Chapter 120

Chapter 120

I never expected that at a life-or-death moment like this, it would be the Black Cat that suddenly appeared and saved me.

At that moment, it stood steadily on my shoulder, its eerie green cat eyes fixed on Bai Jingmo, who was still letting out those strange squeaking cries. Its body was drawn taut, as if it did not dare relax for even an instant.

Its two upright ears, wrapped in white scripture, twitched slightly, catching sounds that ordinary people like us could not hear.

Bai Jingmo’s face turned little by little toward the Black Cat. His eyes were full of venomous hatred as he gnashed his teeth and snarled, “You dare ruin my face? You’re courting death!”

As he spoke, three Silver Needle appeared between his fingers. With a sweep of his wrist, the three Silver Needle shot straight at the Black Cat.

Meanwhile, the three claw marks on his face were spreading and festering at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, nearly half his cheek had become a bloody mess of mangled flesh.

It looked like there was definitely something wrong with Bai Xian’er!

But now wasn’t the time to look into that. I had to find a way to get the Black Cat and Li Qingying out of here. Bai Xian’er had been thoroughly enraged. If we didn’t retreat now, it would probably be too late.

I reached out toward the Black Cat, planning to hold it with one arm and pull Li Qingying up with the other before running.

But my hand caught nothing.

The Black Cat let out a meow, pushed off my shoulder with all four paws, and actually charged straight toward those three Silver Needle.

We’re done!

Those were the only two words that flashed through my mind. The Black Cat’s burst of speed was too explosive; I had no chance to grab it back.

Was this little guy trying to get itself killed?!

Meow… meow…

Along with two sharp, piercing cat cries, a spark suddenly burst from the tip of the Black Cat’s tail. Immediately after, streaks of golden light flashed along both sides of its spine, rapidly gathering together to form a powerful Scripture Barrier around its body.

The three Silver Needle stopped almost right in front of the Black Cat’s face, but the instant they struck the Scripture Barrier, they lost their power and fell to the ground.

The Black Cat turned back and cried at me again, as if urging me, “Run!”

I understood at once. I snatched up Li Qingying’s Long Whip, reached out to pull her to her feet, and half-carried, half-dragged her as we retreated toward the front entrance.

The Black Cat retreated with us as well. We remained within the protective range of the Scripture Barrier the entire time.

For every step we retreated, Bai Jingmo followed one step forward.

But after a few steps, Bai Jingmo’s body suddenly went limp, and he collapsed just like that.

The large area of rot on his face vanished in an instant, leaving behind only the original three claw marks.

And in the place where he had been standing, there now stood a young girl.

Half of the girl’s face was horribly rotted, while the other half was covered in corpse spots of all sizes. Her features felt strangely familiar to me… her eyes… her eyes looked a lot like Lu Qiusheng’s!

Could it be… was the girl before me Lu Qiusheng’s older sister?

No, clearly not.

Lu Qiusheng’s sister had been skinned thirty years ago. Her skin had disappeared, but her corpse had long since been buried.

The one pressing closer step by step before us was Bai Xian’er.

She had used the skin of Lu Qiusheng’s sister!

After thirty years, that skin could no longer hold up. It was covered in corpse spots, and Bai Xian’er desperately needed a new skin!

Heh. I almost wanted to laugh.

I really was one tempting prize, wasn’t I?

Feng Lishu wanted my physical body, and Bai Xian’er wanted my skin. Why didn’t the two of them just tear each other apart instead?

With every step Bai Xian’er took forward, the rot on her face worsened. The corpse spots grew more numerous and darker in color, while the Scripture Barrier also faded with it. The tiny spark on the tip of the Black Cat’s tail grew weaker and weaker.

Fortunately, we soon retreated out of the Bai Family Medical Hall. The Scripture Barrier remained active the whole time, while the people who had rushed out from the Bai Family kept looking for an opportunity to break through it.
I wasn’t afraid of those people. They didn’t have that black aura capable of swallowing Fengwu’s flames.

