Chapter 194

Chapter 194

“When I got home, I scrubbed the hard lump clean, only to be disappointed. It wasn’t solid gold like I’d imagined at all. It was made of some unknown pitch-black material and shaped much like a Toad. The only exception was its forehead, where something had been embedded… Hmm… How should I describe it? It looked like some animal’s Scale.”

The moment I heard that, I sat bolt upright, my whole body tensing.

Something golden that looked like a Scale… My first thought was the Golden Scale!

A faint thrill of excitement rose in my chest. I wanted to ask about it, but I was afraid of alerting him to my interest, so I forced myself to remain patient and kept listening.

Qiu Fengnian continued, “I’d just finished handling my father’s funeral, and there was an endless stream of social obligations afterward. I was exhausted, so I tossed the thing into my bedside cabinet and forgot about it. But that very night, I had a strange dream.

“The Black Toad appeared in my dream and told me it was a Three-Eyed Golden Toad that had only recently cultivated a physical form. It had been cultivating peacefully in that auspicious feng shui site, only for me to dig it up for no reason and damage its cultivation. If I failed to make amends, it swore it would bring unrest upon my household.

“I asked how I could make amends. It said I could either return the auspicious site to it so it could continue cultivating there, or enshrine and worship it. If it received incense offerings from the Qiu Family, it would ensure that my household remained peaceful and that my family enjoyed great wealth and prosperity.”

I asked, “What did you do?”

“Nothing. I dismissed it as nothing more than my thoughts during the day carrying over into my dreams,” Qiu Fengnian said regretfully. “But from that day on, trouble plagued my home. I was bedridden with illness, my wife and children were constantly sickly, and mistakes kept cropping up in my business. Nothing went right.

“Eventually, I remembered what the Black Toad had said. I was desperate enough to try anything. My father had already been buried — I couldn’t very well dig him up and bury him somewhere else, could I? So I brought back a consecrated Buddhist shrine from a temple and enshrined the Black Toad inside.

“Strangely enough, once I began worshipping it, my family recovered from their illnesses, and my business flourished.”

I suspected that the third eye on the Black Toad’s forehead was a Golden Scale belonging to Liu Junyan.

The Golden Scale contained an enormous amount of Merit, which the Black Toad was using for its cultivation. With the Qiu Family nourished by that Merit, how could they not prosper?

Outwardly, however, I maintained a puzzled expression. “Wasn’t that a good thing?”

“Yes, it was. In just three years, my wealth had firmly placed me among the top three richest people in Chang City,” Qiu Fengnian said. “It was around that time that I noticed patches of the Black Toad’s body beginning to turn from black to gold. The Toad’s contours also became more lifelike, making it look increasingly like the Three-Eyed Golden Toad it claimed to be.

“But my business hit a bottleneck and even began to decline. Once a person climbs to a certain height, circumstances can take on a life of their own.

“Everything had gone smoothly for me during those years. I couldn’t begin to count how many people’s business I’d taken or how many enemies I’d made without realizing it. The moment I started going downhill, there were more than enough people eager to kick me while I was down.

“Even during that most difficult period, I never stopped making incense offerings to the Black Toad. I couldn’t share my troubles with my family, so I often poured out all my frustrations before its shrine. Then one night, the Black Toad appeared in my dreams again.

“It told me it had come to say goodbye. It had protected the Qiu Family for nearly four years, but its bond with us was coming to an end. By then, gold covered almost a third of its body. I begged it desperately to stay, but at first, it refused to reconsider no matter what I said.

“Eventually, I wore it down. It told me there was only one way for it to remain: the Qiu Family’s bloodline had to forge a connection with it. I asked what exactly we needed to do, and it said three generations of the Qiu Family had to offer their blood in a Blood Sacrifice. Only then could it stay with us for good.”
“A Blood Sacrifice?” I frowned. “How could any orthodox cultivation method possibly require a Blood Sacrifice?”

Qiu Fengnian gave a bitter smile. “Exactly. It was such an absurd claim, yet I didn’t sense anything wrong with it. Instead, I treated it like an imperial decree. I couldn’t wait to gather three generations of my descendants, prick everyone’s finger, and drip a drop of blood onto the Black Toad.”

Li Qingying and I were both rendered speechless.

“After the Blood Sacrifice to the Black Toad, my business took off. Before long, I became Chang City’s Richest Man. The Black Toad also rapidly began turning gold. By this year, the gold had spread over almost its entire body. But six months ago, I was the first to realize something was wrong with my health. Then the same thing started happening to my wife, my children, and the rest of the family.

“As the saying goes, family scandals should never be aired in public. I secretly invited a master to examine my Facial Features, then asked other trusted masters to find a way to remove the Three-Eyed Golden Toad. Unfortunately, none of them succeeded. Worse, the Three-Eyed Golden Toad kept growing. It’s now as large as both my palms put together.

“The master who examined my Facial Features said I won’t live past this month.”

By the time Qiu Fengnian reached this point, his eyes were red. Tears swirled in them, but he stubbornly refused to let them fall.

“I’m the one who brought this calamity upon us. I deserve to die, but I have so many children and grandchildren. The youngest is only three months old, yet they’ll all be dragged into the grave with me. I… Once I’m dead, how can I possibly face the ancestors of the Qiu Family?”

He pounded his chest and stamped his feet, overwhelmed with grief.

This involved nearly twenty lives, and there might be even more in the future. I couldn’t bear to stand by and do nothing.

Besides… there was the Golden Scale on the Three-Eyed Golden Toad’s forehead. If it truly belonged to Liu Junyan, I had to retrieve it.

With that in mind, I asked, “Boss Qiu, do you have a photo of the Three-Eyed Golden Toad? Could I see it?”

Qiu Fengnian shook his head. “At first, I was afraid that taking its picture might offend it. Later, I discovered it simply wouldn’t appear in photographs. Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, would you please come to Chang City with me and see it for yourself?”

Li Qingying had also noticed that something was amiss. She lowered her voice and said, “Xiao Jiu, why don’t we make the trip? Whether or not we can handle it, we can decide after we’ve seen it. More importantly…”

She gave me a meaningful look. Clearly, she had also thought of the Golden Scale.

“All right.” I finally made up my mind and said to Qiu Fengnian, “Boss Qiu, let me be clear in advance. I’m still young, and my abilities are limited. If I see the Three-Eyed Golden Toad and still feel I can’t subdue it, please don’t take offense.”

Or try to force me.

Qiu Fengnian agreed repeatedly.

We originally planned for Li Qingying to drive me to Chang City, but just before we left, Liu Junyan and the others happened to return from their errands.

I told him what had happened, and Liu Junyan immediately said, “I’ll go with you. You might not make it back tonight, and I’m worried you won’t sleep well.”

I couldn’t have asked for more than to have him accompany me.

I even brought the Pawn Ticket, the seal, the writing brush, and everything else I might need.

If we confirmed that the object on the Three-Eyed Golden Toad’s forehead was indeed the Golden Scale, I would complete the pawn transaction right there in Chang City.

But after we rushed all the way to Chang City and drove into the Qiu Family Estate, the Three-Eyed Golden Toad seemed to have sensed our arrival in advance.

It had vanished…