Chapter 24 The Inevitable

Having slept for a full day and night, and with the important news disseminated, and even a rough allocation made, the heavy stone in Hu Ma's heart was finally lifted. When he woke up the next day, he was full of vigor.

Opening his eyes, he felt a lazy comfort. The dim yellow sunlight streamed in through the window, making everything that had happened yesterday seem like a dream.

Feeling his body, which had been emptied yesterday, having taken a good swig of blood, he put on his clothes, folded the tattered Daoist robe, put on the robe of a blood food gang steward, tied the green belt around his waist, put on cloth shoes, and got up to go out.

It was already the morning of the third day. The thin mist had not yet dissipated, and the town of Stone Horse seemed much colder.

Those commoners who had come from all directions to participate in the Lantern Blessing Assembly had left contentedly during the day yesterday, and the merchants and mule teams that had been trapped in the town before, seeing that the surroundings were safe, had also followed the commoners and left quickly.

With their departure, the Lantern Blessing Assembly held by the Yiqian Sect would surely spread rapidly to various places, and it was unknown what kind of changes it would cause.

"Uncle Hu is up?"

Just as Hu Ma was thinking in his heart, he didn't expect a voice to approach him first. Hu Ma turned his head and saw it was the seventh son of the Sun family. His expression was both surprised and worried.

He was guarding here because he had something to report, but he was embarrassed to speak.

Uncle Hu had entrusted him with forging that precious saber, and it had been forged for half a month. It was time to pick up the saber, but three days before it was due to be delivered, the saber had suddenly flown out of the window on its own?

He didn't know if Uncle Hu would blame him. If the matter blew up, the master blacksmith would probably sell him off just to compensate.

Just as he was struggling, not knowing how to explain the matter, Hu Ma smiled immediately, took out the saber wrapped in a bundle, and said with a smile, "I was just about to look for you. It was dangerous the night before, so I took this saber to defend myself."

"But looking at it, this saber isn't finished yet, with no hilt or scabbard. Take it back and help me finish it. Tell me how much silver I owe you, and don't be polite."

""

"Ah?"

The seventh son of the Sun family was immediately taken aback, both surprised and delighted: "So Uncle Hu took the saber?"

"The master craftsman has been crying in the shop for two days, saying he'd rather pay with his life..."

""

"?"

Hu Ma was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but smile wryly. It was his fault for not saying anything when he took the saber, which had scared the honest master craftsman who was helping to forge the saber.

"Apologize for me, and give him some more silver."

Hu Ma hurriedly handed the saber over and said with a smile, "Where's your father?"

"My father..."

The seventh son of the Sun family first looked around, then lowered his voice and said, "He's gone, he left early yesterday morning, off to do important things."

"About 130 *li* east of this town, there's a Rotten Peach Mountain, where there are hundreds of bandits. Their leader is acquainted with my father. My father went to find them. He originally wanted to talk to you before he left, but that little ghost guarding your door was too fierce and wouldn't let my father make any noise."

"Helplessly, my father left with those friends from the *jianghu*, leaving me here to wait for you to come out. If anything else happens, just ask me!"

""

"This Master Sun is really concerned about this rebellion, not willing to delay even a day..."

Hu Ma sighed and glanced around again: "What about my old accountant? The one who came with me?"

He had just come out and saw that the old abacus room was empty. He didn't see anyone on the street either, and looking at the stables over there, it seemed that the donkey was gone too, leaving only Master Ma, who turned his head away angrily when he saw him, in a very bad mood.

"Ah, Senior Old Abacus, he's gone too!"

The seventh son of the Sun family hurriedly said, "He ran away early yesterday morning, leading the donkey. He left even earlier than my father and the others!"

"Before he left, he asked me for ten blood food pills, saying that he had exerted his power last night to secretly help the Lantern Blessing Assembly be safe, and he was exhausted, so he had to replenish himself well."

"I didn't have enough blood food pills on me, so I helped him scrape together enough and gave them to him, saying it was a tribute to him and he didn't have to pay. He was quite particular, saying it was a loan, but it had to be charged to your account."

""

"?"

Hu Ma was stunned when he heard this. So many dangerous things had happened last night, and this old thing was still thinking about taking advantage?

The key is, even if you take advantage, the Sun family is rich and doesn't care, why do you have to charge it to my account?

He would have to talk to him about the matter of these 10,000 *jin* of blood food pills later!

He moved his feet casually, intending to stroll over to Bu Shi Niu's side, thinking about the direction that he and Er Guotou and the others had tentatively decided on, but suddenly, he saw Fairy Miaoshan, who had changed into plain clothes, leading an old man out of the teahouse across from the inn.

Her expression was excited, and she was about to bow to Hu Ma when she saw him, but Hu Ma quickly stopped her and looked at the old man behind her, who looked like an old farmer from the fields, his eyes lingered on him for a moment.

