Chapter 1 Threw aside the chaotic mess in the room, Hu Ma and the shopkeeper quietly left and locked the door.

It was unknown how long it would take for the villagers to discover the dismembered corpses in the room, which would surely cause a great commotion.

But Hu Ma and the old shopkeeper would not take the initiative to publicize this matter, because this kind of tragedy had reached the point where the village had to report to the authorities, which could not be easily resolved with a few words of appeasement from the Red Lantern Society's counter.

The murder cases in the surrounding villages and towns were different from the internal affairs of Hu Ma's village.

That village was controlled by the Red Lantern Mother Society, and the staff were essentially selling their lives to the Society. The deaths of one or two people were handled internally, and the government would not care at all.

But the villages and settlements within a radius of ten miles nominally still belonged to the jurisdiction of the government. Of course, that was just talk. Hu Ma had long understood that the governments of the various states and counties were now just for show.

Since the birth of the Grand Duke, the world had been in chaos, and the Yi Dynasty had long existed in name only. Most places were autonomous, and these state officials who nominally belonged to the Yi Dynasty were too busy taking care of themselves.

To some extent, the Red Lantern Mother, although an evil being, was more like the real authority in charge within a radius of a hundred miles.

Why do we say that our Red Lantern Mother is the biggest evil being within a radius of a hundred miles?

Because even the officials secretly worship her!

If the Red Lantern Mother did not agree, he could not be the official, and he might be killed at any time.

Under the cover of darkness, they bypassed the village along a small path and saw Zhou Datong and the others waiting there with the cart at the entrance of the village. It seemed that the exchange had gone smoothly. Not only were several sheep tied to the cart with straw ropes, but there were also some bottles and jars, salt pickles, and the like on the cart.

"The young lady of the pickle family is really nice..."

Originally, Zhou Datong was chatting excitedly with Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu, but when he suddenly saw the old shopkeeper and Hu Ma coming over, especially with the old shopkeeper's gloomy face, he quickly stopped talking.

Hu Ma waved his hand, sat on the cart, and the others hurried back.

Some pulled, some pushed, and soon they were far away from the village. They were curious about what Hu Ma and the shopkeeper had done, but they didn't dare to ask. It was not clear in the night, but they smelled a bloody smell on the shopkeeper's body, but they pretended not to smell it.

Back at the village, some tied the sheep, and some carried the pickles.

Hu Ma saw that the night patrol had already gone out on their own initiative, so he saved himself the trouble. Before long, the kitchen had prepared the meal, and the staff ate it.

Now Hu Ma always ate with the shopkeeper in the evening, so the kitchen didn't cook his meal. Hu Ma arranged the affairs of the outer courtyard before entering the inner courtyard, where he saw the old shopkeeper in a white gown by the oil lamp, and the old servant had already prepared the meal.

Placed in Hu Ma's place was a large bowl of blood food, oily and almost overflowing.

"Eat first!"

The old shopkeeper sat on the side, smoking his pipe, not in a hurry to say anything, just pointing to the meal on the table.

Hu Ma had been eating with him for some time, so of course he didn't ask anything, and ate silently. Then, he took the initiative to clean up the dishes and chopsticks and sent them to the small kitchen.

"I guess you've seen something."

The old shopkeeper had been smoking his pipe silently beside him. After Hu Ma finished eating, he said lightly, "Have you seen the methods of those *xingzi* (行子, traveling performers/cultists)?"

From his opening, one could hear the hatred in his calmness. The entire bright and spacious room was filled with an atmosphere of revenge, seeming to become somewhat oppressive and dark. The oil lamp on the table was blown, making whooshing sounds.

Hu Ma hurriedly said, "I was just about to ask the shopkeeper, that moving human skin..."

"Just a shadow play..."

The old shopkeeper said lightly, "They kill people and extract their bones, paint skins to make shadows. There's nothing they won't do."

"This is just for ordinary people. If you offend them, they will use even more vicious and insidious methods."

In the inner room, Hu Ma heard a sound of water.

It seemed that Wu Hemei (吴禾妹), the girl in the jar, was trembling with excitement.

Without the shopkeeper's reminder, Hu Ma remembered the tragic state of the daughter of the Zhao family who sold tofu, and understood the ruthlessness of these people.

These were just ordinary followers of the Tan Er (坛儿) Sect...

Feeling this in his heart, he spoke directly, saying, "These kinds of people should have been eliminated long ago."

"Of course they must be eliminated, but that's not an easy task."

The old shopkeeper didn't see fear or hesitation on Hu Ma's face, and seemed somewhat comforted. He said rather frankly, "I've been waiting for these people from the Tan Er Sect to come back for more than a year."

"In this year, I've made a lot of preparations, but I still don't have much confidence."

"Alas, I thought they would come during the New Year, when there was no one in the village, but I didn't expect them to be more anxious than I thought, coming more than a month early. Correspondingly, the time left for you to learn your skills is also a bit tight."

"..."

Hu Ma just listened carefully, and then said, "Shopkeeper, don't blame me for being talkative."

