Chapter 47: Witchcraft Wreaks Havoc
Chapter 47: Witchcraft Wreaks Havoc
"Quickly, over there, see if he's alright..."
When the young men from the village lit their torches and found Hu Ma, he was sitting by a fallen crooked-neck tree, resting. He was drenched in cold sweat, and the night breeze brought a bone-chilling cold. However, the cold sweat had also dissipated the intense heat and heaviness in his body, leaving him feeling light and refreshed.
Earlier, his outburst wasn't entirely due to anger but was mostly driven by fear. This world was full of strange and malevolent forces—evil spirits, flesh mountains, and wandering ghosts. But Hu Ma realized there was something even more terrifying than these.
Even if an evil spirit came to harm him, he could see and feel it, and there was a process that allowed him some chance to resist. But what he faced now was different. How could someone make him fall gravely ill out of nowhere, with even the fire in his body unable to suppress it, and Little Red Tang unable to see the enemy?
This kind of irrational and inexplicable event was the most terrifying, and it fueled a strong sense of anger and a desire to kill in Hu Ma, who valued his life deeply.
"Little Hu Ma, are you alright?"
Elder Second had been anxious and had already brought people to find Hu Ma. When he saw the crooked-neck tree and Hu Ma's uneasy state, his heart tightened.
He wasn't skilled in dealing with wandering ghosts, but his sixty years of purity were no small feat. He could sense when something was wrong, and he knew there was definitely some residual evil magic around. Finding Hu Ma here only made him more nervous.
"This old tree is the culprit."
Hu Ma took a deep breath and pointed at the crooked-neck tree. "If it weren't for Grandma's warning, it would have killed me."
"Old tree?"
Elder Second hurried over, holding the torch to shine on the tree. He kicked away the loose soil at the base of the tree, revealing a black bundle in a pit. He kicked it open and found inside a red paper doll with Hu Ma's birth date and a tattered, old shoe. While no one recognized the shoe, they could guess whose it was.
"It's not me, it's not me..."
Seeing the bundle, the second wife of the Cui family, who had been brought over by the crowd, started pulling her hair and screaming, "It was the eldest and the third who buried it, not me. Please don't come after me..."
"..."
She was already scared out of her mind, but her words were honest. The villagers' faces changed dramatically when they heard her.
"That old woman..."
Elder Second's face twisted in anger. "After all these years, she still hasn't forgotten her evil magic!"
The older villagers, upon hearing Elder Second's words and seeing the bundle, understood immediately. The younger generation only knew of the wandering ghost grandmother from the Hu family, but before the Hu family came to the village, the Big Sheep Village had its own disciple skilled in hexes, the grandmother of the Cui family. Seeing what she had buried under the tree and thinking about the Cui family's recent events, no one could be in the dark.
"Is the Cui family trying to harm others and now facing retribution?"
"Spit, they deserve it. How dare such a malevolent person stay in our village?"
"..."
For a moment, the villagers were all aghast, and despite the Cui family's recent tragedy, they began to curse.
Harming neighbors was the hardest to guard against. When Hu Ma was born, the Cui family's grandmother was already in the village, helping with hot water and red eggs. How could she have missed his birth date? And this dirty shoe, which must have been one Hu Ma had worn, was secretly kept by her to use for harm. Such actions were the most difficult to prevent and were the most hated by the villagers.
If she could harm Hu Ma, who else in the village could she not harm?
As they cursed, they helped Hu Ma into the house, and someone brought him a half-pail of water to drink.
"Found it..."
Amid the chaos, someone quickly returned from the direction of the old hearth, holding a half-burned, still smoldering bundle. They showed it to the old village chief and Elder Second: "The Cui family's wife burned this. Someone saw her, but it took a while to find it."
The old village chief, sensing something was amiss when such a major incident occurred in the village, had quickly sent people to check the old hearth, where the ancestors were said to watch over them.
Elder Second took the bundle, glanced at it, and threw it outside in disgust. "It's a woman's riding cloth soaked in dog blood, a black talisman, rotten wood, and feces—these are the most defiling things."
"She burned it at the old hearth, blinding the ancestors to the village's situation. With evil spirits causing chaos, they couldn't protect us..."
