“Are they just wild dogs? Why are there so many things to consider?”

Hu Ma was a little surprised by Aunt Zhang’s words. He had heard of wild dogs eating corpses and even people, but he had never heard of anything so evil. Digging up graves was one thing, but wanting to eat directly from the coffin?

“It's because they've eaten too much human flesh and become tainted with evil…”

Aunt Zhang sighed softly and said, “When wild dogs are hungry, they dig up graves and coffins, pulling out the dead to eat.”

“After eating enough, they gradually taste the flavor of human flesh. Their eyes turn red, their mouths carry corpse poison, and their nature becomes increasingly evil. They develop their own set of rules.”

“When we help people escort spirits, we fear two things most: corpses rising and these carrion-seeking dogs.”

“…”

Seeing Aunt Zhang's serious expression, Hu Ma also frowned slightly and asked, “So, how do we deal with them? Should we just chop them all up?”

He only had a superficial understanding of the ways of the spirit guides, but his skills as a night watchman were genuine.

*I have a knife with me; there's no reason to fear these wild dogs.*

“Absolutely not…”

Unexpectedly, Aunt Zhang was startled and quickly said, “Killing them will only make things worse.”

“Once you attack, no matter how many you kill, you'll offend all these wild dogs. They'll follow you along the way, summoning all the evil spirits to make trouble for you. They'll also form gangs, calling in more dogs and urinating in the water source or upwind, and their urine is poisonous.”

“This place we're traveling through already has few living people and many dead. Who knows how many evil spirits are lurking? Once they latch onto us, we won't have a moment of peace.”

“…”

Hu Ma was astonished as he listened, “They have such abilities?”

Aunt Zhang shook her head, “In places with few living people, these demons and monsters adapt, developing rules that don't exist among the living…”

Hu Ma nodded and looked around, seeing only overgrown weeds and desolation everywhere.

In the cold wind, he didn't know how many gaunt, red-eyed dogs were running around in the distance. Some were even whispering to each other, glancing at them from afar as if discussing something in hushed tones.

*The bandits killed off most of the people here, but there seem to be plenty of wild dogs?*

He took a breath, not panicking, and asked Aunt Zhang, “Is there a way to solve this?”

Aunt Zhang thought for a moment and asked, “How much meat did we get from the merchants yesterday?”

Hu Ma replied, “We exchanged for two large pieces of cured pork yesterday, and we haven't eaten much of it. We also have plenty of rice and flour.”

“Take a piece of pork with you!”

Aunt Zhang whispered, “Among these wild dogs, there must be one that has gained some power.”

“It's the one directing these wild dogs to follow us, demanding corpses to eat. If things get out of hand, it's also the only one capable of summoning the surrounding evil spirits to make trouble for us.”

“We should follow the rules first, give it some benefits, and ask it to be merciful and let our group pass.”

“I never thought I'd be negotiating with wild dogs one day…”

Hu Ma smiled helplessly, turned around, and retrieved the package from the donkey cart next to the coffin.

Inside were two large pieces of cured pork, one weighing more than ten *jin* and the other more than twenty *jin*.

Aunt Zhang wasn't stingy and had Hu Ma carry the larger twenty-plus *jin* piece. Just as he was about to go over, he heard Aunt Zhang whisper again:

“Bring the knife too.”

“…”

Hu Ma was stunned for a moment, then smiled and turned back to grab the knife.

Aunt Zhang had always been kind to people on this journey, so it was the first time she had asked him to carry a knife.

He strapped the serrated knife to his waist, carried the cured pork in his hand, and Aunt Zhang picked up a stick from the roadside. Then, she took out a red thread from her package, wrapped it around the stick, hid it in her wide sleeve, and led Hu Ma toward the wild dogs ahead.

The cart driver and the helpers in the back widened their eyes as they watched their strange behavior, while Manager Zhou remained silent, guarding the coffin.

“Woof…”

Seeing Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang approaching, the wild dogs blocking the road instinctively wanted to flee.

But seeing that they were holding cured meat and didn't seem hostile, they ran a few steps, then turned their heads to look.

They growled softly, seemingly ordering them to stop.

Aunt Zhang indeed stopped in front of them as instructed and respectfully said, “Respected sirs, we are spirit guides traveling north and south, entrusted by others to send the deceased back home. We have no old grudges or new grievances with you.”

“Today, we are passing through your territory, and we are grateful for your warm-hearted escort along the way. We have nothing to repay you with except for a piece of cured meat. Please accept it with a smile…”

“…”

The surroundings were silent for a moment, and countless dark red eyes stared intently at the cured meat in Hu Ma's hand.

*Aunt Zhang is being polite, but they don't seem to be reacting at all…*

Hu Ma thought to himself, *Could it be that these things aren't smart enough to understand human speech?*

Just as he was thinking this, he didn't expect that the group of vicious dogs, after drooling over the cured meat for a long time, actually turned their heads and ran to the side of the road. Then, they looked back at them, seemingly signaling them to follow, and then darted into the wasteland on the side of the road.

