He opened his eyes to see a knife, but that wasn’t the strangest part. Even more eerie, Hu Ma had just woken up, and his eyes seed to be filled with the dark red mist from that strange dream.
Thus, in his vision, he clearly saw Cui Xie’er’s current state. Cui Xie’er’s face was filled with terror and pain. Beside his head was another, a ghastly white one, and his limbs were also wrapped and entangled by a different pale, slender body.
There was actually another person clinging tightly to him, limbs entwined with his, head pressed against his ear, staring greedily and fiercely at Hu Ma with blood-red eyes.
Was it that white-faced monster?
Seeing Cui Xie’er in this state brought a sudden flash in Hu Ma’s mind. It was the scene from when he had just awoken in this world, trying to escape the village, only to encounter three evil spirits at the edge.
The one now entangled with Cui Xie’er was the white-faced ghost that had squatted on a tree back then. How had it suddenly beco entwined with Cui Xie’er’s body?
There was no ti to think further. Cui Xie’er’s eyes filled with a fierce light as he suddenly swung the knife toward Hu Ma’s face.
In that mont, Hu Ma’s whole body beca rigid and cold, as if it no longer obeyed him.
But seeing the tip of the knife already aid at his face, he was so tense and nervous that he sohow managed to react instinctively.
SPURT!
At that critical mont, it seed like the stove fire within Hu Ma suddenly roared into a blaze, and fire qi surged forth.
He then bit his tongue, drawing blood that, carried by the fire qi, shot straight towards Cui Xie’er’s face.
"AAAH..."
Hu Ma clearly saw that the spurt of blood hit Cui Xie’er’s face.
It seed to bewilder Cui Xie’er, causing him to take a step back. The white-faced monster entangled with him scread sharply, a terrible wail as if it had been burned.
The slender, flexible limbs swiftly loosened from Cui Xie’er. Hands covering its face, it smashed its head into the window. With a gust of eerie wind and a WHOOSH, it fled to an unknown place.
Seizing the opportunity, Hu Ma sat up abruptly and quickly backed into the corner of the room.
"What happened? What happened?"
The boys sleeping in the side room were also startled awake by the scream, shouting in confusion.
Soone, taking advantage of the dim light from the window, saw Cui Xie’er standing by Hu Ma’s bedside, holding a sharp blade, and scread in fright.
"Second Master, Second Master..."
Before they could call out more than a few tis, the door was kicked open, and the tall, broad-shouldered Second Master entered the room.
"Light the lamp quickly!"
Without needing to be reminded, Zhou Datong, upon waking, hastily fumbled for the fire steel and lit the oil lamp on the wall.
Under the dim yellow light, Cui Xie’er stared blankly at the sharp blade in his hand, then looked up to et Second Master’s gaze.
Suddenly, the knife fell to the ground, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
"What happened?"
Remarkably composed at this mont, Second Master first checked Cui Xie’er’s breath, then questioned Hu Ma.
"White-faced monster!"
With the stove fire blazing within him and courage swelling, Hu Ma had already climbed out of bed. Calmly, he said, "I saw a white-faced monster wrapped around him."
"He ca in with a knife, intending to... kill ."
"Turn on all the lights!"
Second Master had no ti for detailed questions. He instantly turned serious upon hearing this. "Light up all the lamps."
"Bring any ancestral ashes you have! Give all of them to !"
He shouted commands, ordering all the boys to get busy and take a headcount, while he himself dashed out of the side house.
He went to the weapon rack against the wall, grabbed a large knife, and, equipped with the ancestral ashes given by the boys, checked all around the manor. Then, he spread the ashes in a circle around the manor and returned, fire qi radiating, his face flushed red.
"Sec... Second Master, what’s happened?"
The boys had already gathered, so holding tools, asking in fear.
All around was darkness, pressing against their weak lamplight, making the air chill their hearts.
"It’s fine, go to sleep!" Second Master said deeply. "Don’t sleep in two rooms; squeeze into one room together...
"...also, move Cui Xie’er to my room. Hu Ma, you co along too."
Under the apprehensive and doubtful gazes of the youths, Hu Ma followed Second Master into his main house.
Cui Xie’er remained unconscious. Second Master confird his breathing was steady before deciding not to wake him.
"White-faced monster?"
Second Master lit the oil lamp in the main house as well, his expression equally puzzled.
"Yes, it looked very strange..."
Hu Ma described to Second Master the scene upon waking but did not ntion that he had been warned in a dream. He only said he suddenly woke up to see Cui Xie’er standing by his bed, vaguely seeing the white-faced monster on him.
