Chapter 145

What's even stranger is that beneath that piece of blood jade, there is actually a halo of bloodstains, as if they were flowing out from inside the jade.

I looked at this photo, and a sense of foreboding welled up in my heart.

Guo Zaimin's daughter… someone has given her a betrothal gift; she really is going to get married.

The eight characters on the red paper are for exchanging birth characters.

That piece of blood jade is the love token.

This situation has probably been going on for a while; if we keep delaying, the person may be hard to save.

I hurriedly called Li Qingying; as we were leaving, I paused and said, 'Should we invite Hui Moqiong to come along? He should be able to help.'

Li Qingying said, 'He's already gone out with Seventh Lord; he's not in the pawnshop.'

We locked the door and got into the car together.

Li Qingying drove, I sat in the passenger seat, and curiously asked, 'They seem to have been busy lately; what are they busy with?'

'Since the west room's door opened, Seventh Lord seems to have become a different person, with endless things to do every day.' Li Qingying said, 'Don't look at Hui Lao Wu being talkative, but what he can't say really can't be pried open with a crowbar.'

Alright, my feeling is the same as hers.

Guo Zaimin's family lives in Xu City, to the west of Wufu Town, and it takes nearly two hours by car.

The Guo family's retirement residence is quite large—a three-story row house with front and back yards, not far from the downtown of Xu City, very suitable for living.

By then the sky was completely dark, the big courtyard was lit up, and Guo Zaimin and Jin Wuya were already waiting at the entrance.

As soon as we entered the Guo household, I went straight upstairs to Guo Zaimin's daughter's room.

Guo Zaimin's daughter is called Guo Zhen; she should have been at school preparing for her final exams, but because of this matter she has been on leave at home for over a month.

The room was dimly lit, with only a bedside lamp on.

Guo Zhen sat on the bed, holding that Buddha head in her arms, her cheeks pressed tightly against it, her eyes red from crying.

That state was like a couple torn apart by a stick finally reuniting after great difficulty.

Guo Zhen would from time to time kiss the Buddha head, muttering indistinctly, not knowing what she was saying.

We stood silently at the doorway, not daring to go in and disturb her.

I noticed that Guo Zhen's left wrist was wrapped in gauze.

After we retreated to the living room, Guo Zaimin and his mother also came over.

Guo's mother had red eyes, a worn-out face, and was in poor spirits.

I asked what had happened to Guo Zhen's left wrist.

Guo's mother choked up and said, 'She cut herself; I thought she was ill, had self-harm tendencies, and even took her to see a psychologist. Only today did her father come back and find this piece of jade in her room, and I realized I was wrong.'

On the table lay the red cloth with Guo Zhen's birth characters written on it, and on that cloth rested the blood jade.

Only after seeing the blood jade up close did I realize I had been mistaken before.

This jade was originally clear; it turned blood-red after Guo Zhen nourished it with her own fresh blood.

That is why the blood jade has a halo of bloodstains beneath it.

At this point, there is no doubt.

Guo Zhen has been possessed; some unclean thing has given her a betrothal gift and sealed it.

Guo's mother grabbed my hand and sobbed, 'I heard Master Jin say that Xiao Jiu Zhanggui is very capable, with the Immortal Clan enshrined behind him; you must definitely take care of my daughter's matter. As for payment, rest assured, there will be generous remuneration after success.'

'Let's not talk about payment for now,' I said. 'Our pawnshop has a rule: I handle your family's affairs, and you must pawn the evil object causing the trouble to us; only with business dealings do we not bear your karma in vain.'

Guo's mother nodded firmly: 'Pawn it, we will definitely pawn it; take that Buddha head anytime, no money needed.'

'Sister-in-law, that's not how pawning works,' Jin Wuya helped explain. 'Pawning is a trade, divided into live pawn and dead pawn; when you pawn something to Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, you can take money or exchange goods.'

