Chapter 312: Chapter 310: Opportunity to Enter the Mansion
It turned out that the so-called nobles and the so-called Hall Officers were in cahoots, but that didn’t concern him at all.
Originally, Hu Ma had not intended to get involved in the matter between the evil spirit in the well and her faithless lover. After all, the grievances between them had been resolved, and seeing that it now involved Hall Officers and noble families, he was even less interested.
Still, one had to be cautious.
In the eyes of the villagers of Dayang Village, he had truly made something of himself. After all, he was now a small manager in the Blood Food Gang, and if they knew he became a Shopkeeper, they’d think he’d reached the sky.
But as his status rose and his experiences broadened, he genuinely began to feel some pressure.
Back when he had mixed well in the Red Lantern Society and became a Shopkeeper, he had felt that in Mingzhou, he could walk sideways. But thinking about it now?
Back then, his mindset was similar to following a boss at the edge of town, fighting a south city leader and thinking that after defeating them, he feared no one, as if walking sideways in the city really made a difference.
The greatest distance between people wasn’t across a thousand mountains and rivers; it was the word "level."
Over a thousand mountains and rivers, there were still chances to meet, but if there was a difference in level, even face to face, they wouldn’t recognize each other.
Of course, worrying about these things was useless. Cultivation was the most important thing.
After returning from Zhu Men Town, Hu Ma focused his attention on the Cultivation required for Entering the Mansion. Since before the New Year, he had been preparing for this matter, and by now, he had been preparing for quite some time. But speaking of this feeling, there was only one word:
Slow!
It was truly too slow.
The Shousui man’s refining life of the Head required such meticulous care, like sewing flowers, that a single mistake would at least cause a stroke.
Of course, having the Divine Statue in his Lifebound Spirit Temple showed him the way, so the possibility of going the wrong way was not high. But even with just tracing embroidery patterns, it was still a laborious process where speed could not be increased.
To describe it, just refining life of the Head alone was at least ten times harder than refining life of the heart back in the day.
And if the Head was this slow, how about the Divine Soul?
Hu Ma couldn’t help but conjecture about Ji Tang, meticulously studying his experiences of Entering the Mansion many times over.
This Beggar Gang Leader was a genuine Shousui man who Entered the Mansion, and just Entering the Mansion took him five years.
The first two years, he scraped together money everywhere, just to prepare two oil lamps that could separately kill the Head and turn his Living Soul into a Dead Soul. These two years were also when the Beggar Gang was the most rampant and committed the most major crimes.
He had no choice, as he needed Silver Coin and various secret medicines to configure the oil lamps.
After preparing the oil lamps for two years, he spent another three years focusing on Cultivation, while Godmother Cui and others ran amok on the Jianghu path.
It took a full three years for him to successfully Enter the Mansion.
And the amount of Blood Eater Secret Medicine and other things consumed was uncountable, which could all be seen in the notes left from his Soul Search.
Hu Ma even knew that this guy had actually used everything the Beggar Gang accumulated over the years, meant for their superiors, on himself. It could be said he used an entire Beggar Gang on Pingnan Road to support just himself.
This showed that wanting to Enter the Mansion required time, Blood Food, energy, and even luck—all indispensable.
But what about myself now?
Because he had saved two oil lamps, it had already saved him two years. He also had the guidance of the Lifebound Divine Statue, saving him many detours, and as for Blood Food...
...Old Master Hu was now least worried about that.
Not long ago, he had already shown the Blood Food he brought back from the Dongzi Li Family to others.
That small piece of Blood Food even surprised Incense Master Xu, though he wasn’t quite sure, so he hurried to find an old Worship to help look at it. This was an acquaintance, actually, who owed Hu Ma one hundred twenty Blood Food Pills. It was Calculation.
This old man was now familiar with Hu Ma, and the moment he saw it in Hu Ma’s hands, he was astonished, snatching it up to look closer at the sun, left and right, growing more and more surprised.
"Where did this come from?"
"..."
Hu Ma then smiled and said, "Found it on the road, just see how it is."
Since it was something from the Dongzi Li Family, he wasn’t afraid of others tracing its origins, so he dared to joke like this.
Of course, having two full baskets was definitely not something he could tell others.
"Where did you find it?"
Calculation became excited at once, seriously demanding, "Take me there; I want to pick some too."
"?"
Hu Ma was baffled.
"No, it wasn’t picking; it was originally ours."
Calculation grew serious, loudly saying, "Now that the green clothes gang is finished by us, the blood food mines in Mingzhou Prefecture belong to our Red Lantern Society."
"We must find out where this thing was mined from."
"..."
Seeing him so serious, Hu Ma could only laugh and say, "That would be troublesome, it was picked from foreign lands."
"Oh..."
Calculation seemed regretful but was still not resigned and said, "Is it far? If it’s not far, it could still be ours in the Red Lantern Society."
"It doesn’t count as too far."
Hu Ma said, "If you ride hard, you’d reach it in about twenty days..."
