"Yes, yes..."
Facing Hu Ma’s smiling face, the thin, dark-skinned woman, unaccustod to strangers, instinctively shied away and stamred, "Sir, it’s wonderful you’re here. My husband... I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but he can’t do any work anymore."
"My child and I have been looking after him, and I’ve also been feeling a bit unwell these past few days..."
"..."
"No worries, I’ll take a look for you," Hu Ma said with a smile, politely bowing to the woman, maintaining proper decorum.
But the rural folk had never witnessed such formality, and the woman beca even more flustered. She vaguely rembered she ought to return the gesture but was too shy to do it properly and found herself tongue-tied. In her haste, she helped Hu Ma push open the door, inviting him inside to have a look.
By now, night had fallen. No oil lamp was lit inside; it was pitch black, impossible to see a thing.
But Hu Ma didn’t complain. He rely took out his Fire Stick, blew it into a fla, and stepped inside. He imdiately slled a cloying, greasy aroma mixed with a salty dampness.
He showed no reaction, first scanning the table where he spotted an oil lamp. He lit it with the Fire Stick, then picked up the lamp to survey the room as its warm light gradually filled the space.
The woman, holding her child, remained outside, keeping watch, not venturing in.
Hu Ma looked around by himself. The room wasn’t divided into an inner chamber or side rooms. There was only an earthen kang built against the west wall, piled with ragged clothes and a quilt whose original color was indiscernible. Vaguely, he could tell a person lay beneath it.
Even by the re glow of the oil lamp, it was clear that the man was tall. He lay against the wall, the quilt too small to cover him entirely. The two feet sticking out were as skinny and dark as charcoal.
The lamp illuminated the head resting against the wall; it belonged to a man with disheveled hair. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the light and reacted slightly, struggling to prop himself up. "Old Master, where are you from?"
"Are you looking for laborers? I’ve got plenty of strength, enough for four n..."
"..."
Though he spoke, he couldn’t even manage to crawl.
Hu Ma didn’t answer him. Instead, holding the oil lamp, he moved closer, carefully examining the man’s face. Then, he smiled before suddenly yanking the quilt off, staring fixedly at the man.
Startled, the man let out a few muffled groans, his body seeming to shrink back shyly.
Even the woman outside, hearing the commotion, couldn’t help but peek in. The Ghost Walker they invited this ti seems different from the ones I know, she thought. His actions are a bit rough...
Of course, these were just her thoughts. She dared not ask, let alone try to stop him.
"Heh heh, it’s fine, it’s fine. Just lie down. I’m just taking a look."
After examining the man on the kang, Hu Ma covered him back up. Smiling, he turned with the oil lamp to illuminate the woman and child outside, simultaneously raising a hand to rub his eyes.
It looked as if his eyes were uncomfortable, so he rubbed them. But the scene in his vision changed completely.
He had already employed the Shousui man’s dharma thod.
Hu Ma had previously learned several thods for seeing ghosts from Aunt Zhang. However, now that he had begun to Refine his Seven Apertures, nourishing them day and night, the thod for observing Yin had beco simpler. He only needed to rub his eyes, filling them with yin qi, which allowed him to see things ordinary people couldn’t.
With this new sight, he finally understood why the man couldn’t work or even get up.
He saw no flesh on the man. The man had a robust skeleton, clearly indicating he was once very strong, but his body was now riddled with holes, exposing large patches of bone.
Layers of dry, thin skin hung loosely on him; not a single piece of intact skin remained. He resembled a torn burlap sack carelessly draped over a fra, with bite and gnaw marks visible in the tears and holes.
Turning to look into the yard, he also saw the woman’s condition. Just like the man on the kang, she too had patches of missing flesh and nurous holes in her skin. Beneath her empty pant legs were two thigh bones, devoid of any flesh.
Even the child, gripping his mother’s cotton pants with a hand that was nothing but bone, had eyes glittering with fear as he cautiously watched the room.
Rather than a child, it would be more accurate to call him a little ghost. He was covered in dangling flaps of skin and wounds where flesh had been peeled away. Compared to him, Little Hongtang seed divinely beautiful.
Looking up, Hu Ma noticed the old man from the village entrance who had brought him here was now gone.
"So..."
Unfazed, he tucked the quilt around the man on the kang and turned towards the mother and child in the yard, unsure if they were human or ghosts. "What happened that day after he finished eating the at?" he asked.
"He... he ate the at..."
The woman, perhaps unaware that Hu Ma could see her current horrifying form, or perhaps unsure of her own state, still appeared timid. She murmured in a low voice, "Then he just went to sleep..."
"He was so greedy, he ate all ten pounds of at himself. The child and I only had a couple of sips of soup... We were so hungry..."
