Chapter 10 It's All About Face

"This is a matter of great importance. You absolutely must not act rashly!"

"This isn't just your affair. No matter how unreliable I am, I can't just watch my little brother go in there and risk his life alone. So you stay here patiently and don't wander around. Let me go up first and discuss it with the others. After all, you're walking the Yin-Yang as a mortal, so going up and down is troublesome. I'm a Yin spirit coming down, so going up and down is just a blink of an eye…"

"..."

No one knew what Hu Ma's words had touched in Er Guotou, moving this tough guy to tears.

He didn't delay. After instructing Hu Ma, he raised his hand and collected the surrounding incense.

He greeted Shenshou Zhao's Zhao Sanyi and Jiangtou Chen's Chen A'bao, who were waiting outside the house, with a slight nod before drifting out of the village.

With a wave of his sleeve, a gust of Yin wind swept around him, and he disappeared.

He was in a hurry to return, not even bothering with his usual disguise. His Yin spirit surged, leaving Yin and returning to Yang, a divine skill, even the surrounding Yin wind carried a faint purple hue.

"Truly brilliant..."

Shenshou Zhao and Jiangtou Chen sensed the hint of purple qi in his return to Yang, nodded slightly, exchanged a glance, and returned to the courtyard.

Meanwhile, Hu Ma was eating a small piece of Blood Tai Sui, slowly circulating his energy to restore his Daoxing (cultivation).

As a mortal walking the Yin-Yang, he could rest and restore his Daoxing in a village of the living.

"Since Hall Official is resting here, he is our guest."

Shenshou Zhao's Zhao Sanyi, seeing that Er Guotou had left and only Hu Ma remained, assumed he was waiting for orders and abandoned the idea of discussing important matters with him.

However, seeing Hu Ma eating Blood Tai Sui to restore his Daoxing, and not even made into Blood Food Pills, he felt a little sympathetic and returned to the house to retrieve a box.

Opening it, he revealed several Purple Vein Blood Food Pills, looking like Golden Silk Tai Sui, but the veins were not golden, but strands of purple qi.

He smiled and said, "Don't be polite, take these Blood Food Pills. They'll restore your Daoxing faster and keep you from getting hungry."

"..."

Hu Ma opened his eyes and was a little surprised.

The Purple Tai Sui, or "immortal qi," was extremely important, and most importantly, dangerous. Of the people he'd seen eat it, only Er Guotou hadn't gone mad.

But now, seeing Shenshou Zhao's easy manner, it seemed not only did they eat it regularly, but they could even offer it to guests?

Of course, he could see that Zhao Sanyi was telling the truth. These Blood Food Pills were mainly Golden Silk Tai Sui, with just a touch of purple qi, not truly "immortal pills."

"Don't look down on them. These aren't true immortal pills, just touched by a bit of Purple Tai Sui aura."

Shenshou Zhao's Zhao Sanyi smiled and said, "You're a Great Executioner from the Zhensui Bureau, so close to Master Hu, haven't you eaten them before?"

"I really haven't."

Hu Ma picked up a pill, examined it carefully, and sighed, "Not only have I never eaten such a rare thing, but Master Hu probably hasn't either…"

Jiangtou Chen's Chen A'bao happened to float by and coldly interjected, "He has."

"?"

Hu Ma didn't understand why she was so sure.

Zhao Sanyi also gave Hu Ma a sympathetic look and said, "The Hu family shouldn't be lacking in this stuff, how come they're being so stingy with you?"

Seemingly thinking of something, he chuckled softly, "Brother, have you considered coming to help out at our Shenshou Zhao family?"

"Anyway, a Shou Suiren (Year Keeper) can perform chest-breaking feats, it's good to earn a living in the performing arts world..."

"..."

"?"

Hu Ma was a little confused by his train of thought. He was a proper Ghost Walker, why would he go to his performing arts troupe?

Besides, his official identity was also a Ghost Walking Executioner of the Great Hall Official. Wasn't he directly poaching from their Zhensui Hu family?

But it was clear that Zhao Sanyi was joking, so he chatted with him briefly.

Facing the box of Blood Food Pills, Hu Ma hesitated for a long time before picking one up and slowly eating it. He had eaten blue, white, red, golden silk ones before, even black ones, but he had never been so hesitant. Because he had seen the fate of those who rashly touched Purple Tai Sui, he wasn't at ease. He was prepared to spit it out if anything went wrong.

Unexpectedly, he only felt his Daoxing recovering rapidly, and his blood was warm all over.

However, because there was too little purple qi on this Blood Food Pill, he didn't notice any benefits to his Natal Spirit Temple.

But feeling his Daoxing recover, he felt relieved, and while waiting for Er Guotou's message, he silently considered various details.

What he was most concerned about now was whether he could bring the Zhensui Bureau into the Yin realm. In theory, wherever he was, as long as he followed the methods in the Zhensui Book, summoned the Golden Armor Warriors, he could order them to send the Zhensui Bureau with its Golden Mace to him. But after all, this was not the Yang realm, but the Yin realm, and he had to consider the possibility of accidents.

But how should he try it?

