"Quick, quick, over there! See if he's alright..."
When the young men of the village lit their torches and found Hu Ma, he was sitting by a felled crooked-neck tree, catching his breath.
His body was drenched in cold sweat, and the night wind blew, chilling him to the bone.
But because of the sweat, the earlier heaviness and heat in his body had completely dissipated, leaving him feeling light and refreshed.
Earlier, his outburst wasn't just out of anger—it was mostly out of fear.
This world was strange, filled with evil spirits, flesh mountains, and ghost walkers.
But Hu Ma realized there was something even more terrifying than these.
Even if an evil spirit wanted to harm him, he could see it, feel it, and there was a process to it, a chance to resist.
But what he had just encountered was different.
What had the other party done to make him fall gravely ill out of nowhere? His inner furnace fire couldn't suppress it, and even Little Red Tang couldn't see where the enemy was.
This kind of illogical thing was the most frightening, and it made Hu Ma, who valued his life dearly, burn with rage and a desire to kill.
"Little Hu Ma, are you alright?"
Second Uncle had been restless earlier and had brought people to find Hu Ma.
When he saw the crooked-neck tree, he felt uneasy all over.
He wasn't skilled in dealing with ghosts, but his sixty years of celibacy gave him a keen sense of danger.
He knew there must be remnants of dark magic nearby, and seeing Hu Ma here only made his heart tremble with worry.
"This old tree is harmful," Hu Ma panted, pointing at the crooked-neck tree.
"If it weren't for Grandma's warning, I would have been killed by it."
"Old tree?"
Second Uncle hurried forward, holding up his torch to inspect the area.
He noticed loose soil near the tree and kicked it aside, revealing a black bundle in the pit.
He kicked it open and saw a paper doll cut from red paper, inscribed with Hu Ma's birth date and time, along with a tattered, old cloth shoe.
No one recognized the shoe, but they could vaguely guess whose it was.
"It wasn't me, it wasn't me!"
When the bundle was discovered, the second daughter-in-law of the Cui family, who had been brought over by the crowd, began pulling at her hair and screaming, "It was the eldest and the third who buried it, not me! Please don't come after me!"
She had gone mad with fear, but her words were honest.
The villagers' faces turned pale as they listened.
"That old woman..."
Second Uncle's face twisted in anger.
"After all these years of peace, she still hasn't forgotten her dark arts!"
The older villagers, upon hearing Second Uncle's words and seeing the items, immediately understood.
The younger ones only remembered the Hu family's ghost-walking grandmother, but before the Hu family came to the village, the Great Sheep Village had its own practitioners of dark magic—the Cui family's grandmother.
Seeing what she had buried under the tree and recalling the Cui family's recent misfortunes, it all made sense.
"So... the Cui family tried to harm someone and got their retribution?"
"Serves them right! How dare such evil people stay in our village?"
The villagers were all shaken, and despite the Cui family's recent tragedy, they began cursing them.
In a close-knit village, harming others was the hardest to guard against.
When Hu Ma was born, the Cui family's grandmother was already in the village, helping to boil water and deliver red eggs.
How could she not know his birth details? And that dirty shoe—who knows when Hu Ma had worn it, but she had secretly kept it to use against him.
Such things were impossible to guard against in a village, and that's why the villagers hated it the most.
If she could harm Hu Ma, who in the village couldn't she harm?
As they cursed, they helped Hu Ma into a house, and someone brought him half a gourd of water to drink.
"Found it..."
Amid the chaos, someone hurried back from the direction of the old fire pit, holding a half-burned bundle still smoking.
They showed it to the old clan leader and Second Uncle.
"The Cui family's daughter-in-law burned this earlier. Someone saw it but didn't know what it was. We searched twice before finding it."
The old clan leader, sensing something was wrong, had sent people to check the old fire pit for anything unusual.
Second Uncle took the bundle, glanced at it, and threw it outside in disgust.
"It's a woman's menstrual cloth wrapped around a black fungus soaked in dog blood, rotten wood, and dung... the filthiest things. She burned it at the old fire pit, so the ancestors couldn't see what was happening in the village. With evil spirits running amok, of course, they couldn't protect us."
Hearing this, the villagers were filled with anger.
The old fire pit was where their ancestors were buried.
Who would dare disrespect them like this?
