Chapter 173 The Truth?

The National Preceptor left with the candlelight, leaving only darkness in the surrounding cellar, as if all sound had been swallowed.

Hu Ma, however, remained standing in the darkness, his emotions churning.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, what he was thinking about wasn't the National Preceptor's words, but the confusion he had been unable to shake off since appearing in this world, the string of doubts that weighed on his heart.

No one had ever told him anything, so he could only probe cautiously. Even when forced to do something, he had to be careful.

Actually, he had long had doubts. Why was his natal spirit shrine broken when he was reborn? Why could he so easily cultivate the Lao Jun Mei technique? Why were so many things arranged for him, with the feeling of being watched…?

Most importantly, why couldn't he be as carefree as other transmigrators and maintain that sense of detachment from this world?

Only now did he understand with a wry smile that he had been living in a fantasy all along.

Mountain Lord said his heart was troubled, and it had always been so.

This heart had never been at ease from the moment he awoke!

If he was a transmigrator, then his identity as a Hu family member was stolen. If he was a transmigrator, then why was his natal spirit shrine broken, always different from others? So, no matter who he was, he never felt quite grounded.

"But…"

As he thought about these things, he suddenly felt a surge of ruthlessness. He punched himself hard in the chest, forcibly suppressing the invisible panic that was ceaselessly churning in his heart:

"I've been wandering the martial world for years. Am I really going to let his words scare me so much that I can't calm down?"

"What I see is what I know, what I think is where I am."

He muttered to himself, repeating these words.

He had experienced the process of being muddle-headed and taking seven days to wake up, and he had experienced the process of transforming himself from a complete dead man into a living person, little by little.

That feeling of rebirth had now become his only clear perception in this chaos: "No matter what that old thing said, I am still myself. What's there to worry about? If I encounter something, I'll figure it out!"

Even the National Preceptor thought that Hu Ma would be confused and perplexed by suddenly knowing this news, so he wasn't in a hurry to say more to Hu Ma, but wanted him to adapt and then accept it.

But he didn't know that Hu Ma's identity came from the ghost gate.

But in his bones, he was a Shousui (year-守岁).

The Shousui instinctively only believed in their own abilities. With their abilities, they feared nothing.

Moreover, since waking up in this world, he had learned so many skills and experienced so many martial world battles. It wasn't for nothing.

Even Hu Ma himself found it difficult to describe clearly. Naturally, he felt somewhat suppressed hearing these things.

But correspondingly, the previous invisible confusion and difficulty had disappeared, and he felt an unprecedented clarity in his heart.

"No time to delay and waste here!"

He listened quietly to his heart, from chaos and haste to firmness and slowness, and a faint sense of determination appeared in his eyes: "Since he said so many unfounded words, then I'll just go and figure it out."

"Truth and falsehood can always be clarified. If I don't understand, don't know, then Second Master understands even less, knows even less, but can still live so clearly? I am his senior disciple; can't I even learn this?"

In this darkness, he stood for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, experiencing all kinds of emotional changes.

After the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, he slowly walked out. Leaving the ancestral hall, under the moonlight, his face had regained its silence and firmness.

Turning his head to look at this desolate Fox Coffin Village, he only felt that it had been forgotten by heaven and earth. Now, in the Old Yin Mountain, after just having sacrificed to the mountain, incense was everywhere, but here, it seemed isolated and cold, as if even the Mountain Lord's gaze couldn't reach it.

He took a low breath and walked to the skeleton, looking at the birth father of his predecessor.

Perhaps, even the word "predecessor" should be omitted.

But because he had so few memories of him, Hu Ma's mood was more complicated than sad at this time.

He even thought of the National Preceptor's words, and a faint resentment seemed to rise up:

"If the Meng family sacrificed their ancestors to get a chance to kowtow, then the Hu family also sacrificed their only bloodline descendant to get this chance?"

He sighed in his heart but still took off his outer robe, collected his bones, and prepared to take them back to Da Yang village for burial.

"You…"

Just as he wrapped the bones in his robe, he heard a rustling sound beside him, and someone hesitantly spoke.

Hu Ma turned his head coldly and saw Old Abacus walking over carefully.

As soon as he saw his eyes, he immediately stopped, closed his eyes, raised his face slightly, and trembled.

Hu Ma took a deep breath and said, "What are you doing?"

"I…"

Old Abacus's voice trembled, "I don't know if you're going to twist off my head next…"

Hu Ma looked at him coldly and didn't answer.

