Chapter 12 Is This Considered a Massacre?

"Quick, over there, see if he's alright…"

When the able-bodied men of the village lit their torches and found Hu Ma, he was sitting beside the felled crooked-neck tree, resting.

He was drenched in a cold sweat, and the night wind was bitingly cold.

But thanks to this cold sweat, the previous feverish heaviness in his body had completely disappeared, leaving him feeling light and refreshed.

His fierce actions just now weren't entirely out of anger; more than half was out of fear. This world was strange, with evil spirits, meat mountains, and zou gui ren (ghost walkers), but Hu Ma realized there were things even more terrifying than those.

Even if an evil spirit came to harm him, he could see it, feel it. There was a process to it wanting to harm him, allowing him a bit of room to resist.

But what had he encountered just now?

What exactly had the other party done to make him suddenly fall seriously ill, something his own inner furnace fire couldn't suppress, and even Little Red Tangerine couldn't see the enemy?

This kind of illogical thing was the most frightening, and it stirred a strong anger and murderous intent in his already life-cherishing heart.

"Little Hu Ma, are you alright?"

Second Master had been anxious all along. He led the others and found Hu Ma, then saw the crooked-neck tree, and felt deeply uneasy.

He wasn't skilled in zou gui, but his sixty years of pure yang energy was extraordinary. When he felt uneasy, he knew there must be remnants of dark magic around. Seeing Hu Ma here confirmed his suspicions, and he trembled with anxiety.

"This old tree is harming people."

Hu Ma gasped and pointed at the crooked-neck tree. "If it weren't for Granny's reminder, I would have been killed by it."

"Old tree?"

Second Master hurried forward, illuminating the area with his torch. He saw loose soil near the tree, which he kicked away with his feet, revealing a black bundle in the pit.

He kicked it open, revealing paper dolls cut from red paper with his birthdate written on them, and a tattered cloth shoe that had been there for an unknown amount of time. The people present didn't recognize it, but they vaguely guessed whose shoe it was.

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me…"

Seeing the bundle, Second Sister-in-law Cui, who had been brought over surrounded by people, immediately screamed, tearing at her hair:

"It was the eldest and third sons who buried it, not me! Please don't come looking for me…"

Her mind had snapped from fear, but her words were even more honest. The villagers who heard her expressions changed drastically.

"That old woman…"

Second Master's face twisted with anger. "She's been quiet for so many years, but she hasn't forgotten her dark magic!"

The older villagers, upon hearing Second Master's words and seeing the objects, understood immediately. The younger ones only remembered the Hu family's zou gui granny, but before the Hu family came to the village, Great Sheep Village also had disciples who understood the art of enchanment: Granny Cui. Especially after seeing what she had buried under the tree, and thinking about the Cui family's affairs, everything became clear.

"This… the Cui family wanted to harm someone and suffered retribution?"

"Bah, serves them right! How dare they keep such a harmful person in our village?"

For a time, the villagers' expressions changed, and they cursed despite the Cui family's recent misfortune.

It's hardest to guard against harm from neighbors.

When Hu Ma was born, Granny Cui was in the village, even helping to boil water and deliver red eggs. How could she not know his birthdate?

And this dirty shoe, undoubtedly something Hu Ma had worn at some point, had been secretly hidden by her for the purpose of harming him. Such things were truly impossible to prevent among people of the same village, which was precisely why the villagers hated it so much.

If she could harm Hu Ma, who in the village couldn't she harm?

The group cursed and helped Hu Ma into his house, and someone fetched half a ladle of water for him to drink.

"Found it…"

In the midst of the chaos, someone hurried back from the direction of the old fire pit, holding a partially burnt bundle emitting wisps of smoke, and showed it to the old clan leader and Second Master:

"The Cui family's daughter-in-law was burning it. Someone saw her, but they didn't know what it was. It took two laps to find it."

The old clan leader had felt something was amiss when such a big event occurred in the village.

With the ancestors in the old fire pit watching, things shouldn't be like this, so he quickly sent someone to check the old fire pit and see if there was anything unusual.

Second Master took the items, glanced at them, and disgustedly threw them outside the door, saying, "It's a woman's riding cloth wrapped in dog blood-soaked black tai sui (flesh-like substance), rotten wood, and feces… the filthiest of things."

"She took it to the old fire pit to burn. The ancestors can't see what's happening in the village anymore. With evil spirits wreaking havoc here, of course they can't protect us…"

The surrounding people were filled with anger.

