redvbooks Chapter 427 I Don't Acknowledge This Mess
Chapter 427 I Don't Acknowledge This Mess
The Seventh Eye's outstretched hand stopped above the black water, and the red thread in its sleeve dangled into the faces of the missing people. All the empty mouths opened and closed toward the blood-stained inscription in Mo Chengyue's palm.
"If you want to save her, give her your blood oath."
Shopkeeper Hu's white paper lantern flickered onto the talismanic light on the threshold. The flame was forced back by the talismanic fire. She was gripping the lantern handle tightly, but she did not push it further into the doorway.
"After the change, will she be able to leave the light?"
The seventh eye tilted its head slightly, revealing a pale, lifeless chin beneath the red veil.
"able."
Shopkeeper Hu stared at the remaining noodles in the red lamp, his throat hoarse from the steam.
"Will she be able to get back to shore?"
The Seventh Eye chuckled.
"Can be removed from the lamp."
Manager Hu's expression changed.
You didn't answer me.
Mo Chengyue placed the Rain Flower Sword horizontally on the threshold of the Fu Guang, and the blade circled the water's surface, forcing the old face in the black water to retreat.
She didn't dare to answer.
The seventh eye turned to him, and water droplets falling from the edge of the veil splashed into the cabin, causing the red lamp's wick to tremble.
"Groom, aren't you the best at calculating? You've made a profit by exchanging a blood oath for an old soul of the Hu family."
Mo Chengyue looked down at the red pattern on his palm. The red light had scorched the cuffs of his sleeves, but he hid the back of his hand behind his back.
I don't do business at a loss.
Shopkeeper Hu was about to ask him for help, but upon hearing this, the words stuck in his throat, and the white paper lantern slowly fell back to his chest.
The Seventh Eye's laughter seeped out from under the veil.
"Sister Hu, did you hear that? He doesn't want to."
Shopkeeper Hu didn't look at her, but stared at the remnant soul in the lamp wick.
"Mo Chengyue".
Mo Chengyue answered decisively.
"I am here."
Shopkeeper Hu pressed the silver hairpin into her palm, the edges of the talisman stained red with her blood.
"I won't force you to risk your life for her."
The red thread in the seventh eye's sleeve swam in the black water, and all the faces on the surface turned towards Manager Hu.
"If you don't push him, he'll be even less likely to save you."
Shopkeeper Hu's jaw twitched.
"Shut up."
Seventh Eyes asked her softly, "When your sister boarded the ship for the Hu family, did anyone on board also tell her to shut up?"
Manager Hu was raising the lantern when the handle touched the threshold and was burned back by the light.
Mo Chengyue held his sword sheath in front of her.
"Don't take her scales."
Manager Hu looked at him.
"What scale?"
Mo Chengyue looked at the face reflected in the black water, his tone still carrying that inappropriate sense of calculation.
"She put Hu Shuang'er at one end, me at the other, and then made you stand in the middle crying, crying until I was too ashamed to live."
The red veil covering the seventh eye moved slightly.
"You know how to make being afraid of death sound respectable."
Mo Chengyue nodded.
"Fear of death is a basic etiquette in the cultivation world; whoever doesn't understand it will be buried first."
Shopkeeper Hu's eyes reddened, but those words pulled him back to his senses.
Stop joking and tell me the truth.
Seventh Eyes chuckled and asked, "He's already refused, do you still believe he has a way?"
Shopkeeper Hu held the white paper lantern steady, and the light shone through the hole of the talisman and onto the broken surface inside the red lantern.
"If he really only wanted to run away, he wouldn't have left his sword across the doorway."
Mo Chengyue glanced at her.
"That's fine, but don't give me any moral guarantees; I can't afford that."
Manager Hu gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't ask you to be a good person."
"That's good. Good people die quickly."
The seventh eye's fingers tightened in its sleeve, and the red thread immediately bound the wick. The mangled face was bitten inward by the firelight, and black liquid seeped from the thin lines around its lips.
Manager Hu bumped forward, but was forced back by the fire from the threshold talisman.
"Let her go!"
The Seventh Eye spoke softly: "Change the contract."
Mo Chengyue did not move, but took the array plate out of his sleeve and placed it on the dry wooden board outside the threshold.
"Keep going."
Manager Hu turned to look at him.
"You want her to continue?"
Mo Chengyue stuck the silver hairpin talisman to the edge of the array plate, dipped his fingertip in the Crimson Sun Powder, and drew a thin circle on the array plate.
"The tighter she tightened her belt, the clearer I could see."
The seventh eye stopped moving.
Mo Chengyue looked up.
"Don't stop! Weren't you doing a great job making deals just now?"
The red line hanging in the black water of the seventh eye slowly loosened.
"Are you looking at the lamp wick?"
"I watched for a while."
