Chapter 101: Borrowing Life

I furrowed my brows—could this not be an evil monk?

Liu Junyan, however, seemed not surprised: "I didn't expect them to come so quickly."

Li Qingying instantly startled: "Seventh Lord, do you know who that person is? I feel he harbors ill intent toward our Dang Pu."

Liu Junyan joked: "It's someone delivering a pet; just ignore him."

"Pet?" Li Qingying puzzled: "Are we supposed to keep a pet?"

Liu Junyan stood up: "I'm heading back first; you two rest well these two days, replenish your energy—this pet is wild, not easy to tame, might take a few days to handle."

He returned to the black coffin.

The hexagonal palace lamp was promptly hung back under the west corridor.

I fell into thought.

Liu Junyan had mentioned keeping a pet before, but obviously, this pet is not that pet.

Upon further reflection on the context when he said that, I suddenly realized something.

Could that evil monk be related to the Calamity-Crossing Cat Sandalwood?

The more I thought, the more plausible it seemed.

Jin Wuya had pawned that piece of cat bone at the Dang Pu; it was only natural for them to come looking here.

So is he going to openly rob next, or come to negotiate a trade?

If it's a trade negotiation, how should I respond?

However, judging by Liu Junyan's demeanor, he likely isn't afraid of that evil monk.

Thinking this, I felt much more at ease, patiently waiting for the evil monk to show up.

But what I didn't expect was that the first to arrive wasn't the evil monk, but another uninvited guest.

Li Qingying was arguing with someone outside; I rushed out to see, and it turned out to be Bái Jīngmò.

Bái Jīngmò saw me and hurriedly said: "Xiao Jiu, I have something very important to tell you, concerning the Song Family."

The Song Family matter has already been settled; Liu Junyan also analyzed the pros and cons with me, and I'm a bit reluctant to keep arguing with Bái Jīngmò.

Seeing my lack of interest, Bái Jīngmò urged: "Then let me pawn something at the Dang Pu? Xiao Jiu, trust me, you'll definitely be interested in what I have in hand."

As he spoke, he lifted the thing he had been holding, wrapped in a red cloth.

When I looked over, he lifted a corner of the red cloth.

His motion was extremely swift, yet I still recognized it at a glance.

It was a qilin statue!

I immediately said: "Qingying Sis, let him in."

Bái Jīngmò immediately said: "No, Xiao Jiu, let's find a place to sit down and talk properly."

This was clearly to avoid the other people in the Dang Pu.

After thinking, I said: "Then the teahouse it is."

Bái Jīngmò agreed.

Li Qingying gently tugged at me, and I gave her a reassuring look: "I'll be back shortly, it's fine."

Afterward, I and Bái Jīngmò went to the teahouse and requested a highly private private room, sat face to face, and ordered tea.

Bái Jīngmò placed the item on the table and, in front of me, unfolded the red cloth.

Inside was indeed the Song Family's qilin statue.

Bái Jīngmò said: "You've probably also heard that the Song Family's young master contracted a strange illness; I was asked to help diagnose, and while staying at the Song Family, I inadvertently discovered this secret."

He got straight to the point, showing great sincerity.

"Xiao Jiu, I recall you're from Tafengcun, which has a qilin temple; the enshrined deity there is quite similar to this one, right?"

I furrowed my brows: "You investigated me?"

Having said that, I immediately felt I was being overly sensitive.

My background is no secret to the few animal immortal clans of Wufu Town.

Seeing my expression ease, Bái Jīngmò continued: "I didn't deliberately investigate you, Xiao Jiu; it's just that Tafengcun has been unstable lately, and these two matters coincided, forcing me to pay more attention."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, flipped through a few photos, and handed them to me.

At a glance, I was shaken to the core.

The photo shows a boy stricken with a terminal illness.

The boy lay on the bed, breathless, his body covered everywhere with ferocious burn marks.

It matches the children of Tafengcun…… and even the patch on my own body, exactly the same.

I exclaimed in shock: "How…… why is he also like this?"

"Because essentially, his origin is the same as those Tafengcun children." Bái Jīngmò said, "However, the Tafengcun children are luckier, having the incense of the qilin temple to prolong their lives, whereas the Song young master can only prolong his life by borrowing others' lives!"

My heart jolted: "You mean, the dragon and phoenix twins that the Song Family…?"

"Yes, they are the ones whose lives were borrowed." Bái Jīngmò stared intently into my eyes, earnestly: "This is also why I left the Song Family, Xiao Jiu—I don't want to aid evil."

So that's how it is.

Gazing at the qilin statue on the table, many things naturally connected.

The Song father was licentious, yet never managed to have a son as he wished.

In the year the mountains were broken and ground broken, a pair of dragon and phoenix twins died in the great Song clan, were buried in Wangting Mountain, and shortly after, the Song mother became pregnant.

Therefore, when the Song mother successfully conceived a male child that year, she must have performed a child-seeking formation array at that pavilion in Wangting Mountain.

This reminded me of that night when I saw the two stone bases on either side of that pavilion.

It seems the corpses of that dragon and phoenix twin pair were sealed within those stone bases, forming a crucial part of the formation array.

The Song Family's sins are simply beyond enumeration!

While I was thinking, Bái Jīngmò never spoke.

Only after I had figured it out did I unconsciously pick up my teacup and take a sip, and then Bái Jīngmò said, "I heard something happened to the Song Family last night, related to the Seventh Lord? Didn't the Seventh Lord tell you about this?"

My hand holding the teacup jerked, and a few drops of tea spilled out.

Yes, Liu Junyan didn't say.

"He might also be weighing the pros and cons." Bái Jīngmò said, "Such a big matter involves too much depth; to grasp some things, you must sacrifice others. Xiao Jiu, don't you think I'm right?"

I instantly looked up at Bái Jīngmò; he was openly trying to sow discord.

I was angry, yet I couldn't refute.

In this matter, Liu Junyan has indeed been keeping something from me, and I understand, after all he explained the general direction to me.

But what he doesn't know is that I also have a burn mark on my arm; I haven't had a chance to tell him yet.

Bái Jīngmò pushed the kirin statue toward me and said, "In my view, whether it's the kirin temple in Tafengcun or this kirin statue of the Song Family, their function is the same. I think it might help you, so I risked bringing it back. Xiao Jiu, I hope I can help you this time; we have never been enemies."

I don't want to owe Bái Jīngmò a favor, but this kirin statue really has a hold on me.

It's like a key, a key that could likely unlock the mystery of my origins and save the whole of Tafengcun!

I really wanted it, but I restrained myself and said, "Do you want to pay in installments or pay in full? How about the money?"

Bái Jīngmò stared, then said, "Xiao Jiu, if it's just an excuse to get you out here, I brought it back just to give it to you."

"No, no reward without effort." I said, "Let's keep it business: you pay, I take, the transaction ends, no further entanglement..."