Chapter 17 The Corpse

Chapter 17: Chapter 17 The Corpse The groggy youths awoke from their dreams, hurriedly dressed, and ran out. They didn’t wash their faces or brush their teeth; some even ran out without wearing pants, tumbling out of bed, slipping on their shoes, and stumbling out in a rush. Hu Ma had just arrived here on the first day and felt utterly confused, but he had to follow along in a daze. Second Master stood in the middle of the yard, holding a copper pipe. If he saw anyone moving too slowly, he’d kick them, sending them flying out of the yard. Hu Ma also got up and walked out from the side room. He moved slowly due to his sluggish thoughts, and Second Master almost kicked at him. Seeing it was Hu Ma, Second Master held back, only grunting, "Hurry up, keep up." Feeling the coldness in his limbs, Hu Ma wanted to ask something but didn’t know where to start, so he ran out of the courtyard too. After running on the mountain for a short while, the youths became more lively, and gradually, laughter and chatter began to fill the air. Some didn’t even have their shoes on properly, yet they ran extremely fast. They ran until they rounded half the hillside, where they saw a clear spring gushing from the rocks, forming a small pond at the bottom of the slope. The youths ran over, crouched down, and splashed water on their faces. Not only did they wash their faces and rinse their mouths, but some, wild with excitement, even took off their pants and jumped in directly. But before they could splash around much, someone already started running back, laughing and shouting, "Whoever runs the slowest licks the widow’s ass..." The group instantly burst into a flurry, scrambling up from the edge of the pond, with Hu Ma just catching up. He felt weak, his limbs heavy and cold, and doubts grew in his heart. Logically, after this much exercise, even if my body were cold, it should have warmed up by now. But the more I ran, the colder it became, my face pale, without a drop of sweat. Seeing the energetic youths in front of him, seemingly never running out of energy, he didn’t want to be the one licking the widow’s ass, but he felt his body growing heavier and heavier. But if I really wanted to keep up, it seemed like I could do it. His body was cold, but it made one spot feel particularly warm: his lower abdomen, the location of the stove fire. The previous night, after practicing, that spot was hot and full, and it still was. If he thought about speeding up a little, it seemed that the stove fire would spread from his lower abdomen throughout his body. It was precisely this stove fire that kept him from fainting, despite feeling cold and weak, and allowed him to follow the others from afar. Yet, in this way, the stove fire was clearly weakening. Didn’t Second Master say that as long as I maintained my purity, the fire would continue to grow? Thinking carefully, Hu Ma became even more surprised. When he managed to barely run back to the yard, the others were already lining up. He saw that a large pot, a basket, a winnowing basket, and a pile of large coarse porcelain bowls were already set up in the yard. The youths returning from the mountain each took a bowl and lined up to get their food, drooling with anticipation. Unexpectedly, there was meat. As Hu Ma carried a bowl over to get porridge, he discovered that inside the rice porridge were pieces of salted meat the thickness of his thumb, cooked with the porridge, with a piece placed in each bowl. The youths seemed most concerned about these pieces of meat, each one staring with wide eyes and shouting at the person serving, "That piece, that piece, give it to me... damn it!" Someone else yelled, "You dogs, acting like you’ve never had meat before..." The slightly chubby youth in front of Hu Ma craned his head back, cursing and turning around. "They’ve all been snatched away," he said. Hu Ma, deep in thought, instinctively asked, "What’s that?" "Mountain meat..." the youth replied. "White Tai Sui. There’s only this little bit a day; we rely on this stuff to get through the day..." "Why is White Tai Sui black?" Hu Ma, bewildered, then realized. Of course, it was because it had been marinated, naturally turning black... This group of youths were in their prime growing phase. With such a high level of physical activity, they relied on this dried meat made from White Tai Sui to sustain themselves for the whole day. No wonder everyone rushed so eagerly at mealtime. But as Second Master said, even the adults in the village couldn’t eat this White Tai Sui regularly; did that mean this was a special privilege for those studying the art? His limbs were cold; even his mind seemed slow to turn. He wasn’t craving the Tai Sui meat, just eager to eat something hot to warm himself up. When it finally came to his turn, he held up the bowl as the others did. But the