“Second Master lived an honorable life.”

Having taken down the demon and hearing the resounding cheers from inside the village, Hu Ma stopped.

He thrust the Executioner's Blade into the ground, faced the village, and bowed deeply.

Some people, regardless of their skills, knowledge, or wealth, command respect simply through their integrity.

Although he was a transmigrator, bearing the mark of another world, he still felt genuine respect for Second Master, and willingly accepted him as his teacher.

He knew that according to Da Yang Village's customs, Second Master would likely be revered as a saint.

Outsiders might find it laughable, but who said a saint had to possess civil and martial prowess, or wield power and status?

Isn't someone who lives a good life also a saint?

After the deep bow, he composed himself, lifted the unconscious demon from the ground, and felt him weightless. It wasn't just physical lightness, but an intuition, a sense of a life of little worth.

He wanted to find a place to interrogate him, but after a moment's thought, Hu Ma chose a spot surrounded by countless people, with solid ground underfoot and no escape routes.

He first set up a makeshift altar, tied the man with a grass rope, and had Little Red Tangerine stand guard with the Executioner's Blade.

Then, he clapped his hands together, sending a surge of energy into the man's brow, jolting him awake.

"Ouch, don't hit me..."

The demon immediately covered his head upon waking, "I kowtowed, but you still hit me. Was that kowtow a waste?"

"Don't mention kowtowing. I hate it when people kowtow to me."

Hu Ma snorted. Although he sensed the fellow wasn't as difficult as he'd seemed earlier, he remained cautious. The man hadn't used any proper techniques in their fight, yet he was incredibly troublesome. It was only thanks to Little Red Tangerine that he'd been captured.

Remembering Bottle Shifu's warning about not speaking a second word to members of the Thief of Calamity Sect, he wasn't sure what the taboo was, but he couldn't delay the interrogation.

Keeping that in mind, he watched the man coldly and said, "Explain in one sentence why you came here and why you harmed my Second Master.

"Otherwise, off with your head!"

"..."

It wasn't that he didn't want to just chop off his head and then interrogate him.

But unless there was a special method, after death, the soul wouldn't leave the body so quickly. It usually took seven days for the seven po spirits to dissipate, the three hun souls to depart, and a person to become a ghost.

There was even a period in between where the person was in a state of complete clarity and unconsciousness, known as the intermediate yin purity. And even if there was a way to quickly "summon the ghost," such methods often caused the soul to forget things, making it not worth the effort.

So, interrogating a living person was indeed the best option.

"Huh?"

The man blankly looked up, peering at Hu Ma through the gaps in his arms, hesitant to speak.

Then, he turned his head and saw Little Red Tangerine carrying the Executioner's Blade, which was bigger than she was. His face instantly paled, and he became much more subdued, saying, "Who is Second Master?"

"Still playing dumb?"

Hu Ma was about to curse when he suddenly realized something and winked at Little Red Tangerine.

Little Red Tangerine was stunned, not understanding the meaning of the wink at all.

Hu Ma had no choice but to use his ghost whispering skill, muttering a few words softly. Little Red Tangerine understood and kicked the demon.

She said crisply, "Second Master is Second Master! Why did you bully Second Master?"

The man visibly shuddered, shrinking back as if instinctively trying to distance himself from Little Red Tangerine. He then said, "I really don't know any Second Master. I just saw someone in the village carrying resentment, so I chatted with him a bit..."

"If he has resentment in his heart, then naturally he has a place to vent it. Presumably the Second Master you're talking about is the one who caused this person's dissatisfaction..."

"Heh heh, my method is called the Calamity Inducement Technique. Anyway, it can transfer the calamity. Whoever gets hit by it, who knows? It's not important."

"It's just a pity. I clearly calculated that this calamity could attract a big one..."

"...But I just got beaten up by you!"

"..."

Hu Ma figured it was his turn to speak, so his eyes instantly turned cold. "Da Yang Village has no grievances with you. Why would you induce calamity?"

"This village has nothing to do with me..."

The man immediately said, "But aren't you, the Walking Corpse Great Catcher, here?"

"Of course, I have no feud with your Walking Corpse Sect either, but I'm a member of the Sun family. We have no feud with anyone in the world. We just go wherever there's a disaster, and wherever we go, there's calamity..."

"Heh heh, Old Yin Mountain is about to become a land of disaster. I know this is the Hu family's territory, so of course I had to come and take a look. But I couldn't find the Hu family young master, so I could only find you, the Walking Corpse Great Catcher, right?"

"..."

Hu Ma was thinking when Little Red Tangerine, seeing it was her turn, wanted to go up and kick him again. "Hu Ma-gege is..."

"No need to say more to him."

Hu Ma quickly stopped her, then narrowed his eyes. His identity as the Walking Corpse Great Catcher was public knowledge, but he hadn't openly advertised it. How could this person, whom he'd never met, find him?

