Chapter 14 A Debt of Gratitude

With a slight shiver, Hu Ma found himself back in the dilapidated temple filled with red mist. Before him, on the incense table, the life incense in the burner was already lit, a wisp of smoke extending from outside the mist, connecting directly to the tip of the incense.

"Huh?"

Hu Ma was somewhat surprised. This time, he hadn't actively lit the life incense, nor had he responded to a call. How was he connected?

Moreover, the voice sounded somewhat familiar, causing him to wonder, "Er Guotou, brother?"

"Haha, it's me."

The voice chuckled, "I've come specifically to thank you."

"How did you this time..."

"Oh, I forgot you're a newbie. People you've connected with once can talk directly as long as they're within a certain range."

Er Guotou seemed to sense Hu Ma's surprise and explained with a laugh, "Of course, if you don't like being disturbed, you can disconnect."

Hu Ma didn't know anything about these methods, but he was happy to hear this old brother's voice.

"You're out?"

"..."

"Yes."

The Reincarnator Er Guotou's voice laughed, "That little girl is a bit tsundere (傲娇, acting aloof but actually kind), cold when she speaks, but she gets things done."

"She went to Fox Coffin Village and found the Hundred Corpse Mound I mentioned, but she didn't rush to take the treasure. She rescued me first, and then the two of us joined forces, solved the Corpse Fox, broke the Hundred Corpse Mound, and got the thing inside. We split it fifty-fifty."

"At first, she didn't say anything, and I thought I was just lucky to run into such a treasure hunter."

"I didn't expect that she'd reveal her identity until we were about to part ways, saying that you helped me pass on the message, which saved me from this calamity."

"If you had gone with her at the time, we would have had to split that thing three ways."

"But you didn't go, and I can't owe you such a big favor for nothing, so I rushed up here after only a few days of recuperation to thank you for saving my life."

"..."

"That's great."

After exchanging information with him earlier, Hu Ma had kept it in mind, but as a newcomer, he hadn't learned any skills and couldn't help him.

He didn't know what happened later, and the eldest young miss of Cao Xin Hall didn't say.

Even the sedan carriers came to take away the carriage they had left in Da Yang Village, and they wouldn't say anything when asked.

Now that he saw that he was out of danger, he felt relieved and laughed, "There's no need to be so polite. It was just a small favor."

"Hehe, you think it's a small favor, but it wasn't for me."

Er Guotou laughed, "If you weren't so righteous and harbored evil intentions, you could have hidden my information and not told anyone else. After a few months, when I couldn't hold on and died, you would have been ready to come and take this treasure yourself, wouldn't that have been better?"

"Eh? There's such a method?"

Hu Ma was startled, "Careless of me..."

"I heard Miss White Wine say it."

While Hu Ma was examining himself, Er Guotou's voice sounded again, laughing, "It seems you've been reincarnated into a village, and things haven't been going too well for you lately?"

"Brother, great kindness is beyond words. You helped me through a calamity. If you need any help, just tell me. I've been reincarnated into this damned world for over thirty years. I've experienced more dangers and events than you have."

"..."

"Help?"

Hu Ma was slightly moved by his hearty voice.

First, he heard this person say that he had been in this world for over thirty years, which was older than his own age in this world.

Then were they really from the same era?

Thinking to himself, he quickly asked, and Er Guotou immediately answered with a laugh, "You really are a newbie. These are all common sense. I might as well teach you about these things."

"I and other Reincarnators have discussed it many times. We are indeed from the same world, the same era. Even our birthdays are mostly concentrated in the twenty years between 90 and 2010."

"But no one knows why, some of us reincarnated into this world earlier and some later."

"The oldest Reincarnator I know is over eighty years old in this world, but in our original world, let's just say, if we met, he would have to call me 'Brother'..."

"..."

Hu Ma listened carefully, feeling more and more surprised.

Meeting this old brother was very convenient for asking questions he didn't understand before, but the most important question was that his reincarnation method was indeed different from others.

But this question was not suitable to be revealed so plainly.

He pondered silently and simply said, "I grew up in Lao Yin Mountain Village and haven't even left the village gate much. Before connecting with you, I even thought I was the only one who had transmigrated to this damned world. I really don't understand anything..."

"Do all of us Reincarnators have this connection ability?"

"..."

"Yes."

Brother Er Guotou laughed, "The incense stick burning in our incense burner is actually the manifestation of our own life force."

"You can also understand it as our life, the 'life' as in 'sexual life', not the surname."

"This life force is vitality. The thicker the vitality, the higher the cultivation. If the vitality burns out, we become dead people."

