waiting leisurely as the ghostly entities approached.

Since this was an experiment, none of them used their personal cultivation for protection, entrusting their defense entirely to the Golden Light Talisman.

There were about three to four hundred fierce bandit ghosts coming from the west, slightly fewer hungry ghosts coming from the north—around a hundred or so—along with roughly two hundred skeleton monsters.

The numbers were so small that they couldn't even churn up black Qi, leaving only a faint, lingering trace of ghostly mist.

Had this been inside a dungeon, the population would have had to number at least ten thousand to make the spectacle truly magnificent.

The hungry ghosts and bandit specters drifted down from the sky, while the skeleton monsters ran across the ground.

Seeing this, Li Yunfei issued his orders: "Honghong, you take care of the skeleton monsters on the ground. The four of us will handle the entities in the sky."

"Understood."

"Woooo..."

"Awooo..."

With either piercing, ghostly wails or ferocious roars and growls, the spirits steadily closed in on Li Yunfei and his group.

The weapons held by the bandit specters were basically sabers or broadswords; none of them carried firearms, nor did any hungry ghosts project fireballs from afar.

As expected, low-level ghosts possessed no long-range attack capabilities.

One hundred meters... eighty meters... sixty meters...

They were close, even closer...

When the ghosts breached the thirty-meter mark, Li Yunfei shouted sharply: "Open fire!"

"Rat-tat-tat-tat..."

The muffled sound of gunfire erupted. Abandoning any notion of controlled bursts or careful aiming, Li Yunfei and the others simply shouldered their weapons, pulled the triggers, and unleashed a barrage, blanketing the horde of ghosts with evil-dispelling water bullets.

"Crack, crack, pop, pop..."

"Urgh, aaah..."

When the water bullets struck the ghosts, they instantly cracked and popped, sending sparks flying. Amidst the shrill, miserable shrieks of the ghosts, they dissolved in large, sweeping batches.

As the skeleton monsters were struck, they shattered piece by piece, tumbling to the ground to form piles of bone ash—material that happened to be the finest fertilizer.

By Li Yunfei's estimation, these ghosts couldn't withstand even ten water bullets before their souls would be completely scattered, showcasing the formidable power of the ghost-slaying spell.

Initially, when the ghosts were clustered together, a single barrage wiped out a massive swath of them. Afterward, however, the surviving ghosts began darting wildly from side to side, flying erratically, which drastically reduced the effectiveness of the blanket fire.

Even so, whenever those ghosts wanted to attack Li Yunfei and his group, they had no choice but to charge forward. Given the reaction speeds of everyone present, the ghosts' delusions of reaching close quarters were nothing short of wishful thinking.

With the rate of fire provided by the 11.1V batteries, a single short burst sent ten or eight water bullets flying out—more than enough to obliterate a single ghostly entity.

Li Yunfei's team of four shifted from operating in pairs facing west and north to standing back-to-back, each facing a single direction, while their blanket fire transitioned into precise, controlled bursts.

As for Honghong, she busied herself single-handedly shooting down the skeleton monsters on the northern ground. These skeletons lacked the agility of ghosts and practically served as stationary, living targets, making them the most satisfying to shoot.

Keeping a close eye on her ammunition consumption, Honghong watched as the backpack behind her opened automatically; a spare magazine and a bottle of water bullets flew out, hovering right beside her.

The moment her magazine ran dry, the empty magazine on her gun detached instantly, floated aside, and the spare magazine clicked firmly into place.

The water-bullet gun didn't even need to be cocked; the instant the magazine was locked in, firing could resume immediately, guaranteeing maximum continuity of firepower.

Meanwhile, Honghong used her spiritual sense to control the emptied magazine, reloading it right there beside her.

Li Yunfei and the others swapped magazines with equal swiftness, letting the empty ones drop to the ground while pulling spare magazines from their chest pouches and snapping them straight onto their weapons to continue firing.

Given the number of ghosts in this village, they might not even use up all four spare magazines, entirely eliminating the need for mid-fight reloads.

The ghostly entities diminished at a pace visible to the naked eye, and within moments, only a sparse hundred or so remained, circling and fluttering around the group.

"Bang!"

"What the hell?"

Right at that moment, amid the continuous, muffled stutter of the water-bullet guns, a crisp gunshot rang out abruptly—the sound of a real firearm.

Without any warning, Jiang瑞 stumbled backward, crashing into Li Yunfei's back to arrest his momentum.

Everyone except Honghong instinctively dropped low, protective battle auras and spiritual energy shields instantly enveloping their entire bodies.

While continuing to fire at and disperse a ghost that was seizing the opportunity to charge forward, Zhang Ziying shouted loudly: "Careful! Targets with guns have appeared."

Li Yunfei, firing as well, asked: "How is it, Rui-ge? Are you hurt?"

