Having seen the strange things in this world with his own eyes and witnessed Second Master's astonishing skills, Hu Ma had developed a keen interest in the powers of this world.
He couldn't wait to beg Second Master to teach him. But before he could get the words out, he suddenly remembered something important. Suppressing his excitement, he asked Second Master gravely:
"You said I have to remain a virgin. Do I have to keep it that way forever?"
"..."
The ability was certainly impressive, but if that was the case, wasn't it better to marry that ghost bride?
"Of course not."
Second Master was taken aback by Hu Ma's question. He shook his head. "If every one of you stayed a virgin, who'd have the babies in the stockade?"
"Besides, you're Old Woman's only grandson. If I don't let you take a wife, do you think she'll spare me?"
"..."
He explained, "This is just a method that lets you seal the fire inside your body and build it up, little by little. The more you accumulate, the better. The more you build up, the stronger you'll get, and the more vigorous you'll feel. Of course..."
He paused. "...you'll also get more eager for women."
"In short, once you've reached the right point, you can move on to the next step."
"Look at those young fellows outside. They're taking advantage of these couple of years cutting meat off the mountain to earn wages. Once they've saved enough, they'll marry and have children."
"Of course, once they're married, they can't keep cutting meat off the mountain. Their yang energy will have been spent, and their furnaces will be broken. So this work is really a young man's game. You can only earn a living at it for a few years."
"I'm the only one in the whole stockade who's been cutting for sixty years..."
"..."
"The prouder Second Master sounds, the more I pity him..."
Hu Ma couldn't help thinking that, then asked the most important question: "So when will I know I've reached the right point?"
Second Master gave him a long look. "When even a pig's backside makes your mouth water, you'll be there."
"Yikes..."
Hu Ma imagined the scene and couldn't help shuddering.
Still, since he wouldn't have to remain a virgin forever, he perked up. "So, what do I do?"
"It's simple. I'll draw a talisman on your body."
Second Master said, "I'm telling you all this ahead of time so you'll know what to expect and be ready. Once I've drawn the talisman, you'll need to eat more meat to build up your strength, exercise more, and spend more time in the sun. The stronger your fire, the better."
"By rights, you were possessed by a ghost not long ago, so we shouldn't be rushing things. If we force the furnace open, your body might not be able to handle the nourishment..."
"But Old Woman makes a good point. Besides, you've eaten so much Tai Sui Meat, so there shouldn't be a problem."
"Of course..."
His expression turned serious. "You need to prepare yourself, too. Once the fire's locked in, you absolutely mustn't lose your virginity during this period."
"I heard you used to sneak peeks at widows bathing in the stockade... You can't do that anymore, either."
"..."
"How could I possibly do that?"
Hu Ma was so embarrassed that his face stiffened.
Just what kind of person had his predecessor been? It seemed he wasn't very well liked in the stockade.
But Second Master sounded so serious that Hu Ma thought of another question. "I just can't lose my virginity, right?"
"What about, um, myself?"
"..."
As he spoke, he made a circle with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand, then moved them up and down.
Second Master took a moment to understand. Then he shook his head sternly. "Absolutely not. You have to hold back!"
"You'll let the fire out!"
"..."
"Fine..."
Hu Ma could only agree, but then he remembered something else. "What about in my dreams? What if I can't hold back?"
He had experience from his previous life. At that age, with a body that strong, who hadn't gotten up in the middle of the night to wash their underwear?
"In your dreams?"
Second Master sneered. "That's evil energy entering your dreams to tempt you into letting the fire out. Once I've drawn this talisman on you, you shouldn't have dreams like that anymore... Of course, there's always a chance. If you do have one and you're still conscious, hold back. If you're completely out of it, letting out a little won't matter... Otherwise, how do you think I've stayed a virgin for sixty years?"
Hu Ma immediately remembered Second Master's exploits in his youth and nodded firmly. "Understood."
With everything explained, Second Master picked up a straw basket and had Hu Ma sit opposite him.
Facing something so important, Hu Ma couldn't help feeling excited. He tried hard to steady his breathing.
Second Master, on the other hand, had done this so often that he was completely unhurried.
But in the end, this was only the first step in learning the craft. It wasn't anything major, and both of them stayed fairly calm.
Meanwhile, on a low hillside not far from the stone house, Old Woman—who should have returned to the stockade by now—was still standing there. She had seen Second Master take Hu Ma out at night to visit Lord Tai Sui, and watched him accept a godmother. Several times along the way, her brow had furrowed.
