Chapter 1 Gloom of Night, Rampage of Evil

Hu Ma had no choice but to come up with this idea, but he didn't know how many evil spirits Xiao Hongtang had attracted. He only realized that Red Lantern Goddess usually behaved domineeringly, and many evil spirits were driven outside the illuminated range of the Red Lantern Goddess Society.

However, those who dared to stay within the illuminated range of the Red Lantern Goddess were undoubtedly bold or powerful.

At this time, they were attracted by the scent of "Blood Tai Sui" in Xiao Hongtang's hand. Although the thing had been snatched and eaten, these evil spirits, once disturbed, would not easily stop.

At this moment, they were still in chaos, relying on instinct, wandering around in the darkness and around the village, running east and west.

Hu Ma could feel the unrest in the night, which he usually absolutely dared not provoke.

But now, he had gathered his courage and broke into it.

He walked on the country dirt road with one foot deep and the other shallow, but he walked more and more steadily, and faster and faster. He clearly was in an area invaded by evil spirits, but he walked out of it with a feeling of being the master of the house, and approached the village with great strides.

But at this moment, he suddenly saw a slender figure walking in front of him.

That person seemed to be walking slower than him, just three or four *zhang* (丈, Chinese unit of measurement, approx. 3.3 meters) ahead, silent, walking slowly forward.

"In such a quiet night, I would encounter someone traveling at night?"

Hu Ma was suddenly alert, slowed down his pace, but saw that the other party's pace also seemed to be slower, as if waiting for him to catch up.

"Brother, give me your name!"

Hu Ma wouldn't rashly chase after him, stopped and shouted at the figure.

The other party suddenly stopped, but didn't mean to turn his head. Only the night wind blew from the front, faintly carrying some eerie coldness.

Hu Ma pondered slightly, took out a fire starter from his arms.

After blowing it bright, he handed it to Xiao Hongtang next to him, signaling her to hold the fire starter and run to the front to light up the area.

In such a dark night, Xiao Hongtang held the fire starter, looking like a floating flame in the air, unsupported and unattached, drifting straight forward. The other party was caught off guard and his face was suddenly illuminated, revealing a pale and stiff face, sticking out a bright red tongue.

Looking at those cold and seemingly smiling eyes, Hu Ma felt a chill in his heart.

It turned out to be a person with a face growing on the back of his head, or rather, his head had been twisted one hundred and eighty degrees.

He had thought he was chasing him, but he hadn't turned his head because he had been staring at him all along.

If he had really rashly chased after him just now, wouldn't he have been sprayed with a face full of *yin qi* (阴气, negative energy)?

Second Master had said that traveling at night and being blown by evil spirits would reduce the power of the furnace fire by 30%, and ordinary people would be directly stunned by a mouthful of *yin qi*.

Confirming that it was not a human, Hu Ma also suddenly became nervous. He took a low breath, placed the knife Zhou Datong had lent him in front of him, ready to draw the knife at any time, looked at that stiff and pale face, and said in a deep voice:

"Friend, I know it's midnight now, and I'm intruding on your path."

"But I have important things to do and I'm in a hurry to pass by. Please let me pass, and we brothers will mind our own business..."

"..."

"Hee hee hee hee hee..."

Hu Ma only heard a gloomy laugh from the other party, but his figure stopped, staring at him as if waiting for him to pass.

Hu Ma was already cold and trembling, but he silently thought about the skills Second Master had taught him, and knew that he must not show weakness now, so he simply drew half of his knife and forced himself forward step by step:

"I've said it nicely, if you don't listen..."

The furnace fire in his abdomen rose, exerting force on the knife, step by step, walking forward, like a moving furnace.

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to that strange pale face, but the other party's figure seemed to be getting fainter and fainter. When he walked to the position where the other party had just stood, the other party was no longer visible, and he only heard a faint laughter in his ears, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

Hu Ma gritted his teeth, stopped, looked at the dark night around him, and said in a deep voice, "Thank you, brother, I'll burn incense for you when I have the chance!"

These rules were all taught to him by Second Master.

Second Master had relied on his sixty years of furnace fire and had never been afraid of evil spirits.

But he was influenced by the village and didn't casually provoke evil spirits. If he encountered them, he would first talk to them politely.

Hu Ma was like this now. He didn't know what he had encountered, but it was always right to be polite first.

Sure enough, although he was nervous and tense all the way, he didn't encounter any further obstacles.

Walking in strides in the countryside, he soon heard a creaking sound. He knew that he had encountered another problem, so he gave Xiao Hongtang a look and slowly walked off the path, approaching the place where the creaking sound came from.

Soon he approached the bottom of a slope, where five or six figures were gathered, all trembling and bowing, not knowing what they were doing.

"Are they all guys from the village?"

Hu Ma recognized their clothes at a glance, and shouted in a low voice, "What are you doing?"

