Chapter 121
Chapter 121
The instant I applied the pipe tar, the wound began to hiss and bubble with blood. Then black fluid started pouring out of it.
I was overjoyed. It really was working.
Before this, I had only known that the aged tar caked inside an old smoker’s pipe bowl could be used as a medicinal catalyst. It worked wonders on shingles, for example. I had never expected it to work on poison from Flesh Thorn venom from the Hedgehog Spirit as well.
Soon, Li Qingying’s fingers twitched slightly, and a wet gurgle rose from her throat.
I quickly rolled her onto her side and held the pipe tar beneath her nose.
The fumes made Li Qingying cough violently. After spitting out a mouthful of black phlegm, she suddenly regained control of her body, as if her sealed acupoints had been released.
The process of drawing out the poison was agonizing. Li Qingying looked as though she had been drenched in water, her entire body soaked through with sweat.
By the time she finally calmed down, an hour had passed.
She lay on the bed as though she had just died and come back to life, completely drained of strength.
I covered the remaining pipe tar and placed it on the bedside table. Then I sat beside the bed, clasping Li Qingying’s right hand in both of mine and pressing my forehead to her wrist. In the end, I couldn’t hold back my tears.
Li Qingying was family to me.
For the past several months, we had been together day and night, facing life and death side by side. If I hadn’t been able to save her this time, I didn’t dare imagine…
Startled by my reaction, Li Qingying struggled to turn over and reached out to stroke my head. “Xiao Jiu, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Sister Qingying, I’m sorry,” I said guiltily. “This was all my fault. I was too impulsive and too confident. I never should have rushed into negotiating with Bai Jingmo. I didn’t expect Bai Xian’er and the Little Monster to appear at the same time. I was wrong…”
“You did nothing wrong, Xiao Jiu,” Li Qingying said solemnly. “If everyone hesitates and no one dares take that first step, we’ll be stuck taking their attacks forever. Look at what we gained this time. Not only did we uncover the two creatures hiding behind Bai Jingmo, but we also learned their techniques and found their fatal weak points. That’s a major breakthrough.”
I looked at her with reddened eyes, my lips trembling. “But… you almost…”
“But I pulled through, didn’t I?” Li Qingying smiled. “Xiao Jiu, we’re people with great things to accomplish. How could we possibly avoid every setback? If the day ever comes when I must sacrifice myself, you mustn’t hesitate to let me go, much less shed a tear for me. Understand?”
I shook my head fiercely. “No. I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself. I want you to be safe forever.”
Li Qingying smiled and chided me fondly. “Silly girl!”
For the next few days, Li Qingying and I remained inside the Pawnshop, watching for any developments outside.
To my utter surprise, the first piece of news we received about the Bai Family was that Bai Jingmo had been beaten by the Town Head!
How could that be?
Weren’t they two of a kind?
We soon learned the reason, though ordinary people knew nothing about it. Dou Jinsuo was the one who told us.
It turned out that when the Bai Family delivered the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook to the Dou Family Coffin Shop, the request they made of Dou Zhile was not to build a Human-Skin Red Coffin. Instead, they wanted the Dou Family’s Bogwood Coffin, and they demanded that the Dou Family keep it secret.
The Dou Family had an ancestral Bogwood Coffin that had been handed down through generations. It was pitch-black from end to end and saturated with extremely dense yin energy. Supposedly, wherever it was kept, not even a fly would dare come within a dozen or so meters.
It was an ideal vessel for Corpse-Nurturing and Corpse Refining.
However, what the Bai Family had originally agreed upon with the Town Head was a Human-Skin Red Coffin.
It wasn’t until the middle of last night that the Bogwood Coffin was secretly delivered to the Bai Family. The Town Head received word immediately, stormed into the Bai Family residence, and gave Bai Jingmo a beating.
Li Qingying said with relish, “Ha! What a wonderful dog-eat-dog spectacle!”
I thought for a moment. “With Bai Xian’er protecting him, how could Bai Jingmo have been beaten by the Town Head? Unless… Bai Xian’er has entered the Bogwood Coffin to go into seclusion?”
“That’s most likely it,” Li Qingying agreed.
If Bai Xian’er was in seclusion, we would be safe for the time being.
Li Qingying immediately went out to continue gathering information about Bai Xian’er. Meanwhile, I made a trip to the county seat and bought several expensive gifts as thanks for Dou Zhile.
His pipe tar had been a tremendous help this time.
As I passed a pet shop, some strange impulse made me walk inside. After asking the staff a barrage of questions, I ended up buying an enormous pile of cat supplies.
A cat bed, a cat tree, lickable treats, canned cat food, and more.
As soon as I returned to the Pawnshop, I carried everything into the Main Hall.
The Black Cat was still curled up atop the Black Coffin, looking as though it hadn’t moved a single inch.
Moving as quietly as possible, I assembled the cat tree, set out the cat bed, and opened a lickable treat and a can of cat food…
But when I held the treat up to the Black Cat’s mouth, it didn’t even bother sniffing it. It had no interest whatsoever.
I refused to give up and kept coaxing it carefully. To my surprise, the little fellow eventually lost its patience and hissed at me in a huff.
It really didn’t like any of this.
I was worried about it. If it refused to eat these things, how could I help it recover as quickly as possible?
After giving it some careful thought, realization suddenly dawned on me.
The Black Cat wasn’t an ordinary cat. It was Du’e Maotan, a Cat Bodhisattva worshiped by mortals!
In that case, wouldn’t it prefer offerings of incense?
Only then did I suddenly understand why it always liked lying on Liu Junyan’s Black Coffin. It had been mooching off Liu Junyan’s offerings!
The little fellow was craftier than it looked.
That afternoon, I personally made a spirit tablet for the Black Cat and placed it on the Altar Table in the Main Hall. I also set out an Incense Burner and offered it Yellow Incense.
The instant I placed the Yellow Incense into the Incense Burner, the Black Cat sprang to its feet and leaped onto the Altar Table. It leaned close to the Incense Burner, drawing in the smoke with every breath, clearly savoring it.
The three sticks of Yellow Incense quickly burned down to their ends. The Black Cat then returned to the Black Coffin and lay down again.
This time, however, it no longer curled into a ball. Instead, it stretched out all four limbs, returning to its former languid self.
From that day forward, the Wufu Town Pawnshop had another sacred being enshrined within its walls: Du’e Maotan!
The next time I saw Bai Jingmo was at the Teahouse.
Somehow, Jin Wuya had heard that Li Qingying had been injured by a venomous stinger. He had specially brought over some medicine and tonics, so Li Qingying invited him to tea.
As we approached our private room, Bai Jingmo happened to emerge from the room next door, and we ran straight into him.
He looked terrible. Deep shadows lay beneath his eyes, and the cat scratches on his cheeks had yet to fade.
He had lost a great deal of weight and now looked almost frail.
When he saw me, he actually smiled and nodded, as though nothing had ever happened between us.
Yet there was something sinister about his smile, as if he were secretly plotting something.
Li Qingying pushed open the door, and the three of us immediately entered our private room.
Once Bai Jingmo had left, I slipped back outside and stood at the door of the neighboring room, peering through the crack.
No one was inside.
The table had yet to be cleared, and two cups of plain tea sat opposite each other.
Bai Jingmo really had met someone here just now.
But who could it have been?
I went to the front counter and struck up a conversation with the proprietress.
“It was a man I’d never seen before,” the proprietress said, lowering her voice. “He was dressed in blue homespun clothes, and his sleeves covered the backs of his hands. When he moved, I caught a glimpse of them — he looked like Six-Fingers, with six digits on each hand. He also had an ax strapped to his back…”