Blood Food Gang

"Taisui…"

Hu Ma thought to himself, So this is the Lord Tai Sui that Old Woman mentioned…

But how could such a massive, bloated mass of flesh grow out of the earth in this world?

How could they dare to eat something so obviously unreasonable, even horrifying?

No, it was meant to be fed to me?

The sheer shock of it left him stunned for more than ten breaths. Countless thoughts flooded his mind, and he felt a churning in his chest, almost wanting to vomit up the Tai Sui Meat he had just eaten.

"That's why they say you're a lucky kid."

Second Master noticed Hu Ma's pale face and believed that the boy truly had lost his memory.

He sighed and patted Hu Ma's shoulder, saying, "You have no idea how difficult it was for Old Woman to cut this kind of Taisui for you. Although you see a mountain of meat before you now, not every part of Lord Tai Sui is edible."

"Most of it is dark in color and is called Black Taisui. Of course, it can be cut and eaten, but bad things happen to those who consume it."

Hu Ma suddenly came to his senses and quickly asked, "What?"

"Some people turn into Evil Spirits after eating it. Others lose their grip on reality…"

Second Master continued, "Most people just get sick and die, or suffer other strange ailments."

He pointed to a section of the giant meat mountain that looked like a large pit, with what appeared to be layered cuts on its surface. "The side facing the sun, which is pale in color, is the part that can be cut and eaten."

"This is called White Taisui. Eating it is harmless; instead, it strengthens the body and is more nourishing than eating grains."

"And better than White Taisui is Green Taisui. Eating that can even cure illnesses and prolong life!"

"Of course, these don't grow back immediately after being cut. Each time a portion is harvested, Lord Tai Sui needs time to recover and regrow."

"The Blood Food Gang from the prefecture comes down once a year to recruit people from our village to cut the meat for them. We only get to do this once a year, earning wages and keeping some for our own village to eat."

"Your Second Master here has been a meat-cutter my entire life. Those young lads are learning the skill of cutting Taisui from me."

"Of course, calling it 'cutting Taisui' is too disrespectful, so we all refer to it as 'Worship Taisui'…"

"……"

"Cutting meat? And you have to learn this?"

Hu Ma found it all so bizarre that he instinctively asked.

"Look at my brain."

Second Master smacked his forehead and said to Hu Ma, "But your memory loss is quite severe, isn't it?"

He added with a hint of warning, "Little Hu Ma, you must remember, it's okay for me to bring you here to see it, but when you're alone, you must never go near Lord Tai Sui."

"Lord Tai Sui's meat can ward off evil and cure illnesses, prolonging life, but it also attracts Evil Spirits easily. Why are there so many Evil Spirits around our forest village? It's because Lord Tai Sui exists here…"

"My skills are far inferior to your Old Woman's. She is a true Ghost Walker; I am merely a miner."

"The children who learn from me are only doing it to work for the Blood Food Gang when they come down, to earn some money. Of course, they only do this for three or four years, unlike me, who has been in this line of work for a lifetime."

"……"

"So…"

Listening to him, Hu Ma gradually understood, "Your skills, Second Master, are for warding off evil?"

"That's right…"

Second Master chuckled and patted Hu Ma's head. "My skills are learned so that I won't attract Evil Spirits easily, which is why I can do this job. You don't know how poor our village is; how much grain can we harvest in a year?"

"We rely on this annual Worship Taisui to earn a little something. Those young lads are also learning from me for the wages."

Hu Ma nodded slowly, then suddenly thought, "Since Taisui is so valuable, why don't you cut it and sell it yourselves?"

"Taisui is indeed valuable."

Second Master nodded slowly. "But without the Blood Food Gang overseeing it, not everyone dares to go and cut it…"

"You won't make money; hehe, you're more likely to cause trouble…"

"And before the Blood Food Gang arrives, the only person I know who can cut Taisui herself is your Old Woman. Of course, you shouldn't mention this to anyone else."

"……"

Listening to Second Master, Hu Ma vaguely understood something.

He had seen many such things in his past life. Africa, which produced blood diamonds, didn't profit much from them.

Countries rich in oil weren't necessarily swimming in wealth.

Especially in a certain "triangle" that produced certain goods, the local people were desperately poor…

…He seemed to have discovered a similarity between the two worlds.

However, he knew that Old Woman had the ability to cut Taisui by herself, but Second Master seemed to have misunderstood. What Old Woman cut was not just White Taisui…

Thinking to himself, he tentatively asked, "What about things better than Green Taisui?"

