“I’m afraid I can’t come back to this Niujiawan for a while…”

Although he had managed to escape with his life, Hu Ma was still agitated, his mind racing.

He deeply felt the tyranny of the Hu Clan’s town-warding methods, but also realized the danger within. The thing in the river must hate him to the bone. Although he had escaped at the last moment, it wouldn’t let him off easily if they met again.

Thinking this, his feet didn’t dare stop.

They fled for four or five *li* in a row. The surrounding area was bright with sunshine, warming their faces. There were no ghostly wails or signs of the Azure Robe Gang chasing after them. Only then did Hu Ma and the others slow down slightly and exchange glances.

They all saw each other’s disheveled appearance. Since arriving here, Hu Ma hadn’t had a proper greeting with Yang Gong. But now that the words were on the tip of his tongue, he didn’t know what to say.

“Too wretched…”

Hu Ma paused, then smiled to break the silence, saying, “Brother Yang, we’ve only had one drink together, and you’ve already set me up for something big. That’s not very kind, is it?”

Yang Gong didn’t know what to say either. Hearing these words, he suddenly laughed, “How can you say I set you up? Didn’t I say we’d accomplish a great feat together?”

“If you don’t risk your life, where does the merit come from?”

“…”

Then they both laughed and hugged each other, patting each other’s shoulders.

Logically, their relationship wasn’t that deep, but having gone through this near-death experience, they suddenly felt closer.

“This is my brother, Shen Bangzi.”

After the hug, the group didn’t dare stop to rest and continued to walk quickly. Yang Gong introduced the Red Fragrance disciple beside him, saying, “He, along with Niu Laojiao and Zhu Dachangzi, are my sworn brothers. We ran out together to pull off this job.”

“Niu Laojiao died directly in that blood food mine, and Zhu Dachangzi died in the Water God Temple. Now there are only the two of us left.”

“Now there are two missing from our four brothers, Brother Hu. Do you want to join us?”

“…”

“I’d better pass. It’s not auspicious.”

Hu Ma thought to himself, turning to nod at Shen Bangzi as a greeting. He still smiled and said, “Is there even room for someone else? I’ll pass on this advantage.”

While joking, he thought that because of this jar of blood food, two of their brothers had died. He couldn’t help but feel a little heavy.

He certainly knew that taking this jar of blood food back would be a great achievement, but was it really worth it to trade two lives for it?

Just like himself, if he had to trade the lives of Zhou Datong, Zhou Liang, Zhao Zhu, and several others for this hundred-odd *jin* of blood food pellets, then he…

…This kind of problem really tests people!

“My brothers and I swore an oath that anyone’s death would be worth it. As long as the remaining brothers are still breathing, they’ll burn incense for him for the rest of their lives.”

Yang Gong seemed to see the worry on Hu Ma’s face and said softly, “Besides, riches are found in danger. It’s better to put your life on the line for wealth than to die silently in some corner.”

“Brother Hu might not know, but fifteen or sixteen of us were bought in back then. Now there are only seven of us left alive.”

“…”

“This…”

Hearing this, Hu Ma couldn’t help but tremble. It was true that Red Fragrance disciples risked their lives for wealth!

“Let’s go back to the village first!”

Now, he didn’t dare to be careless, only stopping to breathe a sigh of relief.

He was really worried that the Azure Robe Gang might cross the river again and chase after them, so he immediately hurried on. At the same time, Hu Ma had Xiao Hongtang take the lead and rush back to the village to report the news, asking Zhou Datong and the others to lead the horses out to meet them.

The two sides quickly met forty *li* away, and then, without stopping, they rode their horses straight into the village.

“Light the lanterns!”

Hu Ma entered the village without stopping and immediately ordered the shop assistants.

Now it was broad daylight, and lighting lanterns was against the rules, but the shop assistants didn’t dare to ask questions and lit the red lanterns, hanging them up.

“It’s quiet now.”

Hu Ma breathed a sigh of relief only at this moment.

Having entered the village and lit the red lanterns, neither living people nor evil spirits could snatch this jar of blood food.

Earlier, outside, and outside everyone’s territory, if you could snatch it, then it was yours. At most, the two sides would argue over your killing my disciple and me stealing your things, but when it came to the rules, no one could say anything.

But now, if you entered the village again to snatch the blood food, that would be tearing off the mask. This matter would no longer be about the blood food.

You’re attacking my village?

You’re slapping the face of our Red Lantern Goddess!

Yang Gong, who had been holding the large jar, also breathed a sigh of relief only when he saw Hu Ma light the lanterns.

“Where’s the manager of this village?”

He was still holding the jar, the blood food never leaving his hand, but he had already turned around and looked around, saying, “Why hasn’t he come to see me?”

Yang Gong was a Red Fragrance disciple with a transcendent status in the Red Lantern Society. Logically speaking, whether it was the manager of this village or the steward in the city, their status and position were higher than his, and their skills might even be greater than his, but he wouldn’t take these people seriously.

He was arrogant and straightforward by nature, and now that he had made a great contribution, his temper had grown even more. He immediately wanted to speak directly to the manager of this village.

