"Willow tree? Becoming a godmother?"
Hu Ma was stunned by the strange words of Second Master.
But now that they were in the forest, he felt a sense of unease all around.
Although he hadn't been in this world for long, he had already witnessed many bizarre and mysterious phenomena with his grandmother.
Compared to those, Second Master's request seemed almost trivial.
So, without asking too many questions, he simply followed the skills he had learned from his grandmother—do as you're told without prying.
He knelt down respectfully and kowtowed three times to the large willow tree.
Second Master said, "Kowtow one more time. For gods, it's three kowtows; for ghosts, it's four. Three is good, but your godmother might not be able to handle it."
Hu Ma had no choice but to add another kowtow.
He faintly felt the willow tree tremble slightly.
"Alright," Second Master called out to Hu Ma, telling him not to get up just yet.
He squatted beside the willow tree, gently stroking its trunk and muttering, "Hu Ma, grandson of Hu Bai Shi from the Dayang Village, is in trouble. Today, he comes to recognize you as his godmother, seeking your protection. He doesn't seek gold or silver, only to borrow a three-inch willow branch to light his furnace. May you, godmother, remember this bond. When Hu Ma is healthy and strong, he will come back to honor you properly..."
In the darkness, Hu Ma peeked out of the corner of his eye.
After Second Master finished speaking, there was a moment of silence, and then a cold breeze blew through, causing the willow branches to sway gently.
It almost felt like the tree was reluctant.
But Second Master smiled and stood up, grabbing one of the willow branches that had been blown by the wind and tapped Hu Ma's head.
He measured a small section, pinched it, and broke it off.
With a grin, he said to Hu Ma, "Thank your godmother. Let's go."
Hu Ma felt that this whole act was both strange and mysterious.
After they had walked a distance, he quietly asked Second Master, "So, recognizing this godmother was just to borrow this willow branch?"
"Of course," Second Master replied.
"Otherwise, as the grandson of the Ghost Granny, why would you need to call a little willow spirit your godmother? Calling it 'godmother' is just to make it happy and willing to lend us this branch."
Hu Ma nodded, then whispered again, "But what if it didn't agree?"
"If it didn't agree, we'd still take it," Second Master said, glaring.
"You already kowtowed. If it didn't give us even this little thing, it would be disrespecting me, the witness. But you didn't ask if it agreed before making me kowtow..."
Hu Ma silently complained in his heart, but of course, he couldn't say it out loud.
It seemed like only Second Master could pull off something like this.
If it were his grandmother, she probably wouldn't have done it.
Second Master led Hu Ma back to the house on the hill.
This time, they walked more slowly, and Hu Ma began to notice the differences between Second Master and his grandmother.
When he was with his grandmother, there were always strange rustling sounds and eerie presences around.
Even his grandmother had to negotiate with them, sometimes even offering gifts.
But with Second Master, there was none of that.
Occasionally, there were eyes watching from behind the trees, but they stayed far away, as if afraid of something.
Strangely, Hu Ma felt safer with Second Master than with his grandmother.
But Second Master admitted that his skills were inferior to his grandmother's.
What was the difference?
When they returned to the courtyard, heads popped out from the bedrooms on both sides, watching them.
Second Master shouted at them, "Go to sleep! Stop gawking!"
"Second Master, is the Hu family young master going to light the furnace on his first day?" one of the boys asked, clearly afraid of Second Master but not entirely.
"Doesn't he need to learn martial arts first?"
"Are you jealous?" Second Master scolded.
"Go back to the village and ask your dad for some Qing Taisui!"
After shooing away the curious boys, Second Master took Hu Ma into the main hall.
The room was simply furnished, with only a worn-out Eight Immortals table and two armchairs, their armrests polished smooth from years of use.
One of the chairs even had a broken leg.
To the left was a dirt bed, and by the wall was a stone fireplace, currently cold, with an iron pot carelessly thrown on top, seemingly unwashed.
Second Master told Hu Ma to wait while he fetched a flint and lit the oil lamp and the fireplace.
He placed a black iron kettle on the fire, filled it with water, and tossed in some walnuts and red dates.
Then he turned around, pulled out a tattered thread-bound book, flipped to a page, and seemed to confirm something.
He squatted by the fire and said to Hu Ma, "Your grandmother said you don't remember much. I don't know how much you've forgotten, but a while ago, you were targeted by something evil, and it hit you hard. Even now, you often encounter strange things, right?"
