Chapter 137 Master Zhou (First Update, Seeking Votes!)

Early the next morning, Hu Ma took Zhou Datong and the others, washed their faces, had a hearty meal, and hurriedly set off on the road.

He had calculated the journey. He and Zhou Datong, as well as the others, were all *shousui ren* (night watchmen), quick on their feet. Under normal circumstances, without wasting time or going the wrong way, they could reach the Full Granary Town before sunset.

So, he had told them in advance to eat their fill in the morning, because they wouldn't be stopping at noon. A group of young men who ran in the mountains every day naturally had no problem with that. They didn't even ride horses, but hurried along together.

It was lucky they didn't bring Li Wa Zi, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to keep up with the others at his current state.

Crossing mountains and ridges, there were few roads in this world. Hu Ma had asked for directions clearly the day before, so they didn't take any detours. Just as the sun was about to set, they crossed a hillside and saw a stretch of plains ahead, with a neat village nestled in the twilight.

"Hold up a moment."

Hu Ma called out to Zhou Datong and the others, who were eager to enter the village, gave them some instructions, and then led over the horse he had brought from the village and mounted it himself.

At the same time, he messed up his hair, wrapped a scarf around his face, hung a few small figures woven from straw on his body, and attached a few randomly drawn *fu* (talismans) to his waist. Only then did he head towards the village.

He still had to put on a show…

Hu Ma had thought about it beforehand. The families here had scraped together two hundred taels of silver to hire someone to deal with the *hanba* (drought demon), but it wouldn't be easy to get.

He had come out to make money, but he didn't really understand the prices in this world. But from any point of view, two hundred taels of silver was a lot.

There weren't many places to spend money in this world. For most families who still valued self-sufficiency, two hundred taels of silver would be enough to build a small building for Second Master in the village, marry a wife, and buy livestock.

Although this place was looking for a capable person to eliminate the evil, it wouldn't be easy to get the silver.

This group of them all had young faces. Even if they were capable, people might not trust them. Now, after dressing up a bit, they looked the part.

"Datong, when we get to the village, you have to sing my praises a little. Now that I've put on this act, I can't say things too directly."

As he walked, Hu Ma instructed Zhou Datong on how to speak, how to flatter people, and even told them to show off the knives and weapons they had on them…

…Zhao Zhu's dung fork, however, was best hidden.

"I initially thought I was coming out with Brother Ma to investigate a case, but I didn't expect to be putting on a show?"

Zhou Datong couldn't help but be a bit cheeky, even daring to make fun of Hu Ma. But as the village in front of them got closer and closer, he straightened his face, held the horse with one hand, and pressed down on the knife at his waist with the other. His gait began to swing outwards, turning into a swaggering, imposing bow-legged walk.

This entourage of one horse and three followers, wielding knives and swords, with their bizarre appearance, immediately caught the eye.

The arrival of strangers in the village was already cause for alarm, and with darkness approaching, their arrival caused several families sitting on their doorsteps eating dinner to look over with suspicion.

"Hello, Big Sister…"

Zhou Datong knew his time had come. There was an old man smoking at the entrance of the village, and men holding bowls, but he just happened to see a woman breastfeeding a child. Smiling, he stepped forward to greet her, "I wonder if there is a village elder or clan leader in this village?"

"Someone older who can speak on behalf of the village will do too. Our great master brought us here while passing by, and has some important matters to discuss with the people here…"

Seeing Zhou Datong's simple and honest smiling face, the woman holding the child was so frightened that she hid inside her house.

The old man smoking next to her stood up and said, "What are you doing?"

"Hehe, our great master is a *zou gui ren* (ghost walker), who travels around to eliminate monsters and exorcise evil spirits. In recent years, he has eliminated eight hundred major evil spirits and three thousand minor ones. Ordinary vengeful ghosts are scattered with a mere breath. We just happened to be passing by this village today…"

Hu Ma thought that was a bit of an exaggeration. Zhou Datong finally got to the point, "We sensed that there is evil energy here!"

"The great master is kind-hearted, so he brought us over to see what's going on."

"..."

"Oh dear..."

Hearing what Zhou Datong said, the smoking old man was frightened. He quickly cupped his fist in salute, "We have been waiting for a master here. Please wait a moment, I will invite Zhao, the village elder, to come and speak."

Saying that, he hurried into the village. Hu Ma and the others waited there on horseback.

The villagers also heard the commotion and poked their heads out to look, but only from afar, not daring to come forward and speak.

Zhou Datong saw the woman next door poking half her face out from behind the door again, and said with a smile, "Big Sister, your child is quite strong. How did you feed him?"

*Squeak!*

The door closed and she hid again.

It wasn't long before several lanterns lit up in the village and floated towards them from afar. As they approached, they saw a wealthy middle-aged man, accompanied by several strong young laborers, coming towards them from a distance. He cupped his fist towards Hu Ma on horseback.

"Forgive us for not welcoming you properly, forgive us for not welcoming you properly. May I ask what the esteemed master is called?"

"..."

Hu Ma cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound rougher, and said, "My surname is Zhou, Zhou Dazhuang."

Zhou Datong next to him was stunned for a moment, glancing at Hu Ma, thinking, "Why are you giving my dad's name?"

"Greetings, Master Zhou."

