After sleeping for a day and a night, the important news had also been relayed, and a general plan had even been formulated. The heavy weight in Hu Ma’s heart finally lifted. When he woke the next day, he felt completely refreshed.
Upon opening his eyes, he felt a lazy sense of comfort. The dim yellow sunlight spilling through the window made everything from the previous day seem like a dream.
Realizing that his body, utterly drained the day before, had recovered significantly, he finally donned his clothes. He folded the tattered Taoist robe, put on the robe of a Blood Food Gang steward, tied a green sash around his waist, slipped on cloth shoes, and went out.
It was already the morning of the third day. The thin mist had not yet dispersed, and Shima Town appeared much more desolate.
The common folk who had rushed from all directions to participate in the Lantern Festival had left contentedly during the day yesterday. The rchant caravans and mule teams that had previously been trapped in the town, seeing that the surroundings were now safe, had also quickly departed with these people.
With their departure, word of the Lantern Festival organized by the One Coin Sect would undoubtedly spread rapidly to various regions. Who knew what kind of changes that would bring?
"Uncle Hu is awake..."
Just as Hu Ma was lost in thought, a voice unexpectedly approached. Hu Ma turned to see it was Sun Family’s Seventh Son, his expression a mixture of pleasant surprise and worry.
He had been waiting here with sothing to report, but he found it difficult to broach the subject.
Uncle Hu had entrusted him with forging a treasure sword. After half a month of work, it was ti to retrieve it. But astonishingly, just three days before the sword was due, it had suddenly flown out the window on its own!
Who knew if Uncle Hu would bla him? If this escalated, the old Master smith, he feared, wouldn’t be able to compensate even if he sold himself.
Just as he was struggling with how to explain this, Hu Ma suddenly smiled. He took out the sword, which was wrapped in a bundle, and said with a grin, "I was just about to look for you. The night before last was perilous, so I went and fetched this sword for self-defense."
"But looking at it, this sword isn’t finished yet—it has no hilt or sheath. Take it back and help complete it... As for how much Silver it will cost, don’t hesitate to tell ."
"..."
"Ah?"
Sun Family’s Seventh Son was stunned, then both shocked and delighted. "So it was Uncle Hu who took the sword?"
"The old Master in the smithy has been crying for two days, saying he could only pay with his life..."
"..."
"?"
Hu Ma paused, then gave a wry smile. He supposed it was his fault for taking the sword back then without saying anything, which had scared the earnest old Master smith.
"Apologize to him for , and give him so extra Silver Coins."
Hu Ma quickly handed over the sword, smiling. "Where’s your father?"
"My father..."
Sun Family’s Seventh Son glanced around before lowering his voice, "He left. He departed early yesterday morning for important business."
"About a hundred and thirty miles east of this town, there’s Rotten Peach Mountain, ho to several hundred bandits. Their leader is an acquaintance of my father’s, so my father went to find them. He wanted to speak with you before leaving, but that little ghost of yours at the gate was so fierce, he wouldn’t let my father make a loud noise."
"Having no other choice, my father left with those jianghu friends. He just left here to wait for you, Uncle Hu. If there’s anything else, just ask !"
"..."
This Old Master Sun is truly committed to this rebellion, not willing to waste even a single day...
Hu Ma sighed, then glanced around again. "What about my old accountant? The one who ca with ?"
When he first ca out, he had noticed Old Calculation’s room was empty. He hadn’t seen him on the street either. Looking over at the stables, it seed the donkey was gone too. Only Master Ma was there, and upon seeing Hu Ma, he snorted and turned his head away, clearly in a very bad mood.
"Ah, Senior Old Calculation, he left too..."
Sun Family’s Seventh Son quickly said, "He ran off early yesterday morning, leading his donkey. He left even earlier than my father and the others..."
"Before leaving, he even asked for ten Blood Food Pills. He said he had exerted his Mana last night, secretly ensuring the Lantern Festival went smoothly, and it had exhausted him, so he needed to replenish himself properly."
"I didn’t have enough Blood Food Pills on , so I helped him gather them and gave them to him. I said it was out of respect and he didn’t need to count it as money. He was quite insistent, though, saying it was a loan, but that it should be put on your tab, Uncle Hu..."
"..."
"?"
Hu Ma was dumbfounded listening to this. So many dangerous things happened last night, yet that old fellow was still thinking of taking advantage...
...The point is, if you take advantage, so be it. The Sun family is wealthy and wouldn’t care, but why put it on my tab?
...This business of the ten thousand catties of Blood Food Pills, I’ll have to have a proper talk with him about it later!
He casually strolled towards the Not Eating Beef sect’s area. He was thinking about the general direction he, Er Guotou, and the others had temporarily decided upon after their discussion. Just then, he happened to see Immortal Miaoshan, now in plain clothes, leading an elderly man out of the teahouse opposite the inn.
Her expression was one of excitent. Upon seeing Hu Ma, she was about to bow in greeting, but Hu Ma quickly stopped her. He looked at the elderly man behind her, who resembled an old farr from the fields, his gaze resting on him for a mont.
Several different thoughts also flashed through his mind. In the end, however, he just sighed softly and said to them, "Now, what exactly is my relationship with the Not Eating Beef sect?"
