Chapter 21 Keeping the Body

Having witnessed the bizarre things in this world and seen Second Master's amazing abilities, Hu Ma now had a strong interest in the power of this world.

He couldn't wait to ask Second Master to teach him quickly, but before he could say the words, he suddenly thought of an important matter. So, he suppressed his excitement and asked Second Master with a serious expression:

"Does this boy's body you mentioned need to be maintained all the time?"

"..."

This ability was indeed good, but if it was, didn't it feel worse than marrying that ghost wife?

"Of course not."

Second Master was stunned by Hu Ma's words. He shook his head and said, "If all of you maintained your virginity, who would give birth to the children in the village?"

"Besides, Granny only has you as a grandson. If I don't let you marry a wife, will she spare me?"

"..."

He explained, "This is just a method that can allow you to seal the fire in your body and accumulate it. Little by little, accumulate it well. The thicker the accumulation, the greater your strength will be, and the more energetic you will be. Of course..."

He paused, "...you'll also be more greedy for women."

"In short, when your fire reaches the right temperature, you can enter the next stage."

"Look at those young men outside. They are also taking advantage of these two years in Geroushan (Cutting Flesh Mountain) to earn wages. Once they earn enough, they will marry wives and have children."

"Of course, after they get married, they can no longer follow Geroushan, because their yang energy has leaked, and the furnace will be broken. So, Geroushan is actually a young man's job that can only earn money for a few years."

"To have cut meat for sixty years, only your Second Master in the entire village..."

"..."

"The more proud you sound, Second Master, the more I sympathize with you..."

Hu Ma couldn't help but think to himself, and then asked the most critical question: "When is the fire considered to have reached the right temperature?"

Second Master gave him a deep look. "When you see a pig's butt and you're greedy, you've reached it."

"Hiss..."

Hu Ma imagined that scene and couldn't help but feel a little chilled.

However, since he didn't need to maintain his virginity all the time, he perked up and said, "So, what should I do?"

"It's simple, I'll just draw a talisman on your body."

Second Master said, "I'm telling you this in advance so that you can be prepared. Once this talisman is drawn, you need to eat more meat to increase your physical strength, and you also need to exercise more and bask in the sun to make your fire stronger."

"Logically speaking, you were just possessed by a ghost not long ago, so you shouldn't be in such a hurry. Forcibly opening the furnace may cause you to be unable to handle the nourishment..."

"But Granny is right, and you've eaten so much Taishi meat, so it's not a big problem."

"Of course..."

He became serious and said, "You also need to be mentally prepared. Once it's locked, you absolutely cannot break your body during this time."

"I heard that you like to peep at widows bathing in the village... You can't do that anymore."

"..."

"How is that possible?"

Hu Ma looked embarrassed by what he said.

What kind of person was the original owner of this body? Why did it seem like he wasn't very popular in the village?

But seeing that Second Master was so serious, Hu Ma thought of another question: "Is it just not breaking the body?"

"What about... myself?"

"..."

As he spoke, he circled his right thumb and forefinger together and moved them up and down.

Second Master reacted for a moment before understanding. He immediately shook his head seriously. "Absolutely not! Hold it in!"

"It will leak fire!"

"..."

"Okay..."

Hu Ma could only agree, but then he thought of something else: "What about in dreams? What if I can't help it in my dreams..."

He had experience from his previous life and knew that at an age with such a strong foundation, who hadn't woken up in the middle of the night to wash their underwear!

"In dreams?"

Second Master sneered. "That's evil energy entering your dreams, trying to hook you into leaking fire. After I draw this talisman for you, you shouldn't have such dreams anymore... Of course, there are exceptions, but if you really do, if you're still conscious, hold it in. If you're really unconscious, it doesn't matter if you leak a little... Otherwise, how did Second Master maintain his virginity for sixty years?"

Hu Ma immediately thought of this Second Master's heroic deeds when he was young and nodded vigorously. "I understand."

With everything explained clearly, Second Master took a grass basket and had Hu Ma sit opposite him.

Facing such an important matter, Hu Ma couldn't help but feel a little excited and tried to adjust his breathing.

Second Master was used to it and didn't panic.

But it was only learning skills after all...

Not far from this stone house, on a low hillside, Granny, who should have returned to the village, was still standing here. She saw Second Master taking Hu Ma out at night to see Taishi Lord and recognizing a godmother, frowning several times during the process.

She had long felt that this Second Master was reckless and clumsy and not very reliable, but she didn't expect him to be so unreliable.

