novelapdf Chapter 434 My main job isn't just comforting you
Chapter 434 My main job isn't just comforting you
Outside the gate, the unlit boat stopped close to the abandoned dock. The black water stopped rising, but began to lick at the shadow at the shopkeeper's feet.
Mo Chengyue pressed his left hand on the Rain Flower Sword, and the talisman ash on the sword was pulled into a curved line. He saw that the shadow had already crossed the threshold talisman ash and was extending along the gap in the wooden planks towards the bow of the boat.
Manager Hu held the small box, with a white paper lantern pasted in front of it, the light making her face appear pale.
"Is it casting a shadow?"
"Pull the shadow first, then the person."
Mo Chengyue used the tip of his sword to clear away the dampness in front of the threshold and picked out the Chiyang powder that had been touched by the black water.
"Even if your shadow gets on the boat, and you're still on the shore, you'll be slowly dragged away by the water until you feel your feet are all damp, until you start to hear the creaking of the boat in your dreams, and finally you walk there yourself and still think you're going home."
Shopkeeper Hu tightened the small box around his chest, causing the lamplight to flicker and the shadow on the ground to stretch longer.
She gritted her teeth and asked, "Then can I shine the light over there and break the shadow?"
"You can try it, but don't yell at me after you're done."
"Are you still keeping me in suspense at a time like this?"
"I won't keep you in suspense; risking my life would be a huge loss."
Shopkeeper Hu ignored him and flicked his wrist, shining the white paper lantern towards his feet.
As soon as the lamplight touched the edge of the shadow, the talisman on the box lid emitted a burning smell, and the old silver light inside the small box shrank back when the lamplight hit it.
Shopkeeper Hu immediately stopped what he was doing, and the edge of the lamp paper turned black.
"Ah Sui?"
There was no response from the small box; the silver light of the Soul-Sealing Talisman was reduced to a mere speck floating in its center, so faint it seemed it might extinguish at any moment.
Mo Chengyue used the back of his sword with his left hand to hold the lamp handle and send the flame back to her chest.
"Don't shine the light on your feet."
Shopkeeper Hu's eyes reddened, but he dared not cry out loud.
"You just said the light can't be turned off, but now it can't shine on my feet. How am I supposed to use it?"
"Shine the light on the box, but slightly off-center, so the fire doesn't fall directly on the soul talisman."
"How much more off?"
"It's so crooked that you find it inconvenient."
As instructed, Manager Hu moved the white paper lamp to the front side of the small box. The lamplight no longer struck the box lid directly, and the old silver light inside the Soul-Sealing Talisman finally stabilized.
She looked down at her feet, but the shadow that had been dragged away did not return. Instead, it was pushed aside by the lamplight, leaving another faint shadow.
Manager Hu's eyes flickered.
"The second one?"
"False image".
Mo Chengyue poured the Red Sun Powder onto the back of the sword, then flicked his left hand, scattering the powder along the blade onto the dry wooden board, drawing a crooked, shallow line along the edge of Manager Hu's feet.
"A ship without lights doesn't look at its face or its name; it looks at where the light falls and how the shadow moves."
Shopkeeper Hu steadied the white paper lamp and said in a low voice, "Then let's deceive it."
"Don't make it sound so easy. It's harder to fool the accountant than the opera singer."
"Can it hear?"
"It doesn't need to listen."
Mo Chengyue sprinkled the second layer of Chiyang powder on the left side of the threshold, and then used his sword sheath to push a dry leaf next to Manager Hu's shoes.
"It's in charge of the accounts."
Shopkeeper Hu stared at the ground, the lamplight falling diagonally across her chest. Her true shadow was pinned down by the ash from the sword talisman, while her false shadow extended outwards along the pale pink line of the crimson sun.
The bow of the unlit boat remained still, but the four characters on the wet, black boat sign slowly faded, leaving the sign blank again.
Shopkeeper Hu asked in a low voice, "Did it believe it?"
"It's still calculating."
"What's so special about it?"
"Which shadow is more valuable?"
Mo Chengyue raised his sword, touched the third layer of Crimson Sun Powder, and then tore off a corner of the Soul Protection Talisman and pressed it under the dry leaves.
"Don't move your feet, don't call out to Ah Sui, and don't look at the boat sign."
"I'm looking at you."
"And don't look at my right hand."
Shopkeeper Hu was about to retort, but her gaze fell on his right arm hanging by his side, and she swallowed her words.
