12dz Chapter 421 Breaking the Stalemate with Power
Chapter 421 Breaking the Stalemate with Power
Shopkeeper Hu carried a white paper lantern, the light illuminating the old characters on it. The talisman in his hand slid across his fingertips, fresh blood seeping from the edge of the copper hole.
She was about to push the lamp forward, but just as her toes touched the wet mud under the withered leaves, she was pulled back by the old words on the boat plank.
"Hu Shuang'er, seventh in the boat's eye."
These words were squeezed out of her throat, and the lamplight flickered twice, illuminating the layers of black water beneath the tree roots turning red.
Mo Chengyue used his sword sheath to push aside the red line that was close to the ship's deck, preventing her from getting any closer.
"Stop reading it aloud, the name will be traced back to the person through the bloodline."
Shopkeeper Hu acted as if she hadn't heard, clutching the Soul-Suppressing Coin in her palm, blood dripping down the copper edge onto her sleeve.
"She's on the ship."
Mo Chengyue looked down at the ship's planks. The red powder was spread in a narrow circle along the muddy edge, forcing the black water back into the cracks of the rotten wood.
"I saw it."
"She was on the ship for twenty years."
Manager Hu raised his face, his eyes reddened by the lamplight, and his once steady voice cracked.
"You saw it too, didn't you? She wasn't swept away by the water, and it's not that nobody knows where she went. She was nailed to the boat the whole time."
Mo Chengyue placed the Yuhua Sword between her and the boat plank.
Seeing a name is not the same as seeing the person.
Shopkeeper Hu took a step forward, her shoe sole touching the wet red paper money. The edges of the paper immediately curled up, as if they were about to stick to her ankle.
Mo Chengyue swept his sword sheath downwards, flicking the paper money outside the Chiyang Pink Circle.
"Take one more step, and I'll save you first."
Shopkeeper Hu gritted his teeth and asked, "Then why didn't you save her?"
Mo Chengyue did not respond immediately, but instead picked out the red thread that was sticking out from the edge of the boat plank. The end of the thread was covered with rotten soil, and the other end was still connected to the tree roots deeper inside.
Manager Hu stared at his profile, his voice growing increasingly tense.
"You'll save her, won't you?"
Mo Chengyue wrapped the red thread around the array hook, making sure it didn't touch the wedding invitation in his palm, before speaking.
"I will investigate her."
The white paper lantern in Manager Hu's hand drooped down, its flame almost touching the withered leaves.
"check?"
"Check what she has left before deciding whether to proceed."
"She is my sister."
"She is also the seventh-ranked ship's eye."
Shopkeeper Hu's chest heaved heavier as she pressed the Soul-Suppressing Coin against her wound, the blood staining the copper surface, the old character "Lin" appearing dim and unclear under the lamplight.
"I don't know what a ship's eye is."
Mo Chengyue looked at the rust in the carvings on the ship's planks, his tone unwavering.
"The person who guides the red-light boat to its shore."
Shopkeeper Hu let out a short laugh, a laugh filled with pain.
"People who recognize the shore?"
"The red lantern boats need to find old names, relatives, and people who can be led away by a single sentence. The boat's eyes are responsible for seeing, remembering, and bringing these people to the side of the boat."
Shopkeeper Hu loosened and tightened his fingers, and blood seeped out from under the strip of cloth, falling to the ground where it was licked away by the dark red watermarks.
"You mean, the Shuang'er who called me just now, it was her?"
Mo Chengyue tapped the word "seven" on the ship's deck with his sword sheath.
"It's not necessarily that she spoke herself; it's also possible that the ship spoke through her eyes and thoughts."
Manager Hu suddenly thrust the lamp forward, the lamp cord carrying the Soul-Suppressing Coins flying out, almost sweeping the black water at the edge of the boat plank.
"She's still alive!"
Mo Chengyue raised his sword to block the light, and the copper coin struck the scabbard with a dull thud.
"Being present does not equate to being alive."
Shopkeeper Hu's eyes turned bloodshot as he looked at the rejected Soul-Suppressing Coins.
Say it again.
Mo Chengyue did not avoid her gaze, holding a soul-protecting talisman between his fingertips and sticking the corner of the talisman to her wrist.
"The person in the ship's eye might not still be alive."
