Chapter 214

I had just rushed out of the door when Li Qingying grabbed me in a hug; she seemed not to have slept, as if she had been guarding outside my room all along.

"Sister Qingying, let go of me!" I struggled, trying to push her away.

Li Qingying clung to me desperately: "Xiao Jiu, it's not even dawn yet—how did you wake up? Where are you going?"

"I'm going to blow up the Qilin Temple!" I said, my emotions somewhat out of control, "I want to see what exactly is being pressed down beneath that so‑called Qilin statue!"

I even suspected that my mortal body from a previous life might be inside that golden phoenix they were trampling.

The Qilin statue, bearing a hundred sons on its back and stepping on a golden phoenix, is itself a suppressive formation array.

Beneath it should be the huge pit I dreamed of, the one Du Chan drew!

They piled up human lives one by one into a massive tomb, pressing my mortal body down beneath it, never to be freed for eternity!

If that formation array is not broken, then as long as Tafengcun exists, I will never be able to escape the shackles of the birth‑curse placed on me.

Li Qingying held me tight, pushing me back into the room, urging me over and over: "Xiao Jiu, you might have slept yourself silly; let's go back to sleep, we can talk about anything tomorrow."

Jiang Bin - Jiang Bin

We've been together day and night for so long; I know Li Qingying's temperament best.

She seems easy to get along with, but her nature is actually fiercer than mine; for such a matter, under normal circumstances her emotions would be even more agitated than mine.

Lao Qi - Old Seven (nickname for Seventh Lord)

Jiang Si Que - Jiang Si Que

From the moment I pushed the door open until now, Li Qingying's behavior has been too abnormal; I have a vague sense of what's going on.

Before I could even ask, the door of the Dang Pu was suddenly knocked on.

Immediately after, a familiar voice came through: "Qingying, open the door."

Golden Phoenix - Golden Phoenix

Great Dharma King Temple - Great Dharma King Temple

Ice Silkworm - Ice Silkworm

Li Qingying hurried to open the door; Xiaoye entered, saw me, greeted me, then took out a small porcelain bottle from his bosom and handed it to me, saying, "Sister-in-law, this is what Old Seven asked me to get; keep it safe."

I took the small porcelain bottle and asked, "What's inside? Medicine?"

Is Liu Junyan ill or injured?

Xiaoye replied, "It's dragon bone blood."

Dragon bone blood?!

Earlier, Liu Junyan and I had discussed the ice silkworm; if the incense of the Buddha Lamp at the Great Dharma King Temple could not resist the birth-binding curse, and I was forced to use the ice silkworm, he would ask Xiaoye to obtain dragon bone blood for me.

But dragon bone blood must be fresh.

And now, I have no intention of using the ice silkworm.

Moreover, having the ice silkworm enter the body also requires enduring an extremely agonizing integration process.

Is this dragon bone blood being sent a bit too early?

Combined with Li Qingying's various oddities, could Liu Junyan think that we can't suppress this kirin-bestowing offspring affair?

Is he reminding me that I should use the ice silkworm?

Xiaoye saw me dazed and reminded me in a sentence: "Keep this bottle of dragon bone blood properly stored; it will stay fresh for seven days. Sister-in-law, remember to use it soon—I have other matters, so I'll leave now."

After saying that, Xiaoye left.

I gripped the small porcelain bottle, my scrutinizing gaze fixed on Li Qingying.

Li Qingying said somewhat guiltily, "Maybe... maybe Seventh Lord thought it's better to be prepared; I'll close the door first..."

As she turned to close the door, I strode straight toward the rear.

I walked quickly, passing through the front courtyard to the main house, pushed open the west wing's door, glanced inside, and I was stunned once again.

Du Chan and Jiang Bin, who should have been receiving incense instruction in the west wing, have both vanished.

Liu Junyan is not there either.

Li Qingying rushed over; I turned and seized her shoulders, my voice trembling: "Where are they? What exactly happened? Sister Qingying, you can't hide this from me!"

Li Qingying opened her lips; obviously Liu Junyan had given her an order not to speak.

I released Li Qingying and walked away.

She caught up, pulled me, and urged me.

But how could I stay calm?

If it weren't for some major incident, Liu Junyan wouldn't have concealed this from me and taken Du Chan and Jiang Bin away.

At present, the only thing I can think of is the matter of Tafengcun.

Li Qingying refused to speak, and I didn't press her; I drove myself to Tafengcun, and once there everything should become clear.

Before I could even step out the door, Li Qingying blocked the doorway.

I could also see deep worry in her eyes.

She is not the type to hesitate in the face of major events.

Liu Junyan's order for her to stay and guard me also put her in a difficult position.

At this moment, seeing that I had made up my mind, she finally gave in and said, "They left at a little after two in the morning; Seventh Lord said that if nothing unexpected happens, you'll be able to sleep until eight or nine in the morning, so just let me keep watch."

I said I've been sleeping lightly lately, so how could I not notice Liu Junyan leaving me?

Now it seems the problem lies with Liu Junyan himself.

He certainly has the ability to hypnotize me.

But despite all his calculations, he overlooked that I would be awakened by the birth-binding curse.

I asked, "What decision did Liu Junyan and Hui Moqiong make behind my back?"

"Not just them, but also Jiang Si Que." Li Qingying said, "Actually, the earlier report from Grey Five— besides the fact that Tafengcun is holding another offspring‑seeking ritual, there is also another piece of news that Seventh Lord has kept from you: Du Lian has been found."

My brow twitched violently: "Where did you find it? What's its condition?"

"It's right beneath the mound in the direction where Du Chan's sketching was interrupted." Li Qingying said, "But we don't know the exact situation down there, because over the past two days the Gray Immortal's side has practically all its personnel focused on Tafengcun's prayer-for-offspring ceremony, so the search for Du Lian has been temporarily neglected."

It's that the other side has shown movement, detected by Hui Moqiong; they are preparing for a Body Seizure.

So that's how it is.

I continued pressing: "What do Liu Junyan and the others want to do? Stop the Body Seizure?"

Otherwise, why would they take Du Chan away?

Li Qingying shook her head: "They didn't tell me the details; my task is just to guard you."

To stop the Body Seizure, they definitely need to work something out using Du Chan.

Earlier, Liu Junyan decided to bring Du Chan back to the Dang Pu, using the incense of the West Wing to suppress the other side's influence on Du Chan, and it indeed had an effect.

But it's obvious that this effect now falls far short of what's needed to stop the Body Seizure, and Jiang Sique has joined in.

Jiang Sique is a successor of the Deceitful Embroidery; to slow the influence of the Mao hour on Jiang Bin, he once used the Yin Expansion Technique from the Four Gates of Deceitful Embroidery to transfer the characters on the back of Jiang Bin's neck onto his own body, thereby achieving his goal of saving his son.

Jiang Sique said before, the Yin Expansion Technique can only be used seven times.

Moreover, the more times he uses it, the greater the harm he suffers himself.

So now, Liu Junyan bringing Jiang Sique along shows that he needs Jiang Sique to use the Deceitful Embroidery technique to help him.

A bold idea gradually formed in my mind……Could Liu Junyan not be intending to have Jiang Sique transfer the name on the back of Du Chan's neck?

But once transferred, onto whose body should it be implanted?

Once the Body Seizure begins, who could take Du Chan's place to bear this calamity?