Twilight Boundary-Chapter 498 - 490: More than 3 pillars

"The Path’s way of devouring orphans?"

Hu Ma paused for a moment after hearing Calculation’s words, briefly halting his knife-sharpening action.

Just those three words, "devouring orphans," were already enough to catch the eye, and adding "in the Path’s way" lent an even more eerie atmosphere.

Without showing any expression on his face, he merely lifted his head slightly, looked at Calculation, and smiled faintly before slowly speaking, "Old brother, how do you explain this?"

However, upon seeing Hu Ma’s smile, Calculation couldn’t bring himself to smile in return. He sighed softly, looking seriously at Hu Ma and speaking slowly, "What was your initial understanding of it?"

"I..."

Hu Ma paused for a moment before speaking slowly, "My friend here consulted me about this before. He also had some guesses, probably because he has an inheritance waiting for him to claim, and only he can claim it."

"Back then, the enemy had a chance to kill him but ultimately didn’t. Instead, they manipulated his Divine Soul in such a secretive manner that even the only elder accompanying him at the time didn’t notice."

"Perhaps that enemy used this method to lie in wait for him to inherit the family business, seizing the opportunity for possession?" Hu Ma mused aloud.

He had spoken slowly and seriously. From the moment he first noticed the anomaly in his Divine Soul, he had vaguely speculated in this direction.

However, later on, he also discovered that the anomaly in his Divine Soul seemed to be more complex than that. But now, as a descendant of the Hu Family, there wasn’t much about him that others would covet, except, of course, for the Zhensui Mansion.

"It’s not that simple..."

Yet, as Calculation listened to his words, he slowly shook his head, sighing, "Your... your friend being able to guess these things without anyone pointing them out is quite impressive in itself. However, has he ever considered a question like this at that time...?"

"When he was in trouble, was the elder with him a member of the Path?"

Hu Ma was silent for a moment. "...Yes!"

He felt a slight stirring in his heart and slowly nodded. "And a very powerful Ghost Walker at that."

"Being such a powerful Ghost Walker, how could she not see the problem in your friend’s Divine Soul?"

Calculation shook his head, his gaze slightly serious as he looked at Hu Ma. "Did your friend have no faith in this elder’s abilities?"

BOOM!

This rhetorical question suddenly startled Hu Ma, as if silent thunder resonated in his ears. Indeed...

From the moment he first discovered the anomaly in that Divine Soul, he had thought of the Meng family and deduced the possibility that the other party was coming for the Zhensui Mansion.

Moreover, during his confrontation with the Second Young Master Meng, this thing had acted out several times, shouting for the ancestor. This confirmed that it indeed had some connection with the Meng family, or rather, with that ancestor of the Meng family.

But this speculation still left one question...

Was Granny really fooled?

And if she had seen through it, why didn’t she...

"Never underestimate a Ghost Walker’s perception. Each Path has its unique specialties, and Ghost Walkers often distinguish themselves by the ’breadth’ of their expertise. How could they not thoroughly investigate after an incident? It’s very difficult for such methods to go completely unnoticed by a Ghost Walker."

Calculation sighed softly. "It’s a pity, though, that even if she saw it, it doesn’t mean there was a way to solve it."

"The Soul-sewing Technique is the most wicked and the most poisonous technique. It greatly harms yin virtue, and only those who have nothing to fear dare to use this method to harm others."

"Even if your friend’s elder had seen it, if she couldn’t resolve it, it was highly likely that she either couldn’t resolve it or had already made her greatest effort..."

Hearing this, Hu Ma felt a jolt in his heart and looked seriously at Calculation. "How should this matter be understood? Please elaborate!"

"Some things are hard to forcefully comprehend when you’re not at that level..."

Calculation shook his head helplessly and said in a low voice, "This matter involves destiny, qi luck, and blessings. For your friend’s family to end up in such a terrible state, they must have been carrying significant qi luck and significant karma, but they’re almost overwhelmed by it."

"However, for such a family, even if they’re about to crumble, their destiny is too heavy for them to be easily provoked. If you forcibly diminish their destiny, you might suffer a backlash first..."

"So..."

He paused slightly and said in a low voice, "It would be better to use the Soul-sewing Technique to stitch some filth into the soul, thoroughly dissipating the blessings that were already declining. This way, can’t they devour the orphan straightforwardly?"

"It even sounds noble; at least it looks decent on the surface," Calculation finished, pausing slightly.

"Filth?" Hu Ma repeated. Hearing this, he trembled inwardly, vaguely sensing that Calculation implied something specific, which seemed to connect with some of the activities of the Second Young Master Meng.

He asked in a low voice, "And what is that?"

"Your friend..."

Calculation paused and said, "I don’t know him, mind you, but what I do know is that the filthiest thing in this world isn’t anything like dog blood or horse urine from the human world. People in the Path have a consensus that the most sinister thing is..."

