Chapter 14 Exchanging Skills

This was quite a pleasant surprise for Hu Ma, but upon seeing Hu Ma's reaction, bald-headed Zhang just smiled, waved his hand, and said, "Listen to me finish."

"Old Wu and I both follow the path of the Shousui Ren (vigil keepers), but the skills we've learned are different. Old Wu has a unique skill called Si Gui Yi Men (Four Ghosts Salute the Door), while my master taught me a unique skill called Wu Lei Jin Chan Hou (Five Thunder Golden Toad Howl)."

"His skill, once mastered, can be used with the limbs, even the hands. But my skill can only be used after cultivating it into the five internal organs."

"This also makes both of our skills not quite top-notch..."

"As for him, once he cultivated it into the five internal organs, he ran out of steam."

"As for me, the apprentices I teach can't help much unless they cultivate it into the five internal organs, so I have to do everything myself."

"Actually, a few years ago, Old Wu came to me wanting to exchange his Si Gui Yi Men for my Wu Lei Jin Chan Hou, which would have been beneficial to both of us, but I didn't agree. After all, my unique skill is a level higher than his. If I exchanged it with him, wouldn't I be a fool?"

"To be honest, this matter even made us old brothers a little unhappy..."

"..."

"This..."

Hu Ma knew how important unique skills were to the people of this world.

Clearly, these two people actually needed each other. After exchanging, it would be beneficial to both of them, but instead, they were both calculating and ended up being unhappy.

However, now that bald-headed Zhang had frankly said it, if he wanted to learn this unique skill, how much would he have to pay?

The blood Tai Sui he gave would probably have to be returned, and maybe even the blood food pills rewarded by Niangniang (madam) this time would have to be thrown in?

He didn't mind bald-headed Zhang setting conditions.

Unique skills were the means to make a living. Who didn't value them more than their own life? Even if it was exchanging unique skills, it was normal for bald-headed Zhang's unique skill to be a level higher than Si Gui Yi Men and require extra conditions.

"Then us brothers..."

Having figured this out, Hu Ma suppressed the excitement in his heart and said in a low voice, "Old brother, to be frank, if I want to exchange for your unique skill, how much more do I have to give you?"

Bald-headed Zhang smiled and shook his head, "No need, let's just exchange evenly. The extra is for our friendship."

"..."

Hu Ma was already a little excited hearing these words.

This bald-headed Zhang wasn't a transmigrator. They didn't take steamed buns for dry rations.

They all valued their own unique skills more than their lives. Even in an exchange, him exchanging a higher-level skill for a lower-level skill was already a great favor.

And seeing Hu Ma's reaction, bald-headed Zhang also nodded and smiled.

He also had his own ideas. After all, seeing that Hu Ma was young, had learned skills, and entered the path, and was even making a name for himself in this Red Lantern Society, and some even said that he had caught the eye of the Red Lantern Niangniang...

In the eyes of Hu Ma and others, Yang Gong was now rising rapidly, but in the eyes of other shopkeepers, Hu Ma was not inferior in any way, and was even more valued than the life-risking Hong Xiang.

Now that the Red Lantern Niangniang was building a temple, there were plenty of opportunities in the Red Lantern Society. Making friends with such a young man would allow everyone to take care of each other.

"In that case, I will thank you, old brother..."

Overjoyed, Hu Ma solemnly got up and bowed to bald-headed Zhang.

It was fortunate that he had severed ties with Shopkeeper Wu Hong earlier, so he could exchange Si Gui Yi Men for the other party's unique skill.

Otherwise, he would have to report to Shopkeeper Wu Hong first.

Of course, even now, if there was a chance to meet Shopkeeper Wu Hong again, the exchanged unique skill could actually be shared with him.

"Little brother, don't be so polite. Let me tell you about it first."

Bald-headed Zhang seemed to be a very frank person. He smiled and waved his hand, then carefully said, "The reason why my unique skill is called Wu Lei Jin Chan Hou is because we use our mouths to cast spells, our tongues bloom with spring thunder, and our voices are like toad croaks, so it got this name."

"The five thunders correspond to the five internal organs. Once one organ is cultivated, it can be used."

"In addition, each additional organ cultivated adds one point to its power, and the changes are even greater."

"One organ, one point of strength, one organ, one wonderful use. If it reaches the point where all five organs are alive and the five sounds resonate together, I'm afraid that even the ghost realm transformed by evil ghosts can be shattered with one shout."

"My master died, and my master's daughter is now my wife. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to tell this unique skill to outsiders..."

"..."

Hu Ma became even more excited as he listened to him explain in detail. With one word of true transmission, he understood whether the other party's skill was real or not.

A big profit, a real big profit.

Hu Ma, who was extremely happy in his heart, now only had one worry: "Does cultivating this unique skill cause hair loss?"

Of course, it didn't matter if it did, he still had to learn it.

Both of them were in a very good mood, so in this quiet and empty main room, they talked about their own unique skills. One talked about Si Gui Yi Men, and the other talked about Wu Lei Jin Chan Hou. Both were open-hearted and didn't hide anything.

After giving detailed guidance and explaining the various key points, they separated at dawn.

"Little Shopkeeper Hu, we'll leave first. Come to my Kouzi Mountain for a drink when you have time!"

Early in the morning, after tidying up the livestock cart, bald-headed Zhang bid farewell to Hu Ma with a loud laugh. His disciples were still sleepy and didn't know that he had done such a big thing.

