Chapter 1 To Teach Him a Lesson is Real, To Feel Panicked is Also Real

Hu Ma didn't want to cause trouble, but even a clay figure has a bit of temper. This Cui Xie'er was targeting him with his sarcastic remarks every day. If he didn't respond, it might lead to a big problem.

Moreover, this guy's targeting wasn't just verbal. He always skimped on Hu Ma's share of White Tai Sui (white flesh) every morning. Although compared to his current daily meals, this little bit of White Tai Sui was insignificant, this stuff was his lifeblood, and every copper coin counted…

Rather than procrastinating, it was better to get it over with once and for all.

But even then, Hu Ma first convinced Little Hong Tang to secretly help him. He planned to give this guy a good beating, leaving him with a bloody nose and swollen face, to teach him a lesson.

However, wasn't this guy supposed to be the most powerful person in the village besides Second Master?

How could he be so fragile?

While the surrounding kids were still in a daze, Hu Ma had already rushed out of the village and dragged Cui Xie'er back from the sour jujube bushes, where he was unconscious.

Looking at his pale face, he shouted for someone to call Second Master back from the woods. He pinched his philtrum and performed CPR, breaking out in a cold sweat, practically kneeling before him.

"What happened?"

Second Master's surprised shout quickly echoed outside the village. He was returning from patrolling the woods and ran into the messenger.

He glanced at Hu Ma as if he had seen a ghost when he saw the scene in the village, and hurriedly shouted, "Quick, bring the Black Oil Paste!"

Not all flesh can be eaten, such as Black Tai Sui (black flesh), which can cause illness or even poisoning if consumed.

But Black Tai Sui isn't useless. When cut off and mixed with various herbs from the mountains, it can be refined into an oil paste called Black Oil Paste, which is excellent for treating external injuries.

Second Master was short on everything else, but he had plenty of Black Oil Paste prepared, which he used to let these kids fight and practice their skills.

Second Master grabbed a handful of the black, greasy paste, tore open Cui Xie'er's shirt, and rubbed it on his chest.

His technique was more effective than Hu Ma's. After a while, Cui Xie'er groaned in his throat and slowly woke up. But as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Hu Ma looking at him with concern, and his face turned terrified as he shouted, "Ghosts! Ghosts!"

"Stop embarrassing yourself! Help him to bed."

Second Master slapped him on the head in anger, almost knocking him unconscious again.

Whether or not there were ghosts wasn't important, but it was outrageous for someone learning skills from Second Master to be so afraid of ghosts.

"You, come with me!"

Second Master had someone help Cui Xie'er back to his room, then turned and glared at Hu Ma before turning and walking towards the main room.

Hu Ma was also uneasy. "Is he going to scold me?"

Unexpectedly, after entering the room, Second Master turned around and closed the door, then suddenly turned to look at Hu Ma with a face of surprise:

"How did you knock him out?"

"..."

"I..."

Hu Ma was caught off guard and carefully said, "I used a little trick..."

"I'm not talking about that."

Second Master said nervously, "I mean, Little Scorpion has been following me for almost three years. He's been down the Blood Food Mine once. His furnace is extremely vigorous, and he's obedient. His family has found him a wife, but he doesn't even dare to hold a woman's hand. How could you knock him out?"

"He almost scattered his furnace!"

"..."

"I just hit him like this…"

Hu Ma was also a little unclear and gestured to describe what happened.

Second Master's face darkened. After a moment of thought, he quickly called Hu Ma over and placed his hand on his lower abdomen:

"Practice your gong!" (cultivation technique)

"..."

Hu Ma was confused but didn't dare to neglect. He could only follow his usual method of practicing his gong, circulating the fire energy in his body.

Instantly, the furnace in his lower abdomen, which was previously just a pile of red-hot coals, was now like wind being blown into the furnace. The coals instantly glowed brightly, then burst into raging flames.

He only felt his body instantly become scorching hot, especially where Second Master's hand was pressed, which radiated a burst of fire energy that pushed Second Master's hand away.

"My god…"

Second Master took a few steps back, his voice almost a groan. "How is your furnace burning so vigorously?"

"This…"

How could Hu Ma answer that? He asked in confusion, "Is it very vigorous?"

"It's burning my hand, is that not vigorous?"

Second Master was almost frantic. Then he suddenly realized something and looked at Hu Ma. "Usually, besides Little Hong Tang bringing you mantou and good food, did she bring anything else?"

Hu Ma knew that Second Master had already guessed. After hesitating, he met his gaze and carefully nodded.

Second Master's voice trembled slightly. "Not every time did she bring Green Tai Sui (green flesh), right?"

Hu Ma was about to nod, but he sensed something from Second Master's expression.

Although Second Master was now asking for confirmation, his expression showed that he had already guessed what Little Hong Tang was bringing him every day from the intensity of the fire.

Thinking of the relationship between Second Master and Granny, there was no point in lying now.

Therefore, he simply remained silent, neither confirming nor denying.