Thinking this, his expression became even more grim. "Listen up, are you also with the Meng family?"

"Knowing that I, the Walking Corpse Great Catcher, am here, you still dare to cause trouble for my Second Master. You... have a lot of nerve!"

"..."

In his chilling voice, Little Red Tangerine also held up the Executioner's Blade, eager to try it out, pretending to chop off his head.

"The Meng family? Who would be in the same group as those fools?"

The man sneered, looking smug. "I just know the Meng family is going to be in trouble, and the Hu family is also going to be in trouble. I came here in advance to watch..."

"Since I came here, of course I had to see how the Hu family's foundation is, whether it's really as rumored, with their fortune depleted and no ability to resist. The more the Hu family can withstand, the bigger the trouble for the Meng family. The more lively this event is..."

"..."

Hu Ma winked at Little Red Tangerine, and Little Red Tangerine immediately kicked him. "Explain it more clearly!"

The demon's eyes darted around, clearly trying to deceive them, but Little Red Tangerine beside him gave him a sense of unease. He simply puffed out his chest and shouted, "I don't want to say!"

"At least I'm a son-in-law of the Sun family. You're just a Walking Corpse Great Catcher. Can't you be a little more polite to a guest of the Ten Clans?"

"..."

Hu Ma's eyes turned cold. "I only recognize the Hu family, not any Sun family. Since you've fallen into my hands, you still think you can refuse to speak?"

"I just won't say!"

The demon raised his head to face Hu Ma, shouting, "You kill me!"

"?"

Hu Ma, seeing this, immediately became vigilant, saying grimly, "Want to die? Not so easy."

Hearing this question, the demon seemed a little flustered, saying softly, "We're all people with status, you can't just torture people, right? Whipping and caning aren't the style of the Ten Clans..."

'This demon doesn't seem to be afraid of death. And why does he seem to be looking forward to whipping and caning?'

Facing this demon now, although it was an interrogation, he felt even more tired than when he was fighting him. He really didn't know what abilities the Thief of Calamity Sect had, or what to guard against.

However, since the interrogation began, he had been carefully sensing his body, even his thoughts, and it really didn't seem like he had been invaded by any evil energy. He narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "I don't like whipping people, and I don't like caning people even more."

"I'm curious what it would be like to have bamboo skewers stuck under your fingernails, or to put sugar in your wounds to attract ants."

"Of course..."

He paused and smiled faintly, "There's something even better, which is to go to the village, squeeze fresh goat milk, then shave off your hair, chop it up, and pour it into your stomach along with the goat milk..."

Hearing his words, the man's face really changed, and he exclaimed, "Is it really necessary to go that far?"

"This still won't relieve my anger!"

Hu Ma suddenly shouted, "Still not willing to talk?"

"Little Red Tangerine, go cut some bamboo!"

"..."

"I'll talk, I'll talk, please don't, please don't..."

The demon immediately changed his tone, saying hurriedly, "Great Catcher, please don't get angry. Even your young master would probably spare my little life..."

"And I really didn't come for your Spirit Subduing Sect. The Sun family has no friendship or enmity with the Hu family of Spirit Subduing. Besides, even if there was, it doesn't matter now. Just looking at it, the Hu family of Spirit Subduing won't have much breath left to breathe."

"Actually, I'm kind-hearted, coming to deliver a message..."

"That Meng family, haha, the Meng family has run into a crazy young master and is about to face a great calamity..."

"..."

He was clearly begging for mercy, but as he spoke, he became excited, his laughter growing louder and louder. "The Meng family thought they were amazing because they were carrying an ancestor on their backs. Little do they know, being able to carry their ancestor is nothing. The things that crawled out of that ghost cave are the real deal."

"The Meng family's young master?"

Hu Ma's face turned cold. He had already thought of what the Meng family's Old Master and Mistress had said. Was the Meng family's young master really preparing to take action?

He remained calm and said slowly, "What's in the cave?"

The man from the Sun family stopped laughing and stared fixedly at Hu Ma. After a long time, he spat out a word:

"Calamity!"

"..."

Before Hu Ma could ask any further questions, after saying this word, his expression became grim, and he slowly spoke, his eyes filled with ghostly excitement and anticipation: "It is the manifestation of the Avatar of Jupiter in the dark."

"It can turn this sky into a demon sky and this land into a ghost land. It is something that has been completely out of control since the ancestral altar was destroyed. The ghost cave has fed them for so many years, but it has only temporarily imprisoned them."

"But now, there are fewer and fewer people in the cave, and these things haven't been full for many years. What's more, there was that strange arrow before that angered them..."

"In twenty years, their anger has never been so fierce. And that Meng family's young master is going to release them at this time..."

"It's easy to lure them out, but difficult to send them back. Who knows how much they have to eat to be full, hahaha..."

"Maybe one Hu and one Meng from the Ten Clans?"

"Maybe plus Old Yin Mountain?"

"Hahaha..."