Chapter 194: Blood Sacrifice of the Three-Eyed Golden Toad

After returning home, I scrubbed the hard lump clean, yet I felt a bit disappointed, for that thing was nothing like the pure gold I'd imagined—it was a chunk of black unknown material, shaped like a toad, with only a … uh … how to put it? … something like an animal's scale set into its forehead.

Hearing this, I immediately sat up straight, my whole body tensing.

Golden, like scales…… My first reaction was 'Golden Scale!'

I felt a faint excitement rising in my heart; I wanted to ask, but feared spooking the snake, so I could only patiently keep listening.

Qiu Fengnian continued, 'Just after finishing my father's funeral, with all the social engagements nonstop, I was also quite tired, so I tossed that thing onto the bedside table and didn't think about it—but that very night I had a strange dream.'

I dreamed that the black toad spoke to me, saying it had just finished cultivating into a Three-Eyed Golden Toad, peacefully practicing in that auspicious land, but I had dug it out for no reason, damaging its cultivation; if I couldn't make proper amends, it would surely bring unrest to my household.

I asked how I could make amends; it said either return that auspicious land to it so it could continue cultivating, or enshrine it, and having received my Qiu family's incense offerings, it would surely keep my household safe and bring great wealth and nobility.

I asked, 'So what did you do?'

'I did nothing, just chalked it up to day‑thinking, night‑dreaming.' Qiu Fengnian said ruefully, 'But from that day on, things in my household went awry—not only was I confined to my sickbed, but my wife and children also fell ill, my business kept making mistakes, and everything went wrong.'

Later I recalled the black toad's words, and thought, might as well try a dead horse as a living one—my father was already buried, I couldn't dig him up again—so I fetched a consecrated Buddhist shrine from the temple and enshrined it.

Strangely enough, after enshrining it, my family's illnesses all cleared up and my business began to thrive.

I thought, perhaps the third eye on that black toad's head was none other than a piece of Golden Scale belonging to Liu Junyan.

The Golden Scale contains a great deal of Merit; the toad uses it to cultivate, and the Qiu family is nourished by that Merit—no wonder they've been thriving, right?

Yet I kept a doubtful expression and said, 'Isn't that a good thing?'

'Yes, it's good—within just three years my wealth had firmly placed me among the top three in Chang City.' Qiu Fengnian said, 'That's when I noticed the black toad's body began turning from black to gold in patches, its outline becoming more lifelike, ever closer to the Three-Eyed Golden Toad it described.'

But my business hit a bottleneck; the more I did, the more it showed a downward trend—people, once you reach a certain height, sometimes you just can't help yourself.

Those years I'd sailed smoothly, not knowing how many livelihoods I'd taken, unaware how many enemies I'd made; once I started downhill, those eager to kick me when I was down were countless.

During that hardest stretch, I never cut off the incense offerings to the toad; the bitterness in my heart I couldn't tell my relatives, but I often poured it all out before the shrine, until one night I saw the black toad again in a dream.

It told me it had come to say goodbye; it had protected the Qiu family for nearly four years, and our affinity was ending—by then gold covered about a third of its body. I pleaded desperately, trying to keep it, but at first it refused to budge.

Finally, worn down by my persistence, it said, 'If you want it to stay, there's only one way: establish a link between the Qiu bloodline and it. I asked how exactly, and it replied that the Qiu family must offer three generations of blood sacrifice, after which it could remain forever.'

'Blood sacrifice?' I frowned at once, 'How could a proper cultivation path possibly be accomplished with blood sacrifice?'

Qiu Fengnian gave a wry smile: 'Yeah, it's outrageous, yet I didn't sense anything wrong; instead, like receiving an imperial edict, I hastily brought my sons and grandsons—three generations—and each pricked a finger to drip a drop of blood onto the black toad.'

Li Qingying and I were practically speechless.

'After the blood sacrifice on the black toad, my business skyrocketed, quickly making me the richest man in Chang City; the toad itself rapidly turned gold, and by this year it's almost entirely gilded—but just half a year ago I first noticed something wrong with my body, then my wife and children fell ill.'

'As the saying goes, family disgrace should not be aired; I discreetly consulted experts to read my face, and also asked trustworthy masters to find a way to dispel the Three-Eyed Golden Toad—alas, none succeeded, and the toad kept growing larger, now about the size of my two palms put together.'

The expert who read my face declared I wouldn't live past this month.

Saying this, Qiu Fengnian's eyes turned red, tears swirling in his sockets but refusing to fall.

'This mess is my own doing; my death wouldn't matter, but all my descendants—even the youngest, only three months old—must follow me to the grave. I… I, when I reach the netherworld, how can I apologize to the ancestors of the Qiu clan?'

He beat his chest and stamped his feet, overwhelmed with grief.

This affair involves nearly twenty lives, and even more may follow; I truly cannot bear it.

Furthermore… it's that piece of Golden Scale on the toad's forehead; if it really belongs to Liu Junyan, I am determined to take it back.

Thinking thus, I asked, 'Boss Qiu, do you have a photo of that Three-Eyed Golden Toad? Could you let me see it?'

Qiu Fengnian shook his head: 'At first I feared photographing it would offend it; later I realized I simply couldn't capture it on camera. Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, would you accompany me to Chang City to see it in person?'

Li Qingying also sensed something amiss, and whispered to me, 'Xiao Jiu, why not make a trip? Whether it works or not, we can discuss it later; mainly…'

She hinted with her gaze, clearly also thinking of the Golden Scale.

'All right.' I finally made up my mind and told Qiu Fengnian, 'Boss Qiu, let's lay the ugly truth out first—I'm still young, my abilities limited; if after looking I still feel unable to subdue the Three-Eyed Golden Toad, please don't hold it against me.'

And don't insist.

Qiu Fengnian repeatedly agreed.

Originally we had planned for Li Qingying to drive me to Chang City, but just before departure, Liu Junyan and the others, having been out busy with affairs, happened to return.

I recounted the whole situation to him, and Liu Junyan immediately said, 'I'll go with you; mainly I might not make it back tonight, and I'm worried you won't sleep well.'

His being able to accompany me was more than I could hope for.

I even brought along the pawn ticket, seal, and brush, among other things.

If it's confirmed that the piece on the toad's forehead is Golden Scale, I'll go ahead and handle the pawn formalities right there in Chang City.

But when we had rushed all the way to Chang City and the car entered the Qiu family manor, that Three-Eyed Golden Toad, as if it had sensed something in advance, had vanished……