Chapter 1 What is a Bridge?

Those in the know, those whose skills have reached a certain level, will all be aware of the existence of this concept.

But it's not like entering the Fu (Bureau), something that can be written down, so the *Zhen Sui Shu* (Book of Guarding the Year) doesn't record the method of boarding the bridge.

Since entering the Fu, Hu Ma had already asked people about it. First, Miss Red Wine, then Erguotou. Roughly, in his mind, he had a certain understanding of the concept of this bridge.

According to the bridge, it is a process by which people step into the non-human, and it is also a process of "leaving the shore." This shore is the human world, is people. As people, they cannot escape birth, old age, sickness, and death, the three disasters and eight difficulties, fate, karma, and karmic debt reincarnation.

And stepping onto the bridge is taking a step away from this shore, going to a higher place, which can both avoid some things and look back at this human body.

Going on the bridge is a new method.

Originally, in this world, there was no saying of going on the bridge. People in various sects cultivated this skill. Reaching the Fu was considered a grandmaster, entering the hall and the room. This skill was already the pinnacle.

Like Hu Ma, who had already opened three Fu doors, theoretically he had reached the limit of the art of *shousui* (guarding the year). As a "person," he could only learn this much skill.

But the method of boarding the bridge is a step further after reaching the limit of human skill.

This step is already non-human. It is said that Lord Tai Sui (Grand Duke Jupiter) descended into the world, bringing with him exotic treasures, so that people in these sects have the opportunity to step out.

"No wonder it's called a 'bridge'..."

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Hu Ma was also using Cui Magu's dharma body, looking at the bridge's phantom behind her, looking at the illusion that stretched across the human world and the Yin Bureau, and pointed directly to the depths of the Yin Bureau, the unknown Nether...

Theoretically, the bridge is just a road, a road beyond human skill, and will not have a substantial existence.

But in the Yin Bureau, everything is uncertain. With mental induction, he also saw the shape. It really looked like a bridge.

Also, seeing this bridge, he knew that Miss Red Wine was about to make a move.

She would never miss this opportunity.

She was someone who boarded the bridge early, so she knew more clearly and had once said: "Once on the bridge, the Ten Surnames will send envoys to welcome you, congratulate you on your transcendence, and honor you as a guest of honor!"

"But naturally, they say you are a guest of honor, but in reality, it also just represents that after boarding the bridge, you only have one path to choose: willingly be a lackey of the Ten Surnames!"

"..."

The world's top ten sects each have their own methods of transcendence, which is equivalent to having ten bridges. These ten bridges are all in the hands of the Ten Surnames. In the past twenty years, the power of the Ten Surnames has grown, and their control over the bridge has become stronger.

So, there are only three situations for boarding the bridge:

One is a lower-class fate. Once on the bridge, they are welcomed by the Ten Surnames, honored as guests of honor, and taught secrets that are not written down.

Of course, saying they are respected, the Ten Surnames will indeed treat those who board the bridge as guests of honor, but people in the know understand that this cannot change the fact that they are servants at heart.

Clearly, they have already learned the skills to the top and taken a step of transcendence, but in the end, they can only be used by the Ten Surnames. This is a kind of tragic fate in their bones, and the reincarnated ones certainly look down on it.

And the second type is a middle-class fate, wearing purple qi, avoiding the prying eyes of the Ten Surnames, and walking onto the bridge.

In this case, the Ten Surnames will notice that someone has boarded the bridge, but they don't know who it is, so they can't control them. But if the Ten Surnames have time and let go to investigate carefully, sooner or later, they may really be able to find the person who boarded the bridge.

There is also a great risk.

And the superior fate beyond these is no one restricting them, striding onto the bridge, feeling transcendence, and looking for opportunities.

This is the method that people in the know truly feel free to use.

Miss Red Wine used to belong to the middle-class fate. At that time, although she didn't have Purple Tai Sui (Purple Grand Duke Jupiter), she was, after all, from the Acrobatics Sect. Therefore, she used the *qi* (deception) tactic to hide herself from prying eyes and secretly went to the bridge. But because of this, she suffered a lot in recent years.

So, when she realized that Purple Tai Sui could also allow the reincarnated to become a middle-class fate, although she was pleasantly surprised, she also had a different idea.

Since there is an opportunity, why not be bolder?

Purple Tai Sui can allow the reincarnated to board the bridge and become someone who is as secretive as herself.

But the reincarnated have been secretive for too long. Why not take this opportunity to let everyone strive for a superior fate?

To strive for a superior fate is not just to board the bridge, but to seize the bridge!

The beggar Zhang family lost the dragon lair, and their dragon was slaughtered. Although the bridge is ownerless, it is a defective bridge and of poor quality.

The Hu family's ownerless bridge is hidden the deepest and has too many secrets and dangers.

In that case, Hu Ma helped her choose the Meng family's bridge, and helped create an unprecedentedly good opportunity!

This is certainly a huge ambition. It's just that he didn't expect that now, it would actually come true...

