69novels Chapter 416 Living Water Cut Off
Chapter 416 Living Water Cut Off
Mo Chengyue affixed the last soul-protecting talisman to his ankle, and the talisman's light pinned the shadow back to his feet.
"You're responsible for not dying."
Xiao Liu looked at Lao Zheng with a wronged expression.
"This job is difficult too."
Old Zheng stuffed the iron spoon into his arms.
"I'll hold you, even if it's difficult."
Shopkeeper Hu stared at the red embroidered shoes. The soles had swallowed the fake letter, and the twin flowers on the shoe surface were slowly turning a deeper red.
"It got it."
Mo Chengyue pushed the array plate to his feet, and the Cleansing Talisman lit up at the same time, reattaching Xiao Liu's main body and shadow.
The red embroidered shoes retreated from Xiao Liu's shadow, but did not disappear. Instead, they slid along the base of the wall toward the back window, leaving no sound of the soles touching the ground, only a wet red trail.
The frosty leaf patterns in the paper window brightened, and a woman's soft laughter emanated from within.
"See you tonight, groom."
Mo Chengyue placed the Rain Flower Sword across the window frame, preventing the red mist from sneaking in.
"Please take a number and don't cut in line."
The red embroidered shoes stopped by the window, the toes first pointing towards Mo Chengyue, then slowly turning towards the river.
No one spoke in the watchtower anymore; even Xiao Liu swallowed his sobs. Only the faint sound of dried fish turning in the shed outside the window continued to drift in and out.
The toes of the shoes drooped down, and a drop of fresh blood seeped from the embroidery seam, falling onto the wooden board under the windowsill, as red as if it had just been taken from a living person.
Fortunately, nothing happened overnight. As dawn broke, the red mist outside the watchtower receded beyond the eaves. Before everyone could even breathe a sigh of relief, a large amount of red paper money floated onto the water at the dock.
Old Zheng peered out the back window, nearly slipping the iron ladle from his hand.
"Master, the fog has lifted. Has the boat moved out?"
Mo Chengyue scraped the ashes from the window frame into a bowl without looking up.
Have you ever seen a creditor forgive a debt at dawn?
Xiao Liu sat by the wall, holding an iron spoon. His shadow finally touched his feet, but he still didn't dare to stretch his legs out.
"What's the use of daylight then?"
Mo Chengyue handed the bowl to Manager Hu.
"Light up the bill."
Manager Hu took the talisman ash, looked down at the damp red marks left on the threshold, and his fatigue deepened.
"The red embroidered shoes are gone, the paper offerings have been burned away, yet the river is still sending money. Is this boat planning to wait until the moon wanes?"
Old Zhou adjusted the oil lamp; the wick had burned all night, and the flame was dimmed by the morning light.
"The red lantern boats used to collect passengers at night, leaving only the sound of water during the day; there was never such a rule before."
"It never got my blood before."
Mo Chengyue opened his palm, and the red pattern of the wedding invitation was hidden under his skin. The color was lighter than in the night, but it had not disappeared.
Old Zheng felt a chill run down his spine.
"You mean, it used your post to drag out what happened at night into the daytime?"
"almost."
Mo Chengyue closed his palms, his fingertips dabbing at the red sun powder.
"The night shift has been changed to the morning shift, and the demon ship is starting to stir."
Xiao Liu looked miserable.
"Master, let it wrap around itself, but please don't wrap it around me!"
Old Zheng glared at him.
"You were delivering a letter last night when your shadow got stepped on by a shoe, and you think you can just walk away from it?"
Xiao Liu hugged the talisman in his arms tightly.
"I didn't say I wouldn't deliver it. I just wanted to ask if it's possible to send the fish home by itself."
Manager Hu looked towards the direction of the goods shed.
"Is the fish basket still on Boss Fan's boat?"
Mo Chengyue nodded.
"The truth is hidden in that dried fish with its belly ripped open. When Boss Fan's boat leaves the river, the scent will carry it out."
Old Zheng immediately chimed in.
"Should we just wait for him to set sail?"
Mo Chengyue turned the array plate over. The bottom of the plate was covered with watermarks from last night, which were slowly creeping towards the dock.
"I can't wait."
Xiao Liu looked up.
Why?
Suddenly, a woman's startled cry came from outside the door.
"Ouch, what cut my foot!"
Old Zheng's expression changed, and he rushed towards the door with the iron ladle in his hand.
Manager Hu reached out to stop him.
"Don't open the front door."
Mo Chengyue had already stuck the calming talisman to the crack in the door. With a push from the end of the talisman, the wooden door opened only a narrow crack.
