noffsinger Chapter 430 Reciprocity!
Chapter 430 Reciprocity!
Yu Lin Hong's lingering resentment pressed down on his mind, and the coldness mixed with watery evil energy crashed into the soul-protecting talisman, forcing the talisman's fire to curl inward.
"You're stealing clues."
Mo Chengyue did not deny it, and even took a moment to smile while rinsing the lamp wick.
"You've all stuck your hands into my head, so I'm just going to go back and check the house number. It's only fair."
The seventh eye, with its red sleeves fluttering, sent several red lines piercing from the black water toward the array plate.
"Don't let him touch the area under the light!"
Shopkeeper Hu kicked the Soul-Suppressing Coin in front of the array plate. The coin rolled into the area where water and fire met, making a scorching sound.
"Ah Sui, Ah Sui in front of the stove, don't turn around, don't get on the boat."
Taking advantage of the moment when the red thread was blocked by the copper coins, Mo Chengyue used the array hook to pick up a wisp of dark red moisture from the bottom of the lamp wick and drag it onto the gray thread of the array plate.
As soon as the moisture settled, a half-curved frost pattern appeared on the gray line, next to which was a remnant of a grain character that had been soaked in water.
Upon seeing the mark, Manager Hu immediately asked, "What is this?"
Mo Chengyue used his sleeve to cover the array plate to prevent the red lantern's reflection from shining on it.
"Bill header".
Yu Lin Hong sneered.
"You've dragged this out for so long, and this is all you've stolen?"
"Even if it's a little less, it's better than going to work empty-handed."
Mo Chengyue sealed the frost pattern into the discarded talisman, then stuffed the discarded talisman into the talisman ash groove below the Rain Flower Sword Sheath. His movements were so fast that Hongxian didn't have a chance to snatch it back.
Yu Lin Hong's lingering resentment tightened completely, and a muffled sound of underwater planks closing came from Mo Cheng Yue's sea of consciousness, as if an invisible cabin was closing in his mind.
"I'll let you steal it."
Mo Chengyue broke out in a cold sweat, but he kept talking back.
"Watch your wording; I'm gathering evidence."
"You think having a certificate guarantees a life?"
Whether you live or die is up to fate; whether you're stubborn is up to habit.
Shopkeeper Hu noticed that his breathing was unsteady, so he immediately pronounced his childhood name even faster, but fearing that he would mess up his voice, he could only put each word into the lamp wick one by one.
"Ah Sui, Ah Sui, your sister is calling you from the shore, not from the water. Don't go the wrong way."
The remaining part of the lamp wick finally opened its lips. Although it made no sound, its eyes, whitened by the lamplight, seemed to have found the location of the white paper lamp through a thick fog.
Shopkeeper Hu's tears fell again. She was about to call Shuang'er, but when her lips touched that old name, she abruptly changed her words.
"Ah Sui, go back to the stove."
The seventh eye saw her face contort beneath the red veil, strands of wet hair clinging to it, and water stains on her red wedding dress flowing backwards into the lamp wick.
"Master, she is in Song."
Yu Lin Hong's voice came from deep within the lamp wick, but this time she did not speak to Mo Cheng Yue.
"Then I won't take it."
The shopkeeper's lamp suddenly swirled inwards, and she immediately sensed something was wrong.
"What is she going to do?"
Mo Chengyue dragged the array plate back, and with his sword sheath lifting the hem of Manager Hu's skirt, he pushed her towards the threshold.
"Step back, don't let the lamplight touch your feet."
Suddenly, the Seventh Eye raised his hand and pressed it against his red veil. A wet, tearing sound came from under the veil, and the faces of all the missing people in the black water sank into the center of the wrecked ship at the same time.
"Sister, please save me!"
Shopkeeper Hu didn't take a single step forward; instead, he raised the white paper lantern even higher.
"Ah Sui, don't recognize that voice."
Yu Lin Hong chuckled softly in the lamp wick.
"Mo Chengyue, you're good at stalling, but unfortunately you've forgotten that she's a liar."
Mo Chengyue pulled out the last two hidden array symbols from under the threshold, and the runes spread out along the gray lines he had previously laid around the dock.
"I didn't forget, so I've been standing outside the door."
The seventh eye's body collapsed inward from the red wedding dress, the red veil was swallowed by water and fire, and dense red lines burst out from the cracks in the lamp wick. The entire wrecked boat followed and sank into the old river mud.
Shopkeeper Hu was thrown backward by the shaking ground, and Mo Chengyue used his sword sheath to brace her shoulder and push her into the dry leaf line.
"Don't turn off the lights."
Shopkeeper Hu gritted his teeth, the blood in his palm sealed by the soul-protecting talisman, and still held the white paper lamp in front of his chest.
"Ah Sui, your sister is on the shore, the light is on the shore, don't sink with her!"
The sound of rotting wood breaking came from the four walls of the abandoned dock. The black water on the ground bypassed the light of the threshold and began to be drawn down from the bottom of the dock, as if the entire dock was being swallowed by the mouth of an old riverbed.
The cry of the seventh eye was drawn out in the water.
"Sister, it hurts."
Manager Hu's face turned pale, but he didn't loosen his grip.
"Ah Sui, don't dwell on the pain; the pain is what she caused you."
