By the third month, the entire village welcomed its first batch of blood offerings.
A steward, accompanied by two Red Fragrance disciples and seven or eight Green Fragrance disciples, arrived at the village with a tightly sealed carriage.
Hu Ma immediately led his men to greet them and escorted the carriage directly into the warehouse.
Without unloading the goods, they led the horses back to the stable to feed and water them.
The warehouse was then sealed, and a large red lantern was hung in front of it.
The village workers stood guard outside the warehouse all night, armed and vigilant.
Meanwhile, Hu Ma arranged for meals to be prepared for the steward and the disciples—plenty of good meat and rice, but no alcohol.
The next day, the seals were removed, the horses were hitched, and the group left the village, heading back to the city.
From start to finish, Hu Ma didn’t catch a glimpse of what the blood offerings looked like.
He speculated that this was likely because the village had a history of incidents, and the higher-ups were still suspicious.
Unless absolutely necessary, blood offerings weren’t brought into the village.
Even when they were, it was usually for transit or in small quantities.