Twilight Boundary-Chapter 405 - 401 Inheritance of Friendship

"Huh?"

Old Master Sun, who was muttering apologies to the Red Lantern on the gate tower and whispering to himself, was startled and looked wary as Hu Ma led his men to him.

He wasn’t actually afraid of Hu Ma. After all, since entering the valley, aside from joining in a few shouts, he hadn’t really taken action. His skills remained largely unused, and no matter who he faced now, he was prepared for a fight.

But he feared the Red Lantern.

He’d heard of the Red Lantern Lady’s reputation before. However, since they weren’t from the same state and had no interaction, he hadn’t thought much of it. He thought at most she’d fought the green-clothed Evil Ghost, built a temple, and become a small case god. What was so extraordinary about that?

The Entering the Mansion Shousui were indeed Shousui Old Masters; such evil spirits were to be respected, but there was no need to grovel before them.

But now it was different. He had witnessed the Red Lantern Lady’s prowess with his own eyes. She had descended with a mere wisp of her Mana and managed to drive away the Lotus Holy Mother and severely injure the Witch village’s Evil God. What formidable power was that?

If this manager of the Red Lantern Society took this chance to wield the Red Lantern Lady’s power against him, he would be in deep trouble.

"No need to worry, Old Master."

Hu Ma glanced at him and said calmly, "Our Red Lantern Lady isn’t one to be unforgiving when she’s in the right. She simply dislikes unruly behavior. Earlier, when you entered our mine to cause trouble without so much as a greeting, it was only right that you suffered a loss."

"But now that the misunderstanding is resolved, and we are all of the Shousui Lineage, why insist on being unforgiving?"

"..."

Seeing Hu Ma’s polite demeanor and respectful words, Old Master Sun relaxed slightly. Carefully observing Hu Ma, he said, "You’re quite the lad. I heard your Master is Second Master Zhou of Old Yin Mountain?"

"What kind of skill must he possess to have taught a disciple like you... No, how should I address you?"

"..."

Hu Ma listened and, with a smile, nodded. "My surname is Hu, and I’m a manager of the Red Lantern Society."

"My title isn’t important. I simply handle matters for the Lady. If the Old Master isn’t convinced, feel free to come to Mingzhou. Our Red Lantern Society has plenty of people; we can certainly receive you, Old Master."

"..."

"Heh, what’s all this talk about being convinced or not?"

Iron Bridge Sun San, the Third Master, suddenly laughed HEH and shook his head, saying, "We’re all acting on behalf of our sects; this isn’t a personal grudge. Shopkeeper Hu, I, this old man, will remember the favor you’ve shown me today and will repay it in the future."

Hu Ma chuckled, "No need to be so polite, Old Sir. If there’s an opportunity in the future, feel free to offer guidance anytime."

Only then did Old Mr. Sun finally relax. He turned around to quickly check on the injured who had come with him, but his expression couldn’t help but turn grim.

That Magic King of the One Coin Sect, whose Magic Body had been forcefully manifested by the Lotus Holy Mother, had too much of his vital essence and life force eroded. Now, white-haired and wizened, he looked as if he had aged twenty years. Even if he were saved, he likely wouldn’t have many years left to live.

As for his disciples, only Zhuang Erchang, whose cultivation was deeper, still had some life left. The rest had already been bitten full of holes by the Gu Bees and were long since dead beyond saving.

This trip had cost him dearly, yet most of his hatred remained directed at those Witches, not at this polite and senior-respecting manager of the Blood Food Gang from the mine.

He grabbed the barely alive Magic King, now devoid of any power, in one hand, and the unconscious Zhuang Erchang in the other, then turned and began to walk out of the valley.

Hu Ma watched him leave so decisively and found it a bit novel. He suddenly said, "Old Master, when Mine Chief Zhuang recovers, he’ll need to return once more to handle the mine’s accounts. When our Lady asks later, I’ll still need to clear the accounts with those above..."

"..."

"Got it!"

Old Master Sun didn’t even turn his head, muttering sullenly, "If he doesn’t come, I’ll break one of his legs!"

"Huh, he’s leaving just like that?"

Observing Old Master Sun’s brisk departure, everyone present looked at one another in disbelief.

"Matters of the society are one thing, and the relationships within the lineage are another."

Hu Ma shook his head, saying, "He came to seize the Stone Corpse for the One Coin Sect, and we had to protect the treasure for the Red Lantern Lady. Those were all official matters. How could there be any personal grudges?"

In truth, he also felt relieved. After all, in this whole affair, the one he feared most was this Old Shousui. It seemed he’d used some kind of Entering the Mansion-level trump card, his body rolling with baleful qi, green-faced and long-toothed, truly terrifying. It’s just that he hadn’t figured out his role, unsure whether to charge ahead or stay behind. He also couldn’t gauge the depths of the situation and was frightened by the Red Lantern Lady’s Mana, not daring to risk his life by using his true abilities. In fact, if he’d truly gone berserk and used that power to wreak havoc in the mine, it would have been a headache for anyone...

As he was thinking, he waved a hand and turned, his gaze fixed on the red-cloth-wrapped ore vein. His expression hadn’t relaxed. He asked Old Man Calculation beside him, "Old Brother, what’s really going on with that ore vein?"

