Chapter 141: Lamp Oil Ferry Soul

The girl before me was obviously a corpse.

A corpse…… came to my door demanding its own eyes?

The threshold of Nan Shu Fang isn't high; from the deals I've made so far, Yin pawn business is predominant.

If the threshold is too high, these Yin things can't get in at all—how could I do business?

The girl tiptoed and jumped a few times outside the low threshold, yet she didn't jump in.

I saw she jumped quite high; she shouldn't have trouble getting in, but instead it seemed like she was afraid of something.

She stood outside the threshold and shouted at me: "Buddha Eye, my Buddha Eye, give it back!"

This isn't right.

Originally, the girl gouged out a pair of eyes to pawn to me, saying she'd come in a few days to get lamp oil, not to get those eyes back.

Although I'm a bit reluctant to do this deal, in this situation I couldn't simply hand over those eyes to the corpse before me.

This matter clearly has a problem.

Thinking this through, I steadied my mind, gave a light cough, and said: "A few days ago, you came to my pawnshop and pawned those eyes to me. According to the rules of Wufu Town Pawnshop, once a mortgaged item is pawned, there's no going back—those eyes are now mine, and there's no reason to return them to you."

"Give my Buddha Eye back!"

The female corpse suddenly became hysterical, continuously howling in our direction, as if she wanted to tear us apart and devour us alive.

But she never entered the pawnshop; her sharp claws kept scraping the door frame, leaving deep marks.

With her movements, the silver ornaments on her body kept ringing, her whole face turned ferocious, veins bulged, and her meridians seemed to throb.

This process lasted a while; just as it was about to be cockcrow, she suddenly turned, tiptoed, and quickly hopped away.

Li Qingying and I exchanged a glance, both seeing the word 'speechless' in each other's eyes.

This deal is totally bewildering.

Before we could recover from what just happened, a figure slipped in silently, giving us another startle.

The visitor…… was still that girl.

But this time she came not as a corpse, but as a soul body.

She came in a hurry; because she was nervous, her entire soul body was somewhat unstable.

She walked up to the counter and urgently said: "Shopkeeper, I'm here to get the lamp oil—quickly!"

"No, I haven't said I definitely want to take on this deal…"

Having said that, I suddenly stopped.

Even though I now realize that accepting this deal will bring endless trouble, right now I have no choice but to accept it.

Because the girl is no longer human, but a soul.

This deal, which was a Yang pawn a few days ago, has become a Yin pawn.

Yin affairs make demands that cannot be refused.

In other words, I must accept that pair of Buddha Eyes.

The girl was extremely anxious, frequently looking back, not knowing whether she feared being caught or hearing the rooster's crow, constantly urging me to get the lamp oil for her.

I took the pawn ticket from the drawer, filled it out quickly, then handed it to the girl to sign and leave her thumbprint.

The girl took the brush, quickly wrote 'Gu Die' on the signature line, then pressed her thumbprint.

Her empty eye sockets were so agitated they kept bleeding tears—of course those weren't real tears, disappearing as soon as they hit the counter—"Shopkeeper, please… please ferry me across."

She crossed her hands before her chest and bowed devoutly to me.

I suddenly realized: all this trouble was just to get me to give her a drop of lamp oil to ferry her into reincarnation?

The pawn ticket exists in two copies; I kept one for the record and gave the other to Gu Die, then ran to the corridor to take down the hexagonal palace lamp.

But I didn't know how to get the lamp oil.

The girl gestured: "There should be a lamp cover; remove it and then take it raw."

Raw…… raw take?

It means I have to reach in and grab a drop of lamp oil with my hand?

Time waits for no one; Gu Die's soul is fading, and at any moment it could scatter.

From my observations these past days, Gu Die probably isn't a bad person; rather, some bad people want to capture her and take her Buddha Eyes.

She resorted to this scheme to protect her Buddha Eyes.

She traded her life for this chance to pawn, hiding her Buddha Eyes in our pawnshop.

Her corpse has already been controlled by the other side; I have reason to believe that if I don't ferry her, her soul cannot naturally enter the Underworld, and the other side can also trap her soul.

Ferrying her across could also count as a meritorious deed, right?

I searched and quickly lifted the top of the hexagonal palace lamp.

As soon as the top cover was lifted, a chilling Yin Cold Qi kept pouring out; even before I reached in, I felt my hand about to freeze.

I gritted my teeth and thrust my right hand in.

Instantly, I felt my hand as if plunged into the ice of the coldest winter days; each inch downward was extraordinarily difficult.

The lamp chamber is only that big, and the lamp oil lies at the bottom, not much.

When the tip of my index finger touched the lamp oil, I felt my whole finger turn to ice; after a piercing chill, it lost all sensation.

Fortunately, a drop of dark-green lamp oil condensed on my fingertip, clinging tightly; I gripped my right wrist with my left hand and pulled my right hand out of the lamp chamber.

During the whole process of pulling my right hand out of the hexagonal palace lamp, my vision kept blacking out; even though my left hand was doing the work, I felt as if I were being drained of essence and qi, ready to collapse at any moment.

"It's out." Gu Die exclaimed excitedly, "Quick, shopkeeper, dab the lamp oil on my brow."

After pulling my right hand out of the lamp chamber, sensation quickly returned.

I touched the tip of my index finger to Gu Die's brow, and that drop of lamp oil instantly sank into her soul body.

On the flat ground a gust of Yin wind rose; behind Gu Die a vortex appeared, within which black qi kept condensing, eventually forming a pitch-black door.

From inside the door came the sound of iron chains dragging on the ground.

This scene was somewhat like the last time I summoned the Black and White Impermanence to lock away Old Lady Bai.

But this time, no Black and White Impermanence walked out of that door; instead, a powerful suction force burst out from inside and seized Gu Die's soul.

Gu Die bowed deeply to me and said, "Boss, thank you."

Just as she was being sucked into the black door of the vortex, she added, "I'm sorry..."

Oh oh oh...

At the same time the vortex disappeared, a rooster's crow sounded from afar.

Everything settled.

I tiptoed, tilted my head back, and hung the hexagonal palace lamp back up.

The moment I lowered my head again, I felt a wave of dizziness, staggered two steps, reached out to grab the pillar beside me, but couldn't hold on, and I fell forward to the ground.

Li Qingying, quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed me and exclaimed, "Xiao Jiu, what's wrong with you?"

The world spun, the ground swayed, and Li Qingying's face multiplied before my eyes.

She seemed to keep calling my name and speaking to me, but my ears rang and I couldn't hear anything.

Before I completely passed out, I seemed to hear Liu Junyan's voice: "Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu..."