Chapter 140 - 139: Human Pillar (Four more updates, asking for votes!)

Chapter 140: Chapter 139: Human Pillar (Four more updates, asking for votes!) Without needing Hu Ma’s reminder, Old Master Zhao, who had understood the whole story after keeping vigil all night, came storming up in anger. He raised his hand, ready to strike the man inside the house on the head. "I’ll beat you to death, you good-for-nothing! What do you mean, ’blown away’?" "I specifically sent someone last night to check if you had spread the lime! How come every other household has lime, but yours doesn’t?" The man, having received a slap from Old Master Zhao, didn’t dare to fight back; he just held his head and said nothing. It was the woman holding the child who, terrified, stammered, "He, he swept the lime away..." But before she could finish, the man suddenly turned his head and glared at her fiercely. She instantly fell silent, too scared to continue. "Still daring to act tough?" Old Master Zhao, being a wealthy man in this village, was no fool. Seeing the man’s expression, he immediately guessed something was amiss, which made him even angrier. After punching him twice and finding his own hand aching, he stopped hitting and shouted to those behind him, "What are you all standing there for? This good-for-nothing is going to cost our entire village their lives! Get up here and beat him! Beat him until he coughs up the truth!" Hearing Old Master Zhao’s words, especially the part about him endangering the whole village, the villagers erupted in a torrent of curses and scolding. In this area, stretching for tens of miles, water had become increasingly scarce. Even the cooking water was murky with sediment. With the dwindling water, a simmering frustration had built up in everyone’s hearts. Now, it ignited, and their eyes turned red with rage. The fear of disastrous years, the anger at his deeds, and the terror of the drought ba—all these emotions fused and swirled around the man menacingly. Hu Ma merely watched coldly from a distance, also signaling with his eyes for Zhou Datong and the others not to get involved. They were outsiders, there to handle the situation, but they needed to maintain a certain boundary. They would deal with matters concerning the drought ba, but they would absolutely not interfere in the village’s internal affairs, lest they invite unforeseen trouble. Seeing the villagers close in, the man began to tremble uncontrollably, shouting, "I don’t know! I really don’t know!" "Maybe the Master you invited isn’t effective! What’s that got to do with me?" "..." "Still have the gall to say it’s not working?" Old Master Zhao took the lead, kicking the man. "If it’s not working, how did your sheep die?" "If it’s not working, why did you sweep away the lime?" "If it’s not working... then why the hell were you eyeing my great-grandfather’s grave earlier?" "..." Old Master Zhao had always been known for his kindly face, a good man in the village. He had lived his whole life without ever letting anyone see him harm another. But when even such a decorous Old Master resorted to violence, the young, able-bodied men of the village showed even less restraint, pouncing on the man and delivering a barrage of blows. The man knew that when villagers started beating someone, it could easily turn fatal. Terrified, he howled, "Stop! Stop hitting me! I’ll talk!" "It was... it was... my cousin!" "..." The villagers paused at his words, looking at each other in bewilderment. The woman holding the child, in particular, froze upon hearing this. Then, she leaped up and started hitting the man on the head. Old Master Zhao stepped forward, questioning him sharply, while Hu Ma, Zhou Datong, and the others merely observed from the periphery. As the surrounding crowd buzzed with discussion, they finally pieced together the story. It turned out the cousin he mentioned was indeed from the same village. Years ago, the two brothers had gone to the city to do business together and had made a small fortune. This man, being honest, had brought his share of the money back to the village to live on. His cousin, however, had supposedly run off with a prostitute from the city. In other words, the woman in the house was not his wife but his sister-in-law—his cousin’s wife. However, with no man in her household, life was difficult. So, he often came over to help, and gradually, he had moved in. Neither the villagers nor his sister-in-law’s parents-in-law had raised any objections to this arrangement. After all, the fields needed to be tilled, and the child needed to be raised. In the village, the custom of a younger brother taking over his deceased older brother’s household had always existed. The cousin running off was little different from being dead, and people had to find a way to survive. "Your cousin, Da Lengzi, didn’t he run off with a prostitute?" "How could he... how could he have come back at night?" "..." At this moment, Old Master Zhao, panting heavily, had also managed to interrogate the truth out of him. It turned out the story about the cousin eloping with a prostitute was a complete fabrication. When the two brothers had gone to the city to "do business," they weren’t engaged in any legitimate enterprise; they had gone there to commit theft. Fortunately, they were skilled enough to successfully rob a wealthy household. However, on the way back to the village, this man, consumed by greed, had bludgeoned his cousin to death. He then hid the body in a secluded spot and covered it with earth. His reason for killing his cousin wasn’t just to take all the money for himself; he had also always fancied his cousin’s sweet sister-in-law. So after returning, he spread the rumor and, by frequently visiting and willingly spending money on her, gradually won her over. However, because she was always worried about his cousin’s possible return, the