Chapter 1 Eye to Blade

To open one's eyes and see a blade was already bad enough, but what made it even more bizarre was that Hu Ma had just woken up, his eyes still seemingly filled with the dim, crimson mist from that strange dream.

Therefore, he clearly saw Cui Xie'er's current state. He was filled with terror and pain, and beside his head was a pale head. His limbs were also bound and entangled by another pale, slender body.

Another person was pressed tightly against him, their limbs intertwined with his, their head close to his ear, staring at him with blood-red eyes, greedily and ferociously excited.

Was it that white-faced weirdo?

Seeing Cui Xie'er's appearance, a scene suddenly flashed through Hu Ma's mind. It was when he had just awakened in this world and tried to escape the stockade, only to encounter three evil beings at the edge.

The one currently wrapped around Cui Xie'er was the white-faced ghost who had been squatting in the tree back then. How had he suddenly become entangled with Cui Xie'er's body?

Without time to think, a fierce light erupted in Cui Xie'er's eyes, and he suddenly swung his knife, stabbing down towards Hu Ma's face.

At that moment, Hu Ma's whole body stiffened and turned ice-cold, his body seemingly out of his control.

But seeing the tip of the knife already piercing towards his face, the extreme tension in his heart brought him a sudden inspiration.

"Pfft!"

In that critical moment, the furnace within Hu Ma's body seemed to suddenly burst into a roaring fire, the fiery energy surging.

And he abruptly bit the tip of his tongue, the fresh blood accompanied by this fiery energy, shooting straight towards Cui Xie'er's face.

"Ah..."

Hu Ma clearly saw that this blood energy hit Cui Xie'er's face.

He seemed to be thrown into disarray by the spray, taking a step back, and the white-faced monster entangled with him, as if scorched by fire, let out a shrill and terrifying scream.

Its slender, soft limbs suddenly loosened from Cui Xie'er's body, and it covered its face with its hands, slamming its head into the window, and with a gust of Yin wind, it fled to who knows where.

Taking this opportunity, Hu Ma abruptly sat up, quickly retreating towards the corner of the wall.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?"

The boys sleeping in the side room were also awakened by the scream, shouting in a daze.

Someone, using the faint light from outside the window, saw Cui Xie'er, holding a sharp blade and standing in front of Hu Ma's bed, and immediately screamed in terror.

"Second Master, Second Master..."

"..."

Before they could shout many times, the door was kicked open, and the tall Second Master entered the room.

"Light the lamp!"

"..."

Without him reminding, Zhou Datong had already frantically fumbled for the fire striker while waking up and lit the oil lamp on the wall.

Under the dim yellow light, Cui Xie'er stared blankly at the sharp blade in his hand, then raised his head to meet the Second Master's gaze.

Suddenly, the knife fell to the ground, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

"What happened?"

At this moment, the Second Master showed an unexpected calmness, first stepping forward to check Cui Xie'er's breathing, then questioning Hu Ma.

"White-faced monster!"

Hu Ma's furnace was now blazing, and his courage was also great. He had already climbed out of bed and calmly said, "I saw a white-faced monster wrapped around him just now."

"He came in with a knife, wanting to... kill me."

"..."

"Light all the lamps!"

The Second Master had no time for detailed questions, but upon hearing this, his face was already grave: "Light all the lamps."

"Those with ancestral ashes, give me all the ancestral ashes!"

"..."

He shouted loudly, ordering all the boys to get busy, counting heads, while he himself rushed out of the side room.

He went to the weapon rack against the wall, grabbed a large blade, took the ancestral ashes that the boys gave him, and looked around the stockade, front and back, before scattering the ancestral ashes around the stockade in a circle. Only then did he return, his face flushed red with anger.

"Se... Second Master, what's going on?"

The boys had long since gotten up, huddling together, some still holding weapons, asking in fear.

It was pitch black all around, the darkness seemed to be squeezing the weak light around them, making them feel a chill in their hearts.

"It's nothing, go to sleep!"

The Second Master said in a deep voice, "Don't sleep in two rooms, squeeze into one room..."

"...That, move Cui Xie'er into my room, Little Hu Ma, you come with me too."

"..."

Amidst the boys' apprehensive and suspicious gazes, Hu Ma followed the Second Master into his main room.

Cui Xie'er was still unconscious. The Second Master checked his breathing before feeling relieved, but he didn't rush to wake him up.

"White-faced monster?"

The Second Master lit the oil lamp in the main room as well, his expression equally surprised and suspicious.

"Yes, it looked very strange..."

Hu Ma told the Second Master the scene he had seen when he had just woken up, but he didn't say that he had received a warning in his dream, only that he had suddenly woken up and saw Cui Xie'er standing at his bedside, vaguely seeing the white-faced monster on him.

"It's the White-Faced Shankui (Mountain Demon)..."

