Hu Ma

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Hu Ma (胡麻)
Alias(es)	Steward Hu; Shopkeeper Hu; Big-bellied Ghost King; Ghost Walker Great Ghost Walker's Blade; Ten Fragrance Grand Chief Priest; Jianghu Person; Jianghu Ruffian
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Talisman Suppressing Hu Family; Red Lantern Society; One Qian Cult; Reincarnator group
Occupation/Role	Night Watcher; Talisman Suppressor; Red Lantern Society steward/shopkeeper; master of the Talisman Suppression Mansion
Status	Alive
Family	Hu Shan (birth father); the Old Woman (grandmother/godmother figure)
Master(s)	Second Master Yang; Zhou Zhiming (former master)

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Furnace ignition	15	Worships Taisui and formally begins Second Master's cultivation path.
Perfected Furnace Fire	22	His unusually rapid furnace-fire progress forces Second Master to warn him against becoming reckless.
Three sticks of Life Incense	90	Green Blood Food preserves his third stick of life incense rather than allowing his cultivation to fall back to two.
Reborn left hand / Night Watcher cultivation	74	Begins the Night Watcher technique and refines his left hand, which undergoes miraculous rebirth.
Entered the Prefecture	400	Reveals that he has entered the Prefecture while intervening at the Blood Food Mine.
Dharma Body; second mansion gate	457	Suppresses the Yin General and uses the resulting power to cultivate a Dharma Body and open the second gate.
Three-Door Prefecture	669	Opens the Three-Door Prefecture; his Dharma Image is fully formed and strengthened by Purple Taisui.
Third pillar gained	758	An assassination crisis unexpectedly grants him another pillar of cultivation.
Nine Pillars	773 775	Reclaims Nine Pillars of cultivation through changing fate rather than borrowing an ancestor's power.
Ten Fragrance Grand Chief Priest	821	Performs a nine-incense ritual with immense lifespan, described as becoming the world's most powerful figure.

Background

Hu Ma awakens in a body sustained by Blood Ganoderma/Taisui. He eventually realizes that his body is dead and that exhausting his furnace fire exposes his reliance on Taisui to remain alive 19. His wounds nonetheless regenerate rapidly, and he initially works diligently around the Old Woman's home while concealing his true circumstances and fearing exposure 8.

The Old Woman takes him to Second Master Yang so that he can learn protection against Evil Spirits. Though Second Master is reluctant, he accepts Hu Ma as an apprentice; Hu Ma is left with silver cakes and becomes troubled by guilt over deceiving the woman who is protecting him 11. His frail condition prevents him from matching the other youths' physical regimen, but he excels at literacy, arithmetic, observation, and memorizing forms 19 23.

Hu Ma later becomes a steward and then shopkeeper within the Red Lantern Society. He develops a reputation for competence and concern for workers, including providing food, handling dangerous village matters, and taking responsibility for the Blood Food Mine and its craftsmen 73 417.

His connection to the Hu Family becomes increasingly central. The Old Tree Stump identifies him as qualified to retrieve a Hu Family token, while later revelations establish him as the successor of the Talisman Suppressing Hu Family 209 532. He eventually learns that his father Hu Shan died protecting a village calamity and that Hu Ma was created as an “Evil-Slaying Artifact” meant to destroy reincarnated Evil Spirits—a fate arranged through sacrifices and manipulation by his family and the National Teacher 736.

Appearance

Hu Ma is initially described as extremely thin, with “stick-like arms” and scarcely “two pounds of meat” on him 11.

• Wears clean clothes with a blue cloth belt and layered blue cloth shoes while acting as a manor steward 81.
• Uses disguises when handling supernatural village business, including a scarf over his face, straw figures, and crude talismans 137.
• His face becomes indistinct while he acts under the protection of the Hu Family’s town-warding methods 453.
• Later wears armor, boots, and an official seal associated with his Dharma Image and status 482.
• Performs the Imperial Capital ritual in a purple Daoist robe 821.

Personality

Hu Ma is cautious, pragmatic, and intensely concerned with survival. His physical weakness teaches him to conserve effort rather than compete in pointless displays of strength; he studies techniques slowly and carefully, replaying movements mentally until he understands them 20 23.

He is intelligent but not detached. He feels guilty for benefiting from the Old Woman’s care while hiding the truth, and he repeatedly accepts responsibility for matters she left unfinished 11 23 111. As his influence grows, he becomes willing to make difficult decisions for workers, villagers, and allies while remaining suspicious of powerful families and hidden motives 73 414.

Despite his connection to the Ten Clans, Hu Ma ultimately identifies with ordinary people. When faced with a grain-seeking party victimizing civilians, he rejects the Ten Clans’ principle of non-interference and declares himself a Jianghu Person who draws his saber against evil 760 761.

