Lu Yiqi’s phone didn’t have a password. Wu Wanying quickly found his memo, which indeed contained notes on the Soul Summoning method.
“I’ll look at it.” Lu Dongqing reached out his hand.
Wu Wanying handed it over. “See? Truly, there’s no problem. Yinyu meant no harm.”
Hearing Wu Wanying speak up for her, which was rare, Wu Yinyu raised an eyebrow slightly. But soon, her heart plummeted sharply.
If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, a thick, dense Yin and evil aura was wrapped around Lu Dongqing, a patch of pitch black, darker than ink.
The more evil the Yin Energy, the darker its hue, and the more formidable the Ghost entity. It seemed that whatever was clinging to Lu Dongqing was certainly no easily dispelled Little Ghost.
But Wu Yinyu found it strange. Why was Lu Dongqing so unresponsive? She stared intently at Elder Lu and abruptly asked, “Can you not see it?”
In this hospital room, the only person worthy of Wu Yinyu’s honorific speech was Lu Dongqing alone. Lu Dongqing immediately looked at her. “See what?”
In a flash, that thick black mist diffused like bleeding ink and vanished completely.
“Nothing.” Wu Yinyu lifted a hand to rub her brow, wondering if she hadn’t rested well these past few days. The strange dreams had left her restless and uneasy; perhaps she’d just seen things wrong.
Lu Dongqing read through Lu Yiqi’s memo, confirming that the Soul Summoning Art was indeed without flaws. He shook his head. “I knew he was hiding something from me, deliberately saying they’d be home late. I’ve been on edge these past few days, sensing something bad would happen. When he was evasive, I sent someone to investigate at Cuihui.”
“I shouldn’t have helped Lu Yiqi hide it from you.” Wu Yinyu lowered her eyes.
Lu Dongqing didn’t seem to blame her. He continued, “I’ve always forbidden him from taking Sansheng to the Cuihui Eight Treasures Pavilion, but Sansheng would beg him. Every time Sansheng lost his Soul because of him, he would run away from home, find some place to hide. This time, it’s worse. His car is parked in front of the Eight Treasures Pavilion, his phone was discarded, and he’s nowhere to be found.”
He held the phone further away, squinting at the memo again. “Logically, there should have been another person with him. Who would that be?”
Wu Wanying wasn’t familiar with Lu Yiqi and couldn’t answer. He just glanced lightly over at Wu Yinyu.
Wu Yinyu also found it strange. Frowning, she said, “Don’t look at me. I taught him the method and left. Besides, the people he knows, I might not necessarily know.”
Her voice paused. “He went missing right outside Cuihui?”
“Presumably so. We found his vehicle using its location tracker, leading us to Cuihui.” Lu Dongqing sat down heavily, leaning on his cane, and sighed. “This is no ordinary disappearance. For every descendant of the Lu family, I use a Red Thread to bind them to their Birth Stone, to keep track of their location and safety. This time, their Red Threads just… snapped.”
Wu Yinyu was utterly baffled. The fates of these two were uncertain, life or death. It was indeed no ordinary disappearance.
“You two should head back first. Once we get the surveillance footage from Cuihui, we’re bound to find some clues.” Lu Dongqing looked utterly exhausted.
Having said that, after other Lu family members arrived, Wu Yinyu and Wu Wanying departed. They drove their own cars back to the Old Residence.
Entering the door, Wu Wanying stopped and turned his head. “At City First Hospital, you saw something on Elder Lu, didn’t you?”
Wu Yinyu responded with a casual “Mm.”
“Did you also see that Yin Energy on me before, which is why you asked if I’d been in contact with Elder Lu?” Wu Wanying asked again.
“Correct,” Wu Yinyu answered patiently.
Although the Five Gates practiced the arts of expelling ghosts and suppressing evil, not everyone possessed the Yin-Yang Eye, nor did everyone have this talent. That was precisely why Wu Wanying had gone down the path of business. In that field, he operated far more smoothly.
“But it didn’t have the smell a Yin or evil aura should have. I couldn’t confirm for a moment whether it was actually Yin Energy.” Wu Yinyu’s eyes were veiled with confusion, but her voice was light and airy, as if she didn’t care much at all.
Wu Wanying’s brow relaxed. “Elder Lu himself didn’t notice it either. Perhaps you were just seeing things.”
“Probably.” Wu Yinyu nodded, picking up the uneaten cake from the table and trudging slowly upstairs.
She was tall and thin, giving off an air of pickiness to outsiders. In reality, she was far from a picky eater. She loved both sweet and savory foods, and could even handle spicy dishes.
Back in her room, she casually dropped her qipao onto the carpet. Barefoot and bare-handed, she crouched by the bed and finished that small piece of cake.
Only a single small lamp was turned on in the room. The light happened to fall precisely on the brocade box delivered by Cuihui, making the red jade inside glow as if it were a blazing fire.
