"Full of rhymes, are you preparing for an exam?" Hu Ma silently mocked Erguotou's words in his heart, but quickly asked for details.
"This is a nursery rhyme from Mingzhou Prefecture, talking about the three plagues that have haunted the area for decades."
Erguotou sighed softly and explained to Hu Ma: "The Altar Sect refers to those people you just mentioned. They were once very active, with many bad seeds from the surrounding villages becoming their disciples."
"They don't teach proper skills, only various evil methods. Especially the Altar Auntie, who specifically targets innocent girls, making them swallow needles, peel their skin, and inflict various tortures to fill them with resentment. These girls are then kept in altars, and their resentment is used to harm others, making it hard to guard against."
"The Insect Sect is also a group of evil practitioners, skilled in using insect curses to harm people, making it equally hard to defend against."
"As for the Beggar at the Door, there was once a blind beggar with a sinister nature. If he took a liking to a household, he would demand good food and drink, and even ask for a young girl. Naturally, the host family would refuse and drive him away."
"But he knew a soul-summoning demonic art. After singing a section of the Lotus Song at the door, the family would either suffer financial loss or death, terrifying the entire village."
"During the worst times, the townspeople took matters into their own hands and killed many beggars, burying them outside the city."
"..."
"Demonic and eerie..."
Hu Ma pondered over the description and couldn't help but ask, "What about these three plagues now?"
"Gone."
Erguotou said, "Once our Red Lantern Society rose, the former three plagues disappeared, leaving only our Red Lantern Lady as the sole plague."
"?"
Hu Ma was momentarily stunned, finding the description a bit odd.
Then Erguotou continued, "But, brother, what's strange is this."
"The Altar Sect was indeed formidable, constantly researching sinister and evil methods, but their influence waned a couple of years ago. Some even said they had disbanded and fled to various places."
"But when your village had that incident earlier, Manager Wu claimed it was the work of the Altar Sect. We went to investigate but couldn't confirm it, especially since your village is so close to the Old Yin Mountain."
"No matter what evil practitioners or demons commit crimes, if they hide in the eight-hundred-li Old Yin Mountain, where can we find them?"
"..."
"What has our Old Yin Mountain become?"
Hu Ma felt a headache coming on.
Having been here for a while, he had subconsciously started to think of Old Yin Mountain as his home.
He didn't want these bad people to go there.
"Anyway, whether it's true or not, keep an eye out."
Erguotou didn't say much more.
After exchanging some information, he said, "The Altar Sect's return is something Manager Wu never mentioned to the higher-ups. It's quite baffling..."
"If it really is the remnants of the Altar Sect causing trouble, with your newly acquired skills, it might be tough to handle..."
"..."
Hu Ma agreed, promising not to act recklessly.
But after leaving his Life Spirit Temple, he couldn't help but ponder why the Altar Sect had returned and why Manager Wu hadn't mentioned it to the higher-ups.
This suddenly put a lot of pressure on him.
He could have asked Erguotou for help directly, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
If there were any benefits, calling Erguotou over, or even a few more, wouldn't be a problem.
But if it was just Manager Wu's personal grudge, and since he owed Manager Wu a favor, it wouldn't be right to involve Erguotou...
It wasn't that he was unwilling to owe Erguotou a favor for Manager Wu and Wu He.
It was just that this kind of indirect matter would likely make Erguotou uncomfortable even if he agreed.
So, he could only take it one step at a time.
Now, he focused more on honing his skills as a Night Watcher, but the Altar Sect members still hadn't shown up.
He had already increased the patrols at night and even started visiting the surrounding villages during the day.
If any suspicious characters were spotted, they were to report immediately.
It was now deep winter, and there were fewer traveling merchants.
The workers had been here long enough to be familiar with the locals, so any new faces would be easily noticed.
But strangely, after more than a month, nothing had been found.
Just as Hu Ma began to suspect that the old manager was being overly paranoid, Zhou Datong returned from outside and mysteriously found him, excitedly saying, "Got something, Brother Ma. I found a suspicious household..."
"Since when do you call me Brother Ma?"
Hu Ma was momentarily stunned but didn't have time to ask more.
He quickly asked, "Where?"
"Shiyazi Village..."
Zhou Datong whispered, "The widow Zhao who sells tofu..."
"Why is it always widows?"
Hu Ma found it bizarre.
He knew Datong had a thing for widows, but this was serious business...
"I'm serious..."
Zhou Datong said mysteriously, "You told us to watch out for new faces, and we haven't seen any. But the night before last, a faceless man climbed over the wall into Widow Zhao's house... Isn't that suspicious?"
