Chapter 1 The Expected Beginning

No one expected the Yiqian Teachings' Lantern Blessing Ceremony to begin as scheduled.

Along the entire street, stars of light were lit. Poorly clothed commoners, carrying children in their arms, knelt on either side of the street. Yiqian Teaching members, dressed in paper robes, wandered through the crowd, erecting tents and setting up pots, distributing talismans, steamed buns, incense, and candles, all free of charge.

In this town, every large courtyard or open space was occupied by stages and acrobatic performances. Performers dressed as gods and ghosts, beating gongs and drums, created a lively scene, showing off their skills with jar balancing and face-changing acts.

Not only did it happen, but the scale was even larger than imagined.

Among the most confused were Grandpa Sun and Great Good Treasure's Hall Master Tang and others. They knew that this was about to be the third day and anxiously came to the street, expecting to see a desolate scene. Instead, they were shocked by the bustling activity.

"There's a D堂官 sharpening his knife outside, and ghost fog has sealed off the town. The corpses of those killed by the demon corpse haven't even been collected and buried yet. Why are they in such a hurry to hold this Blessing Ceremony?"

"That's right. I thought there would be only thirty or fifty people, barely passable, but how did so many people suddenly come?"

For those in the know, the Shousui D堂官 outside brought immense pressure. This was even before they knew that the Meng family had also arrived. Otherwise, they might have been so frightened that they would have revolted immediately.

But while those in the know were so afraid, the common people seemed completely unaware. Looking at the dense crowds, the aroma of fried dough twists and the sweet smell of candied haws gave him a sense of unreality. It was as if the liveliness of the world had dispelled the pressure.

Even Hu Ma had figured it out and was now strolling casually down the street, weaving through the crowds.

If the whole town wasn't in a hurry, why should he be?

Anyway, as a Shousui Ren (gravekeeper), his specialty was running away. At most, he just needed to consider bringing Ma Ye, the donkey, and General Yin with him when he fled. Oh, and for good measure, he should also bring the stone horse outside the town...

...And if conditions allowed, the old abacus too!

As long as he could escape, he would feel much more at ease. He took a deep breath, feeling that it seemed inappropriate to consider these things in this atmosphere. Instead, his eyes fell on a string of candied haws next to him.

Little Red Tang was perched on his shoulder, staring at the candied haws, her eyes already glazed over.

Hu Ma sighed helplessly and generously took out a fingernail-sized piece of silver from his pocket, buying the two largest, reddest skewers. He gave one to Little Red Tang and kept one for himself.

Looking at Little Red Tang's contented expression, he smiled and said, "After eating this candied haw, you can't ask me for blood food pills anymore..."

"Hey, Uncle Hu, Uncle Hu, over here..."

Just as he was watching her, a surprised call suddenly rang out from not far away. Hu Ma looked in the direction of the sound and saw Sun's seventh son, dressed in a well-fitting brocade robe, standing outside the inn with a few servants, his head drooping. When he saw Hu Ma, his face immediately lit up with joy.

Hu Ma took Little Red Tang and squeezed through the crowd, saying to him, "Why did you come too?"...

Grandpa Sun hadn't allowed this seventh son to come when he held the banquet here earlier. Besides, Shima Town was already facing many misfortunes, so why was he joining in on the fun?

"I've already been scolded by my dad..."

Sun's seventh son had been somewhat happy to see Hu Ma, but when he heard Hu Ma's question, he immediately looked embarrassed and said in a low voice, "I calculated that the knife Uncle Hu asked me to forge was about ready, so I specially brought a jar of Taisui blood to welcome it out of the furnace."

"But I didn't expect that before I entered the town, no one told me anything. But when I entered the town and saw my dad, he gave me a thorough scolding, saying that I shouldn't have come in to seek death."

"But I don't know anything! When I entered the town before, I didn't encounter any trouble, and he didn't send Aunt Chu to remind me..."

'Aunt Chu?'

Hu Ma was taken aback before realizing that he was referring to Grandpa Sun's ghost servant. However, you couldn't blame Grandpa Sun for this. Even if he wanted to send a message out to notify his people of the danger here, he couldn't.

The Meng family outside had laid a dragnet. Sending a small ghost servant out to deliver a message at this time was no different from seeking death.

After pondering for a moment, he said, "The ghost fog outside the town is thick. Did you not notice anything unusual when you came in? And how did those commoners get in?"

"I saw the fog in the mountains."

Sun's seventh son honestly said, "But the fog was just ordinary. Nothing happened when I came in. Besides, during the day, the road into the mountains was full of people, as if all the commoners on the Xiling Road had come to see the Lantern Blessing Ceremony."

"When there are a lot of people, no one feels anything is wrong. Some people in the crowd were even saying that the fog was the magic power of the Yiqian Teaching's Dharma King, protecting those who participated in the Blessing Ceremony from disaster..."

"That's just nonsense..."