"A White-faced Mountain Demon..."
Hearing this, Second Master’s expression grew uncontrollably grim, a hint of retrospective fear in his eyes. "How did that evil spirit dare to enter my manor? And how did it get attached to Cui Xie’er?"
Hu Ma recalled sothing and whispered, "I don’t know much, but after that incident, he often stares at ."
"He seems unsatisfied, as if he wants to find to fight again."
"Staring at you?"
Second Master seed to understand. Looking at Cui Xie’er with so frustration, he whispered scoldingly, "I told that boy not to fuss over everything, to loosen up, but he wouldn’t listen. He couldn’t change their Cui Family’s pettiness...
"He held a grudge against you, thought about it day and night, and instead attracted the White-faced Mountain Demon, almost causing a big disaster..."
"Can that really happen?"
Only then did Hu Ma understand.
Usually, he was very safe within the manor; even Little Hongtang wouldn’t dare enter when Second Master was present.
Yet now, on this quiet night with everyone present, it felt as if the manor was lit with several stoves.
But the evil spirit had entangled itself with Cui Xie’er and attempted to harm him through his hands, which was inherently unreasonable.
Can holding a grudge truly cause such a thing?
He realized his understanding of this world was indeed rather limited.
Second Master grumbled for a mont, then looked at Hu Ma with a peculiar expression. "However, how did you avoid this disaster?"
"When I arrived, it seed the thing had already fled?"
"I..." Hu Ma felt awkward, pointing towards Cui Xie’er’s face. "I was so scared, my body wouldn’t move."
"I just rembered your previous advice, biting my tongue tip..."
"Blood Yang Arrow?"
Second Master looked at Hu Ma incredulously. Looking closely, he did indeed see bloodstains on Cui Xie’er’s face.
His eyes widened suddenly. His voice trembling, he said, "You used the Blood Yang Arrow?"
"You..."
Hu Ma was startled by his reaction, cautiously saying, "You did tell about it back then, rember?"
Apart from him, there were also past-life movies and novels; of course, I couldn’t ntion this.
"I mainly just told you in passing about the old skill. The Blood Yang Arrow is a powerful concealed dharma thod..." Second Master’s expression turned peculiar. "Only half a month and you’ve learned it?"
Under the oil lamp light, they stared at each other.
Hu Ma pondered for a mont and then took a slow breath, suddenly shooting out a qi arrow.
This ti he didn’t bite his tongue. It hurt!
But the qi arrow was nonetheless powerful, knocking a splinter off Second Master’s old window fra.
"My goodness..."
Second Master nearly jumped, looking at Hu Ma as if he were a ghost. "How is this the look of soone practicing for only one month?"
"This is purely the excessive stove fire, finding an outlet on its own, helping you harness external power..."
Hu Ma felt sowhat guilty. "Is this not normal?"
"I’ve trained for sixty years without reaching this. You tell if it’s normal?" Second Master sighed mournfully. "Your stove fire even seems more intense than mine... no, it’s not more intense than mine...
"Actually yes, it is more intense than mine.
"Just that my sixty years of childhood skills are purer than yours."
Seeing Second Master so tense, this is reasonable, right? After all, even Godmother went bald.
But hearing Second Master’s explanation, he finally understood. Compared with Mountain Opening, Moving Blocks, and Hard Plucking, the True Yang Arrow was the simplest and yet also the most difficult move.
Simple because there’s almost no need to learn; once the ti is right, it naturally cos out. The upgraded Blood Yang Arrow just adds a tongue-biting action. Difficult because the requirent for the right ti is extrely high.
Second Master had accumulated fifteen years of pure yang stove fire before learning this move, and even then, it could only be used up to three tis a day.
Hu Ma, mastering it on his own, and still full of energy after using it once, appeared as an unfathomable phenonon to Second Master.
"No matter, you’ve learned it..." Seeing Second Master in such a state, Hu Ma could only cautiously ask, "What should I do then?"
Second Master sighed, looking quite affected. "I don’t know, the old Master didn’t teach that back then either..." He paused, then seed to regain so composure before continuing, "I have practiced for sixty years and taught many kids in the village, but honestly, I have never seen one like you... This should be a good thing, but there is one issue I need to warn you about."
Hu Ma was slightly puzzled, wary. "What?"
"Sothing has happened..." Second Master looked at Hu Ma, whispering, "That White-faced Mountain Demon dared to co here to trouble you. That’s a big issue!"
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