Chapter 10 Heart-Piercing Nail

“Heart-Piercing Nail, Soul-Locking Chain, Great Stele Shattering Hand… Chest Crushing Stone?”

The wheels rumbled. Hu Ma, wearing a straw hat, drove the horse-drawn cart along the firm, hard dirt road.

Because this horse was unusual, he didn’t need to focus all his attention on driving. So, he loosened the reins, simply sitting on the cart, holding a gourd in his hands.

It was gloomy now, and coupled with the fact that he had turned his entire body to death, except for retaining a sliver of life in his heart, the Yin energy around him greatly increased. So, he poured the water from the gourd onto the blank paper booklet, concentrating on the contents.

If others saw this, they would probably think he was reading a wordless heavenly book.

But in Hu Ma's eyes, the more he looked, the more delighted he became, even a little greedy, memorizing every trick and secret.

The art of the Suishou (Year Keeper), simply put, boils down to one thing: refining life into death, and then refining death into life, guarding the boundary between life and death.

But this simple art has been used by countless Suishou, with their unique differences and powerful physiques, to research countless unique skills, many of which, when used, are unexpected and can take lives.

Each of these unique skills is extremely useful, capable of providing a livelihood.

"Why does it feel like most of our Suishou’s unique skills are relatively Yin, like heretical arts?"

Even guaranteeing authenticity, since dead men tell no lies.

He was silent for a long time before slowly opening his eyes, gently sighing.

"..."

But undoubtedly, they were all of great use to him.

Each of these unique skills had a story. Some seemed simple, understandable with a single explanation. Others required time and effort to cultivate painstakingly. Some sounded powerful from the name alone, while others sounded extremely down-to-earth.

"Made a profit…"

"Hiss…"

He didn't actually perform anything, but he secretly felt the changes in strength.

A single sentence conveys the true essence, after all, this one true sentence is the culmination of countless failures by predecessors.

But now, these unique skills were displayed before his eyes without reservation, in extreme detail.

He slowly pondered, "Can strike directly, can borrow force, even after mastering it, can be transmitted through weapons, mainly unpredictable, harming people invisibly…"

He originally thought that refining his five viscera and having two unique skills was enough, but now he suddenly felt like his horizons had been broadened.

"So…"

It was also when he started learning these unique skills that Hu Ma realized he was still shallow on the path of the Suishou.

As he spoke, he pinched his left hand, gently rotating his wrist, and lightly patted outwards.

The tricks of the performing arts world are actually just for show, for the sake of convenience when traveling the martial world later, but he didn't expect to really learn much.

Only the Suishou’s unique skills, because his foundation was too solid, he understood as soon as he heard them. Some of the simpler tricks, with a little test, he had already grasped the key, able to imitate them.

On the way here, he had learned the skills of the Zougui Ren (Ghost Walker) and also learned a few tricks of the performing arts world. But the Zougui Ren skills required him to go back and properly integrate them, so that he had the foundation to truly open the Zhen Sui Shu (Year Suppressing Book) and learn the techniques.

With such a unique skill in the Red Lantern Maiden Society, he could take the position of shopkeeper and bring a few apprentices, living freely and happily in this chaotic world.

"This Heart-Piercing Nail, is it actually borrowing a wisp of Yin energy, and using the Suishou technique to strike it out, nailing the heart?"

But after thinking about it briefly, he quickly shook his head in denial.

Impossible, compared to those people in other sects who didn't even show their faces when harming people, starting without saying a word, the Suishou were much more upright.

Comforting himself, Hu Ma continued to ponder the usage and key points of this unique skill.

The unique skills given by the Dongzi Li family were really numerous. Hu Ma tried his best to memorize them, but it was unrealistic to learn them all in a short time. There was the Great Stele Shattering Hand, which not only required diligent practice day and night, but also needed to be combined with talismans and secret medicines to nourish his palms.

But there were also some simple ones, just the tricks of circulating Qi, which he could slowly ponder on the road.

Of course, the reason why he started researching these unique skills on the road was also because being alone on the road was too boring, without anyone to talk to all day long.

From Dongchang Prefecture to Anzhou, it took him seven days when he came.

But that was with him and Xiang Ya Tou riding fast horses, enduring the chafing of their inner thighs to get here.

Now, driving a horse-drawn cart, walking slowly, it would take several times longer.

Of course, there was no way around it. Hu Ma didn't dare to whip the one pulling the cart, and he had to take good care of it every night.

On the road, when he was too bored, Hu Ma would talk to it, but it wouldn't respond. He asked it to twitch its ears and blink its eyes, but it didn't seem to understand. Every day, it just diligently pulled the cart on the road.

But after these few days, Hu Ma realized that it didn't seem to be completely ignorant. For example, one night when resting by the campfire, Hu Ma took out a pot of wine and asked if it wanted to drink, and it nodded.

From that day on, every night when resting, if conditions permitted, Hu Ma would buy a pot of wine and pour it into its trough.