Several different thoughts flashed through his mind, but in the end, he just sighed softly and said to them, "Right now, what exactly is the relationship between me and Bu Shi Niu?"

"Ah?"

Fairy Miaoshan was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting that after going through such a thing together, Hu Ma would ask such an alienating question. But the old farmer suddenly stepped forward slowly, bowed slightly to Hu Ma, and said in a low voice, "Leader."

"You have passed the three gates and twelve tribulations, cultivated the Great Might Heavenly Duke General Seal, protected the Lantern Blessing Assembly, repelled three thousand Yin soldiers, and even slain..."

"Of course you are our leader."

"Or rather, our teacher."

"Outsiders must call you Leader when they see you, otherwise they are disrespecting our Bu Shi Niu. We can also call you Worthy Teacher, just because you are the destined person who Bu Shi Niu's disciples have waited twenty years for, guiding us."

""

"So..."

Last night, Hu Ma had already met the disciples of Bu Shi Niu, but the situation was critical at the time, and it was not good to say much. Moreover, those demons were all so irregular that even if he had thought of some words, he had no chance to say them.

Now, looking at this old man, he was slightly silent before slowly saying, "Then, if I am curious about some things in Bu Shi Niu, you won't hide them from me?"

The old man nodded lightly and said, "We were originally looking for someone to resolve our doubts, so naturally we dare not hide anything again."

Hu Ma breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then let's go!"

Last night, he, Er Guotou, Miss White Wine, and Monkey Wine had a discussion, and he felt that various things were very urgent, and there were doubts in all aspects. But if he had to say one thing that must be done and was also the most important, it was Bu Shi Niu.

If he wanted to understand all of this, or even sort it out, or learn more about the secrets of the previous reincarnator, he had to start with this Bu Shi Niu.

And this errand of contacting them, of course, had to be done by himself. Although this was a group of rebellious demons, he not only couldn't distance himself from them, but had to actively approach them.

So, he followed the old farmer and Fairy Miaoshan to the front of the main altar mansion, and saw that the mourning hall that had been set up in the first courtyard was still there, but the big vat that had originally been placed here had suddenly turned into ten, which were arranged on both sides.

There were traces of burning incense in front of the big vats, presumably because the consumption the night before had been too great, and they were trying to recover.

After entering the second courtyard, he immediately saw that there were two other Bu Shi Niu disciples in this courtyard, one was the head of the opera troupe, and the other was an old man carrying his granddaughter on his back. When they saw Hu Ma enter, they stood up and gave him a chest-stroking salute.

The etiquette in this world is either kowtowing or bowing with hands clasped. This kind of chest-stroking salute seemed particularly strange. As soon as Hu Ma saw it, he knew that it must have been taught by the reincarnator.

If it were in the previous life, this kind of etiquette would not be strange, but appearing in this world, it always made people feel that this chest-stroking etiquette had a strange and sinister flavor.

But he didn't say much, just raised his head slightly and looked at the old elm tree that covered the sky and the sun. The things that had been tied to the tree had long been gone, leaving only the broken armor, official boots, and the seal hanging on the topmost branches.

Standing under the tree, he pondered for a long time and said, "What exactly are the things hanging above?"

Hearing this, Fairy Miaoshan next to him hesitated.

And the man who looked like an old farmer next to her slowly stepped forward and respectfully replied: "Rotten iron armor, Mount Measure boots, and nameless seal."

"These are all old objects left by the previous leader, objects stained with magic power. Only the leader himself can use these objects. Therefore, although they are exotic treasures, so many years have passed, and no disciple in our sect has had the good fortune to use them."

""

"Is that so?"

Listening to his words, Hu Ma looked up at the tree.

That set of armor and boots had already appeared on his body the night before, but it seemed to be just a borrowing of power in the dark, not really given to him.

Moreover, at that time, he was eager to kill that Second Young Master Meng, and although the armor was on his body and the boots were on his feet, he could also feel that both of them had something wonderful about them, but he had not been able to carefully examine them.

As for the seal, he had not had time to handle it the night before, and he did not know what its effect was.

Now he was just curiously looking at the three things above, and finally his gaze fell on the seal, vaguely feeling that among the three things, this one should be the most important, but he did not know in what form he could obtain it.

Just as he was pondering, he slowly walked past the tree, but at this moment, a breeze blew by, blowing the branches of the tree, and the seal hanging above suddenly fell off.

Coincidentally, it happened to fall into Hu Ma's hands.

Hu Ma was slightly startled, but he did not show a strange expression. He just raised his hand, glanced at it slightly, and put it into his sleeve.

For him, this seemed to be a very handy and natural thing, but it fell into the eyes of the Bu Shi Niu disciples next to him, especially the senior brother, and his eyebrows jumped fiercely, looking at the tree, a pair of deep footprints, with cobweb cracks beside them.

Those were the ones he had made when he tried to take off the seal the night before, and was crushed by the weight of the seal.

End of Chapter