Disaster, formless and shadowless, can only be thwarted by blessing. But what exactly was a blessing?
Hu Ma remembered the words he had exchanged with Second Master: a blessing was something intangible and invisible. When God decided to bring calamity, no one had any means to stop it.
But the elders in the village always held to the belief that one must be a good person. Being a good person simply meant that the ghostly gods might see and bestow a bit more good fortune, and the fellow villagers might also notice, leading to a good reputation. When difficulties arose, someone would lend a hand, helping to overcome the hardship.
If one couldn't avoid misfortune and fell into bad luck, others would curse the heavens for being unjust. It was heaven that was wrong, not you.
