Chapter 19 I'll Go Take a Look Myself

Who knew what price Xu Ji had paid, but the old shopkeeper was clearly favoring him somewhat.

First, Hu Ma had already received a promise, but in the end, it turned into a competition between the two, with the winner taking all.

Second, the difficult problem given by the old shopkeeper was to eliminate a powerful evil spirit.

Everyone in the village knew that Xu Ji had an old object, a powerful weapon for exorcising evil spirits. Who could compete with him?

"The old thing wants to please everyone while also acting clever..."

Hu Ma thought silently. It seemed that Xu Ji had offered some benefits that moved the old shopkeeper, and the things he had given him before were also valuable, and he was reluctant to return them. Therefore, he racked his brains to come up with such a difficult problem.

But now that things had come to this, what should he do?

It was too late to ask Brother Erguotou for help now.

Moreover, Hu Ma knew that favors were hard to come by. This brother had already helped him get rid of the background behind Xu Ji, which was already very good.

After all, if he hadn't helped with this, he wouldn't have had a chance to compete with Xu Ji. A rich young master with a background against a wild boy from the village was simply a dimensional blow.

Asking him again might not be him returning the favor, but him owing the other a favor.

Now, he had to think of a way himself first.

If all else failed, he would have to risk paying a favor and ask Brother Erguotou to give him some ideas.

While Hu Ma was thinking silently and walking towards the outer courtyard, Xu Ji was uncharacteristically smiling coldly, striding quickly.

Once he got out of the inner courtyard, he immediately went to the wing where the shop assistants lived and shouted loudly, "Huzi, Dalong, come out and call a few trustworthy brothers to go out with me on an important matter."

"When we come back, I will heavily… thank you!"

He almost said "reward," but thinking of his situation, he forced himself to change it to "thank you."

"Ah?"

Hearing his shout, the shop assistants, who were already curious about what they were doing in the inner courtyard, ran out in a swarm from the large wing.

Xu Ji's two followers were both surprised and delighted to see Xu Ji looking so confident now.

It felt like the previous Xu Ji was back, which meant they could rely on Xu Ji's coattails again and live a comfortable life without having to keep their tails between their legs?

"He's going out overnight?"

Hu Ma was also slightly strange when he heard this.

Dusk was the boundary, dividing yin and yang. The living and the evil spirits each went their own way.

These things were already scary, and they were even more ferocious than the living at night.

In addition, this was their test, not carrying lanterns to patrol the night. Usually, they carried red lanterns around to borrow the power of the Red Lantern Goddess.

But this time, they wouldn't be carrying lanterns and would rely entirely on their own abilities. Wouldn't the risk increase exponentially?

As he was thinking, he suddenly realized.

Perhaps the advantage the other side had wasn't just the old object.

The other side probably knew what to deal with and might have made some preparations early on...

...Damn, he even leaked the question?

He thought anxiously, but he also had a plan. Seeing them excitedly looking for people, he deliberately laughed loudly, "Young Master Xu Ji, why are you in such a hurry?"

"The old shopkeeper gave us this difficult problem. Whoever can solve the powerful evil spirit will be the steward of this village and can also become his disciple and learn his skills. So, we must be anxious to get rid of that thing..."

"But if you take them out to risk their lives at night, what if something goes wrong? How will you explain it to their families?"

"..."

"Exorcise evil spirits?"

"Whoever wins can become the steward?"

When the shop assistants in the outer courtyard heard this, they were all greatly surprised.

Only then did they realize that this conversation had decided the future identities of these two people.

When they suddenly heard that they were going to exorcise evil spirits at night, many of them were timid.

"Heh, if you don't have the guts, what are you doing as a night watchman?"

Hearing this, Xu Ji immediately understood Hu Ma's intention and deliberately cooperated with him.

He said loudly, then looked at the others, grabbed the wooden sword from his waist, raised it in his hand, and said loudly:

"This blood wood sword is an old tree that grew beside the Blood Tai Sui next to the Tai Sui God. It has been used by a ghost walker for many years and is the most spiritual. It is the best object to restrain evil spirits..."

"With this sword by my side, what does it matter if it's day or night? Can't I kill an evil spirit?"

"Everyone, I'm mainly asking you to come along to boost my momentum. Whoever is willing to go with me, after we come back, I will…"

"..."

Speaking of this, he paused slightly before steeling his heart and saying, "Give him a jin of green food!"

Green food was Green Tai Sui. The young men were suddenly surprised and delighted when they heard this. How many cakes could that be exchanged for?