Abilities & Skills

Night Watcher Cultivation

Hu Ma cultivates furnace fire, Life Incense, and the Night Watcher path. His dead body’s dependence on Taisui creates unusual constraints, but also contributes to his affinity with Yin-related arts.

• Refines and restores his left hand through the Night Watcher technique 74.
• His Natal Spirit Temple statue mirrors the condition of his body and cultivation, including his left hand 73.
• Can endure Black Fur Evil after gaining Purple Taisui 669.
• Possesses exceptionally heavy lifespan, which allows him to exert influence in the Middle Yin Realm 766.
• Reaches Nine Pillars through changing fate 773 775.

Great Might Heavenly Duke General Seal Method

Hu Ma’s central Dharma Body cultivation method. It develops a ferocious guardian-deity Dharma Image and grants authority over Yin forces.

• Cultivates his Dharma Body at extraordinary speed after accepting a bow tied to the Meng Family’s scheme 456 457.
• Opens the second mansion gate through the General’s Order and Yin General 457.
• His fully formed Great Might Master Dharma Image has four arms 727.
• Uses the Dharma Image to scatter immortal cauldron-bottom ghosts and to fight powerful Night Watchers 656 657.
• Can be impaired or sealed by attacks directed at his soul and Dharma Image 765.

Talisman Suppression

As master of the Talisman Suppressing Hu Family, Hu Ma bears responsibility for maintaining the boundary between Yin and Yang.

• Uses the Talisman Suppression Book and a rudimentary altar to eliminate the Green Robe Evil Spirit and Zheng Incense Master 209.
• Can employ Hu Family town-warding methods that obscure his face from sight, physiognomy, and curses while a fire basin remains lit 453.
• Learns the Hu Family Four Great Curses, though an altar is impractical in open battlefield conditions 765.
• Cannot use the Talisman Suppression Mansion to execute living people 760 765.

Four Ghosts Bowing to the Gate

An ultimate skill originally taught to Hu Ma by Shopkeeper Wu Hong.

• Used to disperse ghosts attempting to drag him into an immortal soup cauldron 656.
• Exchanged openly with Bald Old Zhang for Five Thunder Golden Toad Roar 182.
• Remains one of his principal methods for confronting supernatural opponents 708.

Five Thunder Golden Toad Roar

A secret art acquired from Bald Old Zhang.

• Produces frog-like roars during Hu Ma’s cultivation, alarming his employees at night 182.
• Used alongside Four Ghosts Bowing to the Gate against a Thievery and Disaster sect opponent 708.

Martial Arts

Hu Ma’s formal martial foundation comes from Second Master Yang, although he later judges his conventional martial ability to be merely third-rate by jianghu standards 479.

• Mountain Splitting — Can be used as either a fist or saber method 23.
• Block and Strike — A foundational external-energy movement 23.
• Monkey’s Hard Peach Pluck — An upward hooking technique 23.
• True Yang Arrow — A foundational skill associated with Second Master’s system 23.
• Heart-piercing Nail — Used to kill Ji Tang after Miss Red Wine disrupts his defenses 295.
• Punishment Official’s Great Saber — His primary weapon during the conflict with King Panshan’s army 760 765.

Yin General Command

Hu Ma gains authority over the Yin General after suppressing it with the General’s Order.

• The Yin General and its vengeful souls become his subordinates, freed from prior karmic debts and blessings 457.
• Can summon the Yin General and lead Yin Soldiers in a battlefield charge 772.
• The General’s Order is said to be capable of summoning one hundred thousand Yin Soldiers, though this power is unavailable while his Dharma Image is sealed 765.

Ghost Walker and Reincarnator Methods

Hu Ma has ties to both Ghost Walker arts and the Reincarnator network.

• His Ghost Walker-associated cultivation is connected to the Talisman Suppression Book 209.
• Uses a compass-like life-saving artifact connected to the vanished Ghost Walker sect against the Meng Family Ancestor 489.
• Employs Reincarnator contacts through Miss Red Wine for intelligence operations and assassination planning 606.
• Becomes more confident in identifying himself as a Reincarnator after acknowledgment from the other world 833.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Talisman Suppression Golden Mace — Hu Family token that cleanses vengeful spirits, upholds Yin-Yang boundaries, and confirms Hu Ma as master of the Talisman Suppressing Hu Family 532.
• General’s Order — Found in his Natal Spirit Temple; controls the Yin General and assists Dharma Body cultivation 414 457.
• Fierce Blade — Newly forged saber steeped in malevolent aura; capable of shattering an Old Artifact iron ruler 468 483.
• Punishment Official’s Great Saber — Used in Hu Ma’s intervention at Talisman Suppression Town and against King Panshan’s army 760 765.
• Sky Measuring Boots — Ultimate Skill used for rapid travel along official roads 509.
• Ragged Armor — Armor sent by the Old Elm Tree; allows Hu Ma to resist the Meng Family’s status-based suppression 482.
• Compass-like Ghost Walker artifact — A broken, ancient life-saving object shared previously with Miss White Wine 489.
• Red wood sword — Used to frighten ghosts in Widow Village 112.
• Protective talisman — Given by Shopkeeper Wu Hong for emergency protection 93.

