Chapter 13 As a Zou Guiren

As a zou guiren, since he was waiting for his opponent to come to his door, how could he be stupid enough to only bring a knife and wait here?

Of course, he had to set up an altar, but it had to be set up discreetly, so as not to be noticed.

It was precisely because he had set up the altar that Hu Ma could confidently fight the opponent, borrowing the life force of one of the Five Fiends Altar Envoys to practice his recently refined Shou Suiren (Year Guardian) skills.

Also, it was because he was within his own altar that he could use his physical body to withstand the opponent's life force head-on, gaining a direct and real understanding of the power of the Five Fiends Altars. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to withstand it with just his Shou Suiren cultivation.

The most important reason was to prevent the opponent from being startled and running away immediately, making it impossible to subdue them silently.

Of course, after actually exchanging blows, Hu Ma felt that the idea of using the opponent to test his skills was a miscalculation. It was really hard to test anything.

After all, having tasted the prowess of a Shou Suiren like Ji Tang, others seemed a bit bland.

Now that things were going smoothly on his side, Hu Ma breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the life force envoy being restrained by his Jia Curse. He knew that the first step of his plan had been completed, and the rest depended on the others.

After one exchange, he found that the Five Fiends Altar Envoy had some skills, but as long as he defended against the Fiend Qi, they weren't that powerful. How could they possibly be a match for those few?

The only difference was seeing what tricks they would play.

...

At the same time that Hu Ma was removing the Flesh Fiend from the village next to Niujiawan, many things were happening in Ming Prefecture, which still seemed calm on the surface.

In Yuqian Village, northwest of Lao Yin Mountain, already at the intersection of Ming and Gun Prefectures, the village couldn't be considered very wealthy. Most of the people were honest farmers and herb gatherers, but they were prone to longevity.

In other places, people who lived to be fifty or sixty years old were already considered old, and those who lived to seventy or eighty were considered a joyous passing, but in this village, elderly people in their seventies and eighties were not uncommon, and there were even several who lived to be over a hundred years old.

Naturally, some knowledgeable people were curious whether the village had good feng shui or some elixir of longevity, and they often came to take a look.

But after seeing it, they found that the village's feng shui was only ordinary, not the best. After all, it was close to the mountains, and there were herbs, but when they were picked and made into decoctions, they didn't have any more medicinal properties than those from other places.

"Outsiders can't understand,"

Only some elderly people over seventy years old would occasionally drink too much wine and tell their descendants with a smile, "Our village is protected by spirituality!"

"The pond behind the village, we can't let the children go there to play, for fear they'll offend the immortals!"

"We've seen it. There's an old turtle the size of a millstone in that pond. It chose our village to cultivate and brought us yin blessings, which is why the people in our village live long lives..."

"..."

No one had ever seen if there really was such an old turtle in the pond behind the village.

Many elderly people insisted that there was, and often brought incense and offerings to worship it, but none of the younger generation had ever seen it. After all, how could a turtle the size of a millstone live in a pond that was only a few zhang across?

But on this day, several young men in the village suddenly fell ill, unable to eat or drink, and they were on the verge of death. Then a traveling doctor came. After examining the young men, his face changed drastically, and he hurriedly looked around.

In the end, he was like an enemy, calling people over and saying, "Your village is in big trouble. An old turtle is borrowing life..."

"I'll just ask you, are there any young children in the village who have died young? Are there often people who are healthy and disease-free who suddenly disappear? That's because their lifespans have been borrowed..."

The villagers were shocked and hurriedly asked how to resolve it. The doctor calculated with his fingers and said, "Build a pagoda on the pond to suppress it, and make it return the lifespans it has borrowed!"

...

...

There was also a wealthy small village under a mountain ridge. It was said that the ancestors of this village were originally peddlers who were passing through this place. It was late when they arrived, so they rested on the mountain ridge.

Under the moonlight, they saw golden and silver dolls playing in the stream, and they decided that this was a treasure land with good feng shui that would surely bring wealth. So they bought this land from the government, cultivated it, and farmed it, and generation after generation, they had become a large village.

And their descendants had indeed lived prosperous and wealthy lives. Many young men in the village went out to do mule and horse business, and were known as the Mule and Horse Gang by outsiders. They were well-known good villagers in this area.

They remembered the legend of the golden and silver dolls passed down by their ancestors. Although the golden and silver dolls were not enshrined in the main hall, and no one had ever seen them, they secretly offered them in the ancestral hall and burned incense before doing business.

But on this day, a gambler came, pulling two large carts of cloth, wanting to gamble with people.

He didn't seem to have any special skills. At first, he was just guessing the number of jujube pits in his hand. If he guessed correctly, he would give a foot of cloth. If he guessed wrong, he would only lose the hard cornbread in his hand.

The villagers thought it was amusing. After winning twice, they actually won cloth, so word spread quickly, and many people came to watch the excitement.

This man seemed foolish and clumsy, losing more than he won. A cart of cloth was quickly lost, so he also bet the mules and horses pulling the cart, and took out the copper coins and silver ingots from his bag to continue gambling.