"Yo, you look energetic in just a little while, it seems your method is not bad…"

Just as Hu Ma was thinking, the young master of the Shenshou Zhao family, after wandering around the village, looking bored, saw Hu Ma stop his practice and came over again.

Hu Ma was just a Hall Official of the Executioners, ultimately inferior to him in status, so he didn't care too much. Without asking, he casually sat down next to Hu Ma.

Suddenly, he smiled at Hu Ma and winked, "Fancy a drink?"

Hu Ma was stunned, "Huh?"

"Just passing the time…"

Zhao Sanyi grinned, reached out to the stone bench, and took out two cups.

"Eh?"

Hu Ma quickly looked down at the ground and saw that Zhao Sanyi was empty-handed, with nothing at all.

He immediately understood that this young master of the performing arts world was showing off, but who would refuse to watch a magic trick when they had nothing to do, so he smiled and said:

"If you can conjure wine, can you also conjure dishes?"

Zhao Sanyi immediately looked embarrassed and said, "Oh, these are all prepared in advance, how can I conjure them?"

As he spoke, he suddenly reached out and touched the ground, producing a plate of roasted chicken, and smiled, "Is this enough?"

Hu Ma's eyes lit up a bit and he said, "Is there any more?"

Zhao Sanyi looked a little annoyed and said, "It's good enough to conjure one, it's hard to ask for more..."

Saying that, his right hand quickly dropped, and with a swoop, a plate of smoked fish appeared on the stone table.

"Amazing, amazing..."

Hu Ma exclaimed in amazement and suddenly said, "If there was another plate of peanuts, that would be even better..."

"Haha, Hall Official, are you testing me?"

Zhao Sanyi waved his hands repeatedly, and suddenly, with a flick of his sleeve, there was an oil paper bag on the stone table, containing peanuts.

Seeing Hu Ma's eyes light up, he looked a little smug, but then deliberately frowned and muttered to himself, "Three dishes, that doesn't sound good…"

Immediately afterwards, he took out a small bag from his waist, which was full of seeds and fruit pits.

He picked for a long time and smiled, "Then let's have a peach!"

Saying that, he took out a peach pit, dug a shallow pit in the ground, buried it, and poured a cup of wine on it, gently chanting a spell to the ground.

Before long, a bud sprouted from the soil, growing into a tree in an instant, blossoming and withering, and in the blink of an eye, the tree was covered with peaches.

He picked two down, looked at Hu Ma, and said with a smug look, "Four dishes, just right for drinking!"

"Miraculous, miraculous…"

Hu Ma watched and couldn't help clapping his hands, praising repeatedly and sincerely. Anyway, he didn't have to give a reward, and he was being treated to wine, shouldn't he say a few nice words?

Zhao Sanyi on the other side was so praised that his face turned slightly red, looking extremely excited. He took the initiative to pour wine into Hu Ma's glass, smiling, "Brother, don't be polite!"

'Looks like the people in the performing arts world are all a bit flamboyant, the more you praise them, the more excited they get…'

Hu Ma thought to himself, raised his glass, and drank it all with Zhao Sanyi, simply praising that the name "Shenshou" was well-deserved.

However, just as the two were in high spirits, Chen A'bao next door carried a basin and floated by gloomily, dropping a sentence out of the blue:

"Weren't those peaches you just bought for two coppers?"

"..."

Zhao Sanyi's expression was a little awkward and he looked at her unhappily.

"We don't care where it came from, but I'm a Shou Suiren, famous for my eyesight. To not even be able to see through Young Master Zhao's methods, truly deserves the name 'Shen'..."

Hu Ma said with a smile, "Besides, what's so difficult about real magic, I can even turn myself into a dead person!"

"Knowing it's fake, but making it impossible for people to see through it, using the fake to confuse the real, that's true skill…"

"..."

His words made Zhao Sanyi happy again, saying yes repeatedly, and developing a great sense of kinship with Hu Ma.

The Ten Families rarely praise each other, only wanting to take the opportunity to see your skills, but he, as the young master of the Shenshou Zhao family, didn't care about the praise of ordinary Jianghu people.

Hu Ma's identity was the Hall Official of Ghost Walking, a perfect fit, and Hu Ma didn't act aloof, praising him sincerely, so Zhao Sanyi couldn't help but be delighted.

But while drinking and chatting, Hu Ma became curious about the surrounding village and smiled, "But when it comes to it, the most amazing thing is this village."

"How can a village of the living be built in the Yin realm?"

"This kind of skill is something that even I… even my friend Bao Erge, who came with me, praised endlessly, I wonder who is responsible for it?"

"..."

"I made it!!"

Zhao Sanyi said with a flushed face, "But our performing arts world doesn't know anything else, but we have plenty of Heaven-Stealing and Sun-Replacing methods. To build this village, you must first understand the Yin-Yang, and then…"

"..."

Just as he was about to explain it properly to Hu Ma, Chen A'bao next door floated by from behind and said gloomily, "Purple Tai Sui…"

"The Ten Families don't all rely on Purple Tai Sui to refine illusion into reality in the Yin realm, what does it have to do with the performing arts world…"

"If there's no Purple Tai Sui, let him conjure one out of thin air for you to see…"

(End of Chapter)