Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Lord Xiao also turned to look at Liu Junyan. His scarred brow furrowed slightly, his expression equally puzzled.
Rooaaar…
Another roar rang out. This time, it didn’t come from underground. Instead, it seemed to be coming from inside the Black Coffin.
No-from beneath it!
The Black Coffin was thrust upward again and again. Beneath it, the black energy continued to gather, churning up a massive wave that suddenly crashed toward the shore.
The black wave rose almost high enough to meet the sky. Its looming shadow engulfed all of us, filling our hearts with dread.
Then, beneath the towering wave, countless Golden Copper Coins suddenly shot out, piercing through layer upon layer of black water. Terrifying roars erupted throughout the entire space.
Liu Junyan floated into the air. With the palm of the hand holding his Prayer Beads facing downward, he forced the Black Coffin to sink inch by inch.
Boom!
The black energy that had been entrenched beneath the Black Coffin exploded into a shower of water. Centered beneath Liu Junyan’s palm, a net formed from layers of Golden Copper Coins woven together by red threads, spreading rapidly across the entire surface of the river.
Not only was the Black Coffin forced down, but even the ranks of Ghost Soldiers that had only recently emerged were once again pressed beneath the Seal. They sank back into the depths, with no telling what year they might see the light of day again.
In the end, only Zhao Zixun remained upon the Zhu Pan River, mounted on his warhorse.
One hand resting on the saber at his waist, Zhao Zixun stared at Liu Junyan for a long time. The Coffin Nail embedded between his brows seemed to pulse with blood-red light.
By then, Liu Junyan had already withdrawn his hand.
Dressed in gray… monk’s robes, he stood tall above the surging river. His head was slightly bowed as he continuously turned the Prayer Beads in his hand, murmuring an incantation under his breath.
The sight suddenly reminded me of the Copper-Coin Figure enshrined in the place of honor within the shrine in the Pawnshop’s West Room!
My feet stumbled, and my mind went blank in waves.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
He was Liu Junyan, not the Copper-Coin Figure!
“Xiao Jiu.” Li Qingying reacted quickly and caught me. “Xiao Jiu, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”
As she spoke, she crouched down and hoisted me onto her back, calling for everyone to return to the Pawnshop together.
I lay against Li Qingying’s back, trembling all over.
I didn’t know what I was afraid of. Even when Feng Lishu had reduced me to that state, I hadn’t been scared. Yet at that moment, terror shook me from the inside out.
Li Qingying carried me back to my room. Tang Xun and Yu Nian stayed with me, and hot tea was soon brought over. I held the cup in both hands, but I still couldn’t calm down.
Tang Xun comforted me. “Don’t be afraid, Xiao Jiu. It’s all over now. We won.”
Li Qingying nodded in agreement. “Exactly, Xiao Jiu. Seventh Master turned the tide. We don’t have anything left to fear.”
Only Yu Nian sat quietly to the side, fiddling with the tortoiseshell in her hands. After a long while, she reached out and gently felt the area beneath my right cheek, close to my jawbone.
The instant she touched it, I sucked in a sharp breath. “That hurts.”
At my cry of pain, Tang Xun and Li Qingying both turned toward me. Li Qingying frowned. “Are those finger marks? There’s a small red patch. It’ll probably turn black and blue by tomorrow. I’ll boil an egg and roll it over the bruise for you. Everyone’s been at it all night anyway, so I’ll make us something to eat.”
After a moment’s thought, Tang Xun took my hand and placed it in Yu Nian’s. “This is the first time you sisters have met, so I’m sure you have a lot to talk about. I’ll go help with the food. You two have a good chat.”
Tang Xun and Li Qingying left together, closing the door behind them.
I steadied myself and looked at Yu Nian. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, she said, “Don’t move yet. Let me feel it again.”
Her fingers were long and slender, but the pads were covered in calluses. She had clearly endured her share of hardship.
Her fingertips traced slowly over my cheek and along my jaw. When they brushed the painful spot again, I held back without making a sound.
“They aren’t finger marks,” Yu Nian said before turning back to the tortoise shell.
She was utterly focused throughout the process. I could tell she was casting a divination.
For me.
“Repeated Abyss. Be sincere. Keep the heart steadfast, and one’s actions shall be honored,” Yu Nian murmured. “This is an ominous hexagram. If the heart wavers, disaster follows. Only by remaining fearless and unruffled can danger be turned aside.”
My heart sank. The hexagram she had cast for me clearly did not bode well.
Yu Nian felt my cheek again. “Does it hurt badly?”
I nodded, then remembered she couldn’t see and answered aloud, “It hurts as soon as it’s touched. It’s a stabbing pain that feels like it’s coming from inside the bone.”
“Then I was right,” Yu Nian said. “This is something written into your fate, or perhaps karma carried over from a past life that has only now begun to surface. It has already started encroaching on your mind. It will make you afraid. It will fill you with dread. It will make you doubt yourself and even loathe yourself. Xiao Jiu, if you fail to hold fast, you will become trapped and find it nearly impossible to break free.”
Her words made me think of the inexplicable flicker of fear I’d felt when I looked at Liu Junyan earlier. Was this where it had come from?
I instinctively reached for a mirror to see what was wrong with my cheek, but Yu Nian stopped me again.
Her empty eye sockets faced me as she suddenly asked, “Xiao Jiu, do you love him?”
Huh?
I froze for a moment before it dawned on me. Was she asking about my love life?
Or had the hexagram revealed more than just my own fate? Had it also shown her something about my relationship with Liu Junyan?
My heart began pounding wildly again, but I still answered without hesitation, “I do.”
What I felt for Liu Junyan went beyond romantic love. It was also tangled with gratitude, dependence, trust…
As I was thinking, a trickle of blood ran from Yu Nian’s nose. I hurriedly grabbed a tissue and pressed it beneath her nostrils.
“Senior Sister, please stop. My fate is too strong. Divining it will only harm you.”
The same thing had happened when Master Hui Quan tried to read my fate before.
Yu Nian wiped away the blood and shook her head with a smile. “It’s all right. I was never given the Birth Date and Time for either of you, so I didn’t calculate your fates. I only cast a simple hexagram for the two of you.”
“For all its strangeness, the hexagram conceals an omen of great calamity. Every sign of danger comes from within your own hearts. It may be connected to your past lives and karma. Xiao Jiu, there is little your Senior Sister can do for you. I can leave you with only one piece of advice.”
I asked nervously, “What is it?”
Yu Nian enunciated every word. “Let go of obsession and karma. Use your tenderness to unravel the inner demons in both your hearts.”
I only half understood her words.
Yu Nian had no intention of explaining further. Divination foretold the future. She could see only the signs within the hexagram, not every minute detail, so there was no way for her to explain more.
But I was more concerned about something else. “Senior Sister, won’t you stay with me?”
We had only just managed to find each other after so long.
Yu Nian shook her head. “There was a reason Grandmaster took my mother to settle in Huicheng all those years ago. They both died tragic deaths before fulfilling their final wishes. I have to stay there and finish everything that must be done.”
“What were their final wishes?” I asked. “Maybe I can help.”
Yu Nian smiled. “As long as Xiao Jiu protects the Wufu Town Pawnshop, that will be the greatest help you can give me. We sisters carry on the same lineage…”