Calculation immediately felt regret, seeing that Hu Ma didn’t seem to be lying, and said, "That’s a shame. This isn’t just any ordinary thing; it’s from only the finest blood food mines that such can be cut. Here, why do we have to refine the Blood Food into Blood Food Pills to eat it?"
"Because some impurities remain, it’s better after refining, but this one, it can be eaten right after it’s cut!"
"Actually, our Red Lantern Society can harvest a little like this every year, but unfortunately, we end up handing it over to the nobles of the Divine Incense Distribute without even seeing it ourselves. Even the protector may not enjoy it."
"Frankly speaking, we don’t have enough fortune for such top-grade Blood Food. Only the nobles from those noble families are qualified for such esteemed Blood Food nourishment..."
"..."
Hu Ma was surprised, "Blood Tai Sui, isn’t it the best?"
"Heh, of course, the Blood Tai Sui is the best."
Calculation chuckled twice and said, "But those living in the grand estates, dressed in gold and silver are different from those carrying the buckets to dump night soil, barely able to afford a pair of shoes once the year turns. If you really want to compare, they’re all people, but can people compare the same?"
"This Blood Food, it varies in quality and by location. Around Mingzhou Prefecture, the Blood Food produced in Old Yin Mountain is best. Not just Blood Food, there are many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures as well."
"Unfortunately, our Red Lantern Society can only harvest from these few places in the north of the mountain. Much deeper into many places is too dangerous to venture into."
"..."
Hu Ma understood. After all, Old Yin Mountain stretched vast, with numerous hidden treasures. Even the Blood Food Gang couldn’t explore it all. Perhaps he should talk about it with the mountain lord later.
Having confirmed that what he had was good stuff, he felt more at ease and smiled, "It really is good stuff. If only I could have an entire basket!"
"You want an entire basket?"
Calculation instinctively stuffed it into his pocket, saying, "Having this one piece is enough..."
"Buddy, you haven’t even paid your debt, yet you dare to think about more?"
Hu Ma snatched it back, thinking, When we reach the blood food mine, I’ll certainly settle scores with this Calculation.
No matter what, I temporarily don’t need to worry about Blood Food for the Entering the Mansion stage, but the amount of time required for Entering the Mansion still remains a challenge.
Could it be that I truly need to endure for another one or two years just to cross that threshold?
He had a restless feeling, always wanting to hurry it along.
In his spare moments, he carefully reviewed Ji Tang’s experience of Entering the Mansion several times and found a key point.
This Beggar Gang Leader, Ji Tang, to Enter the Mansion, conducted himself humbly for three full years, though not without hiccups. In his second year of refining life of the Head, he went through a fierce battle.
In the end, the Beggar Gang did too many vile deeds, and often vindictive souls sought revenge, though they didn’t pay much heed to them since they had their Path.
However, due to numerous incidents, there was an accident.
Once, after a vindictive soul found no way for revenge and wailed in the night, a Night Wanderer named Grandma Wu heard it. She was obligated due to incense offerings and decided to handle it.
However, when she came to make trouble for the Beggar Gang, she was outmatched. Ji Tang was not easy to deal with. After a fierce battle, he killed one of Grandma Wu’s incense-burning attendants and escaped. Of course, Ji Tang suffered greatly as well and nearly lost his life.
He had initially thought he suffered a great loss, but unexpectedly, after escaping with his life, he found that his progress had suddenly leaped forward, and he ended up profiting from this battle.
This event left a deep impression on Ji Tang, so he mentioned it during the Soul Search.
Could it be that being chased by Guests leads to a significant increase in progress?
Hu Ma thoughtfully considered this and was somewhat tempted. Who is this Grandma Wu? Should I go look for her too?
Still, it remained just an idea. Perhaps best left alone.
Cultivation progress was indeed important, but so was safety. During the crucial time of Entering the Mansion, provoking these Guests was too dangerous.
While Hu Ma was deeply anxious about his own matters of Entering the Mansion, three hundred li away, on a mountain shrouded in perpetual clouds, an old servant of the Wei clan of Huainan began his careful journey. With his eyes covered, he groped his way along a winding mountain path toward a bizarre temple.
His heart was in his throat the entire way, constantly feeling uncanny laughter around him and countless hands tugging at his pant legs, ghostly touches crawling over his skin.
He feared losing his life without knowing how. Thankfully, luck was on his side, allowing him to actually make it there.
When he removed the blindfold from his eyes, he felt a chill running through his heart. Although the journey was arduous and terrifying, he thought he was going to worship a deity. But opening his eyes, he found himself at what seemed to be a bandit den.
The temple in front was black-walled, with a massive incense burner seemingly made of bronze but covered in a sticky substance, resembling blood.
Inside the temple was a black-bodied evil god with five heads, terrifying and grim.
Looking around, he saw it was a vast, desolate mountain filled with a thick scent of blood. It was desolate and eerie, with only strange rocks and withered trees alongside ghost wood. From their branches hung flaps of flesh and skin, swaying in the wind.
Most strikingly, in front of the temple were rows of huge wooden racks loaded with skinned, bare things, lined up neatly.
Each had a placard, marked with words:
Rotting Bones.
Spare the Torches.
Unenvied Sheep.