"This Niu Family Bay, I’m afraid I can’t return for a while..."
Even though Hu Ma had miraculously escaped with his life, his heart was still pounding, his mind unable to settle down. He deeply felt the power of the Hu clan’s Zhen Sui thod, yet also realized the dangers within it. The thing in the river must now utterly despise him. Though he narrowly escaped with his life, he wasn’t sure if he would remain safe if he encountered it again.
As he contemplated this, his feet dared not stop.
They ran for four or five miles straight until the surrounding area was bathed in bright sunlight, warming their faces. There were no sounds of ghostly wailing, nor any sign of pursuit by the Green Clothes Gang. Only then did Hu Ma and the others slightly slow their pace and exchange glances.
They all saw each other’s disheveled appearances. Hu Ma hadn’t properly greeted Yang Gong since they had rushed here. Now, with words on the tip of his tongue, he montarily didn’t know what to say.
"What a ss..."
After a pause, Hu Ma broke the silence with a smile. "Brother Yang, we’ve only had one drink together, and you’ve already thrown into such a huge bind. Isn’t that a bit harsh?"
Yang Gong hadn’t known what to say either, but he suddenly laughed upon hearing Hu Ma. "How is it a bind? Didn’t I say we were going to achieve sothing great together?"
"If we don’t risk our lives, where would such achievents co from?"
"..."
With that, they both laughed heartily, stepped forward, embraced, and patted each other on the shoulder.
Logically, their relationship wasn’t that deep. However, having just gone through a life-and-death ordeal together, they had suddenly grown much closer.
"This is my brother, Shen Bangzi."
After the embrace, they didn’t dare stop to rest and continued walking briskly. Yang Gong then introduced the Hong Fragrance Disciple beside him, "He, Niu Laojiao, Zhu Changzi, and I are sworn brothers. We escaped together and pulled off this job."
"Niu Laojiao died right in that Blood Food Mine, and Zhu Changzi also perished in the Water God Temple. Now, it’s just the two of us left."
"We’re two short of our four sworn brothers. Brother Hu, would you like to join us?"
"..."
Probably not, it’s unlucky, Hu Ma thought. He turned and nodded at Shen Bangzi in acknowledgnt, but still joked aloud, "Is this sothing you can just jump into? I’d better pass; I won’t take advantage of the situation."
Though he joked outwardly, his heart grew heavy thinking about how two of their brothers had died for a single jar of Blood Food. He certainly knew that bringing this jar of Blood Food back would be a great rit, but was it truly worth two lives? It’s like if I had to stake the lives of Zhou Datong, Zhou Liang, Zhao Zhu, and the others for a re hundred pounds of Blood Food Pills... then I... What a truly testing dilemma!
"We brothers made a vow: no matter who dies, it’s worth it. As long as the remaining brothers are still breathing, they’ll burn incense for him for a lifeti."
Yang Gong seed to notice the concern on Hu Ma’s face and said softly, "Besides, fortune is found in danger. Staking one’s life in pursuit of wealth is better than dying quietly in so forgotten corner."
"Brother Hu, you might not know this, but when fifteen or sixteen of us were bought and brought here, only seven are still alive today."
"..."
"This..."
Listening to this, Hu Ma couldn’t help but feel a shiver in his heart. Indeed, the saying that Hong Fragrance Disciples risk their lives for fortune was no exaggeration at all!
"Let’s return to the Manor first and talk later!"
Even now, Hu Ma didn’t dare let his guard down; he had only paused to catch his breath. He was genuinely worried that the Green Clothes Gang might cross the river again and pursue them. So, he imdiately urged them onward. anwhile, Hu Ma had Little Hongtang ride ahead to the Manor to deliver a ssage, asking Zhou Datong and the others to bring horses out to et them.
The two groups soon t up about forty miles away. Without stopping, they mounted the horses and rode straight into the Manor.
"Light the lanterns!"
Upon entering the Manor, Hu Ma didn’t stop to rest but imdiately instructed the attendants. Although it was broad daylight and lighting lanterns was against convention, the attendants dared not question him. They lit the red lanterns and hung them up.
"We’re safe now."
Only at this mont did Hu Ma finally breathe a small sigh of relief. Once inside the Manor, with the red lanterns lit, neither living humans nor evil spirits could snatch away this jar of Blood Food.
Previously, when outside and beyond anyone’s territory, if you could snatch it, it was yours. At worst, both sides would engage in a war of words afterwards—"You killed my disciple!" "Well, I took your things!"—but regarding the rules, no one could say much.
However, if anyone were to enter the Manor to seize the Blood Food now, it would an a complete break, a declaration of open hostility. This matter would no longer be rely about Blood Food.
Attacking my Manor? That’s like slapping our Red Lantern Lady in the face!
Yang Gong, who had been clutching the large jar, also breathed a slight sigh of relief only after seeing Hu Ma light the lanterns.
"Where’s the Shopkeeper of this Manor?" He still clung to the jar, the Blood Food never leaving his hands, but he had already turned around with a swagger. "Why hasn’t he co to see ?"
As a Hong Fragrance Disciple, Yang Gong held a special status in the Red Lantern Society. Logically, both the Shopkeeper of this Manor and the manager in the city were higher in status than him, and perhaps even more capable. But he paid them no mind.
He had a naturally arrogant and direct personality, and now, having achieved a great rit, he was even more puffed up. The mont he spoke, he demanded to speak directly with the Manor’s Shopkeeper.
