Chapter 1 An Auspicious Occasion

The feast was full of joy. Not to mention Seventh Aunt, who loved a lively atmosphere the most, even Aunt Zhang, who was uneasy and seemed to have something on her mind, was infected by the atmosphere and seemed to have recovered from her doubts.

As a zouguiren (ghost walker), she rarely interacted with people. Even if neighbors and those she had helped invited her, they would often let her sit alone at a table or send a feast to her home to eat. She had little experience sitting at such a lively table, but she blushed and raised her glass.

She solemnly toasted Hu Ma and Seventh Aunt, thanking them for saving her life.

Hu Ma smiled and said, "We're all family here. Aunt, you are a respectable person. Come to the village often when you have time. When things happen, we have to help each other to survive."

Seventh Aunt also chuckled, liking Aunt Zhang more and more as she looked at her, grinning and saying, "This girl is so pretty and fertile. Seventh Aunt will find you a match!"

It could only be said that Seventh Aunt wasn't very good at chatting. Aunt Zhang's face turned red. She picked up her wine glass and drank two full cups...

...and then she passed out.

Helpless, Hu Ma had to help her into the inner courtyard and put her in the inner room where Wu He's sister used to sleep. He took a new quilt from the cabinet and spread it on the bed for her before returning to the table to drink.

A group of people surrounded Seventh Aunt, toasting her, lighting her cigarettes, and complimenting her, making Seventh Aunt very happy. After getting drunk, she even accepted Li Wazi as her eldest disciple in front of everyone.

Although it was just under the influence of alcohol, with a few kowtows and no incense burned, and no proper ceremony, Li Wazi at least had the title. In the future, when something happened, he could rightfully invite Seventh Aunt over.

The wine was joyful and the people were happy. After the chaotic end, Hu Ma returned to his room. He listened carefully and found that Aunt Zhang was sleeping soundly. He returned to his room, sat on the bed, and slowly practiced his qigong.

After a while, he took out a few blood food pills and placed them on the table beside him. He sat against the wall and slowly entered his dream.

Dazed and swaying, he felt a sense of confusion and arrived at his Natal Spirit Temple. But this time, he wasn't there to call any reincarnated person. Instead, after entering the Natal Spirit Temple, he immediately looked nervously behind the incense table at the statue hidden in the darkness.

As expected, upon seeing it, he felt a slight tremor in his hands and feet.

Since he had refined his five internal organs, the statue had been very different. Its limbs and organs were filled with golden light, but the seven orifices of the head were a dark void. Hidden behind the incense table, it looked like a headless statue at first glance.

But now, upon closer inspection, he found that the head of the statue was also filled with fine golden threads, interwoven and crisscrossed, blurred and uncertain, looking like some kind of abstract painting with a mysterious meaning.

The five senses and seven orifices were extremely clear, so much so that there was no difference between this and a complete refinement.

"As expected..."

Hu Ma looked at the statue, and for a moment, he couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart. Could it be that he had already entered the Mansion of the Shousui (Year Guardian) path?

No, not yet.

He stared at the statue, silently judging in his heart. He could only say that he had completed the entrance cultivation of the Shousui path, but he still lacked the nourishment of blood food.

As early as a few hours ago, when he had beheaded the Five Fiends Evil Ghost, he had already felt something. But at that time, he had been busy and had no time to enter the Natal Spirit Temple to see. It wasn't until now, when he saw it reflected in his Natal Spirit Statue, that he was sure that his cultivation had greatly improved.

The head, which used to take a lot of time to nourish and refine little by little, was now completely transparent.

The reason was also very simple. After he opened the Zhensui (Suppressing Evil) Manor, he felt the eerie baleful aura within the manor, rolling and endless, passing through his body, as if it had washed his entire body. If it hadn't been for the Hu family's token, he might not have been able to withstand it.

This kind of Yin energy entering the orifices and penetrating deep into the head, organs, blood, and meridians was not a good thing. Ordinary people would suffer a serious illness, or even die. Even as a Shousui, his cultivation would be damaged, and it would take a long time to recover.

But coincidentally, it happened to be when he was entering the Mansion of the Shousui path, which gave him an unexpected wonder.

"Was the Jì Táng of the past also like this?"

Hu Ma took a few deep breaths to stabilize his somewhat excited mind. He couldn't help but think of Jì Táng, the leader of the Beggar Gang on the Pingnan Road.

This person could be considered half of his master in entering the Mansion of the Shousui. He had a similar experience. He was chased and killed by Granny Wu, narrowly escaping death, and ended up benefiting from misfortune, improving his cultivation greatly, saving him at least half a year of hard work.

His current situation was similar to his, but he was more fortunate. After all, the baleful aura in the Zhensui Manor was upright and extremely heavy, something that Granny Wu couldn't compare to.

