Opening his eyes to see a blade was bad enough, but what made it even more bizarre was that Hu Ma had just woken up, and his eyes still seemed to be clouded with the dark red mist from that strange dream.
In his vision, he could clearly see the current state of Cui Xie'er.
The man's face was filled with terror and pain, and beside his head was a pale, ghostly face.
His limbs were also entangled by another pale, slender body.
There was another person clinging tightly to him, their limbs wrapped around his, their head pressed close to his ear, staring at Hu Ma with blood-red eyes, filled with greed and cruelty.
Was it that white-faced monster?
Seeing Cui Xie'er like this, a sudden image flashed through Hu Ma's mind.
It was from when he had first awakened in this world and tried to escape the village, only to encounter three evil spirits at the edge of the village.
The one now clinging to Cui Xie'er was the white-faced ghost that had been squatting in the tree back then.
How had it suddenly become entangled with Cui Xie'er's body?
Before he could think further, Cui Xie'er's eyes filled with murderous intent, and he suddenly swung the blade down toward Hu Ma's face.
At that moment, Hu Ma's body froze, cold and unresponsive.
But as the blade tip approached his face, his heart raced to the extreme, and in a stroke of luck, inspiration struck.
"Pfft!"
At the critical moment, the furnace within Hu Ma's body seemed to burst into flames, and a surge of fiery energy rushed forth.
He bit his tongue, and blood, mixed with this fiery energy, shot straight toward Cui Xie'er's face.
"Ah..."
Hu Ma clearly saw the blood and energy hit Cui Xie'er's face.
Cui Xie'er seemed momentarily disoriented, taking a step back, while the white-faced monster clinging to him let out a shrill, terrifying scream, as if burned by fire.
Its slender, soft limbs quickly loosened from Cui Xie'er's body, and it covered its face with its hands before crashing into the window.
With a gust of cold wind, it vanished into the darkness.
Seizing the opportunity, Hu Ma sat up abruptly and quickly moved to the corner of the room.
"What's going on? What's happening?"
The other youths sleeping in the side room were also awakened by the scream, shouting in confusion.
Someone, using the faint light from outside, saw Cui Xie'er standing by Hu Ma's bed with a blade in hand and screamed in terror.
"Second Master, Second Master..."
Before they could call out a few times, the door was kicked open, and the tall figure of the Second Master entered the room.
"Light the lamps!"
Without needing to be told, Zhou Datong, already awake, fumbled for the flint and lit the oil lamp on the wall.
Under the dim light, Cui Xie'er stared blankly at the blade in his hand, then looked up to meet the Second Master's gaze.
Suddenly, the blade fell to the ground, and his eyes rolled back as he fainted.
"What happened?"
The Second Master, surprisingly calm, first checked Cui Xie'er's breathing before turning to Hu Ma and demanding an explanation.
"A white-faced monster!"
Hu Ma, now filled with fiery energy and courage, had already climbed out of bed and spoke calmly, "I saw a white-faced monster clinging to him. He came in with a blade, trying to... kill me."
"Light all the lamps!"
The Second Master didn't have time to ask more questions.
His face turned serious as he shouted, "Light all the lamps! Those who have ancestral ashes, give them to me!"
He barked orders, commanding all the youths to get busy, counting heads, while he himself rushed out of the side room.
He went to the weapon rack by the wall, grabbed a large blade, and took the ancestral ashes from the youths.
He then circled the village, sprinkling the ashes around before returning, his face flushed with anger.
"Second... Second Master, what's going on?"
The youths, already up and huddled together, some holding weapons, asked fearfully.
The darkness around them seemed to press in on the faint light, sending chills down their spines.
"Nothing, go back to sleep!"
The Second Master said sternly, "Don't split into two rooms, sleep together in one room... and move Cui Xie'er to my room. Hu Ma, you come with me."
Under the anxious and suspicious gazes of the youths, Hu Ma followed the Second Master into his main room.
Cui Xie'er was still unconscious.
The Second Master checked his breathing and, reassured, didn't rush to wake him.
"A white-faced monster?"
The Second Master lit the oil lamp in the main room, his expression also filled with doubt.
"Yes, it looked very strange..."
Hu Ma told the Second Master what he had seen upon waking, but didn't mention the dream warning.
He only said he had suddenly woken up to see Cui Xie'er standing by his bed, with the faint image of the white-faced monster clinging to him.
"It's the White-Faced Mountain Demon..."