"Normally, as long as we light the life incense in our Natal Spirit Temple, we can use this method of consuming life force to find other Reincarnators, exchange information, and help each other."

"..."

Hu Ma listened carefully. These were things he had wanted to understand for a long time, but the last time, that White Wine wasn't very communicative and couldn't be asked in such detail.

Now that he had grasped the key points, he quickly said, "You said Natal Spirit Temple refers to..."

"You should be in a dream now. Haven't you noticed that the place you're in looks like a temple?"

Er Guotou laughed, "We're used to calling it the Natal Spirit Temple."

"Every Reincarnator has a temple. We don't know if it's a mental space or a dream or something. There's that strange incense burner in the temple. Lighting the life incense allows us to search for other Reincarnators within a certain area."

"Under normal circumstances, it can cover about a city. If there are other Reincarnators in the city who are also burning life incense and willing to answer, the two people can connect."

Compared to Miss White Wine, this brother Er Guotou answered everything he knew.

He even seemed a bit talkative.

He clearly thought that Hu Ma had reincarnated in a remote mountain village and hadn't eaten Tai Sui (太岁, a mythical fungus with life-extending properties) for so long, so it took him so long to develop the ability to connect. Being so unfamiliar, he patiently explained, "And behind the incense table is our Natal Stone Statue."

"I heard a senior say that this is our mental reflection. The skills we learn and the cultivation we achieve in this world are all reflected in the stone statue."

"Even certain cultivation and personal problems will appear as corresponding reflections on this stone statue, allowing us to discover our problems more directly..."

"...This is also why we Reincarnators often have good cultivation talent."

"..."

"Ah?"

Hu Ma's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Fortunately, he had worked hard to hone his acting skills in front of Grandma, so he didn't reveal anything.

He was indeed different from other Reincarnators.

In their temples, behind the incense table, they could all see stone statues? And those stone statues all looked like them?

But he suddenly raised his head and looked behind his incense table.

The incense table was dilapidated, surrounded by ominous red mist, and behind the incense table, there was only darkness.

Vaguely, he could see the outline of a statue, but it was wrapped in a deep, dark red mist, making it impossible to see as clearly as Er Guotou described.

He stared at the statue, as if he felt the statue was also looking at him.

His heart skipped a beat for no reason, and after a long time, he slowly and tentatively asked, "So, you also remembered your previous life after you were three years old?"

"Isn't it all like that?"

Er Guotou saw Hu Ma asking such a simple question and laughed, "Most of us do at three years old. Of course, some with extraordinary talent are earlier or later."

"Generally, between the ages of 3 and 10, in a daze, we are suddenly awakened by a voice, remembering the events of our previous lives. Later, as we grew older and our vitality became stronger, we discovered our Natal Spirit Temple and found other Reincarnators."

"..."

"Voice..."

Hu Ma listened carefully, hesitated slightly, and carefully asked, "The voice you heard was also the kind of..."

"Yes, a very strange voice."

Er Guotou sighed and said, "I don't know who it was, and I don't remember exactly what it said, but vaguely it just told us to be careful of our situation and not reveal our identities."

"We've discussed it with others, but no one knows what it is, so we just call it the 'Awakener'."

"..."

"Confirmed..."

Hu Ma's heart trembled, confirming the difference between himself and the others.

Other Reincarnators were like Reincarnators, but he was like a half-way convert.

Others had Natal Spirit Temples where they could see their own cultivation, but his Natal Spirit Temple looked dilapidated and long abandoned.

Others were awakened by a certain voice, but he was awakened by Grandma...

He confirmed his differences from the other Reincarnators, and some of the hesitant questions in his heart became even more difficult to ask directly.

But Er Guotou saw him pondering and knew that as a newcomer, he needed to digest a lot. He laughed and said, "Our experiences are very strange, but there's nothing we can do. We can only accept our fate. You can digest it slowly, brother, but if you need any help, just tell me."

"I'm eager to repay this big favor."

"..."

Hu Ma heard that he wasn't just being polite or perfunctory, and gradually realized that no matter how different he was from others, things had already become like this. He could think about it slowly later.

But now, there was still an important question troubling him.

So, he pondered slightly, prepared his speech, and slowly said, "Speaking of which, I do have a question I'd like to ask you..."

"Have you ever heard of someone who lights furnaces (点炉子)?"

"..."

"Lights furnaces?"

Brother Er Guotou was indeed knowledgeable. Hearing this, he laughed and said, "Isn't that the skill of the Night Watchers (守岁人)?"