Chapter 1 Someone's Stealing Pig Feed?

"Seriously? You guys made such a fuss with the old shopkeeper, and even had us come all this way…"

"All because someone's been stealing pig feed?"

Hu Ma found the whole thing both infuriating and hilarious.

"Yes, it's terrifying."

But the elder from the village looked very nervous. He pulled Hu Ma aside and said mysteriously, "The Dongs are the best at raising pigs. They used to raise several, and they were all fatter than anyone else's. But now they've sold them all off, except for this one breeding pig."

"The reason is that someone comes to steal the feed at night. That Dong family simpleton, isn't he scared sick because of it?"

"This…"

After listening carefully, Hu Ma finally understood what was going on.

This family, surnamed Dong, was also a well-off family in the village. They could sell several fat pigs to the city every year.

The head of the family, named Dong, was called Dong Family Simpleton because of his straightforward nature.

The story started about ten days ago. The Dong Family Simpleton noticed that the pig wasn't gaining weight. With the end of the year approaching, he became anxious and went back to check on it after feeding it at night.

Unexpectedly, he saw a dark figure next to the trough, snatching food from the pig. The sight scared him sick.

With no other choice, he went to the Red Lantern Shop and asked the old shopkeeper to come and take a look.

"This sounds a bit strange…"

Hu Ma pondered and said, "Did you see what it looked like?"

"Maybe it's just a stray dog from the village looking for food."

"Absolutely not, it's an old woman!"

The elder said seriously, and several young and strong laborers nodded in agreement. "It was dark at night, so we couldn't see clearly, but we're sure it's an old woman, crawling in the pen and snatching food from the pig. She crawls so fast, even four or five pigs can't beat her…"

Someone even shouted, "Doesn't she look a bit like Auntie Li from the front house?"

"Go to hell! Your mother snatches food from pigs…"

But this sentence angered another man, and they started fighting.

The others quickly stepped forward to break them up. Hu Ma was too lazy to care and asked the old man with a cane, who was eager to join the fight, what was going on with that Auntie Li. He then understood:

Auntie Li was the old woman from Li Youyin's family in the front house. She had died several months ago and was properly buried in the village. How could he say that her mother had crawled out of her grave and ran back to the village to snatch food from the pigs? Wouldn't that get him beaten?

Besides, they had checked, and the grave was fine.

Hu Ma understood the situation and looked around, but couldn't find anything unusual.

He glanced at the top of the wall, and Little Hong Tang was staring at the pen with wide eyes, looking equally bewildered.

"Then we'll just have to stay and see."

Thinking that this happened at night, he would probably only be able to see it at night, but it would take more time.

As he was speaking, he saw a pale-faced man from the Dong family staggering out of the house with a plate of dry tobacco, inviting Hu Ma and the other workers, as well as the village elders, to come in and rest. It was the owner of the house who had been scared sick, forcing himself to get up and entertain the guests.

Hu Ma let the village elder arrange things. He drank some tea and asked for more details.

As evening approached, the elder asked the Dong family to prepare a few large dishes and a pot of wine to treat Hu Ma and the others.

This was the custom in the village. When you asked someone to exorcise something, you had to take good care of them.

After the meal, Hu Ma asked the elderly elder to send away anyone who had nothing to do with it and had come to watch the fun.

His purpose was to see what was going on. If there really was a ghost, he would get rid of it. With so many people crowded in this small house, the ghost might not even dare to come. And if he waited all night for nothing, he would have come in vain and would have to stay here for another day.

As night deepened, there was only a small oil lamp lit in the house.

The light was dim, not even reaching the doorway. Everyone sat silently in the house, and no one dared to speak.

The courtyard was silent, as if time had frozen.

"Should we feed the pig?"

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, with no movement, Hu Ma suddenly said, "If there's no food in the trough, there's nothing to snatch, right?"

"Yes… yes…"

Dong's wife's hesitant voice rang out: "We have to feed it at night, but I don't dare to…"

Hu Ma found it both funny and annoying.

The Dong family raised pigs well because they were willing to feed them. They even had to feed them at night. But since that thing appeared, the Dong Family Simpleton had been scared sick, and Dong's wife was also afraid and dared not feed them anymore. The other pigs were sold off quickly because they were worried about losing weight.

After exchanging glances, Zhou Datong volunteered: "I'll go!"

Hu Ma instructed him not to circulate his power or stay too long when he reached the pigpen before letting him go.

Zhou Datong readily agreed and went to the stove, where he rummaged around.

He poured all the bran and cornmeal into the bucket, chopped some dried vegetables, and sprinkled a few grains of coarse salt.

Dong's wife felt a little heartache just listening to it: "That's too much…"

But she didn't dare to stop him.

She watched Zhou Datong pour a full bucket of pig feed into the trough and then darted back.

