“What exactly was Brother Ma Zi doing yesterday? Who did he invite to dinner?”

“Why does it sound like there's an old woman laughing?”

The next morning, the workers in the manor looked at the messy cups and dishes, especially the two roosters that had been drained of blood and half-eaten, and the table full of eggshells. They were all confused, but they didn't dare ask when they looked at Hu Ma's small courtyard.

What they didn't know was that a strange thing had spread in the villages around the manor.

It was said that an old man from Ganzi Village found the fence open at night, and the big black mule inside was gone. This was a major event related to the livelihood of the whole family, so he hurriedly lit a lantern and went out to look for it.

Normally, no one would dare to go out at night, but now the surroundings were quiet, and there had been no reports of disturbances nearby for a long time, plus the old man felt that he had never done anything wrong in his life, so he was bolder.

But as soon as he reached the entrance of the village, he saw two weasels in front of him, carrying a paper sedan. Inside the sedan sat an old woman wearing blue clothes, covered in flowers, and with a large, hairy mole on her face.

The old man was so scared that he collapsed on the ground.

But the old woman, sitting in the sedan, came to him, but did not harm him. Instead, she smiled and pointed the way.

Then, she took the old man's dry tobacco pouch from his waist, and walked away, puffing on it.

The old man was dazed and confused, too frightened, and forgot to be afraid. He followed the direction the old woman pointed, and searched for two miles.

Sure enough, he saw his own mule eating grass in the ditch.

Someone rushed to thank her, only to find that the offerings she wanted were very few.

A chicken for less, two chickens for more.

The poor families were even satisfied with a few boiled brown sugar eggs. Immediately, everyone was happy, and it spread, saying that a protector spirit had appeared in the Qing Stone Town area.

Some families even had difficulties, or lost something, or had something they wanted to ask, but it was inconvenient to ask the shopkeeper and workers in the manor, so they boldly asked this old woman.

The old woman was different; at least she could help find things that were lost, or a child's lost soul, with a single point.

As a result, they found that this old woman seemed to be better than the young shopkeeper in the manor.

What did the young shopkeeper and managers know?

They only knew how to get rid of evil spirits. They didn't understand the real things, like if a family's cow ran away, or when a fifty-year-old bachelor could find a marriage, or how to change their fortune.

It's no wonder why the old shopkeeper Wu Hong only had the Five Viscera Refinement, but not the Seven Orifices, and even most of the shopkeepers in the Red Lantern Society stayed at the Five Viscera Refinement, and knew nothing about the Seven Orifices.

After sealing the Seventh Grandmother, Hu Ma felt that there seemed to be an unusual atmosphere of tension in Ming Prefecture, but he was not in a hurry to do anything. Instead, he silently stayed in the manor, mostly staying behind closed doors, pondering things.

He had already made an appointment with Miss White Wine, and once he made some preparations, he could help her, and she had agreed.

He had refined his five viscera earlier, but had not continued to cultivate the Seven Orifices method, so he was stuck here.

He couldn't calculate things!

He hurriedly led the mule back. The next day, the old woman sitting in the sedan chair spread like wildfire.

From then on, everyone knew that there was an old woman around the manor. Because she didn't harm anyone, it was not good to ask the young shopkeeper in the manor to get rid of her. Instead, they spread the word that this old woman was kind-hearted and loved to help.

Next, Hu Ma devoted all his energy to doing a few things.

First, the special skill of the Suishou Ren (Year Watcher), and the preparations for entering the Fu (Abode).

But now, after a trip to An Prefecture, he had the method for the Suishou Ren to enter the Fu, and he also understood how to refine the Seven Orifices.

Simply put, the Seven Orifices do not require a special refinement method.

The reason is that the Seven Orifices are refined together with the head of the spirit, and cannot be separated. Therefore, only with the qualification to enter the Fu can one cultivate the Seven Orifices after the Five Viscera.

According to the method, the Seven Orifices are the orifices through which the spirit enters and exits.

While refining the head, the Yin energy rolls in, and naturally nourishes the Seven Orifices, giving them special qualities.

On the contrary, without the method of entering the Fu, one cannot forcibly refine the Seven Orifices, otherwise, a mistake can easily damage the spirit.

Hu Ma had asked Miss White Wine to help him configure the two oil lamps, but he didn't actually need the oil lamps, just to keep the secret that he was a dead man.

So, it seemed that he was still waiting for Miss White Wine to help him configure the oil lamps, and otherwise remained still, but in fact, after returning, he rested for a day or two to recover his energy, and began to cultivate this method of entering the Fu.

However, the head and spirit are both key, and in the early stage, he could only slowly probe, not daring to be reckless.

While cultivating the head, he also began to put effort into pondering and practicing the various special skills he had obtained from the Li family in Dongzi.

Skills such as the Heart-Piercing Nail and Soul-Snatching Whip were just a trick, and could be used without much practice, but the Great Stele Throwing Hand and the Chest-Breaking Stone, these hard Qi methods, required hard work.

Among them, even the current Hu Ma found the practice of the Great Stele Throwing Hand magical.