"Ah?"
Immortal Miaoshan was taken aback. It seed she hadn’t expected that after experiencing such an event together, Hu Ma would still ask such a formal, detached question. The old farr, however, slowly stepped forward, bowed slightly to Hu Ma, and said in a low voice, "Sect Hierarch."
"You have passed the Three Passes and Twelve Tribulations, cultivated the Great Mighty Sky General Seal, protected the Lantern Festival, repelled three thousand ghost soldiers, and even slew..."
"...You are, of course, our Sect Hierarch."
"Or, to put it another way, our teacher."
"Outsiders who see you must address you as Sect Hierarch; otherwise, it would be disrespectful to our Not Eating Beef Sect. We, however, can also call you Virtuous Master, for you are the destined person our Beef Avoidance Sect Disciples have waited twenty years for, the one to guide us."
"..."
"I see..."
Last night, Hu Ma had already t the disciples of the Not Eating Beef sect. However, the situation was critical at the ti, so it wasn’t appropriate to say much. Besides, those demon people were all rather unruly; even if he had thought of so things to say, he hadn’t had the chance to voice them.
Now, looking at this elderly man, he paused in thought for a mont before slowly saying, "In that case, if I am curious about so matters within the Not Eating Beef sect, you will no longer keep them from ?"
The elderly man nodded gently and said, "We ourselves are seeking soone to clear our doubts; naturally, we would not dare to conceal anything further."
Hu Ma felt a sense of relief in his heart and said, "Then let’s go!"
Last night, he, Er Guotou, Miss White Wine, and Monkey Wine had that discussion. He felt that various matters were extrely pressing, and all aspects were fraught with uncertainty. However, if there was one thing that absolutely had to be done, and was also the most important, it concerned the Not Eating Beef sect.
To understand all of this, and even to unravel things and learn more about the secrets of the previous generation of Reincarnators, he had to start with the Not Eating Beef sect.
And this task of making contact with them naturally fell to him. Although they were a group of rebellious demon people, not only could he not distance himself from them, but he actually had to take the initiative to get closer to them.
Thus, he followed the old farr and Immortal Miaoshan. When they arrived before the main compound, he saw that the mourning hall set up in the first courtyard was still there. However, the single large vat that had originally been placed there had now beco ten vats, arranged in two rows on either side.
There were traces of incense-burning in front of the large vats. It seed they were trying to recover what was lost due to the excessive consumption the night before last.
Upon entering the second courtyard, he imdiately saw two more Beef Avoidance Sect Disciples. One was the Leader of the opera troupe, and the other was an old man carrying his granddaughter on his back. When they saw Hu Ma enter, they rose and perford a salute by placing a hand over their chest.
The etiquette in this world involved either kowtowing or clasping hands in a bow. This kind of chest-covering salute seed particularly strange. The mont Hu Ma saw it, he knew it must have been taught by a Reincarnator.
If this were his previous world, such a salute wouldn’t seem odd. But appearing in this world, this chest-covering salute always gave off a sowhat strange and sinister vibe.
However, he didn’t say much, just slightly raised his head and looked at the towering old elm tree. The objects tied to it had long been stripped, leaving only a broken armor, official boots, and that Naless Seal hanging from the topmost branches.
Standing beneath the tree, he pondered for a while and asked, "What exactly are those things hanging up there?"
Beside him, Immortal Miaoshan heard this and seed to want to speak, but then hesitated.
anwhile, the man who looked like an old farr stepped forward slowly and respectfully replied, "Rotten iron armor, asuring Mountain Boots, and... the Naless Seal."
"These are all old artifacts left by the previous Sect Hierarch, items imbued with Mana. Only the Sect Hierarch himself can wield these items. Therefore, although they are strange treasures, after all these years, none of the inner door disciples in our sect have had the good fortune to use them."
"..."
"Is that so?"
Hu Ma listened to his words and looked up at the tree.
That suit of armor and those boots had appeared on his body the night before last. However, it seed to be rely a power borrowed from the unseen world, not yet truly given to him.
Moreover, at that ti, he was focused on slaying Second Young Master ng. Although the armor was on his body and the boots on his feet, and he could sense that both possessed so wondrous qualities, he hadn’t been able to examine them in detail.
As for that seal, he hadn’t had a chance to handle it the night before last, so he didn’t know its function.
Now, he was rely looking at these three items with curiosity. His gaze eventually settled on the seal. He vaguely felt that among the three items, this one should be the most important, but he didn’t know how he could obtain it.
As he was pondering this and walking slowly beneath the tree, a gentle breeze suddenly blew past, rustling the tree’s branches. The seal hanging from above abruptly fell.
By pure chance, it landed directly into Hu Ma’s hand.
Hu Ma was montarily stunned but did not show any surprise. He simply raised his hand, glanced at it briefly, and then tucked it into his sleeve.
To him, this seed to be a very smooth and natural occurrence. However, in the eyes of the nearby Not Eating Beef disciples, especially Big Senior Brother, his eyes couldn’t help but twitch violently. He looked towards the spot beneath the tree, at a pair of deep footprints, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading out beside them.
Those were left the night before last when he had tried to take down the seal and had been pressed down by its weight.
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