Mo Chengyue stepped the array plate into the center of the talisman ash. The calming talisman that had been pasted next to the stone trough outside the dock lit up, and the thunder talisman under the door beam ignited. The ash lines formed a circle, forcefully holding up the sinking abandoned dock.
Yu Lin Hong's lingering regret sank to the bottom.
"You set up the Tuowu Formation long ago."
Mo Chengyue took a breath and raised his hand to wipe away the blood that had spilled from his lips.
"Your wedding is too shabby, I'll help reinforce the venue, don't be shy."
Light shone from the cracks in the rotten wood, gradually dissipating the force of the black water plunging downwards. Although the wrecked boat was still rocking, the threshold had not been swallowed by the old river.
When Manager Hu saw that the remaining dough in the lamp wick was being held by the white paper lamp, he immediately continued to recite the nicknames.
"Ah Sui, don't sink, don't lose your way on the ship."
Mo Chengyue stared at the frost-patterned broken talisman in the array plate, just about to seal it completely, when he heard Yu Linhong's soft laughter close to his ear from deep within the lamp wick.
"You think I'm only inside the lamp?"
When Mo Chengyue heard Yu Lin Hong's whispered laughter, the blood-stained talisman in his palm lit up first, and the red patterns drilled into his wrist bone along the scorch marks left by the soul-protecting talisman. His right hand, which was originally holding the array hook, began to turn towards the lamp wick on its own.
Manager Hu was holding up a white paper lantern and reciting nicknames when he saw the man's wrist veer towards the wrecked boat, and his expression immediately changed.
"Mo Chengyue, your hand is moving."
Mo Chengyue grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, his fingertips digging into the flesh burned by the talisman fire, and forcefully pressed the array hook back into the gray line of the threshold.
"See it? Don't praise it for being diligent."
Yu Lin Hong's voice seeped out from the blood-red veins, carrying a damp, cold laugh.
"You've been protecting yourself from lights, water, and even the seventh eye, but you've forgotten that the blood oath is based on your blood."
Seventh Eyes stood in the center of the wrecked ship, his wet hair from under his red veil dripping into the black water, and his tone suddenly became lighthearted.
"Groom, you've already reached out your hand, and you still say you don't want to get on the boat?"
Shopkeeper Hu moved the white paper lantern towards the wick, the light illuminating the remaining surface, but he dared not stop talking.
"Ah Sui, Ah Sui by the stove, don't listen to them calling you by your boat name."
Mo Chengyue's right arm tendons were stretched taut segment by segment by the red pattern, and the tip of the array hook dragged a crooked mark on the ash of the threshold talisman, moving right towards the location of the remnant energy of the wedding boat invitation.
"She wants to use me to fix the paperwork."
Manager Hu's voice was hoarse.
"Can it be broken?"
Mo Chengyue pressed down on his right arm with his left elbow, pushing the hilt of the Yuhua sword under his wrist. The bones and the guard pressed against each other, making a soft, grating sound.
"able."
The seventh eye smiled.
"A severed hand?"
Mo Chengyue looked up at the red veil, sweat trickling down his face and drying on his clothes under the heat of the fire.
"Is your ship's hiring process this stingy? Do you ask employees for spare parts before hiring them?"
Yu Lin Hong gently spoke through his meridians.
"Being stubborn is useless. This hand of yours has already written blood names, touched wedding gowns, and received bone needles. It is more honest than you."
Mo Chengyue reached for the medicine bottle at his waist with his left hand. Before he could even open the bottle, his right hand was already being pulled open by the blood patterns, and his fingertips were slashing towards the unfinished wedding invitation in the black water.
Manager Hu immediately called him.
What do you want?
Mo Chengyue clenched his teeth and kicked the medicine bottle toward her feet.
"Give me one of the Mind-Concentrating and Soul-Stabilizing Pills."
Shopkeeper Hu dared not stray too far from the lamp, only using the tip of his shoe to nudge the small bottle back. As he bent over, the white paper lamp tilted slightly, and the remaining part of the wick was pulled inward by the red light.
The Seventh Eye immediately spoke.
"Sister, look, he only cares about himself and not her."
Shopkeeper Hu didn't turn around; instead, she moved her hands even faster, pouring out the pills and holding them with a Soul-Suppressing Coin to Mo Chengyue's lips.
"Ah Sui, don't focus on that sentence, don't focus on her crying voice."
Mo Chengyue lowered his head and bit down on the pill, crushing it between his teeth. The pungent medicinal energy rushed to his mind, pressing the damp coldness in the blood pattern back into his right arm.
Yu Lin Hong's laughter was abruptly cut short.
"You dare to draw lightning into your meridians?"
Mo Chengyue swallowed the medicine, pressed his left hand on three pulse points on his right arm, and the Yin and Yang True Essence split into black and white lines from his shoulder, trapping the red energy that had entered his flesh and bones within his arm.
"I'm poor, so I fix things myself when they break."
Shopkeeper Hu looked at the bulging veins under his right sleeve and almost dropped the white paper lantern in his hand.
Will it damage the foundation?
"It's too early to ask that."
"Then what should we ask?"
Mo Chengyue placed the Rain Flower Sword across the threshold, his right hand trembling from being pulled by the blood-stained inscription, yet the sword's edge still pressed against the talisman lines on the south side of the array plate.
"They asked me if I could still return it."