“Is it over?”

With a breath, Zheng Xiangzhu was gone, and the surrounding yin energy finally dissipated, returning everything to calm.

Hu Ma also transformed back into the small shopkeeper of the Red Lantern Society’s manor at this moment, still feeling somewhat unreal.

Looking down, all that remained were extinguished braziers, incense sticks burned down to two short and one long, a scattered pile of rice, the Yin Bone Jade pressed on the rice, several tattered scarecrows with many signs of tearing, and… an insignificant old tree stump.

Could such meager things have killed the great evil spirit, the Green-Robed Wraith, who had plagued Ming Prefecture for decades, occupied numerous blood-food mines, raised hundreds of followers, and could even contend with the Red Lantern Goddess?

…And even taken care of a Red Lantern Society Xiangzhu as a side effect.

No matter how Hu Ma thought about it, it all felt unreal, as if everything he had just experienced was an illusion.

But he truly knew that the Green-Robed Wraith had indeed been eliminated.

It was killed in this simple altar, leaving behind hardly any traces. Only a tattered piece of blue cloth lay at the edge of the rice-character circle. Such a great evil spirit, once killed, was reduced to so little.

As for Zheng Xiangzhu, he vanished with a breath, leaving nothing behind.

“Senior, I…”

Hu Ma took a few deep breaths before suppressing the turmoil in his heart and turning to look at the old tree stump.

Then he discovered that the old tree stump was not looking at him, but was instead observing the remaining blue cloth in the rice-character circle with great interest. It extended two fingers and picked it up.

It turned to look at Hu Ma, seeming to want to hand it over, but hesitated. Then, with a smile, it waved gently towards the bushes not far away, saying, “Little Hong Tang, come here.”

Hu Ma turned his head and saw that Little Hong Tang had been squatting on a tree branch the whole time.

For the past few days, the area had been plagued by evil spirits, and Little Hong Tang had followed him, but couldn’t offer much help.

After arriving at Old Yin Mountain, she had stayed close, but only dared to stay a short distance away, afraid to approach the altar.

Now that the ritual was complete and the old tree stump had called her, she slid down from the tree.

She obediently came before the old tree stump, gently pressed her small hands to her waist, gave a respectful bow, and said sweetly, “Mountain Lord Grandpa, good fortune…”

“Such a good child.”

It seemed the old tree stump actually knew Little Hong Tang…

But this shouldn’t be surprising. Little Hong Tang had been with Grandma for so long and was more familiar with Grandma’s old friends than he was.

The old tree stump praised Little Hong Tang, then carefully pinched the blue cloth in its hand, not as if afraid, but as if disliking its dirtiness. It gently tore at it, ripping off the fragments of blue cloth stained with blood, scorched marks, or cut marks.

Only the cleanest and smoothest piece in the middle remained. It pulled Little Hong Tang’s arm over and gently tied it to her wrist.

It even tied it in the shape of a bow.

Then, smiling, it patted her and said, “It’s alright, go play!”

“?”

Hu Ma was shocked. Don’t just give things to children…

That was the Green-Robed Wraith! After the Green-Robed Wraith was eliminated, whatever remained couldn’t be simple.

Giving this thing to Little Hong Tang was too dangerous…

…Or maybe give it to me?

“Something with heavy yin energy isn’t suitable for you to carry.”

The old tree stump, knowing people’s hearts and their good or evil, simply explained, “Just let the child play with it. Little Hong Tang is quite well-behaved.”

“She followed your Grandma before. Every time she left the village to play, she would greet me.”

“After you took her away from the village, I missed her.”

“……”

“Although you said that, I still feel like you might be a little biased…”

Hu Ma thought to himself. Of course, he wasn’t jealous of Little Hong Tang. He was actually thinking about other things.

The Meng family wanted to force him to show himself, but he didn’t let them have their way, nor did he expose his identity. But he spent so much effort, entering the altar with his life force at the risk of injury, just to pass on a message to himself?

Logically speaking, the two sides should have deep-seated hatred. His original body had even been killed by the Meng family. But he kept mentioning the Stone Pavilion Covenant…

What exactly did this Stone Pavilion Covenant refer to? What did he mean by saying that the other nine clans were waiting for him to return?

He currently knew nothing about the Ten Clans, but the other party had come all the way just to tell him these few sentences in person. There must be a reason for it. In other words, he originally thought that he would understand something as long as he heard these few sentences?

But what the hell am I supposed to understand!

“I know you want to ask about the Stone Pavilion Covenant.”

The old tree stump, sensing Hu Ma’s gaze, said softly, “But I can’t answer that question for you. That’s a matter for the Ten Clans, and I know nothing about its contents.”

“Even the matter of the Ten Clans not being allowed to attack each other was something your Grandma told me before she left Old Yin Mountain. A large part of her reason for returning was to make this covenant effective for the Hu family again.”

“Of course, she wasn’t completely at ease before, so she entrusted me with it.”

“Looking at it now, this covenant still has some effect. At least, the person the Meng family sent this time didn’t really have any intention of killing you.”

“……”

“No intention of killing me?”

Hu Ma thought to himself silently. On the surface, that was indeed the case.

