Twilight Boundary

As the story goes, Hu Ma, having failed his "revenge" and fallen into a trap, uttered harsh threats and then hurried out of town to find his donkey cart.

He was initially eager to hit the road. Unexpectedly, when he got close, he found the carter he had previously hired was nowhere to be seen. Only Little Hongtang sat on the donkey cart, waiting boredly.

"Where's the carter?"

Hu Ma was shocked. Hadn't he already asked Little Hongtang to keep watch?

He hurried onto the cart to check. After lifting the thatch covering, he saw that the Silver inside was still there.

"Ran off scared!"

Little Hongtang said, "He sneakily tried to take Brother Huma's Silver. I showed myself and just gave him a look, and he immediately kowtowed."

"After kowtowing, he ran off!"

"..."

What the hell?

Hu Ma was astonished. He had only intended for Little Hongtang to watch the Silver to prevent it from being stolen. He hadn't expected her to be so effective that she scared the carter off altogether.

There was no choice. He certainly couldn't return to Wutong Town to hire someone new, so he had to drive the donkey cart himself.

This, however, presented a problem. Driving a cart required skill: knowing what speed to travel at, how to make the animals yield to people, how to navigate rough and dangerous terrains, and how to care for the animals when resting and feeding them. All this required professional knowledge.

Though he wasn't confident at first, once he got going, he found it wasn't difficult.

The main reason was the donkey's obedience: it moved when directed and stopped when told.

Normally, donkeys were quite temperamental, but this one seemed to have been subdued after he had beaten it the previous day.

This unexpected smoothness pleasantly surprised Hu Ma. After driving for a while without issues, he had Little Hongtang ride on the donkey's back to watch the direction while he sat in the cart and began to inventory the items on it.

How much he could earn from this job depended on sweet potato's sincerity.

But he had to admit, what Young Master Lu had given was already quite generous—over a thousand taels of Silver, after all.

The items on this donkey cart, prepared for casting spells, had been painstakingly collected by Young Master Lu before, and many were extremely hard to find.

Hu Ma's main interest now was to see how many of these Execution Soul Path items suited the methods in his Age Suppressing Book, so he could directly use them as his future "Five Town Objects" for casting spells.

Previously, at Niu Family Bay, Hu Ma had used the dharma methods from the Age Suppressing Book to hold an old turtle from the river for an Inquiry, utilizing the Five Town Objects.

They were a brazier, rice, an incense candle, straw, and offerings.

The brazier was one he had casually taken from a fisherman, the rice he had bought from a nearby village, the incense candle he carried with him, and the straw he had pulled from a haystack. As for the offering, well... it was simple, as that old turtle was easily appeased with a bowl of fish, a bowl of meat, and a bowl of rice.

Hu Ma hadn't thought much at the time because the Age Suppressing Book didn't specify much about these objects; it was merely a brief mention.

He had even learned some insights after carefully inquiring with Er Guotou about the Ghost Walker Path.

That is, these items were all Five Town Objects, items for casting spells.

The same spell, cast with different Five Town Objects, would vary greatly in effect and success rate.

The Age Suppressing Book was domineering, always aiming to accomplish significant feats with little cost.

But he couldn't afford to do that; these Five Town Objects needed to be carefully gathered. Now, he had taken a liking to the copper basin on Young Master Lu's donkey cart, as it was obviously a good item.

This copper basin was used to ignite flames when casting spells. Once the fire was lit, the evil spirit being held could not see the figure behind the brazier and thus would not dare to act recklessly. This made it a crucial object.

Previously, when he had summoned that old turtle, he was nearly seen through. But what if I had used this basin? What if I also prepared some yin wood—like locust wood, pine, cypress, or lychee, all naturally yin-aspected woods—to burn in it? Just thinking about it is exciting! Could it be that not even the Red Lantern Lady would be able to see through me?

Of course, that's just a thought. I don't have the courage to summon someone of the Red Lantern Lady's level right now.

Regardless, obtaining this basin was a small profit. Hu Ma decided to check if the other items were usable by rummaging through the things on the donkey cart.

Firstly, he had nothing else to do on the road. Secondly, it was best to examine these things during the daytime. If he took them out carelessly at night, who knew what might be attracted to steal his treasures.

"Paper man, yellow paper... tools? Why is there rice too?"

Having checked them, Hu Ma was somewhat curious. He had seen Young Master Lu use paper men before; they were his go-to treasures. Logically, the dharma methods from the Age Suppressing Book could also utilize paper men, but they were too sinister, and he was apprehensive about using them directly.

So, he simply burned them to ash.

Continuing to check, he found a box of yellow paper that was rough and pricked at the touch.

