Chapter 1 Soothe and Warn

Hu Ma deeply remembered what Second Master had told him before leaving. He didn't use the arrogance unique to transmigrators to understand this world. He accepted the villagers' kindness, but also tried his best to fulfill Second Master's instructions to take care of the others.

After all, he had used the treasures left by Second Master to build relationships; he couldn't just turn his back on them now.

As for this village, of course there were things Hu Ma didn't like.

But that's just how the village was.

Greedy and foolish, they would turn against you for a small benefit, but they would also come to help without being asked when something happened.

Unreasonable and only recognizing their kin, they would grab their weapons and start a fight without asking why.

People from the village were like that, good and bad.

He did have a choice now. As a transmigrator, he could abandon them and only care about himself.

But he could also help each other out when it didn't affect his goals and when conditions allowed. Hu Ma chose the latter for the time being.

After all, Granny said that Da Yang Village was the root of the Hu family now.

Of course, Hu Ma's understanding was one thing. Looking at it openly, with the united help of the Da Yang Village brothers, many things were indeed easier to handle.

But in this outer courtyard, Hu Ma, as the steward, led these dozen or so guys, some of whom he didn't know before, and hadn't gotten close to now. There were also a few left behind by Xu Ji, who had even been hostile to him before.

Arranging all the big and small affairs in this outer courtyard was actually very exhausting.

He was able to arrange things well before because he was intentionally showing off and going all out. But now, he needed to reserve enough energy to cultivate the Shou Sui (Year-Keeping) method. Staring at these things every day was exhausting and constantly caused annoying things to happen.

But with Zhou Datong and the others taking the lead, things were much easier. Night patrols, sweeping, feeding horses, collecting grain, fetching water, and chopping firewood were all done step by step. With their help, Hu Ma spent this time mobilizing the furnace fire every day, refining the Shou Sui method of his left hand. The key was in the balance between death and life.

Now, as his refining method deepened, there were some miraculous changes.

At first, this left hand was cold, and he couldn't even feel its existence. But with his refining method, he gradually felt a slight warmth in this hand.

Later, the warmth became more intense, and he gradually felt the soreness, numbness, and pain in this hand. After a while, he could tentatively try to move his fingers little by little, and slightly clench his fist.

From death to life, it was such a magical feeling.

This was Hu Ma's cultivation.

He could feel that this left hand was coming alive, but it was different from the previous feeling of being alive.

First of all, this hand had vitality, but it wasn't the kind of vitality that Blood Tai Sui forcibly stimulated.

Secondly, the re-refining of this left hand also made him feel some incredible mysteries.

All the Qi, blood, bones, and flesh were full of power, as if some mysterious force had been stimulated.

It seemed that it had been greatly tempered between life and death.

With his daily practice, this left hand was like a furnace and iron hammer, tempered and refined, and gradually gained extraordinary abilities.

"How's the cultivation going?"

This shopkeeper, who seemed to be a cold-faced person, didn't just ignore everything after passing on the method. At least every two or three days, he would call Hu Ma over and ask about his cultivation progress.

And Hu Ma would honestly answer: "At first it was cold and didn't feel like my own, but gradually it became a little warm."

Of course, he only looked honest.

In fact, Hu Ma lacked the "Hua Si" (Transformation of Death) step, and with the illumination of his natal divine statue, he saved a lot of detours. In addition, with three pillars of Dao practice, he could practice to his heart's content. His refining speed was much faster than ordinary people. Now he could move three fingers.

But he couldn't tell the truth.

If his progress was too fast, it would inevitably arouse suspicion, and it would be difficult to explain later.

"Not bad."

The shopkeeper asked him a few times, and each time there was progress. It seemed that he was quite satisfied and nodded slightly. "Being able to make such progress shows that you have put in a lot of effort."

He said, "However, it's not a good thing to stay in the village all day practicing. Usually, you should learn more about the things outside the village. It's not a bad thing. With ability, you have to accumulate some experience."

"Something has been happening in Shiya (Stone Cliff) Village, seven miles away. The village elder came to me yesterday. Go and take a look and deal with it for them!"

Hu Ma thought of the responsibility of this village and nodded in agreement: "I'll go now."

The Hong Deng Niangniang (Red Lantern Goddess) Association was set up in villages everywhere, and they often had the ability to exorcise evil spirits. The original intention was just to clear away the evil spirits around to avoid trouble during the spring, but the surrounding villagers saw that they were capable, so they often came to ask for their help if something happened.

In the past, the shopkeeper would go, but the guys didn't have this ability yet.

