Chapter 104: Pawn Yin-Shou

When those few knocks sounded, the whole street fell silent.

It was eerily quiet.

Li Qingying patted the back of my hand and tiptoed to the small window.

When the knocking sounded again, she opened the small window, poked her head out, and glanced east.

That glance made her entire spine go rigid.

I then confirmed my suspicion: the one outside was Bai Laotai.

Li Qingying closed the small window and turned to look at me.

I shook my head at her.

The whole time was silent.

The knocking grew louder and more urgent, fingernails scraping the door like a cat's claws, accompanied by a grating, teeth-grinding sound.

She was knocking so hard that the small door of Nan Shu Fang shook as if it would fall.

Li Qingying's long whip was already in her hand.

I silently took a deep breath and said softly, "Sister Qingying, don't act yet; let me meet her."

Li Qingying could hardly believe what she heard: "Xiao Jiu, that's Bai Laotai! And a feigned-corpse Bai Laotai! Are you sure you can beat her?"

"Sister Qingying, things aren't as simple as you think," I said. "Bai Laotai is just a lure; behind her are the Bai family and evil monks. Tonight, we can't escape."

Li Qingying held the whip and shielded me behind her: "Xiao Jiu, I'm with you."

I nodded and strode to the back of the counter.

Li Qingying stood at my side.

We stared fixedly at the door until, with a boom, the small door collapsed, revealing Bai Laotai outside.

This small door of Nan Shu Fang, because we do yin-dang business, has a low threshold.

I had thought Bai Laotai would jump in, after all she is now a feigned corpse.

But she lifted her foot and stepped in step by step.

She hunched her body, right hand forward for support, as if still leaning on a cane as she did in life.

She step by step walked to the counter, lifted her ashen, furrowed face, and said word by word: "I want to pawn something."

I had imagined many possibilities.

I imagined her coming in to duel us; I imagined her being possessed by something else and rushing into the pawnshop with it…

But I never imagined she wanted to pawn something.

Yin-dang cannot be refused.

Bai Laotai is dead; no matter what she comes to pawn here tonight, according to the pawnshop's rules, I cannot refuse.

I struggled to stay calm and asked, "What do you want to pawn?"

"I want to pawn yin-shou."

After saying that, she lowered her head again.

Lower and lower, until her head almost touched her feet, the black robe she wore tore open down the middle.

A rip sound.

As the robe tore, countless heads like maggots surged out from the slit, jostling to emerge.

They were male and female, old and young, even infants a few months old!

They all seemed refined, with elongated heads, features squeezed together; as they emerged they wailed and howled like ghosts.

Yet their necks remained beneath the slit, like kite strings pulling the heads upward and the bodies downward.

That bizarre scene left me momentarily speechless.

Pawn yin-shou.

What is called yin-shou is also called ming-shou.

People have yang-shou in life and yin-shou after death.

Yin-shou is the manifestation of a person's karmic force.

After death, entering the yin realm, one does not immediately reincarnate; one must finish their yin-shou before lining up at the rebirth platform.

And those on Bai Laotai's back… must be the people whose lifespan she borrowed?

Those whose yang-shou was borrowed died unjustly; in the yin realm they must file a complaint.

So Bai Laotai, not stopping at borrowing their lifespan, also imprisoned their souls together with her own.

That robe on her body is probably not an ordinary item.

Thus, Bai Laotai's death likely relates to Bai Jingmo.

But it wasn't Bai Jingmo who killed Bai Laotai; rather, Bai Laotai and Bai Jingmo together set up this scheme.

Bai Laotai borrowed too much lifespan, and the karmic debt on her back reached a peak—what we call "evil fully repaid."

If she continued living, once she could no longer hold back these vengeful spirits, she would suffer heavenly punishment.

And my pawnshop became her best shield against heavenly punishment.

She died just before her evil reached its peak, then feigned death before burial, came to the pawnshop, and pawned the yin-shou of those vengeful spirits to the shop.

Pawnshop rule: yin-dang cannot be refused; I can only accept this order.

Having accepted it, how to suppress it is my business.

What a fine move of diverting disaster eastward.

I know full well this order cannot be taken.

But I don't know what punishment I would incur if I refused yin-dang.

The pawnshop's operating manual doesn't say, and no one has ever told me what to do.

But the worst plan is merely that I suffer heavenly punishment, my soul and spirit scattered, forever unable to be reborn.

Rather than take this order, bear the blame for Old Lady Bai and assist a tyrant in his cruelty, I would rather accept punishment.

Thinking this, I firmly said: "Sorry, I won't take this order."

Old Lady Bai's head shot up, her completely white eye sockets still filled with disbelief: "Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, this is a yin order! A yin order cannot be refused!"

I was about to refuse again when Liu Junyan's voice suddenly rang out: "Take it!"

As the words fell, Liu Junyan's figure appeared outside the door.

Tonight he wore a pure black python robe, a jade cap binding his hair, and in his hand he held exactly the hexagonal palace lamp.

Old Lady Bai suddenly turned her head to face Liu Junyan.

Liu Junyan stepped inside with a firm footfall, declaring loudly: "Take it! But not with our pawnshop."

I exchanged a glance with Li Qingying, not understanding why.

Old Lady Bai suddenly lunged at the hexagonal palace lamp like a madwoman, her whole body filled with vicious energy, seeming both enraged and fearful.

Liu Junyan, however, waved a hand and tossed the hexagonal palace lamp toward me: "Xiao Jiu, catch!"

I immediately reached out and steadily caught the hexagonal palace lamp.

Liu Junyan had already begun exchanging moves with Old Lady Bai.

His strikes were swift, but he wasn't aiming to kill Old Lady Bai outright; he merely blocked her firmly inside the pawnshop.

After a few exchanges, Old Lady Bai suddenly let out a sharp scream.

It was a cry akin to one at the end of one's rope; she wanted to get out!

She gave up being a yin longevity; she wanted to leave the pawnshop.

But Liu Junyan gave him no chance at all.

Liu Junyan fought while loudly saying: "Xiao Jiu, drip your middle finger's blood into the hexagonal palace lamp and follow my chant."

I immediately did as instructed.

Just as I bit open my middle finger, Old Lady Bai suddenly turned, her five claws hooking, lunging straight at my face.

Li Qingying drew her long whip, immediately shielding me in front.

Liu Junyan's voice rang out: "Heaven's gate opens, earth's gate opens..."

I immediately followed: "Heaven's gate opens, earth's gate opens, Black and White Impermanence come to collect souls, come swiftly, hear my command, do not delay, as swift as law and order!"

The more I chanted this incantation, the guiltier I felt.

Is this meant to summon the Black and White Impermanence to apprehend and judge Old Lady Bai?

But what virtue or ability do I have to summon the Black and White Impermanence?

But just as I finally pointed my sword finger at Old Lady Bai, outside the Nan Shu Fang door, the sound of iron chains dragging on the ground echoed out of nowhere…