It was Li Wa'er.
Among all the workers from Dayang Village, Li Wa'er was the clever one.
If he had followed Xu Ji, Hu Ma wouldn't have said anything.
Of course, if something happened, Hu Ma wouldn't have cared either.
Now, seeing that the other workers had only suffered minor losses and were at least safe, Li Wa'er, for some reason, had fallen into the well.
His face was pale, and it was unclear whether he was alive or dead.
Hu Ma sighed, reached out, and closed Li Wa'er's wide-open, lifeless eyes.
"Throw the rope down first!" Hu Ma shouted upward, his voice echoing through the well.
He tied the rope around Li Wa'er's waist and had him pulled up before carefully observing the surroundings.
The well water was filthy, foul, and icy cold.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed some red cloth fragments in the corner of the well.
Squatting down, he saw a skeleton, long decayed, with bits of flesh still clinging to the bones.
It was vaguely recognizable as a woman, her clothes soaked and stained by the well water, resembling a red wedding dress.
"Such a pitiful soul…"
Hu Ma thought of what the evil spirit had just said and vaguely guessed at a story.
But he only sighed in his heart, not daring to speak it aloud.
Second Uncle had taught him that when facing these evil spirits, one must not show weakness.
Compassion and pity were also forms of weakness.
Evil spirits didn't understand human logic, even if they could communicate.
Showing sympathy here might make her think he was weak and come to harm him.
He kept a stern face, stuck the fire starter into the wet mud on the well wall, and took the bamboo basket.
He carefully fished out the skeleton from the well water, placed it in the basket, and gathered the scattered bones.
Even though the skeleton was decayed, it still took up space in the well and was difficult to move.
As Hu Ma lifted it, the skeleton swayed, and the skull suddenly came close to his neck.
In the hollow eye sockets, faint ghostly flames seemed to flicker, and the decayed mouth revealed sharp teeth.
Hu Ma's movements stopped abruptly.
The well was cold and silent, with no sound of breathing.
"Don't cause trouble. I have some cultivation too," Hu Ma said slowly, holding his breath.
"At this close range, if I hit you with a Blood Yang Arrow, you wouldn't be able to withstand it."
After a long pause, he continued his task.
He wasn't lying.
He dared to come down because he had some cultivation.
If it came to a real fight, being in the well where no one could see would be the best place to let loose.
Of course, it would be better not to fight at all.
Perhaps intimidated by Hu Ma's words, the skeleton remained still as he placed each bone into the basket.
Once everything was settled, Hu Ma exhaled softly and signaled for the people above to pull the basket up.
"Clink…"
At that moment, the skeleton's arm hanging outside the basket swayed slightly, and a dull gold bracelet fell off.
It landed at Hu Ma's feet, splashing a few drops of dirty water.
Hu Ma paused, then understood the corpse's intention.
He coldly picked up the bracelet and stuffed it back into the basket.
"Don't play these tricks. I didn't come down here for your things."
A faint sigh echoed in the well, and the basket was steadily pulled up.
…
When Hu Ma climbed out of the well, he saw the workers standing far from the basket, looking at him with something close to admiration.
Not just the workers, but even the villagers in the low huts around seemed to be watching him with reverence.
In the dark night outside the huts, it felt like something was secretly observing him.
"The goal is achieved…"
Hu Ma exhaled softly and instructed the workers to bury the skeleton by the roadside, as previously discussed, and to burn some incense and paper money.
The workers were still scared, but with Hu Ma by their side, they felt braver.
Since Hu Ma had already retrieved the body from the well without incident, helping to bury it wasn't a big deal.
So, three or four of them stepped forward to help.
Hu Ma took the opportunity to check on Li Wa'er.
His eyes were wide open, his face pale, and he showed no signs of life.
His body was stiff, but it didn't feel like a real corpse.
Perhaps something was secretly protecting him, as the rest of the process went surprisingly smoothly.
The workers found hoes and shovels and dug a deep pit far from the village to bury the skeleton.
Throughout the process, there were no further disturbances.
Hu Ma burned incense in front of the grave and whispered some comforting words.
By the time they returned to the village, it was already dawn.
The once empty village was now filled with people.
"Thank you, Great Master…"
"We've been plagued by this thing for so long…"
It was clear that the villagers' gratitude was genuine, but the person they were thanking wasn't Hu Ma.
It was Shopkeeper Wu, who stood by the well with his hands behind his back.
Ignoring the villagers kowtowing around him, he looked at Hu Ma and asked indifferently, "Where's Xu Ji?"