sister-in-law never formally committed to him. He often regretted afterwards, thinking he shouldn’t have said his cousin ran off with a prostitute; he should have just said he had disappeared, his whereabouts unknown. No wonder. Setting aside the huge piece of gossip the villagers had just devoured, Hu Ma finally understood the whole situation. No wonder I couldn’t find that revenant! There was no grave to begin with—he buried it in some forgotten corner. Moreover, his cousin must have died with grievances, and coupled with being buried in an improper place, it gradually transformed into... something, didn’t it? And this guy, riddled with guilt, obviously didn’t want the body found. That’s why he secretly swept away the lime last night. In fact, that hoe strike he gave me earlier... ...wasn’t because he was scared; he genuinely intended to kill me with that hoe! If I, the ’Master,’ were dead, no one would pursue this matter, and it would all be covered up, right? This is truly... I came to deal with their problem, and instead of being taken out by the revenant, I was nearly killed by a human! "Never mind. These are your village’s internal affairs, and now isn’t the time to delve into them. First, let him show us where the body is!" Only after the interrogation, filled with exasperation, had concluded did Hu Ma step forward and say to Old Master Zhao, "Since he buried it, he must know where it is. Now that it’s daylight, let’s have him lead us to the body. We’ll dig it up, expose it to the sun, and this matter should be resolved." Old Master Zhao, still trembling with rage, finally registered Hu Ma’s words. He kicked the man on the ground hatefully. "Aren’t you going to go?" "I’ll go, I’ll go..." The man stalled for a long moment before scrambling to his feet. He kept his head bowed, his eyes seeing only the hateful glares of the surrounding villagers. He didn’t dare to look at anyone. Making a show of heading outwards, just as the crowd parted to make way, he suddenly shoved people aside and bolted. He understood perfectly well that with this exposed, the villagers wouldn’t let him off. He figured he couldn’t escape being hanged from a tree, so why bother about finding the body? Seizing the opportunity, he made a dash for it. However, he hadn’t anticipated that other villagers were rushing over from outside. Seeing him try to flee, someone quickly thrust a dung fork and a pickaxe to block his path. But after being terrified half to death during the night and then beaten and kicked by the village’s young men, his legs were unsteady. Moreover, perhaps some unseen force was influencing him, as he inexplicably stumbled and fell. The head of a pickaxe thrust up through his chin and into his head. The villagers hurriedly backed away, but then, realizing the implications, they closed in again, repeatedly asking where the body was buried. But his mouth only moved, unable to form words, and the light in his eyes gradually dimmed. The previously chaotic surroundings fell instantly silent. Everyone stared at one another, the fury on their faces slowly giving way to panic. The only person who knew where the body was buried had died so suddenly. How could they solve the problem now? No one had an answer; they all stood there, utterly at a loss. Stunned, their gazes instinctively converged on Hu Ma. At that moment, Hu Ma had also approached the fallen man. Looking at the pickaxe lodged deep in his head, driven upward from his chin, he too felt a sense of helplessness. It should have been a simple matter of following the revenant’s tracks, finding it, and exposing it to the sun... Dealing with this revenant shouldn’t have been difficult, but human affairs had made it so incredibly tricky. Given the situation, there’s no other way. He pondered for a moment, then walked over to the woman inside the house, who was crying so violently she was on the verge of fainting. He said quietly, "Our only option now is to have people search thoroughly in the more remote areas during the daytime. We need to see if we can find it. If not..." "...then we’ll have to use a human pillar." "..." "Huh?" Old Master Zhao and the surrounding villagers were aghast. They hurriedly asked what a human pillar was. Truth be told, Hu Ma was still quite a novice. His knowledge of the drought ba came from Second Master’s tales, some explanations in the Age Suppressing Book, and various insights pieced together from earlier conversations with Sister Wu He and Shopkeeper Wu Hong. But now, facing the villagers’ gazes, which were a mixture of awe and fear, and knowing that inducing panic would be the most dangerous thing, he had to maintain his composure. He looked at the baby in the woman’s arms and said slowly, "Once a person dies, they know nothing. That revenant returned last night to harm livestock, so tonight it will definitely come back to harm people." "In life, he would have prioritized his family and cared for his blood relatives. But once dead and transformed into an evil spirit, he will start by harming his own kin. The saying ’Debtors of enmity and kin’ refers to this very principle." "Right now, this child is his closest living relative in this world. Therefore, when he returns tonight, his first target will be this child." "And in the dead of night, no one can guarantee they can protect the child completely while fighting the revenant. So, our only choice is to use the child’s birthdate, take some of his Essence Blood, and create a substitute." "By using this substitute to attract its attention, we can gather our forces and eliminate it. Only then can we truly resolve the drought problem in this Manor." "However..." "..." As he spoke, he looked at Old Master Zhao. Old Master Zhao, whose heart had risen to his throat listening to Hu Ma, instinctively asked, "What?" "..." Hu Ma let out a long sigh. "You’ll have to add more money!"