Chapter 1 The Counter

"This is the counter set up here by our Red Lantern Matron Society."

The supervisor knocked on the door of the residence and introduced it to Hu Ma and the others with a smile, "Don't look at how small this place is, it's very important. How much stuff goes through here every spring?"

The surrounding teenagers nodded ignorantly, not knowing if they understood.

But Hu Ma already understood the whole arrangement. The Blood Food Gang's livelihood depends on blood food. Whether it's mining and harvesting, or mule and horse transportation, every link is extremely important.

Perhaps this is the warehouse, or rather, the station, for transporting blood food during the Taisui worship?

Before long, the door of the house was opened, and a silk-clad youth came out, smiling and saying, "Master has been waiting for you for a long time, and was worried that you wouldn't make it before dark. Come in quickly, Master has prepared wine and dishes..."

Hearing this, the teenagers suddenly became anxious. They had been walking for most of the day and their stomachs were already empty.

Entering the house, they indeed saw a table of wine and dishes set up in the main room. An old master with a slightly fat figure came out to greet them from afar, cupping his hands towards the supervisor who had brought them.

Just as the teenagers were eager to take their seats, they suddenly heard the silk-clad youth who opened the door scolding, "No manners! Who told you to rush in there? Your food is in the kitchen, go eat it yourselves!"

Only then did the teenagers realize that the wine and dishes were to entertain the supervisor, and had nothing to do with them.

One by one, they silently came to the kitchen, where they saw dark, mushy cornbread buns in a basket, with not even a shred of pickled vegetables next to them. Good heavens, it wasn't even as good as Da Yang Village.

Outside in the main room, the silk-clad youth was already accompanying the supervisor who had brought them, as well as the slightly fat old master, to their seats. Everyone exchanged toasts, talked, and laughed, and the atmosphere was very good.

Hu Ma and his companions sat or squatted in the courtyard, each eating two dark, mushy cornbread buns.

The cornbread buns were coarse and hard, and a mouthful of them was full of dregs, making them difficult to swallow.

After eating the cornbread buns, they fetched a bucket of cold water from the well and shared it. The teenagers waited bitterly in the courtyard. In the main room, the old master, the silk-clad youth, and the supervisor were chatting happily, and these newly arrived teenagers didn't dare to disturb them.

A good half hour passed before they saw the silk-clad youth come out of the main room with a smile.

But when he reached the teenagers, the smile on his face had already disappeared. With a stern face, he said, "Come in with me!"

"You must know some etiquette in front of the shopkeeper."

"..."

Only then did the teenagers timidly carry their bedding and come to the front of the main room.

Looking at the large room, which was not luxurious but spacious and bright, they felt a sense of awe. Before stepping over the threshold, they first wiped the mud off the soles of their shoes before carefully stepping in.

"Boys, open your eyes wide and recognize him."

The supervisor who had brought Hu Ma and the others, his face flushed with wine, said with a smile, "This is the old shopkeeper of our Red Lantern Matron Society, Master Wu Hong. He guards this manor for our Red Lantern Society, and his skills are extraordinary."

"You will be under his command from now on, so you must be diligent. If he's happy, he'll teach you a couple of tricks, and that will be enough for you to live on for the rest of your lives."

After saying that, he turned to look at Shopkeeper Wu and said with a smile, "I've brought the people to you, you can train them as you see fit."

"Easy to say."

Shopkeeper Wu smiled and looked kindly. His eyes swept over Hu Ma and his group, and then fell on the silk-clad youth sitting on a round stool next to him, saying, "You, and Xu Ji, along with his several fellow villagers, are the people the Red Lantern Society has transferred over this time."

"Xu Ji arrived three days earlier than you, and I have already taught him many rules. You can learn from him."

"I like peace and quiet. If there's nothing else, don't bother me, but as long as you work diligently, I will teach you what I should."

"But if you are lazy and cause trouble, I will send you back."

"..."

Hearing the shopkeeper mention him, the silk-clad youth hurriedly stood up.

Only then did the teenagers realize that this silk-clad youth was just like them, only he had arrived earlier.

The supervisor listened from the side and interjected, "Why send them back?"

"If they don't listen and don't understand the rules, then they can just be beaten to death, that's their fate."

"..."

"Hehe, I'm just a shopkeeper after all, how can I be in charge of their little lives?"

The old shopkeeper replied with a smile, and then waved his hand, preparing to have the silk-clad youth take Hu Ma and the others down. But unexpectedly, before they could leave, they suddenly heard a rapid knocking on the door, and someone crying out, "Red Lantern Matron, save us! Great Master, save us..."

"Someone has been possessed by evil spirits..."

"..."

"Hmm?"

Everyone was confused and turned to look at the main room.

The old shopkeeper, who had already raised his cup, was also stunned. He glanced at the supervisor beside him and got up, saying:

"Bring them in!"

"..."

The silk-clad youth went to open the courtyard door, and they saw torches flickering as a group of people poured in.

It was a group of disheveled and dirty commoners, who were panicked and crying. In the middle, two people were carrying a hard door panel, on which was a person, and they carried it all to the front of the main room.

