Chapter 1 Some Weirdness

To be honest, the ways of the Shousui Ren (Year Watcher) sounded rather strange, even terrifying upon reflection.

Ordinary people seek to live, yet the Shousui Ren actually seek death?

It sounded absurd.

However, this strange and terrifying method was precisely the right medicine for his condition.

He maintained a dead man's body, relying entirely on the blood-soaked Tai Sui (Flesh Fungus) to appear normal. Yet even the blood-soaked Tai Sui only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. The Shousui Ren's method of refining death into life could solve the biggest problem with his body.

"However..."

Having received the method, Hu Ma knew that his next step in cultivation required caution.

The old shopkeeper had warned him that the method should not be shared, and the path of cultivation was rather peculiar. He couldn't let the other shop assistants see him practicing.

It seemed he would have to ask Zhou Datong to sleep in the public bunk for a while.

As he was thinking this, he returned to the side room only to find that Zhou Datong wasn't there, and his bedding was gone.

Curious, he asked around and saw Zhou Datong looking terrified, shaking his head repeatedly. "Brother Hu Ma, I can't sleep with you anymore."

Hu Ma felt the gazes of the surrounding shop assistants change, and he quickly reprimanded him, "What nonsense are you talking about? We were sleeping fine."

"No, no..."

Zhou Datong kept shaking his head, pulling him outside and whispering, "That little ghost from your Hu family is still following you, right?"

"I just..."

The more he spoke, the more panicked he became, "I just saw that sword in your bed moving by itself..."

"Uh..."

Hu Ma immediately understood what was happening. He told Zhou Datong not to talk nonsense and returned to the room with an oil lamp.

He looked up and saw Xiao Hongtang sitting on the beam, playing with the Hongmu Jian (Red Wood Sword).

Just like the basket left by his mother-in-law, Xiao Hongtang cherished her memory and carried it with her every day, but others couldn't see it.

If Hu Ma took it from her, it would seem to others as if Hu Ma had suddenly conjured a basket, a strange but magical scene like a magic trick.

Hu Ma had heard Erye (Second Master) explain that this was because the little ghost could conceal objects.

Some powerful little ghosts could even conceal people.

They could block a person, making them invisible to other living beings, and preventing that person from seeing others as well.

When Xiao Hongtang rode on Cui Xie'er's shoulders, covering his eyes, Cui Xie'er became dizzy and threw punches without knowing where he was hitting, and that was the reason.

But this wooden sword was different.

Xiao Hongtang could hold it and play with it, yet the wooden sword remained visible, as if it were floating in the air.

No wonder Zhou Datong was so scared that he moved out overnight, refusing to sleep with him.

Relieved, Hu Ma watched Xiao Hongtang holding the old object, looking as if she loved it, and he felt a little strange.

He smiled and asked, "Aren't you afraid of this sword?"

He had personally tested it last night, and this old object was quite powerful. He seemed to be able to unleash ten percent of his furnace fire with only thirty percent, and those evil spirits would be seriously injured if they were hit by it.

Xiao Hongtang was also a kind of evil spirit. She was afraid of Erye's terrifying furnace fire, but why did she like this old object so much?

"Not afraid."

Xiao Hongtang hugged the wooden sword, shrinking on the beam, and said, "The old object is comfortable to hold."

Hu Ma was curious and asked a few more questions before he understood.

These old objects indeed possessed spirituality. They had been washed by spiritual power, similar to opening up the meridians. When he used it, the furnace fire flowed smoothly, and it could also stimulate the spirituality in the sword, making its power extraordinary.

But when he wasn't using it, there was no fire energy in the sword.

Xiao Hongtang liked it because Yin Qi (Yin Energy) could also flow unhindered in this sword. This kind of thing made Xiao Hongtang feel at ease, just like staying on the beam every day.

Although his foundation was still weak and he couldn't understand the subtle differences, it was good that Xiao Hongtang liked it.

Hu Ma put down the oil lamp and looked at his left hand, which was already bloodless and lifeless. He couldn't even feel it, and knew that this hand was almost dead.

He cut off a piece of bed sheet in the room and wrapped it around his left hand.

He only needed to follow the method taught by the old shopkeeper to reawaken that left hand, and a part of his body would come back to life.

Now, he had realized his little dream of having his own room and beam, and he had also obtained the method to cure his own problems.

He even got the old object that Xiao Hongtang wanted.

He felt a sense of joy and satisfaction in his heart. The burden that had been weighing on him since his rebirth had lightened a lot.

As for the things behind...

He pondered slightly, remembering the gaze he had seen when the old shopkeeper passed on the method to him outside the inner courtyard, the gaze that had been secretly watching him from behind the white papered window in the inner courtyard.

Who exactly was that?

It was definitely not the old shopkeeper's page, nor the old servant who cooked in the inner courtyard.

If his intuition was correct, it should be a woman!

