Hu Ma had nearly lost all sense of time and space in the gloomy Woods.
He had no idea how long he had been walking through the Woods, but at last, when sweat was pouring off him, he came out of them. Looking up, he saw a low hillock ahead. Beyond it lay another, much larger stretch of Woods.
Far off in the distance, deep within that forest, he seemed to glimpse something dark red and swollen, like a gigantic lump of writhing flesh.
He couldn't tell if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
But when he looked away and turned his gaze toward the hillock, he spotted a few low stone houses there. He could just make out several figures moving about. He immediately glanced at Old Woman, confirming that this was where she meant to take him.
He hurried to pull himself together and followed at a brisk pace.
Up close, the place looked like a little farmstead. A few rows of vegetable plots surrounded it, and inside was a large patch of packed earth, with a millstone in the middle.
Along the walls, two rows of weapon racks stood scattered here and there. On them were broadswords, spears, lotus hooks, rope darts, and other weapons. A few heavy stone weights sat nearby.
At that moment, a tall old man sat on a stool in front of the house.
Beside him were a small teapot and a plate of dry tobacco.
Before him stood two rows of more than a dozen boys, bare-chested and clad in black trousers, practicing their forms with precise, measured movements.
Is this a place for practicing martial arts?
Hu Ma was surprised by what he saw and wondered to himself.
What surprised him even more was that he had already witnessed the countless dangers outside the stockade. If the old man was a skilled expert who could live outside the stockade on his own, that was one thing. But how could he have a whole group of boys living with him, too?
Weren't the boys from the stockade normally forbidden from going near its outskirts?
Or did the old man have some remarkable skill that let him live out here with this group of boys without a problem?
"Learning to fight and kill won't do us much good. It won't help us deal with the Meng Family, either."
Old Woman seemed to have guessed what Hu Ma was thinking. She turned and reminded him, "I brought you here so you could learn Second Master's other skill. If you can master it, then even without the protection of Old Fire Pit, those Evil Spirits won't dare come near you."
"Besides, you'll be safer with Second Master than you would be with me."
"In a few days, I'll have to take care of some things, and I'm worried I might let my guard down and fail to look after you properly."
"..."
"Huh?"
Hu Ma's thoughts raced. She's leaving me here?
The first thing he had done after waking up was try to escape that room and get away from this gloomy old woman.
But there was no need to say how that had ended. He had only been frightened into feeling safe by staying at her side. Yet now, just how long had it been? Just as he had begun to get used to being around her, he had unexpectedly been given a chance to leave her?
Besides, from the way Old Woman had put it, she hadn't brought him here just to introduce him to someone. She had come to find someone to look after him.
"Big Sis, you really brought the boy here!"
Just then, a hearty laugh rang out. The tall old man had come over.
Still laughing, he walked up and shot Hu Ma a look. "Boy, why aren't you greeting me?"
"Call him Second Master," Old Woman told Hu Ma, then turned back to the old man. "He was badly hurt before. We managed to save him, but his memory isn't quite right."
"Ah, that family was vicious."
At that, Second Master furrowed his brows slightly and glanced toward the vast, wild Woods around them.
He lowered his voice. "That Ghostly Puppet is still out here?"
"The Meng Family has always done things this way. They won't stop until they get what they want."
Old Woman shook her head. She took the bundle from Hu Ma's back and told him to wait a little farther off. Then she turned and handed it to Second Master. "A while ago, I wounded that Ghostly Puppet, but I didn't finish it off."
"Thinking about it, it should be almost recovered by now. If I don't get rid of it, I won't feel at ease..."
"..."
Second Master held the bundle in one hand and weighed it slightly, frowning.
"Big Sis, you saved my life back then. Even if you hadn't brought these things, I'd still look after little Hu Ma..."
"..."
"One thing has nothing to do with the other."
Old Woman said, "I brought my little grandson here to become your disciple, not to call in a favor."
"I took him to Old Fire Pit, but the ancestors wouldn't accept him. Now he can only learn your skill."
"..."
"But I..."
Second Master furrowed his brows and lowered his voice. "Big Sis, I have no problem teaching little Hu Ma."
"But this skill of mine isn't something just anyone can learn..."
"..."
"He'll learn it."
When Old Woman came to that point, her voice grew much sterner. "He has to learn your skill."
"Our Hu Family..."
She trailed off, her voice turning heavy. With a sigh, she said, "There's no other way."
Seeing her like that, Second Master found himself at a loss for words. He hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Big Sis. He's family. I'll teach him with all my heart."
