Twilight Boundary

"No matter what, this incident serves as a wake-up call for us."

Miss White Wine, seeing Sweet Potato was intimidated, spoke coolly, "Even in a small place like Mingzhou Prefecture, a place that Er Guotou, Old White, and I thought to be safe, it could suddenly become the center of a storm."

"There might even be some dangerous individuals among us that we can't detect."

"Once this matter is concluded, we need to spread the word about the Meng Family coming here and let other Reincarnators know that the risk in Mingzhou Prefecture should, at least, be elevated by two levels."

"Elevate by two levels?"

Hu Ma was a bit surprised. Was there such a concept in the Reincarnator circle?

"Just a rough judgment, that's all."

Miss White Wine knew what Hu Ma, or perhaps Sweet Potato, was curious about and explained softly, "In some places, there aren't even any experts of Entering the Mansion rank, nor are there any powerful evil spirits. For Reincarnators, such places are like paradise; they can do anything without being discovered."

"Initially, Er Guotou and I believed that Mingzhou Prefecture was one of those places."

"But with the emergence of such a mysterious expert, we've realized that this is no longer a place where we can call all the shots and act recklessly."

"Its danger lies in the fact that if something truly goes wrong, even if Er Guotou and I wanted to save someone, we probably couldn't manage a comprehensive rescue in an emergency."

Upon hearing this, Sweet Potato was a bit flustered and quickly said, "So what should we do? Continue to lie low?"

"That's not necessary..."

Er Guotou sighed and said, "After all, we've been operating under people's noses for so long. If we were to be discovered, it would have happened long ago."

"Of course, being extra cautious is the right approach. In the future, you... Sweet Potato, if you want to do anything, it's best to ask Miss White Wine and me first. Only proceed after getting approval from both of us..."

"...And Senior Old White, of course, but don't bother him unless it's truly necessary."

HISS... Hu Ma felt a twinge of a toothache. Er Guotou never missed a chance to act as his wingman, did he? But he understood in his heart that these words, while ostensibly directed at Sweet Potato, were also a cautionary message for himself. As a loosely organized Reincarnator group, Miss White Wine and Er Guotou offering such advice was tantamount to imposing restrictions on the two newcomers, himself and Sweet Potato, but it also meant informally taking on some responsibility. After spending time together, they had, after all, developed some camaraderie...

"Ah, that's great..."

While Hu Ma was pondering this, Sweet Potato suddenly became somewhat excited and said, "Then, for these few urgent matters I have recently, can you seniors still help me, right?"

"Urgent matters?"

Er Guotou blinked in confusion and asked, "What urgent matters do you have?"

"Plenty..."

Sweet Potato said, "I need to heal my leg. The reward from the Red Lantern Lady isn't enough, so I still need to contribute a bit more."

"Also, I need to find an opportunity. I came to the Red Lantern Society, originally thinking they might assign me a Blood Food mine to manage, which would be good. I could even skim a little when there's nothing going on. But instead, they just made me a nominal Worship, giving me some money and provisions each month, basically keeping me like a freeloader."

"I figure this position has no real power. Maybe they're just hoping that the next time Red Lantern Lady has a duel with someone, they can send me out..."

"Ah..."

She mumbled, then suddenly remembered, "Right, there's also the Silver I owe Senior Old White."

"Last time he helped me out, he said it was tens of thousands of taels, and I haven't managed to gather that much yet..."

"Hmm?"

Both Miss White Wine and Er Guotou were taken aback by this statement.

In the Lifebound Spirit Temple, they couldn't see each other, but Hu Ma had a strong feeling that both their gazes were focused on him.

He felt a bit embarrassed, coughed, and said, "No rush."

"...Once you have it, just give me a portion first."

"Haha, when Brother Old White takes action, it's always this expensive..."

Er Guotou hurriedly chuckled along, saying, "As for everything else, there's no need to rush. Previously, when I arranged for you to move from the Green Clothes Gang to the Red Lantern Society, I was the one who pulled the strings. As for other matters, I'm not in charge, so you'll have to ask the Protectors in the Society."

"For now, just wait patiently. The Lady is building a temple and has also taken over the Green Clothes Gang's businesses and territory. Opportunities abound..."

Sweet Potato nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay, I'll wait."