The only one I feared right now was Bai Xian’er. Fortunately, after we retreated outside, Bai Xian’er stood in the shadows by the front gate and didn’t dare take even half a step out.

That ruined, tattered skin of hers could no longer withstand the slightest direct sunlight.

All she could do was turn back and possess Bai Jingmo again.

Just then, the Black Cat gave me another fierce meow. I understood at once, hoisted Li Qingying onto my back, and ran for the Pawnshop.

At the same time, the Black Cat withdrew the Scripture Barrier and, with a yowl, threw itself at the people around us.

I didn’t look back to help. The little thing was incredibly nimble. As long as I made it back to the Pawnshop as fast as possible, it would be able to get away smoothly.

And just as I expected, after I returned to the Pawnshop and set Li Qingying down, I turned to go rescue the Black Cat-only to see a dark shadow shoot into the Pawnshop like lightning. With a whoosh, it slipped through the Rear-facing Room, went into the Main Hall, and finally sprawled on top of Liu Junyan’s Black Coffin, curling up without moving.

It hadn’t gone back into the Hexagonal Palace Lantern.

It seemed that here in the Main Hall, by Liu Junyan’s side, it felt safer.

I didn’t disturb it again. It had exhausted too much of itself saving me today, and it needed to rest properly.

I closed the door to the Main Hall and went back to Li Qingying.

Li Qingying lay limp on the bed, her eyes blankly fixed on the canopy above her. She couldn’t move at all.

Her condition filled me with worry.

What was even more frightening was that I had no idea how to help Li Qingying expel the poison from the Flesh Thorn.

My first thought was to find Lord Xiao for help, but we’d only just managed to escape back to the Pawnshop. It was too dangerous to go out now. If I got captured, what would happen to Li Qingying afterward?

Right now, besides Lord Xiao, who else could I turn to?

The only thing I could do was imitate the way Liu Junyan saved me every time-constantly gather the faint True Qi inside my body and send it into Li Qingying’s.

But how long had I even been cultivating? That tiny bit of True Qi was utterly insignificant.

As time continued to pass and the sky gradually darkened, I noticed Li Qingying’s condition had changed.

She still couldn’t move. Her vocal cords had no strength, so she couldn’t make a sound, but her skin and flesh had begun to twitch in small spasms, as though someone were stabbing needles all over her body.

In the end, the red mole on the tip of her nose began to seep blood.

That red mole was very special to Li Qingying.

The last time it bled, something had happened to her. It seemed the deeper the night grew, the more potent the Flesh Thorn’s poison became.

I was terrified Li Qingying wouldn’t survive the night. Gritting my teeth, I threw on my coat and prepared to go out.

No matter how dangerous it was outside, I had to find Lord Xiao and bring him here to save Li Qingying.

I had just pulled the front door open a crack when a white blur brushed over the top of my foot and darted inside. I looked down and saw that it was actually a little white mouse.

The little white mouse huddled beneath the threshold, clutching a small box in its two front paws. It squeaked at me a few times, set the box down, then turned and sprang back outside, vanishing swiftly into the night.

I closed the front door and picked up the little box.

It looked a lot like a tin of Dragon-Tiger Brand cooling oil. I dug at the seam along the edge for quite a while before I finally got it open. A thick, heavy smell of tobacco tar rushed straight into my face, choking me until I coughed.

Tobacco tar?

Thinking back to that little white mouse just now, realization struck me. This had to be the tobacco tar from Dou Zhile’s big smoking pipe.

Why would he have a little white mouse deliver tobacco tar to me out of nowhere?

Could it be…

I immediately headed to the back. Returning to Li Qingying’s bedside, I used a cotton swab to scoop out the tobacco tar bit by bit, then stuffed it into the tiny holes in Li Qingying’s hand where the Flesh Thorn had pierced her…