CHAPTER 346: CHAPTER 343: DEFYING DESTINY (FOUR UPDATES)

"Yang Gong, could it really be this kid?"

Yang Gong, could it really be this kid? As Hu Ma rode his horse toward his family’s manor, he found the whole situation somewhat amusing and entertaining. He even vaguely recalled what the mountain lord had said: "In the absolute land of the Five Evil, dragons are born, and a geo-blessed land breeds loaches..."

Yang Gong could indeed be considered a loach. He was born into poverty and had become an Incense Burner. He had a singular belief in life: to gamble his life for wealth and honor!

But how could such a person, when half of Mingzhou was under the influence of the Five Evil Gods, end up at the most pivotal point of destiny?

This thought amused Hu Ma because he understood the mountain lord’s words: since the Five Evil Gods caused this chaos, inevitably, someone like Yang Gong would appear. If Yang Gong hadn’t emerged, someone else would have.

Even if there weren’t such a person, pushing one out wouldn’t have mattered.

It was just that this person happened to be Yang Gong, which made the situation interesting. Furthermore, because it was Yang Gong, Hu Ma, who originally had no intention of directly intervening, did not mind doing something at the most critical moment during this chaos.

He leapt onto his horse, pulled the reins hard for the first time, and galloped like the wind along the night road. Even the horse seemed to have caught a whiff of something dangerous—it instantly perked up, sprinting rapidly along the dark road.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH...

The cold night wind, heavy with the scent of blood from the Southwest, whistled past his ears.

Riding his wild, fast horse, Hu Ma quickly returned to the manor. Charging straight in, he swiftly dismounted and rushed into his own courtyard, retrieving something wrapped in black cloth.

The manor’s workers, startled at his sudden return and already having heard shouts of battle that felt alarmingly close, hurriedly grabbed their weapons and gathered around.

"Don’t be afraid. As long as you stay in the manor, nothing will happen," Hu Ma loudly reassured them. Taking the black bundle, he slung it on his back, jumped back onto the horse, and prepared to leave.

But just as he was about to ride out of the manor, he suddenly seemed to remember something. Turning back to look at the anxious servants who stared at him, his gaze fell upon Zhou Datong at the head of the group. He suddenly smiled and said, "Datong, right now there happens to be a rare opportunity."

"If you take people out there to fight for a while, there might be some benefits. Do you want to go?"

...

Zhou Datong hesitated for a moment. Hearing the deafening shouts from outside, and with an overwhelming desire to fight evident in his legs, he nonetheless responded, "If you’re letting me go, then of course I will. Right now..."

"No," Hu Ma interrupted. "It’s entirely up to you. This has nothing to do with me. Going out will naturally bring danger, but the benefits aren’t guaranteed."

Zhou Datong suddenly lost interest. "Only a fool would go," he said. "I’d rather stay in the manor and protect the villagers..."

Glancing at the villagers who had run to the manor to hide out of fear, especially the notably shy widow among them, Hu Ma laughed. "Then just make sure to guard the manor well," he said.

With that, he laughed loudly, pulled the reins, and dashed out of the manor.

He must tell the Second Master later, he thought, that their Zhou ancestors weren’t really influential anymore—why couldn’t any of their descendants even have the fate of an Emperor?

While pondering these thoughts, Hu Ma spurred the horse beneath him, charging directly into the field filled with blood and crossed with murderous energy. The scent of blood filled his nostrils, and the horse got even more excited, its hooves pounding faster and faster, almost as if it were flying.

Meanwhile, Yang Gong was in the midst of battle among the crowd. He was a Negative Spirit person and often took his brothers along to work. Accustomed to being at the front, he was now the same, wielding a rusty Blade Pu and fighting back and forth.

Earlier, he had a blade, but after days of hacking away, its edge was now dull, and he didn’t know where he had thrown it.

For now, he had snatched this one from some bandit, but due to the excessive number of kills, it was covered in a thick layer of coagulated blood, making it incredibly unwieldy.

But that wasn’t important. He just felt a vague heaviness in his heart, his right eyelid twitching violently. This was him facing the largest band of bandits he had ever been surrounded by, the most perilous confrontation of his life.

Though as a Negative Spirit person, his skills were not weak, somehow in this chaotic brawl, icy cold gusts would sometimes hit his face, and his strength was becoming increasingly unusable.

Most crucially, this was supposed to be the final battle against these bandits, yet danger seemed to be approaching him continuously.

Sometimes it was a few bandits, suddenly turning reckless, charging at him with red eyes; or sometimes someone’s weapon came chopping down at his head without warning.

Even his horse was tripped by a dead body, almost throwing him to the ground.

But he, relying on his brute courage and a few brothers who were loyal to him to the death, managed to persevere. He watched as they hacked the bandits into a disorganized retreat, about to flee.

