Chapter 142

Chapter 142

I was unconscious for nearly half a day. Liu Junyan channeled True Qi into me, but I didn’t slowly regain consciousness until noon the following day.

Although I was awake, I had no strength at all, and my face was deathly pale.

I looked as though I’d just survived a serious illness.

Liu Junyan had stayed by my side the entire time. When he saw me wake up, he supported my body and helped me sit against the headboard. “Feeling any better?”

I murmured an assent. “I’m exhausted. I don’t have any strength.”

Li Qingying brought over a bowl of chicken soup with two poached eggs floating in it and a wild ginseng root as thick as my thumb beneath them.

Liu Junyan took the bowl and fed me one spoonful at a time.

“Little sis, you’re awake?” Hui Moqiong leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “Use your head from now on, would you? If your cultivation isn’t up to it, don’t go around recklessly trying to save everyone. If you get yourself killed, someone’s going to lose his mind. Hey, what are you-”

Before he could finish, Liu Junyan swept his long sleeve, sending a powerful blast straight at him. Hui Moqiong yelped all the way out of the room.

Li Qingying couldn’t hold back a laugh. She followed him out and closed the door behind her, leaving Liu Junyan and me alone.

Liu Junyan said nothing and continued feeding me the chicken soup with complete concentration.

Once I’d finished the soup and both poached eggs, he even tried to feed me the wild ginseng root.

I hated the taste of wild ginseng, so I pressed my lips together and refused.

“Be good. You still have to eat it, even if it tastes bad. It’ll replenish your qi and blood,” Liu Junyan said.

Frowning, I took one bite after another and forced each one down.

Fortunately, the wild ginseng root wasn’t very large, and I managed to swallow it in just a few bites.

Liu Junyan set the bowl on the bedside table, then pulled a White Rabbit milk candy from his pocket. He peeled off the wrapper and held it to my lips. I opened my mouth and took it, and my furrowed brow instantly relaxed.

Only then did Liu Junyan speak. “Ferrying Souls with Lamp Oil drains about as much energy as judging Souls with the Soul-Guiding Lantern. With your current cultivation, how could you possibly withstand that? If anything like this happens again, discuss it with me first. Understand?”

I nodded, feeling slightly guilty. “There wasn’t enough time. It was only a second before cockcrow. Once the rooster crowed, that girl’s Souls would have scattered.”

“Other people’s lives matter, but yours doesn’t?” Liu Junyan asked sternly. “Xiao Jiu, your life matters more than anyone else’s. Do you understand?”

His expression was severe, and even his tone had grown much harsher. I reached out, wanting to wrap my arms around his neck and coax him, but I had no strength.

The next moment, Liu Junyan leaned toward me, allowing my arms to slip easily around his neck. I said softly, “I understand. I’ll be more careful from now on. Whatever happens, I’ll discuss it with you first. I promise.”

Liu Junyan lowered his head and kissed my forehead.

Then he took my chin in his hand and carefully examined the character beneath my right cheek.

I asked worriedly, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Liu Junyan said, “Make sure you eat well and recuperate. You should be fine once you’ve recovered.”

The moment he said that, I understood. My weakened condition must have caused the ‘Slave’ character to darken.

I rested in Liu Junyan’s arms, and we nestled together and talked quietly for a while. Before long, the subject shifted to the Buddha Eyes.

Liu Junyan said, “I’ve examined the pair of Buddha Eyes. They’re extremely pure and clear-definitely something valuable. But I haven’t been able to trace their origins yet. Hui Wu is contacting his former subordinates. He has plenty of connections, so he should uncover some clues soon.”

“We need to investigate more than just the Buddha Eyes. We also need to investigate the person,” I said. “The girl’s name was Gu Die, and her clothes were very distinctive. They looked a little like the elaborate Miao ceremonial dress you see on television. She wore intricate silver ornaments on her head, around her neck, and even on her ankles.”

Liu Junyan committed each detail to memory and said he would tell Hui Moqiong later.

I still had very little energy, and it wasn’t long before I drifted back into a heavy sleep.
I had a jumble of dreams. In the last one, as Gu Die was sucked through the doorway by the vortex, she looked at me and said, “I’m sorry.”

Those words echoed endlessly through my dream, closing in on me from every direction until they inexplicably jolted me awake.

It was already dark, and I was alone in the room.

My heart was racing. Without turning on the light, I curled up beneath the covers and tried to think.

Why had Gu Die apologized to me?

Was it simply because she knew that using Lamp Oil to send her on would drain too much of my vital energy?

But that had been a transaction.

She had given me the Buddha Eyes in a Dead Pawn transaction, and I had used one drop of Lamp Oil to send her on. The deal was recorded in the ledger. She didn’t owe me anything.

But if that wasn’t why, what else could it have been?

Could it have something to do with the Buddha Eyes?

Were they going to bring me a great deal of trouble?

That seemed very possible. After all, hadn’t a female corpse already come to my door demanding them?

I wondered if she would return tonight.

I couldn’t make sense of Gu Die’s actions, but they reminded me of something else.

When Dou Zhile pawned the Qiankun Mandarin Duck Hook to me, the payment had been two drops of Lamp Oil.

He had said he would come to collect them when the time was right.

I hadn’t understood what he meant by that before, but now I had a guess.

It would probably be when we found the Souls of Dou Jinsuo’s parents.

Those two drops of Lamp Oil must have been intended for them.

Dou Zhile wanted me to use the two drops of Lamp Oil to guide the Souls of Dou Jinsuo’s parents into reincarnation.

I glanced at the index finger of my right hand. The tip was still red.

One drop of Lamp Oil had nearly cost me half my life. Two drops… Could I withstand that? Could I really do it?

Things like this would probably only become more common in the future.

With a position came responsibility. Since I had become the keeper of the Pawnshop and now controlled the Soul-Guiding Lantern, this was my duty.

It wasn’t that I shouldn’t do these things. I simply wasn’t strong enough.

What I needed to do was increase my abilities as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

I rolled over and thought of the Buddha Eyes in the refrigerator.

Gu Die had given them to me in a Dead Pawn transaction, and I had successfully guided her into reincarnation. The deal was complete. The Buddha Eyes belonged to me now, and I could do whatever I wished with them.

They… made me think of my Senior Sister, Yu Nian.

“You’re awake?”

The light came on. Liu Junyan walked over and asked, “When did you wake up?”

“Just a little while ago,” I replied.

“Why didn’t you turn on the light? What are you thinking about?”

Liu Junyan naturally leaned in, slipped one arm beneath my neck, and gathered me into his embrace.

I told him honestly, “I was thinking about my Senior Sister. When she was in her teens, her mother was murdered, and both her eyes were gouged out. Liu Junyan, those Buddha Eyes possess such powerful spirituality. Do you think it might be possible to transplant them into my Senior Sister’s eye sockets and let her see again?”

The Buddha Eyes weren’t lifeless objects.

It was a bold idea, but I desperately wanted to try.

What if it worked?

Liu Junyan considered it for a moment before saying, “There should still be a possibility, but it would be rather difficult. We may need someone with highly specialized expertise to do it.”

The moment he said that, I thought of Bai Jingmo.

There was no question that Bai Jingmo was a superb physician. His medical expertise had been passed down through his family.

The problem was that my grudge with the Bai Family had become far too deep. Besides, he hadn’t shown himself in a long time, so that avenue was closed to me.

More importantly, the White Immortal had never been willing to return to the Pawnshop and take up her post as physician. She stood against us, so why would she ever help me?

This matter would require careful consideration…