Chapter 152
Chapter 152
Yu Nian was lost in her own world, muttering under her breath as she made calculation after calculation on her fingers, her hands a blur.
I stopped dead in my tracks, waves of bewilderment washing over me.
Countless thoughts flashed through my mind.
The Four Great Fiends of Antiquity were Taotie, Hundun, Taowu, and Qiongqi.
Qiongqi resembled both an ox and a tiger and delighted in devouring humans.
Taowu was enormous, with a mouth like a wild boar’s, and was obstinate and vicious by nature.
Taotie had a humanlike face, eyes beneath its armpits, and a cry like a wailing infant. Its greed knew no bounds.
Hundun was stranger still. It had eyes but could not see, and ears but could not hear. It liked to attach itself to those steeped in wickedness.
Yu Nian had said that two of the Four Great Fiends had already appeared. Yet the only one we knew of was the one here at Niuhu Mountain. Where was the other?
Could it… could it be in Huicheng?
That reminded me of what Yu Nian had said the last time we parted.
She had something she needed to protect as well, and by keeping the Pawnshop safe, I was indirectly helping her.
Connecting everything made it easy to reach one conclusion-Yu Nian was in Huicheng, guarding one Ferocious Beast Evil Formation!
Three generations of women in her family had remained in Huicheng, and two generations had met gruesome deaths there, all because of the Ferocious Beast Evil Formation!
Then… Yu Nian’s eyes…
All at once, I understood her.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want that pair of Buddha Eyes. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to keep them.
The fiend she guarded would not allow her to possess eyes.
Which meant the one she was guarding had to be… Hundun?!
It was a bold guess, yet strangely convincing. I wanted to ask Yu Nian about it immediately.
In the end, however, I held back.
The timing wasn’t right.
Once we made it safely through the ordeal before us, I would sit down and have a proper talk with Yu Nian.
Yu Nian continued calculating for quite some time, but she didn’t seem to find the answer she wanted.
Afterward, she simply stood there, “staring” at Niuhu Mountain for a long while, lost in thought.
I turned to go back inside and continue making the paper effigy, only to find Liu Junyan watching us as well.
Our eyes met, and I could tell from his gaze that his thoughts aligned with mine.
He must have guessed it too, right?
A little after two that afternoon, I finished making the paper effigy. Yu Nian placed the hair, fingernails, and other items Li Qingying had obtained from Guo Zhen into a packet folded from Yellow Paper, then inserted it into the effigy’s chest.
Next, she dipped a brush in Cinnabar and wrote Guo Zhen’s Birth Date and Time on the effigy’s back.
She also drew a talisman in Cinnabar across its chest.
Her strokes were bold and fluid, completed in one continuous motion. Her mastery was obvious.
Granny had taught me how to make paper effigies and draw talismans, but only the basics. Unlike Yu Nian, I had not inherited the true teachings of the Yu Clan.
Once that was done, I followed Yu Nian’s instructions and dressed the paper effigy in an outfit Guo Zhen often wore.
All that remained was to wait.
We didn’t have to wait long. Shortly after nightfall, Li Qingying called.
“Xiao Jiu, Guo Zhen is awake. She’s sitting at her vanity and putting on makeup. She says she’s getting married tonight.”
The phone was on speaker, so everyone heard her.
Liu Junyan immediately said, “Don’t alarm her or try to stop her. Once she’s been taken away, come straight here and join us.”
Li Qingying agreed to each instruction.
After the call ended, Liu Junyan said, “It’s time to paint in the paper effigy’s eyes.”
There was an ironclad rule in the Paper Effigy Art: whether one was crafting an effigy or cutting one out of paper, one must never draw its facial features-especially its eyes.
Once its eyes were painted in, the paper effigy would gain a soul and come to life.
And now, not only did we have to paint facial features onto the paper effigy, we also had to set the Buddha Eyes into its face!
Yu Nian guided me through each step.
It wasn’t as though I’d never painted features onto a paper effigy before, but this time, I was especially nervous. I knew full well that Guo Zhen’s life was tied to this effigy.
I drew a deep breath and steadied myself, then dipped my brush into Cinnabar and carefully began to paint.
The instant the Buddha Eyes were embedded in the paper effigy’s face, a Yin Wind swirled around it, only to vanish just as quickly.
The effigy was then enshrined in the Main Hall, with incense and candles set out before it.
As Li Qingying and Jin Wuya made their way over to join us, they kept a close watch on what was happening with Guo Zhen.
Guo Zaimin told us that at around nine that night, Guo Zhen had dressed herself up and left the house.
Her parents hadn’t dared stop her. They followed her in secret, watched her get into a car, and immediately called us.
Before eleven, Hui Moqiong’s people sent word that the car had arrived at the foot of Niuhu Mountain. Guo Zhen had gotten out with a length of red silk clutched in her hand, and the Great Lama was leading her up the mountain.
At that moment, everyone’s nerves instantly stretched taut.
What was coming had finally arrived.
The wait that followed was agonizing. There was nothing we could do but stand there and wait, our eyes locked on the paper effigy in the Main Hall.
The sound of chanting drifted over from the ritual grounds again, only this time, there would be no so-called auspicious sign descending from the heavens.
The streets outside were silent. Every household had shut its doors.
After about half an hour, the paper effigy in the Main Hall suddenly moved.
It gave a faint shudder.
A Yin Wind immediately churned around it. The Buddha Eyes were so clear they seemed to glow, and waves of sandalwood fragrance poured from within the effigy. Before long, our entire courtyard was enveloped in the faint scent of sandalwood.
Just then, someone began pounding on the courtyard gate.
Bang… bang, bang…
At first, the pounding had a steady rhythm, but it soon grew frantic, each blow coming faster than the last, as though whoever stood outside was here to claim our lives.
A mechanical voice sounded amid the pounding. “Open the door. I’m here to take my Buddha Eyes. Open up, now!”
My entire body went rigid.
The voice was both unfamiliar and horribly familiar.
That… That was unmistakably the corpse that had come to the Pawnshop that night and demanded the Buddha Eyes from me!
She had come to the town and even tracked down this courtyard.
She had followed the Buddha Eyes here!
Li Qingying recognized the voice as well. She and Jin Wuya immediately moved to guard the gate.
No matter what happened, we couldn’t let that corpse through the door tonight.
While our attention was drawn to the pounding, Yu Nian suddenly said, “The scent has changed.”
I looked at her in confusion. “What?”
“The scent has changed,” Yu Nian repeated. Pointing toward the paper effigy, she said, “The sandalwood fragrance isn’t pure anymore. Xiao Jiu, hurry and see if anything about the effigy has changed.”
The paper effigy was still standing there, and nothing about it seemed different.
But after Yu Nian pointed it out, I thought I could smell the difference too.
Something else seemed to have mixed into the sandalwood fragrance emanating from the paper effigy.
I sniffed carefully. There was a faint, putrid odor, along with what seemed to be the smell of burning paper.
It didn’t take long for me to spot what was wrong.
“Its chin! The paper effigy’s chin is turning black!”
A streak of black vapor was slowly surfacing over the paper effigy’s chin. It didn’t look as though the paper had been scorched by fire. Instead, it was more like someone was holding a Candle beneath the effigy’s chin and blackening it with the smoke…