Ancestors Have Spirits

"Gone?"

When the incense burned out and Granny's prayers abruptly fell silent, Hu Ma's vision suddenly blurred as well.

The bone-chilling wind around them vanished without warning, just as abruptly as it had come.

Once again, Hu Ma felt the scorching heat radiating from the Old Fire Pit, and sweat burst out over his body as though it could wait no longer.

When he looked again, the eerie human figures within the Old Fire Pit had completely disappeared.

As if everything he had just seen had only been an illusion.

Granny sat silently beside the fire pit without saying a word. After a long while, she slowly began gathering up her things.

Xiao Hong Tang also crept closer, her lips pursed as though she was a little unhappy.

"What exactly is going on here?"

Hu Ma scarcely even dared breathe. He merely watched in silence, quietly changing from a kneeling position to a seated one.

He had no idea what this meant, nor did he dare speak carelessly.

"Hu Family Old Woman..."

At this point, the Old Clan Leader and several others, who had been watching from below the slope, finally mustered their courage and approached. Looking at Granny, who had lowered her head to pack up her things, their expressions were rather troubled. "After all, Brother Hu Shan wasn't buried in the Old Fire Pit back then. The Ancestors don't know little Hu Ma. How about... we think of another way for little Hu Ma..."

"They'll recognize him."

Granny suddenly spoke with a cold face. "Even if the Ancestors don't recognize him now, once I enter the fire pit, they will."

"Don't you go getting any other ideas. He is the last seed of my Hu family."

"I won't let anything happen to him, and I won't let him hide in this village his entire life, unable to so much as step outside!"

"..."

"Granny, you misunderstand. No one wants anything to happen to little Hu Ma."

The Old Clan Leader and the others hurriedly explained. As they helped Granny to her feet and led her aside to talk, they said, "Everyone has seen what Brother Hu Shan, and you too, Granny, have done for the village these past years. But the Ancestors aren't living people, after all. They can't distinguish things like this..."

"Come over here first. We have some things to discuss with you too."

"Perhaps there is another way to make the Ancestors acknowledge little Hu Ma..."

"..."

"..."

Seeing Granny being helped off to one side, where they seemed to be discussing something urgently, Hu Ma hurriedly got to his feet, picked up the bundle Granny had packed, and stood to one side.

Only after putting some distance between himself and that eerie Old Fire Pit did he voice the question in his heart to Xiao Hong Tang.

"What does it mean that the Ancestors won't acknowledge me?"

"..."

"Brother Hu Ma, have you really forgotten everything?"

Xiao Hong Tang tilted her head and studied Hu Ma curiously, making his heart grow uneasy again.

Fortunately, Xiao Hong Tang did not press him further. She said brightly, "The Old Fire Pit is where the dead are burned!"

"When the old people in the village pass on, they all get put into the Old Fire Pit and burned."

"It's been this way generation after generation, except for those who were no good while alive. Like Old Master Cui—he stole from people when he was alive, and even ate things he shouldn't have eaten. So the Cui family despised him and wouldn't let him enter the Old Fire Pit. They wanted to find a place outside the village to bury him."

"Even then, Granny was afraid something might happen to him, so she found a coffin board to watch over him."

"..."

"So this village actually has such a custom?"

Hu Ma recalled the densely packed human silhouettes he had just seen inside the Old Fire Pit and understood who they were.

A chill ran through his heart, but he was also puzzled. "Why burn so many ancestors in one place? And what is the Old Fire Pit for?"

"To protect their descendants..."

Xiao Hong Tang said with a giggle, "The ancestors in the Old Fire Pit have spirits. They can ward off evil, drive away ghosts, and accumulate blessings for their descendants."

"The more ancestors are burned there, the more potent it becomes."

"Normally, they protect the village and make those Evil Spirits outside less willing to enter."

"If someone in the village gets struck by an Evil Spirit or becomes entangled with one, they only need to come worship at the Old Fire Pit. Even at night, if they have to leave the village for something, they can come grab a handful of ash and put it in a sachet. It works better than any protective talisman..."

"..."

"It can work like that?"

The more carefully Hu Ma thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

At first, when he heard that so many people had been burned in the Old Fire Pit and recalled those densely packed figures, he had found it terrifying. This was clearly a place full of strange and sinister things, crawling with Evil Spirits—how could anyone feel at ease burning so many people together?

But now he understood. The village had its own simple logic for surviving.

Since there were so many Evil Spirits in this world, there naturally had to be ways to deal with them.

No matter whether it was the gods and Buddhas filling the heavens or anything else, surely nothing could be more reliable than asking one's own ancestors for protection?

But if carrying a handful of incense ash on oneself could ward off evil, why had she gone through so much trouble?

