Having finally gotten the chance, how could he not strike hard? With one blow, he intended to mangle Ji Tang's heart so badly it couldn't be stitched back together.
Then, Hu Ma pulled back quickly, retreating all the way to Miss Red Wine's side before stopping to take a good look.
He saw that Ji Tang's heart was pierced, and it was as if he had instantly lost all strength. His body froze, the knife in his hand clattered to the ground, and he slowly, bit by bit, knelt, his head gradually drooping as he couldn't even support it.
Dead?
Hu Ma frowned at him, then suddenly lifted his foot and kicked a spray of dirt onto Ji Tang's body.
There was no response, but Hu Ma understood even more clearly: the bastard wasn't dead after all.
If he were truly dead, the force of the scattered dirt would have been enough to topple his kneeling body. The fact that he could remain upright meant he still had a breath left.
PHEW...
As expected, Ji Tang, who seemed to have lost all strength and was kneeling as if his life had completely vanished, suddenly took a breath. His dangling head actually, slowly, lifted again.
Both of his eyes were bleeding, yet only one could still see. It stared steadily forward, and this time, his eyes finally seemed to register Hu Ma.
"Remarkable..."
His voice was surprisingly deep and powerful as he said slowly, "As a Shousui, I never expected to die by the blade..."
"I never thought that after spending so many years and consuming so much Blood Food, after finally crossing the threshold of Entering the Mansion, I would lose my life within the very first month—and to the trick door I despise the most..."
"Lady Han..." He paused slightly, then said, "Do you know that I, too, am required to make offerings?"
"Even a Shousui who has Entered the Mansion can die if his heart is pierced and not stitched up in time."
Miss Red Wine seemed not to hear him. She merely explained to Hu Ma in a level voice, "So, for a Shousui who has Entered the Mansion, if you want to truly kill him, you must decapitate him—and vertically at that."
"Even now, though you see this wretch as a spent force, the truth is, he only lost all his strength for the instant his heart was damaged. It surged back almost immediately..."
Hu Ma quickly nodded.
After saying this, Miss Red Wine turned to Ji Tang. "Of course, I know you have to make offerings."
"These gangs on the Jianghu path, whether human or evil spirit—anyone who manages to hold their position for any length of time—which one doesn't make offerings to the Old Master in the hall?"
"Yes, so I need to remind you..." Ji Tang said in a low voice, "You've eliminated too many brothers on the Path."
"Now, with me dying here, you will become a thorn in the side of those above. You won't live long either..."
Miss Red Wine looked at him and merely gave a faint smile, saying softly, "No need for your concern. They're just a bunch of lackeys. Perhaps if they don't come for me, I'll go find them instead?"
"HEH HEH, such big talk. Stronger than mine, at least..."
Ji Tang was somewhat surprised by Miss Red Wine's words, an unexpected expression flickering across his face. He seemed to muster all his remaining strength to finish this sentence, then suddenly took a deep breath, his body straightening slightly.
Hu Ma was startled and immediately held his knife horizontally before his chest, ready to engage at any moment.
But Ji Tang was only gathering his last bit of strength, as if to make one final stand. At that very moment, the cat's cradle in Miss Red Wine's hand flipped.
The silver needle, still only halfway inside Ji Tang's body, drilled deeper into him, and simultaneously, plumes of blood mist erupted violently.
His viscera ruptured, bones shattered; even his head became like a honeycomb.
At this moment, Ji Tang finally seemed completely dead. His body stiffened and slowly collapsed to the ground.
Even Hu Ma, at this instant, truly believed Ji Tang was dead; he could see no way he could still be alive. He stared intently at Ji Tang's fallen body, considering whether to go over and cut off his head.
To cut it vertically.
"Don't rush. Be careful."
But just then, Miss Red Wine suddenly reminded him. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and the red string in her hand flipped again.
This time, it formed an ox trough!
CRASH!
As she formed the ox trough, the surrounding soil exploded and flew everywhere.
From the east, south, west, and north, four towering wooden frames burst from the ground, strips of Yellow Banners waving from them, blocking all four directions.
Simultaneously, a Kongming Lantern slowly flew over, hovering above their heads, with more Yellow Banners hanging down from it.
What is this...?
Hu Ma hadn't expected Miss Red Wine's grandest setup to be deployed only *after* Ji Tang had apparently died.
Knowing something was amiss, he quickly looked at her.
"He just tried to escape," Miss Red Wine explained softly. "He appeared to be at the end of his strength and said all those meaningless things to make us misunderstand, to make us think he accepted his death and was just fighting desperately."
"But he assumed I didn't know. He thought I wasn't aware that after a Shousui has Entered the Mansion and brought their Divine Soul to life through refinement, they have one final method of escape: the Divine Soul can leave the body and seek out a person with a similar destiny for possession and rebirth."
