Hu Ma deeply remembered the words his second uncle had left him with before departing.
He didn’t use the arrogance of a reincarnator to understand this world.
The kindness of the villagers, he accepted with gratitude, but his second uncle had also urged him to look after the others, and Hu Ma did his best to fulfill that request.
After all, the treasures his second uncle had left behind had all been used to build goodwill.
He couldn’t just turn his back on that now.
As for the village, of course, there were things Hu Ma didn’t like.
But that’s just how the village was.
Greedy and foolish, quick to turn their backs for a little gain, yet also the first to come running when help was needed without being asked.
They were unreasonable, only caring about their own kin, and quick to pick up weapons and fight without asking questions.
That’s just how people from the village were, both the good and the bad.
Hu Ma now had a choice.
As a reincarnator, he could abandon them and focus solely on himself.
But he could also choose to help them when conditions allowed, without compromising his own goals.
For now, Hu Ma chose the latter.
After all, his grandmother had said that the Great Sheep Village was the root of the Hu family now.
Of course, Hu Ma’s understanding was one thing, but in reality, having the support of a few loyal brothers from the Great Sheep Village made many things much easier.
In the outer courtyard, Hu Ma, as the steward, led a dozen or so workers.
Some he hadn’t known before and still didn’t get along with, while others were left behind by Xu Ji, who had previously been his enemies.
Managing all the affairs of the outer courtyard was exhausting.
Previously, he had managed well by putting on a show and giving it his all.
But now, he needed to conserve his energy for cultivating the Shousui technique.
Constantly dealing with these matters was draining, and there were always annoying issues popping up.
But with Zhou Datong and the others taking the lead, things became much easier.
Night patrols, cleaning, feeding the horses, buying grain, fetching water, chopping firewood—everything was done step by step.
With their help, Hu Ma spent his days stoking the furnace fire, refining his left hand.
The key to the Shousui technique lay between life and death.
As his refinement deepened, some miraculous changes began to occur.
At first, his left hand was icy cold, and he couldn’t even feel its presence.
But as he continued refining, he gradually felt a faint warmth in the hand.
Later, the warmth grew stronger, and he began to feel tingling and pain in the hand.
After some time, he could tentatively move his fingers a little, even clenching his fist slightly...
"From death to life, it’s such a strange feeling..."
This was the first part of Hu Ma’s cultivation, and he paid close attention to every detail.
He could feel his left hand coming back to life, but it was different from how it had felt before.
First, the hand had vitality, but not the kind forced by the Blood Taisui.
Second, the reawakening of his left hand also brought with it some unimaginable wonders.
His blood, flesh, and bones all felt strong and full of energy, as if some mysterious power had been awakened.
It seemed that between life and death, his hand had undergone a great tempering.
With each day of cultivation, his left hand was like iron in a furnace, hammered over and over, gradually gaining abilities beyond the ordinary.
"How’s the cultivation going?"
The shopkeeper, who seemed cold and aloof, didn’t just leave Hu Ma to his own devices after passing on the technique.
At least every two or three days, he would call Hu Ma over to ask about his progress.
And Hu Ma would answer honestly: "At first, it was icy cold, like it wasn’t my own, but gradually it’s started to feel warm."
Of course, he only appeared to be honest.
In reality, Hu Ma had skipped the "death transformation" step, and with the guidance of his life idol, he had avoided many detours.
With three pillars of cultivation, he could cultivate freely, and his progress was much faster than an ordinary person’s.
Now, he could already move three fingers.
But he couldn’t reveal this.
His progress was too fast, and it would inevitably raise suspicions that he couldn’t explain.
"Not bad."
The shopkeeper had asked him a few times, and each time there was progress.
He seemed satisfied, nodding slightly.
"With this kind of progress, it’s clear you’ve put in the effort."
"But staying in the manor all day to cultivate isn’t good either. You should take this opportunity to see more of what’s outside the manor. It’s not a bad thing. With your abilities, you also need to gain some experience."
"There’s been some trouble in the Stone Cliff Village seven miles away. The village head came to see me yesterday."
"Go take a look and handle it for them."
"..."
Hu Ma thought about the responsibilities of the manor and nodded.
"I’ll go right away."
The Red Lantern Lady’s Society had set up manors in various places, often with the ability to deal with evil spirits.
Originally, this was just to clear out the surrounding evils to prevent trouble in the spring.
But the nearby villages, seeing their abilities, often came to them for help when something happened.