The others continued to wait in the house, only hearing the contented sounds of the boar eating.

Just when they were wondering when they would have to wait, or if that thing wouldn't come, they suddenly heard the boar grunting outside the courtyard.

Everyone held their breath, feeling as if a gust of yin wind was blowing in the courtyard. The oil lamp in the hall was visibly shrinking, almost extinguished. The crows on the old tree outside fluttered and flew around in fright.

"It's here!"

Hu Ma felt a chill in his heart and said in a low voice, reaching out to hold Zhou Datong, who was about to rush out, and carefully instructed him.

After saying these things, he picked up the lantern that the Dong family had prepared and walked out slowly.

The people from their Red Lantern Maiden Society often carried red lanterns when they worked, but this time he hadn't thought he would be staying until night. Besides, the shopkeeper mainly wanted Hu Ma to gain more experience, so he didn't recommend him to carry a red lantern to deal with evil spirits.

The yellow paper lantern didn't shine far, only illuminating the small patch of ground around his feet.

The others followed Hu Ma out of the house, tiptoeing closer. They saw a dark shadow outside the pigpen.

It was squatting next to the trough, devouring the food. The boar was squeezed to the side, unable to eat, and grunting anxiously.

"Crunch, crunch…"

They could hear the sound of the thing tearing at the roots of the wild vegetables, making their hearts cold.

It was eating so intently that it didn't seem to hear Hu Ma and the others coming into the courtyard.

Hu Ma turned his head to look and saw that everyone was in position. He suddenly roared, "Where did you come from, you evil thing, with such little ambition?"

"Whoosh!"

The old woman in the pigpen was startled by the shout and darted toward the gate.

Unexpectedly, just as she reached the gate, a torch was shoved in her face, revealing Zhou Datong's grinning face.

Waving his knife, he shouted in a voice imitating the opera, "Where do you think you're going?"

The old woman was startled and turned back with great speed, crawling towards the west wall. Before she could climb over, Zhou Liang also revealed his face and spat out a mouthful of True Yang Arrow.

The thing somersaulted back in mid-air and tried to climb over the east wall into the neighbor's house. Zhao Zhu had already taken a dung fork and was threatening to poke her face.

The old woman-like thing was impatient and scurried around the courtyard.

Gusts of yin wind swept through, and it was definitely not human.

But it seemed extremely panicked. Seeing that it was blocked on all sides, it rushed towards Hu Ma in desperation.

Originally, Hu Ma had come from the main room, which was the owner's residence and had the most human presence. These evil spirits would subconsciously avoid the direction of the main room.

But now that there were people standing on all sides, it could only rush towards Hu Ma.

After all, Zhou Datong and the others had already activated their furnaces, but Hu Ma had not. In the eyes of the evil spirit, Hu Ma seemed to be the weakest in vitality.

"Ah…"

With the light from the yellow paper lantern in Hu Ma's hand, the old elder and the Dong family saw a sallow and green face with pig food residue on its mouth. It didn't look very old, and its eyes were rolling back. It suddenly rushed in front of them.

They were terrified and screamed, about to fall down.

But Hu Ma stood firmly, facing the opponent directly. The lantern in his hand didn't even shake. He suddenly raised his hand and pressed it out.

He used his left hand, which was still wrapped in bandages, and pressed it on the forehead of the rushing thing.

Instantly, a surge of yin energy poured into his left hand, seeming to want to flow into his body.

Yin spirits must not be touched, as their yin energy can erode a person's vitality.

But Hu Ma also intended to test his newly learned skills. He withdrew the life force from his left hand, and immediately felt the yin energy stop as it rushed into his left hand, not taking the opportunity to enter his body.

And in the next moment, the fire in Hu Ma's abdomen stirred, and a surge of fire energy was transmitted to his left hand through his external martial arts. The monster was instantly sent flying.

"Wow, is Brother Hu Ma so capable now?"

In the distance, Zhou Datong, who had rushed out of the gate, and Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu, who had jumped down from the walls on both sides, were also startled.

They didn't see Hu Ma use a knife or a wooden sword, but he had lifted the evil spirit with a raised hand.

What kind of skill was this?

While thinking quickly in their minds, they also rushed forward, compressing the space for the evil spirit to escape.

At the same time, the neighbors, who had been waiting all night, lit torches and rushed to this house when they heard the commotion. Human energy poured in from all directions, and the evil spirit seemed to be frightened, shrinking into a ball.

Before the entire courtyard was completely illuminated by the torches, it suddenly let out a hoarse and short cry:

"Heavens…"

"The pigs have food to eat at night, but I don't…"

This cry made everyone's hearts turn cold, and after shouting, the thing shrunk on the ground and didn't move.

Someone listened with a chill and was stunned for a long time before suddenly shouting at the Li family: "Li Big Head, that…"

"That's not your mother, but that's your wife…"