They were already convinced of Xu Ji's strength, knowing that he had practiced his skills well and had seen his power when he eliminated the old yellow weasel. Now that they saw him holding the old object, full of confidence, and promising great benefits, they immediately agreed loudly.

Even Li Wa, who was in the crowd, hesitated, his eyes scanning over Xu Ji and his two followers, hesitating whether to step forward.

During this time, he had been thinking about repairing his relationship with the brothers in Da Yang Village, but unfortunately, the people from Da Yang Village were all simple-minded and could not tolerate someone like him who could not distinguish between inside and outside.

Ever since Hu Ma took charge, he had been in an extremely awkward situation for quite some time.

Seeing everyone clamoring and lighting torches, about to go out in a crowd, he finally hardened his heart and followed.

With this departure, more than half of the ten or so shop assistants in the village were gone at once.

The ones who stayed were just the three partners from Da Yang Village and a few who were indeed timid and did not dare to go out at night to provoke evil spirits.

"Brother Hu Ma, don't be afraid, let's go too..."

Zhou Datong looked at this and became nervous, saying to Hu Ma, "How can we not fight for something so important?"

Not only him, but even Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu were secretly cheering themselves on.

Suddenly being told to go out in the middle of the night to exorcise evil spirits, no one was not afraid, but when it came to their future situation, no one could care about anything else.

"We can't go."

Hu Ma said in a deep voice, "We haven't practiced our skills, and we don't know what that thing is. Going there is just throwing our lives away!"

Seeing them anxious, he had an idea. He quickly returned to his small house, picked up a few things, and said to Zhou Datong:

"Lend me your knife, I'll go take a look myself!"

"..."

"Ah?"

Zhou Datong hurriedly handed over the knife, but he was clearly still eager to try.

Hu Ma took the knife and did not explain much. Looking at the dark night outside the village, where he could not see his fingers, he hardened his heart, grabbed a bamboo hat from the wall, put it on his head, picked up the knife, and strode out of the village.

Now, Xu Ji and the others were anxious, and the torches were shining, so they had already left the village.

Hu Ma didn't want to be discovered by them, so he just relied on a little starlight in the dark night to find his way, stepping deep and shallow on the road leading northwest.

Gradually, he left the village, and the surroundings were silent. Even Xu Ji and the others were almost out of sight of the firelight. The surrounding area was a wilderness, and the dark mountain shadows in the distance were almost invisible.

Hu Ma took a deep breath, and the fire in his belly rose slightly, which emboldened him and continued to move forward.

When he got outside the village and could not see anyone in front or behind, he took out a stick of incense from his arms, lit it with a fire starter, held it in his hand, and continued to walk forward. Before long, his clothes tightened, and he looked down to see Little Hong Tang.

She tilted her head, as if very curious, "Brother Hu Ma, what are you bringing Little Hong Tang here for?"

In the middle of the night, in the empty wilderness, suddenly being grabbed by a little ghost, what did it feel like?

Full of security!

Hu Ma smiled at her, made a shushing gesture, and whispered, "We're going to do something important."

"After it's done, I'll give you green food to eat..."

"Okay..."

Little Hong Tang was a little disappointed when she heard it wasn't red food, but green food was good too, and her eyes lit up: "How much?"

Hu Ma hardened his heart and said, "A piece as big as a chicken leg, is that enough?"

"Enough, enough..."

Little Hong Tang's saliva was almost drooling, and she hurried to keep up with Hu Ma, her short legs moving quickly.

...

...

At this time, in the village, the old shopkeeper in the inner courtyard was sitting next to the Eight Immortals table. The dim light of the oil lamp illuminated an oil paper package in his hand, wrapped in three layers inside and three layers outside. Inside were four or five round, bright red things.

The closer you got, the stronger the bloody smell you could smell.

He looked at these blood food pills over and over again before sighing softly, "Old Xu has been offering sacrifices for so many years, he still has some savings."

"It's a pity that he was greedy and caused the incense master to be dissatisfied. Once he fell, none of his relatives and friends dared to continue to have anything to do with his family. If he wasn't so desperate, he wouldn't have been willing to take out such good things for me."

"Presumably, he also knows that since he has fallen, then his son can only learn my methods and become a night watchman to protect him."

"..."

"Grandpa, who are you going to choose?"

Inside the room, there was a rustling sound of water, and the girl in the jar asked weakly.

"Hehe, one has a clean background, does things properly, and has offered me good treasures, while the other is desperate, not only took out the good things at the bottom of his family's trunk for me, but also is willing to recognize me as his godfather and swear to take care of me in my old age and bury me when I die..."

The old shopkeeper chuckled, "How can Grandpa choose?"

"Just see who is more capable..."