This bow, and these words, were all extremely sincere.
Initially, Hu Ma thought that his grandma was giving him a test,
that when he had the ability to solve this doomed village, he could
come and retrieve this token.
But later he understood that his grandma wasn't planning to test him. Regardless of his
identity, he was a descendant of the Hu family, and regardless of his abilities, he was the only
surviving heir of the Zhen Sui Bureau. He didn't need to be tested to inherit the family fortune.
Since that was the case, her placing the Hu family token here must have had a reason to place it
here. The vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts in this doomed village were equivalent to guardians guarding the token for the Hu family.
Even if they were unaware and not deliberately doing it, as a descendant of the Hu family,
he should express his gratitude to them.
After bowing, Hu Ma stood up straight, no longer hesitated, took a deep breath,
and strode into the village filled with black miasma.
The four tall stone tablets erected around the village were like four pillars, enclosing the
village. The black miasma and rolling vengeful spirits surging inside like a tsunami
prevented them from spilling out of the village.
And when Hu Ma, as a living person, passed through these four Zhenmen Stones and headed into the village,
the black miasma inside seemed to boil, and countless shadowy
ghosts emitted chilling, hair-raising laughter, full of greed.
Even the four stone tablets trembled slightly, seemingly issuing a warning to outsiders,
or perhaps the things inside were too active, causing the four stone tablets to tremble uncontrollably.
But Hu Ma narrowed his eyes, ignoring all of this. He gently lifted his foot and crossed the
boundary formed by the four stone tablets. In the next moment, he felt a sharp, fierce wind, as if it could cut through skin and flesh,
instantly pressing against his face.
He raised his sleeve to cover his face, secretly gathering his cultivation to block the Yin energy, and then opened his eyes
to look. Suddenly, he felt the sunlight was dazzling, and his eyes were filled with a white expanse. He focused his mind slightly and
looked left and right, and saw that he was now in a paradise.
As far as the eye could see, there were neat houses, a bustling crowd, chickens and ducks running around, and
children chasing dogs and cats. The white sunlight shone down from overhead, and smoke rose from every household.
"Oh, a guest has arrived!"
Seeing him enter the village, a warm voice sounded from the side. It was a smiling villager who came forward to greet him, bowing to Hu Ma from afar and said, "Please,
guest, come inside and sit in the clan elder's house."
Hu Ma was slightly taken aback, but he didn't say anything. He lifted his foot and followed them in, looking around.
Everywhere he passed, he found everything to be lifelike. The houses were swept extremely
clean, the children were all wearing neat clothes, and the villagers leading the way and on both sides were
feeding chickens, eating, and spinning cloth, all curiously looking at the newcomer.
He had entered this doomed village once before and vaguely remembered the layout of the path, which was exactly the same as
what he had seen. He even raised his eyes to look ahead and saw the stone mill in the center of the village.
At that time, he remembered that there was a stone box wrapped with iron chains on the stone mill, and inside
was the Hu family token.
But now when he looked over, he couldn't see the stone box. He only saw a strong
villager driving an ox, pouring the millet from the bag into it, turning the millstone round and round,
and the white rice flowed out.
Seeing everything, Hu Ma didn't say anything. He was surrounded by these enthusiastic villagers and
sat down in the clan elder's house they spoke of. An old man who looked very old, wearing a round hat and leaning on a cane, greeted him warmly.
"A descendant of an old friend has come here, forgive us for not welcoming you from afar. Please have a seat, have a seat."
Chuan
Hu Ma was helped to sit down, and looked at the old man and smiled, "The old man's
old friend is..."
"Naturally, it's the kindest Zou Gui婆婆 (ghost-walking grandma) in these seven or eight villages…"
That clan elder looked grateful and sighed, "She has done a great service to our village!"
"If it weren't for her, we would have abandoned our decaying bodies, living in darkness, drifting and wandering, with nowhere
to rely on. Where would we have the joy of being far away from the mortal world, free from birth, old age, sickness, and death?"
"Now the old and young of my Stone Box Village are all in the Immortal Realm within the box, endlessly happy, without
desire or demand, only regretting that we have not been able to repay the kindness of Zou Gui婆婆 (ghost-walking grandma). Now that her blood relatives have come
here, how can we not repay her well?"
Saying that, he clapped his hands, "Quick, quick, bring tea!"
As he spoke, a big girl with a flushed face and bulging chest walked in from outside the house, carrying tea. The cup was steaming hot, and the aroma of tea filled the air.
Outside the door and outside the window lattices, there were small heads crowded together. They were the naughty children in the village, all knowing that a guest had arrived, and they were curious, crowding together and
looking into the house.
The tea was brought to Hu Ma's face, but he didn't take it. He just looked at the clan elder and
said, "I don't drink tea, I'm just curious about how happy you old folks say you are?"