Previously, it was always the shopkeeper who handled these matters, as the workers didn’t have the skills.
But now, it seemed the shopkeeper wanted to give Hu Ma some experience.
Plus, as the steward of the manor, Hu Ma agreed.
"Datong, call Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu. We’re going out!"
After understanding the situation, Hu Ma left the inner courtyard and called his most trusted men.
Zhou Datong was sitting on a millstone, bragging, but when he heard this, he knew it was a good opportunity and quickly came over.
Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu didn’t ask any questions.
One grabbed a stick from the yard, and the other picked up a manure fork.
It was the off-season, so the workers in the manor weren’t equipped with weapons.
They would be armed when the manor started collecting blood sacrifices in the spring.
For now, the only weapons the workers had were the ones they brought with them when they came to the manor.
For example, Zhou Datong had a family heirloom, and Xu Ji’s two lackeys each had a weapon.
Hu Ma could have borrowed theirs, but Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu weren’t interested in their stuff.
Especially Zhao Zhu, who loved using the manure fork.
He said his father used it in fights back in the village, and it had unexpected uses.
The four of them left the manor, one after the other.
The other workers saw them but didn’t say anything.
Usually, Hu Ma wasn’t as overbearing as Xu Ji had been, but when it came to taking care of his own, he was very generous.
Important tasks like night patrols naturally fell to Zhou Datong.
The boring chores in the outer courtyard were left to Xu Ji’s two lackeys.
Even Li Wa, who had been injured and was now always sickly, was assigned to light work in the kitchen.
Favoritism?
Yes, definitely.
But we’re from the same village.
Why wouldn’t I look out for my own people?
This kind of behavior wasn’t just accepted in the Great Sheep Village; even the other workers in the outer courtyard thought it was reasonable.
Even Xu Ji’s two lackeys, though they had more chores and worked harder, didn’t have any complaints.
After all, Xu Ji was dead, and Hu Ma was now the steward.
He hadn’t kicked them out, hadn’t targeted them in every way, hadn’t withheld their monthly blood sacrifices, or extorted them in private.
That alone was enough to make them grateful.
Now, their task was to flatter Zhou Datong as much as possible, hoping Hu Ma and the others would forget the past.
...
There were horses in the stable, but Hu Ma and his group didn’t take them.
First, they hadn’t yet learned to use public resources for private purposes.
Second, the journey was short, just a few steps away.
Following the muddy village path, they walked for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense and arrived at the Stone Cliff Village the shopkeeper had mentioned.
From a distance, they could see the village nestled against the mountain, with houses scattered among the trees.
Half the day, the village was shrouded in shadow.
At the village entrance, elderly villagers and other residents were already waiting, hurriedly coming forward to greet them.
But when they saw Hu Ma and his group, the villagers looked surprised.
They had expected the old shopkeeper, but instead, they saw a few young men, which made them uneasy.
However, among the onlookers was someone from the Yellow Dog Village who had come to visit.
When he saw Hu Ma at the front, his eyes lit up, and he whispered to the villagers around him, "You should know, that young master at the front is quite capable!"
"Remember how powerful that thing in our village well was? It was this young master who dealt with it."
"..."
Hearing this, the villagers looked at Hu Ma with more respect and quickly invited him into the village.
"Brother Hu Ma, you’ve got to make a good impression. Give them a show of force."
Zhou Datong whispered to Hu Ma as they walked.
"If you handle this well the first time, things will be easier in the future."
"You sure know a lot."
Hu Ma glanced at him, amused.
Zhou Datong wasn’t wrong.
The villages outside the Old Yin Mountain were different from the villages inside, but in essence, they were the same.
The villagers could either respect Hu Ma as they did the old shopkeeper, showing their simple, kind nature, or they could deceive him, letting him experience the fickleness of rural life.
It all depended on how he handled himself.
"Is this the place?"
Surrounded by the villagers, they soon arrived at a house in the village.
It seemed like a well-off family, with three large tiled houses and a stone courtyard.
Inside was a large pigpen, where a plainly dressed woman with her head covered was feeding the pigs.
When she saw the villagers bringing people over, she burst into tears, threw down her wooden ladle, and ran back into the house.
Hu Ma glanced around and saw nothing unusual.
"What’s been happening here?"
"Nothing during the day."
The village elder said mysteriously.
"But at night, something comes to steal the pig feed!"
"What?"
Hu Ma was stunned.
"Something’s stealing pig feed?"
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(End of Chapter)