Granny Wu only accidentally blew Yin energy into Jì Táng’s orifices when chasing him, but he had actually received a baleful aura灌顶 (guanding, crown empowerment), and his head and soul had been washed through at once.

It was as if a channel had been laid out on his path of cultivation, waiting for the living water to be drawn in, so that he could completely reverse life and death, ascend to the Mansion, and achieve great skill.

And this living water was blood food.

"Hoo!"

Having discovered this, Hu Ma immediately withdrew, took two blood food pills in his hand, and returned to the Natal Spirit Temple, looking anxiously.

He then discovered that with the nourishment of the two blood food pills, the fine golden light intertwined at the head of the Natal Spirit Statue behind the incense table seemed to be growing vigorously, with strands of golden light gradually becoming stronger. However, how many meridians were there in the head? Two blood food pills only nourished a tiny amount?

"Eh?"

Hu Ma was a little surprised. After thinking carefully for a long time, he smiled bitterly, "Blessing and misfortune are intertwined?"

After this cleansing of the Yin energy of the Zhensui Manor, his cultivation progress had improved, even directly filling up, saving him a full year and a half of hard work.

But the blood food needed was even more...

In fact, the blood food given by the Dongzi Li family earlier was enough to support him to complete his Mansion entry cultivation, and there would even be some left over.

Hu Ma had even speculated afterward that the Dongzi Li family might have had unique insight and had already known how much blood food he needed to enter the Mansion, so they gave him these on purpose, and even gave him 30% more as a thank you.

But now that this change had occurred, his demand for blood food had more than doubled.

What the Dongzi Li family gave might not be enough.

"That's not right..."

While thinking like this, Hu Ma's heart stirred slightly again, and he once again fixed his eyes on his Natal Spirit Statue.

This experience was not a mixture of good and bad fortune, but rather another rare benefit.

Earlier, the skills he had learned in cultivating the path of the Shousui came from Wu Zhanggui, which was indeed a proper method, but not so refined.

Refining the limbs, refining the four organs, and then refining the head and nourishing the seven orifices, step by step, but there were also many omissions. In simple terms, they were first born and then died, and then refined with secret methods, but it was inevitable that there would be some places that could not be taken care of, just like the indestructible body of a Vajra, leaving flaws.

But now, with the Yin energy cleansing of the Zhensui Manor, those subtle places were filled in one by one.

The reason why he needed so much more blood food now was one for the head and soul, and the other was that these subtle places also needed to be filled in one by one.

"It's like reaching a bottleneck, and a master has suddenly opened up the eight extraordinary meridians for me..."

Hu Ma sighed, confirming that the benefits he had gained were not small. He couldn't help but wonder whether it was the murderous Yin energy in the Zhensui Manor that had inadvertently helped him complete a comprehensive upgrade of the Shousui path, or...

...was it done on purpose?

Thinking in this direction, he couldn't help but turn to thinking about the problem of the Zhensui Manor...

The Zhensui Manor, the Zhensui Manor...

Not only did it suppress the evil spirits within a hundred miles as soon as it appeared, but it could even directly detain and kill the Hall Visitors who had fled back to the temple and transformed into thousands of forms, and even parade them in the streets...

If it really had such great power, wouldn't he be able to kill whoever he wanted and directly show off after he truly obtained the Hu family's token in the future?

In addition, he had previously been reminded by Erguotou that he only thought of the Hu family's property as a mysterious existence like the old fire pit, but now, seeing the various arrangements and the terrifying power in the Zhensui Manor, he couldn't help but realize:

The Zhensui Manor was originally in the path, but looking at it, why did it seem like it was on the official side?

What exactly was the Hu family's position among the Ten Families, and what did this Zhensui Manor mean to this world?

"Hoo..."

Just thinking about these questions made people feel heavy.

Hu Ma didn't dare to expect to fully understand these things, but no matter what, he had come into contact with the Hu family's token, and he hadn't caused some strange changes because of his identity as a reincarnated person, so the biggest doubt was gone.

Now, he could safely plan this important event and truly get this token into his hands as soon as possible...

Anyway, all he needed now was to get enough blood food, so he could safely enter the Mansion, and after he entered the Mansion, he should be able to carry this thing, right?

Suddenly thinking of this question, he also felt some pressure in his heart, but he slowly exhaled and strengthened his mind to move forward step by step in this direction. After all, it seemed that the reincarnated people were all following him into the water, right?

At critical moments, you always have to be firm!

Then, as he looked at the Natal Spirit Statue behind the incense table and slowly thought about these questions, in the silent Natal Spirit Temple, a tentative voice suddenly sounded: "Old Bai Gan (Strong Liquor) brother, can you hear my call?"

"Old Bai Gan brother, Erguotou (Double Distilled Liquor) calling, can you hear?"

"..."

Hu Ma was awakened by this voice, slowly exhaled, and smiled, "Erguotou brother, I can hear you, but when did you become so careful?"