Chapter 1 I...

No matter how experienced you are, having your throat slit with a knife is a major setback.

The old monkey's eyes widened as he stared at Hu Ma, his withered hands desperately trying to staunch the blood flowing from his neck, but to no avail. Streams of blood gushed from between his fingers.

His eyes, one clear and the other cloudy, both strained to look at Hu Ma before him, as if trying to say something, but his throat was already leaking air, and he finally collapsed slowly.

The once infamous Three Scourges of Mingzhou, the soul-calling beggar who had made such a name for himself, died so weakly and frustrated.

No matter how many tricks he had up his sleeve, facing a close-range Shousui Ren (New Year's Eve Watchman), he was like a chicken or duck waiting to be slaughtered.

"Ah?"

Young Master Lu, who had been frightened half to death by the sudden appearance of his junior sister, was now completely panicked by Hu Ma's sudden emergence from the ancestral hall, killing people like cutting melons, and slitting the old monkey's throat with a single strike.

The Shousui Ren was renowned for his close-quarters combat skills.

The reason he had singled out Hu Ma from among so many Jianghu (martial world) practitioners was because he believed that once he could control this person and keep him by his side, he would have a protector and fear no one.

But now, instead of finding a protector, he had made an enemy who was already upon him.

Fortunately, by this time, he had recovered from the spiritual instability caused by Hu Ma's earlier distant bow. He hurriedly turned around, waving the white lanterns up and down.

The Jianghu practitioners he controlled all raised their swords and blades, blocking him, while he turned back to recite incantations at the paper figures.

But just as he was distracted, a wisp of Yin (dark) energy pricked his front.

His junior sister's laughter rang out beside him: "Senior brother, blame me. I didn't know he was a Shousui Ren. Our Soul Interception Finger doesn't work on him..."

"If it doesn't work, why the hell did you pick him? How about the guy with the flying knives..."

Young Master Lu was both shocked and angry, realizing what had happened. His junior sister had hidden in the ancestral hall, seized the opportunity to attack the Shousui Ren, stolen his bamboo hat and raincoat to wear, and then came out to assassinate him.

But the other party was a Shousui Ren, and the Soul Interception Finger had little effect on him. He felt an extreme headache.

First, he felt that his junior sister had made a bad choice, picking the Shousui Ren. Second, now that the Shousui Ren had attacked, she should be joining forces with him to deal with him first...

As for whether his junior sister and the Shousui Ren were colluding to trick him, he didn't even consider it, never imagining that the two were in cahoots.

What he couldn't understand now was...

...Since his junior sister had the opportunity to enter the old tomb, why was she willing to run out again? Was she willing to risk missing the birth of the treasure just to harm him?

Did she hate him that much?

As he thought, he rolled over in a panic, dodging the Yin Finger, and grabbed the lantern, tearing it apart with force.

Whoosh...

The moths in the lantern flew out at the same time. As they emerged, five or six vaguely humanoid shadows could be seen, fleeing in terror, but they immediately stirred up a gust of Yin wind that swept toward Hu Ma's face.

But it only slowed his steps slightly before he braced himself and charged forward again.

In a face-to-face fight, a Shousui Ren is more terrifying than a ghost.

"Hero, spare my life..."

Young Master Lu shouted as he fled, reaching the door of the ancestral hall in a few steps.

He did something, and the two paper figures placed by the door suddenly moved, floating towards Hu Ma.

But Hu Ma had long been thoroughly briefed by Di Gua Shao (Sweet Potato Burn) on Young Master Lu's specialties, especially those life-saving tricks that could be used in a hurry, and they had analyzed them all.

If you didn't know the details and suddenly saw two paper figures rushing at your face, you'd probably be startled, but knowing the details, he wasn't afraid at all.

He simply held his waist knife horizontally in his mouth.

His freed hands simultaneously transformed from life to death, thrusting forward fiercely, directly piercing the two paper figures. Then, without stopping, he grabbed the shoulders of the fleeing Young Master Lu, and with a forceful squeeze of his fingers, his fingertips hooked into the flesh, crushing his shoulders.

Young Master Lu opened his mouth and screamed in agony.

But before he could even make a sound, the figure in front of him swayed, and his junior sister's delicate but sinister face appeared.

She quickly took out a stack of paper money and slammed it heavily on top of his head.

Feeling the heavy and cold aura of the paper money, the cry of alarm in Young Master Lu's throat was stifled back, and only a desperate moan escaped.

And in the next moment, the yellow official paper mask on his face was also torn off, revealing his pale face.

It was unknown how much unwillingness and despair he felt, but the paper money on his head had taken effect, and his eyes quickly became dim and lifeless, and the strong expression on his face was rapidly disappearing.

"Swish!"

Immediately afterward, Hu Ma kicked the wooden Young Master Lu away, took the knife in his hand, and ran towards his junior sister.

Seeing his murderous look, the junior sister seemed very frightened and shouted: "Big brother, your grievances have nothing to do with me. In fact, I saved you..."

But Hu Ma ignored her and continued to slash with his knife, one strike after another, one of which landed on her arm. A long piece of her sleeve was cut off, revealing fair skin and a terrifying wound. The flesh was torn and blood gushed out, looking very shocking.