Hu Ma sighed helplessly upon hearing this.

The common people's thinking was quite divergent. It was clearly a demon fog sealing off the town, but it was being described as a blessing to ward off disaster. Of course, wasn't the clay Shoumuren (tomb guardian) outside the town also being described as the mount of a merciful and savior general?

However, after asking this question, he looked at Sun's seventh son with some anticipation and smiled, "Is my knife finally going to be forged?"

"Yes!"

Sun's seventh son nodded heavily, his face full of excitement.

Grandpa Sun was afraid of scaring him, so when he saw that he had already arrived in the town and couldn't run away, he simply didn't explain too much. He still didn't know that the D堂官 was outside. At this moment, all his thoughts were on the knife, and he was eager to claim credit:

"After we obtained this knife from Uncle Hu's mine, we immediately sent it to Shima Town. The most skilled knife-forging master in our Sun family's 'Iron' branch is here."

"That master was very happy to see such a good knife blank and decided to show off his skills and serve this master well, saying that this was a good opportunity for him to make a name for himself in the martial world."

"But this knife is difficult to forge, and he proposed many conditions. He wanted a heavy hammer that had killed people's brains, an old furnace that had burned people to death, and needless to say, other fine iron and charcoal. Even the quenching had to be done with pure Taisui blood."

"We took out all the good things from our workshop, but the purity of the Taisui blood wasn't enough, so I had to go out and find it elsewhere."

"This is Uncle Hu's business, so I didn't dare to be careless. That's why I quickly ran around and bought a jar, and brought it to this town."

"Originally, seeing my dad here and hearing that Uncle Hu was also here, I was thinking of being able to catch up with you all and see this master be born. But I didn't expect that the knife was still a few hammers away from being finished, and I was first scolded bloody by my dad..."

"Forging a knife is that complicated?"

Hu Ma listened and nodded with a smile, looking at Sun's seventh son with some apology. So this seventh son was able to get to this town at this time because of him?

If something happened to him, wouldn't it be because he had harmed him and caused him to lose his life?

Thinking this, he was just about to instruct him on something when he saw Grandpa Sun hurriedly walking out of the inn behind him. He first glared at Sun's seventh son and shouted, "Get out of the way, you're blocking my sight."

Then he quickly said to Hu Ma, "Brother Hu, where have you been hiding these past two days? I've been worried that something would happen to you..."

As he spoke, he glanced at the street outside, which was full of people, and quickly invited Hu Ma inside to talk. They came to a quiet room, and he had Sun's seventh son guard outside before lowering his voice and saying to Hu Ma, "I think you know about what's been happening these past two days."

"There's a D堂官 outside, and the people in the Teaching aren't united. I estimate that this Lantern Blessing Ceremony will definitely lead to a great disaster. We Shousui Ren need to consider a few steps ahead of time. If things go wrong, it's best to leave."

"Tonight, don't go too far. If something happens and things get chaotic, I'll help you find a way out. You and my seventh son can leave together."

Hu Ma listened and looked at Grandpa Sun with some emotion, smiling, "Old brother, you're still worried about me at this time. I'll remember this kindness."

"It's not about kindness or anything..."

Grandpa Sun smiled bitterly and said, "It's that I bet wrong!"

"I've been guided by my brothers from the Búshí Niú, and I'm willing to follow them in doing great things and fight for a good outcome. But I didn't expect that this would bring such a great disaster. I'm afraid I'm going to lose everything here."

"It's not easy for me to just put everything down and run for my life. Otherwise, even if I survive, when my brothers from the Búshí Niú find me, I won't have the face to see them again. So tonight, no matter what happens, I'll have to fight as much as I can."

"But you're different, brother. This is the first time you've come with me, and you're young. There's no reason for you to stay here. I only hope that when you leave, you'll take care of my seventh son. If you can escape with your life, I only ask that you put him..."

"...bring him into your Red Lantern Society, even if he's just a small incense burner, hiding his name. At least, save his life!"

These heartfelt words made Hu Ma pause. So Grandpa Sun was waiting for him here. He sighed and said, "Does Grandpa also think that after this Blessing Ceremony is over, the Yiqian Teaching won't have a good ending?"

"How could there be a good ending?"

Grandpa Sun smiled bitterly and said, "Others may not know, but we know. The Yiqian Teaching may seem powerful, but it's just a makeshift troupe right now..."

"At first, we hoped that we could invite those Búshí Niú brothers to help. The leader and White Fan also said they had invited them."

"But how could they invite them?"

"These past few days, I don't know how many people have secretly sent out ghost messengers to deliver messages, but even the ghost messengers haven't returned. This means that the road to the underworld has also been blocked. The inside and outside are isolated. The people in this town can only break through by force if they want to escape..."

"But break through by force and seize the road from the Shousui D堂官? Hehe, we're Shousui Ren ourselves, how can we not know what's going on?"