https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-161-Paper-Money-Hitting-the-Head-First-Update-/12899752/
Chapter 162: The Five Stabilizing Items (Second Update)
Chapter 162: The Five Stabilizing Items (Second Update)
After the "revenge" failed and Hu Ma fell into a trap, he made a fierce threat and hurriedly left the town to find his donkey cart.
Initially, he was in a rush to leave, but unexpectedly, when he arrived, he found that the cart driver he had hired was nowhere to be seen. Only Little Red Apricot was sitting on the donkey cart, waiting idly.
"Where's the driver?"
Hu Ma was shocked. He had already asked Little Red Apricot to keep an eye on things.
He quickly checked the cart and lifted the straw covering the top. The silver was still there.
"He was scared off!"
Little Red Apricot explained, "He was secretly going through Hu Ma's silver, so I showed myself to him, and he immediately started kowtowing."
"After kowtowing, he ran away!"
"..."
"What the hell?"
Hu Ma was astonished. He had only wanted Little Red Apricot to watch the silver to prevent it from being stolen, but he hadn't expected her to scare the cart driver away.
With no other choice, he couldn't go back to Wutong Town to hire another driver. He had to drive the donkey cart himself.
However, driving a cart was not a simple task. There were many things to consider, such as the speed of travel, how to make the animals avoid people, how to navigate rough terrain, and how to take care of the animals when stopping for a rest, feeding them grass and fodder. All of these required specialized knowledge.
Despite his initial lack of confidence, he found that it wasn't too difficult once he started. The donkey was very obedient, moving when told and stopping when commanded.
Under normal circumstances, donkeys were quite stubborn, but this one must have been tamed by Hu Ma's beating the day before.
This unexpected smoothness surprised Hu Ma, and after driving for a while without any issues, he decided to let Little Red Apricot ride on the donkey's back to guide the way, while he sat on the cart and began to inventory the items.
The amount of money he would earn from this job depended on the sincerity of the Diguashao. But it had to be said that Young Master Lu had been quite generous, offering over a thousand taels of silver.
The items on the donkey cart were also prepared for the ritual. Each one was something he had painstakingly collected, some of which were extremely rare.
Hu Ma's greatest interest now was to see how many of the items from the Xinghunmen could be used in his own Age-Stabilizing Technique, to serve as the "Five Stabilizing Items" for future rituals.
Earlier, in Niujia Bay, Hu Ma had used the Age-Stabilizing Book to summon an old turtle from the river for information, and he had used the Five Stabilizing Items.
They were: a fire basin, rice, incense and candles, straw, and offerings.
The basin was casually taken from a fisherman, the rice was bought from a nearby village, the incense and candles were carried with him, the straw was pulled from a hay stack, and the offerings...
...were simple, as the old turtle was quite cooperative, requiring only a bowl of fish, a bowl of meat, and a bowl of rice.
At that time, Hu Ma hadn't thought much about it, as the Age-Stabilizing Book didn't have strict requirements for these items, just a brief mention.
It was only after he had thoroughly inquired about the Ghost Walker techniques from Er Guotou that he learned more about the importance of the Five Stabilizing Items.
These items were crucial for rituals. The same technique, when performed with different Five Stabilizing Items, could have vastly different effects and success rates.
The Age-Stabilizing Book was rather domineering, always trying to achieve great things with minimal resources. But Hu Ma couldn't afford to be so careless. He needed to gather the Five Stabilizing Items carefully. The copper basin on Young Master Lu's donkey cart had caught his eye; it was clearly a good item.
The copper basin was used to light a fire during rituals. Once the fire was lit, the summoned evil spirits would be unable to see their own reflection in the basin and would not dare to misbehave, making it a crucial item.
Earlier, when he summoned the old turtle, he almost got caught, but with this basin, he wouldn't have that problem. If he also used some yin wood, such as locust wood, pine, cypress, or lychee, which are naturally yin in nature, the effect would be even better.
The thought was exhilarating. Could even the Red Lantern Lady not see through him? Of course, this was just a thought. The current Hu Ma didn't have the courage to summon someone of the Red Lantern Lady's level.
Regardless, acquiring this basin was a small gain. He decided to check the other items to see if any of them were useful. With this in mind, Hu Ma began to go through the items on the donkey cart.
First, he had nothing else to do on the road, and second, it was best to check these items during the day. If he took them out casually at night, he might attract unwanted attention and risk losing his treasures.
"Paper figures, yellow paper... torture instruments? Why is there rice too?"
As he inventoried the items, Hu Ma was somewhat curious. He had seen Young Master Lu use paper figures, which were his specialty. In theory, he could use them for the Age-Stabilizing Book's techniques, but the paper figures were too eerie, and he dared not use them directly.