"Isn't that normal?"
Hu Ma looked at Zhou Datong strangely, "If you're not up to it, can't others be?"
"No..."
Zhou Datong hurriedly said, "The thing is, he went in and didn't come out all night..."
"And Widow Zhao didn't open her door the next day, saying she was sick. That man is probably still hiding in her house!"
"..."
"Huh?"
That did sound strange.
Entering a widow's house and not coming out by dawn was unprofessional and didn't seem like something a villager would do.
Moreover, widows' doors are often the center of gossip, and a woman living alone is an easy target for evil practitioners and demons.
Thinking quickly, he suddenly realized something and asked Zhou Datong, "How do you know all this in such detail?"
"The old lady at the village entrance told me..."
Zhou Datong said, "I chat with them every day. There's nothing happening in the surrounding villages that I don't know about."
"... Impressive!"
Hu Ma didn't know what to say.
Zhou Datong wasn't the most honest guy, always doing unexpected and cunning things, but this particular skill was indeed useful.
He went into the inner courtyard and told the old manager, who, despite his usual laziness, became serious and put on his clothes to go out with Hu Ma.
The manager was in a hurry and wanted to ride a horse, but Hu Ma thought that making such a big show might alert the other party, who could then run off into Old Yin Mountain, and no one would be able to find them.
So, he had the workers pull a large cart with a few bags of grain and two bolts of cloth.
They hid sticks and Zhao Zhu's dung fork in the cart, pretending to go to Shiyazi Village to trade for some sheep.
Their village regularly received grain and some blood offerings, which were their provisions.
But other necessities were often traded from the surrounding villages, which was quite common.
Since Hu Ma was "lame," he sat on the cart, pulled by Zhou Datong, with Zhou Liang and Zhao Zhu pushing from the side.
The old manager walked alongside.
The treatment was quite good.
They left at Shen hour and walked for about half an hour.
As it was getting dark, they arrived at Shiyazi Village.
Hu Ma first asked Zhou Datong for the location and then had him take the grain to trade for sheep in the village.
Meanwhile, he and the old manager hid in the shadows.
Soon, they arrived at a tiled house at the village entrance.
It was just nightfall, and many households had lit oil lamps, doing winter needlework.
But the Zhao family, who made tofu, was quiet.
Standing outside the courtyard, they saw no lights inside.
Hu Ma glanced at the manager, who was deep in thought, then waved his sleeve, signaling Hu Ma to step back.
He himself stepped forward and gently knocked on the door, saying, "Is anyone home? A traveler asking for a bowl of water."
Hu Ma was speechless.
In the middle of winter, who would be out traveling? And coming to ask for water at night, no normal household would dare to open the door, right?
But after calling out, the old manager stood at the door with his hands behind his back, waiting silently.
After a while, a weak woman's voice came from the courtyard, "There's no man in my house, and I'm sick, so it's inconvenient to open the door."
"Please go to another house for water."
"..."
Hu Ma had been to Shiyazi Village before and met the tofu-selling Zhao woman.
The voice did sound like hers.
But the old manager suddenly sneered and said, "Sick?"
"Good, I know some medicine. Let me come in and take a look!"
"..."
There was no response from the courtyard for a long time.
Hu Ma sensed something was wrong and prepared to kick the door open with his crutch.
But just as he was about to lift his foot, the door suddenly opened.
In the dark courtyard stood a woman who seemed weak, holding a bowl of water.
Seeing two men at the door, she seemed frightened and slowly placed the water by the door, then started to close it again:
"It's inconvenient to invite guests in at night. Please drink the water and leave..."
"..."
This surprised Hu Ma.
But as Widow Zhao was about to close the door, the manager suddenly reached out and held the door open, staring at her.
The widow was startled and stumbled back a few steps, panicking, "You... you..."
Hu Ma was slightly puzzled, thinking that if the widow started screaming and the villagers came, this situation could get very ugly.
Breaking into a widow's house at night was a big taboo in the village.
Respectable people would climb over the wall...
But the manager, blocking the door, didn't say much.
Suddenly, he blew a breath forward.
What happened next was unimaginable.
The widow, a full-grown woman, was blown several steps back as if weightless, floating two or three zhang before gently landing on the ground.
In the next moment, the old manager rushed into the courtyard, heading straight for the main room.
Hu Ma followed closely, entering the courtyard and looking at the widow.
But there was no living person there—just a thin human skin supported by bamboo poles and vines.
Remembering that he had just been talking to her, he couldn't help but feel a chill.
(End of Chapter)