Chapter 5
Chapter 5
As the operatic singing rang out, an unknown force pushed me toward the exit.
Mist had risen outside, shrouding everything in a hazy gray.
Standing just inside the threshold of the main gate, I stared ahead nervously, my heart leaping into my throat.
The mist grew thicker, and soon, something began to take shape within the dense fog.
As they drew closer, I suddenly saw them clearly: three sedan chairs of different colors.
When I realized what was carrying them, I began to tremble with terror.
The sedan chairs were yellow, gray, and white.
Those carrying them weren’t human, but massive, upright Yellow Weasels, rats, and hedgehogs. They were all dressed in bright red wedding robes.
The beasts swayed as they carried the sedan chairs through the air, their crimson eyes fixed on me as if possessing some kind of magical power.
The curtains of the sedan chairs were open. I felt as though someone inside was constantly calling out to me, and my feet began to move toward them of their own accord.
Just then, a gentle voice pierced through the thick mist: “Xiao Jiu.”
I snapped awake, realizing that at some point, I had already crossed the high threshold of the Pawnshop and was standing on the very edge of the steps.
A teal sedan chair slowly appeared in my line of sight. Standing beside it was a man I never expected to see here.
He was also dressed in a bright red wedding robe, holding a folding fan in one hand. His beautiful peach-blossom eyes crinkled into a slight smile as he reached out his other hand toward me. “Xiao Jiu, I’ve come to pick you up.”
After saying this, his smile faded, and he cast a cold glance toward the other three sedan chairs.
The three chairs instinctively huddled together, seemingly intimidated by the man.
The sedan chairs… I really had to choose one.
And the teal sedan chair belonged to the Fox Lord!
So this was the glimmer of hope Granny had mentioned.
“Xiao Jiu, come.”
The Fox Lord took a step forward, calling to me again.
I reached out without hesitation. Granny had said I must choose the teal sedan chair.
But just as the Fox Lord’s hand was about to clasp mine, another voice, tinged with mockery, suddenly sounded from behind me. “Heh.”
Even after all these years, I instantly recognized who that cold voice belonged to.
Seventh Master!
I jerked my hand back and spun around.
No one stood before the wide-open doors of the Pawnshop, but a bright red bridal sedan chair sat there silently, the Five-Colored Flag atop it fluttering in the wind.
It was the red bridal sedan chair from the west side of the Main Hall!
How… how did it get here?
Could it be Seventh Master?
My heart hammered against my ribs. I looked at the red bridal sedan chair, then back at the Fox Lord.
Granny told me I must choose the teal sedan chair; she said the Fox Lord was my only glimmer of hope.
I should listen to her.
But she only said that because she believed Seventh Master couldn’t save me.
Seventh Master was my benefactor. From the age of six to eighteen, he had protected me for twelve years. He was the one Granny and I revered and trusted most.
Besides, I could never forget that Pawn Ticket marked with my blood fingerprint.
When I was six years old, my grandmother had already given me to Seventh Master as a Dead Pawn!
“Xiao Jiu,” the Fox Lord called again, his voice carrying a hint of a plea. “Ali… choose me.”
That name, Ali, snapped me back to my senses completely.
I wasn’t Ali. I was just Xiao Jiu from the Wufu Town Pawnshop.
I closed my eyes and took a silent, deep breath. When I opened them again, I had made my final decision.
“Fox Lord, thank you for trying to help me, but… I’m sorry. I can’t choose you.”
With those words, I gathered up the skirts of my crimson wedding dress and strode toward the bright red bridal sedan.
The sedan’s curtain lifted automatically, and the carriage tilted slightly forward to receive me.
The moment I sat inside, the curtain dropped, shielding me from the sorrow in the Fox Lord’s peach-blossom eyes and the indignant glares of those beasts.
The sedan was hoisted slowly. It crossed the high threshold of the Pawnshop, and as soon as we entered, that invisible sense of oppression surged back over me.
I had lived in this Pawnshop for twelve long years; I was intimately familiar with every unlocked corner of the estate.
As the sedan passed through the front courtyard, I felt as if countless hands were reaching out from all directions, relentlessly tearing and clawing at the carriage.
A ghostly wind whistled through the gaps in the curtain, tossing my white hair. The frigid chill made my entire body shudder, yet inside me, it felt as if a fire were burning. The heat seared the space between my shoulder blades with a pain like a knife scraping against bone.
It was a world of ice and fire. The internal heat couldn’t escape, while the external chill burrowed deep into the marrow of my bones…
After passing through the hanging flower gate, the red sedan landed steadily, coming to a halt in the center of the main courtyard.
Enduring the agonizing discomfort, I sat silently in the sedan, waiting.
But there was nothing-only the howling wind and the rising and falling of ghostly wails.
Had I chosen wrong?
Did this red sedan not belong to Seventh Master?
No. Regardless of who the sedan belonged to, the only one I chose tonight was Seventh Master!
It could only be Seventh Master!
I had already reached the point of no return.
At that thought, I kicked aside the curtain and stepped out.
The moment both my feet touched the ground, the scene within the Pawnshop shifted violently.
The massive three-entry courtyard transformed into a gargantuan pit.
Inside the pit, countless people-men, women, old, and young, all dressed in Republic-era clothing-were piled haphazardly. They wailed, reaching their hands out toward me, begging for salvation.
The vision shifted again. A fire suddenly erupted in the pit, long tongues of flame relentlessly devouring their bodies…
It was tragic-utterly horrific.
My body shook uncontrollably. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if what I was seeing was real or a hallucination.
Just as I was losing my bearings, my gaze pierced through the vast sea of fire and found the Black Coffin covered in talismans.
It was Seventh Master’s Black Coffin!
Gritting my teeth, I stepped into the sea of flames. My eyes remained fixed on the Black Coffin as I struggled toward it, one agonizing step at a time.
Within the fire, charred hands reached out to grab my ankles, trying to stop my progress.
I struggled forward for what felt like an eternity, until my feet no longer felt like my own. Just as I was about to collapse, the sea of fire vanished, the charred corpses disappeared, and I fell onto the floor of the Main Hall, right in front of the Black Coffin.
Granny’s body was gone; the western corner of the room was empty.
I looked back and saw the red sedan sitting in the main courtyard. It was tattered and torn, covered in black claw marks… It seemed that what had just happened wasn’t entirely a hallucination.
“Your wings have grown strong, it seems. If you wanted to run, why did you come back?”
A cold, mocking voice rang out unexpectedly. I whipped my head around and saw a man standing before the Black Coffin.
He was tall and elegant, standing nearly 1.9 meters tall. His hair was bound in a crown, and he wore a black robe embroidered with pythons…