This was something used only when performing the yellow official paper trump card, and it wasn't very useful to him.

If folded into ingots and burned during casting, they might entice some Yin Ghosts who loved money in their previous lives, but it isn't necessary.

Hu Ma noted that it was just common yellow paper, the kind found in abundance at paper offering shops.

However, the most unusual thing was a box containing a stack of dirty, apparently water-soaked yellow paper. These papers seemed to have been pressed onto a human face, vaguely resembling a mask. This unsettled him a bit, and he quickly put them away.

He had heard Young Master Lu boast about the origins of this yellow official paper trump card and knew what the face-shaped molds were.

They were formed by layering yellow paper on a human face and pouring water on it, suffocating the person to death.

They were unquestionably evil objects.

Not only could he not use them, but he also needed to destroy them quickly.

He didn't discard them immediately because he feared these malevolent objects might endanger passersby.

As for the bundle of torture tools wrapped in cloth—thin hooks, brain-piercing needles, and tiny bone-sawing knives...

There were also some curved items, seemingly intended for cutting elongated or egg-shaped things, their purpose unknown...

Perhaps these were used for punitive purposes in the Execution Soul Path—since its name contains the character for "punishment"—to torment enemies. These might be temporarily retained; they could be useful later.

Having sorted through these objects, Hu Ma finally turned his attention to the last item, a half-bag of something, focusing his mind slightly.

This was the hardest to classify—it was a half-bag of rice.

Young Master Lu's family was in the rice shop business. Would he really be so conscientious as to bring rice along to cook while out on errands?

But upon closer inspection, Hu Ma knew this wasn't the case. The rice in this bag was dull and the grains shrunken; it was clearly not high-quality rice. Someone of Young Master Lu's status wouldn't consume such poor rice.

More importantly, upon opening the bag, Hu Ma immediately felt a chilling aura blowing in his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see black energy seemingly rising from the rice.

This rice definitely has a history!

Hu Ma immediately concluded that this must be rice used for casting spells.

In the world, rice is meant for eating. However, some peculiar varieties grow in yin places or are inadvertently spilled near Master Tai Sui, soaking up his blood and flesh to develop strange and eerie effects.

If living people ate it, not only would they derive no benefit, but they might even fall ill or go insane.

Yet, in the eyes of those in the Path, such things were excellent for casting spells.

During a casual chat with Sister Wu He, Hu Ma had heard her mention that some people would harvest Black Tai Sui and bury it in the ground.

Such land would become a yin field, and by using some Secret Technique, special rice could be grown there.

This rice was specifically sold to people in the Path, either to harm others or to cast spells.

What a find...

Hu Ma examined it carefully and realized this half-bag of rice was probably even better than the basin.

However, I first need to ask sweet potato clearly to determine if this rice is suitable for me to use as one of the Five Town Objects.

Having checked everything, he exhaled deeply and looked up.

He found the noontime sun glaring. His head felt slightly dizzy, and a layer of cold sweat broke out over his body.

Sweet potato's spell is taking effect...

He understood clearly. Silently assessing his own cultivation, he was quite taken aback.

His cultivation had always remained around the level of three incense. Any depletion from Cultivation practice or duels would be promptly replenished with Blood Food Pills.

But now, he saw that his three incense had diminished to two and a half. No, it isn't just two and a half. The third incense is nearly gone, with barely a sliver remaining; I've almost regressed to the level of two incense.

Paper Money Buys Life... her trump card is truly insidious!

He had mentally prepared himself for taking this hit, yet experiencing it firsthand was still terrifying.

Hu Ma had deliberately allowed himself to be hit by this move for two reasons. First, to make the subsequent events seem more plausible.

Second, because he had recognized the terrifying nature of the Execution Soul Path and, paradoxically, wanted to experience its effects personally.

Experiencing it at sweet potato's hands, where they would both exercise restraint, meant his life wouldn't be in danger. This was far better than encountering an unknown opponent in the future, being struck suddenly, and finding himself utterly defenseless and unable to guard against it.

Yet, despite such thorough mental preparation, he was still astounded.

To think that just being hit on the head by paper money had cost me nearly a full incense of cultivation! If an ordinary person were hit by that, would they indeed die?

He had initially intended to go back and put on a good act, but now it seemed he had almost overdone it. A sense of alarm in his mind reminded him not to delay further. He signaled Little Hongtang to give the donkey a hard swat, making it pick up its hooves and speed up their journey.

Now that this private job was more or less resolved, he had to think about how to claim his hard-earned reward.

But even for this hard-earned reward, he had to plan how to make it seem reasonable. He even needed to quickly reach a place where he could contact Er Guotou for solid advice on precautions, to be more secure.