Chapter 116: Age-Guarding Inheritance
Chapter 116: Age-Guarding Inheritance
Cultivation, what's so difficult about it?
With this batch of Blood Food in hand, Hu Ma felt greatly reassured, even relieved of a heavy burden.
For an Age Keeper, there are two advantages: one, the body is already dead; two, there is a Life-bound Divine Statue to guide. Now, the only thing limiting progress is one's own Daoist Power.
This batch of Blood Food has solved an urgent problem. As long as he replenishes his Daoist Power, he can cultivate without any worries. Who knows, he might even complete the entire Third Stage.
With a single Refinement, he ascended a stage.
Now, he has quietly refined his limbs and theoretically ascended to the Second Stage.
Refining the five organs, he will ascend to the Third Stage, and his skills will be on par with Mr. Wu.
He was pleasantly surprised and wished he could eat all the Blood Food, but that was just a thought. He first stuffed a Blood Food Pill into his mouth and prepared to hide most of this batch of Blood Food, to be used sparingly, slowly refining into Daoist Power.
Of course, to hide it, he mainly needed to hide the Green Food. The Blood food pills were too precious to carry around.
Fortunately, the Blood Food Pills take up little space and are easy to carry.
After feeding Little Red Apricot a piece of Green Food, she worked especially hard, using no tools, squatting in front of the stove, digging for a long time, her little face turned black, and when she turned to smile, only a row of white, sharp teeth was visible, looking both eerie and adorable.
Hu Ma, having put away the Blood Food Pills, hurried over to help, burying the cloth bag in a pit under the stove, covering it with soil and bricks.
Then he laid a layer of mud, put the ashes back, and this small treasure vault was complete.
Although he had already refined some, how to safely hide Blood Food was still a great question. The Vat Sect taught people to act ruthlessly, directly peeling human skin to make bags, which could preserve the Blood Food for a year without its scent leaking.
However, the Red Lantern Association was different. Although the Red Lantern Lady was a scourge of Mingzhou, the act of openly killing and peeling people was not allowed...
...at least not now.
So they usually used large jars to store it, sealing the mouth with blood talismans, and having people guard it.
Theoretically, with this batch, Hu Ma had already refined some, making it safer, but there was still a piece of unrefined Rare Zaisui inside, so Hu Ma didn't dare to be too careless. He used a method taught by Second Uncle, hiding it under the stove.
Under the stove lies the essence of cuisine, the quintessence of all herbs, the most humane domestic ambiance, which can mask the scent of Blood Food, making it the most convenient option for him at present.
"What does this White Wine Lady say about the Golden-threaded Zaisui?"
After finishing these tasks, Hu Ma found it odd. The oil paper wrapped a piece of material that was blood-like but had golden threads, a rare Zaisui.
The White Wine Lady had refined all the other Blood Food into easily portable and preservable Blood Food Pills and jelly, except for this piece, which had undergone no processing, only divided into three parts, and instructed him and Second Pot Elder Brother to keep it well.
The wrapping for the Golden-threaded Zaisui was a special oil cloth that prevented the Zaisui's blood qi from leaking or decaying, actually more useful than a human skin bag, but too expensive.
Far less practical than finding someone to peel skin to make a bag.
"Either use it or it's a life-saving thing."
The White Wine Lady, when giving this Zaisui to Hu Ma and Second Pot Elder Brother, was lazy and didn't seem to be in a good mood.
Hu Ma guessed she might be pained, knowing she could have kept it...
After arranging everything, he took Little Red Apricot out and locked the door.
Looking up at the heavy night sky, walking on the stone board road of the town, seeing the sky full of stars, he felt refreshed and clear, as if he had done something wrong.
Perhaps, he should find a suitable reason to move here and live.
Of course, moving over now couldn't be rushed, being hasty and impetuous would only raise suspicions.
Returning to the village, he rested for a night. The next day, Hu Ma began arranging the apprentices in the village, opening the warehouse that had been locked for a year, repairing rat holes and broken window frames, checking the large carts and weapons needed for spring.
By afternoon, he was busy when the cold Innkeeper sent an old servant to call Hu Ma. In the inner courtyard, he saw two oil lamps on the stone table and a somewhat old bamboo basket by the old Innkeeper's feet.
The old Innkeeper was drinking tea, didn't pour Hu Ma a cup, and didn't invite him to sit, only saying, "I'll talk, you listen."
"I won't explain the earlier matters much."
"But the cultivation techniques I taught you are real, and the unique skills of the Four Ghosts Bowing at the Gate are also real."
"You have only refined one hand and one foot, your Daoist Power is still shallow. Being the innkeeper of this village, you might not be able to handle it, so, the other hand and foot, you should also start to comprehend. Take these two oil lamps, light them when the time is right."
"Including the box, and the two you previously took, you don't need to come back."
"..."
"The Innkeeper's meaning is..."
Hu Ma listened, slightly surprised. Through the fine gaps in the bamboo, he could see that inside were all oil lamps.
Previously, he had seen these oil lamps in the innkeeper's cabinet.
These oil lamps were the foundation for the Age Keepers to refine death into life. Was he giving them to him?