The Second Master's expression darkened uncontrollably, as if he too was shaken:
"How dare that evil spirit enter my village? And how did it attach itself to Cui Xie'er?"
Hu Ma thought of something and said softly, "I'm not sure about the rest, but after that incident, he often stared at me. He seemed very dissatisfied, as if he wanted to fight me again."
"Staring at you?"
The Second Master seemed to understand, looking at Cui Xie'er with irritation and muttering, "I told that kid before not to be so petty, to be more open-minded, but he wouldn't listen. He just can't shake off the narrow-mindedness of his Cui family..."
"He must have been holding a grudge against you, thinking about it day and night, and that attracted the White-Faced Mountain Demon to him, nearly causing a disaster..."
"Can it really happen like that?"
It was only then that Hu Ma understood.
Usually, he felt very safe in the village, especially when the Second Master was around.
Even Little Red Tang didn't dare to enter.
But now, in the dead of night, with everyone present, the village was like a furnace with many fires burning.
Yet the evil spirit had attached itself to Cui Xie'er and tried to use him to harm Hu Ma, which was quite unreasonable.
But could holding a grudge really cause such a thing?
His understanding of this world was indeed still shallow.
"But..."
The Second Master cursed a few more times before looking at Hu Ma with a strange expression, "How did you escape this disaster? When I arrived, it seemed the creature had already fled?"
"I..."
Hu Ma felt a bit awkward, pointing at Cui Xie'er's face, "I was too scared, my body wouldn't move. So I remembered the method you told me before and bit my tongue..."
"The Blood Yang Arrow?"
The Second Master looked at Hu Ma in disbelief, then carefully examined the blood spots on Cui Xie'er's face.
His eyes widened in shock, and he trembled, "You used the Blood Yang Arrow?"
"You..."
Hu Ma was also startled by his reaction and said cautiously, "Didn't you tell me about it before?"
Besides you, there were also the movies and novels from my past life, but of course, I can't mention that.
"I mainly told you about the old methods, but the Blood Yang Arrow is a secret, powerful technique..."
The Second Master's expression turned strange, "It's only been half a month, and you can already use it?"
Under the oil lamp, the two stared at each other.
Hu Ma thought for a moment, then suddenly took a deep breath and exhaled a sharp gust of air.
This time, he didn't bite his tongue—it hurt!
But this gust of air was strong and direct, knocking a piece of wood off the Second Master's old window frame.
"My goodness..."
The Second Master nearly jumped in shock, looking at Hu Ma as if he'd seen a ghost, "This isn't the level of someone who's only practiced for a month! Your furnace fire is too strong, and it's actively seeking a way out, helping you with external techniques..."
Hu Ma felt a bit guilty, "Is this not normal?"
"Second Master has practiced for sixty years and hasn't reached this level. Do you think it's normal?"
The Second Master sighed, "Your furnace fire seems stronger than mine... no, it's not just stronger... no, it is stronger. It's just that my sixty years of pure yang cultivation is purer than yours."
Hu Ma, seeing the Second Master's nervousness, thought it made sense.
After all, even his foster mother had gone bald.
But after the Second Master's explanation, he understood.
Compared to techniques like Mountain Splitting, Blocking, and Hard Peach Plucking, the True Yang Arrow was the simplest yet the most difficult move.
Simple because it required almost no learning—once the fire was strong enough, it could be used naturally.
The advanced version, the Blood Yang Arrow, only added the step of biting the tongue.
The difficulty lay in the extremely high requirement for the strength of the fire.
The Second Master had accumulated pure yang fire for over a decade before learning this technique, and he could only use it three times a day at most.
Hu Ma, having figured it out on his own and still feeling energetic after using it once, was an unimaginable anomaly in the Second Master's eyes.
"Regardless, you've learned it..."
Seeing the Second Master's expression, Hu Ma could only ask cautiously, "So what should I do now?"
"How should I know? My master never taught me this..."
The Second Master sighed, looking quite shaken, but having already been shocked by Hu Ma's rapid progress before, he slowly regained his composure and said:
"I've practiced for sixty years and taught so many kids in the village, but honestly, I've never seen anyone like you... This should be a good thing, but there's a problem I need to warn you about."
Hu Ma was slightly startled, "What is it?"
"Trouble is coming..."
The Second Master looked at Hu Ma and said in a low voice, "That White-Faced Mountain Demon dared to come here to cause you trouble. This is no small matter!"
(End of Chapter)