Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Granny held me up as I knelt on the floor, pressing my head down to kowtow to the Black Coffin.

After the kowtows, she used a knife to nick my finger, letting the blood drip onto the Black Coffin. “Xiao Jiu, call for Seventh Master. Beg Seventh Master to save you.”

“Only Seventh Master can save your life now!”

I was terrified, shrinking back into Granny’s arms as hard as I could.

Granny pushed me away and walked out.

Immediately after, I heard the sound of the front door being locked.

I forced my body up and turned, crawling desperately toward the door.

But the door was locked from the outside; no matter how hard I yanked, it wouldn’t budge.

I pounded on the wooden panels, calling for Granny over and over.

Granny, I’m scared.

No one answered me.

My head throbbed and my whole body ached. I felt like I was truly going to die this time.

My messy hair spilled out, and strands of white hair began to drape over my shoulders. My head of black hair was turning white at a speed visible to the naked eye.

White hair… it was my nightmare!

Whenever white hair grew, someone would die!

Now that Granny and I only had each other, I couldn’t let my curse affect her.

I didn’t want Granny to die.

I turned around, shuffling on my knees until I reached the Black Coffin. I kowtowed incessantly before it. “Please, Seventh Master, save Xiao Jiu! Please, Seventh Master, save Xiao Jiu!”

My head struck the Black Coffin with a series of dull thuds.

My forehead split open, and blood flowed down the bridge of my nose. My eyes felt as if they were catching fire, and something seemed to be faintly appearing between my eyebrows. My white hair rose with a phantom wind, poised as if ready to strike…

“Little Fire Fox, is that you? Have you returned?”

Just then, a cold, detached voice rang out from within the Black Coffin.

Following that, the lid opened with a thunderous boom, and a man sat up from within.

It felt like I was in a dream-a dream where a man in long robes stepped out of the Black Coffin and picked me up.

I tried my best to see his face, but everything was a blur; I couldn’t see anything clearly.

The man pressed a bead into my mouth. It melted the moment it touched my tongue, tasting cool and sweet.

After swallowing the bead, my fever quickly receded, and the pain throughout my body vanished instantly. I drifted off into a hazy sleep.

…

At the first crow of the rooster, the door was opened.

Granny walked in and felt my forehead as I lay on the floor. Finding that my fever had broken, she wept with joy.

She kowtowed three times toward the Black Coffin. “Thank you for your life-saving grace, Seventh Master.”

Then, she carried me out.

I slowly woke up. Seeing Granny, I immediately wrapped my arms around her neck and wouldn’t let go, crying and pleading, “Granny, don’t leave me. Xiao Jiu will be good. Xiao Jiu will listen to you.”

Granny held me close, her heart aching for me. “Silly girl, Granny won’t leave you. Granny was saving you.”

She gently patted my back. Once my emotions had stabilized, she continued, “Xiao Jiu, last night I used your fingertip blood as a medium to perform a blood sacrifice to the Black Coffin, tearing a gap in its seal. Seventh Master was merciful and used his Merit to save you. You must remember this kindness of his, do you understand?”

I nodded vigorously. “Xiao Jiu understands.”

“Your fate is extremely malevolent; you will face a calamity every three years. Only if Seventh Master is willing to save you can you continue to live,” Granny said solemnly. “From now on, every three years on your birthday-no matter where you are or what you are doing-you must return before midnight. You must light three sticks of Yellow Incense for Seventh Master and drip your blood into the Black Coffin to seek his protection. Have you got that?”

I continued to nod. “I’ve got it.”

Granny held me and murmured, “My Xiao Jiu will surely grow up well and live a long life.”

I listened carefully to every word Granny said, etching them into my heart.

Every three years, on the eve of my birthday, white hair would still grow on my head.

But once I finished the incense offering and dripped my blood into the Black Coffin, a piece of Talisman Paper on the coffin would fall off on its own.
Granny burned the Talisman Paper into ash and mixed it into water for me to drink.

After drinking the talisman water and sleeping, my hair would turn completely black again.

I was no longer afraid of that Black Coffin because I knew the man lying inside was named Liu Junyan, whom Granny respectfully called Seventh Master.

He was my benefactor.

Only by properly making offerings to him could I keep my little life!

My life seemed to fall into a normal routine. At eighteen, I was successfully admitted into my dream university.

Starting as a freshman was hectic-adjusting to a new environment, making new friends, and attending various orientation events…

It wasn’t until my roommates noticed strands of white in my hair and jokingly asked if I had snuck out to get highlights that I suddenly realized my birthday had arrived again.

Fortunately, the school was only a two-hour drive from the Pawnshop. Since it was just past two in the afternoon, there was plenty of time.

I immediately packed my things and caught a ride home.

First, I took a long-distance bus to the county station, and once there, I hailed a carpool back to town.

While in the car, I kept calling Granny.

On such an important day, Granny would usually call me early in the morning to urge me home, but today she hadn’t.

My calls kept going unanswered.

Could something have happened to her?

My heart hammered against my ribs; something felt wrong.

I happened to glance at the time on my phone, and my body instantly froze.

The drive from the county to Wufu Town usually took about twenty minutes. This car had been driving for nearly forty minutes, and there was no sign of it stopping.

A wave of ominous dread washed over me. I slowly looked up toward the driver.

What I saw nearly made me scream out loud.

The honest-looking, middle-aged driver had somehow transformed into a massive Yellow Weasel!

As I looked at it, its beady, cunning eyes stared back at me through the rearview mirror, its mouth curling into a wicked grin.

My hair stood on end. I reached for the car door, intending to jump out.

But at that moment, a dozen Yellow Weasels suddenly appeared from nowhere, surrounding me. They bared their sharp teeth and looked at me with ravenous eyes, as if I were a delicious meal.

I swung my bag at them, but one Yellow Weasel bit into my wrist, drawing blood.

I tried to shake it off with all my might, but it wouldn’t let go.

In the chaos, I hit my forehead. Blood trickled down the bridge of my nose, and my eyes suddenly felt like they were on fire.

My hair turned white at a visible rate, and that sensation of something about to manifest between my eyebrows surged again…

Just when I thought I was going to die in the mouths of these Yellow Weasels, the car suddenly screeched to a halt.

Then, a gentle man’s voice rang out: “Ali, is that you?”

Following the voice, I heard a series of sharp whistles cutting through the air. The Yellow Weasels in the car collapsed one by one, dead.

The car door was pulled open. I looked up and met a pair of breathtakingly beautiful peach-blossom eyes.

It was a young man dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, holding a folding fan. His long hair was tied in a crown, and he had crescent-moon brows and peach-blossom eyes that tilted slightly upward. He was incredibly handsome… and enchanting.

I opened my mouth to call out “Seventh Master.”

But the words died in my throat.

No, he wasn’t Seventh Master.

Although I hadn’t seen Seventh Master’s face clearly back then, the sharp, piercing aura he exuded was completely different from the jade-like gentleness of the man before me.

Who… was he?