Wu Yinyu glanced at it, walked over, and picked up the jade. Under the dim light, she turned it over and studied it repeatedly.
This piece of jade was truly strange. No matter how she tried to warm it, it remained cold, like a piece of ice that never melted. But it wasn’t as cold as actual ice.
She actually disliked cold things. She enjoyed watching snow, but she couldn’t stand winter because her hands and feet often ached.
This affliction had been with her since childhood. One could say that most people in the Five Gates had it to some degree, probably from being tainted by Yin and evil energies. The pain was always in the joints, and it was worst in the winter.
She had gone to the hospital for several checkups, but nothing was ever found. Yet, when it flared up badly, the pain would be so severe she couldn’t walk. She could only curl up on the bed, drenched in cold sweat, relying on painkillers for some relief.
After looking for a while, Wu Yinyu set the jade down and headed straight for the bathroom, wanting nothing more than to soak quickly in the hot water, fearing her bones might start aching again.
This time, the dream came abruptly. It seemed as if the moment she closed her eyes, the scenery around her changed dramatically.
White jade.
Everything entering her sight was a jade-white color. All the Pavilion Terraces and towers seemed carved from ice and snow. Yet, strangely, this place was not cold; it even grew many bizarre green plants.
Such as lotus flowers with ink-black cores and fiery pistils, white plum blossoms of crystalline glass, or Golden Water Moss that looked like clusters of fireflies gathered together…
Looking again, there was that Thousand-Layered Pagoda. The tower rose tier upon tier, like an ice-forged imperial sword, cleaving down from the heights above.
Each layer of the tower was plastered with black Talismans. The text upon them looked like casual scribbles, their meaning indecipherable.
The pinnacle of the pagoda was invisible, shrouded by pitch-black clouds. Within the clouds, lightning flashed sharply, pecking down like an attacking falcon.
Before the thunderbolt even struck, Wu Yinyu felt a searing, rolling heat engulf her body. Before her eyes, those ice-carved, jade-wrought towers and pavilions became stained with a bloody hue.
Looking closer, it was no bloody light at all. It was clearly the Red Lotus Karmic Fire burning up from the depths of the earth.
But Wu Yinyu couldn’t cry out. She could only struggle fiercely. However, the arm-thick Soul Binding had shackled her fast; she couldn’t move a single step.
When the searing lightning struck down, a sudden gale arose. The roaring wind was punctuated by the tolling of Bell Chimes, each chime sounding like an interrogation of her crimes. On the eaves of the Thousand-Layered Pagoda, all the Spirit Bells were shaking, as if chiming in agreement.
A cold, indifferent voice, detached as if it were none of their business, asked: “The punished one has harmed the Buddha of Little Enlightenment Ruins. Do you plead guilty?”
Such a familiar voice, it made her heart ache as if being slashed by a knife.
Lightning wrapped around her body, flames blinded her eyes. Very soon, Wu Yinyu could hear nothing clearly and see nothing at all. When she jolted awake with a shudder, she realized she had fallen asleep in the bathtub.
Wu Yinyu hurriedly turned on the showerhead and rinsed herself with hot water. After washing, she lay down naked on the bed. In her own room, she never liked constraints; she did whatever was most comfortable.
Just as she was about to drift off, her phone on the pillow vibrated loudly. Annoyed, she picked it up, but when she saw the caller was the manager from Cuihui, the irritation on her face vanished completely.
Wu Yinyu called back, pulled the silk blanket up a little higher, and squinted slightly. “Any news?”
“We got in touch with Boss Yu. She’s quite knowledgeable about this jade and is certain it’s a pair,” the Cuihui manager said.
Wu Yinyu sat up, clutching a corner of the silk blanket tightly. In a drawn-out voice, she asked, “In that case, will you still auction the second piece of jade?”
The Cuihui manager gave a dry laugh. “You know as well as I do, that second piece hasn’t even had its consignment form signed. We wouldn’t dare auction something like that.”
“Is the item still with you?” Wu Yinyu asked.
“The new Head of the Yu family took it.”
“Already calling her Head of the Yu family?” Wu Yinyu chuckled softly, leaning against the headboard.
She fumbled for her smoking pipe on the table and picked it up. She didn’t pack any tobacco; she just toyed with it in her hands. “The thing is too hot for you to hold. But if it goes missing while in her hands, I imagine you’ll feel the heat even more.”
The Cuihui person forced a laugh. “Boss Yu pays well. Besides, she agreed to handle the matter properly.”
“Then why didn’t you ask what price I could offer?” Wu Yinyu lowered her eyes, flicking the red tassel on her pipe.
“Miss Wu,” the Cuihui manager said softly, “not everyone is willing to pay extra. I know you better than that.”
Wu Yinyu bent one knee, resting her chin on it. Smiling, she said, “So, the new Head of the Yu family is quite generous with her spending.”