Seeing that Aunt Zhang had followed, Hu Ma also followed suit, accompanying the wild dog in front, wandering through the slopes until they came to a graveyard.

Looking around, he saw black stone tablets standing in rows, resembling the ancestral graves of a wealthy family, but they had all been dug up and scattered in a mess. The dowry clothes, rotten wood, and various antique trinkets were scattered all over the ground.

Even the skeletons from the coffins had been dragged out, with traces of gnawing and grinding teeth on the bones. Flies buzzed around, truly a scene of utter desolation.

The leading wild dog arrived here, retreated behind a tombstone, and disappeared. The surroundings were quiet for a moment.

Aunt Zhang took a breath and signaled Hu Ma to hold up the cured meat and repeat the words she had said at the beginning to the empty graveyard.

Then, they waited quietly. After a while, a low, mournful whimper suddenly sounded from behind the circle of graves, and a wild dog emerged, looking at them eerily.

Seeing this wild dog, Hu Ma couldn't help but be shocked.

He saw that this wild dog was the size of a calf, with a pair of dark red eyes as bright as if they were bleeding.

Most importantly, several large pustules had grown on its head and body.

Whether it was from eating too much dead human flesh or not, these pustules vaguely formed the shape of human faces.

Especially the pustule on its back, even the facial features had formed, squeezed together and wrinkled, looking like a human face growing on the dog's back.

Seeing this wild dog, even Aunt Zhang sighed softly.

She turned to Hu Ma and said, “Young master, present the gift we prepared for our sir!”

Hu Ma nodded and stepped forward. Seeing that the wild dog was staring at him intently, he stopped and placed the cured meat horizontally on the ground.

“We have no old grudges or recent grievances. It's better to resolve conflicts than to create them…”

Aunt Zhang respectfully said to the wild dog, “Please accept this piece of cured meat with a smile. Would you please let us pass?”

She was still so polite, but her tone seemed to have changed slightly.

The wild dog glanced at the cured meat on the ground, its dark red eyes eerie and unreadable. Then, it looked up at Aunt Zhang and Hu Ma, and saliva began to drip from its mouth.

It didn't know what it was thinking, its eyes darting back and forth between Hu Ma, Aunt Zhang, and the piece of cured meat on the ground. Finally, its eyes seemed to become even redder, and it suddenly let out a low “woof,” its voice hoarse, like a ghost crying.

Immediately afterward, the surrounding weeds rustled, and furry heads emerged from the shadows one by one.

Pairs of somewhat eerie eyes stared intently at them, and they made whimpering sounds in their throats.

Hu Ma glanced around and saw that some of these wild dogs had bald patches, some had wounds, some were covered in lice, and some were as thin as firewood, but without exception, they all looked extremely ferocious, and saliva dripped from their fangs.

He lowered his voice and asked, “What's happening?”

“It doesn't agree.”

Aunt Zhang also sighed softly and said, “It not only wants the corpses in the coffin but also wants us!”

“When I saw this leader, I knew that things probably wouldn't end well today. This creature doesn't know how much dead human flesh it's eaten, maybe even living people. It's even grown human-faced sores on its body.”

“Each additional sore makes it more evil. I don't know how many dead people's brains it had to eat to grow so many…”

“…”

Hu Ma also stared at the sores on the leader's body and asked, “Then…”

“Fight these beasts.”

Aunt Zhang gritted her teeth slightly and suddenly said, “But young master, please be careful not to let this leader escape, or there will be endless trouble…”

“…”

Before she could finish speaking, the leader, seeing that the wild dogs had surrounded the two, suddenly let out a long howl. The already dark red eyes of the surrounding wild dogs became bloodshot, and they suddenly went crazy, digging their claws into the ground and rushing toward Hu Ma and Aunt Zhang.

For a moment, a fishy wind blew, and the putrid smell from the dogs' mouths made people dizzy. Everywhere were sharp teeth and claws.

Aunt Zhang, who was usually shy and timid, immediately took out the wooden stick she had hidden behind her back and struck the head of a dog in front of her.

The leader, however, after giving the order, revealed a human-like sinister look on its dog face.

It didn't rush forward but slowly retreated deeper into the graveyard.

But at this moment, Hu Ma didn't rush to attack. As the wild dogs rushed up, he had already raised his hand and pressed it against his ribs.

He secretly circulated his energy, and for a moment, his internal organs trembled. Suddenly, he unleashed a thunderous roar:

“Ha!”

“…”

Five Thunder Golden Toad's Roar!

Hu Ma didn't understand the details and was worried that these wild dogs would be too difficult to deal with, so he immediately activated two organs simultaneously.

Although it was only two organs, it was like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, scaring the group of wild dogs so much that they yelped and tucked their tails between their legs, scattering and fleeing.

Even the timid ones simply prostrated on the ground.

The wild dog leader, who had already retreated halfway into the graveyard, suddenly changed its expression and widened its eyes.

Hu Ma had already drawn his serrated knife and smiled grimly at it.

(End of Chapter)