Chapter 1 He's a Girl?

Was that sweet potato liquor hiding in the ancestral hall?

He had said he'd already made his move, which corresponded with what this Young Master Lu said.

Except, this kid was actually a girl?

Earlier, when he'd heard her voice, it was a bit high-pitched, more like a woman's voice, but he thought she was deliberately changing it, didn't think too deeply about it. Now it seemed she was really using her original voice...

...These newbies are so unprofessional!

Of course, even if she had concealed this information, Hu Ma couldn't say much.

She'd already laid out her sect's secrets and the things he needed to be aware of, so gender wasn't a big deal.

However, his slightly pensive look was caught by Young Master Lu, who suddenly turned his head to look at Hu Ma and smiled:

"Brother Zhou has something to say?"

"..."

Hu Ma was slightly taken aback, met his gaze, and simply said, "Since we're about to set off, how exactly is this going to work? How about the boss explain the plan?"

After asking, he seemed a little embarrassed and said, "It's not that I don't understand the rules, it's just that I want to understand a bit more so I can help the boss."

"Like yesterday, I didn't know anything, and I was scared half to death by that old gentleman."

"..."

"Very well."

Young Master Lu glanced at Hu Ma, saw his expression was open and honest, and noticed that many of the others he had invited also had hesitant and suspicious looks on their faces, so he said, "I said before that I invited you here to help me seize a treasure."

"To be honest, this treasure was planted by my master more than a decade ago."

"And to prevent the treasure from being targeted by others or encountering accidents before it was completed, he also set up some measures around it."

"Now my junior sister and I both want to seize this treasure and make a name for ourselves."

"But my master said he doesn't favor anyone. Whoever can get the treasure, everyone will just have to rely on their own abilities."

"That's what he says, but he has three unique skills. My junior sister learned two of them, but I only learned one."

"Plus, this junior sister of mine is truly one of the most shameless and cunning women I've ever seen in my life, always flattering the old man..."

"...Happy master, she's already figured out the situation around his treasure and arrived there three days earlier than me."

"Now that I've lost the first move, I don't have any other options."

"I have to get there before she succeeds, and I have to be prepared to break the measures my master left behind, and I also have to guard against the dirty tricks my junior sister might set for me. The reason I invited you all here is to use your abilities to help me break her treacherous schemes."

"..."

Everyone who heard this felt that this sect's rules were very strange.

And Hu Ma, comparing it point by point, actually felt that what he said was similar to what Sweet Potato Liquor had said earlier.

It seemed that this Young Master Lu was not a simple character either.

People of his past life had already summarized the formula of lying as seven parts truth and three parts lies, but he certainly didn't know it, yet he'd mastered it instinctively with his own shrewdness.

Now, when he talked about these things, he seemed only candid, indignant, and unwilling. Even the most experienced martial world veterans couldn't see any flaws in his words.

The only thing he found a little strange was, what exactly had Sweet Potato Liquor done to make this senior brother so angry?

"Since you're helping me, I won't be stingy."

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Young Master Lu smiled and said, "Although eating this early in the morning might be a bit rich, you all should have some!"

As he spoke, the servants outside had already brought out a small tray with blue and white porcelain bowls, each filled with strips of meat, mostly lean meat.

"Could this be, Qing Taisui (a type of rare fungi said to have medicinal properties)?"

As the bowls were placed in front of them, someone took a sniff and their expression changed drastically. "Young Master Lu is so generous."

Young Master Lu smiled and said, "This is nothing. If you handle this matter well, I'll treat you all to the best Secret Blood Wine."

While everyone was excited, only Hu Ma and the seemingly dull man showed no special reaction. The dull man poked at the meat with his chopsticks, seemingly not even knowing what it was.

The others couldn't restrain themselves and started eating heartily. Hu Ma watched from the side and gained a general understanding of this "martial world."

It seemed that people in the martial world didn't live as lavishly as he had imagined. A bowl of Qing Taisui like this was naturally a good thing.

But in the village, he hadn't really lacked for these, and even Zhou Datong could occasionally get a bowl to satisfy his cravings.

But they seemed to be eating sparingly, treating it as a rare tonic.

The old monkey and Young Master Lu, however, took a few bites and started packing things up.

Hu Ma noticed that they led a donkey cart into the courtyard and put several bundles on it, along with several lifelike paper figures, but their eyes were not dotted with ink, making them look empty and pale, and the rouge on their cheeks was bright and eerie.

There was also a white lantern, exactly the type the old monkey had mentioned yesterday, only larger.

It wasn't lit now, so he didn't know if there were moths inside.

Seeing that the boss was preparing so carefully, the few laborers also pretended to prepare a bit.

The two with sallow complexions sharpened their weapons, which were both knives.

The one who used flying knives untied his waist pouch and checked it. Inside were two rows of flying knives, eight in total, looking sharp and menacing.