He burned them all, leaving no trace.
Next, he found a box of rough yellow paper, which felt prickly to the touch and was very poorly made.
These were used for the Huangguanzhi technique, which wasn't very useful to him. If he folded them into ingots and burned them during a ritual, it might attract some yin ghosts who loved wealth in life, but it wasn't necessary.
Hu Ma had seen it before; this was just ordinary yellow paper, the kind that was plentiful in paper shops.
However, the most peculiar thing was a box on the cart. Inside, there was a stack of dirty, clearly water-soaked yellow paper. These papers seemed to have been pressed onto someone's face, giving them a mask-like appearance. Hu Ma was slightly startled and quickly put them away.
He had heard Young Master Lu proudly explain the origin of his unique skill with the yellow paper. He knew what the face-shaped papers were.
They were formed by layering yellow paper on a person's face, then dousing it with water, suffocating the person to death.
They were absolutely malevolent items.
He could not use them and needed to destroy them as soon as possible.
The reason he didn't just throw them away was that he feared these evil items might harm passersby.
As for the bundle of polished, bone-chilling torture instruments, such as fine hooks, brain-piercing needles, and small bone saws, and some curved knives that seemed designed for cutting long, cylindrical or egg-shaped objects, he had no idea what they were for...
Perhaps, since they were part of the Xinghunmen, the "punishment" in their name meant these were used to torment opponents.
...These could be kept temporarily; they might come in handy later.
After organizing these items, Hu Ma turned his attention to the last half-bag of things, focusing intently.
This was the hardest to categorize—it was actually half a bag of rice.
Young Master Lu's family was in the rice business. Could it be that they carried rice with them to cook and eat while on business?
But upon closer inspection, Hu Ma realized it was not so simple. The rice in the bag was dull, the grains shriveled, clearly not of good quality. Someone of Young Master Lu's status would not eat such rice.
More importantly, as soon as the bag was opened, Hu Ma could feel a chilling coldness rushing to his face. Glancing sideways, he could see black vapor rising from the rice.
"This rice must have a history!"
Hu Ma immediately determined that this was rice used for rituals.
Rice, in the world, is meant to be eaten, but some varieties, grown in yin places or accidentally sprinkled around Lord Taishui, absorb his blood and flesh, developing strange and eerie properties.
If a living person eats it, it could be harmful, even causing illness or madness.
But to those in the inner circle, this kind of rice is an excellent material for spells.
During a casual conversation with Wu He Sister, Hu Ma had heard her mention that some people would go to harvest black mandarins and bury them in the ground. This ground then becomes a yin place. Using some secret techniques, they can grow special rice.
This rice is sold to those in the inner circle, either to harm others or to use in rituals.
"Such a good thing..."
Hu Ma examined the rice closely and realized that this half-bag of rice might be even better than the basin.
However, he needed to first consult Diguashao to confirm if this rice was suitable for him to use as one of the Five Stabilizing Items.
After thoroughly checking everything, he let out a long sigh and raised his head.
The midday sun felt somewhat blinding, and his head was slightly dizzy, his body breaking out in a cold sweat.
"The technique of Diguashao is taking effect..."
He was clear in his mind and silently sensed his Daoist Power, which surprised him.
His Daoist Power had always been around three incense sticks. Even if he used it in cultivation or in duels, he would quickly replenish it with Blood Food Pills.
But now, his three incense sticks had reduced to two and a half, no, not just two and a half, but the third stick was nearly gone, leaving only a thin thread. It was almost about to revert to two incense sticks.
"Paper Money for Life, her unique skill is truly sinister..."
He had mentally prepared for this, but the actual experience was still frightening.
Hu Ma took this hit for two reasons:
First, to make the aftermath more plausible.
Second, because he realized the terrifying nature of the Xinghunmen and wanted to experience it firsthand.
Experiencing it under Diguashao's controlled environment, where both parties had a sense of restraint, was better than encountering an unknown opponent in the future and being caught off guard, with no defense.
But even with such thorough mental preparation, he was still shocked.
Just being hit by the paper money on the head had nearly cost him one incense stick of Daoist Power.
If an ordinary person were hit by this, they would surely die.
He had originally planned to act out his return convincingly, but now, he realized he had almost overdone it. He became alert and knew he couldn't delay any longer. He had Little Red Apricot give the donkey a hard slap, urging it to speed up.
Now that his private mission was complete, he needed to think about how to claim his reward.
Even for this hard-earned reward, he needed to consider how to make it reasonable. He also needed to quickly find a way to contact Er Guotou and seek his advice on the precautions, to ensure everything went smoothly.
(End of Chapter)
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