"What did you see?"
"I can tell your skills aren't good."
Shopkeeper Hu asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"
Mo Chengyue used the array hook to pick up a wisp of black gas leaking from the bottom of the red lamp. As soon as the black gas touched the talisman ash, it made a tiny bubbling sound.
"What the lamp wick gripped wasn't soul power; what truly nailed her was her name."
The voice beneath the seventh veil turned cold.
You've misjudged.
Mo Chengyue pulled the array hook back, leaving a damp mark of the three old characters "Hu Shuang'er" on the talisman ash.
"You're in too much of a hurry."
Manager Hu looked down and saw that the color had faded even more from his face.
"name?"
Mo Chengyue tapped the array plate.
"The words 'Hu Shuang'er' are written on the boat, 'Hu Shuang'er' is carved on the boat planks, and 'Hu Shuang'er' is also tied in the lamp wick. These three words are used to hang up the remnant soul as a road sign."
Manager Hu's voice was tense.
"So she's trapped because of this name?"
"This name has been used, acknowledged, and nailed on by the ship owner, and has become a fake name post."
The Seventh Eye interrupted, "What do you know? Name is soul, and soul is lamp."
Mo Chengyue raised his hand and slapped a calming talisman next to the array plate.
"Don't try to scare me with old textbooks. A name can attract a soul, but it can also conceal it. The fact that the ship owner used these three words to bind her means that she hasn't fully returned to the ship yet."
Manager Hu raised the white paper lantern slightly.
"Not all of them returned to the ship, does that mean we can still steal them?"
Mo Chengyue looked at the wet stains seeping from the bottom of the red light.
"It can be pried open."
Shopkeeper Hu immediately asked, "How do we pry it open?"
The Seventh Eye chuckled first.
"If you want someone else's name, you'd better use their real name. Do you dare say it?"
Manager Hu looked at the red light, his lips moved, but he didn't speak.
Mo Chengyue placed the sword sheath in front of her lamp, blocking the watery light shining from the red lamp.
"Don't mention Hu Shuang'er."
Shopkeeper Hu closed his eyes and clenched the silver hairpin talisman until his fingers wrinkled.
"I know."
The Seventh Eye gently urged her, "Sister, didn't you want to save me? Just call me Shuang'er, and I'll hear you."
Manager Hu did not answer, but the lights flickered.
Mo Chengyue pushed the array plate towards her feet.
"She wants you to fix the pile."
Manager Hu swallowed the old title that rose in his throat, his voice dry.
"Then what should I read?"
"Nickname".
The seventh eye tightened its fingers, and all the faces in the black water rose to the surface at the same time.
"You dare!"
Mo Chengyue looked at the seventh eye.
"Looks like I made the right choice."
Shopkeeper Hu was raising the lamp when he heard the words "child's name." His fingertips touched the lamp paper, but stopped at the edge without tearing it.
"That name wasn't registered in the household register."
Mo Chengyue asked, "Have you ever shouted by the water?"
Manager Hu shook his head.
"No, her mother was afraid that her child would die young, so she only called out to her in front of the stove. Later, when she grew up, she disliked the way it was done and wouldn't allow outsiders to hear her."
Mo Chengyue pressed the soul-protecting talisman onto her wrist, and the talisman's fire sealed back the blood from the edges of the wound.
"Okay, when I ask you to recite it, just say that name, don't cry, don't beg, and don't call me 'sister'."
Shopkeeper Hu looked at the remaining dough in the lamp wick.
"Aren't you going to call me 'sister'?"
"The word 'sister' has been used by the ship for twenty years."
Manager Hu pursed his lips.
"What if she can't hear me?"
Mo Chengyue revealed a corner of the red pattern on his palm from his sleeve, and the red light of the wedding invitation immediately intertwined with the red name in the lamp wick.
"If I can't hear you, I'll widen the gap."
The Seventh Eye stood in the center of the wrecked ship, the hem of her red wedding dress fluttering without wind, as black water seeped from the edge of the cabin towards the door.
"If you touch the wick, the blood ointment will enter the lamp."
Mo Chengyue looked at the approaching waterline and stepped on the calming talisman under the threshold, burying it in the crack in the wood.
"That's why I don't touch the wick."
The Seventh Eye asked, "You want to use an array?"
"Using the formation requires materials."
"Then what will you use?"
Mo Chengyue raised his right hand, the red lines on his palm were encircled by the soul-protecting talisman, only revealing a pinhead-sized red dot.
"Use the messy engagement debts you sent."
Manager Hu's eyelids twitched upon hearing this.
"Could you please not bring up engagement at a time like this?"
"No, the creditor-debtor relationship needs to be clarified."
The seventh eye lifted her red veil slightly, revealing lips that were moist.
"The blood oath recognizes you; the moment you move, the ship owner knows the way."