Chapter 125: with translation of chapter title

The mystic cat leapt onto Liu Junyan's shoulder, and a scripture barrier instantly appeared around her, protecting her whole body.

The offering table shook, and the Língchí dāo and Qiankun yin-yang hook on it trembled continuously.

At least half of the Talisman Papers on the black coffin were gone; the remaining ones would occasionally burst into flames without fire...

All of this was heralding one result—Dang Pu would be in chaos tonight!

Could there be movement over at the Pearl Plate River?

Bang!

Just then, a muffled sound came; Liu Junyan stepped back two paces, and I hurried over to stand beside him.

Liu Junyan instinctively reached out and grabbed my hand, gripping it tightly.

His palm was large, his knuckles long, his hand dry, and being held by him gave me a sense of security.

The mystic cat pushed off Liu Junyan's shoulder with its hind legs, lunged forward with both forepaws, and slammed open the west room's door.

The west room's door was heavier than we imagined; the moment it opened, Liu Junyan placed one hand on the back of my head, turned sideways, and firmly held me in his arms.

After the strong Yīnfēng passed, the whole room instead grew quiet.

It was quiet to an eerie degree.

I lifted my head from Liu Junyan's embrace and looked into the west room.

Facing the west room's door, the first thing that met our eyes was an antiquated wooden screen, carved with a large Taiji diagram.

Within the Taiji diagram, a pair of yin-yang fish were lifelike.

The mystic cat returned once more to Liu Junyan's shoulder, obediently lying flat, its pair of upright ears twitching slightly, like a couple of tiny radars.

Compared to me, it seemed to prefer Liu Junyan.

However, Liu Junyan is tall and stalwart; with the mystic cat perched on his shoulder, it looks imposing and indeed suits him better.

Liu Junyan released me and said softly, 'Xiao Jiu, Qingying, wait outside for me.'

Li Qingying immediately pulled my arm, and we stood side by side.

Liu Junyan, with the mystic cat, turned past the screen; I instantly felt his breath tighten, frowned, and asked, 'What's wrong?'

Liu Junyan replied, 'You can come in now.'

I and Li Qingying hurried over, went past the screen, and both of us simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air.

Behind the screen, against the rear wall stood a massive built-in Buddhist shrine, exquisitely carved from nanmu wood, gilt-lacquered, grand and magnificent; the Song Family's shrine before it paled in comparison.

But what shocked us all was not the shrine itself, but a person seated cross-legged on the central deity throne of the shrine.

If he stood, he would be about 1.9 meters tall, with a sturdy build.

He sat cross-legged on an intricately carved double-layer lotus, barefoot, with unknown golden-lacquered symbols painted on the soles of his feet.

He wore a gray monk's robe, one hand holding prayer beads, the other raised in a Buddhist palm before him, his head bowed as if devoutly chanting sutras and praying.

Yet the arms exposed outside his robe were densely covered with bloody scales.

The monk's robe concealed the full extent of the scales, but one could faintly see they were white, resembling a jiao, or perhaps… a dragon?

Even more unbelievable, this person's head was made of tied-together copper coins, forming a Copper Coin Person.

Layers of copper coins were strung together with red rope, making it impossible to see whether there was any flesh beneath them.

On his forehead was affixed a talisman paper with black background and red characters, making one's scalp tingle.

Flanking the Copper Coin Person on either side stood five statues; each had a human body dressed in formal robes, holding different magical implements, but their heads were not human.

On the left, the upper position had a black snake's head, male; the lower position had a white fox's head, female.

On the right, the upper position had a weasel's head, male; the middle position had a white hedgehog's head, female; the lower position had a large rat's head, male.

Their foreheads each bore a purple talisman paper.

Radiating outward from both sides were dozens of small shrines, each bearing a memorial tablet.

Many of these tablets were cracked, making the inscriptions illegible, but in the far right near the corner I actually discovered Bai Xian'er's tablet.

It was small, tucked into the corner, inconspicuous, yet completely preserved.

So does this mean Bai Xian'er was once enshrined in this Dang Pu's Buddhist shrine?

As we were observing the shrine, the mystic cat jumped down from Liu Junyan's shoulder.

It was agile; its limbs touched down lightly, making no sound at all.

But the instant it landed, the entire floor suddenly lit up.

Golden lines on the floor shifted continuously; a dark aura passed from west to east beneath the mystic cat's feet, like a giant python slithering across, causing the floor to shudder violently, and the talisman papers on the Copper Coin Person and the five statues fluttered loudly.

The dark aura climbed up the mystic cat's limbs incessantly, as if a giant maw sought to devour it.

At the very moment the mystic cat unleashed its scripture barrier, five golden beams shot forth from the talisman papers on the five statues, like five long nails, firmly pinning the dark aura in place.

A deafening roar rose from underground, the whole ground shook again, accompanied by the sound of towering waves.

A bolt of thunder struck suddenly overhead, outside came the sounds of fighting, and Bai Xian'er's grating squeak.

As expected, what was bound to come has arrived!

The roar shook the heavens, the ground's tremors grew larger and larger, and the golden light of the Talisman Paper began to flicker unstably.

Liu Junyan immediately formed a seal, thrust both palms forward, and two streams of Merit Light poured continuously onto the Talisman Paper of the Copper Coin Person in the middle.

His addition instantly stabilized the five Golden Lights, and the amplitude of the ground's tremors immediately decreased considerably.

Liu Junyan said in a deep voice: "Here I and the Profound Cat will hold the fort; Xiao Jiu, Qingying, go out and check the situation."

I and Li Qingying lifted our feet and walked away.

Liu Junyan warned: "Be careful!"

The moment I and Li Qingying stepped out of the main courtyard, we were startled by the outside scene.

Bolts of thunder kept striking all over Wufu Town; in the sky of rolling dark clouds, lightning flashed intermittently, making it eerie and frightening.

At that moment, I had the illusion that the apocalypse had descended.

Li Qingying muttered a curse softly: "Wufu Town, what heavenly law has it broken!"

I steadied my mind and said: "Sister Li Qingying, when the gate opens later, no matter how chaotic outside becomes, our target is the black coffin in the Zhu Pan River."

If I had still been wavering before, everything I saw in the west room today has already steadied my belief.

Wufu Town Pawnshop is like a nail, firmly driven into the main artery of this land; as long as Dang Pu holds firm, no matter how chaotic outside becomes, it cannot be overturned.

What Liu Junyan is doing now is to steady that nail; what we must do is to help him steady the external situation, minimizing its impact on Dang Pu as much as possible.

Li Qingying nodded: "Good."

When another bolt of thunder struck, I placed both hands on Dang Pu's gate, took a deep breath, and then slowly pulled open Dang Pu's gate……