Chapter 1 Not Killing Living People

The Zhensuifu (Demon Suppression Bureau) doesn't kill living people. This is the rule, and many people know it.

Hu Ma wasn't sure if this was one of the reasons why the Yan family dared to provoke the Zhensuifu, but he understood that the Zhensuifu's rule of not killing living people had three exceptions: First, those who walked the Guimen Dao (Ghost Gate Path) and, while respecting the Zhensuifu, broke the rules could be killed. Second, those who disrupted the yin-yang order and violated taboos could also be taken down by the Zhensuifu and beheaded as criminals.

Third, if a ghost or deity sought justice, and after investigation, a human head was required to repay the ghost or deity.

Earlier, the Yan family had brought in so many Jianghu (martial arts world) people, piling them up everywhere, adding to the chaos, and Hu Ma was naturally angry.

But to be fair, this kind of behavior was just Jianghu rules and didn't constitute a violation of taboos as far as the Zhensuifu was concerned.

However, if the Yan family was so bold as to allow such a wild deity to build a temple and privately receive incense, not only would he know about it and intervene, but even the Meng family would not let them off easily.

Hu Ma had actually been wondering earlier if the Tempered Iron Gate Yan family was so arrogant because they were instigated by the Meng family, but now it seemed that wasn't the case. It was simply that the Tempered Iron Gate Yan family had become too inflated.

They thought they were just casually building a temple for a small snake deity, but they didn't know that they had violated the taboos of two of the Ten Surnames.

Seeing Hu Ma's serious tone, the Old Abacus next to him also felt a little uneasy.

He had initially thought that under the protection of the Yan family, he would kill the wild deity ghost and establish the prestige of the Zougui (Ghost Walker) Great Executioner.

But now, looking at the situation, if he had to directly kill someone from the Yan family…

…Terrifying!

He couldn't imagine what a huge commotion this would cause.

If it were a minor matter, he would offer advice, but since this involved the duties of each family, he couldn't offer any advice.

After hesitating for a while, he could only helplessly look out at the courtyard and asked, "Why haven't these people served the feast yet?"

As he was thinking this, he saw servants coming in droves from outside, carrying dishes.

This family had only temporarily prepared some wine and food as ordinary hospitality, which wasn't considered neglect. But just as they were preparing, Wu Ya and Zhou Datong came out and said to them, "Do you have a snake market here? Or any big restaurants that prepare them?"

"Go buy a few, the more venomous the better, but remember not to make a fuss. If the news gets out, it won't work."

"..."

The master of the house had been waiting outside and was troubled when he heard this. "In our city, people worship the local Earth God, so they don't dare to eat snakes, and no one dares to sell them."

Hearing this, Wu Ya said, "Then there's no need to buy them. I'll summon them tonight. Tell people to go to bed early at night, sprinkle realgar and lime on the windowsills, and don't come out if you hear any noise."

"Also, prepare a large vat, mugwort, and clean cloth before going to bed, and clear a spacious area."

"Tonight, I will cure your young master!"

"..."

The master of the house was stunned and widened his eyes when he heard this, realizing that the guests weren't going to eat snake soup.

He hurriedly ordered people to prepare and quickly instructed the kitchen, "Don't serve this kind of perfunctory food, bring up the best wine and dishes."

"Go to the counter and have someone take out four hundred taels of silver. After the illness is cured, present it quickly..."

"..."

"Ah?"

The steward was shocked when he heard this. "Master, are you giving that much?"

The master said, "Are you stupid? If you don't offer silver before the capable person asks for it, do you really want me to give away half of my family's wealth?"

A group of people hurried to prepare and give instructions, their hearts tense.

They didn't know if this beautiful witch girl really had the ability to cure the young master, but calculating the time, there were only two or three days left to live. Even if there was no guarantee, they had to grit their teeth and try to cure him. Fortunately, the young master was carried to the backyard, and when they tried to take off the quilt from his body, he immediately cried and made a fuss, making the people around him feel sorry and helpless.

When Wu Ya saw this, she just said, "Fill the vat with water, use pond water or river water, not well water."

"Then put him in, and he won't cry."

"..."

A group of servants hurried to fetch water from the river and poured it into most of the vat. They put the crying young master in, and he really stopped crying.

He even squatted in the vat, letting the water submerge his head, and blowing bubbles inside.

Seeing how accurate Wu Ya was, the people in the mansion became more confident. Not only did they serve good wine and food that night, but they also followed all the instructions and dared not be careless in the slightest. Except for the master of the house, everyone else went to bed early.

After three rounds of wine, it was late at night. Because she had to save someone that night, Wu Ya only ate a few mouthfuls of food and then squatted outside the living room, lighting a small incense burner. She took out something from her purse and put it in the incense burner, then gently fanned it. Soon, even the people in the hall smelled a sweet and greasy scent emanating from the incense burner.

Before long, they felt a fishy stench coming from outside the house, and there was a hissing sound all around.