The surrounding people were even more enraged. The old hearth was where their ancestors were buried. Who could commit such a disrespectful act?
"Ha, the Cui family is getting their comeuppance."
The old village chief, usually a peacemaker, was also furious. After a moment's thought, he understood the situation and snarled, "The Cui family harmed others and feared the ancestors would interfere, so they burned this defiling thing to blind the ancestors."
“
I never thought that the evil spell I cast would backfire so severely. Because the ancestors couldn't see it, it ended up costing the lives of my entire family..."
"Her family's death was a blessing in disguise for her."
"Otherwise, someone like her would have been banished from the village. Who would dare keep her?"
"..."
"What? Everyone is dead?"
Hu Ma, who had just regained his composure, was suddenly struck by a wave of shock.
In his rage, he had only focused on chopping down the twisted old tree, vaguely sensing the potential for it to backfire. But he never imagined it would be so devastating.
Just a few extra swings of his axe, and the Cui family was decimated?
As he pondered this, he noticed that the villagers were in a fury, cursing and blaming, but some couldn't help glancing at a particular spot. There, the Cui family's second daughter-in-law, driven mad and her clothes torn, was screaming that it wasn't her fault.
Beside her, a tall, thin young man clung to her, sobbing softly, completely lost and oblivious to the villagers' taunts.
Cui Xie'er...
Hu Ma felt a complex mix of emotions welling up inside him. Had his act of chopping down the twisted tree really caused the death of this man's entire family?
"So what now..."
He thought, a chill running down his spine. "This one can't be left alive either!"
Before chopping the tree, he didn't know it would lead to the Cui family's destruction. But now that they were all dead, leaving this one alive would only invite future trouble.
As Hu Ma's thoughts raced, Cui Xie'er was holding his mother, trying to calm her down. He had heard the villagers' curses and felt a mix of anger and fear.
The sudden change in the Cui family's fortunes had terrified him, but deep down, a surge of resentment grew, and he glared fiercely at Hu Ma inside the house.
To his surprise, their eyes met, and Hu Ma's gaze was filled with an even more intense killing intent.
"Mother, let's go home, let's go home..."
He could only drag his disheveled mother out of the crowd, bit by bit.
The villagers, who had no sympathy for the Cui family, couldn't bring themselves to make things worse for a young man and a madwoman who had just suffered a great tragedy. They slowly made way for them.
The old clan leader, seething with anger, could only say, "Find coffins to bury them! We can't just leave them out in the open."
"..."
The villagers understood that using coffins was a sign of the clan leader's attitude. But with the initial anger subsiding, they didn't say anything more. Some kind-hearted neighbors stepped forward to help, along with other Cui family members, finding wood to make coffins and carrying the bodies away.
Later that night, the Cui family's compound was filled with white lanterns, and the faint sound of weeping drifted from the house.
"Come on, Little Hu Ma, let's go back to the village."
Second Uncle had been busy all night, first checking if there were any other problems in the village and then arranging for someone to guard the old fire pit, fearing that someone might try to offend the ancestors again. By dawn, he finally returned to Hu Ma.
"You can't stay in this village for now..."
When they were alone, Second Uncle whispered to Hu Ma, "The Cui family may have been the ones who started it, but this is too tragic. They are a major clan in the village, with many relatives."
"I think you shouldn't stay here for a while. Even though they are in the wrong, who knows what they might do?"
"Come back to the village with me!"
"Alright..."
Hu Ma agreed, but couldn't help asking, "What about Cui Xie'er?"
"What about him?"
Second Uncle sighed heavily, thinking Hu Ma was concerned about his peer. "He's just a young man, scared out of his wits. But with the help of the villagers, the funeral will be taken care of. As for what happens next..."
"..."
"We'll see. For the next few days, he won't be able to leave the village."
Hu Ma silently noted this, packed his things, and followed Second Uncle.
Before leaving, he pressed the pouch of ash from the old fire pit against his chest, feeling a warm sensation.
This time, it was all thanks to Grandma's protection that he survived...
He finally understood that while ordinary people go to the old fire pit after they die, Grandma had only gone to the ancestral hall, but insisted on having her remains burned in the old fire pit.
Was it to leave a trace of her spirit in the old fire pit, to continue protecting him?
(End of Chapter)"
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