Only Hu Ma and the dull brother exchanged a glance, then lowered their heads to eat.

As the sun rose, everyone wiped their mouths and followed Young Master Lu out, surrounding the donkey cart, but no one sat on it because it was piled high with things. They just followed behind, step by step, out of town, heading west.

After walking for about twenty or thirty *li* (Chinese mile, approximately 500 meters), they saw that it became more and more desolate. There were traces of farmland around, but they were already overgrown with weeds.

Looking up, they had reached the base of a mountain. It wasn't as large as Old Yin Mountain, just a small hill, but it looked lush and green.

A large area of pine and cypress trees had been planted on it. It was now the end of spring and the beginning of summer, but it didn't make people feel the vibrancy of life. Instead, the ground was mostly overgrown with weeds, withered and decayed, which made people feel a little uneasy.

Above their heads, an overcast cloud had floated over at some point, blocking the sun.

Everyone followed the donkey cart to the foot of the mountain and looked ahead. A small path almost submerged in weeds wound up the mountain.

For some reason, he felt a slight prickling in his heart.

"The Ma Family Ancestral Hall is on the mountain."

Young Master Lu stopped and said to everyone, "Although it's daytime, everyone should still be cautious."

"My junior sister's methods are powerful even during the day!"

"..."

As he spoke, he took out a black cloth strip from his pocket and blindfolded the donkey.

The donkey initially raised its head, refusing to be blindfolded, but it was slapped on the snout and obediently allowed it to be tied to its head.

After blindfolding the donkey, he took a copper basin from the cart.

Hu Ma looked closely and saw that the copper basin had a lot of dirt and black spots on it, indicating that it had been used for a long time.

Looking closely, there was a kind of uncomfortable Yin Qi (ghostly energy), and he understood that this should also be an old object. If he took it over, it should be quite useful for using the methods in the Town Spirit Book...

...The Penal Soul techniques have many things in common with ghost walking.

He mentally reserved it.

The copper basin was placed in the middle of the mountain road, and Young Master Lu took another paper figure from the cart.

He held it in one hand, and with the other hand, he took out a simple portable ink box, drew a pen from it, dipped it in the half-black and half-red ink, and gently dotted the two white eye sockets of the paper figure.

"Go, scout the way up the mountain!"

Putting away the ink box, he reached out and took the lit fire starter from the old monkey, and lit the paper figure.

Ashes fluttered and fell into the copper basin in front of him.

When it was half burned, he put the paper figure completely into the basin, then squatted down and looked at it carefully.

When the paper figure was completely burned, he picked up the basin, faced the ashes in the basin, silently recited something, then faced the basin towards the mountain.

They saw bursts of paper ashes fluttering and scattering, following the mountain wind and flying towards the mountain, and after he finished doing this, he stared intently, his eyes not blinking.

Those with shallow eyesight would see the ashes flying with the wind and gone.

But those with deep eyesight could see that some of these ashes were flying with the mountain wind, never landing.

Rising and falling, floating and swaying, they seemed to be flying towards the top of the mountain.

But they only flew out a dozen *zhang* (Chinese unit of length, approx. 3.3 meters), not even around the foot of the mountain, when suddenly a gust of Yin wind (ghostly wind) blew down from the mountain, and those ashes were immediately blown back, blowing directly onto Young Master Lu's face.

He hurriedly waved his sleeves to brush away the ashes, almost stumbled, his face already terribly gloomy.

"My junior sister's cultivation is getting deeper and deeper..."

He gritted his teeth, stared fiercely in the direction of the mountain, and whispered, "Gentlemen, let's go!"

Everyone didn't know what he had scouted with the paper figure, but they could clearly see that it wasn't very smooth, and they moved their steps with hesitation.

Young Master Lu, however, quickly reacted and turned around.

His expression softened slightly, and he looked at one of the people behind him, the one who was good at using flying knives, and said, "Master Qiao, we'll have to rely on your flying knife skills later. We'll go up the mountain along the small path. If anything appears around us, nail it with a knife."

"Give me the flying knives first."

"..."

The flying knife user hurriedly agreed and untied his waist pouch.

Young Master Lu took it, made a few strokes on the flying knives with his finger, writing something, then handed it back to him, without any visible change.

The flying knife user lowered his voice and said, "Boss, what kind of talisman did you draw?"

"Not a talisman, a curse."

Young Master Lu said, "I cast a curse of our Penal Soul sect on your flying knife. If my junior sister sends something, even if your flying knife hits it, it won't hurt it. But if you add my curse, you can hurt those things."

"But my power is still shallow, and I can only maintain it for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, then I have to recast the curse. You must be accurate later."

"Yes, yes."

The flying knife user nodded repeatedly, then hesitated, "If things go well, I don't want silver. Can you teach me this curse?"

Young Master Lu looked at him in surprise and said faintly, "We'll discuss it later."

(End of Chapter)