An Odd Old Woman

My head felt like it was splitting open, my mouth was dry, and my body felt so heavy it didn't feel like my own.

It took Hu Ma a long time just to open his eyes, accompanied by waves of dizziness.

Now, he was leaning against something in a room that resembled a hall. In the center of the room stood an Eight Immortals table covered in dust and grime, along with a few low square stools. Against the wall, stones piled up and blackened by fire formed a stove.

Several small paper figures leaned against the wall, their faces smeared with oil paint in eerie smiles. Yellow and red talismans, covered in twisted runes, were stuck all over the room.

"Clatter"

He instinctively tried to move, but his shoulders felt both heavy and painful.

An iron chain extended from the roof beam, splitting into two ends, each connected to an iron hook.

And now, two iron hooks pierced Hu Ma's clavicles, their bloody tips exposed on his chest.

He had been locked up here for six or seven days.

But even now, he still didn't know why he had been locked up here.

He had just graduated from university and found a promising security job at a cutting-edge laboratory, hailed as world-leading at the time. Then, a sudden explosion occurred, and he floated away.

Dazed and adrift, he didn't know how long it lasted until a strange sound attracted him. Following the sound, he suddenly felt a rapid sensation of falling.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already in this place, chained up.

And during these six or seven days, every night, an old woman would sit in front of him, silently chanting scriptures and spells, waving strange talismans, and sometimes inflicting torture upon him. The pain was like being peeled in hot oil, after which she would feed him strange meat and medicinal soup.

But no matter what he asked her or what he did, she ignored him completely, as if he were invisible.

Anyway, with these two iron hooks holding him, and periodically feeling dizzy and passing out, he couldn't resist whatever she did.

"Why did she lock me up?"

"What strange things was she chanting at me every day?"

"..."

Hu Ma had no answers to any of these questions.

During this time, he was constantly feeling dizzy, as if he were floating around. The various tortures left him even weaker and more exhausted.

Occasionally, when he woke up, he only felt dry-mouthed and as if his body had been completely emptied.

The water tank was about three meters away, near the earthen wall.

The iron chain on the roof was looped around the roof beam and could slide, so theoretically, Hu Ma could move around the room.

But moving would undoubtedly come at a great cost of pain.

It took him a full few dozen seconds to endure the pain in his shoulder blades and slowly stand up.

Then, trembling, he held onto the wall and moved, little by little, towards the water tank.

The bones in his shoulders rubbing against the iron hooks also produced a strange, cold sound.

A little fresh blood slowly seeped out as he moved.

But not much; perhaps it had all already flowed out.

Finally, he reached the water vat and saw the clear water inside, with half a gourd floating on top.

Hu Ma scooped up a small ladleful of water. His arm couldn't support more. He brought it to his lips and gulped it down.

The heat and headache in his body seemed to have eased considerably.

But one problem solved led to another; after quenching his thirst, his stomach began to grow hungry.

Hu Ma instinctively looked at the coarse porcelain bowl covered on the Eight Immortals table.

After hesitating for a long time, he finally endured it and went over.

He lifted the bowl, revealing a square, reddish piece of boiled meat on the plate underneath.

For him, who was starving, this represented an extremely strong temptation, but he still resisted.

The strange old woman, besides chanting scriptures and spells at him every day, would occasionally feed him peculiar things. There were medicinal herbs, talisman water from burning, but most importantly, this kind of unknown meat.

Whether Hu Ma had an appetite or not, she would force him to stuff it into himself, to chew and swallow. Every time he ate it, it was an extremely painful experience.

This led to him not wanting to touch this meat, even though he was starving at the moment.

"While she's not here, I have to escape, I must escape..."

Hu Ma secretly told himself, realizing the most urgent problem.

Confirming that no one was around, he endured the dull ache and raised his right hand, gripping the iron hook piercing his left shoulder.

He slowly applied force, trying to push the iron hook out of his flesh.

Intense pain surged through his brain, making his temples throb. The hook had already grown into his flesh.

But Hu Ma gritted his teeth and tried, little by little.

"Creak..."

Just as the pain intensified repeatedly, a gust of wind suddenly blew open the door, and the light in the room dimmed slightly.

"That strange Old Woman is back?"