lanky youth serving looked at him with a grin. "Are you, Young Master Hu, trying to snatch meat with us?" he asked. While speaking, he scooped out a ladleful. Just as he was about to pour it into the bowl, he gave it a shake. The piece of meat slipped right back into the pot. Hu Ma looked up to see the other youth smiling at him, with a look that said, "Why haven’t you moved on yet?" This person seemed to have some hostility toward him... But with so much on his mind, Hu Ma couldn’t be bothered. He just took the porridge, grabbed a couple of steamed buns, and went to the side to eat slowly. They didn’t even have a long table here; everyone just squatted and ate wherever, slurping away. Some even played around and grabbed each other’s pieces of dried meat. Yet as Hu Ma ate, he felt incredibly strange. The porridge was still hot. Many of the youths, holding their bowls, sipped cautiously along the edges, afraid of burning their mouths. But Hu Ma drank slowly, a little at a time, yet still felt his body remained icy cold. He could feel the porridge’s heat and still found it scalding. However, once it reached his stomach, he surprisingly felt no warmth at all; it just vanished. How could this be happening? Even when I was in the village before, I never felt like this... He felt vaguely fearful of this cold sensation. "Little Huma, come in!" It was then that Second Master came out of the main room and beckoned Hu Ma inside. "You just stoked the fire. Eat this bowl of meat." Hu Ma paused, then Second Master prompted, "Hmm?" Hu Ma looked in surprise and saw a bowl on the square table inside the house, full of big, glistening, braised meat pieces. Turning his head, he noticed the piece of meat Second Master had hung from the beam yesterday had a chunk cut off it. "Isn’t this Granny’s offering to Second Master?" Hu Ma steadied himself, recognizing the meat he had brought over yesterday. It was a substantial piece, but different from the Blood Tai Sui he usually ate, a bit darker in color. He said to Second Master, "That was meant to honor you, Second Master. I can just eat with the others." "When I tell you to eat, you eat." Second Master glared at him, saying, "Granny gave me such a big piece of Blue Tai Sui because your Hu Family respects the rules. But at my age, what do I need to supplement with that stuff for? Just eat it. Learn the skills properly and earn something to honor me back in the future." Hu Ma felt touched. Seeing that Second Master wasn’t just being polite, he sat down to eat slowly, thinking about how to phrase his inquiries. But before he could ask, after eating a few pieces of meat from the bowl, he suddenly felt a warm stream rise within his chest. The coldness in his limbs and bones was gradually dispelled by this heat, allowing him to feel warm again. Even the cold rune on his chest became noticeable again, and he felt it pushing back the heat within him. Following the path of the rune’s markings, the heat slowly returned to his lower abdomen, where his internal stove fire seemed to rekindle. This sensation of a body, once frozen, coming back to life caused Hu Ma to pause mid-bite. "Second Master..." He tried to keep his voice steady, softly saying, "After eating this meat, I feel the stove fire inside is burning stronger..." "How new and exciting..." Second Master chuckled upon hearing Hu Ma’s words. "This mountain meat, you could call it Tai Sui, is the most effective supplement. After you eat it, your fire qi suffices. Plus, Lady Liu’er’s yin qi helps guide your fire qi into your stomach, so isn’t the stove supposed to burn brighter? It’s like adding good fuel to a stove. It’ll burn brighter and hotter; otherwise, why do you think those lads crave that little bit of dried meat so much?" "Then..." Hu Ma began to understand but felt even more uncertain. "What if one doesn’t eat Tai Sui meat?" "Without eating it, as long as you keep distractions at bay and maintain purity, the stove fire will burn brighter too. A person is the base for the fire," Second Master explained. "You all are lucky these days. Back in our day, there was no White Tai Sui. We had to rely on ourselves, but the stove fire could still be ignited." BUZZ... Second Master’s rambling words made Hu Ma’s scalp tingle. He cautiously asked his final question, "Then, without eating Tai Sui meat, what about when there’s no warmth in the body, and even the ignited stove fire is growing weaker?" Second Master gave him a strange look. "What nonsense are you talking about? If a person had no warmth in their body, wouldn’t they be dead?" Hu Ma was startled upon hearing this, realizing his real problem. I ignited the stove fire and didn’t feel any discomfort, so I wasn’t an evil spirit. I could even use this stove fire to keep evil spirits at bay, but that wasn’t the real issue at all... The real issue is, am I a dead person!?