Twilight Boundary-Chapter 500 - 492: Human Pillar

"Are you serious? It works like that?"

Hu Ma was caught off guard by Sweet Potato’s words. "Why are there so many?"

"Ah, there’s no choice..." Sweet Potato sighed. "None of the three signature skills my Master taught me are any good, really. The problem is, he doesn’t know anything else, so I have to figure things out myself. Some powerful Skills are hard to learn, but others are quite simple and still very potent..."

Hearing her say this, Hu Ma suddenly realized, What simple and powerful Magic is ever legitimate?

Previously, just dealing with the Five Evil Altar Envoys of the Five Evil Gods, she had sacrificed three villages in one go. Although she came up with plenty of justifications, she left the three Reincarnators, including herself, speechless.

It was hard to criticize her. But while making up excuses was easy, she couldn’t fool the ghostly gods. Each and every karmic debt was recorded on the Karma Soul. By now, wasn’t she so deeply mired in debt that she no longer worried about it?

"It’s just..."

Although he understood this in his heart, he couldn’t help but sigh. He turned to Sweet Potato. "Aren’t you afraid of carrying so much karmic debt?"

He remembered Sweet Potato used to discuss matters like reincarnation and retribution with him. But that was only because Miss White Wine, thinking Sweet Potato was too bold and reckless, had deliberately pointed these things out to caution her. Why did she seem less and less concerned now?

"I’m only sixteen..." Sweet Potato said. "Why fear debts that are more than a hundred years away?"

"Besides, I think this world’s values are off. For example, those bandit villages, and the people I usually catch to practice my Skills on—they’re clearly bad people, yet it’s still counted as me damaging my yin virtue..."

"It’s fine. As long as we Reincarnators understand me, that’s enough. Who cares about the others?"

Hu Ma was momentarily speechless, sighing inwardly. Since Sweet Potato doesn’t care about the price of such Skills, can I really borrow her hand to set the human pillar?

At worst, I’ll just mark this down as a favor and make sure to repay her accordingly! 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Just as he was reveling in this unexpected delight, his thoughts growing smoother and more certain, he heard Sweet Potato ask with eager anticipation, "So, Senior, how do I set this pillar?"

"Hmm?" Her question stumped Hu Ma. "You don’t know how?"

"I don’t!" Sweet Potato said. "Master didn’t teach me."

Hu Ma was taken aback. "Then I guess I’ll have to come up with a Method..."

He temporarily soothed Sweet Potato and then climbed out of bed again.

He nodded at Little Hongtang on the ceiling beam, signaling her to continue sleeping. He then got up, took the punishment official blade from the table, tucked it under his arm, turned, and went out, heading to Calculation’s room next door.

Gently pushing the door open, he walked in. Calculation was sleeping soundly, muttering curses at the ancestral master in his dreams from time to time. He turned over, his breathing growing fainter and fainter, then suddenly flipped back, a small flag clutched in his hand. That’s when he saw Hu Ma’s face clearly.

The eerie light from the window fell on one half of Hu Ma’s face. Though the blade under his arm was sheathed, the chilling, baleful aura emanating from it was palpable, casting a blue tinge on that side of his face.

"You..." Calculation started, his heart feeling as if it had stopped. His voice trembled. "What are you doing, running over here in the middle of the night? What do you want?"

"I’m an old man... I’m not into that sort of thing..."

Hu Ma also let out a heavy sigh. "There’s no other way," he said. "I’ve come to ask for your help, old sir. This Method of setting the human pillar—I still need your guidance on it!"

Calculation’s voice was almost a wail. "Does everyone in your family ask for help by bringing a knife in the middle of the night?"

"Don’t be afraid. I just brought it for self-defense since I was going out at night," Hu Ma said. "But I don’t think you’ll refuse to help me, old sir. After all, we’re like brothers who’ve been through thick and thin, risked our lives together. And about that account for four hundred Blood Food Pills—you see I haven’t pressed you for it, have I?"

"But I... I this..." Calculation had a pained expression and stammered, then suddenly reacted. "...Wait, how did it become four hundred?"

"...You just said one hundred!"

Hu Ma waved his hand. "A hundred it is, then, if you say so, old sir. I won’t argue about the Blood Food Pills, but you have to teach me the Method for the human pillar, right?"

As he spoke, he slowly lowered his head, glancing at the blade tucked under his arm.

Calculation was stunned. The man stood before his bed, blade tucked under his arm. With all his martial brothers living next door, and being pinned down by Hu Ma’s killing aura, he truly didn’t know what to do. After agonizing for a long moment, he finally, slowly, spoke.

"It doesn’t sound too difficult..."

After committing it to memory, Hu Ma was somewhat surprised. He nodded with a smile, tucked the blade under his arm, and left, not forgetting to call back to Calculation, "You’re such a penny-pincher..."

"Is this a matter of whether it’s difficult or not?" Watching Hu Ma turn and leave so easily, Calculation was almost in tears from frustration. "There are deities three feet above our heads, the ancestral master is watching! Just for helping you come up with this idea, the karmic debt I’ll bear is enormous, let alone if I’m the one to tell you the entire Method!"

Hu Ma, however, ignored these details. He returned to his room excitedly and mulled over the Method Calculation had described, feeling increasingly confident.