But now, the shopkeeper wanted to train him, and he was already the steward of this village, so he agreed.

"Datong, call Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu and come out with me!"

After asking about the cause, Hu Ma left the inner courtyard and called the few he trusted most.

Zhou Datong was sitting on the millstone bragging. As soon as he heard it, he knew it was a good thing and hurried over. Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu didn't ask anything. One took a stick from the yard and the other picked up a dung fork.

Now was the slack season, so the village guys weren't equipped with weapons. They would be equipped when the village entered the blood food season next spring. So now, the only knives and guns in the hands of the guys in this village were brought by them when they came to the village.

For example, Zhou Datong had one, inherited from his ancestors. The two followers of Xu Ji also had one each.

Hu Ma could borrow them from them, but Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu didn't covet their things.

Especially Zhao Zhu, he just loved to use the dung fork.

He said that his father loved to use this when he fought with people in the village, and it had unexpected uses.

The four of them left the village one after another, not knowing what they were going to do. The guys next to them didn't say anything when they saw them.

Usually, although Hu Ma wasn't as arrogant as Xu Ji was at the beginning, he was willing to take care of those who should be taken care of.

Night patrol, this important and prominent job, was naturally mainly done by Zhou Datong. The tedious chores of sweeping in the outer courtyard were naturally done by Xu Ji's two followers.

Even Li Wa, who had been injured to the core and was now listless, was arranged by Hu Ma to burn firewood under the stove and do some light work.

Favoritism?

Yes, it was favoritism.

But we are from the same village, why shouldn't I think of our people first?

In this kind of thing, not to mention that the people in Da Yang Village felt it was justified, even the other guys in this outer courtyard felt that this behavior was very reasonable.

Even Xu Ji's two followers, although they did more chores and were tired every day, didn't have any complaints in their hearts.

After all, Xu Ji was dead, and Hu Ma took over as steward. The fact that he didn't drive them away, didn't target them in everything, didn't take away all their monthly blood food, or extort them privately, was already a good thing that made them want to burn incense and kowtow.

Now their task was to flatter Zhou Datong desperately, hoping that Hu Ma and others could forget the previous unpleasantness.

There were horses in the stable, but Hu Ma and the others didn't lead them out.

One was that they hadn't learned to use public resources for private purposes, and the other was that the journey was short, and they would arrive in a few steps.

Following the yellow mud path in the countryside, they walked for an incense stick of time and arrived at Shiya Village that the shopkeeper mentioned.

From a distance, they saw that the houses were scattered and built against the mountain, and were blocked by the mountain trees. For half of the day, they couldn't see the sun.

Now, the older villagers at the head of the village had brought the villagers to greet them in a panic. But when they saw Hu Ma and the others, the villagers' faces were a little surprised.

They thought it was the old shopkeeper who was coming, but they saw a few young people, and they were all a little muttered in their hearts.

However, in the crowd watching the excitement, a door-to-door visitor from Huang Gou (Yellow Dog) Village saw Hu Ma walking in the front, and his eyes lit up. He whispered to the surrounding villagers, "You should have a little idea in your heart. That young master walking in front is amazing. You don't know how powerful that thing in the well in our village was before. It was this young master who solved it."

Hearing this, the villagers looked at Hu Ma again, and they also had a little more awe, and hurriedly invited Hu Ma and the others into the village.

"Brother Hu Ma, you have to do it beautifully and give them a show of strength."

Zhou Datong followed Hu Ma and whispered when he had the chance.

"If you do it beautifully the first time, things will be easier in the future."

"You know a lot."

Hu Ma glanced at him, smiling in his heart.

Zhou Datong wasn't really talking nonsense. The villages outside Lao Yin Mountain and the villages inside Lao Yin Mountain are very different, but they are essentially the same.

The people in the village can both respect him like they respect the old shopkeeper, showing the simplicity and kindness of the villagers, and may also pretend to obey him while secretly resisting, letting him feel the warmth and coldness of the slippery people in the countryside. It depends on how he performs.

"Is this the one?"

Surrounded by the villagers, they soon arrived in front of a house in the village.

It looked like a wealthy family, with three large tile houses and a stone courtyard. There was a large pigsty inside. A simply dressed woman with her head covered was feeding the pigs. When she saw the village bringing people, she cried out, threw the wooden spoon, and hid in the house.

Hu Ma glanced at it and saw that everything was normal, and said, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing during the day."

The village elder mysteriously said, "Someone comes to steal pig food at night!"

"What the heck?"

Hu Ma was stunned when he heard it: "There are people who steal this?"