"Well, the Cui family got their retribution."
The old clan leader, usually a peacemaker, was also furious.
After a moment of thought, he understood the situation and sneered, "The Cui family wanted to harm someone but feared the ancestors would interfere, so they burned these filthy things to blind them. But they didn't expect their dark magic to backfire. When the backlash came, the ancestors couldn't see, and that's why their entire family was wiped out."
"Letting her whole family die was too kind. Such a person should have been driven out of the village. Who would dare keep her?"
"What? All dead?"
Hu Ma, who had just caught his breath, was startled.
Earlier, consumed by rage, he had only thought of chopping down the crooked-neck tree, vaguely sensing that the backlash might harm the perpetrator.
But he hadn't expected it to be so severe.
He had only vented his anger by hacking at the tree a few times, and yet the Cui family had lost so many lives?
As he thought this, he noticed the villagers, still furious, cursing and shouting.
But some couldn't help but glance toward a particular spot—the second daughter-in-law of the Cui family, now completely mad, her clothes torn, crying and screaming that it wasn't her fault.
Beside her, a tall, thin young man held her, sobbing softly, seemingly oblivious to the villagers' words.
Cui Xie'er...
Hu Ma's heart grew heavy with complex emotions.
Had his act of chopping down the crooked-neck tree really wiped out Cui Xie'er's entire family?
"Then this..."
He thought for a moment, then a chill ran through him. "... This one can't be left alive either!"
Before chopping the tree, he hadn't known it would lead to the Cui family's demise.
But now that they were gone, leaving this one alive would only invite future trouble.
As Hu Ma pondered this, Cui Xie'er was holding his mother, trying to calm her down.
He had heard the villagers' curses and felt a mix of anger and fear.
The sudden tragedy had shaken him, but a deep resentment was rising within him, and he glared fiercely at Hu Ma inside the house.
Unexpectedly, their eyes met, and Cui Xie'er's heart skipped a beat.
Hu Ma was looking back at him, and the killing intent in his eyes was several times stronger than his own.
"Mom, let's go home, let's go home..."
He could only drag his disheveled mother, slowly pushing through the crowd.
The villagers had no sympathy for the Cui family, but seeing a young man with a mad mother, and knowing their family had just suffered a great tragedy, they couldn't bring themselves to stop him.
Slowly, they made way.
The old clan leader, though furious, could only say, "Let's find coffins and prepare the bodies. We can't just leave them like this."
The villagers understood.
Using coffins showed the clan leader's stance.
But now that the Cui family had just suffered such a loss, once the initial anger passed, no one said much.
Some kind-hearted villagers stepped forward to help, along with other members of the Cui family, hastily gathering wood to prepare coffins for the dead and taking the mad ones back to the Cui house.
By the late hours of the night, the Cui house was filled with white lanterns, and faint cries could be heard from inside.
"Come on, Little Hu Ma, let's go back to the manor."
Second Uncle had been busy all night, first checking if there were any other issues in the village, then arranging for people to guard the old fire pit to prevent anyone else from disrespecting the ancestors.
By the time the sky began to lighten, he returned to Hu Ma.
"You can't stay in the village for now..."
When no one was around, Second Uncle whispered to Hu Ma, "The Cui family was in the wrong, but this is too much. They're a big family in the village, with many uncles and cousins. I think it's best if you don't stay here for a while. Even though the Cui family is at fault, who knows what they might do? Come stay with me at the manor."
"Alright..."
Hu Ma agreed, then couldn't help but ask, "What about Cui Xie'er?"
"What can he do?"
Second Uncle sighed deeply, thinking Hu Ma was concerned about his fellow apprentice.
"He's just a kid, scared out of his wits. But with the villagers' help, the funeral will be handled. As for the future... we'll see."
"These next few days, he probably won't leave the village."
Hu Ma silently noted this, then packed his things and followed Second Uncle.
Before leaving, he pressed the pouch of ashes from the fire pit against his chest, feeling a warmth spread through him.
This time, he had survived thanks to Grandma's protection...
He finally understood.
Ordinary people only entered the old fire pit after death, but Grandma had insisted on having her remains burned there before going to the ancestral hall.
She had done it to leave a trace of her spirit in the old fire pit, so she could continue to protect him.
(End of Chapter)