But he had been in this manor for quite some time, how had he never seen her?

In fact, apart from the wine-accompanying ladies that the old shopkeeper and the old-fart steward, Xiao Huzi (Little Whiskers), had brought when he first arrived, he had never seen a woman in this manor...

Was she always hiding in the inner courtyard?

In addition, the old shopkeeper refused to let him become his disciple, but said that there would be a time when he would need him. What was that about?

In name, it seemed to indicate that he needed his help next spring.

But did he specifically point it out just to say that?

Furthermore, he had now received the method, and everything seemed smooth, and it was something he had fought for.

But for someone like the old shopkeeper, who clearly knew his situation, could the strange Tai Sui that he had sent out, his identity as the disciple of Hong Deng Niangniang (Red Lantern Goddess) of the Qingxiang (Green Fragrance) lineage, plus his future usefulness, really be worth the value of the Shousui Ren method in their eyes?

Erye, and Erguotou (Second Pot Head), had both told him how difficult it was to learn the method...

The old shopkeeper had passed on the method, and Hu Ma appreciated it, but he didn't have the habit of thinking of everyone as saints.

Traps falling from the sky were easy to break your teeth on.

"Hoo..."

Hu Ma thought carefully about these questions, but ultimately shook his head.

He hoped that the world was full of good people, so that he could be a good person with peace of mind.

It was essential to be wary of others. Whether the old shopkeeper would need him in the future, or really just taught him this method to have a helper by his side, he had to be more vigilant.

After all, this method of refining was meticulous and precise, and even a slight mistake could turn him into an Ouyang Feng walking backward...

For safety's sake, he should take the opportunity to ask his brother Erguotou whether there were any problems with the method passed down by the old shopkeeper.

But he was also a little uncertain in his heart. It seemed that Brother Erguotou was not walking the path of the Shousui Ren, and he didn't know if he could help him.

"Grandpa, when will it be better...?"

While Hu Ma was hiding in his small room to cultivate the Shousui Ren method, the old shopkeeper also extinguished the oil lamp and entered the main room.

Inside the inner room, someone was already waiting anxiously, and asked groaning as soon as he came in.

The old shopkeeper hurried into the side room, lit the oil lamp, and saw the girl in the vat looking at him with a pale face. The clear water in the vat was now tinged with blood, which was the blood-nourishing pill that Xu Ji had sent over earlier.

On the girl's forehead and chest, there were several patches of green and red cloth, which were plasters made from the rare Tai Sui that Hu Ma had given him earlier, specially prepared.

"Didn't it relieve the pain?"

"It doesn't hurt..."

The girl in the vat complained, "But I don't want to stay in the vat anymore, Grandpa. My body is almost rotten from being soaked."

"Nizi (girl) be good, Nizi be good..."

The old shopkeeper hurriedly coaxed her, and seeing her hands that were indeed full of wrinkles, he couldn't bear it.

But he could only patiently persuade her, "It will be fine soon, it will be fine soon..."

"The method has already been taught to him, but we still have to wait for him to learn it..."

At the same time, in the manor's side room, Hu Ma, who was silently circulating his Qi (vital energy), gradually fell into a dream.

Since coming to this world, he might not be diligent in other things, but the matter of circulating his Gong (internal energy), which was related to his life, he had never dared to slack off in the slightest.

And this also made it easier for him to concentrate. The way of circulating his Gong could soon be done with subtle precision, and he had even gradually developed a habit. Even when he was not in the process of circulating his Gong and gradually fell into a dream, he had not forgotten to circulate his Gong.

Vaguely, he came to the small temple in that dream.

Today was not a day ending in zero, so Brother Erguotou was not there, but Hu Ma unexpectedly discovered a strange change.

He was using his furnace fire to cleanse his meridians and awaken the vitality of his left hand, and this furnace fire was manifested in this dream wild temple as the three incense sticks of his life.

Hu Ma unexpectedly discovered that as he circulated his Gong, one of the life incense sticks in the furnace was burning rapidly. The smoke from the incense entered the surrounding dark red mist, and actually triggered a change in this mist, which flowed and circulated eerily.

The life incense stick was obviously diminishing, but it was not being wasted, but was being transformed into another form, circulating in his dilapidated temple.

In the midst of the rotation and change, Hu Ma suddenly saw a faint golden light flashing behind the incense table.

He was shocked and fixed his eyes to see that it was the statue of the god behind the incense table, shrouded in darkness.

Now, on the left hand of this statue, there were already traces of gold threads, shining brightly, like the vitality in the meridians.

This shock caused Hu Ma's heart to tremble slightly, and he stared at it intently.

For a long time, he was filled with surprise, and for a moment he didn't know how this miracle happened, but he vaguely confirmed one thing: "Perhaps, verifying the authenticity of this method doesn't require going through Brother Erguotou..."

"He himself, had a way!"