In response to Hu Ma’s confusion, the Old Shopkeeper did not offer much explanation. Instead, he frowned slightly and hesitantly asked, "You mentioned before that your grandmother is a Ghost Walker, so she must have some knowledge. Have you ever heard of Master Zhao’s Family?"
"Master Zhao’s Family?"
Hu Ma’s heart hesitated, and he slowly shook his head.
"Ah..."
The Old Shopkeeper did not say much more, only sighing lightly. "Tell the Apprentices to keep an eye out for me if they have the chance."
"Be more observant these days. I might not be able to teach you for much longer."
"..."
Hu Ma understood what he meant.
Before the New Year, the Old Shopkeeper had hinted to him about promoting him to a position like an Innkeeper. He also mentioned that he had already attracted suspicion from higher-ups, and staying here might not be meaningful anymore.
Now, it seemed that his talk of leaving was true. It wasn’t just that the Red Lantern Association didn’t want to keep him; he wanted to find the Master Zhao’s Family to treat Wu He Sister. However, he still hadn’t found any clear information.
The key point was that Hu Ma himself didn’t know either.
Miss White Wine had mentioned this to him, but she didn’t reveal any other information. On one hand, certain specific information, even if he knew, couldn’t be spoken casually because it wasn’t something he should know. On the other hand, Miss White Wine also didn’t know the whereabouts of Master Zhao’s Family.
She knew about this family and that they could treat Wu He Sister, but they were too mysterious, and no one knew where they lived.
When he brought back the bamboo basket and opened it, he found it was indeed full of oil lamps.
After checking, there were a total of fifteen.
It seemed the Old Shopkeeper had really given him the Age-Guarding Sect’s cultivation techniques.
Normally, when Age Keepers cultivate these techniques, they cannot do so without these oil lamps, which correspond to specific parts of the body like the limbs, five viscera, eyes, ears, nose, and tongue.
To put it simply, these are all poisons, which can precisely target and kill specific parts of the body, but they are also the poisons that Age Keepers need most. They contain the hard-earned knowledge of many predecessors. Although Hu Ma didn’t need them, he understood their value.
However, the complete set for ascending stages and entering the mansion actually has seventeen lamps.
The set passed down by the Old Shopkeeper was already quite good, only lacking the two most mysterious lamps for the brain and secret techniques.
This wasn’t because the Old Shopkeeper was keeping secrets; he himself hadn’t been taught them.
Additionally, while the Vat Sect has many demonic techniques, the Age-Guarding Sect also has many skills. Whether it’s limbs, viscera, ears, eyes, nose, or tongue, there are specific techniques to cultivate each part.
But each of these skills requires a lot of effort to master. The Old Shopkeeper himself was a laid-back Innkeeper who had joined the Red Lantern Lady, and it was already quite good that he had one unique skill.
"I can only hope that Wu He Sister has good fortune and can find the Master Zhao’s Family smoothly..."
Hu Ma sighed in his heart, feeling that the complexities of human relationships were truly intricate.
Actually, according to his previous calculations, Miss White Wine had guided Wu He Sister in a certain direction, and her secret notification to me for self-preservation had repaid the favor. But in the end, he couldn’t bear to see her suffer and helped her obtain a jar of Green Jade Ointment, which unexpectedly brought him benefits.
The Old Shopkeeper now treated him better than his own apprentice.
But the rift between them had already formed, and it was impossible to return to the previous level of trust.
He put away all the oil lamps, but wrapped his right hand in bandages. The Old Shopkeeper was still in the village, so he had to be cautious. With his limbs already formed, his next step was to consider the cultivation techniques for the five viscera.
The Old Shopkeeper’s notebook had relevant records, which he had memorized. However, a simple notebook was not as detailed as hands-on teaching.
First, he couldn’t possibly go to the Old Shopkeeper for help as before. Second, with his Life-bound Divine Statue, he didn’t worry about taking the wrong path.
Now, he just needed to decide where to start with the five viscera.
...
At night, Hu Ma thought about cultivation, but during the day, he became busy. It was now the time, and several waves of people from the city had already arrived to inspect the road conditions, check if the livestock were healthy, see if the warehouses were well-maintained, and ensure the accounts were clear.
Now, the seven Blood Food Mines of the Red Lantern Lady Association had all paid homage to the Ta Sui, and the city’s personnel had been dispatched.
The first batch of Blood Food would soon arrive, and the villages needed to start preparing.
Whenever these people came, the Innkeeper would also come out to accompany them. He seemed to have used some method to appear spirited and energetic.
However, he only accompanied them, and most of the tasks were handled by Hu Ma. Once the people left, he would quickly return to the inner courtyard, as if maintaining this normal state for a while was already very tiring for him.
But over this period, Hu Ma became increasingly familiar with these tasks and the related people.
Especially when Mr. Xu from the city came down and presented the Second Uncle with something, and despite it being a worthless trinket, he was still delighted.
Since then, he and Hu Ma have become closer in private.
Even Hu Ma sometimes couldn’t help but think, "Could I really become an Innkeeper?"
(End of Chapter)
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