"Free from worries about food and clothing, whatever you think of comes true, and far away from illness and disaster, isn't that good?"
The clan elder smiled and said, "There are twenty more good things. I'm an illiterate old man and can't
explain them. Little benefactor, drink the tea and you'll know."
As he spoke, he nodded, smiling, clearly looking very sincere. The villagers around him, the big girl handing the tea, and even the
children crowded together outside the window and door, all nodded, all smiling.
In this village, the sunlight was dazzling, the warm wind was gentle, and everyone had a look of abundance and a
smiling face.
Hu Ma watched silently, feeling incredibly real. He lowered his head and glanced at the tea that the
flushed big girl handed over. A few tea leaves were floating in it, green and fresh.
The aroma of the tea seemed to have a life of its own, drilling straight into people's nostrils.
He stretched out his hand, but didn't take the tea. Instead, he pulled the big girl's wrist,
feeling it smooth, warm, and soft, and didn't find any flaws at all.
"Aiya…"
The big girl was pulled by Hu Ma's wrist, blushing with shame, but she didn't break free,
but turned her head away, pretending to be shy.
The clan elder laughed loudly, and the villagers around him also laughed loudly, and the
naughty children crowded together outside the house also laughed loudly, "The big girl's face is red, she wants to marry, get married, get married!"
The clan elder smiled and nodded, "Get married, get married, get married after drinking the tea."
Hu Ma only felt countless voices crowding into his mind, as if he were under the
surface of the water, his eardrums were squeezed uncomfortably. After a slight hesitation, he suddenly secretly circulated his power,
preparing to turn his whole body into death.
But when he circulated his power, he was shocked.
His body was still fine, as if he had lost the ability of a watchman to
turn his whole body into death.
It was as if he was really in a warm and affluent village. The sunlight from overhead
shone down, the warmth, and the clan elder beside him, the big girl coming to serve tea,
were all real, every blade of grass and every tree, every cup of tea, were completely visible, without any flaws.
So he slowly put down the big girl's wrist in his hand, and looked around at the
smiling faces, and said, "I don't drink tea, and I don't get married. If you really want to thank
me..."
His gaze passed through the half-open door of the clan elder's house and looked at the millstone,
and said, "I want the thing on top of that millstone."
The clan elder stopped smiling, looking puzzled, "You want farmland? Our village has farmland.
You want a big girl? Our village has big girls. You want chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs? Our village has endless
chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs…"
"But you insist on asking for this stone roller?"
·
Hu Ma nodded and said, "Yes."
The clan elder's face was already a little unsightly, and he said, "Why do you insist on this thing?"
Hu Ma smiled and said, "Of course, it's because only this thing can grind off the skin of the grain,
and see if it's already rotten inside."
"Shua!"
When he said these words, the countless smiling people around him suddenly stopped
smiling, even the naughty children crowding outside the door and window were the same. Only
countless gazes were staring straight at Hu Ma.
The clan elder also paused with his cane, "We treat you well, but you want to ask for the root of happiness in our village? If we give it to you, will we all have to eat unhulled grain in the future?"
"Someone, feed the guest tea."
"
With an order, the villagers around him surged up, suppressing Hu
Ma's arms and shoulders, and the big girl who brought the tea gritted her teeth, and fiercely
pushed the tea in the cup forward, pouring it into Hu Ma's mouth.
Hu Ma sighed softly, and suddenly stood up, taking a step out.
Around him were hands surging forward, people squeezing in, even hugging him tightly, and the
big girl coming over, but he ignored everything, and just took this step.
Following closely, he twisted his body and took the second step.
He only felt that with his footsteps, a chaotic shattering sounded around him, like the sound of cloth
tearing.
He took seven steps in a row, without looking at what was under his feet. If it was a table or chair, he would directly
smash it. If it was someone's arm or leg, he would directly break it. Even if
there were iron nails under his feet, he would let the iron nails pierce through his soles, but he still had to step firmly.
"Pa!"
When his seventh step came out and he stepped on solid ground, he suddenly saw that
everything in front of him was fading quickly, the white sunlight turning into a gloomy
and dark wind.
Those incredibly real faces became illusory and distorted.
Even the tea that the big girl had forcibly brought to his face, the complete coarse
porcelain teacup turned into broken tiles, the green and verdant tea leaves turned into a few black and filthy
teeth, and the fragrant tea water turned into dark red, rotten blood.
Around him were all pale and eerie ghost faces. The eyes of the naughty children had fallen to
the side of their noses, swaying like snot.
Outside, there was no one grinding grain. There was only a group of eerie little ghosts
surrounding the iron box, opening their bloody mouths, creaking and gnawing with all their might,
not knowing how long they had been gnawing.
"Hoo!"
Hu Ma sighed in relief when he saw this, "This is the normal style."