When the time was right, Wu Ya held up the oil lamp and looked outside. She was shocked to see that the entire courtyard was covered with snakes and insects, some scarlet, some emerald green, all sticking out their tongues and wriggling towards the incense burner, wagging their tails.

She spotted one and took out a bone whistle, blowing it with a "woo woo" sound.

The scarlet venomous snake followed her footsteps and crawled into the house. Wu Ya put down the whistle and reached out to grab the snake's seven inches (a vital spot on a snake, about seven inches from its head), but the scarlet snake was exceptionally fierce and suddenly turned around and bit Wu Ya's arm. Hu Ma, who had been watching from the side, directly stretched out his foot and stepped on the snake, letting the snake's head turn over and bite his leg.

"It's okay."

Seeing everyone looking at him with concern, he waved his hand, picked up the snake, and handed it to Wu Ya.

He was a Shou Suiren (New Year's Eve Watcher), what was there to fear about this?

Zhou Datong next to him said, "Ma Zi Ge (Brother Ma), don't be so careless. Just now, the place where the snake bit you, if it was two inches higher..."

"?"

Hu Ma couldn't help but glare at him.

What kind of ability did he have now? He was a Shou Suiren who had entered the Fu (mansion) and was not afraid of this kind of thing all over his body...

...But to be fair, it still hurt a little to be bitten.

Wu Ya caught a few venomous snakes, then drove the others away. Then, in front of everyone, she pinned down the snake heads, skinned them, and asked Zhou Datong to help her lift up the young master, who was hiding in the vat and blowing bubbles. She wrapped the fresh snake skin around his body in circles, then wrapped it with strips of cloth, tied his hands and feet together, and then lit mugwort and smoked it on his body.

After smoking for a while, the young master's body trembled non-stop at first, as if struggling desperately. Later, his movements slowed down. In the end, his stomach suddenly gurgled a few times, and he suddenly opened his mouth, a stream of purple gas quickly spitting out...

"Oh no!"

When Wu Ya saw the purple gas, she was shocked and quickly covered her mouth and nose, taking two steps back.

Hu Ma also suddenly got up and stood in front of her, staring intently, his expression becoming extremely strange.

The purple gas was extremely strange, winding and flowing in the air, slowly drilling into the night, like a spiritual snake, dissipating extremely slowly.

Most importantly, as if the purple gas flowed into the night sky, they felt the ground beneath their feet shaking slightly, and they seemed to hear heavy breathing and the strange laughter of some strange and mysterious thing.

It was as if, deep within this Guazhou Prefecture City, some strange thing was instantly awakened by this purple gas, drooling with greed.

The Old Abacus and Zhou Datong were also frightened by this movement, their bodies stiffening and unable to move.

But fortunately, this movement seemed to be just an instinct, and until the purple gas dissipated, nothing really came out.

"Father... Father..."

It wasn't until the young master, who was wrapped like a zongzi (rice dumpling), weakly called out, that everyone reacted from the mysterious and oppressive hallucination just now. Master Liang, who was about to drill his head under the table, also ran over and looked at his young master, who was calling for him, at a loss. Wu Ya helped him untie the cloth strips and two pieces of snake skin from the young master's face.

Everyone stretched their necks to look and saw that the young master had woken up, but he seemed extremely weak.

The sores and bumps on his face were still there, but they were obviously much smaller, looking like they were healing and not so scary.

"Oh no..."

The master wanted to hug his son, but he was also eager to turn around and kowtow, extremely anxious.

"The young master's illness is cured, and he just needs to be taken care of later."

Hu Ma had asked Wu Ya with his eyes and then took out a small piece of meat from his sleeve. "Stew this into a soup and feed it to him later. I know you're anxious, you don't have to keep us company here, quickly carry him to his room and take good care of him!"

The master didn't know what the meat was, but he thanked them profusely and left.

It was only after he left that Hu Ma looked at Wu Ya, realizing that she seemed to want to say something just now.

"Shopkeeper Brother, the Gu (poison) on his body, is being raised by someone..."

Wu Ya glanced at the night sky outside, seeming a little uncertain, hesitating and unable to explain clearly.

"I could see it."

The Old Abacus suddenly took over the conversation and turned to Hu Ma and said, "Did you see the breath he exhaled at the end? That's called 'Yang' (calamity), which is often the last breath before a person dies, and also the most important breath when a person is alive. But this child's breath was forced out, and because of this toad Gu, this breath changed its appearance..."

"So, I saw it right?"

Hu Ma nodded slowly, his expression gloomy, and whispered, "The breath he exhaled, does it look like... the Xian Qi (immortal energy) we talked about before?"

"And in this city, there is probably something that feeds on this Xian Qi..."

ps: Recommend the new book by platinum author Zhai Zhu, Da Dao Zhi Shang (Above the Great Path), a Xuanhuan (fantasy) folk custom work. The story starts with the protagonist's grandfather standing in front of his own spirit tablet eating candles...