"It's just that Meng Family sent that wicked Ghostly Puppet after you. What do you think...?"
"..."
He seemed eager to volunteer, almost itching to get involved.
"That's a matter between the Hu Family and the Meng Family."
But Old Woman cut Second Master off. "It wouldn't be right for an outsider to meddle."
"All right, then!"
Second Master didn't press the matter. He tucked the bundle beneath his arm. "I won't stand on ceremony with you, Big Sis."
"Don't worry about leaving the boy with me. Go take care of what you need to. If you ever need me, just send Xiao Hong Tang over to say the word."
"..."
Old Woman didn't linger to exchange pleasantries. She gave Hu Ma a few more instructions—eat plenty of meat, learn as much as he could from Second Master, behave himself, and don't go down the mountain.
Then she had Hu Ma kneel on the muddy ground and kowtow three times to Second Master. As he rose, Old Woman brushed the dirt off his knees for him. She fished several small silver ingots from her clothes and pressed them into his hand, then turned and left.
Holding the silver ingots, still warm from her body, Hu Ma stared blankly as she shuffled down the mountain.
Somehow, he felt a sudden tug at his heart.
Thinking of the truth he had hidden from her, he found himself feeling a little ashamed.
"Hey, why are you acting like a girl? You're crying just because you have to leave Old Woman?"
Second Master noticed Hu Ma's sadness but misunderstood it. He laughed and patted Hu Ma on the head.
"Learn the skill and go back. What are you crying for?"
"..."
As he spoke, he led Hu Ma to the house.
The boys who had been practicing their forms had stopped. They all stared at Hu Ma with wide eyes.
One of them glanced at Hu Ma's stick-thin arms and pursed his lips. "Is this the new kid? He's awfully scrawny."
"He hasn't got two ounces of meat on him. If he ran into an Evil Spirit, wouldn't one gust of yin wind sweep him away?"
Another boy snorted. "That's the grandson of Ghost Walker Granny. She usually dotes on him like he's a treasure..."
"He complains that reading gives him a headache, that practicing martial arts is tiring, and that working the fields means the sun's too hot."
"Sometimes Granny goes out to treat someone and doesn't get back by noon, so she has to ask the neighbor lady to make him lunch and bring it over. And then he still turns his nose up at the food..."
"..."
"..."
"Are these boys from the stockade, too?"
Hu Ma didn't take the children's disdain and teasing to heart.
Instead, something stirred in him. The boys seemed to know quite a bit about what had happened to his original self, too.
Because he was wary of Old Woman, he hadn't dared ask directly what had happened to him or what he had been like before. Now, though, he thought he could try to coax some information out of these boys later. By piecing it together bit by bit, he might be able to figure out what had happened before.
"All right, stand properly, all of you."
Second Master frowned at their chatter and let out a loud shout. The boys immediately stood at attention.
"You, too. Get over there."
Second Master gave Hu Ma a light kick on the backside, sending him to stand beside the boys. Then he raised his voice.
"What's all this talk about Evil Spirits?"
"They're just a gust of yin wind. Granny said you should come here and bask in the sun with me, to build up your yang energy. If you ask me, she was right to send you. She should've done it ages ago."
"I've never cared about all that Evil Spirit nonsense. Those things bully the weak and fear the strong. The only reason you ran into one is because your body's too frail. Build up some real skill, and one breath will scatter them."
"..."
"Second Master..."
A chubby boy in the crowd grinned. "Hu Ma ran into something really nasty."
"Even the ancestors at Old Fire Pit wouldn't protect him!"
"..."
"Then train harder."
Second Master glared at him. "Once you've trained properly, you won't need the ancestors to protect you."
"How can the living rely on the dead to stay alive?"
"..."
As he spoke, he sat down, pinched some tobacco, and packed it into his pipe. Then he said, "When I was young, one of those things got tangled up with me, too. I was a little over twenty then, and I had a big head on my shoulders. I went out on a trading trip and forgot to bring the ancestors' ashes. So one night, when I was looking for an empty house to sleep in, a hanged widow got ahold of me. I watched her slip in through a crack in the door, her face as white as a sheet. She crawled onto my bed, tugged at my belt, and started doing that with me..."
"Guess what happened after that?"
"..."
The boys were instantly curious. They all craned their necks, waiting for the rest.
"Heh..."
Second Master held his pipe and sat astride his little stool, looking utterly proud of himself. "Twenty times in one night!"
"I wore her out!"
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