Chapter 526: Pregnant Again

It's A Cheng!

How did A Cheng come to Dang Pu?

Back on that small hill, I hadn't had much contact with A Cheng; I just wanted him to stay there temporarily, not be dragged into our conflict for no reason.

I never expected that just as I returned to Dang Pu, he would follow right after!

This child...

"Li Qingying sis, don't be scared, it's someone I know, it's fine."

I said as I hurried toward Xijiekou.

Since A Cheng has already come down from the mountain, I need to have a good talk with him. Although he has no head and can't speak, given how opinionated he is, he must have his own way of communicating with me.

I was running in a hurry, and Li Qingying rushed after me, urging: "Xiao Jiu, slow down, watch your belly, don't panic."

But before I could reach Xijiekou, the youth flickered and had already left from the other end of the street.

I rushed to the east street entrance, looked around, but couldn't find A Cheng anywhere.

What I didn't know was that night, on the white bone path leading from the Feng Clan to the small hill, the headless youth held a sack in one hand and a stick in the other, rummaging through the bone piles.

After a few hours, he finally found a moving eye beneath a bone pile, picked it up, and plopped down on a stone by the path.

He held the eye in his hands, his solitary silhouette hidden in the dark night; the eyes from the sack hopped out one by one, landing on his shoulders, arms, and thighs.

As if silently accompanying him.

After a long while, a sigh came from the air: "Turns out big sister has a new home, new family now."

"Big sister... you really don't want A Cheng anymore."

"But we had an agreement; A Cheng has waited for so many years..."

"You're also waiting for her to come home, right?"

·

Fang Chuanzong was the first to reply to my message; he said he'd found some information about the skull prayer beads and was confirming its authenticity with knowledgeable colleagues, and would let me know once he had results.

I let out a small sigh of relief; having news is good.

Not until the next day before lunch did Jin Wuya give me a call.

"I'm not a Buddhist, so I don't know the origin of these prayer beads. Shi Rou looked at them too and had her subordinates investigate." Jin Wuya said solemnly, "But Xiao Jiu, although I don't know where this thing comes from, I understand cursed artifacts. Based on my many years of experience as a cursed artifact craftsman, these prayer beads... are not spiritual weapons."

I exclaimed in surprise, "Is it because its shape is a skull?"

"No, appearance cannot be used as a standard to judge its essence." Jin Wuya said, "If I'm not mistaken, these prayer beads should be carved from the leg bone of an adult male, and the leg bone was still fresh when the skull was being carved."

After dealing with him for so long, I can tell Jin Wuya is holding back in what he's saying.

Fresh, basically equivalent to being alive.

This is a live carving!

I felt my throat tighten as I asked, "How is Shi Rou's health recovering? Let her rest more; I've also asked Old Fang to help me investigate the origin of the skull prayer beads, and we should have results in a few days."

Jin Wuya and I are old friends and partners, so there's nothing to hide, and we speak quite frankly.

As a result, Jin Wuya fell silent for a moment.

I immediately wondered if he was unhappy.

In some trades, people observe the rule of "not letting one matter bother two masters."

I was about to explain when Jin Wuya spoke up, his tone oddly awkward: "Her... you don't need to worry about her; I suspect her body is as strong as iron, I told her to rest for a while, but... but she's gotten pregnant again."

I hadn't even realized what "gotten pregnant again" meant at that moment.

After thinking it over, I suddenly widened my eyes: "Ah? You mean Shi Rou is pregnant again? You two... your efficiency is pretty high!"

Wasn't it supposed to be husband-killing?

Wasn't it said that both of them have hard fates, destined to be lonely and unsupported?

How come... two negatives make a positive!

Aside from not being able to marry and register, everything else is just the same!

Jin Wuya gave an embarrassed grin.

I laughed along: "Congratulations, Boss Jin, take good care of Shi Rou; if you need anything, just let her stay at the pawnshop."

Jin Wuya readily replied: "Everything's fine for now; if you need anything, I won't stand on ceremony."

After hanging up, my feelings were quite complicated.

On one hand I was genuinely happy for them; on the other hand, the new information left me with a lump in my throat.

The Mysterious Cat's feelings for that string of skull prayer beads are so intense that we can't help but guess the beads might have belonged to its former owner; upon seeing the beads, the cat thinks of its original master.

But now it seems not to be the case.

The Mysterious Cat comes from a Buddhist background, so pure—how could its original owner have committed such a heinous act?

Then the only remaining possibility is that the skull prayer beads were carved from the leg bone of the Mysterious Cat's original owner.

That's why the Mysterious Cat wails so mournfully upon seeing the skull prayer beads, even shedding tears of blood.

The poor kitty is truly heartbroken!

I told Li Qingying about this.

Li Qingying immediately cursed: "Damn it! Who could be so ruthless? Such a person deserves to be struck by heavenly thunder!"

Upon further thought, she said: "I feel it's that old immortal monster Dìshì who did it! Besides him, I can't think of anyone else."

She began laying out the facts and reasoning: "He surely wanted their temple and Buddhist prestige, so he killed them and took their place—how heinous! Xiao Jiu, promise me that when you find his true form, you will definitely use the Língchí blade to carve his flesh, pull out his bones, then burn him with Nirvana fire, sending him down to the eighteenth level of hell, never to rise again."

Look, this spiteful little mouth is as venomous as if poisoned.

Truly, one who stays near vermilion turns red; near ink turns black.

I don't know why, but I feel Li Qingying's way of speaking has a hint of Hui Moqiong about it.

As we chatted, I suddenly thought of something: "Right, Li Qingying sis, isn't it the fifteenth again?"

Last time I went to Yin Dang Hang, I didn't go at the scheduled time.

Afterwards I went through so many things, and I stayed in the Feng Clan for many more days; time flew by.

Li Qingying replied, "Um, the day after tomorrow is the fifteenth, the fifteenth day of the sixth lunar month—what's up?"

"I'm going to Yin Dang Hang the day after tomorrow," I said. "I have a lot of things I want to discuss with senior sister; maybe only she… and Lao San can give me answers."

On the Screen Wall in the underground mountain cave, when I saw that carved painting, I was thinking, it's both yin bone and Buddha's Bone Relic and cinnabar spirit bone—how are they all related to bones?

Also, that string of skull prayer beads is related to bones.

All of this, when I saw the True Phoenix disappear and left behind that piece of evil bone, seemed to faintly have an answer.

I think about the evil bone, Yin Dang Hang over there will probably give me some of the information I want……