"You can stop shouting," Hu Ma said. "Our Shopkeeper is recuperating. It’s not like he doesn’t know you’re here. If he wanted to see you, he would have co out long ago. Since he hasn’t, it ans he doesn’t want to. Are you saying that with representing the Manor, I’m not qualified to receive you?"
Yang Gong’s temperant was indeed unsuitable for socializing within the various branches of the Red Lantern Society, where personal connections were paramount.
However, he did listen to Hu Ma. Despite the implied complaint, he just laughed. "I wanted him to see your great contribution."
"So he’d be more aware in the future and wouldn’t try to bully you."
"But since you put it that way, I won’t bother him. Is that fine by you?"
"You’ll at least give us a bite to eat, won’t you?"
"..."
"Prepare food! Bring all the food and drink in the Manor for Senior Brother Yang."
Hearing this, Hu Ma smiled and called over to Li to make the arrangents. Since the Shopkeeper hadn’t appeared, Hu Ma didn’t lead Yang Gong to the inner courtyard, taking him directly to his own small room instead.
Just as he was about to open the door, a faint, chilly gust of wind suddenly swept from the base of the wall opposite his room. A big-headed, limping little ghost ca running towards them gleefully.
"Auspicious greetings to Old Master Yang Gong!"
"..."
Hu Ma was startled. "Is that Yang Gong’s little ghost?"
It turned out that Yang Gong had sent his little ghost to deliver a ssage. However, because the Green Clothes Gang had started burning incense, the little ghost didn’t dare return. It had been wandering around the Manor and was even beaten up by a local gang of ruffians. Only now had it finally found its master.
"PAH! So you were hiding here, you brat!" Yang Gong spotted his little ghost, kicked it aside without a second glance, and walked into the room.
Hu Ma, however, curiously glanced at the limping little ghost that had been kicked aside. It looked quite aggrieved. He then smiled at Yang Gong and said, "This little ghost did deliver the ssage, after all. Why are you so harsh with it?"
"Don’t even get started, it’s infuriating!" Yang Gong entered the room, imdiately hugged the jar, and lay down on the bed, sighing. He said to Hu Ma, "You have no idea how exasperating it is. Normally, all it’s good for is delivering a ssage. As for carrying objects or fetching things, it’s completely unreliable."
Hu Ma was sowhat surprised, thinking of his own Little Hongtang. He asked curiously, "Little ghosts can do that much?"
"Of course," Yang Gong said. "Little ghosts are refined from those lesser imps and evil spirits whose origins we can trace and control. So can attract wealth, so can perform exorcisms, so can invoke blessings, and others can provide protection."
"Because they need constant nourishnt from their master and absorb yang qi, they can manifest even in daylight."
"But the dumbest ones are those that can only deliver verbal ssages. And the worst part about mine is that it can’t even deliver a complete ssage!"
"Tell it ten words, and it’ll forget eight."
"It doesn’t even know how many masters it’s had. They were all Hong Fragrance Disciples before . After they died, it only received the Lady’s protection and wandered around the city. Those of us who have completed the ’two-incense-stick’ ritual can choose freely from among them."
"It’s just a pity that stingy fellow surnad Zheng deliberately targeted . Everyone else had already picked, and I was left with this reject. I want to trade it, but I haven’t had the chance yet..."
"..."
Hu Ma glanced outside. The limping little ghost was crouching in the shadows at the base of the wall, looking ek and utterly silent. With a helpless sigh, Hu Ma took a piece of green food from the jar by his bed and tossed it over from a distance.
The little ghost froze for a mont. Seeing the green food, it finally reacted, snatched it up, and kowtowed.
"Auspicious greetings to Old Master Hu!"
"..."
Hu Ma felt a bit resigned and said to Yang Gong with a smile, "It’s actually quite quick-witted when it wants to be. They’re all just pitiful little things."
"It’s only sharp when begging for Blood Food, spouting all sorts of flattering phrases. Who knows where it learned them?" Yang Gong shook his head, his face full of dissatisfaction, and said to Hu Ma, "Brother Hu, your little ghost is much better."
"It’s sensible and doesn’t beg for rewards. How did you train it?"
"..."
"Mine is different," Hu Ma said. "My Granny is a Ghost Walker; the little ghost is a family inheritance."
"A Ghost Walker?" Yang Gong’s expression turned solemn with respect. "Now that’s a truly remarkable Path! I’ve heard they are incredibly formidable. No wonder you can deal with evil spirits."
Hu Ma had already figured out his answer, so he just smiled nonchalantly. "Formidable or not, my Granny saved her whole life and only left that one precious item."
"That One Incense—once it was lit, no ordinary evil spirit dared to co near ."
"But there’s no point talking about it now; the incense has completely burned out. At least it helped you accomplish this task, so it wasn’t a total loss."
"This..."
Hearing this, Yang Gong’s expression turned sowhat awkward. Shen Bangzi beside him was also montarily speechless.
When they had escaped across the river earlier, they had naturally seen Hu Ma tightly clutching that stick of incense. The creature in the river was exceptionally ferocious, and they had managed to escape across the river entirely thanks to that incense. Now, learning it was Hu Ma’s ancestral treasure, they were both stunned.
The thing in the river was so savage, yet that incense could keep it at bay—it had to be an incredibly precious item! For people like them, who had clawed their way up from the bottom and were most in need of treasures, how could they not feel a pang of regret for its loss?
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