"Heavens…"

Second Master slowly patted his forehead, his voice changing its tune. "Did Granny invite the Tai Sui Grandfather into our home?"

……

……

"Is Second Master having an 'eo' (error)?"

Looking at Second Master's defeated appearance, Hu Ma didn't dare to speak too loudly.

Second Master's eyes were clearly a little off at the moment.

It was like someone who expected a three followed by five zeros for the bride price suddenly encountered a three followed by two zeros in the bathhouse.

He stared at Hu Ma, wanting to say something several times, but then closed his mouth again.

Such a large piece of Green Tai Sui, yet it was directly made into meat chunks for Hu Ma to eat.

He originally thought his behavior was already an astonishing waste.

If it weren't for his gratitude for Granny's life-saving grace back then, and knowing that the Hu family was facing such a major event now, he wouldn't have been willing to part with it. However, after this large piece of Green Tai Sui was almost completely eaten by Hu Ma, he realized that his act of painful sacrifice was only considered a snack.

No, how could anyone eat that precious thing as a meal?

Wouldn't it be better to use small gold ingots to marry a wife and buy a house?

Our Second Master wasn't someone who hadn't seen the world before. He had mingled in the city when he was young.

Even the young masters of those wealthy families didn't eat like this. They would use a bit of it to prolong the life of the old master. Not to mention those wealthy merchants and nobles, even the esteemed masters of the Red Lantern Society couldn't afford such blood food…

…Wait, you eat that every day, and you're still eyeing my piece of Green Tai Sui?

"Actually, I don't eat it every day…"

Hu Ma was a little worried and replied softly, "Only occasionally, one or two days…"

"Even eating it occasionally, one or two days is outrageous…"

Second Master lamented, "That thing isn't meant for people to eat. It's meant to be exchanged for money…"

"I wanted to say that occasionally, one or two days, there's nothing to eat either."

Hu Ma thought to himself, "Besides, even if we exchange this thing for money, wouldn't it just be eaten by others?"

Of course, he wouldn't say that, for fear of further stimulating Second Master.

Fortunately, Second Master's sixty years of virgin practice was extraordinary. After a quarter of an hour, and two pipes of tobacco, he slowly recovered.

With a sigh, he said to Hu Ma, "Never mind, it's a good thing after all."

"But you should have told me sooner, so I could have helped you change your talisman in time…"

"…"

The two stared at each other, big eyes and small eyes.

Hu Ma thought, "You never said anything about changing talismans before, you only said to stare at the pig's butt to know your own fire level…"

"Who would have thought you'd progress so quickly?"

Second Master also pondered, and suddenly remembered something. "Are you craving women?"

"?"

Hu Ma was caught off guard by the question. "Who doesn't crave them?"

However, perhaps because he was constantly thinking about things, which distracted him, he didn't seem too eager.

"Pay attention, others are progressing gradually, but you've become so fierce all of a sudden, it's easier to mess things up."

Second Master seriously warned, "You can't touch the married women in the village, you can't touch the widows, and you should even stay away from the sheepfold…"

"What's all this about…"

Hu Ma was speechless. "I crave them, but I'm not that desperate…"

Second Master also saw that he didn't look like those other useless guys, so he re-lit the fire pit, took out the willow branch he had brought back from the forest with Hu Ma earlier, and had Hu Ma take off his coat and sit beside the fire, waiting.

He muttered to himself for a while, then burned one end of the willow branch and re-traced it on Hu Ma's chest. As before, the touch was icy cold, with a bone-chilling yin energy.

But the difference was that Hu Ma's fire energy was now vigorous. When this yin energy touched his body, it was dispelled by the fire energy.

"Huh?"

Second Master frowned and traced it again and again, but Hu Ma's body's fire energy was too strong, and he couldn't trace it.

It was as if the brush was out of ink. He traced it several times before he could barely make it work.

When the talisman barely took effect, Second Master looked at the withered and shrunken willow branch in his hand, threw it directly into the fire, and sighed:

"We'll have to go to your godmother's place to cut another one."

"..."

Hu Ma asked curiously, "Do I have to change this often?"

"Of course."

Second Master explained, "Lighting the furnace is to use yin energy to seal the yang energy in your body, so that it can burn more and more vigorously."

"But as your furnace burns, the early yin energy will gradually be diluted. At this point, you need to use more yin energy to replenish the Fengyang Talisman (sealing yang talisman) for you."

"For us, this is called changing the talisman."

"Normally speaking, once you've changed the talisman, you can go directly to the mine."

"But you…"

He couldn't even finish his sentence. The entire willow branch couldn't even make one talisman. How was he supposed to calculate his fire level?

His master never taught him this…

Hu Ma thought of the Blood Tai Sui that Granny brought him every day and sighed softly, saying, "What can I count for? It's all because Granny is so good to me."

"Huh?"

Second Master looked at him in surprise and said, "You still have a bit of sense!"

"Since you know that Granny has it hard, then don't be lazy."

Then he stood up and said, "Now, now that your fire level has reached, I should teach you some real skills."