Hu Ma's heart leaped in surprise. He turned to look, only to see a short, thin middle-aged man approaching.

The sunlight streaming in from behind him cast his face in shadow.

"There's an outsider?"

Seeing the newcomer, Hu Ma's heart immediately filled with joy.

For days, he had only seen that eerie Old Woman and a little girl in red with a red hair tie in this room.

This was the first time he had seen anyone besides those two, and his desire to call for help instantly surged.

But before he could speak, he suddenly froze:

If this person was an accomplice of the Old Woman, wouldn't asking for help now potentially lead to greater torment?

Besides, even if he didn't ask for help, this person should have seen the iron hooks on his shoulders.

If he were an outsider, wouldn't he find it strange?

As Hu Ma stared at the man, trying to gauge from his reaction whether he was worth asking for help, he saw that the man completely ignored his appearance. He turned stiffly, as if looking around, and asked somewhat blankly, "Where is Old Woman?"

"……"

"This is bad. Judging by his demeanor, he's an acquaintance of that Old Woman…"

Hu Ma thought, his hope for rescue dwindling. But perhaps he could try to get some information from him?

"Old Woman went out."

He tried to appear calm and said, "What business do you have with Old Woman?"

The man's voice was dull: "I'm here to settle accounts with Old Woman."

"Settle accounts?"

Hope suddenly flared in Hu Ma's heart again: "Is this person an enemy of that strange Old Woman?"

"She went out. She often goes out during the day, so she should be back soon."

He suppressed his excitement and said slowly, "You…"

"Old Woman is coming back soon, so I need to hurry."

The dull man suddenly turned to look at Hu Ma. He was no longer facing away from the sunlight outside the door, but his face remained unclear.

Hu Ma only heard his voice, thin and intermittent, as if lacking strength, saying, "I was fine in the forest, but Old Woman suddenly found someone to chop me down, dismembered me, and made me into a coffin. Tell me…"

"…Is this a great enmity?"

"……"

"?"

Hu Ma should have just gone along with him, but he suddenly felt something was off about the man's words and was completely stunned.

"I would have achieved enlightenment in another year or two."

The man continued, his voice carrying a thin, crying tone: "But Old Woman cut off my future. I was wrapped in soil with the corpse of Old Master Cui, smelling his gradual decay and stench. I felt maggots crawling inside his body, felt his rotting fluids flow onto me, seeping into my body. Tell me, do I and Old Woman have a deep-seated hatred?"

Hu Ma listened, his scalp suddenly tingling, and he stumbled back a few steps.

Only then did he suddenly realize that the man's gait was very strange.

His knees seemed not to bend, and he moved stiffly, as if a plank were sliding on the ground.

As the man's emotions grew more agitated and he slowly approached him, Hu Ma's vision suddenly blurred, and he finally saw clearly the face beneath the black robe and black hat that had always been unclear… Beneath the hat, there was no face at all.

It was a board, a dirty, black board.

At this moment, he even began to smell the foul odor emanating from the man.

A coffin board.

But this coffin board was now cursing at him in a thin, agitated voice: "I've come to settle accounts with her."

"She ruined my cultivation, so I'll take her grandson…"

"……"

Hu Ma instinctively wanted to flee, but his body was ultimately weak, and his legs felt like jelly.

He felt a wave of dizziness, watching helplessly as this coffin board was about to press against his face.

The putrid smell and the sharp voice poured into his head through his ears and nostrils, almost making him faint.

"Cough!"

But at this moment, he suddenly heard a light cough from the direction of the doorway, followed by an aged voice: "You got a little cultivation and got lost in the forest, harming people, not even letting pregnant women go. I originally thought your cultivation was hard-won and planned to spare your life if you guarded Old Master Cui's corpse for twenty years. Not only did you not appreciate it, but you came to harm my grandson…"

"Then this time, I'll just burn you!"

"……"

Immediately after, he heard a terrified shriek. A gust of cold wind swept through the room, and he felt a strong wind brush past his face.

When he could see clearly again, he saw a bare coffin board lying on the ground.

A little girl with two small pigtails was crouched on the board in a posture like some beast, smiling at him.

And the sinister Old Woman stood hunched by the door, silent.