"The people in the village even wanted to borrow at from us, but he had already eaten all of ours. The child was also crying, wanting at..."
"..."
"I see..."
Hu Ma glanced at the kang. The rude man on it just stared blankly at the ceiling without any reaction, though he twitched occasionally, as if not entirely dead.
His body was mostly bare, with hardly any flesh left, yet marks from an axe, from chopping and slicing, were still visible.
Conveniently, an axe lay at the foot of the bed.
"PHEW..."
He vaguely pieced things together and was about to speak when, suddenly, the sound of chaotic footsteps filled the village, followed by countless wooden doors being hurriedly pushed open.
A gust of night wind blew through, bringing with it the distinct aroma of at.
"OH DEAR..."
The woman, who had just been listlessly answering Hu Ma’s questions, suddenly brightened up, frantically shouting, "Damao, quickly get a bowl!"
"Soone’s cooking at! We must go get so to eat too..."
"..."
Without her needing to say more, the child—one arm reduced to bone, the other sleeve hanging empty—had already dashed into the kitchen. He erged with a bowl clenched in his mouth, muttering indistinctly, "Let’s go, let’s go, Mom! If we’re late, it’ll all be gone..."
"..."
The mother and child rushed outside. A clattering sound ca from behind them; it was Daniu, on the kang, who was desperately scrambling off the bed, trying to follow them.
Hu Ma didn’t stop them. Instead, he first comforted Little Hongtang, who seed to sense sothing and whose fur was bristling. Then, he picked her up and used the Ghost Ascending Stairs technique.
With nimble steps, he climbed up the side of the wall and onto the roof, scanning the surroundings carefully.
Looking down from this vantage point, he was t with a rush of yin qi that almost froze the blood in his veins.
This was no longer re yin qi. It was a dark, murky presence, so unsettling it triggered a primal discomfort, making every hair on his body stand on end.
Or rather, baleful qi.
Monts ago, the village had been deathly quiet, with few oil lamps lit. Now, it teed with activity. Every household threw open its doors, and ghostly figures spilled out, ard with bowls, basins, and even knives.
They sward toward one house. It also had no lamp lit, but a faint glow flickered from its kitchen. Two shadowy figures guarded the stove, staring intently at their pot.
The tantalizing aroma of at wafted from this house. Soone was stealthily cooking at in the middle of the night, and the sll had alerted the neighbors. Hearing the commotion outside, the man of the house hastily grabbed a hoe and jumped to the door. He braced it shut, urgently shouting for his wife to hide.
"Hey, Zhang family, spare us a piece! Just the other day, I helped you till your land..."
"Cousin Zhang, you’re eating at and didn’t invite your grand-nephew?"
"Zhang, how could you do this? You and your wife, secretly cooking at in the dead of night and not even opening the door when your neighbors co calling?"
"..."
The man’s strength was no match for these crazed neighbors. They shoved him aside and flooded in, while others vaulted over the courtyard walls.
They all surged into the kitchen. Seeing the wife hurriedly scooping up at and ravenously stuffing it into her mouth, the others desperately lunged forward. They clawed at the pot, the bowl, and even the at in her mouth.
Their greed was rampant, their eyes gleaming with a sinister green light. The village had instantly transford into a grotesque, ghostly realm.
So extended their bowls to grab at. Others, squeezed in the crush, had their heads torn off. Still others crawled through legs from beneath the throng, erging with a bloody chunk they had carved off. Fearing it would be snatched away, they ran, stuffing it into their mouths as they went.
A bloody lump was shoved into a mouth, chewed vigorously, and gulped down, as if terrified it would be stolen.
From the rooftop, Hu Ma surveyed the scenes unfolding across the village. He exhaled softly before stepping down.
"Ghost Walker Sir, what do you make of it?"
Suddenly, a voice tinged with a plea asked from behind him, "Can this person... can they still be saved?"
Hu Ma looked carefully and saw they were the sa elders who had led him into the village. Upon closer inspection, he noticed they all wore longevity clothes and longevity hats, their bodies flickered, and their pallid faces were filled with imploring expressions.
They were the most normal-acting individuals in this village, yet Hu Ma realized they weren’t human.
He recalled that when he had entered the village, the large building at the entrance was, in fact, the village’s Ancestral Hall.
These were the ancestors from the hall.
Initially, they had hesitated to let him enter, fearing he’d be eaten. Later, upon understanding he was a Ghost Walker, they had hurriedly invited him in, hoping he’d help look after their descendants!
It is often said that people pray for blessings while ghosts engage in Evil Creation, but in this village, the opposite seed true. The dead appeared more like good folk.
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