Chapter 1 When Dreaming of Grandma

"Hoo..."

Dreaming of Grandma, a cool sensation suddenly washed over his chest, and Hu Ma abruptly woke up.

He found himself lying flat on his back in the hall. There were no lights on, and the surroundings were pitch black. Little Hongtang must have dragged him into the hall.

He couldn't help but reach for his chest, feeling that coolness emanating from the sachet filled with tanghui. This coolness was different from that of evil spirits; it actually roused his drowsy, feverish head with a bit of clarity.

"Did Grandma come to my dream to save me?"

He thought of the dream that seemed both real and fake, and struggled to stand up.

Lighting an oil lamp, he found the wood axe by the wall in the dim light. Then he took a deep breath, grasped the axe, and walked out of the house. Little Hongtang followed curiously behind him, asking, "Brother Hu Ma, what are you going to do?"

"To cure the illness."

Hu Ma gritted his teeth and dragged his body along.

He was still very weak, and every step seemed to make him sway, as if his brain was about to be shaken loose.

His body was extremely heavy, as if something was缠着 (chan zhe -缠繞/entangling) him. He didn't know what was hiding in the surrounding shadows, as if they would occasionally pull at his arms and legs.

But he gritted his teeth, forcing out the fire within him, and stubbornly took one step after another, dragging his heavy body forward.

In the distance, he saw the crooked-neck tree, its shape askew, with only branches left.

As he approached, the tree seemed to come alive, its branches swaying and emitting a strange and terrifying laughter.

Hu Ma's body became even heavier, as if he was about to be crushed by the surrounding heavy darkness.

But at the same time, the fire within Hu Ma burned. This fire couldn't dispel the feeling of being suppressed by the invisible force, but it allowed him to stand before this twisted, grotesque tree without being crushed, and to come before the tree step by step.

He could vaguely see traces of burnt paper by the tree, and a patch of fresh soil, as if something had been buried.

But Hu Ma, whose mind was now drowsy, couldn't bother to consider these things.

He just remembered Grandma's words, gripped the axe tightly in his hand, raised it with force, and chopped down hard on the tree trunk.

"Chih!"

A large piece of bark was torn open, a black hole that seemed to have blood flowing from it.

At the same time, Hu Ma only felt a sharp, shrill cry ringing in his ears, and his drowsy head was cleared a bit.

Only now did his thoughts begin to race, and Hu Ma instantly understood.

"Someone is harming me?"

"What methods did they use that I was unknowingly caught and almost died?"

"Could it be that they just want me to die and snatch my place in the Red Lantern Society?"

"..."

The image of Cui Xie'er couldn't help but emerge in his mind, and for a moment, a cold anger surged to the top of his head.

He raised the axe again and chopped hard at the bleeding crooked-neck tree.

"Eeya..."

At this time, in the Cui family, Grandma Cui, who had performed a great service, had her daughter-in-law stewing an egg-laying hen for her, and was enjoying the filial piety with peace of mind, holding a small wine cup.

She coldly snorted, "The children and grandchildren are still useless, only knowing how to fight. There are plenty of ways in this world to make people afraid to provoke us. Don't they think, before the Hu family came to the village, how many people in the village dared to cross the Cui family?"

"Heh, that old woman of the Hu family, she found me back then, saying that my skills were not refined, too sinister, and that doing too much would inevitably lead to backlash. I couldn't beat her, so I had to stop."

"But now, how does it seem that it is her Hu family that has suffered the backlash, becoming childless and without descendants?"

"..."

Under the dim oil lamp, Grandma Cui's white hair was disheveled, and her expression was smug.

"I understand, Mother..."

The second daughter-in-law of the Cui family carefully served her, "I will definitely take good care of you in the future..."

"Aiyah..."

But just as she was holding the freshly warmed wine pot with both hands, about to fill it for Grandma Cui, she suddenly saw Grandma Cui's face change drastically, her hair falling down all at once. She threw the chicken bone she was holding to the side, covered her throat, and her body convulsed violently.

"Oh no, Mother is choked on a chicken bone..."

The second daughter-in-law of the Cui family was shocked and hurriedly shouted loudly.

The eldest and third sons of the Cui family outside also heard it, and ran in in a panic, at a loss.

"No... no..."

Grandma Cui covered her neck, her eyes bulging out, full of bloodshot, and called out with difficulty, "Not bone..."

She seemed anxious to say something, to tell the second and third sons to hurry up and stop it, but before she could say the words, at this moment, in front of the crooked-neck tree, Hu Ma's eyes were cold, full of anger, and he had already raised the axe fiercely, and chopped it down heavily on the crooked-neck tree again.

The old tree trembled, its branches trembling.

Grandma Cui suddenly took a breath of cold air and shouted, "My mother..."