...This strike had to be made, otherwise it would seem unprofessional.

Hu Ma had already discussed it with Di Gua Shao. Everything was easy to discuss in dreams, but in reality, the act had to be convincing. In the eyes of outsiders, Hu Ma was also a Jianghu practitioner who had almost been harmed by this pair of siblings, and he didn't know this so-called junior sister, so there was no reason not to attack.

Even if there were no outsiders watching, he still had to act. Of course, even this strike that injured her had been discussed in advance. Di Gua Shao had said: "If you're going to cut, cut the left hand. I still need my right hand to take the treasure and draw paper money!"

"But you have to control your strength. Don't dislocate my arm. I don't have the Shousui Ren's skill in dismembering limbs."

"..."

"Ouch..."

The junior sister was injured and cried out, turning to leave, while scattering a large handful of paper money.

Hu Ma knew how powerful this paper money was, and hurriedly retreated. Fortunately, the Shousui Ren's movements were as ghostly as a spirit, so he wouldn't be hit on the head by the paper money.

But this delay had widened the distance.

The junior sister rushed to the donkey cart, took out a small knife, cut the reins, patted the donkey's butt, chanted something, and then went to the front of the donkey cart and took off the black cloth covering the donkey's head.

Immediately, the donkey foamed at the mouth and pawed the ground fiercely, looking like it had gone mad.

Hu Ma had just wanted to catch up when the donkey, breathing heavily, charged head-on at him. Such a large animal, now crazed, had a force that even Hu Ma was a little afraid of. He hurriedly took a step back and fought the donkey with his knife.

Twisting his body to avoid the donkey's bite, he reached out and strangled its neck.

First, he punched the donkey's face a couple of times, and then used his strength to throw the donkey to the ground, and then pressed it down firmly, not letting it stand up. The man and the donkey wrestled for a long time, and the donkey's madness gradually subsided, and its struggling power also weakened.

Only then did Hu Ma turn around and pull a needle out of the donkey's butt, and the donkey finally became docile.

"Huff..."

Taking a few heavy breaths, he looked up and saw Little Red Bud propping her chin up, squatting not far away, staring at him with wide eyes.

A monkey, half-dead, was huddled not far away, seemingly badly beaten by Little Red Bud.

Hu Ma said, "What's wrong?"

Little Red Bud looked admiringly: "Brother Hu Ma is so amazing, he can beat this donkey..."

"?"

Hu Ma didn't know what to say for a moment. Logically speaking, Little Red Bud was really praising him now, but why did it sound like sarcasm?

"Stay put!"

Hu Ma patted the donkey's head before getting up to check.

He saw that while he was wrestling with the donkey, Di Gua Shao had secretly taken the Young Master Lu, who had been subdued by her, away. After the yellow official paper mask was removed from Young Master Lu's face, the Jianghu practitioners in the field with yellow paper on their faces also stopped.

Hu Ma peeled off the yellow paper from their faces and saw that they were also staring blankly, with no reaction even if he waved his fingers in front of their eyes.

"They're useless."

Hu Ma sighed softly. These Jianghu practitioners had been hit by the Xinghun (Punishment Soul) Sect's technique, and their souls were in chaos.

Even if the caster was killed, they would become idiots.

For the rest of their lives, they probably wouldn't even be able to eat or sleep, but he had no way to help them.

As for Young Master Lu's departure, it was something he and Di Gua Shao had discussed in advance.

For Di Gua Shao, she had to turn her head around, and she couldn't obtain the treasure left by her master without subduing this Senior Brother Lu.

"My senior brother is both ruthless and bad, but he's very simple..."

When Di Gua Shao told him this, Hu Ma was a little surprised: "He only thought that Master loved me, gave me two of the three unique skills, and gave me the news of the treasure planting here and the bones and birthdates of the Ma family descendants, deciding that I would inherit this sect."

"But he doesn't know that only one person can inherit our sect. The three unique skills, lacking any one of them, make it impossible to obtain the treasure."

"Master certainly loves me, but he didn't favor me on this matter. So, in essence, only by solving the other can the two of us fully acquire Master's abilities and obtain this treasure."

"I didn't know it at first, but as soon as I entered the old tomb, I understood this matter, so I had to turn around and ask you to help me. I had to take him down."

"..."

Di Gua Shao's cleverness lay in always being able to fathom her master's thoughts and knowing the true key to this treasure hunt early on.

But since she wanted to make a move, subduing her Senior Brother Lu was the best policy.

She couldn't kill him. If she really killed him, she would only have two unique skills and still couldn't obtain the treasure. Moreover, if she really killed him, Young Master Lu's family fortune would be gone.

"I've already taken a lot of risks learning my skills at the Zhuangzi (estate) under the Red Lantern Society, but I didn't expect that in their Xinghun (Punishment Soul) Sect, they would plot against each other, harming each other. Two disciples are destined to live only one, which is even more risky..."

Hu Ma thought silently for a while, feeling a chill down his spine. He sighed softly and prepared to clean up the things in the field and leave.

Suddenly, he raised his head and was shocked.

He actually saw a wooden man outside the ancestral hall, holding half of a fierce knife, tilting his head and looking at him.