The cuff of his right arm was covered in blood, and the blood-stained palm prints were darkened through the tattered cloth, the red lines unusually still.
She held the lamp more steadily.
"What if Yu Lin Hong grabs your right hand again?"
"Then don't let her feel more comfortable outside than inside."
"You still have the strength to overpower her?"
"I may not have the strength, but I do have an IOU."
Manager Hu was so angry he wanted to curse, when the boat without lights outside the door suddenly moved forward a little.
The black water did not surge, but merely gently rolled up the illusory shadow outside the threshold. The first shadow path drawn by the red sun powder immediately darkened, and the dry wooden planks along the path made a muffled sound as if they had been soaked in water.
Manager Hu's shoulders were tense.
"It's biting an illusion."
Don't be happy.
Mo Chengyue turned the tip of his sword with his left hand toward the second Crimson Sun Powder line, and the talisman ash slid off the sword.
"It tries the cheapest one first."
The unlit boat drew closer, and a second illusory shadow was swallowed by the black water. From the empty hatches, the soft sound of wood absorbing water could be heard.
Manager Hu didn't dare to keep his head down for too long, only glancing at the scene out of the corner of his eye.
"The second one was also swallowed up."
"Um."
"Has the true form returned yet?"
"no."
"So it wasn't scammed?"
"You've fooled half of what you're saying, but the other half is still looking for you."
Shopkeeper Hu felt a chill run down his spine. He shifted the position of the hand holding the small box, accidentally pressing his palm against the old wound that had been cut by the red paper earlier.
The blood scab was rubbed off by the corner of the box, and a small amount of blood stained the edge of the talisman.
The silver light inside the small box flickered.
The unlit boat outside the door finally reacted. The wet, black signboard turned towards Manager Hu, and the black water flowed along the cracks in the wooden planks, passing over the two illusory shadows, and swimming directly towards the real shadow at her feet.
Manager Hu immediately withdrew his hand.
"It found me?"
Mo Chengyue glanced at the old wound on her palm, reached for the array hook at his waist with his left hand, but found nothing. He then remembered that the array hook had been nailed into the blood lines on his right palm and had been pulled out and thrown beside the array plate.
"Your blood."
Manager Hu's expression changed.
"I didn't let the blood fall to the ground."
"Old injuries on the hands also count."
"Then should I hide my hands?"
"It's too late."
Blackwater crawled along the wood grain like a scaleless water snake, bypassing the talisman ash of the Rain Flower Sword and biting directly at the edge where Manager Hu's shadow was pinned.
Shopkeeper Hu was dragged towards the threshold, and she immediately protected the small box in her arms, tucking the white paper lamp between her arms, pressing the lamplight against the lid of the box, not daring to shine it randomly.
"Mo Chengyue, I can't stand here."
"Don't stand there."
"What?"
"Kneeling is fine, just don't fall over, and don't let the box leave your chest."
Shopkeeper Hu was dragged until her knees hit the wooden plank. The dampness from the plank seeped up her skirt, but she gritted her teeth and managed to keep the small box in her arms from falling out.
"You're really good at comforting people."
"My main job isn't to offer comfort."
Mo Chengyue grabbed the array hook on the edge of the array plate with his left hand. His wrist trembled. When he threw the hook for the first time, it grazed the threshold and slipped away, failing to pin the dry leaf line.
When Manager Hu saw this, his face turned even paler.
"Your left hand is unsteady too?"
"It may be unstable, but I haven't applied for resignation."
Mo Chengyue reattached the array hook, pinched the ashes of the soul-protecting talisman between two fingers of his left hand, wiped them on the end of the hook, and threw it again at Shopkeeper Hu's feet.
This time, the hook pierced through the hem of her dress, nailing into the dry leaf thread beneath the wooden plank, pinning her hem and the edge of her shadow together as she was being dragged away.
Shopkeeper Hu groaned, his knee sliding a mark on the damp wooden board, but the small box remained pressed against his chest.
"You nailed my clothes?"
"If you're not going to nail my clothes, why are you being nailed?"
"Couldn't you have told me beforehand?"
"I told you in advance that you would hide."
The black water was blocked by the array hooks, and the true shadow was forced to get stuck in front of the dry leaf line. The ship outside the door, which had no lights, did not move back. Two words reappeared on the wet black wooden sign at the bow of the ship.
Paying off the debt.
When Manager Hu saw those two words, his throat tightened, and he couldn't say them aloud.
"What else does it need?"