Pressing his legs against the horse's flanks, Hu Ma quickened his pace and left the boundary of the Old Yin Mountain. Upon emerging, he saw the outside of the mountain bathed in bright sunlight. In the distant fields between villages, people were coming and going. Some were cheering, some weeping; others, upon seeing Hu Ma approaching from afar, ran up to him, knelt before his horse, and kowtowed. They did not know about Hu Ma's battle with the Evil Ghost in the Old Yin Mountain, but they all remembered his recent exhausting journeys between the villages.
Hu Ma quickly bade them rise, not accepting their obeisance, and merely asked, "How has the matter been resolved?"
"How many people were injured in the villages?"
"Where are all the Ghost Walkers who came from afar to help?"
The villagers answered his questions, and Hu Ma offered them a few words of comfort before hurrying towards the village ahead.