The villagers were attracted by this chance to make a fortune, and the gambling became more and more intense, like dry firewood meeting a spark. For two days in a row, it was dark and chaotic.

And several elders in the village who could speak and manage affairs fell ill at this time, and no one could restrain them anymore.

The villagers didn't know how much they had won from this gambler, and their gambling spirit rose greatly. They also gambled with each other, but in the end, it all came from the gambler.

They didn't know that the overwhelming gambling spirit had caused two golden and silver dolls to run out of the ancestral hall, wanting to wash their bodies in the stream, but they were caught by the gambler, who was pretending to relieve himself, and put a sack over their heads.

He found a secluded place, tied the sack with a rope, and then whipped the sack.

Finally, he heard the sound of begging for mercy inside, and a smug smile appeared on his face. He carried the sack back and continued gambling.

The two large carts of cloth and other valuables that he had brought had all been lost, so he reached into the sack, groped for a long time, and took out a gold nugget and a silver nugget to put on the table, using them as capital. The villagers were blinded by the gambling, and didn't care what he brought.

So the gambling became more and more intense, and the man began to win, winning back all the money he had lost earlier, and winning even more wealth. The villagers became even more jealous, gnashing their teeth.

...

...

There was also a large landowner at the foot of Lao Yin Mountain who had built a four-courtyard mansion, married three wives, and had four or five children. He owned hundreds of acres of fertile land and herds of mules and horses.

Everyone in the neighborhood envied him, and often talked about how this landlord was just a cowherd when he was a child, but he was diligent and hardworking, which is why he had such a large fortune.

And on this day, a man carrying a bag came, praised the family's cattle and sheep, and then picked and chose, took a fancy to an old cow that was about to fall down, and asked the landlord how much silver he wanted to buy it.

The landlord refused, saying, "There are plenty of cattle in the pen, sir, feel free to choose. This old cow is too old to walk."

"When I was young, I herded cattle for the landlord. Later, the landlord moved to the city, and I scraped together money to buy it. I relied on it to help plow the fields and cultivate the wasteland to build this fortune."

"Now that it's old and can't work anymore, I want to take care of it and see it off. Not to mention selling it, even my son has to call it 'Uncle' when he sees it. It can eat whatever crops it wants in the field, and we won't stop it!"

"..."

"Although your family has many mules, horses, cattle, and sheep, I've really only taken a fancy to this one."

The man with the bag said, "We're willing to part with ten taels of gold. If you nod your head, this cow will be mine, and the gold will be yours."

The villager was shocked, "The old cow's meat is too tough to chew, how is it worth ten taels of gold?"

The man with the bag smiled and said, "To tell you the truth, I'm not buying the cow, but the bezoar in the cow's belly!"

"This thing is a treasure, but only we can use it. You don't know the tricks, and you won't be able to get it out. Even if you force it out and take it out, you won't be able to sell it for a few taels of silver."

"..."

The villager was dubious, looking at the glittering gold ingot, and finally nodded.

The man with the bag immediately led the cow out, boiled water and sharpened his knife in the open space, and cut open the cow's belly.

Perhaps the old cow was too old, it didn't even have the strength to resist. It just knelt down, its eyes full of tears. The villager felt a little unbearable, but when he touched the ten taels of gold in his arms, he hardened his heart and went back into the house.

With this treasure, he could add dozens more acres of fertile land to his family, and even marry another wife! It was worth it!

He didn't see it, but according to outsiders, it was a real eye-opener.

The man didn't bleed the cow. He cut it open alive, pulled out its intestines, searched for a while, and took out a black, stone-like, non-stone, jade-like, non-jade thing and left. The cow was left there, blood flowed all over the ground, and it died with its eyes wide open.

But on this night, the cattle and sheep in the entire village were uneasy, and the mules and horses were restless. The window lattices rattled.

Some farmhands saw a dozen people in tattered clothes, holding bowls in their hands, sneaking into the villager's granary, scooping grain out bowl by bowl.

Others sneaked into the cattle and sheep pens, leading the livestock out.

The landlord hurriedly beat the gong, calling the neighbors and the farmhands at home to catch the thieves, but when they entered the granary, they found it empty and the grain was still there. Not a single cow or sheep was missing from the pen.

They went to sleep uneasily, but vaguely had a dream, dreaming that the old cow looked at him silently, shook his head slowly, and turned away.

He woke up in a panic, hurriedly wanting to dig out the cow bones, but suddenly saw the sky darken, and in the wilderness, it was hazy and misty, with ghostly shadows. The livestock suddenly developed a plague and half of them died within half a day, and the rest died by the end of the day. That night, the neighbors' livestock also couldn't be raised and began to die.

Immediately, the crops in the fields began to wither in large patches. Countless rats poured out of the warehouse, making holes in the granary. Those that were not hollowed out rotted basket by basket.

The sky and earth were dim, the villagers cried, and white paper money flew everywhere.

(End of this chapter)