But she just watched from afar and didn't say anything after all.

"Granny doesn't like Second Master's skills and doesn't want Hu Ma-gege (older brother) to learn from Second Master."

Little Hong Tang suddenly said, "Little Hong Tang also doesn't want Hu Ma-gege to learn from Second Master. Little Hong Tang doesn't dare to get close to Second Master, but it's very comfortable to be by Hu Ma-gege's side. But if Hu Ma-gege learns Second Master's skills, Little Hong Tang won't dare to get close to him..."

Granny slowly lowered her gaze. After a long time, she whispered, "Granny doesn't dislike Second Master's skills."

"It's just that Second Master's skills are good, but he didn't learn them completely."

"Girl, you don't have to worry about not daring to get close to your Hu Ma-gege. No matter how he learns, he won't scare you..."

"..."

Little Hong Tang tilted her head, seemingly not understanding.

...

...

"When others light their furnaces, they use the ancestral ashes from the old fire pit."

Inside the stone house, Second Master had already had Hu Ma unbutton his coarse cloth jacket, revealing his fair, thin chest with clearly defined ribs. "But the ancestors don't recognize you, so Second Master needs to take you to recognize a godmother and borrow this willow branch."

As he spoke, he took out the section of willow branch and put it into the fire to burn.

He mumbled some words, seemingly praying for the ancestors' blessings.

Hu Ma estimated that he didn't have the ashes from the old fire pit to begin with, so what Second Master was chanting now didn't have much to do with him.

Probably Second Master needed to chant like this when lighting the furnace for others, so he was chanting it now as well.

After waiting for a while, the willow branch was dried and a section caught fire.

Second Master suddenly looked up, picked up the willow branch, and quickly drew on Hu Ma's chest with the flames.

Hu Ma instinctively flinched, but found that the willow branch with the sparks was not hot, but rather cold and piercing.

It was even colder than when he touched the ghost wood stake earlier.

This chill seemed to be able to penetrate his skin directly and imprint itself on his soul.

And as these ashes drew strange rune shapes on his chest, he felt a cold line quickly traveling across his chest. He vaguely heard countless strange laughter and mockery in his ears, and his vision blurred.

Suddenly, he lowered his head and vaguely saw pale hands reaching out from the darkness and pressing against his chest, rubbing randomly.

"Ah?"

Hu Ma suddenly shuddered and straightened his chest. Second Master, who was drawing the last stroke of the rune, was also startled.

"What's wrong?"

"..."

Hu Ma looked intently and realized that there were no pale hands on his chest, it was just a hallucination.

The shallow gray mark that Second Master had drawn on his chest with the willow branch gave him an unusually clear feeling of coldness.

And the rune formed by this gray mark also gave him a strange taste.

His body seemed to be covered with a cotton-padded jacket, isolating the dissipation of heat inside.

Completely isolated from the outside world.

The heat in his body was just about to be released through the skin, but it was blocked back into his body, circulating back and forth.

"Remember the traces of the talisman I drew."

Second Master looked at Hu Ma strangely, but seeing that the rune was already drawn, he quickly gave instructions in a low voice:

"From now on, the fire energy in your body will be constantly blocked back. And you follow the traces of this talisman and accumulate this fire energy, little by little, and guide it to your lower abdomen. Over time, a huge furnace fire will accumulate here."

"This is your furnace. The furnace will burn brighter and brighter, and you will become stronger and stronger until you start learning new methods..."

"With this furnace, you won't have to worry about running into those ghosts in the future."

"They will retreat three steps away when they see you from afar."

"..."

"This..."

Hu Ma suddenly thought of a question and asked carefully, "What if an evil spirit enters my body?"

"Hehe..."

Second Master sneered. "Even if there really is an ignorant one who drills into your body, it will feel as hot and unbearable as drilling into a furnace. They will run away in a hurry. If they can't escape, they will probably be burned away by the furnace fire..."

"Ah?"

Hearing Second Master's serious words, Hu Ma hurriedly felt it and then felt a little relieved:

"It's okay..."

"I don't feel like I'm about to be burned away at all. Instead, I feel warm and comfortable in my body..."

"Does this mean I'm not actually an evil spirit?"

"..."

"..."

At the same time, Granny looked at the lights in the stone house from afar. After a long time, she sighed imperceptibly and said no more:

"Let's go!"

"..."

Her hunched figure, with a little red girl in the night, slowly entered the deep forest.