"This method can even be used during combat."
"Just now, when he grabbed you and immobilized you with that green ghost hand, he also had the opportunity to send his Divine Soul into your head. However, he likely remembered I was nearby and might see through his attempt, so he didn't do it then, saving it as a last resort."
"If we'd truly believed he was admitting defeat, he would have returned seeking revenge within half a year."
"Of course, his appearance might have changed by then."
Possession and rebirth? Hu Ma's mind raced with thoughts sparked by her words.
Shousui were indeed hard to kill. They were capable fighters, could survive grievous wounds that would kill ordinary people, and still keep fighting.
But how could those outside the Path know they were *this* hard to kill? That even when one appeared dead, their Divine Soul could still slip away?
And after escaping, they could possess someone and be reborn?
Moreover, didn't this method of possession and rebirth resemble how Reincarnators appeared?
Especially, wasn't it so similar to how he himself had arrived in this world?
"People in this world think we Reincarnators are all Evil Ghosts who achieved possession, and this belief is also related to the Shousui," Miss Red Wine explained softly. "Previously, some Reincarnators, wanting to find out how we came to this world, thought they needed to deeply investigate the Shousui Path. Of course, they ultimately found nothing."
"After all, we are more like reincarnations, breaking through the 'delusion of the womb'."
As she talked casually, she gestured lightly, and the Kongming Lantern floating in the sky descended slowly into her hand.
Hu Ma looked into the Kongming Lantern and saw a moth fluttering inside. He had seen something similar before and immediately knew it was someone's Divine Soul trapped within. Naturally, it had to be Ji Tang of the Beggar Gang, who had just tried to escape.
"After restraining him, I knew he'd try to use this trick to escape in the end, so I was already prepared," Miss Red Wine said softly. "After all, we need to question him about your Shousui inheritance. If we forcefully perform soul extraction, we might not extract it completely. So, I set up this trap to make him walk right into it."
She really calculated every step...
Hu Ma couldn't help but glance at Ji Tang's body, a complicated feeling stirring within him.
A Shousui. He wasn't just any Shousui, but one who had Entered the Mansion.
Yet such a person was completely manipulated by Miss Red Wine, toyed with and killed as if it were a game?
He felt a faint sorrow, like that of a fox mourning a rabbit, and even a sliver of doubt about the Shousui Path began to form in his heart.
Miss Red Wine, standing beside him, seemed to perceive Hu Ma's subtle thoughts. She spoke softly, "Do you feel this Beggar Gang Leader was somewhat overrated, that he died too easily?"
"HEH HEH, he died by my hand, firstly, because I'd figured out his background. Those whose secrets are uncovered by the trick door are as good as dead."
"Moreover, although I didn't use the abilities of the Bridge, I used the insight from the Bridge to spot his weaknesses and design this trap for him. Even so, it still took quite some time, and there was even a little danger involved..."
"Thinking of it this way, do you still feel this Beggar Gang Leader's abilities weren't great?"
Bridge? Hearing this, Hu Ma was truly taken aback.
He knew Miss Red Wine's abilities were vast, but now they seemed even greater than he had imagined.
"Shousui... truly difficult to deal with..." Miss Red Wine sighed softly, holding the Kongming Lantern as she walked forward. With a light snap of her fingers, the surrounding wooden frames collapsed with a crash.
She continued, approaching Ji Tang's body, "Previously, there was a consensus among those in the Paths. That is, every Path could take advantage of a Shousui, but every Path might also fall into the hands of a Shousui."
Hu Ma mulled over these words. The more he thought, the truer they seemed.
The abilities of a Shousui were too honest, all on their person, so when they unexpectedly encountered other Paths, they were indeed easily taken advantage of.
But if a Shousui managed to seize an opportunity and get close, then any opponent truly risked being cut down.
Thinking of it this way, he regained some confidence in the Shousui Path.
"This fellow has a lot of good stuff on him..."
By this time, Miss Red Wine was already rummaging through Ji Tang's belongings. "He had quite a few tricks up his sleeve, just didn't get a chance to use them."
"Look at this arm, nurtured from a corpse. But it's not just this arm; his right leg is also good. Seems to be a Flying Leg? A pity. If he had two, we wouldn't have been able to keep him here. I suppose something must have gone wrong when he was trying to acquire a pair?"
"And these kidneys... my goodness..."
"Do you want to switch them? I can help you with the transplant!"
?
Hu Ma, who had still been lost in thought, was startled. He shook his head repeatedly. "No thanks, I like my original parts."
TSK.
Miss Red Wine glanced at Hu Ma. "Then you're destined to be unable to learn many of the Shousui's trump cards..."