Chapter 1 "Is This Enough?"

Under the gaze of all the flesh cutters, Zhou Datong picked up the red lantern, used his Ghost Ascends Stairs skill, and easily climbed to the gate tower, replacing the tattered lantern that had been weathered and faded.

In an instant, the red light spread, adding a touch of mystery to this old mine deep in the mountains.

The people in the mine didn't know what this meant, they just stared blankly, not daring to disturb what they were doing.

Zhou Liang vaguely felt that he understood, but he wasn't sure, so he looked curiously at Old Suanpan. The old man also had an admiring look on his face, and explained in a low voice, "Your senior brother is smart!"

"Think about it, what is the most important thing in life?"

"Nothing more than the two words: rules!"

"Why are people who come to this mine so careful about those witch people?"

"It's nothing more than because they have many rules. We Xia people pay attention to 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do,' and are afraid of breaking their rules."

"But we are afraid of offending their taboos, and with the exchange of gifts, they should also worry about offending our taboos. Hanging up the lantern of the Red Lantern Mother means that this is the territory of the Red Lantern Mother. Whatever you do here must take into account the face of our Red Lantern Mother."

"Usually, if we violate their taboos, they will use Gu. If they violate our taboos, we have to use knives."

"The witch people's insects are powerful, but are the knives of us shousui (grave watchers) soft?"

"..."

The people next to him heard it, and seeing that Old Suanpan was so confident, the miners couldn't help but nod their heads. Only the two apprentices of the Mine Chief Zhuang muttered with some suspicion: "Does the Red Lantern Mother really have that much face?"

"Whether the Red Lantern Mother has a lot of face depends on how capable we subordinates are."

Hu Ma smiled at them and said, "Now that the rules are set here, it depends on whether the person outside gives us face."

"If he gives us face, that's fine. If he doesn't give us face, then he is opposing the entire Red Lantern Society, opposing our Red Lantern Mother who has already built a temple. Not to mention him, a Gu refiner, even his entire tribe of witch people, what can they do?"

"When the Red Lantern Mother is invited, or the entire Red Lantern Society's forces come, even their village will be flattened!"

"..."

Of course, although he spoke with great confidence when facing the people in the valley, he also secretly discussed with Old Suanpan: "What do you think he will do when he sees this lantern?"

Old Suanpan smiled and said, "If he is sensible, when he sees our stance, if he doesn't leave immediately, he should at least show up and chat."

"This is jianghu (martial world) etiquette. What is jianghu etiquette? It's learning how to come down the stairs..."

"But if he doesn't show up and still hides in the dark to harm people, or even becomes more and more outrageous, then there's nothing to say. At least we know that this person can't be reasoned with, and we can directly prepare the harshest retaliation."

"..."

"But we have to be able to fight him."

Hu Ma lowered his voice and said, "Judging from the Mine Chief Zhuang's appearance, this person is probably not simple."

"A shousui with the strongest physique, especially a shousui who has refined his five viscera, would be injured to this extent."

"..."

"His abilities are certainly not small, but we may not necessarily suffer."

Old Suanpan sneered and said, "When dealing with these witch people, you have to have a good eye and see which sect and which village he is from first."

"Witchcraft has the distinction between witch path and Gu path, as well as the Worm Gate, Animal Gate, and Pole Gate. Early on, in our Ming Prefecture, there was the Altar Sect, the blind beggars of the Worm Gate who could call souls, referring to the three evils."

"You shouldn't be unfamiliar with that Altar Sect, but you don't know that this Worm Gate is actually passed down from this tribe of witch people. It used to have a really big reputation in Ming Prefecture, but why did it disappear later? Didn't it just fight and fight, but didn't win against us?"

"There's no need to panic now, as long as we can see his origin and school, it will save a lot of effort to deal with him. To take ten thousand steps back, even if we really can't beat them..."

"...we can also go out and call for reinforcements!"

"..."

'This old thing is really an old fox, his eyesight is extremely sharp...'

As soon as Hu Ma heard this, he knew that Old Suanpan had also seen the key, and smiled: "The road has been blocked, how can you move?"

"Little brother is testing me..."

Old Suanpan also suddenly laughed and said, "He can use a Gu formation to block the road into the valley, can he also surround this valley? Where are there so many insects..."

"Although I, the old man, am not a shousui, I have seen the most shousui in the Red Lantern Society, and I understand your methods very well."

"He blocked the road into the valley, so ordinary people can't get in or out, but what do the shousui care about? Behind is the hillside. With your ability to fly over eaves and walk on walls as if walking on flat ground, you can climb up any cliff, isn't it easy to call for reinforcements?"