Relationships

• The Old Woman — His grandmother/godmother figure and earliest protector. Hu Ma feels guilt over hiding his identity but accepts responsibility for her unfinished business 11 111 779.
• Second Master Yang — Teacher who accepts Hu Ma as an apprentice and teaches him furnace cultivation and external-energy skills 11 23.
• Zhou Datong — Fellow disciple and loyal companion. Hu Ma initially values his local knowledge, while Zhou Datong comes to admire Hu Ma and later rises as King Iron Threshold 20 55 877.
• Xiao Hong Tang — A protective companion who brings Hu Ma Blood Food and aids him in supernatural battles 19 24 708.
• Old Abacus — Adviser and associate who helps manage the Blood Food Mine and recognizes the scale of Hu Ma’s cultivation 417 507 821.
• Miss Red Wine (Han Niangzi) — Reincarnator ally whose flower rope saves Hu Ma against Ji Tang; later assists his intelligence and Yin Mansion operations 295 606 854.
• Miss White Wine — Ally who entrusts Hu Ma with a life-saving Ghost Walker artifact and helps oppose the Meng Family Ancestor 489.
• Yang Gong — Red Lantern Society ally and Emperor seed. Hu Ma supports his leadership and helps him recover confidence 541 833.
• Fourth Miss Zhou / Miss Zhou — Initially clashes with Hu Ma over lineage and mastery, but later protects his body and respects his resolve to defend common people 656 766 761.
• Hu Shan — Hu Ma’s birth father, who died sealing a calamity to protect Fox Coffin Village 736.
• National Teacher — Reveals Hu Ma’s engineered purpose as an Evil-Slaying Artifact, causing Hu Ma to feel anger and betrayal 736.
• Meng Family — Major hostile clan whose authority, ancestral methods, and schemes repeatedly target Hu Ma 450 482 489.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Second Master’s Apprentice

Hu Ma is placed under Second Master’s care to gain the means to resist Evil Spirits. He ignites his furnace, learns practical martial forms, defeats Cui Xie'er, and earns the awe of the other village youths 11 15 23 24.

Red Lantern Society Steward

After leaving the village, Hu Ma enters the Red Lantern Society’s sphere of influence. He becomes a steward and shopkeeper, acquires Four Ghosts Bowing to the Gate, exchanges it for Five Thunder Golden Toad Roar, and begins building a capable group around himself 73 93 180 182.

Widow Village and Hu Family Inheritance

Hu Ma enters Widow Village, survives its malevolent spirits, and learns that his path is tied to the Old Woman’s unresolved history and the Hu Family legacy 111 112 113. He later retrieves the Talisman Suppression Golden Mace and is acknowledged as the Hu Family’s new master 532.

Blood Food Mine and Dharma Body

As steward of the Red Lantern Society, Hu Ma protects and takes control of the Blood Food Mine. He discovers the General’s Order, suppresses the Yin General, and rapidly enters Dharma Body cultivation 400 414 417 457.

Conflict with the Meng Family

Hu Ma repeatedly opposes the Meng Family’s efforts to suppress, expose, or exploit him. He withstands their name-banner authority with armor bestowed by the Old Elm Tree and confronts their ancestral power with allies 482 489.

Jianghu Person and Jianghu Ruffian

When his major supernatural powers are sealed or restricted, Hu Ma chooses to act as an ordinary Jianghu Person rather than remain detached. He fights the grain-seeking party and King Panshan’s forces to protect civilians, later reclaiming his Nine Pillars and commanding the Yin General in battle 760 765 772 773.

Imperial Capital Ritual

Hu Ma becomes the Ten Fragrance Grand Chief Priest and lights nine pillars of incense to expose the Imperial Capital’s false prosperity. The ritual summons the Twelve Ghost Altars and throws the city into chaos 821.

Trivia

• Hu Ma had been a lead square dancer in his past life, which contributes to his ability to observe, memorize, and refine martial forms 23.
• He describes himself as naturally low-key due to having lived two lives 20.
• His initial physical frailty causes others to mistake his measured practice for laziness 23 24.
• He is called an “Evil Spirit” by some opponents, while his own origin is later revealed to be that of an Evil-Slaying Artifact 657 736.