Upon hearing this, the Second Master's expression couldn't help but darken, and he seemed to be in lingering fear:

"How dare this evil being run into my stockade? And how did he get entangled with Cui Xie'er?"

"..."

Hu Ma remembered something and said in a low voice, "I don't know about anything else, but after that incident, he often stared at me."

"He looked very dissatisfied, as if he wanted to fight me again."

"..."

"Staring at you?"

The Second Master seemed to understand, looking at Cui Xie'er with some annoyance, and scolding in a low voice, "I told this kid a long time ago, don't be so calculating about everything, relax your heart, but he just wouldn't listen, he can't change that petty-mindedness of the Cui family..."

"He's been holding a grudge against you, thinking about it day and night, and actually attracted that White-Faced Shankui to his body, almost causing a catastrophe..."

"Can it be like that?"

It was only now that Hu Ma understood.

Usually, he was very safe in this stockade. When the Second Master was around, even Xiao Hongtang (Little Red Begonia) didn't dare to come in.

But now it was late at night, and everyone was here, which meant there were so many furnaces lit in this stockade.

But that evil being entangled with Cui Xie'er and wanted to harm him through his hands was inherently unreasonable.

But being resented can also cause this kind of thing?

His understanding of this world was indeed still somewhat shallow.

"However..."

The Second Master also cursed a few times in hatred before looking at Hu Ma with a strange expression: "How did you escape this calamity?"

"When I arrived, that *hangzi* (professionals) seemed to have already run away?"

"..."

"I..."

Hu Ma was a little embarrassed, pointing to Cui Xie'er's face, and said, "I was too scared, and I couldn't move my body."

"So I remembered the method you told me before, biting the tip of my tongue..."

"..."

"Blood Sun Arrow?"

The Second Master looked at Hu Ma in disbelief, taking a closer look, and indeed saw the blood spots on Cui Xie'er's face.

His eyes widened all of a sudden, and he trembled, "You used the Blood Sun Arrow?"

"You..."

Hu Ma was also frightened by his reaction, and said cautiously, "Didn't you tell me about it back then?"

Besides you, there are also movies and novels from my previous life, but I can't say that.

"I mainly just told you about the old method, Blood Sun Arrow is a secret, ultimate technique..."

The Second Master's expression became strange: "It's only been half a month, and you can use it?"

Under the oil lamp, the two stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Hu Ma thought for a moment, then suddenly slowly inhaled, and fiercely spat out a stream of *qi* (vital energy).

He didn't bite the tip of his tongue this time, it hurt!

But this stream of *qi*, was actually direct and powerful, directly knocking a piece of wood chips off the Second Master's dilapidated window lattice.

"My goodness..."

The Second Master was so startled that he almost jumped up, looking at Hu Ma like he had seen a ghost: "This doesn't look like you've only been practicing for a month?"

"This is simply your furnace being too strong, actively seeking a way out, helping you cultivate external skills..."

"..."

Hu Ma was a little guilty: "Isn't this normal?"

"I, Second Master, have been practicing for sixty years, and I haven't reached this step, you say it's normal or not?"

The Second Master sighed sorrowfully: "Your furnace looks even stronger than mine, no, it's not stronger than mine..."

"No, it's just stronger than mine."

"It's just that Second Master's sixty years of virgin skill is purer than yours."

"..."

Seeing the Second Master's nervous appearance, Hu Ma thought that this was reasonable, right?

After all, Dry Aunt was bald.

But after listening to the Second Master's explanation, he understood, compared to 开山 (Mountain Opening), 搬拦 (Obstruction), and 硬摘桃 (Hard Peach Plucking), this 真阳箭 (True Yang Arrow) was the simplest, yet the most difficult move.

The simple part was that you almost didn't need to learn it, you could use it naturally when the time was right. Even the upgraded version of Blood Sun Arrow only required an extra action of biting the tip of the tongue. The difficult part was that the requirements for the level of *qi* were too high.

The Second Master had accumulated more than ten years of pure Yang furnace before learning this move, and he could only use it three times a day at most.

Hu Ma had learned it without a teacher and was still energetic after using it once. In the Second Master's eyes, this was already an unimaginable, evil phenomenon.

"No matter what, I've learned it..."

Seeing the Second Master's appearance, he could only cautiously ask, "What should I do?"

"How would I know? The old master didn't teach me that back then..."

The Second Master sighed, looking like he had been hit hard, but after having been cushioned once by Hu Ma's furnace progress, he slowly recovered and sighed:

"I, Second Master, have been practicing for sixty years and have taught so many children in the stockade, but to be honest, I have never seen someone like you... This should be a good thing, but there is also a problem that I want to remind you of."

Hu Ma was slightly startled, and asked vigilantly, "What is it?"

"Something's wrong..."

The Second Master looked at Hu Ma and said in a low voice, "That White-Faced Shankui dared to run here to cause you trouble, the problem is not small!"