Chapter 261
Chapter 261
It wasn’t until Liu Junyan said it that the rest of us realized what was happening.
If Old Madam Hui wanted to protect Hui Xiaotiao, she had to thoroughly purge every dissenter from Chang City’s Gray Immortal Hall before he was rescued.
Even if those dissenters were her own children and grandchildren!
As one of Old Madam Hui’s trusted confidantes, Hui Yumo was bound to be at the center of the storm.
Hui Moqiong’s concern wasn’t unfounded.
I said, “Don’t worry. Old Madam Hui said that if Hui Xiaotiao has already been completely obliterated, she’ll hand Chang City’s Gray Immortal Hall over to your sister. She may be much stronger than we think.”
At that moment, Hui Moqiong looked both proud and worried.
Liu Junyan continued, “That Corpse Fiend will soon attempt to Undergo a Tribulation. It’ll be relatively weak during the process, making that our best opportunity to strike. But if we fail to take it down in one fell swoop and it succeeds in its attempt to Undergo a Tribulation, it may evolve into a Hou or a Drought Demon. Taking it down then will be much harder.”
“Based on our previous calculations, the Corpse Fiend should attempt to Undergo a Tribulation in about a week,” Hui Moqiong said. “Seventh Master, I’ll head to Chang City first and make preparations. If anything happens at Gray Immortal Hall, I’ll be there to help.”
Liu Junyan nodded. “Quietly take all your people with you. And remember, anything concerning Gray Immortal Hall must be handled personally by your sister. Don’t get involved recklessly — at least not openly.”
Hui Moqiong nodded repeatedly. “I know how serious this is.”
We discussed the details as we ate.
Hui Moqiong’s group would serve as the vanguard, while Liu Junyan and I would be the main force. Of course, someone still had to stay behind and guard the Pawnshop, so that task fell to Li Qingying.
After dinner, we gathered in the West Room and talked a little longer.
By the time we washed up and went to bed, it was already past midnight.
I got into bed first and reclined against the headboard on the inner side.
After Liu Junyan climbed in, I took his left hand and tried to slide the Willow-Twig Bracelet onto it.
Unfortunately, his hand was larger and broader than mine. The bracelet could only fit over his four fingers and wouldn’t slide any farther.
Watching what I was doing, Liu Junyan asked in confusion, “What is this?”
“It’s a Willow-Twig Bracelet.” I looked up at him and said solemnly, “I brought it out of Cangwu Mountain.”
Liu Junyan’s hand jerked sharply.
A thousand emotions seemed to flicker through his eyes — disbelief mingled with excitement and even a trace of bitter reluctance.
Feng Linu was probably the one regret he had never been able to let go of.
While he was still stunned, I reached beneath my pillow, pulled out the Golden Half-Face Mask, and put it on.
I said softly, “Ah Yan, the waters of Linghai have surged into Cangwu Mountain, and a willow branch has broken free from Cangwu Mountain. Nothing can stand in the way of us being together anymore.”
Liu Junyan’s hand trembled.
His amber vertical pupils contracted into thin lines, then quickly relaxed again.
I had thought he would immediately pull me into his arms and call me Ah Li.
But he didn’t.
After wrestling with those intensely complicated emotions, he reached up and removed the mask from my face, then placed it and the Willow-Twig Bracelet on the nightstand.
Only then did he cup my face in his hands and kiss me deeply.
The kiss was forceful, yet lingering.
He held my face as though cradling the rarest treasure in the world, kissing me as if he could never get enough.
It wasn’t until I could barely breathe that he released me. He pulled me tightly into his arms and whispered against my ear, “Xiao Jiu, thank you.”
“Thank you for bringing the Willow-Twig Bracelet back, and thank you for helping me truly let go at last.”
“Ah Li is my past, but you, Xiao Jiu, are my present and my future.”
I raised a hand and poked him over the heart. “Ah Li deserves to be loved, and the love she gave you deserves to be treasured forever in a corner of your heart. I’m not jealous, because Ah Li has always been a part of me.”
Liu Junyan’s kisses engulfed me once more…
Early the next morning, Hui Moqiong left the Pawnshop for Chang City.
Liu Junyan was gone as well.
After breakfast, I stood beneath the western side of the veranda and stared at the Hexagonal Palace Lantern for a long time.
This wasn’t my first time using the Soul-Guiding Lantern.
I had even used it to send a soul on before.
But this task was clearly different.
Aside from Hui Xiaotiao, a total of eighty-one people had been buried beneath that stretch of mine tunnel.
By now, each of them should have become something akin to a Walking Corpse.
First, I had to summon them all out with the Soul-Guiding Lantern. Then I had to grant them Salvation and send them on… The task was far, far too difficult.
What worried me most was that my Fragmented Soul might not hold steady.
Even with my mother’s Inner Core within me, I still remembered the bouts of disorientation that had come over me after the fusion.
The baleful yin energy in that mine tunnel was so dense. What if…
No. There could be no what-if!
I went back inside the Pawnshop and took out the list Old Madam Hui had given me, reciting every name one by one.
I had to commit all eighty-one names firmly to memory as quickly as possible. I couldn’t forget a single one!
But before I had been at it for long, someone brought in a note for me.
I unfolded it and found familiar handwriting: The old private room at the Teahouse. Xiao Jiu, let’s talk.
It was from Bai Jingmo.
I held the note for a long while. Personally, I wanted nothing more to do with the Bai Family.
But that was how the world worked. Many things weren’t simply black and white.
I had crossed Bai Jingmo off my list of friends long ago, but that didn’t prevent us from working together.
After all, there was simply no substitute for the Bai Family Medical Hall or Bai Jingmo’s medical expertise.
Besides, the meeting place was the Teahouse, somewhere I knew well.
I told Li Qingying about it and made sure to mention that Bai Jingmo had asked to meet me.
When Liu Junyan returned, Li Qingying would undoubtedly tell him.
I hadn’t known the Teahouse had reopened.
Only after I arrived did I discover that it had changed owners.
The new owner was also a woman, around thirty years old. She was beautiful and slightly full-figured, with a sweet smile and a rather booming voice.
The Teahouse was bustling just as it had in the old days, filled with the warm, lively hum of ordinary life.
I went straight upstairs and stopped outside the private room I used to frequent, then raised my hand and knocked.
Bai Jingmo opened the door himself. Stepping aside to let me in, he said, “Xiao Jiu, long time no see.”
We sat facing each other, and only then did Bai Jingmo order two cups of tea.
He seemed somewhat distracted.
Once the tea arrived, he took a small sip before saying, “Seventh Master Liu came to the Medical Hall today.”
My hand jerked violently around my cup. Scalding tea splashed out, reddening the back of my hand.
Bai Jingmo immediately grabbed some tissues and reached over to wipe it for me, but I covered the back of my hand with my other hand and lowered both beneath the table.
The burning pain from the tea actually steadied me a little.
I knew perfectly well that Liu Junyan had gone to the Medical Hall this time to find Bai Songlan.
He was after Soul Piercing.
I murmured, “Mm,” but didn’t pick up the thread.
Bai Jingmo persisted. “Xiao Jiu, you may not believe me, but I still have to tell you this. It isn’t that our Immortal Lady doesn’t want to return to the Pawnshop and rejoin the Five Blessing Immortals. It’s that she… can’t. She… has a heart demon…”