"Are... are you alright?"

Seeing Nuer Hong and the old man from the Harmful Head Sect walk away, Fourth Miss Zhou and Little Hong Tang looked around warily. Flames flickered everywhere, creating a desolate scene.

She was stunned for a long while before clenching her fists. She glanced in the direction Nuer Hong had left, then quickly walked to Hu Ma's side, supporting him. "Why would those people try to assassinate you?"

Hu Ma's forehead was throbbing with pain, as if a nail had been hammered into his head. He reached out to touch it, but there wasn't even a scratch.

Looking at the wildfire spreading across the ground, he felt a sense of loss.

Unwilling to say more, he sighed softly and waved his hand. "It's nothing."

Fourth Miss Zhou was clearly nervous, her gaze filled with worry. She hesitated, "From what they were saying, it sounded like... evil beings?"

"You could tell?"

Hu Ma turned to look at Fourth Miss Zhou, knowing that although this girl was quite bold, she wasn't really stupid.

Nuer Hong hadn't even bothered to hide her identity. Given her background with the Yangming Zhou family, it would be strange if she couldn't tell.

However, he didn't know how much she had overheard or understood.

"I couldn't tell," Fourth Miss Zhou said frankly. "I could feel it."

"My... my skills aren't weak. Otherwise, my family wouldn't have let me out. Logically speaking, there aren't many people in the martial world stronger than me, and even if I did encounter them, I could usually guess their identity. But... but that person just now..."

"Her methods are unrestrained. Even the people of the Wuchang Li family probably aren't at that level."

"Plus, that aura of evil on her, her attitude, everything about her was different from others, so I... I felt something was wrong."

When a transmigrator starts to not deliberately conceal themselves, even if they don't say a word, their demeanor alone sets them apart.

Hu Ma sighed. He wasn't in the mood to talk. Fourth Miss Zhou suddenly realized that taking care of him was the priority, and hurriedly helped Hu Ma walk towards where the coffin carriages were gathered.

Old Suanpan and Fairy Miaoshan, along with a group of unknowing workers and drivers, rushed over to greet their boss. They helped him into the carriage to rest, and seeing his bad complexion, they boiled hot water for him.

Leaving the others to busy themselves, Hu Ma sat quietly for a long time, waiting for the throbbing in his forehead to subside.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Old Suanpan brushing his donkey near the carriage, glancing back at him frequently. He called him over and, after a moment of hesitation, whispered, "That Daoist practice you mentioned, I've already taken the first step."

"Ah?"

Old Suanpan was shocked. "I just told you about it, and you've already done it?"

His eyes flickered, confirming that Hu Ma's actions had far exceeded his expectations.

"I had already cultivated the Four Pillars of Daoist Practice. Now, I'm just cutting off one crooked pillar and reforging a proper one."

Hu Ma said, "What's so difficult about that?"

Old Suanpan was speechless, unable to respond: *If you don't think it's difficult, then it's not difficult. Does facing life and death feel like climbing stairs to you?*

Hu Ma paused slightly, thinking about the wonderful feeling he had when he cultivated the fourth pillar of incense, and the strange figure that may or may not have been real. He slowly said, "However, while practicing this method, I did catch a glimpse of something interesting..."

"Is there really a God in this world? Or a Book of Life and Death, judges who record people's karma?"

"Uh..."

Old Suanpan's eyes were empty as he listened to him, clearly struggling to process his words. After a long while, he hesitantly said, "I haven't seen it myself, but I only know that people have three souls: the soul of reincarnation, the soul that guards the corpse, and the soul of karma."

"Among the three souls, the soul of karma is the most mysterious. It can record a person's karmic debts and blessings in this life. Even people in the know say that after death, you have to weigh your karma..."

"But I haven't seen how exactly it's weighed. It's said that you can only access these things in the underworld."

"Indeed, that should be the case."

Hu Ma nodded slowly in silence. The state preceptor once said that the easiest way to find transmigrators is to weigh their karma.

But if it were that easy, why hadn't it been used?

In the end, even if there was such a method, it couldn't be used easily.

But if it wasn't easy to see, then what was the thing he saw in his intermediate yin body state?

Old Suanpan relayed the Da Luo Dharma Sect's method of cultivating Daoist practice, saying that the transition between life and death would attract the unseen forces. The so-called unseen forces were inherently formless and shapeless, but he had clearly seen something full of evil aura. What was it?

While they were talking, Fairy Miaoshan, who had been sitting at the back of the carriage dozing off, overheard their conversation and interjected, "I've heard people talk about the demon sky and the ghost earth."

"The world inherently has a master, but it is without knowledge or intention, merely the cycle of yin and yang."

"However, when the Tai Sui descends into the world, it corrupts the sky, and the sky gains intention, becoming the demon sky. When the earth loses its fairness, it becomes the ghost earth."

"When humanity's weight is reduced, people become cheapened."