"...the thing the Tongyin Meng family is worshipping."

"To touch it is to be harmed; to encounter it is to have one’s life shortened... Your friend is not likely to come across it, but if he does, it could be troublesome..." Calculation warned.

Listening to these words, Hu Ma felt an eerie chill creep into his heart.

Calculation paused slightly after saying all this, as if weighing whether he had said too much. He shook his head and then said softly, "If my guess is correct, the only elder by your friend’s side is no longer in the human world, is she?"

Listening to this, Hu Ma’s expression turned grave. After a long pause, he finally whispered, "Yes."

"This was her response."

Calculation sighed softly. "She sacrificed her own blessings and returned to the ancestral hall to watch over your friend, to prevent more weight from crushing down, and to help him preserve this last bit of his blessings."

"Your friend..."

He spoke slowly, his gaze shifting to Hu Ma. "He’s had a tough life, hasn’t he?"

"It’s alright," Hu Ma slowly replied. "Just busy."

Calculation slowly exhaled and said, "That’s already quite good; otherwise, he might have been crushed long ago."

Hu Ma fell silent for a while, many past events flashing through his mind. No wonder Granny had hurried back then; he had thought it was really because of ghosts sent by the Meng family, forcing her to return and provide support...

...No, in fact, she was forced back by the Meng family’s ghost. At that time, I couldn’t see nor understand it; that ghost was sewn right into me.

He remained silent for a long time, suppressing his regret deep within his heart, then looked up at Calculation. "Since that’s the case, then what should I... what should this friend of mine do?"

Calculation paused for a moment, looking at Hu Ma. "You’re quite skilled now, with your own perception, and have achieved some proficiency in the way of Skill. Since you’re asking on behalf of your friend, surely you have some ideas, so..." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"...What were you originally thinking?"

Damn, truly living up to his name, Calculation... Hu Ma was somewhat helpless. We’ve talked this far; you could actually just be open about it already...

But since everyone was still holding to the last line of defense, and Calculation didn’t really intend to crawl into his bed, he could only borrow that modest cover and contemplate slowly, "His thinking is quite simple."

"Since the other party intends to harm him, merely protecting himself isn’t enough. If he can leverage their strength to fight back, then it hasn’t been wasted..."

"...Old brother, have you ever heard of abilities above the Three Column Tao?"

"Above the Three Column Tao?" Calculation was clearly a bit surprised, muttering in a low voice, "Doesn’t that mean giving up being human?"

Hu Ma squinted at him, choosing not to agree or disagree immediately.

Calculation sighed. "To be born human, the limit is three incense sticks. If an ordinary person has cultivation equivalent to these three incense sticks, they would be naturally free from all illness and could live to be over a hundred years old."

"But trying to break through that Three Column Tao, that’s troublesome. It’s stepping from human into Non-human territory, and all sorts of dharma methods for it are extremely evil."

"You’re young, so you might not have heard. Years ago, there was the Truth Sect in this world, which specialized in using evil skills to harm people."

"For every person they harmed, their cultivation increased by a column. Within their sect, a person with the cultivation of several columns would be known as a True Man of several columns. Like the so-called Ten Column True Man, it signified he’d killed ten people!" Calculation explained.

This left Hu Ma dumbfounded. "That simple?"

"Simple?"

Calculation gave a cold laugh. "That’s killing people, and specifically killing good people, truly good people."

"Moreover, that method no longer works today. With Tai Sui descending, the world is in chaos, and the Path has also been affected. Before, killing one person equated to becoming a one Column True Man. Now, killing a hundred might not even grant you an extra column of cultivation..."

"I’ve heard some demon people even use the Blood Sacrifice Technique to break through their cultivation, but the methods they use invariably involve severe sinfulness," Calculation added.

Hearing this, Hu Ma furrowed his brows tightly. "With all you’ve said making it sound so complicated, what about the people from the Ten Surnames family...?"

"Heh, how could that be the same?"

Calculation sneered. "They have other methods, but those outside the Ten Surnames just can’t learn them. Not only those outside, even the fallen Ten Surnames..."

He paused slightly, looking at Hu Ma. "They can’t learn them either!"

Hu Ma looked at the old man’s mocking expression and remained silent for a moment before saying, "I didn’t think that much. I consulted an expert and indeed understood there’s no stable method to break through the Three Column Tao."

"What you mentioned about killing good people, I don’t understand. But I do know someone who raised insects and cultivated themselves all the way to the Five Column Tao..."

"Ultimately, surpassing the Three Column Tao is, to put it bluntly, about utilizing the extra something in one’s Divine Soul. And speaking of what’s extra... this friend of mine, doesn’t he coincidentally have something sewn into him?" Hu Ma finished, looking at Calculation.

"Goodness..." This whole conversation led Calculation to suddenly realize, and he jumped in shock, his voice trembling, "So, this was your idea all along?"