Silence in Response

A coffin, a cart, a fine horse chosen from the stock in the stronghold, and a little luggage—that was all Hu Ma prepared for his departure.

By rights, with his current wealth... though he had very little blood food, he had plenty of gold and silver... he could have arranged something more comfortable and luxurious.

But Hu Ma had an indefinable feeling that he wanted to keep a low profile, so he prepared only the bare essentials.

There were plenty of matters to handle in various places now. The newly born Pond God and the Ghost-Walkers, who had invited the gods back to their altars, both needed a great deal of settling in. Yet he could hardly spare the attention; all he wanted was to get to the capital as soon as possible.

Other matters could wait, but Second Master's affairs were important. Even before Hu Ma became a saint through the Mountain Sacrifice, Second Master had been looking forward to going to Hu Ma's Blood Food Mine and bringing people from the stronghold to earn wages. Now that he was a saint, he still intended to go.

But when the Blood Food Mine came up, Hu Ma fell silent for a moment instead of agreeing right away. He first sent for Old Abacus.

"Are the people from that Wu stronghold still staying at the Blood Food Mine?"

"..."

Old Abacus immediately understood that Hu Ma meant Wu Song, and shook his head. "No. He only went to the Blood Food Mine once before the new year. He took delivery of the blood food you had Datong and the others transport there, then left."

"Before he went, he took Master Ma from the mine with him, too. I don't know what he said to that old horse, but Master Ma