"Didn’t you say you understand everything? Shouldn’t you be explaining it now?"

"..."

"Me?"

Old Man Calculation was taken aback. He had plenty of questions for Hu Ma himself. For instance, how could Hu Ma have withstood that Old Shousui’s palm strike directly? And how could he have forced out the Guest with a single slash, even scaring it away?

But sensing Hu Ma’s urgency, he sucked in a breath of cold air and quickly said, "I, this old man, have indeed seen many things in my life, but this situation... how can I even begin to explain it..."

"All I know is that these Witches don’t truly worship any Witch God. True Witch Gods are those who have received anointment. This group, however, was involved in the Shangjing Great Altar events years ago. They incurred guilt, were exiled here by their original kinsmen, and only then arrived here."

"True Witch Gods are anointed; they wouldn’t protect such condemned people..."

"..."

Another tribe affected by the Shangjing Great Altar incident? Their situation is somewhat similar to that of the Dongzi Li Family...

Hu Ma was slightly moved, pondering. He then spoke slowly, "If Witch Gods don’t shelter them, what is it they’re worshipping so devoutly?"

Having just fought them, he also felt that the entity summoned by the Witches outside seemed different from any evil spirits or Guests he had encountered before; it was indescribably bizarre.

"Perhaps it’s some kind of evil spirit that took advantage of their tribe’s state of panic and confusion, opportunistically posing as a Witch God to trick them out of incense and offerings..."

Old Man Calculation also seemed hesitant, speaking slowly, until he suddenly voiced a chilling thought, "Or even, it’s simply because the Black Tai Sui ate too much, its mind became abnormal, and it created some unknown thing on its own..."

Listening to Old Man Calculation’s skeptical words, Hu Ma seemed to grasp something. He pondered: The entity summoned outside wasn’t a Witch God, but rather something conjured from the imaginations of this branch of Witches who had consumed too much Tai Sui Blood and Flesh... But if it were truly just a figment of imagination, this thing shouldn’t possess a will, or at least not one with clear objectives beyond the scope of the Witches’ prayers! Yet the one outside clearly did. It even had a clear decree: to use the thing within the ore vein to come to the human world... That will...

He was suddenly struck by a shocking thought: Does this will come from Master Tai Sui?

Thinking of this, and then connecting it to the chaotic information that had flooded his mind when he absorbed the Black Tai Sui’s blood qi, Hu Ma took a deep breath. He realized a terrifying possibility:

Was I actually fighting Master Tai Sui just now?

"..."

"These matters are all too difficult to guess..."

While Hu Ma was pondering, Old Man Calculation also sighed softly and said, "The more formidable the Guest or anointed god, the more they dislike Blood Food mines—or, to put it another way... they instinctively fear them."

"Even our Red Lantern Lady is unwilling to be casually summoned to Blood Food mines, let alone those more powerful than her."

"However, there are some Blood Foods that are indispensable to them. Moreover, these can invisibly create even more powerful evil spirits, and some hold an irresistible attraction for them..."

"..."

"Both attracted and instinctively afraid?"

Hu Ma caught the crucial point in those words. He looked deeply at the ore vein, still sealed with red cloth, and said softly, "Then, this thing they’re all fighting for... it seems to be called a Stone Corpse... what exactly is it?"

"That’s precisely what I find a bit strange..."

Old Man Calculation paused, then said in a low voice, "What they’re saying... it doesn’t quite match what I know. If this is truly the thing that group from Shangjing was fighting over more than twenty years ago, then... how could it appear here?"

"Hmm?"

Hearing Old Man Calculation say this, Hu Ma couldn’t help but be surprised and glanced at him.

The Shangjing Great Altar... he had heard about it before from the Dongzi Li Family. But didn’t the Dongzi Li Family say at the time that the Great Altar was set up to understand the origins of Master Tai Sui? Of course, later he also heard from Senior Mountain Lord that the Great Altar also seemed to be related to the previous generation’s Reincarnator, the Great Virtuous Master... And now, it was also connected to the thing inside the mine?

Thinking of Old Man Calculation’s occasionally unreliable behavior, Hu Ma’s gaze couldn’t help but carry a trace of suspicion. This flustered Old Man Calculation, who hurriedly said, "Don’t look at me like that! I’m not making any guarantees. I’m just telling you what I’ve heard from others..."

Hu Ma said, "Why is it that no one else has heard of it, but you specifically have?"

The suspicion in his voice was now undisguised.

Old Man Calculation, upon hearing this, glared. "Do you know what I did before becoming a Worship in the Red Lantern Society?"

"To make a living, I, this old man, used to be a travelling storyteller! If I didn’t listen to all these strange legends, secret histories, and boudoir gossip, how would I have the skill to coax reward money from those tea drinkers?"

"Damn..."

Hu Ma, who had been suspecting Old Man Calculation of hiding something, was now dumbfounded. His answer is surprisingly reasonable...

He sighed quietly to himself. Seeing everyone around looking at him, and then at the ore vein, he thought, Discussing the mine’s mysteries endlessly while it just sits there isn’t going to solve anything...

So, steeling his resolve, he said, "Datong, go get a shovel!"