Chapter 327: Chapter 325: The Four Directions Evil Creation (Added Update)
As a Ghost Walker, waiting for the enemy to walk into his trap, how could he be foolish enough to confront them with only a single knife?
Of course, he had to perform the ritual of setting up the altar, just more discreetly to avoid detection.
It was precisely because he had set up the altar that Hu Ma could confidently engage in a Magic duel, borrowing the Life Evil of this Five Evil Altar Envoy to practice his recently honed Shousui man’s trump card.
Also, it was because he was within his own altar that he could physically withstand the opponent’s Life Evil, gaining a direct and genuine understanding of the power of this Five Altars’ Evil. Otherwise, relying solely on his Shousui man’s cultivation wouldn’t have sufficed.
The more crucial reason was to prevent the opponent from being startled and fleeing immediately, making a quiet capture impossible.
Indeed, after the actual exchange, Hu Ma felt that using the opponent to test his trump card was a miscalculation; it didn’t truly test its limits.
After all, having experienced the prowess of a Shousui man like Ji Tang, others seemed rather bland by comparison.
Now, things were proceeding smoothly on his end. Looking at the Life Evil Envoy subdued by his Chains Curse, Hu Ma exhaled softly, knowing the first step of his plan was complete. The rest depended on the others.
After one exchange, he found that the Five Evil Altar Envoys possessed some skill, but as long as one guarded against their breath of Evil Qi, they weren’t particularly formidable. How could they possibly be a match for those he had in mind?
The only difference lay in what tricks they would attempt.
Meanwhile, as Hu Ma was eliminating the meat evil for the village neighboring Niu Family Bay, many events were unfolding one after another within the outwardly calm Mingzhou Prefecture.
Northwest of Old Yin Mountain, in Yuqian Village, situated at the junction of Mingzhou and Gunzhou, the village wasn’t particularly wealthy. It was mostly composed of simple, honest families who farmed and gathered herbal medicine, yet, surprisingly, it was known for its long-lived inhabitants.
Elsewhere, living to fifty or sixty was considered a long life, and reaching seventy or eighty was an occasion for a joyful funeral. But in this village, seventy- and eighty-year-olds were not uncommon, and there were even several individuals who had lived past one hundred.
Naturally, some people in the Path were curious, wondering if the village’s feng shui was exceptionally good, or if there was some spiritual medicine for longevity, so they often came to investigate.
However, upon inspection, they discovered the village’s feng shui was merely ordinary, not the best. Although it was near the mountains and herbal medicine was available, even when boiled into soup, it wasn’t any more potent than that found in other places.
"Outsiders just can’t understand it."
Only some elderly men, well over seventy, would occasionally, after a bit too much wine, smile and tell their juniors, "Our village, it’s protected by spirituality!"
"That pond behind the village, you mustn’t let the kids play recklessly there, for fear they’ll disturb the Immortals!"
"I’ve seen it! There’s an old turtle the size of a millstone in that pond. It chose our village for its Cultivation and brought us Yin Ze. That’s why our villagers live so long..."
Whether such an old turtle truly existed in the pond behind the village, no one had actually seen.
Many elders swore it did and frequently brought incense and candles and offerings to worship it. Yet, none of the younger generation had ever seen it. After all, the pond was only a few yards across; how could it possibly house a turtle the size of a millstone?
But on this very day, a few young men in the village suddenly fell ill. They were unable to take any food or water and were clearly dying. It was then that a wandering doctor arrived. After examining the young men, his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly looked around.
Finally, as if facing a formidable enemy, he summoned the villagers and said, "Your village has a serious problem! There’s an old turtle borrowing longevity..."
"Let me ask you, do young children or robust youths in your village often die suddenly without any apparent illness or disaster? Their lifespans have been borrowed away..."
The villagers were greatly alarmed and hastily asked for a solution. The doctor, after calculating on his fingers, declared, "You must build a pagoda over the pond to suppress it! We have to make it return the longevity it has borrowed!"
In another prosperous little village nestled beneath a mountain ridge, it was said that the village’s ancestors were originally itinerant merchants. Passing through, they had been delayed and rested on the ridge.
Under the moonlight, they saw golden and silver dolls frolicking in the creek below and, convinced it was a feng shui treasure ground that would bring them fortune, they purchased the land from the government. They reclaimed the wilderness, cultivated the fields, and over generations, it grew into a large Manor.
Their descendants indeed lived in prosperity and abundance. Many young men from the village engaged in the mule and horse trade, earning them the name Mule and Horse Gang, and they were known far and wide as a successful community in the area.
They remembered the legend of the golden and silver dolls passed down by their ancestors. Although these dolls were not enshrined on the main altar and no one had ever seen them, they were secretly worshipped in the Ancestral Hall, with incense-burning rituals performed before any business venture.
Then, one day, a gambler arrived with two large carts laden with cloth, looking to wager.
He displayed no particular skills, initially just guessing the number of jujube kernels in his hand. If he guessed correctly, he would give a foot of cloth; if wrong, he only lost a coarse, hard bun he was holding.
The villagers, finding it amusing, won twice and, to their surprise, actually received cloth. Word spread quickly, drawing countless onlookers.
The man seemed foolish and clumsy, losing more often than winning. One cartload of cloth was soon gone. He then wagered the mules and horses pulling the carts and even took out Copper Coins and silver coins from his sash to continue gambling.
