Chapter 259
Chapter 259
I’d heard people say that mines were extremely dangerous, but if rats could survive underground, it at least meant the air quality down there was decent.
Moreover, rats were far more sensitive to changes in their environment than humans.
They could provide miners with an early warning of danger.
That was why miners always treated any rats they encountered underground kindly.
“Xiao Tiao was grateful to the miners for feeding him that one meal. After surviving that Calamity, he often returned to wander through the mine tunnels. He grew deeply attached to those miners.
“But the good times didn’t last. A few months later, Xiao Tiao went back to the tunnels and realized something was wrong. He tried to save the miners, only to be buried down there with them.”
Hui Xiaotiao was a Gray Immortal with a hundred years of cultivation.
The fact that Old Madam Hui valued him so highly meant he must have possessed considerable talent and skill in cultivation.
Even if a mining disaster occurred and he was unable to save the miners, Hui Xiaotiao should still have been capable of escaping on his own.
His cultivation aside, rats were naturally excellent at digging.
That meant there was something wrong with that land.
And there was even more wrong with the mine tunnels.
After thinking for a moment, I asked, “So those miners were deliberately selected, and the tunnels were designed in advance. Is that right?”
“Yes.” Appreciation flashed through Old Madam Hui’s eyes. “I investigated the matter thoroughly afterward. Eighty-one miners had been selected in total. There were nine tunnels, with nine anchor points in each one, and a miner was assigned to every anchor point. Every one of those miners also had a carefully chosen Fate Pattern.
“Nine is the ultimate number and represents Heaven. This Formation was known as the Nine Heavens Soul-Locking Formation.
“When the tunnels collapsed, the miners suffocated to death. Their Souls were locked inside their bodies by the Nine Heavens Soul-Locking Formation, allowing the Corpse Fiend at the Formation Eye to absorb and refine them through its cultivation.”
So that was what had happened.
I considered my words before asking, “Is there any chance Xiao Tiao is still alive?”
More than a hundred years had passed, after all. Hui Xiaotiao had been trapped inside the Nine Heavens Soul-Locking Formation all that time. If his will had faltered, he might well have lost control of his cultivation and succumbed to demonic deviation.
Old Madam Hui sighed. “I don’t know. But whenever I wake from my dreams at midnight, I can almost hear Xiao Tiao calling out to me. He’s begging me to save him. He wants to get out.”
At that, Old Madam Hui raised a hand and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. “As the saying goes, if someone is alive, you must see them in person; if they’re dead, you must see their body. Even if Xiao Tiao is already dead, I can’t let him become nourishment for the Corpse Fiend’s cultivation like those miners. I have to bring him back.
“But that Corpse Fiend is no ordinary creature. I… don’t dare make a move against it.”
The Corpse Fiend was no ordinary creature?
That reminded me of what had happened after Liu Junyan and I returned from Chang City. The Red Banner Child had circled Liu Junyan and sniffed him for quite a while.
He had said that Liu Junyan carried a strangely familiar scent.
He had also said that perhaps Zhao Zixun could help, since he should know where that scent came from.
I immediately tensed and asked, “Do you know the Corpse Fiend’s origins?”
Old Madam Hui shook her head. “I only know that its origins are extraordinary. Before it was buried inside the Nine Heavens Soul-Locking Formation, it apparently fought on a battlefield. It also possessed a magical treasure that seemed to be a toad. That toad has been helping it cultivate all this time.”
A toad!
Yes. It all fit!
Back in that mountain hollow, we really had heard a toad croaking.
I fell silent for a long time.
Honestly, I wanted to take this job.
Setting aside the powerful support Hui Xiaotiao could provide once he was enshrined in the Pawnshop, having Gray Immortal Hall’s help would also improve our chances of recovering the Golden Scale.
No matter how things turned out, this would be a mutually beneficial arrangement for both the Pawnshop and Gray Immortal Hall.
And I was the only one who could make that decision.
Only after I accepted this job could I discuss it with Liu Junyan and the others.
After I returned from Cangwu Mountain, Liu Junyan said they intended to make a move on that land.
If Old Madam Hui hadn’t come today and revealed the hidden truth, we might have caused a catastrophe by charging in unprepared.
After all, Liu Junyan and the others had tried to question Old Madam Hui before, but they hadn’t even managed to meet her, had they?
After mulling it over, I asked again, “What do you want us to do?”
Old Madam Hui must have gone over the rescue of Hui Xiaotiao countless times in her mind. She was bound to have a detailed plan already prepared.
The Pawnshop had probably been among the options she was considering ever since we went to Chang City.
She had simply been hesitating before. Then something suddenly happened to me, shaking her badly.
Once I returned safely, she finally made up her mind and came to us.
She didn’t want to miss this opportunity again.
“As for everything aboveground — including keeping the Corpse Fiend suppressed once it’s awakened — the forces of our Gray Immortal Hall and Yumo’s brother, together with Seventh Master, should be enough to keep the situation under control,” Old Madam Hui said, confirming that she had indeed made arrangements. “But everything inside the mine tunnels will depend on Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu. You are the key to breaking this deadlock.”
I frowned. “Me?”
“Yes. Only you,” Old Madam Hui said firmly. “The Souls of those who died beneath the Nine Heavens Soul-Locking Formation are all trapped within their corpses. Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu has the ability to help them pass on.”
I understood at once.
Old Madam Hui valued me because of the Soul-Guiding Lantern.
She took out another sheet of kraft paper, placed it in front of me, and gestured for me to open it.
I unfolded it and found the paper densely covered in names.
Hui Xiaotiao’s was at the very top.
I counted them. There were eighty-one other names below his.
Those eighty-one names belonged to the miners who had been buried in the mine tunnels all those years ago!
With this list, there was much more I could do.
I stared at it, calculating our odds of success.
Old Madam Hui, however, was too impatient to wait. She added, “If my deductions are correct, that Corpse Fiend will soon Undergo a Tribulation. Once the heavenly lightning descends…”
That was a Corpse Fiend whose fur had already turned white!
Given his cultivation, the coming Calamity would be anything but minor.
Once the heavenly lightning struck, the Golden Scale could very well sustain damage.
Every single Golden Scale was vitally important to Liu Junyan!
If Old Madam Hui had noticed this, then Liu Junyan must have noticed it as well.
He hadn’t told me, but judging from how he had suddenly become so eager to intervene again, he clearly knew.
In truth, I had no choice at all.
If I refused Old Madam Hui today, then the moment she walked out of the Southern Study, she would never cooperate with us again.
If we wanted to make a move against the Corpse Fiend, we first had to get past Old Madam Hui!
She had ostensibly come here to discuss the matter with me, but in truth, she had already accounted for every possibility.
I clenched the hand resting on my lap and asked, “If… I mean, if Xiao Tiao is already gone, then after this is over…”
Old Madam Hui answered without hesitation, “If Xiao Tiao has been wiped from existence, I will hand the Gray Immortal Hall in Chang City over to Yumo as her inheritance. I will never go back on my word.”
Hui Yumo was Hui Moqiong’s biological younger sister.
Handing the Gray Immortal Hall in Chang City over to Hui Yumo would effectively be the same as giving it to the Pawnshop.
Old Madam Hui’s sincerity was plain to see.
I hesitated no longer and made my decision. “All right. I’ll take this job…”