Hu Ma quickly nodded.
"Yes, I often feel like something is watching me, and it makes me uncomfortable. But when I'm with you, Second Master, it doesn't happen."
"That's because my furnace is still strong," Second Master said.
"But I can't always be with you, and neither can your grandmother. So, I plan to light a furnace for you. That way, even if no one is protecting you, you won't have to fear those things."
As he spoke, he puffed on his pipe, the glow of the embers occasionally lighting up his face.
The night had fallen, and a cold wind blew, adding a sense of mystery and solemnity to his words.
"Light a furnace?"
"Yes," Second Master said in a low voice.
"This world is not peaceful. All sorts of evil things have crawled out of the mountains, harming people without consequence. Our Dayang Village has survived thanks to the ancestors in the old fire pit, but we can't rely on them for everything. So, we've been trying to find ways to survive in this old forest on our own."
"And we've found a way. Those evil things are just a kind of yin energy. We fear this yin energy, but they also fear the yang energy in us. The stronger our yang energy, the more they fear us. That's why the boys here eat meat, run in the mountains, practice martial arts, and bask in the sun—all to make their bodies stronger. The stronger they are, the less likely they are to be targeted by those evil spirits."
"But just training isn't enough. To truly learn how to deal with those things, the first step is to light a furnace inside your body, to lock in your yang energy. The more you cultivate it, the stronger it becomes, like a blazing furnace. At that point, what evil spirit would dare mess with you?"
Hu Ma listened, feeling a surge of excitement.
He didn't care if it wasn't scientific—after all, coming to this world wasn't scientific either.
If he could learn such skills, who cared about science?
"So, what do I need to do?"
"Don't rush," Second Master chuckled, pointing to a wooden stump leaning against the wall.
The stump was dark, about the thickness of a person's embrace and a meter and a half tall, standing upright on the ground.
"Move that stump over here," Second Master said.
"Alright," Hu Ma agreed immediately.
He ran over to the stump, reached out with both hands, and tried to lift it.
The wood was dense and heavy, but Hu Ma's injuries had healed, and he felt strong enough to lift a couple hundred pounds without issue.
But as soon as he touched the stump, he felt a bone-chilling cold.
No matter how hard he tried, the stump didn't budge.
"Is it welded to the ground?" Hu Ma instinctively looked down, but there wasn't even a gap filled beneath it.
This strange thing made him uneasy, so he looked over at Second Master.
"See it now?" Second Master said, noticing Hu Ma's curiosity.
"That's a ghost stump. Once it touches the ground, it takes root."
"A ghost stump?" Hu Ma was slightly startled.
Although he didn't know much about this world, he had heard some things from Xiao Hong Tang, like how dangerous the forest could be.
Some ancient trees would grow human faces on their bark.
If even one such tree appeared, the entire forest would become perilous, and anyone who entered would lose their way and die trapped inside.
Hu Ma had been curious about these things but never expected to see one in person.
"Right, we just cut it down a couple of days ago. We peeled off the bark, or else you'd see the face," Second Master said with a smile.
"But even though it's been cut down and the face removed, it's still an evil thing. Once this stump touches the ground, it takes root. Not even the strongest man in the village could move it with pure strength."
"There are only two ways to make it move. One is to burn it with fire, and the other... well, that depends on our own skills."
As he spoke, he tapped his pipe, his chest slowly rising.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, he exhaled a breath that shot out like an arrow.
Hu Ma felt a gust of wind rush past him, and then he heard a crisp sound.
The ghost stump, which he couldn't budge no matter how hard he tried, was blown away by Second Master's breath.
"This..."
Hu Ma was both shocked and delighted by Second Master's display.
"It's gone," Second Master said proudly, standing up and walking to the door to take a look.
He turned back to Hu Ma with a grin.
"This is the benefit of lighting a furnace. With one breath, I can injure or even kill ordinary evil spirits. This technique is called the True Yang Arrow. If I were to bite my tongue and spit out blood with it, it would be even more powerful. That's called the Blood Yang Arrow."
"Second Master, I've never been with a real woman in my life. Sixty years of celibacy gave me this power."
Hu Ma looked at Second Master's tall figure with admiration, impressed by his skills.
But at the same time, he couldn't help but think, "What are you so proud of?"
(End of Chapter)