Yet at that moment, an arrow, whose source was unknown, seemed to be guided by some mysterious force. It shot out from among the crowd, straight through the throng of fighting people, aiming directly for Yang Gong’s head.

As the arrow flew toward Yang Gong, it arrived at the most fierce point of its flight, certain to penetrate his eye socket straight into his brain.

And at that precise moment, Yang Gong had just flipped over to slash a bandit chief and straightened up. His brothers, each occupied with an opponent, were a little distance away, leaving no one to notice the arrow.

All coincidences, as if orchestrated by fate!

As Yang Gong flipped back onto his horse, intending to slash forward, the arrow had already reached him.

Yang Gong saw the arrow, but suddenly, his mind went blank, as if he had already envisioned the scene of the arrow piercing his skull.

And he found himself powerless to resist, as though confronted by destiny.

Like an ant facing a mountain about to crush it, the ant might also experience such a moment of blankness, unable even to feel despair or fear, overwhelmed with a deeply crushing sense of helplessness.

But just then, a sudden clatter of hooves echoed from outside the crowd.

Hu Ma rode his fast horse over, breaking into the slaughter field head-on. Confronting the glinting blades and dung forks, the horse seemed even more excited. It didn’t stop; it leapt straight into the crowd.

If not for Hu Ma diligently trying to pull the reins and direct it toward Yang Gong, it might have charged headlong into the spears.

Due to the horse’s wild charge, Hu Ma entered the battlefield quickly, nearing Yang Gong. And at that very moment, as the destined arrow was about to pierce Yang Gong’s eye socket, Hu Ma suddenly stood up in the stirrups and grabbed it.

THWIP!

The arrow stopped a mere finger’s width from Yang Gong’s eye, then halted abruptly.

In the next moment, Hu Ma and Yang Gong, carried by their horses’ momentum, passed each other. Hu Ma, holding the arrow, smiled at Yang Gong. "What’s wrong? Scared stupid? Didn’t even know to dodge an arrow?"

"You..." Yang Gong only snapped out of it when he heard Hu Ma’s laughter, finally feeling the fear. But his joy at Hu Ma’s sudden appearance quickly overwhelmed it, and he shouted, "It’s you, you rascal! How did you end up here?"

"My manor is right next to us. You’re the one who came into my territory," Hu Ma replied with a smile. "Here, catch!"

He flung the black-cloth-wrapped item to Yang Gong. It unfurled in mid-air as the cloth fell away. Yang Gong grabbed it, discovering it to be a sword.

He discarded the dull, rusty Blade Pu and drew the sword. It felt icy cold, with a dazzlingly sharp edge—an exquisitely rare treasure sword.

Full of astonishment and delight, he was overwhelmed with emotions. How had this brother, Hu Ma, arrived so precisely, grabbed the deadly arrow just in time, and even known he urgently needed a suitable weapon?

"Use it," Hu Ma said.

But with shadows flickering chaotically all around, Hu Ma didn’t have time to explain more. He nodded at Yang Gong with a smile. "Keep it up," he said. "It’s good not to resign yourself to fate."

As he spoke, Hu Ma’s horse kicked sideways, toppling two people and carrying him into the battle formation.

Yang Gong had so much he wanted to say, but watching Hu Ma appear so suddenly and leave just as quickly, the words caught in his throat. After a long while, he finally cursed, "You foolishly straightforward brother of mine! You gave me this fine weapon, so what will you use?"

But he had no time to ponder it; his spirits soared. Charging at the fear-stricken bandits with a roar, he felt as if imbued with infinite strength—the small slaughter field seemed negligible.

He didn’t need to worry. Hu Ma, after entering the battlefield, grabbing the fatal arrow, and gifting him the suitable weapon, had quickly left the field.

Though his horse seemed reluctant, Hu Ma pulled it out nonetheless. Of course, he dismounted once out of the battlefield. As for whether it chose to charge back in, that wasn’t his concern.

He merely walked briskly into the night. Soon, he saw Little Hongtang leading the way back to Seventh Aunt and Aunt Zhang. He laughingly asked Little Hongtang, "Got all the equipment ready?"

"Little Hongtang, we need to prepare for setting up the altar and exorcising the Evil Ghost!"

...

Little Hongtang nodded vigorously, showing Hu Ma the small basket slung on her arm, which held incense candles and other items.

Beside her, Aunt Zhang finally couldn’t help but inquire, "You’re here for Shousui, so why prepare for setting up the altar?"

The questions were endless. Why was he here? Who was this Seventh Aunt? Who was the man tasked with fighting the Five Evil Gods? When he mentioned setting up an altar and exorcising ghosts, did he mean...

But Hu Ma didn’t give her time for these questions. He merely glanced at her with a smile and said, "I do know how to set up the altar, Aunt."

"You taught me back then, remember?"