Chapter 594

Just as we were speaking, footsteps sounded outside again.

Not long after, I saw Bai Shulan.

We are sisters who have shared hardships, and she is also very worried about Yu Nian.

"What are you all doing standing at the door? The early spring chill is biting, the night wind is cold—come inside and chat."

She said, taking Yu Nian's hand and directly bringing her to the living room.

Sitting on the sofa, Bai Shulan began to examine Yu Nian.

She took her pulse, lifted her eyelids, and after a while Bai Shulan finally said reassuringly, "Your body has no problems, and there is no foreign qi… but… what about that cinnabar spirit bone spine in your body?"

Yu Nian looked altogether dull and unresponsive.

No matter how Bai Shulan asked, she continued to stare straight at me.

This time she came back, her goal was very clear.

I sighed and said, "Shulan sis, you all go back first; Qingying sis, you also go to sleep first; I need to talk alone with my senior sister."

The big crowd had no choice but to disperse unwillingly.

I shifted over, sat beside Yu Nian, took her hand, and rested my head on her shoulder.

Yu Nian instinctively gripped my hand, her shoulder slightly leaning toward me, letting me rest more comfortably.

"That stone is redemption money, but when the original pawnbroker came to redeem it, he specifically said he would come pick it up in a month; this is Yin Dang business, I cannot refuse, so I may not be able to give you the stone."

Yu Nian said in a low voice, "Xiao Jiu, that stone cannot be given to him."

I sat up straight, looked at Yu Nian, and asked seriously, "Why? You have to give me a reasonable explanation before I can decide, right?"

Yu Nian shook her head: "No explanation, just cannot give it to him. Xiao Jiu, if you still acknowledge me as your senior sister, don't ask anything—just hand the stone over to me."

I stared at Yu Nian for a while.

Seeing this, Yu Nian's gaze unconsciously flickered away.

Then I said, "After giving you the stone, senior sister, what are your plans next?"

"I will inherit my father's business and become a ferryman," Yu Nian said.

"Sis, you cannot ferry anyone," I said, "because you have never ferried yourself—how could you ferry others?"

Yu Nian's brow twitched sharply.

I pressed on: "Sis, he has already taken step after step toward you; each step is arduous, you know better than anyone—by now, do you really want to let him down?"

Yu Nian muttered, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sis, stop deceiving yourself." I gave her no chance to escape, "Even the Heart‑Lock cannot bind this feeling; even if you fled to the ends of the earth, he would still follow you without regard for his own safety—can you really bear to let someone who loves you so deeply suffer repeatedly from love's tribulations?"

Pa-da.

A drop of tear fell onto the back of my hand.

Yu Nian lowered her head, shedding tears silently.

I reached out and hugged her tightly, whispering in her ear: "Sometimes we think everything we do is for the other's benefit, willingly sacrificing ourselves, but have you truly asked and understood what he most wants? Perhaps after many lifetimes of turmoil, what he has ever wanted is not power or status, but simply you."

"The Mandarin Duck Heart‑Lock has no key; such a hard stone, he chipped away bit by bit and actually carved a hole—you can see his determination, doesn't it ache you?"

"To be frank, outside the Nineteen Cave Heavens, when I saw him descend like a deity, arms open, holding you tightly in his embrace, I felt even a heart of stone would melt before his chest."

"Don't say any more, Xiao Jiu—I beg you, stop."

Yu Nian shook her head straight: "I cannot harm him, I am not worthy, I…"

I cupped Yu Nian's face with both hands, forcing her to look at me.

I keenly sensed that Yu Nian's state was very wrong.

I felt her spirit seemed to have suffered heavy damage, that inner self‑denial, even mixed with fear.

I asked her, "What are you afraid of, Yu Nian! The black bird is dead; the last trace of black qi she left on you has completely dissipated; no one can control your life anymore, you need not fear anything."

"No!" Yu Nian shrieked hysterically, "I will not allow myself to become a stumbling block in his life…"

"Are you?" I questioned, "Have you hindered him?"

Yu Nian's big eyes, brimming with tears, looked at me bewilderedly.

"What is his career path? A single step to heaven? Becoming a City God? Isn't he already a City God?"

"Does becoming a City God require severing love and affection?"

"I heard he came from a Daoist background; can Daoists not marry?"

"Has the Severing Love Lock locked his heart?"

"Yu Nian, I ask you, what have you hindered him with?"

"What you have hindered is only yourself!"

Tears streamed down her cheeks incessantly, Yu Nian's whole person seemed on the verge of shattering.

Her shoulders trembled, she stubbornly refused to let herself cry out.

I once again pulled her tightly into my embrace, pressing close to give her warmth and strength: "Sis, I can imagine how helpless you once felt, but now it's different—the black bird is gone, you have escaped its clutches, you still have us; believe me, I can be your safety net."

Yu Nian finally cried out loud.

I just kept holding her, supporting her, and waiting for her.

"I don't know how long passed, but Yu Nian finally calmed her mood, leaning on my shoulder, and murmured as if in a dream: 'The Yin Dang Hang was founded single‑handedly by my mother; my father was a ferryman who plied the Heishui River, Wangchuan River, and Wangshui River; many netherworld businesses relied on his ferrying the departed back and forth, and over time my parents developed feelings for each other.'"

"But good fortune did not last; my mother's establishment of the Yin Dang Hang bore too much karma, her health deteriorated day by day, until she was finally confined to a sickbed, and my father tried everything but could not change anything."

"Then that year, my father fished a woman out of the tail of the Wangchuan River; she said she was a descendant of the Great Witch of the Ancient Feng Clan, versed in shamanic arts and pharmacology, perhaps able to treat my mother's illness."

"My father was overjoyed, brought her into the Yin Dang Hang; after examining my mother, the woman said the illness could be cured, but the medicinal ingredients were hard to find; once she returned to prepare the elixir and gave it to my mother to take, she would surely recover."

"Indeed, after my mother took the elixir the woman gave her, she seemed to be reborn, her personality becoming more extravagant and outward; during that time she and my father lived in bliss, and soon she became pregnant with me."

"But later, my father inadvertently discovered that Mother had been secretly taking the elixir all along, and the raw material for refining that elixir was actually various skeletons—these skeletons Mother obtained through the convenience of her Yin Dang Hang business; she put out the word, buying them at high prices, and some pawnbrokers, eager for exorbitant profit, even resorted to killing and digging up corpses…"