Chapter 520 Grandma's Obsession

"Little Huma, are you alright? Say something..."

"You little bastard, don't scare your Second Grandpa. You're still young, I can't afford to lose my life for you..."

"Which evil spirit is so audacious as to dare conjure this demon mist to block our way? If I catch him, I'll stuff him in a latrine pit..."

"Ptooey, ptooey, the hell with it!"

"..."

The Second Grandpa and Old Sheepskin Grandpa, who were waiting outside the woods, were already frightened out of their wits.

They were burning incense and making offerings outside when they suddenly heard gusts of wind and ghostly wails coming from the direction of Juéhù Village (Village of the Bereft). Before long, they heard thunder and lightning, and even where they stood, the sky turned gloomy, as if darkness had suddenly descended.

Just as they were deeply worried, they heard a final roar, and the earth trembled, sending sand and stones flying. They were a full li away from the village, but the massive disturbance knocked them on their backsides.

It took them a long while to recover, and they saw that the sky had cleared, and a gentle breeze was blowing. The oppressive gloom that had come from the village had vanished without a trace, but they were only worried about Huma. They hurried into the woods to find him.

But even though they were only a li away from Juéhù Village, it took them a long time to reach it. A thick fog had risen in the depths of the forest.

They groped their way forward in the fog, but no matter how they walked, they couldn't find the village that should have been close at hand. Panic began to set in. They searched and called out Huma's name, punctuated with curses.

"Coming, coming, Second Grandpa, don't curse, I'm coming out..."

Huma inside the village was startled. He hurriedly nodded to the Mountain God, shouldered the box, and strode out.

Mountain people often encounter evil spirits that lead them astray, or ghost walls, etc. The way to deal with it is to curse fiercely. The fiercer the curse, the easier it is to find the way. But they didn't know that what was blocking their way this time wasn't an evil spirit, but the Mountain God...

Hearing the curses, even the Mountain God's face darkened a little...

"Aiya..."

When the anxious crowd saw Huma walking out of the rapidly dissipating mist carrying a stone box, Second Grandpa, Old Sheepskin Grandpa, and the young men who had come with them were overjoyed. They rushed up to him, looking him up and down.

They checked to see if he was injured, if his arms and legs were still intact. Some even secretly pinched him...

...to see if he was already dead and only a soul had come out.

When they were sure that Huma was alive and whole, they breathed a sigh of relief. Second Grandpa reached for the box on Huma's shoulder, and excitedly asked, "We've been calling you for ages, and you didn't answer. How... how is the village?"

"It's all taken care of."

Huma looked at the concerned faces and replied with a smile, "The resentment in the village has been dispelled, and the people in the village have all gone to their respective destinations."

"...Second Grandpa, stop messing around. I can carry this box myself, you can't lift it!"

"..."

"This kid is getting more arrogant as he gets older..."

Second Grandpa's face darkened at Huma's words. "Who in a hundred li doesn't know that your Second Grandpa has great strength?"

"I can lift three or five hundred jin stone locks, one in each hand, like they're toys..."

"..."

Huma couldn't explain. He understood that Second Grandpa saw that he had used up a lot of his power, his face was pale, and his steps were unsteady, so he wanted to take the box. But the key was that he knew how heavy this box was.

Even with four pillars of Dao cultivation, entering the Fu to guard the year, he could only use all his strength to carry it. If he really handed this thing over to Second Grandpa, his old bones would probably shatter immediately.

"Re... Really solved..."

While he was talking to Second Grandpa, Old Sheepskin Grandpa and the young men beside him were stunned.

They turned their heads to look inside, dumbfounded. Now that the fog had cleared, they could see what it looked like inside. There was no black, swirling Yin wind, no oppressive atmosphere that made them feel uneasy, and no faint crying.

What appeared before them was a broken and ordinary mountain village, as if an earthquake had occurred.

They weren't people of the Dao, but with the intuition of living people, they could see at a glance that this village was different from before.

"Yes."

Huma nodded and said to Old Sheepskin Grandpa, "Juéhù Village is gone. Now, there is only Stone Box Village."

"Then this... this..."

Old Sheepskin Grandpa's lips trembled, and he could hardly describe his feelings at this moment.

For a full ten years, Juéhù Village had weighed on the hearts of Mang Village and the surrounding villages, making it hard to breathe. The young women in the village only wanted to marry out, but people outside knew that there was a ghost village next to Mang Village, and they didn't dare come in.

If things continued like this, after a while, Mang Village might disappear.

Old Sheepskin Grandpa dreamed of solving the problem of this village, but now, it was really solved so easily?

Looking at Huma's young face, he couldn't believe his eyes...

Then, when he finally reacted, he suddenly took a deep breath, took a step back, and distanced himself from Huma. Then, with trembling arms, he forcefully arched his hands upward, and his head kowtowed firmly to Huma.

"Ah?"