That Master Zhao hurriedly bowed to Hu Ma again, approached Hu Ma's horse, and said in a low voice, "Master saw that our place has... evil energy?"

"I'm afraid it's more than just evil energy, isn't it?"

Hu Ma chuckled in a rough voice and said, "Looking from afar, it can be considered a sky-high amount of evil energy. I think you haven't seen rain here for almost a year, have you?"

"Perhaps, several people have also died?"

"..."

"Yes, yes..."

Master Zhao sighed and hurriedly directed the people behind him, "Quick, invite the master inside."

The group led the horse and followed Master Zhao towards the village. However, Hu Ma was also thinking that although Master Zhao was polite, he was obviously shrewd and might not necessarily trust them.

You have to be careful when dealing with villagers. If he wanted to take on this job properly, he might have to show off a little.

As he was thinking, the opportunity came. When they arrived in front of Master Zhao's spacious residence, Hu Ma felt a little uncomfortable, but he looked left and right and didn't see anything. He hesitated slightly.

However, Xiao Hongtang, who was sitting behind him on the horse, seemed to sense what Hu Ma was looking for. She climbed up his back to his shoulders, and covered his eyes with her two cold little hands. Hu Ma's eyes suddenly went dark, and he saw something.

There was a dark shadow squatting next to the courtyard wall of Master Zhao's house, trying hard to dig at the base of his wall.

But the people around him were walking back and forth, and no one saw it.

Seeing Hu Ma stop and only look at the corner of the wall, the others were slightly stunned, wondering what he was up to.

"Sister Hongtang is really amazing..."

Hu Ma praised in his heart, withdrew his gaze, and said with a smile, "Master Zhao, please don't blame me for being nosy, but your house... I'm afraid it's not very clean..."

"I'm afraid there was a funeral held in the house recently?"

"..."

Master Zhao was shocked when he heard this, and suspicion immediately arose in his heart, "Another one here to swindle money?"

The news that his place was suffering from a drought and he was looking for someone to eliminate the *hanba* had spread, and several waves of swindlers had come, each wave trying to scare people first, but failing when it came to real skills.

"Funeral..."

He looked puzzled and forced a smile, "No, there hasn't been..."

"Perhaps not in your house."

Hu Ma smiled, "But it must be related to your house. Someone is not happy with you, and is digging at your wall!"

"Digging at my wall?"

Master Zhao was really surprised when he heard this. He had heard of lonely wild ghosts digging at people's walls, causing illness or financial loss to the family. Thinking that he hadn't been feeling well recently, he hurriedly asked, "What does it look like?"

Hu Ma looked at the dark shadow in the corner of the wall and said, "Looks like he's not very old, shouldn't have died of old age. He's quite strong, doesn't look like he died of illness either."

"Oh dear..."

Master Zhao was really scared this time. After thinking for a moment, he hurriedly said, "Could it be Zhao Laosan?"

"Some time ago, someone wanted to dig up my ancestral graves. Laosan was honest and guarded them for me. As a result, he was hit in the head with a hoe by someone from a neighboring village…"

"He... he's not happy with me?"

"..."

"I think so."

Hu Ma said, "He died for you, you have to take care of his family, otherwise you'll lose your *yin de* (karmic merit)."

As he spoke, he glanced at the panicked people around him, knowing that it was time for him to show off, and said, "Since I've run into this, I'll solve this trouble for you first. It's not appropriate for him to stay here when we're doing big things later."

Saying that, he silently chanted for a moment, suddenly pointed his hand, and shouted, "Flying Sword!"

"Whoosh!"

The surrounding villagers hurriedly retreated several *zhang* (丈, unit of length, approx. 3.3 meters), everyone staring wide-eyed.

Even Zhou Datong and the others were stunned, thinking that Brother Ma was skilled, they all knew, but what was a flying sword?

Just as they were thinking, they saw Hu Ma take out the red wooden sword wrapped in his red package, throw it casually into the air, and Xiao Hongtang reacted, jumping up to catch the flying sword.

Then, with Hu Ma forming a sword seal with his fingers and pointing forward, Xiao Hongtang hugged the wooden sword and stabbed it straight at the black shadow squatting in the corner of the wall.

Others couldn't see Xiao Hongtang, they only saw Hu Ma point his finger, and the sword really flew up, crookedly pointing to the corner of the wall.

They were shocked for a moment, staring wide-eyed.

The black shadow in the corner of the wall was just the weakest type of *you hui* (wandering spirit), who came to dig at Master Zhao's wall because he had a grievance in his heart.

In fact, Hu Ma could see that Master Zhao's house was protected by his ancestors. Presumably, the ancestral tablet was enshrined in the house. Even if the shadow dug for several years, it would only cause Master Zhao to have a minor illness at most. He himself might anger Master Zhao's ancestors and be scattered.

Now that Xiao Hongtang rushed towards him, he was timid and immediately turned into a gust of yin wind and dispersed.

But the surrounding people only saw the "flying sword" pointing there, and a gust of yin wind blew, causing the withered grass to rustle, which was extremely mystical, and they were too scared to breathe.

"Return!"

Seeing this, Hu Ma drew another line with his fingers, and the red wooden sword flew back into his hand.

Seeing this, the surrounding people no longer had any doubts. Master Zhao shouted loudly, "Kill a chicken, kill a chicken, prepare wine, prepare wine."

"A truly capable person has arrived, our village is saved..."