Chapter 187

The temperature in the room was too low; I crouched down, reaching out carefully to touch the Ghost King Butterfly mark on Tang Xun's lower back, but before I could make contact, a chill shot up my fingertips and bit into them, almost frosting over.

I immediately pulled my hand back.

The Yin Cold Qi of this Ghost King Butterfly is so heavy, and it comes from an ancient tomb; its origin must be quite unusual.

Finding its owner is not an easy task.

What's wrong with the Tang Family lately?

When we came out of the room, I asked Tang Tang: 'You said my senior sister previously helped Uncle calculate his fortune?'

Tang Tang nodded: 'Yes, she must have seen something from my father's physiognomy, then asked for his eight characters, calculated for a while before giving that piece of advice; we were just too careless.'

Yu Nian's skill is evident there; she willingly helped with the calculation and gave advice, so this matter must not be simple.

But despite all precautions, some things are fated; escaping this calamity does not guarantee escaping the next.

I asked again: 'Have you looked into Uncle's flower poison? Any leads?'

Tang Aunt went to the ancient tomb to look for crystal orchid because she heard Uncle Huo's words.

Uncle Huo's relationship with the Tang Family is inseparable; he would not deliberately harm Tang Aunt.

Tang Xun's mishap is just a coincidence.

But Tang Ao being poisoned… likely someone did it on purpose.

'We've checked.' Tang Tang said, 'Based on the clues we have so far, it's probably related to the Song Family.'

The matter concerning Song Ruoqing was taken up by Tang Tang, and the Tang Family together with us cooperated to resolve it.

The Song father and son died in a car accident, causing the Huicheng's premier clan, the Song Family, to collapse; but a centipede dies without stiffening, and the Song remnants seeking revenge is to be expected.

Thinking deeper, the Song Family originally rose by offering the clan's dragon-and-phoenix twins as a sacrifice to Wangting Mountain, yet there's no talk of them using poison.

Poison?

The words from my earlier conversation with the teahouse owner, Gu Yan, flashed back into my mind.

Gu Yan said that originally, Gu Die was escorted by the clan chief from Qiandongnan, intending to send Gu Die to Huicheng.

As a result, Gu Die escaped midway, fleeing all the way to Wufu Town, where she met Gu Yan.

And Gu Die is a Poison Saintess!

So, is the Song Family's retaliation against the Tang Family this time related to this group that plays with poison?

If they are involved together, this matter will be difficult to handle.

The Tang Family is merely their appetizer; their ultimate target is us!

The Song Family wants revenge; the Tang Family is one, and our pawn shop is the other.

This group that plays with poison wants the Buddha Eye in my hand.

They naturally hit it off.

What's more frightening is that witchcraft and poison share the same source; the sorcery and poison techniques of the Hundred Thousand Mountains are inseparable, and some corpse-raising and corpse-controlling also fall under witchcraft.

After Gu Die died, her corpse was taken under control.

These forces of theirs have formed a net, threads intertwined, impossible to untangle.

When the time comes one day, this net will descend upon us like a blanket covering the sky and earth.

If we haven't made preparations early, we are likely to be caught in one sweep of their net.

Downstairs, Liu Junyan and the others had apparently also asked about the general situation; Hui Moqiong's face didn't look good, probably because he thought along the same lines as I did.

I sat beside Liu Junyan and recounted Tang Xun's condition to them in detail.

After listening, Liu Junyan nodded and said: 'It's quite obvious that the other side isn't just targeting the Tang Family; they're playing a much bigger game, the Tang Family is merely entangled, not their ultimate goal, so I suggest we first investigate the Ghost King Butterfly and rescue Tang Xun as priority.'

Tang Ao's flower poison has been resolved; even if we track down the culprit, what then?

For now we can't move against the people behind it, but Tang Xun's life hangs by a thread.

The weight of priorities is clear at a glance.

Tang Tang obviously showed joy upon getting this result.

For the Tang Family, nothing is more important than Tang Xun's life.

Tang Tang timidly asked again: 'Um… Xiao Jiu, is this aunt's matter to be handled according to the pawn shop's rules, or…'

I was about to say that we help Tang Xun out of friendship or as kin.

But then I heard Liu Junyan say: 'Everything according to the pawn shop's rules.'

In other words, Liu Junyan wants to take the Ghost King Butterfly mark on Tang Xun's lower back.

Opening a pawn ticket requires Tang Xun's own handprint; we can't bring Tang Xun to the pawn shop, so we can only have Li Qingying go back to fetch the pawn ticket and related items.

After I prepared the pawn ticket, Tang Tang held Tang Xun's hand and pressed his fingerprint onto the ticket.

Upon the first fingerprint, the pawn ticket instantly flared with a dark-green flame and turned to ash.

I then opened two more pawn tickets in succession; without exception, they all spontaneously combusted and burned to ash.

What's going on?

This situation has never happened before.

Everyone present changed expression.

Hui Moqiong stroked his chin and said: 'That shouldn't be; our pawn shop has been acknowledged by the Nether Realm, its existence is equivalent to a medium communicating yin and yang, and Xiao Jiu'er counts as a yang-world yin envoy; even if the Ghost King Butterfly is transformed from a powerful Ghost King, it shouldn't dare act so rashly.'

'That's the reasoning, but…' Liu Junyan said, 'If the opponent is indeed strong enough, or if they aren't merely a Ghost King but possess an identity even more formidable than a Ghost King…'

I immediately followed up: 'Not only stronger than a Ghost King, but even their status in the Nether Realm is weighty enough for the pawn ticket to suffer such backlash.'

Fortunately, the backlash didn't hit me.

Tang Tang, who had just barely relaxed her heart, instantly sank again: 'An important figure of the Nether Realm has been offended by my aunt; my aunt… isn't she as good as dead?'

Since the Ghost King Butterfly cannot be pawned, if we want to save Tang Xun we must do so as friends.

But now a bigger problem has arisen: the master behind the Ghost King Butterfly is likely someone we cannot afford to offend.

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy again.

Liu Junyan asked, "Which ancient tomb did your aunt get the crystal orchid from? Do you know?"

Tang Tang shook her head: "I don't know. My aunt never told me these things, including the subordinates who went through life and death with her; I also rarely get to meet them."

So trying to start from the ancient tomb angle is now difficult.

That night, I and Tang Tang kept watch by Tang Xun's bedside, not daring to leave even a step.

As midnight approached, there was suddenly movement on the bed again.

Tang Xun seemed to be in great pain, curling up her body, unconsciously moaning in pain, her lips constantly moving, not knowing what she was saying.

And accompanying her movements, the Ghost King Butterfly mark on her lower back slowly curled its wings, continually rolling inward toward her body.

This process was very slow, but every movement tugged at our nerves.

As we expected, the Ghost King Butterfly indeed began to pupate……