Suddenly, all the trembling people stopped at the same time, and the creaking sound also disappeared suddenly.

Hu Ma saw that one by one, the stiff figures slowly turned around and looked at him.

In the heavy night, he couldn't see the appearance of those people clearly, only vaguely distinguishing that those people seemed to have their fingers reaching their mouths, creaking and gnawing, and many people's eyes slowly lit up, making extremely strange and sharp sounds:

"Wow, another one is here..."

"It's him, it's him, this kid injured me back then, I remember it..."

"..."

"These guys have been bewitched..."

Hu Ma stared at this horrifying scene, thinking silently in his heart.

He heard the sharp voice and distinguished that it was the group of Huang Xian (黄仙, weasel spirits) that had bewitched someone in the town back then.

He had injured one of their family members back then, and Xu Ji was even more domineering, directly killing one with a mahogany sword. The rest were afraid of the Red Lantern Goddess's power and obediently moved away.

Unexpectedly, he would meet them here now. Wasn't this bad luck, a narrow escape?

These guys had all been bewitched by them, and they obviously had a grudge against him. As soon as they saw him, they wanted to attack.

Should he strike first, or what?

Hu Ma quickly flashed some thoughts in his mind, tightly grasped the knife in his arms, but suddenly slowed down his voice:

"So it's the Huang Xian family..."

He deliberately made his voice calm and proud, and said loudly: "I helped bury your family members earlier and let you worship at the graves. I thought this matter was over, but I didn't expect to meet you here again."

"Since this is the case, I have something to say."

"Back then, I did injure one of your family members, but my actions were justified. Your family attacked first and disrespected our Red Lantern Goddess."

"After that, we minded our own business and went our separate ways."

"Today, I have something to do here and I've encountered you great immortals. If you're not satisfied, I can personally apologize to you."

"But if you don't even give me this face, then let's draw our swords and compete!"

"..."

While saying this, he suddenly exerted his energy in his chest and exhaled on the knife in his hand.

This trick was the True Yang Arrow.

The pure true furnace was ignited and burned onto the knife, making the knife, for a moment, like a red-hot branding iron.

Hu Ma even took advantage of this moment to see the gnawed-clean fingers of those guys and those pale and stiff faces. They saw the knife in his hand and took a step back in unison.

The key was that behind them, in the waist-deep grass, he didn't know how many things were startled, squeaking and quickly fleeing into the distance.

Seeing this, Hu Ma felt relieved and deliberately held the knife, shouting, "We'll meet again someday, let's all save face."

"Today, don't stop me from saving people, and I'll bring a fat chicken to thank you!"

"..."

The rustling sound in the surrounding grass, mixed with various strange noises, seemed to be discussing something.

After a long while, one of the bewitched guys suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Are you bringing a rooster or a hen?"

"In my past memories, it is said that Huang Xian like to eat roosters?"

Hu Ma's mind raced, but he wasn't sure, so he shouted, "How about a pair of roosters and hens?"

The grass suddenly erupted as if it had exploded.

After a long time, a sharp voice said, "This kid is sensible, we won't make things difficult for you, take the people back..."

Intermittently, there were also voices shouting: "The chicken must be fat, and bring some brown sugar..."

"Rooster blood, brown sugar eggs, not even a god would trade it..."

"..."

"They're quite picky..."

Hu Ma was just wary, silently watching the surrounding grass shaking, as if something was quickly moving away, and the surroundings gradually became quiet, only those guys were still standing there blankly.

Just now they were moving like marionettes, but now they have lost the hands that control them.

Just as he was about to step forward to call out to them, he suddenly heard the grass shake again. He immediately stood still, gripped the knife tightly, but he didn't expect that something was just thrown out from the depths of the grass, landed with a thud at his feet, and it was a red wooden sword.

"It's for you..."

A sharp voice suddenly sounded beside him, and then scurried back into the depths of the grass again.

"Good neighbors..."

Hu Ma recognized at a glance that this wooden sword was the one that Xu Ji had always held in his hand, brandishing it ostentatiously.

Unexpectedly, it was now being given to him by this group of Huang Xian?

They are so considerate!

If he picked up this mahogany sword, it would belong to Young Master Xu Ji. He would have just found it.

But since this group of Huang Xian gave it to him, then this sword would be his.

If there was any difference between the two...

...Then there was no difference!

Hu Ma just took it in his hand and felt that this object was different from the knife he usually used for practicing and Zhou Datong's knife. It felt empty and ethereal in his hand, as if it was very light, but it also seemed to have a certain mysterious weight.

His furnace fire could be poured into it at any time, as easily as using his own arm.

This surprise made his courage surge, and he suddenly raised the long sword and swept it around.

"Whoosh..."

As if an invisible fire intent stirred, the *yin qi* on the bodies of the stiff guys around him instantly receded.

One by one, they opened their eyes in panic.