Chapter 410

Jin Wuya said he would personally return the bone whistle to me as soon as possible, and by the way take another look at that pile of black cinnabar bone.

He said this kind of black cinnabar bone is toxic, but it is also an extremely rare medicinal material; both the Yin and Yang paths have once offered astronomical prices for it, unfortunately there is price but no market.

After hanging up the phone, I and Li Qingying stared at each other.

I don't understand.

I don't comprehend.

It's simply beyond belief.

Li Qingying picked up a piece of black cloth, used a stick to lift it and covered the pile of black bones.

The two of us tossed and turned until dawn before falling asleep.

Early the next morning, Jiang Sique arrived.

He went straight to the west room, wearing specially made gloves on his hands, picked up a piece of black leg bone and studied and identified it carefully, somewhat disappointed.

Li Qingying stood by and asked him: "Mr. Jiang, is this pile worth anything? If converted into RMB, how much could it sell for?"

"What a pity." Jiang Sique said, "According to my knowledge, in the yin-yang trade, someone once offered fifty catties of gold for a complete set of cinnabar bones."

"Fifty what?" Li Qingying could hardly believe her ears, "Catties?"

Jiang Sique regretted: "This is said to have happened several hundred years ago; nowadays it should be even more valuable. Even if the cinnabar bones are scattered, they are still worth a lot, but this pile at the pawnshop… is useless."

Li Qingying frowned and asked: "Why do you say that?"

"The most precious part of the cinnabar bone is not these bones, but the marrow."

Jiang Sique pointed that leg bone toward us, indicating the middle.

The middle of that leg bone is hollow.

"A complete cinnabar bone has its marrow full inside the bone; its medicinal and cultivation values are stored in the marrow. Obviously, the essence of this pile of cinnabar bones has been sucked away, so it scattered and collapsed on its own."

I realized something: "So, it's likely that not long ago, these cinnabar bones were not completely hollow?"

Jiang Sique replied: "You can think that way, but there's not much marrow left; now this pile can be smashed and taken out to bury, after all it's toxic."

Li Qingying brought a sealed bag, carefully swept those black bones into it, and Jiang Sique then poured some liquid inside; the black bones kept bubbling.

He said after such treatment, the remaining toxin on the bones is not much, and after deep burial there will be no problem.

I recalled yesterday's call with Jin Wuya, so I mentioned it to Jiang Sique, who immediately called Jin Wuya; the two chatted for a long time, murmuring.

Jin Wuya said he would return to Jiangcheng in three days; Jiang Sique then took his leave, saying he would come back in three days.

Liu Junyan came back before lunch; at the table, I talked with him about these matters.

This little incident didn't attract much attention, after all the black bone frame is a leftover issue of the pawnshop itself, and the bone whistle was obtained from the fake ascetic.

The bone whistle is just that small, wrapped outside with a layer of white bone; inside the cinnabar spirit bone is even smaller, perhaps the fake ascetic bought it to empower the bone whistle's mana?

In the end, that evening, the Red Flag Child came back from outside in a flurry.

This kid now has a close relationship with Zhao Zixun; he has essentially become General Zhao's little follower.

As soon as he entered, seeing Liu Junyan also there, he hurriedly said: "Seventh Lord, General Zhao asks you to go over there; he found something down the hill."

Liu Junyan asked: "What is it?"

"A small redwood coffin, sealed." The Red Flag Child said, "General Zhao means not to move it randomly; wait until you arrive and then we'll talk."

Now, on that hill opposite, Zhao Zixun is stationed there with his yin soldiers.

We summoned Dou Zhile, took a boat over, the Red Flag Child led the way, and we soon met up with Zhao Zixun.

Zhao Zixun stood on the shady side of the hill; before him was a large pit that had been dug up, the surroundings littered with scattered infant skeletons.

In the deep part of the pit lay a small redwood coffin, tightly wrapped with many loops of iron chains, both ends of the chains driven deep into the ground.

Dou Zhile took one look and said: "This kind of redwood coffin was used in the past to hold stillborn infants, but even if parents had ghosts in mind and wanted to use some formation to suppress the little ghosts, they shouldn't have locked it with iron chains like this."

Zhao Zixun said: "There's no yin evil aura inside the coffin, but it's very strange; I dare not touch it."

"Yes, it's strange."

Dou Zhile leapt straight into the pit, used a large smoke pipe to pick at the iron chains and move them a few times, then took out an ink line, and tapped it against the chains a few rounds.

With a clatter, the iron chains broke just like that.

Dou Zhile laughed: "It's not for suppression, nor is it yin evil; I want to see what's hidden inside."

As he spoke, he had already used tools to pry open the small coffin.

He was very cautious; when he lifted the coffin lid, he had already sprang backward, his back pressed against the pit wall, holding his breath.

The facts proved he was right.

A puff of red mist sprayed out from the coffin; a corner of Dou Zhile's clothing was hit and instantly corroded; frightened, Dou Zhile immediately took off his coat and threw it away, leaping up from the pit in one motion.

The key is the pit is a bit deep; if it weren't for Liu Junyan's quick eyes and hands pulling him up, he would have fallen back down.

Dou Zhile, who had been completely calm when going down, now clutched his chest and panted heavily.

"It's cinnabar!" Dou Zhile said with lingering fear, "Extremely high concentration cinnabar! It's toxic!"

While speaking, the red mist had already dispersed.

Everywhere that was contaminated, except that redwood coffin, was soaked and corroded; the soil kept oozing out blood-like cinnabar water.

Only then did we see clearly what was inside the redwood coffin.

"Taotie?"

Not long ago we had just fought the Taotie Evil Formation; everyone present had participated to some extent, so we recognized it immediately.

And I was even more astonished.

At the time we broke the Taotie Evil Formation, we thought it was merely a formation; break it and it's done.

Yet we never expected that beneath this formation lay such a thing!

Lying in the redwood coffin was a palm-sized piece, entirely blood-red, carved into a taotie shape… jade?

No, that is not jade.

Because inside this taotie piece, blood was actually flowing, circulating and surging.

It's alive?!

This instantly reminded me of Jin Wuya's description of the cinnabar bone: entirely blood-red, crystal clear and translucent, with blood flowing inside… every characteristic matched perfectly.

This is actually a piece of cinnabar bone!

Such a large piece must have been carved from which part of the body?

My head buzzed, as if a fragment of blurred memory surged through, yet I couldn't grasp it.

Liu Junyan obviously thought of it too; he immediately said: "Don't fill in the pit, don't move anything inside, General Zhao, please continue guarding this area while we wait for professionals to come handle it."

"Exactly, exactly, can't touch it randomly." Dou Zhile hurriedly warned Zhao Zixun: "Cinnabar is toxic and also wards off evil; General Zhao must absolutely not touch this thing."

Li Qingying swiftly took a few photos and immediately sent them to Jin Wuya and Jiang Si Que.

I reminded: "Send a copy to Fang Lao as well."

Soon enough, all three replied.

The three messages were remarkably consistent: "Don't touch it, wait for me to come!"