"Definitely, definitely!"

Hu Ma also smiled and said goodbye to him, thinking that his friendship with bald-headed Zhang had truly been established.

This kind of friendship of exchanging unique skills was more valuable than bringing over such a large cart of goods.

"The brothers at the Kouzi Mountain branch are really big eaters and drinkers..."

Seeing that these people had been sent away, Li Waizi and Zhou Datong both sighed, "Don't look at the fact that they brought a lot of things, they also ate and drank a lot."

"They even snored while sleeping at night..."

"..."

Hearing this, Hu Ma smiled at them and said, "Remember these people, and treat them as good brothers in the future."

Some things were hard to say. Maybe Zhou Datong and the others would benefit from bald-headed Zhang in the future and be able to learn his unique skills.

And after sending bald-headed Zhang away and gaining a general understanding of the current situation in Mingzhou Prefecture, Hu Ma cultivated even more diligently.

In the past, his motivation for cultivation came from the goal of making his body come alive faster and the obsession with cultivating that place, but now, he had an additional source of joy.

Bald-headed Zhang still thought that Hu Ma had just started cultivating the five internal organs and that it would take a while to use this unique skill.

But he didn't know that as soon as he left, Hu Ma had already tried this unique skill.

Secretly channeling his mana and stimulating his internal organs, the Shousui Ren (vigil keepers), after activating their lungs, already had sufficient strength. Now that he had obtained the method, he suddenly bloomed spring thunder with his tongue, and a sound like a golden toad breathing, like thunder, came out of his mouth.

Unlike Si Gui Yi Men, this unique skill could use living force and vaguely had the intention of warding off evil and startling ghosts.

While he was secretly cultivating this unique skill, even Little Hong Tang didn't want to stay by his side anymore.

When Hu Ma asked her, she just shook her little head, "It's too noisy."

"It's just too noisy?"

Hu Ma wanted to catch an evil spirit and try shouting at it head-on to test the effect. Of course, he couldn't do that to Little Hong Tang, after all, she was his own and he couldn't bear to.

And after cultivating so diligently for a few days, he made considerable progress, but Zhou Datong and the others suffered.

From time to time, they would look around the village with a troubled expression, "There's no pond here, why do I always hear toads croaking at night?"

At least Hu Ma's face was dark when he heard that sentence.

So, for the sake of Zhou Datong and the others, thinking that the village was on the right track and that the Red Lantern Niangniang's assembly was about to undergo a major change, he called Zhou Datong and the others over.

"The old shopkeeper is gone, and this village belongs to us, but there's no one above us to manage it, which means we have to handle things ourselves."

"Earlier, I saw that you were all quite diligent in practicing your stances, so I'll test you to see how much progress you've made in the year or so since you entered the village?"

"..."

In Hu Ma's plan, this was inevitable. Although the Green-Clothed Evil Ghost didn't know what he was up to, he couldn't let it disrupt his plans.

Now that he had firmly secured the position of shopkeeper, the pressure was even greater. It was impossible for him to bear the burden of this village alone.

He had to teach these workers their skills as well.

Think about bald-headed Zhang, why was he willing to exchange his unique skill of the five internal organs for his own lower-level unique skill?

It was to better train his apprentices. After all, now that he had become a shopkeeper, how stupid would he have to be to do everything himself instead of training apprentices to work for him?

"Ah?"

But when Zhou Datong and the others heard this, they were immediately dumbfounded.

In the past, checking progress was the strict Second Master, and later it was the gloomy-faced old shopkeeper. Afraid of losing their jobs, they didn't dare to slack off.

But now, why was Brother Mazi starting to test them too?

They could only bite the bullet and perform a set of stances one by one in front of Hu Ma.

The Shousui Ren, or rather, when they were still Dian Lu Ren (lamp lighters) before becoming Shousui Ren, would start learning stances. These stances contained the usage of fists, feet, knives, and guns. Once they were broken down and familiarized, they would be considered a tough nut to crack in the martial world.

Logically speaking, Zhou Datong and the others had all learned stances from Second Master, but after all, Second Master's stances were complete, but only three moves were broken down.

Simply put, there was a practice method, but no fighting method.

Therefore, what Zhou Datong and the others were using now was the set that Shopkeeper Wu Hong had taught them back then, which was ordinary but complete.

Seeing that Hu Ma was so serious about testing their homework, these workers were a little unsure in their hearts and could only practice the set of stances taught by Shopkeeper Wu Hong one by one, fearing that they would be reprimanded by Hu Ma.

But as a result, Hu Ma was quite satisfied with them. At least each of them had fully mastered the stances and they were quite in place.

However, they were still lacking in the experience of being seasoned.

But there was no way to change that.

They were different from him. He knew the importance of these stances from the beginning, so every move and every stance, he thought about how to use them every day.

How to chop the knife on someone else's body most effectively, how to pick into someone else's crotch in the most difficult way to defend, thinking about it every day, so ordinary stances would bring a murderous aura, but they were forced to practice, so although they were familiar with them, their skill was not up to par.

But whether in the past or present life, these teenagers were all like this. Who knew the importance of learning? It was good enough to be obedient.

If there was really someone who wasn't forced by others and would practice hard every day, practicing knives extremely well...

...Hu Ma would have to guard against him.

If you were fine and had no illness, disaster, hatred, or resentment, and you practiced so diligently and well, thinking about killing people every day, what did you want to do? Rebel?

(End of chapter)