"Brother Hu Ma is different from everyone else. There aren't any Hu Family members in the Old Fire Pit..."

With a single sentence, Xiao Hong Tang cleared up Hu Ma's confusion and made him understand the awkwardness of his current situation.

"The Hu Family came from elsewhere. None of your ancestors are buried in the Old Fire Pit."

"Old Woman originally wanted to speak with the Ancestors and ask them to lend a hand, to protect Brother Hu Ma first, but the Ancestors all refused!"

"So when Brother Hu Ma encountered Evil Spirits, no one would look after him. Even taking cremation ashes out of the village wouldn't work."

"But once Old Woman dies and is buried in the Old Fire Pit, the Ancestors will acknowledge Brother Hu Ma. Then someone will protect you..."

"..."

"So that's how it is..."

Xiao Hong Tang was innocent and artless, her childish voice lacking an adult's orderly logic, but Hu Ma understood.

The awkward part about his original body was that none of its ancestors had been buried in this fire pit. By rights, the Hu Family had been in the village for over twenty years and had done quite a lot for it.

Even the original owner's father had died for this village.

But his father had died outside the village, and his body had never been recovered. Naturally, there had been no way to cremate him here.

Old Woman had wanted to plead their case with them, but unfortunately, they paid her no heed.

That Old Clan Leader just now had perhaps guessed as much. Afraid that Old Woman would be hurt, that was why he had been so nervous.

Looking up at this gray, rustic world, then thinking of the Evil Spirits he had encountered that day, even the thing that had just crawled out of the Old Fire Pit, he felt no relief at having figured things out. Instead, his heart trembled.

By now, he could no longer hold so firmly to his doubts about this world.

Yet in this world brimming with unease, he still could not find even the slightest thing that could make him feel safe.

Perhaps he could only rely on this Old Woman?

At least, judging by the way she had prayed so devoutly just now, she seemed genuinely concerned about him...

...No, she cared about her grandson. He was a counterfeit.

Hu Ma did not dare say it. Earlier, his head had been muddled and heavy, but now he had regained clarity. Though he still was not sure what exactly was going on, the fact that he had come back to life was real.

Deep in his mind, there still lingered a faint remnant of that empty, unsupported sensation from before he had awakened.

It had been a vast terror and uncertainty, a bewildered helplessness born of having no control whatsoever over his own fate.

Compared to the solid feeling of being "alive" now, that had been the most horrifying fear.

So he could not say it.

Life was like this. Living was a person's greatest instinct.

Since he had come back to life, he absolutely did not want to die.

As Hu Ma pondered this, Old Woman finished saying something to the Old Clan Leader and the others in the distance, then slowly walked back. Having gained some understanding of his situation, Hu Ma hurriedly picked up the bundle, went forward to meet her, and took the initiative to support her.

"Old Woman, shall we go back?"

"..."

"Go back."

Old Woman did not say much. She merely nodded, then slowly descended the slope with Hu Ma supporting her.

Out of the blue, she turned her head. "You saw the Ancestors just now?"

Hu Ma was startled. He looked up into Old Woman's eyes, and those strange shadows surfaced in his mind.

Was he not supposed to see them?

"You really did see them..."

Seeing the wary confusion on his face, Old Woman's gaze seemed to grow even more weary. She said softly, "Your soul has already been settled. You should not have been able to see the Ancestors. Even Xiao Hong Tang should not have been able to see them."

"I..."

Hu Ma lowered his head to look at the little girl holding his hand, a chill running through his heart. So she really is a ghost...

No one else could see her?

All the way here, in other people's eyes, was he not simply holding onto a patch of empty air?

"Old Woman, everyone in the village says only people about to die can see the ancestors in the Old Fire Pit. But Brother Hu Ma saw them too. I don't want Brother Hu Ma to be able to see me when he sees me, either."

Hearing herself mentioned, Xiao Hong Tang, who had been following beside them, suddenly asked, "Does that mean Brother Hu Ma is about to die?"

"No..."

Old Woman slowly shook her head and said in a low voice, "It's not only those about to die who can see it. Those who have just come back to life can see it too."

"Hm?"

Hu Ma's heart gave a violent jolt. A flicker of alarm flashed through his eyes, and he hurriedly lowered his head again.

"It can be cured..."

Old Woman did not turn to look at him. She merely spoke slowly, as if talking to herself. "After all, you've just taken a turn through the Gate of Hell. It's only natural for your body to be too weak. With Returning Soul, encountering Yang energy is like being thrown into a vat of boiling oil; for the soul to grow within the flesh is like being skinned alive and having one's tendons pulled out."

"You've made it through every one of those trials. What remains is nothing much. Rest well, eat more meat, and you'll definitely recover..."

Cold sweat had already soaked Hu Ma's back. He could only stiffly support her and carefully make his way back.

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