Chapter 123
Chapter 123
I turned toward the direction the Silver Needle had come from and saw a white hedgehog built like a young leopard pouncing at me.
The Flesh Thorn quills covering its body looked diseased, constantly oozing pus and blood. The right side of its body was scorched as well.
This was clearly not the Bai Family’s Little Monster. If anything, it looked more like… Bai Xian’er?
Wasn’t she supposed to be cultivating in seclusion inside the Bogwood Coffin? How had she gotten out?
Could the Bai Family fire have started with…
Countless thoughts flashed through my mind, but I had no time to dwell on them. I immediately summoned Fengwu, drew the bow to its limit, and fired at the White Hedgehog.
With a sharp whistle, a bolt of flame streaked toward her, only for her to dodge it cleanly.
She dodged it!
That meant the black energy capable of devouring and extinguishing Fengwu’s Flame had vanished in the blaze!
That was good news for me.
Without hesitation, I retreated two steps until I was behind the Pawnshop’s threshold.
Then I loosed four rapid shots. Four bursts of flame chased the White Hedgehog one after another. She weaved from side to side, but she was injured, and one of the flames eventually struck her. She fled with a shriek.
I gripped Fengwu tightly and watched both the eastern and western ends of the street for a long time, afraid Bai Xian’er might ambush me again.
Only when Li Qingying’s car drove in through the West Street Entrance did I finally breathe a sigh of relief and put Fengwu away.
After parking, Li Qingying entered with a troubled expression.
She glanced toward the Bai Family Medical Hall and asked, “What happened over there?”
“The Bai Family Medical Hall caught fire,” I replied. “So? Is Lord Xiao willing to send men to help me?”
Li Qingying shook her head. “Xiao Jiu, Lord Xiao said whatever is in the Zhu Pan River can’t be dealt with by a handful of measly foot soldiers. He also said that if something is destined to happen, we might as well let it run its natural course.”
I frowned at once.
We might as well let it run its natural course?
In a way, Lord Xiao’s thoughts resonated with my own.
“Easy for Lord Xiao to say,” Li Qingying complained. “He’s powerful enough that he doesn’t have to fear anything, but there are only two of us. How are we supposed to gamble with our lives? If he doesn’t want to help, then fine. Why make so many excuses?”
Lord Xiao’s attitude had truly angered Li Qingying this time. Before this, she had always treated him with the utmost respect.
I shook my head with a bitter smile. “Sister Qingying, I don’t think this situation can be contained anymore.”
I straightened my clothes as I spoke. “I’m going to the Dou Family Coffin Shop. I’ll be back soon.”
“I’m coming with you,” Li Qingying said immediately.
I nodded, locked the Pawnshop, and made my way to the Dou Family Coffin Shop with Li Qingying, keeping out of sight the whole way.
The doors of the Dou Family Coffin Shop stood open. Dou Zhile sat sideways on the threshold, smoking a long-stemmed pipe, while Dou Jinsuo stood beside him with worry written all over his face.
As soon as he saw us, Dou Jinsuo hurried over. While ushering us inside, he whispered to me, “We’ve confirmed it. The axe-carrying Six-Fingers is my Third Uncle, who disappeared many years ago. He may have come back specifically for my Second Uncle.”
Dou Zhile tamped out his pipe, and we moved into the main hall to talk.
“The three Dou Family brothers aren’t related by blood,” Dou Zhile began slowly. “Aside from Big Brother, Dou Zhifu and I were both children our master took in. My fingers are long and slender, with an extra joint compared to other people’s, making me well suited to snapping a carpenter’s ink line. Dou Zhifu was born with six fingers and tremendous strength, so he was better suited to wielding an axe.
“Big Brother’s talent was far inferior to ours. Our master often said that Big Brother would become the shopkeeper of the Dou Family Coffin Shop, but in the end, Dou Zhifu and I would be the ones holding the business up.”