"The Disaster Thief Sect was originally the Celestial Monitoring Bureau, so they see these things most clearly. But because they see them too clearly, most of the people in the Disaster Thief Sect go crazy. They worship disaster, but they also fear it, constantly speaking nonsense."

"Demon sky and ghost earth?"

Hu Ma's heart stirred. He had indeed heard people from the Disaster Thief Sect mention this name.

But then he became curious and asked Fairy Miaoshan, "How do you know so much about this?"

In his memory, Fairy Miaoshan had always been unlearned and unskilled.

Fairy Miaoshan widened her pretty eyes and said, "What are you talking about? I'm from the Disaster Thief Sect. How could I not know?

"Back in Stone Horse Town, you saw me refine those ten vats of blessed corpses, didn't you?"

"This..."

Hu Ma was somewhat astonished. After a long while, he said, "Then why aren't you crazy?"

"I have good fortune!"

Fairy Miaoshan said, "Good fortune can ward off disaster. I live comfortably, and I have so many senior brothers to take care of me. I don't worry about anything, so of course I won't go crazy."

Hearing what she said, Hu Ma actually found it quite reasonable: that's true, Miaoshan has always had a good attitude.

"Come, come, be careful it's hot..."

At this time, Little Ghost Messenger Dou Guan had arranged everything properly. They set up camp, started the fire, and even arranged for people to take turns on night watch.

Considering that strategist Hu Ma had just fought a great battle and seemed to be in bad shape, he even had someone brew a pot of soothing herbs. It was hot, and no one else could carry it, so Fourth Miss Zhou took it and carefully brought it over.

"These are of no use to me."

Hu Ma waved his hand. "How much blood food did you bring? Or Purple Vein Pills?"

"Uh..."

Fourth Miss Zhou and Fairy Miaoshan were stunned. Fourth Miss Zhou patted herself down.

People rely on their skills when they go out. She didn't even bring a bag, just ten taels of gold in her purse.

Fairy Miaoshan did bring all sorts of packages, but they were mostly cosmetics, trinkets, cooking utensils, and clothes. She had never had any sense of crisis. Ever since she left Stone Horse Town, she had only considered herself a wealthy person, only caring about enjoying herself.

Old Suanpan lowered his head even further, fearing that Hu Ma would bring up the blood food debt again at this time.

Amidst the stunned silence, Little Hong Tang looked at this person, then at that person, and finally lowered her head and took out a large piece of blood food from the basket, handing it to Hu Ma's face:

"Here!"

"Little Hong Tang is still the most reliable..."

Hu Ma sighed, took the blood food, and ate it little by little. He circulated his energy slowly, but suddenly his forehead throbbed, and his face twisted.

"Are you alright?"

Those present noticed and hurried forward to ask.

"I'm fine."

Hu Ma slowly waved his hand. After the throbbing subsided, he whispered, "I can't use my dharma idol."

Just now, in order to quickly refine the blood food and restore his Daoist practice, he had circulated his energy too quickly and accidentally touched the range of his floating spirit. In that instant, his forehead suddenly throbbed.

He knew that this was the nail that Nuer Hong had left in his forehead.

This thing was like a maggot attached to the bone, firmly nailed into his spirit. Although the Mighty Heavenly Duke General dharma idol had returned, he couldn't move it at all.

Hearing his words, the others thought he had injured his spirit and panicked.

But at this moment, Hu Ma had a complex feeling. He could feel that his body was now empty, with only one pillar of newly refined Daoist practice supporting his strength.

But it was this one pillar of Daoist practice that allowed the Mighty Heavenly Duke General dharma idol to stay safely in his body, as if it was meant to be there.

This made him vaguely understand something.

He also remembered what the person codenamed Nuer Hong had said before she left: The path of Old Lord Eyebrow will not be used as a stepping stone.

Then, is the path that Old Lord Eyebrow carved out simply to cultivate this Mighty Heavenly Duke General?

No!

He had realized when he killed the old master of the Yan family that the Mighty Heavenly Duke General dharma idol was for holding the seal.

The entire dharma idol was to allow him to have the ability to hold up that blank seal.

And now, he could feel that the Mighty Heavenly Duke General dharma idol was not yet fully integrated with him. But at the same time, with this fourth pillar of Daoist practice, he vaguely felt that the dharma idol seemed to be closer to him.

Now that there was a nail in his spirit, he couldn't use the dharma idol for the time being, but it felt like he had more control over it?

Was the other party's intention to extract his Mighty Heavenly Duke General dharma idol, but instead, they had pushed him forward?

With this subtle thought, his heart suddenly stirred, and he thought even deeper. He had first felt this doubt about the Mighty Heavenly Duke General Seal in the Yan family in Guazhou, and later, when dealing with the Soul-Bearing Great Executioner.

The questions gradually merged into one:

Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may you enjoy longevity and prosperity.

Longevity is fate, and for those in the know, fate is closely related to one's Daoist practice.

One pillar of Daoist practice is twenty years of life, could it be...

At this thought, it was as if a thread was opened in his mind, and he saw a path that had been on him for a long time...

(End of Chapter)