Although it was possible that the Meng family member simply realized that he couldn’t see through him, or that he wasn’t confident.

This time it was just a conversation, and no killing was attempted.

But the more it was like this, the more ridiculous it became. He really just wanted to force him to show himself and have a few words with him. But for the sake of these few words, a great evil spirit of Ming Prefecture died, a Xiangzhu of the Red Lantern Society died, and more importantly…

…How many ghost walkers died, how many common people died?

Reincarnators were no strangers to treating human lives as numbers and chips.

But experiencing it firsthand still felt somewhat oppressive.

“So at this time…”

As the old tree stump spoke, it seemed to reveal a faint smile, “I also want to ask you.”

“How does it feel to be a member of the Hu family?”

“……”

“Feel?”

Hu Ma was somewhat surprised by the old tree stump’s question. He looked up at it and saw the smile in its eyes, but didn’t answer.

“I don’t know, Senior.”

He was silent for a long time before speaking softly, his voice carrying a kind of ease brought about by honesty. “Because I didn’t think about being a member of the Hu family. I just did some things that I wanted to do.”

“……”

“Hmm?”

The old tree stump was somewhat taken aback by this question. It looked at Hu Ma and, after a long time, sighed softly, “That’s a surprisingly good answer…”

“You handled this matter more satisfactorily than I imagined.”

“Not because you can indeed use the Hu family’s techniques, but because I didn’t expect you to ask for the name of that Meng family child.”

“If it were someone else, even when your father was still alive, he might have been angry, but he wouldn’t have held onto the Meng family member like you did.”

“……”

Hu Ma was slightly stunned. He had no impression of his previous life’s father, only knowing that he had passed away early. But the old tree stump’s words made him feel something strange.

He subconsciously asked, “Why?”

“Because the Ten Clans have the dignity of the Ten Clans.”

The old tree stump said faintly, “I said that this Meng family child was actually following the rules.”

“Since he was following the rules, he generally wouldn’t bully people like this. Your Grandma’s arrangements in Old Yin Mountain initially didn’t allow me to interfere, and that was for the sake of the rules. She wanted to return to the ancestral shrine to protect you, and that was also to uphold the rules.”

“……”

Hu Ma was momentarily stunned, and he didn’t quite understand the old tree stump’s words.

He slowly prevented the words in his heart from spilling out, using words that were more in line with the world’s understanding, and said slowly, “I didn’t think so much.”

“I just think that everyone is the same. Is his face really that much bigger than mine?”

“……”

“?”

The old tree stump was somewhat startled by these words. After a long time, it smiled faintly and said, “Perhaps it’s because you’re a member of the Hu family, but you’ve never really grown up in the Hu family. These words aren’t really in line with the identity of a member of the Ten Clans.”

“However, I find them very pleasing to the ear…”

As it spoke, it laughed, as if it had let go of something in its heart, and said with a smile, “In my opinion, you now have the qualifications to go to the Village of the Childless and retrieve that token.”

“……”

“Token?”

Hu Ma was slightly stunned. “Grandma left more than just a magic weapon in the Village of the Childless. There’s also a token?”

He was slightly tempted. “Senior, can I go retrieve it now?”

The old tree stump said, “Not yet.”

Hu Ma was slightly stunned. “Why did you change your mind again? Why can’t I?”

“Because your skills aren’t good enough yet…”

The old tree stump sighed and said, “I originally thought you would learn the skills first and then develop this qualification. I didn’t expect you to seem to have gained this qualification first…”

“But before entering the Prefecture, don’t even think about it. You won’t even be able to carry that token.”

“……”

“Entering the Prefecture…”

Hu Ma pondered for a moment. His skills as a Year Keeper had only just reached the stage of Ascension, and there was still a distance to go before entering the Prefecture.

As for the skills in the Year-Suppressing Manual, at a glance, they were all altars, incantations, and methods of suppressing evil. All were techniques, but there seemed to be no mention of corresponding cultivation systems such as Ascension and Entering the Prefecture.

Of course, Hu Ma also knew this time that the Year-Suppressing Manual was actually in the same system as the Ghost Walkers. Perhaps this Entering the Prefecture was to be calculated according to the rules of the Ghost Walkers.

He still had lingering unease in his heart, but he also knew that he couldn’t stay in the mountains any longer. There were many things outside the mountains, so he could only turn it into a soft sigh, cheer up, and thank the old tree stump for its protection.

He agreed that after he had the skills to retrieve the things Grandma had left in the Village of the Childless, he would return to the mountains to visit the old tree stump again. Then, he packed up his things and quickly left the mountains.

Hu Ma rode onto the horse, and Little Hong Tang sat in his arms, looking at the blue cloth on her arm from time to time and pulling at it.

“What does it feel like?”

Hu Ma always felt that this blue cloth wasn’t simple, so he subconsciously asked.

Little Hong Tang said, “It doesn’t feel like anything. It’s just that the flower isn’t tied very nicely…”

“……”

Hu Ma didn’t know how to answer, so he could only say, “Let’s talk about it when we’re further away. We’re still in the Old Yin Mountain area…”

(End of Chapter)