“Dou Zhifu never respected our eldest martial brother. He also resented me for taking a share of Master’s favor, so he was always trying to distinguish himself in hopes that Master would see him in a new light. But he was too eager for quick success and ended up straying onto a wicked path. Master expelled him from the school. Jinsuo was still very young back then, so he doesn’t remember him.”
So that was what had happened.
Six-Fingers was named Dou Zhifu. He had once been Dou Zhile’s junior martial brother, but he had been expelled from their school long ago.
He had clearly been nursing a grudge all these years. He hadn’t appeared in so long, yet the moment Dou Zhile returned, he showed himself. It seemed he was determined to meddle in the Bai Family’s affairs.
I asked, “Did he appear tonight?”
Dou Zhile’s eyes brimmed with grief and hatred.
Dou Jinsuo whispered, “Second Uncle fought him. The other man’s methods were too sinister, and Second Uncle suffered a minor injury.”
Dou Zhile shot Dou Jinsuo a vicious glare, silencing him at once.
“Girl,” Dou Zhile said gravely, “now that he’s involved, I’m afraid the Bai Family’s affairs are no longer mine to control. I…”
“Then let things take their natural course,” I interrupted. “Old Dou, you have to believe that evil can never triumph over righteousness.”
Those final words were meant to encourage Dou Zhile — and bolster my own courage as well.
Dou Zhile froze, then asked incredulously, “Girl, do you know who is trapped in the Zhu Pan River? Do you know what Wufu Town will face if he ever sees the light of day again?”
“Chen Ping,” I replied calmly. “And the Ghost Soldiers, right?”
Dou Zhile’s lips trembled. “You… You know all that?”
“I was nearly offered to him as a Sacrifice, so I managed to guess some of it,” I said. “But that’s all I know.”
Dou Zhile said, “Most people, including those of my generation, know very little about the truth. But one thing is certain: once the ninth Human-Skin Red Coffin enters the formation, Chen Ping may return to the world.
“A Marshal who slaughtered without mercy, a force of Ghost Soldiers sworn to follow him unto death, and Zhao Zixun, who is both brave and highly skilled in battle… No one in Wufu Town will escape the Calamity.”
I had already prepared myself for the worst, but my heart still clenched when I heard him say it.
“We have only a slim chance of surviving this battle,” Dou Zhile said solemnly. “And our only Gate of Life probably lies within the Pawnshop itself.”
I frowned in confusion. “The Pawnshop itself?”
Dou Zhile said nothing. He merely stared fixedly at me.
It didn’t take long for me to understand. “You mean Liu Junyan?”
“Seventh Master has Linghai behind him, and the Zhu Pan River is a tributary of Linghai,” Dou Zhile said. “If Linghai intervenes, this matter will be far easier to resolve.”
I shook my head. “If he truly had the authority to act on Linghai’s behalf, he wouldn’t have been bound to the Pawnshop for all these years.”
Linghai was Linghai, and Liu Junyan was Liu Junyan.
Neither had ever defined the other.
Dou Zhile tapped his long-stemmed pipe. After a long pause, he carefully said, “If Seventh Master doesn’t intervene, Wufu Town has only one path to survival left.”
“There’s still another way?” I asked. “What is it?”
“Trap the Ghost Soldiers,” Dou Zhile replied. “When Granny Yu was alive, did she ever tell you about her master?”
I shook my head. “No.”
Granny had never mentioned any of this to me.
I was curious as well. Hadn’t Granny been Dou Zhile’s Senior Sister?
“Her master and my master were fellow disciples — she was his junior martial sister, and he was her senior martial brother,” Dou Zhile explained. “Granny Yu was a few years older than me, so I addressed her as Senior Sister. By rights, I should respectfully address her master as Martial Aunt.
“Martial Aunt was an expert in Yin-Yang arts, feng shui, and divination. She possesses a Thousand-Soul Banner that is said to command over a thousand Souls at once and compel them to submit. If we could borrow the Thousand-Soul Banner…”