"Of course, if you leave like this, if there is anything good in this mine, then it won't be our turn..."

"..."

"Indeed."

What Old Suanpan said was exactly what Hu Ma was thinking now.

In fact, as soon as he came over, he saw the difficulty of this blood food mine. The reason why they were blocked by the Gu user was because there was only one road in and out. Once it was blocked, the blood food inside could not be transported out.

For a shousui, it is still easy to escape, but leaving like this means abandoning the ordinary miners in this mine, as well as the mine that is unknown what can be mined out...

In the end, it is still a matter of greed!

As for himself...

Logically speaking, he had already earned by getting these few jars of blood food, but he was not in a hurry to report it, and studied how to earn more.

What if there is really something good hidden in that mine?

Indeed, he was also greedy...

So what? Others can be greedy, why can't he be greedy?

...Of course, you can't be too stubborn. First, hang up the red lantern, and then call the Red Lantern Mother to clean up the mess afterwards!

With the plan decided, he naturally told the people in the mine to rest and not be so suspicious. If there was anything, he would talk about it tomorrow morning.

Then, he once again refused Old Suanpan's request to take a batch of blood food back to test the quality. Hu Ma moved the six jars into the wooden house that Mine Chief Zhuang had taken the initiative to give him, and asked Zhou Datong and Zhao Zhu to sleep here.

"This is really a fortune..."

After silently counting, Hu Ma couldn't help but be moved. The six jars that fell into his hands were all Blood Tai Sui, and the quality ranged from low to high. In the last two jars, there was already Golden Thread Tai Sui inside.

It's a pity that if they were all of the quality of the last jar of Golden Thread Tai Sui, his blood food for entering the mansion would be enough at once, but now it is only barely enough.

But this also couldn't help but move Hu Ma. If the mine really got better and better, what treasures would be inside?

At the very least, even if there were no treasures, as long as it was still of the quality of Golden Thread Tai Sui, it would be enough for his needs to enter the mansion...

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Hu Ma checked these jars back and forth three times, and then he relaxed a little, went to bed and rested peacefully, and recharged his energy.

To figure out what is in that mine, you must first solve the trouble outside.

Others probably thought that Hu Ma just wanted to get a good night's sleep, recover, and find a way to deal with the mysterious witch person outside the next day.

However, Hu Ma himself had another plan: he came to Huoziling, unfamiliar with the place, and there was an unknown mysterious person making things difficult. Did he really want to completely listen to the words of the Zhuang Mine Chief's family and stand at the front?

If it were an ordinary person, being put in this position now, other than standing up, or letting go of the meat in their mouth without eating, and not taking responsibility, there would probably be no other means.

But he, after all, is a transmigrator...

After falling asleep, Hu Ma came to his natal spirit temple, looked up, and saw that his natal divine statue emitted strands of golden light, outlining the outline of the divine statue.

The limbs and internal organs all appeared in the darkness, and in the head position, nearly half of the dense golden traces were now lit up. He was just waiting to eat enough blood food to completely refine them.

"Hope is right in front of me. If I can directly eat these jars of blood food, maybe I can enter the mansion."

Hu Ma sighed in his heart: "Unfortunately, you can't become fat with one bite. The refining speed is limited."

While sighing, he put the idea aside first. He slowly came to the incense table, stretched out his palm, pressed it on the incense burner, and then adjusted his breathing. He also changed his voice and called out in a low voice: "Laobaigan is calling in Huoziling." (Laobaigan = White Liquor)

"Code name Laobaigan is calling in Huoziling, can any transmigrators hear?"

"..."

Every time he called out, he waited quietly for a moment, observing the smoke emanating from the incense burner, but he saw that it was always scattered and there was no movement to connect anything.

He was not in a hurry, and called out several times before temporarily stopping.

He silently consumed blood food to circulate his energy, and after an hour, he came in again, called out several times, and, in order to make his call more widespread, he had already inserted three incense sticks into the incense burner, not caring about the loss of the incense.

Every time he went to a strange place, he would first call out. This was a good habit that every transmigrator should cultivate.

But Hu Ma was actually not confident in his heart. This was the first time he had called out without being sure if anyone would hear him, and this was a remote mountain area, similar to Erguotou in Laoyin Mountain. The probability of being heard was not very high.

But how would he know if he didn't try? Maybe there was someone nearby?

With this hope, Hu Ma called out three times in a row. Seeing that it was almost dawn, and no one had responded, he was helpless.

Just as he was about to exit and give up this hope, suddenly, a voice with a hint of regret rang out: "Code name Hou'erjiu (Monkey Wine) responds to the call..."

"...Really, I've hidden so far, I didn't expect to be found by you guys!"