She had always thought Second Master was reckless and simple-minded, not particularly reliable, but she hadn't expected him to be this unreliable.
Yet she only watched from a distance and ultimately said nothing.
"Old Woman looks down on Second Master's skills. She doesn't want Big Brother Hu Ma to learn from him."
Xiao Hong Tang suddenly said, "Xiao Hong Tang doesn't want Big Brother Hu Ma to learn from Second Master, either. Xiao Hong Tang doesn't dare get close to Second Master, but being by Big Brother Hu Ma's side feels nice. If Big Brother Hu Ma learns Second Master's skills, Xiao Hong Tang won't dare get close to him anymore..."
Old Woman slowly lowered her gaze. After a long while, she finally said softly, "It's not that I look down on Second Master's skills."
"His skills are good in themselves, but he never learned them completely."
"You don't have to worry about being afraid to get close to Big Brother Hu Ma, either. No matter what he learns, he won't frighten you..."
"..."
Xiao Hong Tang tilted her head, seeming not to understand.
"When other people light their furnaces, they use the ancestors' ashes from the Old Fire Pit."
Inside the stone house, Second Master had already asked Hu Ma to take off his rough cotton jacket, exposing a pale, thin chest with every rib clearly outlined. "But the ancestors don't recognize you, so I had to take you to acknowledge a godmother first. Then I borrowed this willow branch."
As he spoke, he took out the willow branch and put it in the fire.
He murmured something under his breath, apparently asking the ancestors to bless them.
Hu Ma figured he hadn't used ashes from the Old Fire Pit in the first place, so what Second Master was chanting now probably had little to do with him.
Second Master probably had to chant like this whenever he lit someone else's furnace, so he'd gone ahead and done it now, too.
After a while, the willow branch had dried out, and one end caught fire.
Second Master suddenly looked up, picked up the willow branch, and quickly drew across Hu Ma's chest with its burning tip.
Hu Ma instinctively flinched, but found that the willow branch, with its sparks, wasn't hot at all. It was ice-cold.
Even colder than when he'd touched the Ghost Wood Stake earlier.
The chill seemed to pierce straight through his skin and brand itself onto his soul.
As the ash traced strange symbols across his chest, he felt a cold line darting over his skin. Faintly, he heard countless nameless giggles and jeers in his ears, while his vision blurred again and again.
He suddenly looked down and, in a daze, saw pale hands reaching out of the night, pressing against his chest and groping wildly.
"Huh?"
Hu Ma jolted and straightened his chest. Second Master, who was drawing the final stroke of the talisman, jumped in alarm, too.
"What is it?"
"..."
Hu Ma looked closely and saw that there were no pale hands on his chest. They had only been an illusion.
The faint gray mark Second Master had drawn with the willow branch did, however, leave him with an intensely clear sensation of cold.
The symbol formed by that gray line gave him a strange feeling, too.
It was as though an invisible cotton-padded coat had been draped over his body, preventing the heat inside him from escaping.
Completely cut off from the outside world.
The heat inside him had only just begun to seep out through his skin when it was driven back into his body, again and again.
"Remember the lines I drew for this talisman."
Second Master gave Hu Ma a curious look. Seeing that the symbol was complete, he quickly explained in a low voice:
"From this moment on, the fire in your body will keep getting pushed back. Follow the lines of the talisman and gather that fire, bit by bit, guiding it down to your lower abdomen. In time, a massive furnace fire will build up there."
"That's your fire furnace. It'll burn hotter and hotter, and you'll grow stronger and stronger, until you start learning a new art..."
"Once you have this fire furnace, you won't need to worry about running into those ghostly things anymore."
"They'll give you a wide berth as soon as they see you."
"..."
"This..."
Hu Ma suddenly thought of a question and asked cautiously, "What if evil spirits enter my body?"
"Heh..."
Second Master sneered. "Even if some foolish thing really crawls into your body, it'll feel like it's crawled into a furnace. It'll be so hot that it'll scramble to get out. If it can't, the furnace fire will burn it to nothing..."
"Huh?"
Hearing Second Master's serious tone, Hu Ma hurriedly checked himself. Then he relaxed a little.
"I'm fine..."
"I don't feel like I'm being burned to nothing at all. My body just feels warm and comfortable..."
"Does that mean I'm not actually an evil spirit?"
"..."
"..."
At the same time, Old Woman gazed from afar at the lamplight inside the stone house. After a long while, she let out a barely perceptible sigh and said nothing more.
"Let's go!"
"..."
Her hunched figure, with a small red-clad girl beside her, slowly disappeared into the forest at night.
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