Chapter 42

Chapter 42

The Golden Scale…

I suddenly recalled the woman’s voice from just before the statue shattered.

She had said she was protected by a Golden Scale and shielded by Merit, so she shouldn’t have been afraid of that lightning.

But why did the Golden Scale that originally belonged to her ultimately abandon her and protect me instead?

“Xiao Jiu, are you alright?”

Tang Xun’s concerned voice rang out. I snapped back to my senses and forced myself to sit upright, replying, “Aunt… Aunt Tang, I’m fine. Thank you for coming to save me.”

“Xiao Jiu, I’m sorry,” Tang Xun suddenly apologized. “I didn’t come specifically to save you. I… I used you.”

“Huh?”

For a moment, I was so stunned I didn’t know what to say.

Tang Xun explained, “Actually, I’ve been investigating the master behind this painting for a long time. But every time I found a lead and tried to follow it, the trail would go cold. It wasn’t until I met you at the Riverside that day that a plan formed in my mind, leading to everything that happened afterward.”

I had just suffered a major shock, and my head was still spinning. I couldn’t quite process her words immediately.

After a long while, I asked tentatively, “You mean, you recommended Cai Bin to find me at the Pawnshop just to use me as bait to investigate this painting?”

Tang Xun nodded. “Yes.”

“Wait, that’s not right.” I still found it hard to accept. “How could you be so sure that the moment I got involved, the other party would take the bait?”

I paused, a thought occurring to me. “Is this Goddess Statue really related to the Bai Family?”

Was Tang Xun so certain that the Bai Family wanted to move against me that she set up this entire chess game?

“I wasn’t aware of your grievances with the Bai Family,” Tang Xun said, pointing at the Golden Scale in my hand. “I chose you because of this Golden Scale.”

I was even more confused. “This Golden Scale… has something to do with me?”

“That Golden Scale belongs to Seventh Master!” Li Qingying’s voice suddenly rang out.

She rushed over, drenched in sweat, her eyes fixed intently on the Golden Scale in my hand. She said with certainty, “I am sure of it. This Golden Scale belongs to Seventh Master. There are seven such scales in total, originally embedded in his Lifebound Artifact. They were scattered across the mortal realm a hundred years ago. I didn’t expect one to appear here tonight.”

This Golden Scale actually belonged to Liu Junyan!

That made sense.

Liu Junyan had transferred Merit and True Qi to me, and we had shared an intimate connection. My body had long been marked with his brand.

The Golden Scale hadn’t chosen me; it had recognized its master’s aura, which is why it protected me at the critical moment!

Tang Xun frowned, looking from me to Li Qingying, clearly surprised.

It seemed she hadn’t known the Golden Scale belonged to Liu Junyan.

It was even hard to say if she even knew who Liu Junyan was.

“I’ve been tracking this painting for many years and have clashed with it many times. I’m very familiar with the aura of Merit emitted by this Golden Scale,” Tang Xun said. “That night at the Riverside, when Xiao Jiu drew the bow, she released the same aura of Merit. That was the fundamental reason I chose her.”

So that was it!

“I pride myself on having some ability, but whenever I clashed with this painting, I was always repelled by the power of this Golden Scale at the decisive moment. I’ve led people around this area countless times, but I could never find the exact location of the Small Temple.”

“Tonight, after that White Sedan Chair floated out of the Cai Family Villa, I followed it all the way here and finally entered this wasteland. I didn’t expect it would almost cost you your life. Xiao Jiu, I, Tang Xun, owe you a favor. If you ever face any difficulties in the future, you can come to the Tang Family to find me. The Tang Family will go through fire and water for you.”

I quickly said, “Aunt Tang, you and Tang Tang saved me once before. You don’t owe me anything. Besides, the one controlling this painting is likely the Bai Family, and I already have a grudge against them.”

The Bai Family wanted to deal with me, and they would stop at nothing to do so.
I had a premonition that this painting would be used on me sooner or later.

Now, not only had I stumbled into resolving the issue with the Small Temple, but I had also obtained this Golden Scale. No matter how I looked at it, I had come out ahead.

Li Qingying knelt down to check my injuries, her voice full of self-reproach. “I was too careless. I actually fell for their trick at the Cai Family home. By the time I came to my senses, you were already gone. Xiao Jiu, you seem to have suffered a rather serious internal injury.”

Tang Xun added, “I just gave her a Heart-Protecting Pill. With some proper rest and recovery, there shouldn’t be any lasting effects. Let’s go to the Tang Family residence first.”

We didn’t decline. After all, the Tang Family was right here in Huicheng; it would be far too much trouble to head back to Wufu Town in the middle of the night.

Li Qingying crouched down to take me on her back. I pointed at the painting on the ground, which was still emitting wisps of black energy, and asked, “What about that painting?”

Tang Xun rolled the scroll up and temporarily sealed it with a piece of Talisman Paper.

Tang Xun drove us back to the Tang Family home while her people stayed behind to handle the aftermath.

In the car, Li Qingying sat in the back to look after me. As Tang Xun drove, she answered my many questions.

“Aunt Tang…”

“Xiao Jiu, you can just call me Tang Xun.” Tang Xun glanced at me through the rearview mirror and said, “Fengwu and I are old acquaintances.”

Uh…

This time, it wasn’t just me; even Li Qingying was stunned.

Tang Xun and Fengwu were old acquaintances?

The shock value of that sentence was off the charts!

Wasn’t Tang Xun Tang Tang’s aunt?

Tang Tang was only a few years older than me, but Fengwu had existed for centuries.

Just how old… was Tang Xun?

She clearly looked so young, appearing to be in her early thirties at most.

Tang Xun smiled and said, “Once we get back to the ancestral house, I’ll show you something, and then you’ll understand everything.”

Since she put it that way, I stopped dwelling on the subject and said instead, “Tang Tang is my Senior Sister, so it’s only right that I follow her lead and call you Aunt.”

If Tang Tang found out that I had gained a generation in seniority just by coming to Huicheng, she would definitely throw a fit!

Tang Xun didn’t mind. “Alright.”

“Aunt,” I said, taking the win while I could. I continued, “On the way here in the White Sedan Chair, I was pulled into an Illusion Mirror by the three girls in the painting. They seemed to be crying out to me for help.”

Tang Xun wasn’t surprised. “Those three girls are the source of all this evil.”

I leaned against Li Qingying and listened intently as Tang Xun began her story.

“All three of them were victims of the old society’s rigid moral codes. Originally, they would have been treated like objects-even livestock-to be sold by their parents to the highest bidder. That was until someone stepped forward and told them that if they wanted to escape their sea of misery and earn a bright future for their next life, she could help them.

“She told them that the gods loved clean, pure girls. As long as they offered themselves as a Sacrifice to the gods before they were defiled, the gods would grant them a radiant future.”

Hearing this, Li Qingying let out a cold sneer. “What kind of ‘god’ would encourage innocent young girls to commit suicide?”

“Indeed. Such a simple truth is something they should have understood.” Tang Xun held the steering wheel with both hands, her eyes fixed on the road ahead, her gaze firm yet filled with pity. “But when a drowning person finally catches hold of a life-saving straw, they lose all reason.”

This was exactly why one shouldn’t approach a drowning person from the front when trying to save them.

Because a drowning person possesses an extraordinary will to survive; once they grab onto a straw, they won’t let go even in death.

In those moments, they lose all rationality. How could they possibly consider whether their actions are right or wrong?

“To escape their immediate plight and for the sake of an invisible next life, they hanged themselves in that Small Temple. Little did they know, that was where their true nightmare began…”