Twilight Boundary

"Why would he ask that?"

Hu Ma was completely taken aback. This first greeting was really unexpected—why was he so focused on whether *he'd* seek Miss Red Wine for help?

The key was, he really was! That unknown thing was actually chasing him!

He pondered slightly and quickly came up with an idea, calmly saying, "Of course not."

"I'm here on someone's behalf to deliver a message to Miss Red Wine."

After a pause, he added, "Of course, this message is quite urgent and needs to get into Miss Red Wine's hands promptly. So, it sounds like you know her too? Could you perhaps call her for me?"

"We're all just passing our days in the same place, so claiming not to know you isn't believable..."

The other person sighed, saying, "Since you're here to deliver a message, I'll help you find her. But you definitely can't reach her today, so just tell me first! Who entrusted you to find her, and what message are you delivering?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Hu Ma was a bit surprised. "Not reachable today? Why?"

The other person sighed again. "Her pigs ran away again, and she's gone out chasing them. Who knows how many hundreds of miles the beasts have run by now..."

"Raising pigs? The pigs ran away?"

Hu Ma was confused upon hearing this. A dignified Reincarnator coming to this world to do livestock farming? The key was, since when could a proper family's pigs run hundreds of miles away? For a moment, Hu Ma felt a slight sense of absurdity about the Anzhou Reincarnator Organization, but after pondering a bit, he straightforwardly stated his purpose.

When he had agreed to deliver this message for Miss White Wine earlier, he had already considered this problem. Reincarnators were naturally cautious; suddenly arriving in an unfamiliar place and being tasked to deliver a message to someone you've never met—you couldn't completely let your guard down.

What if the other party was an imposter? After all, Reincarnators choose their own codes, and someone you're connecting with for the first time could say anything they wanted.

However, Miss White Wine had assured him that after arriving in Anzhou, he could be at ease. The Reincarnator Organization here had been working together for quite some time and had been operating in Anzhou for a long period, making it trustworthy. This was his first contact with the Anzhou Reincarnators, which was why he directly stated his need to find Miss Red Wine.

Of course, there was no need to be so cautious during the contact. Still, Miss White Wine had left a critical secret code to be matched when finally delivering the message. If they matched, trust could be established.

Hu Ma asked to what extent this trust could go.

Miss White Wine's answer at that time was, "Trust them with your life and fortune!"

With this in mind, he slowly said, "Then please tell her that I was commissioned by Miss White Wine to deliver a letter to her."

"What?"

This statement took the other party by surprise first. The previously languid attitude suddenly vanished, and his voice immediately gained a few degrees of solemnity and seriousness. "Are you from Shangjing?"

"..."

That wasn't it...

Hu Ma hadn't expected him to ask this, but after thinking, he just said, "Miss White Wine didn't give any other details. She just told me to deliver this letter, and Miss Red Wine would understand."

"..."

"PHEW..."

The other party also let out a breath and stopped asking questions, instead becoming somewhat more earnest. "If that's the case, my apologies, brother."

"My code name is Burning Blade, and I'm an old acquaintance of both Miss Red Wine and Miss White Wine." He first stated his code name, then added, "I will try to notify Miss Red Wine about this matter as soon as possible. At the latest, by midnight tomorrow, she will come to speak with you."

"..."

Wait another day?

Hu Ma was startled but didn't say anything, just responded softly, "Yes. It's just that the letter is rather urgent, Brother Burning Blade, so please inform her early."

"..."

The two agreed, and then Hu Ma exited the Lifebound Spirit Temple. He didn't go back to sleep but slowly opened his eyes.

On the bed, Xiang was curled asleep in the corner, her breathing heavy. The room was extremely quiet. There was only an oil lamp on the table, emitting a weak light.

Reincarnators could maintain conscious thought within the Lifebound Spirit Temple, but upon leaving it, they often slipped into a deep slumber. Thus, if there was something important to think about, it was customary to wake up first after leaving the Lifebound Spirit Temple.

Is the other person not residing in Anzhou Prefecture Mansion, or did he really go looking for pigs? After pondering silently for a while, he couldn't think of any solution. Distance was one issue. Not everyone could call from long-distance like Miss White Wine. Many capable individuals, despite their abilities, hadn't achieved cultivation beyond three incense. For example, in Mingzhou, Brother Er Guotou had the skills to maintain the Red Lantern Lady but his cultivation was also limited to three incense, making long-distance calls impossible—or perhaps he just pretended it was impossible despite having the ability.