Shining a torch on it, they saw that the person lying on the door panel was about thirty or forty years old, tied to the door panel with straw ropes, his body curled up into a ball, and he was constantly shivering.

What was terrifying was that the index finger of his right hand was stuck in his mouth, his front teeth were exposed, and he was constantly knocking, already gnawing it down to the bone.

The old shopkeeper left his seat and came forward, looking down at him, "What's going on?"

"We don't know either..."

The surrounding villagers were in a chaotic state, and someone with more courage replied, "This guy from the Liu Da Ding family went to the fields this afternoon, and when he came back in the evening, he turned into this."

"He's muddled and doesn't speak, and bites anyone who touches him. We tied him up, and he started gnawing on his own fingers. We wanted to pull him back, but he bit us a couple of times, so we had to tie him up and let the Great Master take a look."

The old shopkeeper paced around the door panel twice, seemingly already knowing what was going on, and said, "Put him down, untie the ropes!"

The villagers were timid and didn't dare to untie him.

However, the silk-clad youth suddenly drew his saber and flicked it against the straw ropes, cutting them directly.

"Whoosh!"

As soon as the straw ropes were loosened, the man from the Liu Da Ding family suddenly sat up, scaring the surrounding neighbors into scattering.

But the man sat up without any other actions, just focusing on gnawing on his fingers.

Or rather, not gnawing, but knocking.

He knocked with a rhythmic sound, enjoying it as if he were a mouse gnawing on a corncob.

Shopkeeper Wu raised his sleeves, signaling the villagers to step aside, and he himself circled around the man, seeing that the man was untied and gnawing on his fingers even faster, having already switched to another one.

He wasn't in a hurry, and said with a smile, "Stop eating for now, let's have a chat."

"Whose family are you from, where do you live?"

"..."

The man knocked on his fingers, but ignored everyone, not even lifting his head when he heard the words.

"Really senseless..."

Seeing that he was ignoring him, the old shopkeeper slowly squatted down in front of him, and some people couldn't help but want to remind him.

Unexpectedly, the man who was seriously gnawing on his fingers, when the old shopkeeper squatted down and was very close to him, suddenly looked up, a sinister look flashing in his eyes, and suddenly reached out to grab the old shopkeeper's shoulder, opening his mouth to bite.

But the old shopkeeper didn't panic, and suddenly reached out, actually holding a pair of chopsticks in his hand, and raised his hand to clamp them onto his fingers.

The old shopkeeper had been eating just now, and had come out, but no one had noticed that he was still holding chopsticks in his hand.

Most importantly, he clamped the man's fingers as if he were clamping a radish. It didn't seem like he was using much force, but the man, who was about to bite him, suddenly froze, as if his acupoints had been sealed, his body tilting and unable to move, crying out:

"Great Master, spare me! I'm from the village under the big rock in the west of the town..."

"..."

The old shopkeeper smiled knowingly, just clamping him, and said, "Just moved here? Why did you want to harm people?"

"I didn't want to harm him..."

The man's voice sounded strange and sharp, with a gloomy and chilling taste: "He was the one who poured water into my house and set it on fire, trying to suffocate us with smoke."

"If I don't teach him a lesson, then in the future, everyone in this area will be able to come and bully me, right?"

"..."

For some reason, listening to the man from the Liu Da Ding family speaking in a pinched voice, the surrounding villagers felt a chill.

However, the old shopkeeper's smile remained unchanged, and he said with a smile, "What you said makes sense, but when did your family move here? Have you worshiped our Red Lantern Matron?"

"My family just moved here..."

The man from the Liu Da Ding family tilted his head, his eyes rolling around: "My family only worships the Old Grandmother, not some Red Lantern Matron."

The old shopkeeper's smile didn't diminish, and he said, "Then that's your family not understanding the rules..."

As he spoke, he suddenly darkened his face and said, "East corner!"

At the same time, the other hand he had been hanging down suddenly raised up and slapped the man's forehead.

"Chi!"

This slap of his looked unremarkable, but Hu Ma now had nearly two zhus (incense sticks - a unit of time) of Daoist cultivation, and was sensitive to yang energy. He clearly noticed that his movement was somewhat similar to the starting stance "Opening the Mountain" in the old style that Second Master taught him, both being hand-raising and stove-fire generating.

However, his movements were too skilled and more relaxed, so it was almost impossible to see traces of the old style.

And after this slap, it was as if something had been slapped out of the lean man's body, and a gust of yin wind swept away elsewhere.

The lean man, whose fingers were being clamped, and whose body was tense, suddenly went limp.

But it wasn't over yet.

Hu Ma clearly felt that after the evil energy in the man's body was forced out, it suddenly blew towards a place.

Looking at the direction, it was exactly the "east corner" that the old shopkeeper had mentioned!

There was a flash of yellow there, and something suddenly jumped up in surprise from the ditch, trying to climb over the wall and leave.

He didn't react hastily, "shua" he stepped past Zhou Datong, and casually drew the knife tied around his waist, smashing it over with the sheath.

They only heard a miserable cry, and something quickly climbed over the wall and disappeared.