Old Abacus panicked all of a sudden and said with a crying voice, "I didn't want to come, but I have to call him Master, and I can't not come. Besides, there are many with light bones in our sect. If I don't come, many others will…"

Looking at his pitiful appearance, with tears and snot about to fall, Hu Ma slowly exhaled and said faintly, "Why would I twist off your head?"

"Your master just came to tell me something. It did make me a little confused, and I can't fully believe it, so I will investigate it. If what he said is false, then I will only twist off his head."

"Ah…"

Hearing that his tone was indeed much calmer than he had expected, Old Abacus dared to open his eyes and said carefully, "Then, what if what he said is true?"

Hu Ma said faintly, "If it's true, we can always distinguish right from wrong. What's there to be confused about?"

Hearing these words, Old Abacus was really surprised. He looked Hu Ma up and down, as if to see if he was pretending. After a long time, he whispered, "You seem… very calm."

"Actually, this looks even scarier…"

"You… you might as well cry and howl, get drunk, and drown your sorrows with wine!"

"…"

Saying that, he took out a wine pot from his waist, shook it, and said, "Look, I brought you the wine."

Hu Ma took it and took a sip, but he didn't really drink much. He handed the wine pot back and said, "Remember to return the wine pot to the village. There are only a few of them, and they are only used to entertain guests."

"Your master has already stolen a pot. If you steal another pot, the old patriarch will definitely scold you tomorrow…"

As Old Abacus reached out, he suddenly grabbed his wrist, stared at him, and said, "Besides, compared to this National Preceptor, what I'm more curious about now is you, Old Brother…"

"I've known for a long time that there's something wrong with your identity, pretending to be a ghost, claiming to be from the Eleven Surnames. It's just that I didn't think you were harboring evil intentions, so everyone just let it go. But now I want to know, were you ordered to watch me from the beginning?"

"…"

"No…"

Old Abacus was so frightened that he yelled immediately, "How would I know who you are?"

"In the beginning, I thought I knew who you were several times, but every time it seemed like I was wrong."

"Besides, our sect just wanders around in this martial world. I don't know who I'll meet at all. Even you, didn't you come to my door yourself in the beginning? Later, wasn't it Old Xu who asked me to take care of you, a junior?"

"Of course, of course…"

Saying that, his lips began to murmur, "But to be honest, those in our sect have light fates and are easily attracted to those with heavy fates."

"But back then, I didn't expect your fate to be so heavy…"

"Think about it yourself. Since following you, I've almost lost my life four or five times, but I haven't gotten any benefits. Even my current wages are still being paid by the Red Lantern Society…"

"…Do you think I don't want to leave?"

"…"

"Hehe."

Looking at his tangled old face, Hu Ma slowly released his hand and said faintly, "Now that your identity has been exposed, and you want to leave, what are you doing here now?"

Old Abacus's face suddenly looked even more bitter, "I wanted to leave before, but the Ancestral Master wouldn't let me."

"This time, Master has spoken, and I can only serve you…"

"Hmm?"

Hu Ma glanced at him, "He told you to stay by my side? Heh, does he want you to watch me?"

"How could that be…"

Old Abacus shrank his neck in fright and whispered, "You're different now, you're the fourth-generation High Priest of my Da Luo Magic Sect!"

"Everyone in our sect has to treat you like an ancestor!"

"High Priest?"

Hu Ma had just heard the National Preceptor mention this, but he was too confused at the time to ask him anything.

"This is amazing; I didn't expect it to be you…"

Old Abacus glanced at Hu Ma with some resentment, seeming to be somewhat dissatisfied with him as well, but he still explained in a low voice, "The High Priest is the priest chosen by the Da Luo Magic Sect. In the past, only the sect leader was qualified to hold the position."

"One hundred and seventy years ago, our Ancestral Master established the Upper Capital Grand Sacrifice, received the imperial order, led the world's strange people and warriors, and controlled the ancestral altar and the spirits of the various hall gods. He was the first-generation High Priest."

"In the thirty years that followed, it was our Da Luo Magic Sect's second-generation High Priest, refining the Town Evil Bureau, and establishing twelve ghost altars to suppress the world's fortune."

"Then, twenty years ago, our Master was the third-generation High Priest."

"He fought with the transmigrated evil spirits, and brought the Ten Surnames into the game, and also used the ancestral shrines of the Ten Surnames to replace the twelve ghost altars…"

"Just…"

Speaking of this, he glanced at Hu Ma again and said, "I never thought he would choose you to be the fourth-generation High Priest, and… and even picked me to lead you to the sect."

(End of this chapter)