The matter could not be delayed; the Hu Family’s keepsake had to be obtained as soon as possible. He couldn’t afford to dawdle any longer.

So, starting that very night, he first notified Sweet Potato, explaining the Method to her in detail. They also agreed on the relevant timing and the specifics of performing this Skill.

「The next morning.」

After a hearty meal, he called Zhou Datong, Zhou Liang, and Zhao Zhu over. "There’s nothing urgent at the mine right now," he told them. "A couple of days ago, I went out with Brother Calculation to visit the Lantern Festival, leaving you all to guard the mine. Day after day, you don’t even see a pretty girl around. Now that I’m back, I’ll give you some time off."

"Take some Silver from the accounts, and take everyone in this valley out for a stroll. Lead out the livestock from the mine too. When you get to the market, groom them if they need grooming, and reshoe them if they need new shoes."

"Enjoy yourselves thoroughly for two days. Just remember... no sneaking into those kinds of alleys!"

Zhou Datong and the others were overjoyed at his words, and a cheer went up that nearly shook the valley. They were all robust young men, eighteen or nineteen years old; who could endure such loneliness day in and day out?

Back at the Manor, they at least interacted with people from the surrounding villages. But here at the mine, the only ones they could interact with were ghosts...

Only Calculation knew what Hu Ma was up to. As soon as Zhou Datong and the others came asking for Silver, he immediately said resentfully, "Take it, take it all! I’m going with you too. I didn’t get to enjoy the Lantern Festival enough last time..."

Hu Ma chuckled. "I was afraid you’d be tired. I thought you’d stay in the valley this time!"

"You trust me that much?" Calculation glanced at Hu Ma. "But I still don’t dare stay alone with you," he said. "Whatever it is, let’s discuss it three days from now when I return!"

With that, the group quickly packed, took the Silver, changed their clothes, and each led a horse from the stables. By noon, Hu Ma was the only living person left in the entire valley. Not another living creature remained.

Hu Ma then calmed his mind. He first went to the wooden shed at the mine and selected a good black wooden coffin for himself. He found a suitable spot, placed it upright on the ground, took out the coffin lid, and set it aside. Then, he sat down quietly, practicing his cultivation while waiting for nightfall.

As night fell, heavy darkness enveloped the valley. Since the workers were gone, not even a single lantern was lit; everything was pitch black. He slowly opened his eyes. First, he circled the coffin, sprinkling a ring of stove ash around it. Then, he brought out four oil lamps and lit them.

He planted a stick of One Incense nearby to keep track of time. He continued with his detailed preparations, silently waiting for the appointed two-hour mark.

When the time was almost upon him, he straightened his clothes and affixed a yellow talisman to his forehead. Then, holding the coffin lid himself, he stepped into—or rather, stood inside—the upright coffin.

Outside, Little Hongtang was stretching her neck to peek. Hu Ma, from inside, tried the lid and found it difficult to secure. He didn’t know how others managed to get in and out of these things, so he had no choice but to ask Little Hongtang for help. She ran over and carefully fastened the lid for him.

"Little Hongtang, you should hide outside too. Play until daylight, then come back!" Hu Ma instructed Little Hongtang in a muffled voice from inside the coffin. She nodded obediently, picked up her basket, and skipped away.

And so, the valley grew even quieter. There was only the upright black coffin and the four oil lamps. Wind blew constantly through the empty valley, swirling around, passing through and then leaving, yet whenever it reached the stove ash barrier outside, it would turn back, unable to extinguish the oil lamps.

He didn’t know how long he waited. When the stick of One Incense he had lit for timing had less than a quarter remaining, he heard the sound of rustling footsteps from outside the valley. Moments later, a pretty head, adorned with a jade hairpin that swayed with her movements, peeked in.

Hu Ma was in the coffin. He had already set up the altar, though he wasn’t using any Mana. By the candlelight in front of the coffin, he could see her appearance. It was indeed Sweet Potato, arriving as promised. She walked with a slight limp, but it was much better than before. He guessed she had treated her leg, though it hadn’t healed completely yet.

She had arrived a little early. Seeing no one in the valley, she muttered to herself, then clasped her hands behind her back and began to wander around. She inspected the cupboards in the main hall and even peered into the urn used for storing rice.

Finding nothing of value, she went back outside. She even stopped in front of a passage of the Blood Veins, pinched off a tiny scrap of flesh from it, and put it in her mouth. She chewed it for a moment, then spat it out, a look of disdain on her face, as if she found the quality of this ore’s flesh too dry.

After she had wandered around for a few circuits, the One Incense stick used for timing was just about to burn out. Hu Ma was beginning to worry if she was reliable after all. But just then, she turned around at precisely the right moment and stood before Hu Ma’s coffin. From her bundle, she took out two crumpled wads of paper.

She slowly smoothed them out and propped them up with a twig she picked up from nearby, creating two free-standing paper men. They had powdered white faces and rosy red cheeks, looking both bizarre and sinister.

PHEW!

Standing between the two paper men, she took out an iron nail and drove it into the ground before the coffin. Then, she lit incense and began to silently chant the incantation:

"Sky and earth darken, vast and dim. Three souls are absent, seven souls unmoving."

"Your fate is sealed in soil, blame no other. By reincarnation’s offering to the earth, guard your form and return to your place."