It required drawing strange symbols and runes on one's hand every day, buying specific herbs, decocting them into a medicinal liquid, and then using this hand to strike the stone stele every day.

Continue hitting until the palm of the hand is bloody and mixed with the runes, then come back, soak in the medicinal liquid, heal, and then hit the stone stele again.

This cycle repeats endlessly.

Even ordinary people can practice this kind of skill, but it requires a lifetime of hard work.

And the Suishou Ren have their own characteristics. They recover faster and have more strength, so they can achieve something in a few months.

As for breaking the stone on the chest, that is similar to the Five Thunder Golden Toad Roar, which is the use of the power of the viscera.

Hu Ma also put a lot of effort into these skills. There were not many stone steles around the manor, so he often ran out at night, grabbing the stone steles on the graves and hitting them hard.

A few times, he disturbed people's rest, and they came out of the graves to scold him, but after being glared at by Hu Ma, they were frightened and drilled back, obediently giving up the stele for him to practice his skills.

At night, he practiced Suishou Ren, and during the day, he had to learn to walk the ghosts.

Or, rather, suppress the evil spirits.

By sealing the Seventh Grandmother, Hu Ma also took a look at the real foundation of the former Hu family.

Very solid.

Therefore, how to use this foundation is naturally the top priority for him to ponder next.

Based on the methods of the ghost walkers and his understanding of the *Zhen Sui Shu* (Book of Suppressing the Year), he listed three in-depth thresholds for himself.

Strongman (Lishi), Incantation, Suppressing Object.

When ghost walkers set up an altar, there are altar-protecting strongmen, mostly served by small messenger ghosts.

There are actually also such things in the methods in the *Zhen Sui Shu*, but they are different from the altar-protecting strongmen of the ghost walkers.

Hu Ma combined the methods of the ghost walkers and the methods in the *Zhen Sui Shu*, and understood the difference. The first time he rescued Yang Gong in Niujiawan, he set up an altar and captured the old turtle in the river. At that time, he randomly made two straw figures in the altar with rice straw.

He only knew that the method said to make these two straw figures, but he didn't know why he made these two straw figures.

Now he understands that these are the altar-protecting strongmen.

They don't need to be raised and supported usually. They only need to be placed next to the altar, and the strongmen will appear as the altar is set up.

Of course, this thing can't actually be fooled, and it's also related to one's craftsmanship.

The more lifelike the tie, the higher the Yin power it can carry. When the altar is set up, it will be more real, and it will be more able to suppress those evil spirits.

It's like tying a rope. The better it is tied, the less likely it is to be broken by a frantic wild boar.

In this area, Hu Ma stayed in Miss Red Wine's manor for a day and specifically asked her for this skill. Now, with practice, it is gradually becoming similar.

Undoubtedly, as long as he continues to work hard in this area, the straw figures he makes will become more and more lifelike. If this skill is good to a certain extent, the paper figures he makes can be so realistic that they can come alive without setting up an altar.

In addition to the strongmen, there are incantations.

In the *Zhen Sui Shu*, there are punishment incantations, killing incantations, binding incantations, and dispelling incantations.

These are all incantations that are used to summon the power of ghosts and gods after setting up the altar with the *Zhen Sui Shu*. Hu Ma had already memorized them by rote and used them before. The effect was good, but now he only understood the essence of them after setting up an altar with Aunt Zhang.

When ghost walkers set up an altar, a person stands on the altar and recites a snake-driving incantation, which can drive away snakes, insects, rats, and ants.

The four incantations recorded in the *Zhen Sui Shu* are actually similar, but the *Zhen Sui Shu* is more domineering, and the incantation leaves no room for maneuver.

Hu Ma asked Aunt Zhang about the cultivation of this incantation. There are also several levels of depth. First, you must know what changes will occur with what incantation, and then memorize these incantations by heart, without the slightest mistake.

In this way, when it comes to the critical moment, you can recite it casually, and the altar will naturally have magical changes. The more incantations you master, the more situations you can cope with on this altar calmly.

But this is only the first layer.

The deeper your understanding of the incantations, the more advanced your Taoism, and you can recite the incantation from memory or write the incantation on paper in advance. After setting up the altar, you can throw it away casually. The talisman falls and the incantation is born. Even if you don't say a word, the altar can still produce corresponding magic power.

At this step, it is already a talisman and incantation.

And further, you don't even need to write the entire incantation on the paper, just write one or two words, and it will still be useful.

This kind of talisman and incantation written by yourself can be given to others. If they take it with them, they can still have an effect if they encounter a problem, but it may not be as powerful as if it were used on the altar.

As for the suppressing object, that is the last step for Hu Ma to truly open the door to the *Zhen Sui Shu*.

The suppressing object here is no longer the strange things that Hu Ma collected before, but refers to a specific object.

That is the thing that the old woman in Juehu Village left for him.

Hu Ma knew clearly that after he got that suppressing object, he would be truly initiated into the *Zhen Sui Shu*.

Of course, to take a step back, if you don't take that thing, it's okay to have the Mountain Lord come over!

(End of Chapter)