Their ancestors were buried in that pit. Who could do something so disrespectful to the ancestors?

"Heh, the Cui family has suffered retribution."

The old clan leader, usually a peacemaker, was also angry at this point. After a moment's thought, he understood the key and sneered, "The Cui family was afraid the ancestors would interfere with their harming people, so they burned these filthy things to blind the ancestors."

"But they didn't expect that when their evil magic was broken, the backlash would also harm their entire family because the ancestors couldn't see…"

"It's too good for her that her whole family died."

"Otherwise, we would have had to drive her out of the village. Who would dare keep her?"

"What? All dead?"

Hu Ma, who had just recovered, was suddenly shocked.

When his murderous intent arose, he had only focused on cutting down the crooked-neck tree, and vaguely felt that it might backfire on the person who was harming him.

But he didn't expect the backlash to be so severe.

He had only hacked at the tree a few extra times, and the Cui family had lost so many people?

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly noticed that the villagers were in a fit of rage, cursing, but some couldn't help but look in one direction: at the second daughter-in-law of the Cui family, who was already insane, her clothes torn, only crying and shouting that it wasn't her fault.

And beside her was a thin, tall young man, holding her and sobbing softly, seemingly lost and not caring what the people around him were saying.

Cui Xie'er…

Complex emotions gradually arose in Hu Ma's heart. Had his act of cutting down the crooked-neck tree just now killed his entire family?

Thinking about this, he suddenly felt a jolt in his heart: “…Then this one can't be left behind either!”

Before cutting down the tree, he didn't know it would lead to the Cui family's demise. But now that the family was dead, wouldn't leaving this one behind be a future threat?

Just as Hu Ma was thinking this, Cui Xie'er was holding his mother, wanting only to calm her down. He had heard the villagers' curses in his heart, and he felt both anger and fear.

The Cui family had suddenly suffered a great change, and he was actually frightened. But in his heart, a strong resentment rose up, and he glared fiercely at Hu Ma in the house.

Unexpectedly, this eye contact sent a jolt through him.

Hu Ma was also looking at him, the murderous intent in his eyes several times stronger than his own.

"Mom, let's go home, let's go home…"

He could only forcefully pull up his disheveled mother and squeeze through the crowd.

The villagers now had no goodwill or sympathy for the Cui family, but seeing him, a young man barely an adult, and a crazy old woman, their family having suffered such a disaster, they couldn't bring themselves to make things difficult for him and slowly made way for him.

And the old clan leader, though filled with anger, could only say at this time, "Let's find a coffin and put the bodies away!"

"We can't just leave them like that, can we?"

The villagers understood that using a coffin represented the clan leader's attitude.

However, now that people had just died, once the initial anger passed, they didn't say anything more, and some kind-hearted villagers came out to help, along with other members of the Cui clan, busily searching for wood, collecting the bodies of the Cui family, and pulling the few mad ones back to the Cui house.

In the second half of the night, the Cui house was lit with white lanterns, and faint cries could be heard from inside.

"Let's go, Little Hu Ma, come back to the village with me first."

Second Master helped out all night, first checking the village for any other problems, then arranging for people to guard the old fire pit, afraid that someone would do something like the Cui family again and offend the ancestors. Only when the sky began to lighten did he return to Hu Ma.

"This village is temporarily uninhabitable for you…"

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Second Master whispered to Hu Ma, "The Cui family harmed people first, but this is too tragic. The Cui family is a large clan in the village, with many uncles and cousins."

"I think you can't stay in the village for the time being. The Cui family may be in the wrong, but who knows if they will come over and do something?"

"Come live with me in the village!"

"Okay…"

Hu Ma agreed and couldn't help but ask, "How is Cui Xie'er?"

"How else could he be?"

Second Master sighed deeply, thinking that Hu Ma was concerned about his peer, with whom he had learned practical matters. “He is also a half-grown child. He was directly frightened. However, with the help of the villagers, the funeral can still be carried out. As for future matters…”

“…We'll talk about it later!”

"He shouldn't be able to leave the village these days."

Hu Ma silently remembered this in his heart, packed his things, and went with Second Master.

Before leaving, he pressed the sachet filled with fire pit ash against his chest, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart.

This time, he had survived entirely thanks to Granny's protection…

He finally understood that ordinary people only entered the old fire pit after they died, but Granny only needed to go to the ancestral hall, yet she insisted on burning her remains in the old fire pit.

Was she doing this to leave a trace of her spirituality in the old fire pit, so that she could continue to protect him?