Chapter 355: with translation of chapter title

We conducted a thorough review, listing all possible disturbances that could occur in Wufu Town tonight; only then could we arrange them one by one and break them individually.

First is the Wufu Town assembly hall.

There gathered all the townspeople of Wufu Town; Liu Junyan also transferred Hui Moqiong there, essentially concentrating our core strength to protect the civilians.

Second is the teahouse.

The teahouse is the most likely place for trouble, and besides the Zhu Pan River, it is the biggest source of problems.

I specifically sent someone to check the assembly hall and confirmed that Chen Fuying was not there.

In other words, Chen Fuying should still be in the teahouse.

The teahouse cannot be defended; it is not only near the Zhu Pan River, but also has a secret passage underneath, which hides many astonishing things.

Liu Junyan said, leave the teahouse alone for now; let the problem erupt on its own, then we will have a chance to solve it.

As for the Zhu Pan River, he will guard it.

Of course, the Red Flag Child had already gone to find Zhao Zixun, and the Zhu Pan River is also their responsibility.

Last is Dang Pu.

Liu Junyan instructed me: "Xiao Jiu, tonight Dang Pu will surely have customers coming; this will be a huge challenge—are you afraid?"

I shook my head: "Not afraid; I believe I can hold it."

Liu Junyan nodded, then turned to Li Qingying and said: "Qingying, you and Fu Wan, along with the mysterious cat, will assist Xiao Jiu from the side; if you can't hold out, send me a signal immediately."

Li Qingying agreed.

Liu Junyan also cautioned me: "Xiao Jiu, you must watch over that human-skin effigy in Nan Shu Fang; Jiang Sique is already on his way here, he knows when to activate the effigy, and when the time comes you just need to cooperate with him."

I noted them all down.

Our manpower is limited; such a simple deployment will surely have many loopholes, so we can only guard the major aspects for now.

That day, the rain did not stop.

The water level of the Zhu Pan River kept rising.

The surging river carried endless filth into the town, then quickly gathered around Wufu Town.

After the foul smell in the front courtyard dissipated, ghostly wails and wolf howls surged forth, more intense than any previous occurrence.

What's more terrifying is that when those sounds rang out, the Eight Trigrams Well suddenly had water sounds.

The gurgling water sound kept spreading upward; the large stone pressing on the Eight Trigrams Well trembled continuously, liable to be overturned or shattered at any moment.

The Eight Trigrams Well itself possesses mana, and an additional seal was layered on the large stone, which is what suppresses the filth inside the well; once the seal is broken, the consequences are unimaginable.

Huang Fan hurried back, wanting to repeat his old trick, but I stopped him.

He has his own work to do; he can't come back every two hours.

He also needs to drink more water…

I took the talisman paper Yu Nian gave me, the remaining dozen or so sheets, and slapped them all onto the Eight Trigrams Well, but they only held for three hours.

There was no way; I could only take down the Soul-guiding Lamp and hang it on the big locust tree.

As expected of the Soul-guiding Lamp, once hung, the Eight Trigrams Well fell into complete silence, even the water sound disappeared.

But next, Li Qingying told me a chilling piece of news: "Xiao Jiu, the six corpses outside the outer wall of Dang Pu's rear courtyard have vanished."

The corpses are gone?

At that moment I was standing beside the Eight Trigrams Well; my first reaction was to look toward the well… No way?

We were uneasy, guarding until past three in the afternoon, when Jiang Sique finally arrived.

Just after entering, he said regretfully: "If I had known, I wouldn't have made the round trip; with such a huge flood, I barely made it here."

He went to his room to change into clean clothes, then came to Nan Shu Fang to check the condition of the human-skin effigy.

These days the human-skin effigy has absorbed a lot of moonlight essence; the luster of its skin has improved greatly, and its features seem to have gained a bit of spiritual qi.

Especially the moon on its back—I remember clearly that when Jiang Sique first embroidered it using his secret stitching technique, it was clearly a crescent moon.

Now it has actually become a full moon, and it is blood-red.

With the blood moon hanging in the sky, shining on that budding corpse-scented konjac, it appears even more eerie.

Jiang Sique carried a small stool, sat at the entrance of Nan Shu Fang, doing nothing, just blankly staring at the river water below the steps outside, wondering what he was thinking.

The incident occurred around half past five in the afternoon; the accumulated water in the town actually kept flowing back into the Zhu Pan River.

Not long after, the water level had dropped to ankle height.

Dou Jinso, soaked, came to Dang Pu's door, plopped down on his knees before me, voice and tears streaming: "Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, please help my parents."

I understood; he had come to ask for those two drops of lamp oil.

I immediately asked: "Where are your parents?"

"At the magistrate's house," Dou Jinso said, "my second uncle has already passed, but… nothing can stop it; he asked me to come beg you to go and see them off…"

I nodded: "I promised you, I will definitely do it; first get up and tell me the situation at the magistrate's house."

I helped Dou Jinso up; he didn't know what image had come to mind, his eyes full of fear.

Before he could speak, two bird cries suddenly came from midair.

Dou Jinso heard the bird call and immediately shuddered.

Li Qingying gazed at the two large birds circling in the rain curtain and wondered aloud: "Hawks? There are actually hawks in Jiangcheng?"

"Hawks?" I also blinked in surprise.

How could that be!

But the fact is exactly so.

"It's them," Dou Jinso said in a trembling voice, "my parents' corpses, as well as the magistrate's, Huang Jiaobao's, and several other bodies, are all hung outside the magistrate's attic; they seem to have been clawed at by something, and several gray hawks that flew in from who-knows-where keep circling those corpses; my second uncle said it's not a good sign, and if we don't use the lamp oil soon, it will be too late."

Li Qingying instinctively tugged at me and shook her head.

I patted her hand and said: "When Elder Dou pawned his Heaven-Earth Mandarin Duck Hook, I promised the pawn fee would be two drops of lamp oil; now the time to fulfill that promise has come, I must go."

This is a promise, and also the rule of Dang Pu.

The rule of Dang Pu must be kept.

"Then I'll go with you," Li Qingying said, unable to put her mind at ease about me.

I refused: "You must guard Dang Pu; if I can't hold out, I'll call for reinforcements, Sister Qingying—this is just the beginning, a single thread pulling the whole body, guarding the rear is most important."

Li Qingying could only nod helplessly.

I turned and went to the front courtyard, pinched the seal, took the Lamp Oil, all in one smooth motion.

Initially, I took a drop of Lamp Oil from the Soul-guiding Lamp to ferry the valley butterfly, which nearly cost me half my life.

Now I am indeed different; I took out two drops of Lamp Oil, and it only caused a momentary daze; I quickly adjusted my state, carrying the Lamp Oil and Dou's Gold Lock, rushing straight to the magistrate's house.

The road, flooded before, was hard to travel; the mud was slippery, and garbage lay everywhere.

We stood outside the magistrate's gate; looking up, I already saw several corpses hanging in the small courtyard, on the upper floor.

The corpses hung lightly there; a gust of wind blew, making it feel as if they could fly away.

But they could not fly away.

Because they were hung on that Heaven-Earth Mandarin Duck Hook.

The Black Iron Hook pierced their heads; several gray eagles circled them, crying intermittently, as if waiting for something…