Jiang Rui patted his chest and said: "I'm not hurt. Your Golden Light Talisman is seriously powerful; I was just knocked back by the impact of the Yin-energy bullet."

"That's good."

With a flip of his hand, Li Yunfei produced a Mauser "C96" box-cannon pistol—none other than the Shield-Breaking Asura gun.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Li Yunfei fired three consecutive shots toward the west, kicking up a spray of mud from a field ridge and pinning down the target, as he called out: "Pay attention, everyone! Hiding beneath the field ridge about ninety meters to the west is a malignant-spirit-class entity holding a Hanyang-style rifle."

"Even though the Golden Light Talisman is enough to block its attacks, our basic principle is not to get shot. Fall back five meters and use the earthen mound as cover."

Obeying the command, Zhang Ziying and the others retreated five meters, crouching down while continuing to fire at the ghosts in the sky.

Rolling her eyes in speechless exasperation, Honghong said: "Are you guys taking this roleplay too seriously? Why go through all this trouble? Can't you just casually wipe them out?"

With that, she extended her left hand, and a ball of fire materialized in her palm, hurling it directly toward that section of the field ridge.

"Boom!"

A massive ball of fire exploded, sending mud spraying in all directions. That section of the ridge was blown apart in a giant chunk, and the bandit malignant spirit hiding behind it was instantly blasted into nothingness.

"..."

Liu Bin chuckled dryly and said: "It's just a Hanyang rifle; did you really need to use artillery?"

Unable to laugh or cry, Li Yunfei said: "Honghong, you have to understand that our current combat model is meant to test the feasibility of ordinary troops fighting ghosts using water-bullet guns. Ordinary people don't know spells, you see."

With a serious, deadpan expression, Zhang Ziying analyzed: "In a situation like this, the ghost-hunting squad should cover each other while watching out for enemy fire, closing the distance rapidly. Once within thirty meters, they should concentrate their fire from the water-bullet guns to take down the opponent."

Liu Bin and Jiang Rui nodded repeatedly in agreement. For ordinary people ignorant of spells, this was obviously the most appropriate course of action.

Honghong raised her gun to blast apart a few skeleton monsters that had closed in, and drawled leisurely: "What if the enemy falls back? The enemy can fly, and their range is far greater than a water-bullet gun. If they keep a constant distance and kite ordinary people, they could easily kite them to death."

"Uh..."

Hearing this, Zhang Ziying and the others froze. It seemed... that made a lot of sense.

Thoughtfully, Li Yunfei said: "Honghong makes a valid point. Therefore, ghost-hunting squads composed of ordinary people cannot rely entirely on water-bullet guns; they must include one or two sharpshooters equipped with real firearms and rune-inscribed bullets specifically tasked with dealing with long-range ghosts."

Smug and delighted, Honghong giggled and said: "Isn't that the whole point of running this experiment? Didn't we just find a loophole?"

Smiling, the others nodded in agreement. Li Yunfei chuckled: "Alright, you make a fair point. Let's finish this! There aren't many ghosts left; let's wipe them out quickly so we can move to the next site."

A short while later, all the ghosts had been completely obliterated. To ensure that every single fierce and vengeful spirit had been wiped out, Li Yunfei specifically flew over to inspect the old stockade village.

Only after confirming that not a single ghostly entity remained did he return with peace of mind to the village, heading to the back mountain to rendezvous with the others who had gone to inspect the back mountain graveyard.

Upon reaching the graveyard, however, they were stunned to discover dozens of ghosts bowing repeatedly to Zhang Ziying and the group.

Those ghosts were merely a group of wandering, aimless phantoms rather than fierce or resentful spirits, and most of them were elderly men and women—which was precisely why Zhang Ziying and the others hadn't struck them down immediately.

"What's going on here?" Descending from the sky, Li Yunfei landed in front of the group and asked Liu Bin.

Seeing him, Liu Bin said to the ghostly entities: "Everyone, hold on a moment. This is our leader; you can speak with him!"

Hearing this, the ghostly entities stopped their bows. An elderly man with completely white hair, standing at the front, spoke up: "Leader, comrade, we are all villagers of Maogang Village who passed away of old age. We hold no resentment, nor have we ever harmed anyone."

"Not knowing where we should go, we lingered here in the village. After gaining a little bit of ability, we simply wanted to protect our descendants and help them avert disasters."

"It's just that those evil ghosts were too powerful, and we didn't dare to oppose them. Fortunately, our descendants were protected by magical artifacts and spiritual talismans issued by the government, so they remained safe, and we usually just hid deep underground."

"We beg the leader and comrade to show mercy and spare us. Please do not scatter us; we swear we will never bring harm."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, the other ghosts pressed their palms together and bowed, chiming in: "Indeed! We beg the leader to show mercy."