Hu Ma vaguely heard Miss White Wine snort coldly. He truly felt that Miss Sweet Potato... was such a pitiful girl! That debt of tens of thousands of taels of Silver—he'd only mentioned it casually back then. Who knew she'd take it seriously? Now that she was insisting on giving it to him, well... he'd feel bad not accepting it, of course. As for Er Guotou, he was clearly a Protector, yet he pushed the responsibility away completely. Something that could have been resolved with a single word, he made it sound so difficult. Maybe after he helped Sweet Potato sort things out, he'd make Sweet Potato owe him a huge favor in return... Thinking about it, Miss White Wine seemed relatively genuine, right? No! Hu Ma suddenly had another thought. Why was Sweet Potato so eager to get Blood Food now? To heal her leg! In Mingzhou Prefecture, her injury could probably only be treated by Grass Heart Hall. And Miss White Wine was from Grass Heart Hall! Not only did she not say anything, but she even referred Sweet Potato to her Grass Heart Hall for treatment. She didn't seem to feel any heartache collecting the Blood Food... Or maybe she did feel heartache, but while feeling heartache, she still charged Sweet Potato a hefty price of several dozen catties of Blood Food. That really was... so perfectly logical.

"In the future, we really need to reduce the frequency of our individual exchanges and collaborations. Stability must be the priority."

At this time, Miss White Wine interrupted the conversation between those two, saying coolly, "However, like Sweet Potato, expressing your needs isn't bad. Compared to idly consuming one's own cultivation to chat with people about nothing in particular, it's far more meaningful for everyone to state their needs."

"...It's always better to have a clear target. State what you need so others can help keep an eye out. That way, whatever you do will be more convenient."

"Indeed."

Er Guotou was the first to agree, saying seriously, "This is the true meaning of communication among Reincarnators!"

"However, what I need now is quite difficult. I once sought a fortuitous treasure that would allow me to leave the Red Lantern Society without any future worries..."

"Earlier, I almost died. I was searching for this very thing, and luckily, Brother Old White saved my life. That attempt was successful, but I only obtained half of the item. To truly solve the problem, it's still somewhat lacking."

"Yes, yes..." Hu Ma sighed inwardly. "Just assume I saved your life. Does it need to be brought up constantly? Sweet Potato's imagination is already running wild to the ends of the earth..."

"I know what you're missing."

Miss White Wine picked up the conversation, saying casually, "But don't be hasty. It's too early to pursue that now."

Er Guotou quickly said, "I'm not in a hurry. But what about you?"

"What do you need?"

Miss White Wine replied blandly, "What I need is very dangerous. You all can't help."

"...Of course, Old White might be able to. He's a senior, after all!"

Hu Ma was shocked. Had she started learning bad habits too?

"Then, what does Senior Old White need? Tell us! If we can help out in a big way, maybe it can offset some of the Silver."

Upon hearing this, Sweet Potato quickly spoke up.

"Me?" Hu Ma suddenly saw things clearly. He was lacking so many things. He lacked the two lamps of a Shousui man, and he lacked certain trump card Paths that come after refining life in his eyes, ears, nose, and tongue. He lacked suppression objects for casting Magic, lacked a house, lacked a carriage... But he could only maintain his dignified facade. He also vaguely felt that revealing everything at this point wasn't really appropriate.

So after a moment of silence, he simply said, "I need Blood Food."

Now it was the others' turn to fall silent. They all sighed, "That's true. No one ever has enough of that."

Only Sweet Potato was there, exclaiming, "What a straightforward senior..."

"Then let's all keep an eye out. What each of us lacks isn't so easy to find, especially since there are few of us here."

Miss White Wine said coolly, "Before, we weren't familiar with each other and only cooperated when opportunities arose. Now, however, we have ties to one another, and our interests are somewhat aligned."

"Moreover, since such a formidable figure exists in Mingzhou Prefecture, we have no choice but to cooperate."

Everyone agreed and then individually withdrew.

In their hearts, they all understood that even without any formal alliances or oaths, the fact that the four of them had discussed these matters openly meant they had formed a small organization of sorts. Of course, the foundation of such a small organization was mutual restraint. In terms of strength, they were not equals, but regarding restraint, because Hu Ma, Er Guotou, and Miss White Wine knew each other's identities, there was mutual constraint among them. As for Sweet Potato... she was just such a pitiful girl.

After exiting with a sense of relief, Hu Ma was just about to retire for the night when Miss White Wine's voice unexpectedly sounded again, "I have some other matters I need to discuss with you."

Why is Miss White Wine contacting me privately again? Hu Ma was slightly puzzled. He understood she had matters she didn't want Sweet Potato and Er Guotou to hear, so he quickly asked, "What is it?"

Connected by a strand of Life Incense, Miss White Wine hesitated for a long time before softly saying, "I came to Mingzhou Prefecture for a reason. I had originally planned to get things done quickly, but because of... heh, the existence of that unexpected person, I find I must be more cautious. I might have to leave Mingzhou Prefecture soon to handle some affairs, but there are also important matters here. I'm finding it difficult to be in two places at once, so I need to find someone here to help me."

"However, Er Guotou is unreliable. He's too close to the Red Lantern Lady. If he were discovered, his only recourse would be to silence the Lady, and that's not worth the risk."

"Sweet Potato is even less reliable; I can't trust her with it."

"So, after thinking it over, you're the only one in Mingzhou Prefecture who can help me with this..."