Shopkeeper Hu shook off his hand, and the soul-protecting talisman slipped from his wrist. Mo Chengyue stepped on it with the tip of his shoe, preventing it from falling into the wet mud.
"Mo Chengyue, you make it sound so easy."
"I may sound harsh, but it can save your life."
"Whose life are we saving?"
"Your life, the lives of the ferrymen, and perhaps Hu Shuang'er who is still alive."
Shopkeeper Hu held the white paper lantern back to her chest. The light made the color drain from her face, but made her look even stiffer.
"I don't want the possibility."
Mo Chengyue picked up the soul-protecting talisman and put it back on the sword sheath.
"The Red Light Boat loves this phrase the most."
Manager Hu asked in a low voice, "My sister is on the boat. You want me to stand here and do the accounting?"
"If you rush over, it will flip through the ledgers all over Red Maple Ferry."
"She boarded the ship for my mother, she paid off the debt of life for the Hu family, she hasn't returned for twenty years, and now I have to endure even calling her name?"
Mo Chengyue inserted the array hook into the mud, and the red thread, once pulled, emitted a soft, tidal sound.
"You can shout."
Manager Hu was stunned.
Mo Chengyue raised his eyes.
"Once you shout it out, the ship will know you're willing to trade yourself for her."
Shopkeeper Hu's lips moved, but she swallowed the name she was about to utter, and the flame of the white paper lamp fell back to the wick from above.
Mo Chengyue continued, "Then it will use you as a second eye, use your Hu family's blood to open up the old river channel, and then use the water veins of your inn to enter the town."
Shopkeeper Hu's breathing became erratic, and the strips of cloth wrapped around her arm were torn askew, with blood flowing down her palm and over the talisman.
"Are you trying to scare me?"
Mo Chengyue pointed to the dark red waterline at his feet.
"It already tried."
Shopkeeper Hu looked down and saw that the water stains were still swirling around her toes, like a swarm of red ants waiting to be fed.
She took half a step back, then abruptly stopped.
"But she's inside."
"I know."
She calls me "sister".
"I heard you."
She said she didn't want to look at the shore anymore.
"This statement should be treated with even greater care."
Manager Hu looked up, and hatred finally appeared in his eyes.
"You have no heart."
Mo Chengyue stopped collecting the Chiyang powder as the wind blew open the paper package, and a few grains of grayish-red powder fell onto his sleeve.
He folded the paper package, tucked it back into his sleeve, and then looked at her.
"Those who are thoughtful are better suited to visiting graves than to breaking up a deadlock."
Shopkeeper Hu seemed to be choked by those words, her grip on the white paper lamp causing it to tilt and the oil to slowly drip down the lamp's sides.
"She hasn't been buried yet."
Mo Chengyue nodded.
"That's why I'm still standing here."
These words pierced through the hatred in Manager Hu's eyes. She stared at Mo Chengyue, her voice lowering.
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Mo Chengyue turned to the rotten ship plank, drew three arcs outside the red sun pink circle with the Rain Flower Sword, and then took out the array plate and placed it firmly against the crack in the tree root.
"Drain the remaining air first."
Shopkeeper Hu raised the lamp high.
"Would pulling it out save her?"
"If we pull her out, we can find out which lamp she was nailed to, what she was in charge of along the way, and whether she can still be removed from the ship's eye."
"What if we can't take it apart?"
Mo Chengyue looked at the red dot slowly appearing in the center of the array plate, but did not answer immediately.
Shopkeeper Hu stared at him and pressed, "What if you can't take it apart?"
Mo Chengyue placed the soul-protecting talisman on the east side of the array plate, the talisman's patterns darkening from the moisture.
"Then don't touch it for now."
Manager Hu's shoulders and back were tense.
"Are you going to wait again?"
"It's cheaper than dying."
"Can you please stop using price tags all the time when you talk?"
"cannot."
Mo Chengyue affixed the second Tranquilizing Talisman to the crack in the tree root. The black water was forced back by the talisman's light, and the red lines in the inscription on the ship plank began to wriggle gently.
"If I don't negotiate the price, the other party will set a price for me."
Manager Hu gritted his teeth and said, "You really should become a manager."
Mo Chengyue glanced at the lamp in her hand.
"Your line of work is too risky; you can't afford to pay workers' compensation."