Zhang Ziying and the others looked at Li Yunfei with pleading eyes; in a situation like this, they had no idea what to do either.

After pondering for a short moment, Li Yunfei slowly spoke: "Rest assured, everyone! We are not those indiscriminate, self-righteous guardians of the Tao, but there are some things I must make clear."

"The saying goes that humans and ghosts belong to different realms. After all, you are ghosts, and the Yin-energy on your bodies does more harm than good to the living. I fully understand and deeply support your desire to protect your descendants."

"However, there is one condition: you must not casually manifest yourselves in front of living humans, nor may you linger near them for long periods, otherwise you will only end up harming your descendants."

Overjoyed upon hearing this, the leading old man said happily: "Thank you, leader, thank you! Please rest assured, leader; we usually just watch from afar and will never approach them."

"If we discover that our descendants are facing any crisis or disaster, we will immediately distance ourselves as soon as we finish helping them, and we will never overstay."

Nodding, Li Yunfei said: "That would be best. I will go and discuss with the villagers to have them build a shrine for you, so you can be worshipped with incense offerings on ordinary days."

Thinking this would delight the ghosts, Li Yunfei was surprised to see them exchange glances, entirely devoid of joy.

Confused, Li Yunfei asked: "What is it? Are you unhappy?"

Sighing, the old man said: "We know the leader means well, and we are deeply grateful, but let's drop it! Our descendants are not well off to begin with; building a shrine and offering incense would just be another huge expense."

"There's really no need to spend such unjust money on us dead folks. As long as we can receive a few incense sticks and offerings from our descendants during the Qingming Festival and New Year, we will be more than satisfied."

Hearing the old man's words, Li Yunfei and the others were deeply moved. This was the epitome of traditional, rural elderly folk from the Great Summer—simple, honest, and kind-hearted.

With eyes turning red, Zhang Ziying suddenly recalled a dying wish left by her grandfather: "I'm a useless person! I never left anything behind for my descendants my whole life."

Overcome with emotion, Zhang Ziying blurted out: " Grandpa, don't worry! We will build this shrine ourselves, and we won't take a single penny from the villagers."

The ghosts were all stunned, looking at Zhang Ziying with an entirely different gaze, as though gazing upon a living Bodhisattva.

Hesitatingly, the old man said: "Young lady, this... this isn't appropriate, is it?"

Li Yunfei said: "There is nothing inappropriate about it. It's settled, then; everyone just wait here for the good news."

With that, he cast a spell to lift the Earth Deity Pacification Incantation, turned around, and walked back toward the village. Liu Bin and the others nodded to the ghosts as well, following Li Yunfei away.

The old ghosts said nothing further, simply bowing deeply to the backs of the departing group until they were out of sight, after which they all stood up and vanished on the spot.

Returning to the village, Li Yunfei led the group to a large drying ground in the center of the village, which the villagers typically used to dry rice and various crops.

Whenever the village held any gatherings, the villagers would assemble right here; virtually every village had one.

Drawing a deep breath, Li Yunfei called out in a loud voice: "Fellow villagers of Maogang Village, we are Zixiao cultivators dispatched by the state to resolve the problem of ghosts running amok in this village. The ghosts plaguing our hometown have currently been completely eliminated. We have a few matters to discuss with you all, so please come to the drying ground for a meeting."

Li Yunfei's voice resonated like a village broadcast loudspeaker, yet even clearer than a broadcast.

Having said that, Li Yunfei turned to Honghong: "Honghong, provide some illumination."

Nodding, Honghong extended her hand. Across the empty space within dozens of zhang in all directions, tiny points of light suddenly flickered into existence, resembling a massive swarm of fireflies appearing out of thin air.

The specks of light swarmed toward Honghong's fair, delicate palm, quickly condensing into a fireball that was entirely distinct from her eerie, demonic fox fire.

That fireball was a normal flame, much brighter in color than the demonic fox fire. Although its temperature fell far short of the demonic fox fire, it was far more suitable for illumination.

Honghong had condensed this fireball directly from the floating fire-spiritual Qi in the air using her innate talent.

When the fireball had condensed to the size of a washbasin, Honghong thrust her left hand upward, sending the fireball shooting into the sky, where it finally came to a halt a dozen or so zhang high in mid-air.

It was as if a mini-sun had appeared above Maogang Village, bathing the entire village in a glow as bright as day.

The villagers had heard the gunshots and explosions from the northwest side of the village clearly, and having been tipped off in advance by the old man, they had no doubts about Li Yunfei's words.

Seeing a fireball rise above the village drying ground and transform night into day—clearly the magnificent, mighty feat of those Zixiao cultivators—they felt no hesitation. Soon, people stepped out of their homes and headed toward the drying ground.