Second Master let out a chuckle. "Of course, there are. Lord Tai Sui isn't only found in our Old Yin Mountain. In other mountains, and even in cities, there are also mountains of flesh. The bigger the meat mountain, the more likely rare parts are to appear. White Taisui and Green Taisui are relatively common and can be harvested at specific points, but other parts are quite rare."

"Even Blood Ganoderma, which is rarer than Green Ganoderma, takes three years to grow back after being harvested once."

"But its efficacy and value are far greater than Green Ganoderma; an ounce of it is priceless, not even an ounce of gold can buy it..."

"..."

"That expensive?"

Hu Ma, who already knew how precious Blood Ganoderma was, was still slightly startled upon hearing this and was deeply curious:

"What's the use of eating it?"

"..."

"I don't know."

Second Master said, "In my life, I only dug up a small piece of Blood Ganoderma. I fought tooth and nail with three miners to finally get it. But this treasure, let alone eating it, I couldn't bear to even smell it! I immediately handed it over to the foreman and exchanged it for a small gold biscuit."

"Hey, you don't know how valuable this small gold biscuit is."

He said, his face glowing with excitement, "Right here in our village, I can marry any woman I want."

"I can also buy enough grain to eat for several years and build a small stilted house..."

"..."

"Then..."

Hu Ma listened and couldn't help but wonder, Second Master usually lives outside the village, and his environment is ordinary. Where is your small stilted house? Where are the women?

Second Master seemed to know what he was thinking, and also seemed to realize that Hu Ma didn't remember things now.

He sighed, "Zhao Lao Jiu, my sworn brother's father, won my small gold biscuit playing dice with me. You haven't seen the most beautiful stilted house in the village, that's his family's. It was also thanks to my gold biscuit that he was able to marry the prettiest girl from the Zhou family..."

"Otherwise, how would I know that the small gold biscuit is so useful?"

"..."

Hu Ma suddenly didn't know what to say. It seemed like he had touched upon Second Master's sad memory...

But it was also because he heard these things that he gradually realized what he had experienced since waking up.

He had been eating Blood Ganoderma.

He clearly remembered that he ate Taisui every day, and no less than a pound.

He was almost stuffed to death.

It was only under the Old Woman's threatening gaze that he reluctantly swallowed it...

If Blood Ganoderma is more precious than gold, then wasn't he eating more than a pound of gold every day?

... But how could the Old Woman have the ability to give him this thing as food?

Of course, no matter how capable the Old Woman was, she couldn't have an endless supply of Blood Ganoderma, otherwise, why would she be holed up in this village?

Perhaps it was precisely because of this that she sent him to Second Master.

Only by receiving the protection of the Ancestors, or by learning Second Master's skill of warding off evil, could he truly live without relying on Taisui Meat?

"Second Master..."

He thought to himself, trying his best to appear as ignorant and clueless as possible: "How can I learn your skills?"

"Learning my skills is not easy!"

Second Master was a carefree person. He forgot about his gold biscuit incident and picked Hu Ma up, throwing him onto his back. He turned and walked towards the forest, laughing, "My skills require two things: first, a strong body and innate vitality; second, the ability to endure hardship and be patient."

"Who wouldn't want to earn money from harvesting meat? But why are there only a few people who learn from me? Because they can't learn."

"You are still injured. Logically, I should let you recover first and then assess your foundation."

"However, the Old Woman said it was urgent, and furthermore, the Old Woman fed you so much Taisui Meat to treat your illness... it should be Green Ganoderma, right? Otherwise, your foundation wouldn't be this good... So, your body should be fine, and there's no need to trouble you."

"Tonight, Second Master will help you ignite the furnace first!"

"..."

"Ignite the furnace, what is that?"

While Hu Ma was thinking, he had no time to ask clearly. Second Master carried him and strode into the forest.

This time, he didn't run, and his body didn't become hot. The deep forest appeared much more profound and secluded. Hu Ma even vaguely heard rustling sounds around him. When he looked closely, he saw only some branches quietly retracting.

"And the first step to igniting the furnace is to recognize a godparent for you."

Second Master carried Hu Ma on his back, searching in the forest. He stopped under a large willow tree by the stream.

It was unclear how many years this willow tree had been growing. Its trunk was as thick as two people embracing, and its branches drooped down, looking like wisps of hair in the darkness.

"Little Hu Ma, kneel down and kowtow. Be sincere."

Second Master put Hu Ma down and said, "Second Master will be your witness. From today onwards, this will be your godmother."