Huma was startled. He had always been afraid of receiving people's kowtows, let alone those of such an old age? Such a solemn ceremony towards himself?

He was still carrying the box on his shoulder, so he hurriedly reached out with his other hand to help him up.

But Old Sheepskin Grandpa had mustered all his strength to kowtow. Before he could pull him up, the young men of Mang Village behind him saw that Old Sheepskin Grandpa had knelt down, so they hurriedly followed suit, kowtowing to Huma in the same way.

A large group of people knelt down at once. Even a few young men from Dàyáng Village hadn't reacted and hurriedly knelt down as well.

It wasn't until others pulled them up that they said in confusion, "I saw them all kneeling, so I knelt too..."

"...What else can we do? We're not dignitaries, it doesn't hurt to kowtow."

"..."

Huma couldn't pull up so many people, and even couldn't jump aside while carrying the stone box. He was forced to receive this kowtow. He vaguely felt that the box on his shoulder seemed to have lightened a bit.

He was slightly touched and didn't speak.

He thought of these kowtows as not being for himself, but for the stone box on his shoulder, or for what was inside the box.

The Hu family, who guarded the year in the town, had always had little luck, but being grateful to others like this might accumulate some Yin virtue.

"This was originally promised by Grandma, and I just finished what Grandma didn't have time to do back then. There's really no need for you to praise me like this, Grandpa Sheepskin."

Huma sighed softly and said, "But in any case, it's good that the matter is resolved. Second Grandpa, Old Sheepskin Grandpa, shall we go back to the village and talk?"

"Yes, yes, back to the village, set up a banquet, set up a banquet."

Second Grandpa saw Old Sheepskin Grandpa kowtowing respectfully on the ground, his dark face still extremely solemn, but he was smiling inwardly.

He was an unschooled guard of the year, and Old Sheepskin Grandpa was a self-taught ghost walker. One had more strength, and the other had more reputation. One wanted to learn skills when he was young, but delayed marrying a wife, and the other was too poor, and his wife had long run away with a peddler.

Although they were both rookies, the two old guys had always been competing seriously, both openly and secretly wanting to win. And now, it seemed that he had won big?

Therefore, his voice was even louder than Huma's, "The matter of Juéhù Village... Stone Box has been resolved, we have to send off these old neighbors as well, let's all go back to the village with us, set up a feast, and play some music..."

In fact, what Second Grandpa was thinking was that Dàyáng Village had produced someone even more capable than Grandma, which was the most worthy thing to celebrate.

In addition, now that the matter in Juéhù Village has been resolved, the people living in the surrounding area are also more at ease, which is of course worth celebrating. It's just that the affairs of the living cannot overshadow the affairs of the dead, so what he is calling out at this moment can only be the matter of sending off these old neighbors.

One more point, now that Little Huma is promising, has great skills, and is also a supervisor on the blood food mine.

Shouldn't he help him build his reputation in advance?

If he really wants to take people to help at the mine next spring, where will he grab them temporarily?

After all, it's his own business. If he wants to take people, he has to take the most capable meat cutters. Usually, when going to other people's mines, he has to bring more greenhorns, even if they are not skilled at work, they can cheat a couple of wages. But for his own mine, he doesn't want greenhorns.

When Old Sheepskin Grandpa saw Second Grandpa shouting like this, he also got up and shouted, "Set up a banquet, set up a banquet, our village will take care of it."

Second Grandpa said, "People from our village, drink in our village."

Old Sheepskin Grandpa said, "Going to your village, our village will also take care of the feast."

As they spoke, everyone became cheerful and surrounded Huma to Dàyáng Village. Some were busy digging homemade earth wine from the kiln, and some were going to Mang Village to lead sheep and catch chickens.

The older people were busy going to the old fire pit to burn incense, saying that the ancestors were blessed, and that a capable person had emerged from the village, so the matter of Juéhù Village had been resolved smoothly, and the entire village had no small amount of fortune!

Not only did he burn paper money himself, but Second Grandpa also pushed Huma to go to the old fire pit to kowtow, to comfort Grandma's spirit in heaven.

In the old man's view, Grandma left behind the matter of Stone Box Village before her death, but it was completed by her own village after her death. This was an extremely decent event, even more decent than Huma becoming promising.

How could they not go and tell her about such a thing, to make Grandma happy?

Of course, Huma would not refuse. He followed the instructions, kowtowed, and burned incense, but looking at the slowly rising smoke from the incense beside the old fire pit, he could feel the difference.

In fact, Grandma was no longer in this old fire pit.

Back then, he had little skill and low vision, and he was not clear about it, but now he understood that what Grandma left here was a wisp of guarding soul, existing by relying on obsession. Now that he had grown up and retrieved the token, Grandma no longer had any obsession and had left here.

If he wanted to see Grandma, he would have to truly go to the ancestral hall and meet her as a descendant of the Hu family.

(End of this chapter)