"Hu Ma gege, Hu Ma gege…"

Xiao Hong Tang's figure suddenly appeared on the top of the cart, squatting on the horse's back, mysteriously saying to Hu Ma, "Ahead, two hundred zhang, intersection."

Hu Ma nodded, took out an oilcloth packet from his arms, took out a blood food pill, and generously handed it to Xiao Hong Tang.

Xiao Hong Tang was immediately overjoyed, holding it with both small hands, and went to scout the road again in a puff of smoke.

Judging from the current enthusiasm, Hu Ma estimated that even if he directly asked her to kill those few blocking the road now, she wouldn't refuse. After all, the food standards had been improved again.

The current Xiao Hong Tang had already started eating blood food!

One pill at a time!

...Of course, Hu Ma divided a whole blood food pill into ten portions, squeezing each one with force, barely forming a circular shape.

Although the sizes were not quite the same, wasn't it still one pill?

At least Hong Tang jie was always happy and never pursued these details.

"Hoo…"

As the cart moved forward, sure enough, two hundred zhang away, when turning into another intersection, Hu Ma saw several lazy beggars lying there resting in the woods. They glanced at him intentionally or unintentionally, quietly passing by.

"The further away from Anzhou, the tighter these beggar gang scouts are watching me."

Hu Ma thought to himself.

When he first left Miss Red Wine's estate, he was cautious, fearing that the beggar gang would directly come looking for him.

Later, he realized that it was different from what he had thought. Although he was watched as soon as he left the estate, they had no intention of attacking.

Perhaps, they didn't know enough about the Dongzi Li family and were worried that the Dongzi Li family really had such great abilities that they could easily protect him in Anzhou, so they wanted to wait until he left Anzhou.

"Where will they attack me?"

Hu Ma silently calculated. This was already the third wave of beggars he had encountered today, and they were obviously watching him more closely than before, so he couldn't help but start thinking about this question: "Or, what method will they use to attack?"

"Directly blocking the road, or pretending to be a shopkeeper in some wild shop, first drugging me, then sprinkling lime on my face?"

"..."

He couldn't find the answers to these questions, but compared to that, it wasn't important. What was more worthy of his concern was: How would Miss Red Wine make her move?

She only said that she would take action in time after the beggar gang leader showed up.

But how she would take action, and how she would ensure that she could appear in time when he was in danger, she refused to explain, because it would reveal the secrets of her performing arts world.

Really, not as generous as Steward Zhou…

But because of this, Hu Ma could only pretend to be ignorant of everything, honestly playing the role of bait.

The more beggar gang members he encountered, and the more he saw their increasingly unscrupulous, sinister, and cold eyes, the more Hu Ma felt that he was walking into a big net, and this net was tightening, not allowing him to escape.

He just remained calm, retracted his thoughts, and continued to ponder his unique skills.

That night, Hu Ma rested at a wild shop next to the official road. He paid the money and booked a shared bed, and asked the shopkeeper to bring up good wine and good dishes. He wanted two pots of wine and the cleanest and best dishes in the shop, not caring about the money.

Then, he fed one pot of wine to the horse and drank one pot himself. After that, he carefully soaked his feet in hot water before lying on the bed and entering a peaceful sleep.

"The beggar gang should attack you tomorrow."

Soon, a voice rang out. In his lifebound spirit temple, Hu Ma heard Shao Dao Zi's reminder.

Looking closely, he was slightly startled.

They had agreed earlier that when it came to important times, everyone would exchange information in the lifebound spirit temple. But now, he actually saw that as many as seven or eight incense threads were passing through the dark red mist and connecting to his incense burner.

Each incense thread represented a reincarnator with a mysterious identity!

"These guys didn't show up along the way, making it seem like I was traveling alone. Now they suddenly all appear?"

Hu Ma was a little excited for a moment, and quickly sorted out his spirit, listening attentively to their sharing of intelligence.

The first to speak was Shao Dao Zi: "The beggar gang's Ji Tang is gathering all the small leaders on the Pingnan Road to Niu Tou Town, and the deadline for those people is tonight."

"And this place is where you will pass by noon tomorrow."

"..."

As his voice fell, a lazy voice suddenly sounded, faintly saying: "Code name Yu Bing Shao, I asked around according to Miss Red Wine's instructions."

"The Liu Di Town Weihe Escort Agency, the day before yesterday night, just lost a family heirloom treasured saber. It looks like the beggar gang's work. He should want to use this treasured saber to deal with Lao Bai Gan brother tomorrow."

Someone else said: "Code name Lao Gao Liang, I am following the beggar gang's Ji Tang. He is now in Si Shui Town, at his mistress's house."

"...It's howling inside, so tempting!"

"..."

"Code name Zhu Ye Qing, I'm ready to extract souls and search souls, Jie Jie Jie…"

"..."

Hu Ma, who was eager to know their news, was now suddenly stunned by listening to the reports of one reincarnator after another.

It turned out that Miss Red Wine wasn't joking, she was really preparing for a team-building exercise?

(End of Chapter)