Jin Wuya carefully explained the pawning procedure and rules to the Guo couple.

Guo Zaimin immediately said, 'Dead pawn! It must be a dead pawn! That Buddha head was originally meant to be sent away, I…'

'It's not the Buddha head,' I interrupted Guo Zaimin, saying, 'The Buddha head is fine; your original practice of wrapping it in red cloth and burying it in the mountains was correct. The problem lies possibly in the burial site, which attracted evil spirits into the house. The Buddha head is merely a medium, and the real evil objects are these.'

I pointed to the red paper and blood jade on the table and said, 'If we are to pawn something, it should be these.'

The Guo couple were both stunned.

Immediately, Guo Zaimin became more resolute: 'Pawn! Dead pawn! As for the pawn fee…'

Guo Zaimin pondered a bit, then cautiously asked, 'Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, I don't know if our pawnshop has anything that can ward off evil; I'd like to use that as the pawn fee to obtain a protective talisman for my daughter.'

Guo's mother quickly added, 'We can add some more money; just consider it a purchase.'

The Guo couple truly love their daughter and think of her in everything.

I thought for a moment and nodded: 'Yes.'

Yu Nian previously gave me a lot of talisman paper and such; Liu Junyan's place surely also has protective magical implements.

For an ordinary person like Guo Zhen, she doesn't need a too-precious magical implement; it will suffice.

Guo Zaimin was overjoyed but still not completely at ease; he pointed to that Buddha head and asked, 'Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, what about this Buddha head…'

I instinctively glanced at Jin Wuya.

If this Buddha head were remodeled by his hands and then sold off, making a few million would certainly be possible.

But he gave me a subtle hand signal, indicating he did not want that.

That's right.

Inviting a deity is easy, sending it away is hard; this Buddha head, especially one with spirituality, though it carries no evil aura itself, is not something just anyone can subdue.

Jin Wuya seems unable to subdue it either.

I hesitated a moment, took out my phone and called Master Huiquan, telling him the whole story from start to finish, and asked whether he could donate the Buddha head to the Qingquan Daoist Temple.

As it turned out, Master Huiquan also declined: 'Girl, this is a good thing; I would certainly like it, but we are a Daoist temple, enshrining a Buddha head would be… kinda weird, wouldn't it?'

Right, how did I forget about that.

Master Huiquan then said, 'Putting it with me wouldn't be suitable, but placing it on the pawnshop's Buddhist altar would be just right; Seventh Lord would probably like it.'

Alright, it looks like I still have to be the one to collect it.

After hanging up the phone, I looked at Guo Zaimin and said, "I've taken the Buddha head; we'll trade at market price—does that work for you?"

Guo Zaimin waved his hands, refusing to take money no matter what; after much persuasion, he only accepted five thousand, saying it was gold-plated and wouldn't cost much.

After settling these trivial matters, we set out to the place where we first buried the Buddha head to have a look.

That is where the crux lies.

The car headed west all the way; after about another two hours' drive, we stopped at the foot of a mountain.

The place is indeed remote; even standing at the mountain's base, we could smell a faint sandalwood fragrance permeating the air.

In the night, a point of light on the mountainside loomed vaguely through the mist.

Guo Zaimin said, that is a temple of ascetic monks.

And the place where the Buddha head was buried is not far outside the rear courtyard wall of that temple.

He had thought back then that being closer to the temple would be better for cultivating this Buddha head.

The group then went up the mountainside, tiptoed to a spot just behind the temple's outer wall, a little lower down, and Guo Zaimin pointed to a small patch of turned soil, saying, "Here it is."

This spot, there's no big problem.

I looked around.

In the deep winter, vegetation on the mountain has withered; if it were daytime, one could see far.

But in the night, even in such a remote place, wherever one looks, everything is pitch black.

Yet in that darkness, I saw not far down the western mountain base a spot as bright as daylight.

That is a fairly large compound; in the center of the compound, a five-star red flag fluttered conspicuously...