Although the Reincarnators were in Anzhou, not all were necessarily gathered in the Prefecture Mansion. Hiding out in some town or manor outside the Prefecture Mansion, or even in a village, was possible. The person with the code name Burning Blade probably needed to travel a certain distance to notify Miss Red Wine successfully.

Furthermore, people you hadn't connected with before couldn't hear a call if they hadn't entered their Lifebound Spirit Temple. The other party simply wouldn't hear it. But if you had connected before, they might sense it even if they weren't in their Lifebound Spirit Temple. Of course, to have a conversation, one still had to enter the Lifebound Spirit Temple.

In any case, he could only wait another day. With trouble surrounding him presently, of course, the sooner, the better. But the situation being as it was, after delivering this message, according to Miss White Wine, he would receive some reward from the Anzhou Reincarnator Organization. Then, voicing his need for help would be a natural progression. However, without having contacted the principal person yet, urgently bringing up his own problems felt strange and would make neither party comfortable.

Still, as soon as the other party heard Miss White Wine's name, they became much more cordial. This showed that Miss White Wine indeed held significant influence here, which made Hu Ma a bit relieved.

Waiting a day it was then!

As he was thinking this, he suddenly felt a slight chill creep over his body. He quickly lifted his head and saw the oil lamp on the table. Its light was slowly turning a ghostly green.

Instantly, a slight alarm surfaced in his heart, and his body moved swiftly, silently slipping onto the bed. He gently woke Xiang and then covered her mouth with his hand.

Xiang awoke with a start, but upon seeing Hu Ma's face, she nodded vigorously, indicating her understanding.

Only then did Hu Ma quickly get out of bed, rummaging through his bag beside him and pulling out a few incense sticks to light by the window.

This kind of situation had already occurred several times for both him and Xiang. A slight chill over the body, the oil lamp changing color—it all indicated that the thing was about to arrive soon.

Having quickly lit the incense, Hu Ma lightly leaned by the window, peering outside through a crack.

Previously, the places they hid were either clan ancestral halls or civilian homes. They knew something was coming but had never seen it. Now, staying at an inn in the city gave them a perfect chance to take a look.

Sure enough, after lighting the incense array, about half a tea's worth of time passed. Hu Ma vaguely felt his vision blur. He saw intense darkness enveloping the city road outside, and a faint yet surreal sound of dragging chains resonated in his ears.

He remained perfectly still, making no sound, and watched quietly.

He saw the darkness flowing along the straight street in the city, with something wearing a tall hat and dragging chains following closely behind. That figure was tall and indistinct, stiffly dragging the chains. It moved bit by bit from afar, its legs not visibly moving, almost gliding on the ground as it came straight down from one end of the street.

As it passed, the entire street grew abnormally silent, without the sound of chickens or dogs, devoid of any noise. People all around seemed to stop breathing, making it seem unlike the human world.

Hu Ma frowned slightly, paying close attention as he noted two night watchmen carrying lanterns approaching from the opposite side of the street. They seemed unable to see the entity approaching them, nor did they notice their lanterns turning green. The two parties moved toward each other, seemingly about to collide.

Hu Ma held his breath, unsure what would happen if a living person collided with that thing. As he pondered this, the parties drew closer. The lanterns held by the two night watchmen had already turned a ghastly green, though they remained oblivious. Their gongs were at the ready, but when the gong mallet struck, it failed to produce any sound. All the while, the hat-wearing figure had already brushed past them. No, it had actually passed through their bodies.

The two night watchmen immediately stood rigidly in place, their faces turning green, one leg lifted, mouths agape. This bizarre silence persisted for several heartbeats while the hat-wearing figure gradually drifted away.

In Hu Ma's room, the light from the oil lamp had returned to normal. The bone-chilling cold also slowly faded.

The two night watchmen suddenly sneezed, resumed walking, striking their gongs and shouting, "Midnight, the third watch, all is safe..."

"..."

Everything around them gradually began to return to normal. The distant sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking emerged once more. The squeaking noise of startled mice and rustling willows reached his ears.

The town seemed to have come back to life after that thing had passed by.

"Sir... Young Master..."

Xiang, frightened and clutching her blanket on the bed, finally dared to utter a soft call, clearly a bit scared.

"It's all right now. We avoided it," Hu Ma sighed softly, comforting her.

Yet internally, he remained uneasy. The earlier trickery had bought them two days of peace. But now, the adversary had finally reacted and, reorienting themselves, had tracked them down here in Anzhou. He indeed needed to quickly contact Miss Red Wine for help...