...

...

"You... how are you able to do such a thing..."

While Hu Ma felt sincere joy in his heart and looked towards the bridge with Cui Magu's dharma body, Cui Magu's perception was undoubtedly more sensitive.

Her back was to the bridge, but she could see more clearly than Hu Ma. She saw blurry shadows on the bridge. Those were all the guests on the bridge who had been honored as guests of honor by Tongyin Meng for so many years. They were preparing to do one last thing for the Meng family.

Together, they would pray to the Hu family, diminishing their fortune and changing their fate.

This was originally a move by that young master of the Meng family, betting on the Meng family's last trump card, to seek survival in desperation.

The chance of winning this move was already extremely small, and the greater possibility was that both sides would suffer.

But she never thought that this move would become a joke.

She saw that just as those guests on the bridge raised their incense sticks, preparing to pray to Hu Ma, a ghostly figure suddenly appeared on the bridge. It carefully looked around, then suddenly laughed loudly, jumped straight out, and then ran wildly...

The shadows on the bridge were all dumbfounded.

They didn't understand where a master of the Negative Spirit Path had emerged on the bridge at this time when the Meng family was in danger.

Usually, the Meng family's control over the world was extremely strict. There shouldn't be such an unplanned person.

It's just that the appearance of this person also blocked them, making it impossible for them to complete their prayer. They were urgently ordering the other party to move away, but unexpectedly, that person rushed straight over and kicked them over.

Then, he raised his hand high and shouted loudly, "Brothers, it's true, there's not even a gatekeeper on this Meng family's bridge..."

"Go, go, go, charge with me!"

"..."

In the next moment, a scene that was so crazy that it exceeded comprehension and so bizarre that it was despairing appeared. Countless shadows appeared on the bridge.

Those who could board the bridge were undoubtedly the outstanding people who had learned human skills to the extreme and were determined to transcend.

It would take decades of careful cultivation to produce one such person.

But now, they were actually counted in groups?

Rumble!

It was a kind of madman, or rather, locusts. They swarmed onto the bridge, occupying various advantageous positions. Each of them was surrounded by purple qi, making it impossible to see their appearance, so they were like masked people rushing into someone else's house.

Robbers, this was simply robbery!

But even if Cui Magu racked her brains, she couldn't understand why such a crazy scene would appear.

"Pfft..."

Many masters of the Negative Spirit Path in this world, mostly gathered near Yanzhou, spat out blood at this moment.

Some were sitting withered in dilapidated houses overgrown with weeds. In front of them was a bridge made of paper. They floated lightly on the bridge, their eyes closed, holding a bunch of incense in their hands.

They were surrounded by disciples, watching nervously. They all knew the master's instructions just now. He said he would do one last thing for the Meng family. After completing this matter, their sect would be free and unfettered from then on...

But no one expected that halfway through the spell, the paper bridge under their feet suddenly caught fire.

The master fell off the paper bridge all at once, dizzy and disoriented. The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to shout:

"There are ghosts, there are ghosts!"

"..."

"It's bad!"

The one who reacted faster was Meng Silang, the young master of the Meng family, in the Meng family's ancestral home. He closed the hall door, leaving himself alone, sitting quietly in this spacious but dark house.

All he could hear was the sound of people calling his name incessantly outside the paper windows. Occasionally, when he opened his eyes, he could also see the faces stuck to the windows, staring intently into the hall.

Those were the shadows of the disaster objects. They were eager to collect their debts and take him away.

The nail in his forehead nailed him to the human world, preventing him from being called away by the things outside the window for the time being.

But he was anxious, not knowing if Aunt Cui had arrived at Old Yin Mountain and started to do the main thing.

But he could use the nail to nail himself to the human world, but others who lived together in this Meng family mansion were not so lucky.

Listening to the constant calls outside the window, and looking at the shadows waiting impatiently outside the window, one by one, someone sat in the room and cried silently for a long time. Finally, when the sound outside the window reached its peak, they shouted with a crying voice:

"Don't rush me, don't rush me, I'll go with you..."

"..."

In the shouting, a white silk cloth was hung from the bed frame.

"Damn Meng Silang, it's all you, it's all the trouble you caused..."

Some people finally couldn't bear it and rushed out of the room, wanting to fight Meng Silang desperately.

But as soon as they rushed out, they were surrounded by countless shadows, floating quickly out of the house without touching the ground.

When they reacted, they turned their heads and saw that they were kneeling in the yard, silent.

Meng Silang covered his ears, not listening to the calls of those things outside the window, nor listening to the cries and roars that sounded from time to time in the yard. He just gritted his teeth, convinced: "I won't die, even if these people die, I will never die..."

"The Meng family's bloodline must have someone alive, they, they don't dare to let me die..."

"..."

But all these thoughts disappeared when a roar suddenly appeared in his mind, and he vaguely saw a certain scene.

Only endless despair poured into his heart, and his voice became hoarse and distorted, shouting: "That... that's our Meng family's bridge!"