"Why didn't you tell the city about this matter?"

"..."

"The city?"

The old shopkeeper sneered when he heard this, "What to say? To say that the batch of blood food is still here?"

"Hehe, if I said it, they would only send people to find the batch of blood food and transport it back to the city. If the people from the Tan Er Sect lost their thoughts, how would they come back?"

"Hehe, I don't care whether the blood food can be found, or even whether I want to be the shopkeeper. I only care about one thing, to help my girl take revenge!"

"..."

Hu Ma listened and nodded silently. He had thought of these things himself, but it was more prudent to ask.

After hesitating for a moment, he looked at the shopkeeper seriously and said, "When they come, what exactly do you want me to do?"

At this point, he really felt a little strange in his heart.

If it was just to fight with the people from the Tan Er Sect, the shopkeeper didn't seem to need to remind him so many times.

The shopkeeper was silent for a moment when he heard the question, but didn't answer directly.

After taking a puff of his pipe, he suddenly looked at Hu Ma and said, "To what extent have you refined your right leg?"

Hu Ma said, "I can already feel some warmth."

Now this right leg had long been refined to a certain degree. Not only that, but he could also move a few fingers on his right hand.

The old shopkeeper naturally didn't know the real situation. When he heard that Hu Ma's right leg had already felt warm, his mood improved a little. He sighed softly and said, "It's been hard on you. It seems that the blood food given to you hasn't been wasted at all."

"However, even this is still too slow."

"The Tan Er Sect won't wait for us. Eat more blood food during this period."

"Come and find me when you have refined this leg."

Speaking of this, he looked at Hu Ma seriously and said, "The reason I taught you is to do this important thing."

"If you can do this thing, the favor between us will be cleared."

"But if you can't do it, hehe, that's your fate, and it's my fate, and it's also my girl's fate."

"..."

Hearing him say this so solemnly, Hu Ma felt a little pressure.

After a long while, he nodded and said, "I will try my best, even if it's just to help Hemei (禾妹) get rid of this anger."

The old shopkeeper sighed softly and didn't say much.

After Hu Ma turned and walked out of the inner courtyard, Hemei's trembling voice rang out from the side room: "Da-da (大大, Grandpa), Big Brother Hu Ma is actually a very good person..."

"Should we just tell him everything?"

"..."

The old shopkeeper just sat silently, and after a long while, he said, "Don't you want to get better?"

There was no sound in the side room, only Wu He's low sobbing could be heard.

……

……

"Why does the shopkeeper feel a little strange?"

After leaving the inner courtyard, Hu Ma felt depressed. Things seemed clear, at least it was confirmed that the Tan Er Sect would really come back, but for himself, he felt even more vague.

He had learned his skills from the old shopkeeper and should help, especially since he was dealing with such demons.

But what exactly did the old shopkeeper want him to do, and why was he hiding it so deeply?

In addition, even if it was confirmed that this batch of blood food had not been transported away, where exactly did the people from the Tan Er Sect hide it?

Blood food is not something like gold and silver treasures that can be buried anywhere.

This thing attracts evil spirits the most. Even if people can't find it, evil spirits will be attracted to it after a long time in one place.

Of course, the most important problem in front of him was a choice. The old shopkeeper had been planning revenge for a year and was waiting for him to help, while Brother Erguotou (二锅头) was also waiting for information on this batch of blood food.

He was caught in the middle, so how should he choose?

This seemed like a difficult problem, but Hu Ma quickly had his own plan.

He returned to his room, slowly circulated his energy for a long time, and continued to refine his right leg and right hand, until the large bowl of green food he had just eaten was slowly digested and turned into *mingxiang* (命香, life incense), making up for the emptiness that he had consumed through diligent refining during this period.

Then, he entered his dream and came to his Natal Spirit Temple.

It was not a day ending in zero, but he had decided to take the initiative to enter the Spirit Temple and awaken Brother Erguotou.

Wasn't it simple?

Was he now helping the old shopkeeper take revenge, or was he plotting for this batch of blood food?

Hu Ma's answer was that he wanted both.

Under the circumstances where everything was not clear, he had to prepare for both.

Helping people take revenge was something he should do, even if it meant being an enemy of the Tan Er Sect, which was extremely dangerous. But this was something Hu Ma should do, to repay the kindness of passing on his skills.

But the batch of blood food also had to be plotted for. This was an opportunity that a transmigrator with the code name Lao Baigan (老白干) could not miss.

……

……

With this kind of thought, when he appeared in the misty Natal Spirit Temple, Hu Ma slowly came to the incense table and looked at the left hand of the statue behind the incense table, which was already entwined with strands of golden marks, almost completely manifested.

And the right hand also had some golden marks, but not as complete as the left hand. In addition, a part of the right leg that was sitting cross-legged had also manifested.

These were his skills and his reliance in this world...

Hu Ma thought silently, first carefully sorted out the information and plans he had grasped, and then came to the incense burner and pressed his hand on the wall of the incense burner.

He took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Lao Baigan calling Erguotou, there is something important to discuss, can you hear me?"