Chapter 834: with translation of chapter title

Xiao Jiu dared not delay any longer; she skillfully picked out a few good things, ground them into powder, and fed them to Little Three just as before.

Over the past month, each time she did this, Little Three's condition would quickly improve, returning to a healthy state.

But today it didn't work.

It simply wouldn't go down.

Little Three's jaws were clenched tight, his body stiff, and his mouth couldn't be pried open.

With great effort she managed to get a bit in, but he wouldn't swallow it down.

He looked completely as if he were dead.

At that moment, it was impossible not to panic.

After all, Little Three was a piece of flesh that had fallen from Xiao Jiu's body; though only a month old and hard to raise, Xiao Jiu had confidence she could rear him.

If he died just like that, Xiao Jiu would truly find it hard to accept.

Worry leads to confusion.

For a moment, Xiao Jiu and Hui Moqiong didn't know what to do.

Meanwhile, Feng Ran, who had been standing guard nearby, spoke up: "Foster mother, since Aunt Li Qingying said Chuanchuan might have become like this due to the influence of earthfiend qi, if we find a way to drive out the earthfiend qi lurking beneath Yin Dang Hang, wouldn't Chuanchuan wake up?"

Those words woke the dreamer.

Exactly!

Li Qingying said, earthfiend qi from all directions was continuously pouring into Wufu Town, and the likely cause of all this was Little Three.

If we could block the continuous invasion of surrounding earthfiend qi and at the same time find a way to dispel or neutralize the earthfiend qi inside Wufu Town, we should be able to prevent the situation from worsening further.

Moreover, judging from Xiao Jiu's many years of experience, the very fact that earthfiend qi is surging toward Wufu Town cannot last long.

It forms only under specific time and conditions.

Once that time point passes, everything will collapse on its own.

That time point is either 3 a. m. or dawn.

But likewise, if we fail to contain this before that time point, Little Three might not survive until the earthfiend qi retreats from Wufu Town on its own.

"I'll go set up formations on the outskirts."

Hui Moqiong threw down those words, turned, and left.

Feng Ran said, "Foster mother, I'll set up formations around Yin Dang Hang; it'll be good practice."

Xiao Jiu nodded in agreement.

Feng Ran trotted off to the west wing of the main hall to fetch the ritual implements and talisman paper needed for the formations.

Xiao Jiu closed the door, looked at Little Three on the bed, whose body had almost turned black, and suddenly seemed to understand something.

Heaven's secrets must not be revealed.

Whatever causes you have sown in this life will determine the effects you reap in the future; it is fixed in the dark.

Liu Junyan surely had already seen through heaven's secrets beforehand, but could not speak of them.

So he chose to say nothing and act instead.

He sent Little Three to Xiao Jiu's side, while he himself bore the calamity in the Suedi waters—perhaps that was the karmic debt of the old turtle in Pingdang year.

Xiao Jiu didn't know the details, but she knew that if Little Three couldn't endure tonight, all of Liu Junyan's scheming would become meaningless.

From the initial confusion and anxiety to now, Xiao Jiu had instead become completely calm.

She sat beside the bed, turned Little Three's body over, and let him lie prone.

Little Three's body was too stiff; when he lay prone, his limbs and even his head drew inward, his back slightly arched, making him look exactly like a retracted-head turtle.

Xiao Jiu bit her finger, quickly drawing a blood seal for suppressing evil on Little Three's back.

Done in one fluid motion.

The moment the suppressing-evil blood seal was completed, a Yīnfēng wailed through the room, and Xiao Jiu felt it drilling straight down into the ground.

Immediately afterward, golden light flashed on Little Three's back, and the tortoise-shell pattern reappeared there.

Moreover, this time the tortoise-shell pattern wandered across his back like a dragon, and Xiao Jiu noticed that the golden markings kept shifting as they moved.

Xiao Jiu didn't idle; using her still-bleeding finger, she drew talismans on the bedding around Little Three's body, then set up formations around the bed with her ritual implements.

While Xiao Jiu laid out her formations, Feng Ran and Hui Moqiong were also busy without pause.

Layer upon layer of suppressing-evil formations gradually covered the whole of Wufu Town.

That night, many townsfolk of Wufu Town heard ghostly wails and wolf howls rising from underground, which was utterly terrifying.

Fortunately, those who had returned and settled were already accustomed to all this.

Even if the sky fell, Yin Dang Hang would still be holding it up.

As long as they stayed quietly at home and minded their own business, they would face no mortal danger.

And Shan Shan, which constantly circled above Wufu Town, would from time to time shoot down a cluster of nirvana fire onto the ground.

Every bit of earthfiend qi trapped by the formations was precisely struck and dissolved by Shan Shan.

After bustling for a solid three hours, the entire Wufu Town was as tight as an iron barrel.

Outside earthfiend qi could not rush in, while the earthfiend qi inside had all been neutralized.

At three a. m., everything returned to calm.

In the room, Little Three's skin tone finally faded from black to a lighter hue, then to purple, then to green, and back to normal; Xiao Jiu finally let out a sigh of relief.

At that moment, the suppressing-evil blood seal on Little Three's back was finally exhausted completely.

Xiao Jiu stepped forward, reached out to turn Little Three over again to feed him, and only then realized his condition was still not right.

The earthfiend qi on his body had indeed been temporarily expelled, but his body had not returned to a soft state.

He still kept his curled-up posture.

His hands, feet, and head were completely tucked beneath his body.

His back arched even higher, the tortoise-shell pattern looked as if carved with a knife, cracking open; each line oozed blood outward.

Xiao Jiu raised his hand and pressed his temples.

My head hurts!

Liu Junyan, what kind of seed did you leave me!

This is too hard to raise!

Xiao Jiu suddenly realized that, when he had slapped Liu Junyan in Suedi, Liu Junyan had not yielded in the slightest.

The blow was still too light.

He had him completely figured out; even if he couldn't say a word, they could still resonate.

He didn't understand, but he could still help him get through this crisis.

Just as before, although Xiao Jiu knew nothing, he still ended up appearing in Suedi.

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Every second was agonizing for Xiao Jiu.

Feng Ran and Shan Shan have returned.

The two daughters leaned to the left and right of Xiao Jiu's embrace, saying nothing, just silently accompanying Xiao Jiu and Xiao Lao San.

The tortoise-shell pattern on Xiao Lao San's back split deeper and deeper, and the blood flowed more and more.

Fortunately, when his back arched to a certain point, it finally stopped.

Immediately after, the blood in the cracks of the tortoise-shell pattern was quickly absorbed back by Xiao Lao San.

At the crack, there was no longer the gruesome sight of flying flesh and blood; after scabbing, it formed a transparent soft shell.

Then it quickly turned from a soft shell into a hard shell.

Only then did Feng Ran softly ask, "Foster mother, is Xiao Lao San really just a turtle?"

Xiao Jiu: ……