Chapter 192
Chapter 192
King of Mount Tai couldn’t be the only person in the Netherworld Realm who used a ceremonial court tablet as a weapon.
However, anyone with such a powerful aura who could mobilize that many Ghost Soldiers had to possess an extraordinary status.
For now, I couldn’t think of anyone who fit better than King of Mount Tai.
But if Tang Xun’s fated match really was King of Mount Tai… I couldn’t even imagine it.
I shook my head and cast Liu Junyan a tentative glance.
The look in his eyes told me he had probably reached the same conclusion.
Neither of us could be certain about something like this, so we kept the speculation to ourselves and waited for the day the truth would finally come to light.
Liu Junyan went over several other matters with me, covering everything down to the smallest detail. Finally, he suddenly took out a jade pendant and placed it in my hand.
Even though several months had passed since I had last seen it, I recognized the pendant at a glance.
Hu Yulin had given it to me back then. He’d told me that if I was ever in danger, I could smash it, and he would sense it and rush over to save me.
However, the pendant had vanished without a trace after my wedding night.
I knew it bothered Liu Junyan, so he must have taken it. That was why I’d never asked about it.
But today, he had brought it out of his own accord. For some reason, I grew nervous.
“Xiao Jiu, keep this with you, just in case,” Liu Junyan said.
Countless thoughts raced through my mind.
Was Liu Junyan afraid to enter the Netherworld Realm?
No.
Then what was he guarding against by giving me this pendant?
It dawned on me in an instant. Was he guarding against the Phoenix Clan?
That had to be it.
The moment I appeared in the Netherworld Realm, the Phoenix Clan — and that fianc? of mine-would probably sense me immediately.
If chaos broke out in the Netherworld Realm, they would surely take advantage of it.
Liu Junyan might be too occupied to handle everything himself, and he might genuinely need outside help.
Hu Yulin was undoubtedly the best person to call upon.
With that thought, I put away the jade pendant and hoped we wouldn’t need to use it on this trip.
That afternoon, I made a trip to the Dou Family Coffin Shop and asked Dou Zhile to make a spirit tablet for Fu Wan.
Dou Zhile crafted it himself while Dou Jinsuo watched closely from the side, afraid he might miss even the slightest detail.
Dou Jinsuo was no longer young. He had spent the first half of his life frustrated and unsuccessful, and now that Dou Zhile had finally agreed to teach him, he treasured the opportunity.
That night in the West Room, I knelt on a cushion beside Liu Junyan, holding the spirit tablet in both hands. Liu Junyan turned his Prayer Beads as he chanted scriptures and incantations.
Meanwhile, the Black Cat went straight into the Hexagonal Palace Lantern.
It had always treated Fu Wan well.
From the first time it entered the Hexagonal Palace Lantern, it had pressed itself close against Fu Wan’s Essence Spirit.
Later, at the Dou Family Ancestral Tomb, it dug out the Little Monster’s inner core and fed it to Fu Wan after returning.
Having the Black Cat lead Fu Wan out and into the spirit tablet would make the process far easier.
Before long, the Black Cat leaped onto my shoulder. Waves of Yin Wind rose around me, and the spirit tablet in my hands suddenly turned cold. I knew then that Fu Wan’s Souls had entered the tablet.
Liu Junyan immediately said, “Xiao Jiu, bite your middle finger and drip a drop of blood into the spirit tablet.”
He wanted me to form a contract with Fu Wan. I did as he instructed without hesitation.
Afterward, I enshrined Fu Wan’s spirit tablet on the altar as well.
She was now Granny Yu’s neighbor.
Once Fu Wan had been settled in, the moment I’d been looking forward to most was finally about to arrive.
Liu Junyan channeled some Merit into the Hexagonal Palace Lantern.
The moment it filled with Merit, the entire Hexagonal Palace Lantern shone a brilliant gold. Its golden radiance nearly illuminated the whole West Street Entrance.
It was almost eleven at night, and everything around us was utterly silent.
I clasped my hands before my chest and held my breath, staring fixedly at the Hexagonal Palace Lantern, terrified I might miss the spectacular instant when it transformed.
We waited like that for a full five minutes, but the Hexagonal Palace Lantern showed no change whatsoever.
All of us froze.
What was going on?
Liu Junyan looked a little embarrassed as well. “That shouldn’t be happening.”
“Maybe the old antique’s reactions are just slow,” Hui Moqiong said. “Let’s give the old thing time to catch up. I’m off to bed.”
As he spoke, he draped an arm over Li Qingying’s shoulders and half-embraced her as he led her into the Pawnshop.
Just then, the golden light bathing us abruptly changed color.
A dark, chilling aura suddenly flickered through the brilliant Light of Merit. Immediately afterward, an eerie green glow radiated from within the lantern. As it shone through the walls of the chamber, skull after skull appeared upon them.
The skulls were three-dimensional and packed so tightly together that they nearly covered every inch of the lantern’s inner walls.
More terrifyingly, they seemed to be alive.
I could see their eyes moving. Their faces were a ghastly green, their fangs gleaming with a cold light.
“Holy crap!” Hui Moqiong exclaimed dramatically. “Why did it suddenly turn so hideous? You scared this poor baby half to death. I’m going to have nightmares tonight.”
As he spoke, he even edged closer to Li Qingying as though he truly needed protection.
Li Qingying rolled her eyes at him.
Puzzled, I asked, “This Hexagonal Palace Lantern… It’s been hanging here for a long time, hasn’t it?”
Surely Hui Moqiong had seen it before.
“Yeah. It was already here before I came to the Pawnshop,” Hui Moqiong said. “As far as I remember, it lit up once or twice, but it was never filled to the brim with Merit, much less changed form.”
So that was why.
In any case, a reaction was better than none.
Once everything that needed doing was done, we closed the Pawnshop at midnight and went to bed.
Before turning in, I made a point of taking out that dark wooden lump and placing it beside the jade pendant.
The Underworld Emissary had specifically warned me to bring it whenever I entered the Underworld or the Ghost Market.
With everything prepared, I drifted off peacefully, expecting to sleep until dawn.
But not long after I fell asleep, someone began pounding thunderously on the Pawnshop’s main doors.
The noise was deafening.
It sounded like an enemy had come seeking revenge!
Liu Junyan and I jolted awake at the same time. Before long, hurried footsteps approached from the back, and Hui Moqiong and Li Qingying arrived one after the other.
The four of us stood behind the main doors, staring at them as they shook under the pounding. None of us looked pleased.
At this hour, if it were someone we knew coming to us with an urgent matter, they would have called out and explained why they were here.
If they had something to pawn, they normally knocked on the small door to the Southern Study.
But whoever was outside was pounding on the main doors.
Hui Moqiong strode over to the little window in the Rear-facing Room and peered outside. He immediately swore. “What the hell? Why is it him?”
Li Qingying asked in confusion, “Who?”
She walked over and rose onto her tiptoes to look outside. Her brows instantly furrowed. “Zhao Zixun?”
My heart lurched. Why was Zhao Zixun here?
Why would he come knocking on the Pawnshop’s door of his own accord?
By then, Liu Junyan had already reached out and opened the main doors.
The moment they swung open, a howling Yin Wind surged inside.
Zhao Zixun stood beyond the threshold, his entire body radiating a chilling, murderous aura. Even the Coffin Nail embedded between his brows seemed to be coated in bloody frost.
His warhorse had been left across the street.
“Wanwan!” Zhao Zixun suddenly shouted, one hand pressed against the saber at his waist, ready to attack us at any moment. “What have you done to Wanwan?!”