As soon as this cry came out, she also fell from the bed to the ground, knocking over the small table and the big bowl of old hen meat, spilling soup all over the ground.

At the same time, Hu Ma had already chopped down hard

Grandma Cui's body stiffened suddenly, turned over, spat out a mouthful of blood, her expression terrified, and she was already out of breath.

"What's going on?"

The Cui family had never seen such a thing before, and were already frightened out of their wits, not knowing what to do.

But now, Hu Ma was more and more clear about what was going on. As these three knives fell, the old tree trembled, blood flowed, and he vaguely seemed to understand something from the flowing blood.

It was a strange feeling. Smelling the bloody smell flowing from the crooked-neck tree, he seemed to see Grandma Cui's sinister, twisted face when she came up with the idea, and also saw the Cui family members discussing how to harm him in order to let Cui Xie'er take the top spot.

This made him even more angry after the three knives, and instead aroused his desire to kill.

Gritting his teeth, he chopped down again.

"Aiyah..."

At this time, in the Cui family, the eldest son of the Cui family was realizing that something was wrong and was in a hurry to get the sachet containing the tanghui.

But suddenly his body stiffened, and he fell straight down. The Cui family hurriedly turned him over, but found that his two eyes were actually looking one up and one down, as if he had lost control. The corner of his mouth was twisted to one side, and he was just drooling.

The third son of the Cui family was so frightened that his soul left his body, and he shouted, "Quick, go find the patriarch..."

But also at this time, Hu Ma, with a cold face, had already chopped down fiercely

The third son of the Cui family, who was about to cross the threshold, suddenly tripped and fell, his head hitting the stone steps, blood gushing out.

By the crooked-neck tree,

Behind the village, the fourth son of the Cui family, who was drinking and playing cards with others, taking the opportunity to make trouble and act shamelessly, suddenly twitched, and the sickle cut into his neck during the push.

As another knife fell, the second daughter-in-law of the Cui family suddenly trembled all over, ran out of the house with her hair disheveled, and shouted hoarsely:

"Don't look for me, don't look for me, it was my mother-in-law's idea, I didn't harm anyone..."

"..."

"Tuk tuk tuk..."

In front of the crooked-neck tree, Hu Ma struck one knife after another.

The Cui family members were also falling down one after another. Now, in the old patriarch's house, the second son of the Cui family was chatting with the patriarch's son, Zhou Datong's father. Looking at his son listening attentively, he felt very gratified.

But suddenly, he heard a woman's sharp cry in the distance, in the night, vaguely like the voice of his own wife, and hurriedly stood up.

But as soon as he stood up, he felt a darkness in front of him, and vaguely saw a monster with disheveled hair.

Sticking out two skinny hands to grab him, crying loudly, "It's all your Cui family who harmed people, and dragged me down too..."

Just as the second son of the Cui family was about to say something, he was already dizzy and fell to the ground, his body curled into a ball.

In the main room, Cui Xie'er was forcing himself to listen to Second Master lecturing on the rules, but Second Master looked at Cui Xie'er a few times, and felt a little uneasy, unable to continue lecturing. Suddenly, he said, "I'm still a little uneasy, I have to go to Hu Ma's to see if his body is better now..."

Cui Xie'er was a little embarrassed for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a thud outside.

He hurriedly ran out to take a look, and found that his own father had shrunk into a ball, and was about to die.

He was shocked and hurriedly went forward to help him, but Second Master was quick-witted and grabbed him, staring at the second son of the Cui family who was shrinking on the ground. The surrounding yin wind swept through.

Second Master also seemed to have thought of a similar scene, and suddenly his voice changed, grabbing Cui Xie'er and shaking him hard, "Tell me honestly... Don't cry, tell the truth, did your Cui family do something?"

"The Cuis, go, go."

But before Cui Xie'er could say anything, a group of people rushed in from outside the door, their faces full of fear:

"Your mother is crazy, she's taken off her clothes and is crying outside..."

"Your family..."

"Something happened in your family too..."

"..."

Second Master and the patriarch's party looked at each other, and suddenly ran out of the courtyard.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The eerie sound of chopping wood gradually became clearer, carrying a life-threatening, cold aura. Some kind of strange power surged in the Dayang village shrouded in the night. With each knife falling, a member of the Cui family fell inexplicably, as if an invisible ghost had quietly grabbed their souls.

And the old fire pit on which Dayang village depended for survival, was still under the cover of rising black smoke, unable to produce a reaction.

"Whirr..."

The crooked-neck old tree finally couldn't hold on and slowly split from the middle and fell down.

That night, Hu Ma chopped thirteen knives in a row, cutting off the crooked-neck old tree.

Five members of the Cui family died, and three went crazy.

From then on, among the four major families in the village, Zhou, Cui, Zhao, and Li, the Cuis lowered their eyebrows and tried to please others, and no longer had the previous prestige.