Enticed by this chance for easy gain, the villagers were swept into a gambling frenzy. Like dry tinder meeting a spark, the gambling grew more intense, continuing day and night for two consecutive days.
Around this time, the few elders in the village who held authority and could manage affairs fell ill, leaving the villagers even less restrained.
The villagers had won an unknown amount from this gambler. Their excitement for gambling soared, and they began betting amongst themselves, with winnings and losses all stemming from what they had gained from the initial gambler.
They were unaware that the overwhelming miasma of gambling had driven a golden and a silver doll out from the Ancestral Hall. The dolls intended to cleanse themselves in the creek but were caught squarely by the gambler, who was there on the pretext of relieving himself. He swiftly threw a sack over their heads.
He found a secluded, deserted spot, tied the mouth of the sack with a hemp rope, and then viciously whipped the contents.
Finally, hearing pleas for mercy from within, a triumphant grin spread across his face. He slung the sack over his shoulder and returned to continue gambling.
Having lost the two cartloads of cloth and all his other goods, he reached into the sack. After fumbling for a moment, he pulled out a gold clump and a silver ball, placing them on the table to win back his stake and then some. The villagers, their eyes red with gambling fever, paid no heed to what he was using for stakes.
Thus, the gambling grew even fiercer. However, the man began to win. He soon won back all his earlier losses and then proceeded to win an untold amount of wealth from the villagers, who grew increasingly envious, grinding their teeth in frustration.
At the foot of another part of Old Yin Mountain lived a rich man. His home was a large mansion with four courtyards. He had married three wives, fathered four or five children, owned dozens of acres of fertile farmland, and possessed herds of mules and horses.
His neighbors all envied him, often remarking that though he had been but a cowherd in his youth, his diligence and willingness to work hard had allowed him to build such a vast estate.
One day, a man carrying a sash arrived. He complimented the household on how well their cattle and sheep were raised and then, after looking around, singled out an old cow, one so frail it could barely stand. He asked the rich man its price in Silver, expressing his willingness to buy it.
The rich man, however, refused, saying, "There are plenty of cows in the pen; you are free to choose, Sir. This old cow is too old to even move."
"When I was young, I herded cattle for its previous owner. Later, when the owner moved to the city, I scraped together the money to buy it. It was entirely thanks to this cow helping me plow the fields and clear the untamed mountains that I have what I have today."
"Now it’s old and can no longer work. I intend to let it live out its days in peace and give it a proper burial. Selling it is out of the question! Why, even my son has to call it ’Uncle’ when he sees it. It’s free to eat any crops from the fields; we don’t stop it!"
"You may have many mules, horses, cattle, and sheep, but this is the only one I truly want," the man with the sash said. "I’m willing to offer ten taels of gold. If you agree, the cow is mine, and the gold is yours."
The rich man was greatly surprised. "Its meat is so old it’s too tough to chew; how could it be worth ten taels of gold?"
The man with the sash chuckled. "To be honest, I’m not buying the cow itself, but the beef gallstone inside its stomach!"
"That thing is a treasure, but only people like us know how to use it. You don’t understand the Path and wouldn’t know how to extract it. Even if you managed to get it out by force, you wouldn’t be able to sell it for even several taels of Silver."
The rich man, half-convinced and half-doubting, eyed the gleaming small gold ingot and finally nodded.
The man with the sash immediately led the cow out. In an open space, he boiled water, sharpened a knife, and proceeded to cut the cow open.
Perhaps because it was so old, the cow lacked even the strength to resist. It merely knelt, its eyes filled with tears. The rich man felt a pang of pity, but touching the ten taels of gold in his pocket, he hardened his heart and went back inside.
With this treasure, I can add several more acres to my farmland, and it’ll be more than enough to marry another wife. This is well worth it!
He didn’t see what happened next, but according to outsiders, it was a truly eye-opening sight.
The man didn’t bleed the cow. He cut it open while it was still alive, pulled out its intestines, and after rummaging through them, extracted a black object—something that seemed like stone but wasn’t stone, like jade but wasn’t jade. Then he left, abandoning the cow there. Blood pooled on the ground, and it died with its eyes wide open.
But that very night, throughout the rich man’s entire Manor, the cattle and sheep grew restless, the mules and horses became agitated, and the window lattices rattled loudly.
One of the hired laborers saw about a dozen raggedly dressed people, each holding a bowl, sneak into the rich man’s granary and begin scooping out grain, bowl by bowl.
Others were seen entering the livestock pens, leading animals out.
The rich man hastily beat a gong, calling his neighbors and household laborers to help catch the thieves. But when they entered the granary, they found no one inside; the grain was all there, and not a single animal was missing from the pens.
He fell into an uneasy sleep and had a hazy dream. In it, the old cow looked at him silently, slowly shook its head, then turned and walked away.
Waking in terror, he urgently wanted to unearth the cow’s bones. Yet, suddenly, the sky darkened, and the fields became enveloped in a dense haze filled with ghostly shadows. The livestock fell ill abruptly; half died within half a day, and the rest were gone by the end of the day. That night, the neighbors’ livestock also began to perish.
Soon after, the crops in the fields started to wither in large patches. Countless rats swarmed the granary, riddling it with holes. Whatever grain wasn’t stolen rotted, basketful by basketful.
The sky remained dark and gloomy. The people of the Manor wept and wailed, and white paper money, offerings for the dead, fluttered chaotically everywhere.