Outside the watchtower, the morning mist was thin. A woman carrying water stood on the stone steps of the dock, half of her bucket overturned at her feet. Red paper money spun around her shoe, the edges of the paper so thin they shone, as if it were cutting her ankle.
The woman was so frightened that she held the carrying pole horizontally in front of her.
"Old Zheng! What was all that commotion at your watchtower last night? Why is there so much dead people's money on the river?"
Old Zheng called out through the crack in the door.
"Don't bend down to pick it up, step back, and don't step in the water!"
The woman was trembling with anxiety.
"I want to return it too, but this piece of paper is stuck to my shoe!"
Xiao Liu clung to the windowsill, looking out, his voice softening.
"Does it arrest people during the day too?"
Mo Chengyue pulled a thunder talisman from his sleeve and clipped it to the array hook.
"If you can't catch them, just back off. You're pretty good at installment payments."
Old Zheng turned around.
"Immortal Master, can you save us?"
"Yes, but don't call her by her name."
Mo Chengyue slipped the hook through the crack in the door, the tip of the hook not touching the woman's shoe, but only lightly flicking the outer edge of the red paper money.
The paper money immediately flipped up, the thin paper edges cutting through the paper with a soft, wet sound.
The woman shrank back in fright.
"This paper bites!"
Mo Chengyue asked, "Where did you fetch the water from this morning?"
The woman's voice trembled.
"Houjing, I was thinking that it's getting light, and I can't just not cook."
Manager Hu's face was grim.
"The back well is connected to the old river culvert."
Old Zhou gave a stern reminder.
"The red-light boat touched the water tank last night and the wellhead during the day; it's testing the water flow at the ferry crossing."
Mo Chengyue pressed the thunder talisman onto the array hook, and the talisman fire shot out along the tip of the hook, burning a black hole in the edge of the red paper money, which immediately loosened the woman's shoe.
"Run to dry ground, and don't look back at the buckets."
The woman, holding onto the carrying pole, scrambled and crawled towards the higher part of the stone slab.
As soon as she left the dock, red ripples appeared in the bucket that had been overturned on the ground. Several pieces of paper money spilled out of the bucket, with wet words pasted on the paper, but they were rotted into paper mud when exposed to the morning light.
Xiao Liu was terrified.
"Do you still want that bucket?"
Old Zheng scolded him.
"If you need a bucket, I'll buy you one once you survive."
Xiao Liu whispered, "I don't want the red one."
Mo Chengyue retracted the array hook, and several fine slits appeared on the hook tip.
"Don't touch the river water during the day, and don't touch the well water either. Use any place where you passed through the waterway last night as a boat plank."
Manager Hu took over the conversation and shouted outside.
"Go back and tell everyone to seal the water vat, not to leave a wet rag by the stove, and to dry the red paper money that touches the threshold with a brazier, not to sweep it away by hand!"
The woman had already run to the alley entrance, and upon hearing this, she replied.
"Manager Hu, does your inn still serve breakfast?"
Manager Hu was so flustered by the questions that the lamp cord in his hand became tangled.
"Life depends on you, then we'll talk about food!"
Xiao Liu couldn't help but chime in.
"She's really bold, asking about breakfast at a time like this."
Old Zheng snorted.
"That's how people who have been hungry are."
Mo Chengyue placed the array plate back on the table, and only spoke after seeing that the watermarks on the bottom of the plate had stopped moving.
"Little Six, carry the fish basket."
Xiao Liu hadn't reacted yet.
"Which one should I carry?"
Mo Chengyue looked at the warehouse.
"The one on Boss Fan's boat."
Xiao Liu's face immediately fell.
"Master, I was stepped on by a shoe just last night, and today I've been promoted to fisherman?"
"The letter you sent out must be taken out of the Fog Realm by you."
Xiao Liu pointed to the talisman on his forehead.
"I don't look like a messenger at all."
Mo Chengyue slapped a new soul-protecting talisman into his arms.
"Don't worry, you're mainly like a hapless guy."
Old Zheng immediately walked towards the door.
"I'll go with you."
"You stay."
Mo Chengyue pushed the array plate towards him.
"The fire at the local temple can't go out, and we also need to keep an eye on the paper money at the watchtower. Old Zhou can't manage both by himself."
Old Zheng frowned.
"Then if you take Xiao Liu out, who will watch the way for you?"
Shopkeeper Hu picked up the white paper lantern.
"I'll go."
Old Zheng looked at her.
"You didn't rest all night."