"I don't know."
Seeing the old shopkeeper in the village, Hu Ma's heart sank.
He knew this was a critical moment and adjusted his expression accordingly.
He stepped forward and said, "Last night, I saw him leave early with these workers. Knowing I couldn't compete with him, I secretly followed behind."
"I was planning to snatch the credit when he was about to succeed, but then I suddenly heard screams and felt a chilling wind. Knowing something was wrong, I gathered my courage and came over."
"On the way, I found these workers who had been bewitched and avoided a few evil spirits. I also found Xu Ji's wooden sword."
"Seeing that some people were missing, I brought these workers back to rescue them."
"But while we found everyone else, Li Wa'er somehow fell into the well, and we found him too."
"As for Xu Ji, we never found him. I don't know what happened to him."
At this point, he paused, as if just remembering something, and added, "Oh, there's one more person. He's hanging from a tree at the foot of the southwest mountain."
"I saw him last night, but the place was filled with a sinister aura, as if something powerful was there. Seeing that the worker was already dead, I didn't dare to approach and just brought the workers back to the village."
His answer was frank.
He didn't hide his desire to snatch the credit.
He even directly expressed a bit of resentment.
Shopkeeper Wu listened without saying much, his face slightly阴沉.
He suddenly turned to the others and asked, "What exactly did you do when you came here?"
"I… we…"
Facing Shopkeeper Wu's gaze was Hu Zi, who was close to Xu Ji.
His face pale, he didn't dare to lie and stammered, "We followed Young Master Xu Ji here. He had us light torches and stand around the well."
"If we saw anything unusual, we were to blow hard and scrape the surrounding stones and walls with knives. He also… he also made Li Wa'er pour something into the well."
With Xu Ji missing and Shopkeeper Wu's grim expression, no one dared to lie.
Even the part about forcing Li Wa'er to approach the well was told truthfully.
"Is this what you poured?"
Shopkeeper Wu squatted by the well, his face dark.
On the ground were some wet, blackened clumps of soil—what Li Wa'er had spilled.
The others nodded repeatedly.
Shopkeeper Wu picked up a bit, sniffed it, and his expression grew even darker.
"Brainless fool."
He snorted coldly.
"I sent him here to solve the problem, not create more. Pouring this in the middle of the night, did he think he was still under the Red Lantern Lady's protection?"
The others remained silent, confused.
Hu Ma, however, thought to himself, "Could it be that what Young Master Xu Ji used was something that easily attracted evil spirits at night?"
Unexpectedly, this preparation had coincidentally covered up his own secret actions.
Of course, even without this, he wasn't afraid.
He had used blood offerings to lure the evil spirits, and they had devoured everything, leaving no trace.
Who could pin it on him?
"Enough, let's find him first!"
Shopkeeper Wu didn't ask further.
With a cold face, he ordered the workers to get busy.
Behind him, the villagers, led by an elder, approached with two rolls of coarse cloth and a basket of eggs, seemingly wanting to thank the master who had rid their village of the evil spirit, but they didn't dare to come too close.
"Hu Ma, are you okay?"
Zhou Datong and the others quickly surrounded him, looking him over with concern.
They had wanted to come last night, but Hu Ma had refused.
They hadn't slept well and had followed the shopkeeper early in the morning.
"I'm fine."
Hu Ma shook his head and looked at Li Wa'er by the well.
"Take him back. After all, we're from the same village."
Zhou Datong and the others, seeing Li Wa'er's tragic state, felt a pang of sympathy.
From the others' conversation, they understood what had happened to Li Wa'er.
Young Master Xu Ji, with his high cultivation and protective artifacts, had made Li Wa'er pour something into the well to lure out the evil spirit, instead of doing it himself or having his own followers do it.
How could they not be angry?
Of course, deep down, while they were angry, they also felt a bit of resentment.
Not that he deserved it, but Li Wa'er had brought it upon himself.
The village boys had simple minds and didn't dwell on such matters.
They sent two people to borrow a door plank from the villagers to carry Li Wa'er back to the village, while the others joined the search for Xu Ji.
In the daylight, with no fear of evil spirits, they could spread out, making the search much easier than at night.
They first found the worker hanging from the tree, his face blue, eyes bulging, and tongue sticking out.
But when they had come last night, the place had been filled with a sinister aura, sending chills down their spines.
Now, everything seemed normal, bathed in sunlight, with only the hanged man swaying in the wind.
His dull eyes stared down at them from above.
(End of Chapter)