“Don’t shout.”

Hu Ma said, “Our manager is resting. It’s not like he doesn’t know you’re here. If he wanted to see you, he would have come out already. He’s not coming out now because he doesn’t want to see you. Can’t I, as the face of this village, receive you?” Yang Gong’s temperament was really not suitable for interacting with the various counters of the Red Lantern Society, which valued personal connections.

However, he listened to Hu Ma’s words. Receiving the complaint, he only smiled and said, “I wanted him to see your achievement.”

“So that he’ll know more in the future and won’t bully you.”

“But since you’ve said so, then I won’t look for him, okay?”

“You have to give me something to eat, right?”

“…”

“Prepare food! Bring all the food and drink in the village to Master Brother Yang.”

Hearing this, Hu Ma smiled and greeted Li Waizi. Since the manager hadn’t come forward, he didn’t take Yang Gong to the inner courtyard, but directly led him to his own small house.

But just as he was about to open the door, he saw a weak gust of yin wind suddenly sweep past the base of the wall opposite the house, and a big-headed, lame little ghost happily ran towards them.

“Greetings, Lord Yang Gong…”

“…”

Hu Ma was stunned for a moment, “Is that Yang Gong’s little servant ghost?”

It turned out that Yang Gong had sent out his little servant ghost to report the news, but because the Azure Robe Gang had burned incense, the little servant ghost didn’t dare to go back. This little servant ghost had only been wandering around the village and had been beaten up by a group of local ruffians. Now it had finally waited for its master.

“Tch, so you were hiding here…”

Yang Gong also saw his little servant ghost, raised his foot and kicked it aside, not even looking at it, and walked into the house.

Hu Ma curiously glanced at the lame little ghost that had been kicked aside, looking aggrieved. Then he smiled and said to Yang Gong, “This little ghost at least reported the news. Why are you treating him so badly?”

“It makes me angry just thinking about it.”

Yang Gong entered the house, directly hugged the jar, lay down on the bed, and sighed, saying to Hu Ma, “You don’t know how annoying it is. Usually, it can only deliver messages, but it’s really unreliable to deliver items or fetch something.”

Hu Ma was a little surprised and thought of his own Xiao Hongtang, curiously asking, “Little servant ghosts can do so much?”

“Of course.”

Yang Gong said, “Little servant ghosts are made by choosing little ghosts and evil spirits that can be touched and controlled. Some can attract wealth, some can ward off evil, some can pray for blessings, and some can defend against enemies.”

“Because they need their masters to constantly feed them and are exposed to *yang* energy, they can appear in broad daylight.”

“But ah, the dumbest ones are those that can only deliver messages. The worst thing is that mine can’t even deliver the whole message.”

“If you tell it ten words, it can forget eight.”

“It doesn’t know how many masters it’s had. They were all Red Fragrance disciples before me. After they died, they were only sheltered by the Goddess and wandered around the city. We who have burned two incense sticks can choose one of them at will.”

“It’s just a pity that that stingy Zheng deliberately targeted me. Everyone else had picked, and I only got this leftover one. I want to change it, but I haven’t had the chance to change it yet…”

“…”

Hu Ma glanced outside. The lame ghost was squatting in the shadows at the base of the wall, honest and silent. He sighed helplessly and took a piece of green food from the jar at the head of his bed, throwing it to it from afar.

The little ghost was stunned for a moment. Seeing the green food, it reacted, grabbed it in its hand, and kowtowed:

“Greetings, Lord Hu…”

“…”

Hu Ma was also a little helpless and smiled at Yang Gong, “It’s still quite clever. They’re all pitiful little things.”

“It’s only clever when it’s begging for blood food. It knows all sorts of auspicious words, I don’t know who it learned them from.”

Yang Gong shook his head, full of dissatisfaction, and said to Hu Ma, “Brother Hu, your little servant ghost is better.”

“It’s sensible and doesn’t ask for rewards. How did you train it?”

“…”

“Mine is different.”

Hu Ma said, “My grandma is a *zou gui ren*. The little servant ghost is a family heirloom.”

“*Zou gui ren*?” (Spirit walker)

Yang Gong was in awe and said, “That’s an extraordinary skill. I heard it’s very powerful. No wonder you can deal with evil spirits.”

Hu Ma had already thought about how to answer, so he just smiled indifferently and said, “Don’t talk about how powerful it is. My grandma saved up her whole life and only left me such a good thing.”

“As long as that incense stick is lit, ordinary evil spirits can’t get close to me.”

“But, there’s no point in talking about it now. The incense has already burned out. It finally helped you with this matter, so it’s not a loss.”

“This…”

Yang Gong’s expression was a little awkward when he heard this. Even Shen Bangzi beside him didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Earlier, when they escaped from the river, they naturally saw Hu Ma holding that incense stick tightly.

The thing in the river was especially ferocious. They were able to escape across the river entirely because of that incense stick. Now that they learned it was Hu Ma’s family heirloom, they were all stunned.

The thing in the river was so ferocious, but that incense stick could keep it from getting close. How precious must that be? They had risen from the bottom, and they lacked treasures the most, so how could they not feel sorry for it?