Chapter 153 – The Gentlest Protection, Curse Lifted - Part 3

“Big Sis, can you look after Sheng'er for the next few days? Cough... cough...” Yan Yu broke into a fit of coughing.

“Are you all right?” Xue Ning asked with concern.

“I’m fine, just a little cold. Give me a few days, and I’ll be back to normal. I’m sorry for the trouble,” Yan Yu replied gently.

Xue Ning shook her head, smiling. “No trouble at all. My own kid’s a handful, while yours is as sweet as can be. I was thinking we could trade.”

“No need to trade,” Yan Yu said with a laugh. “Sheng'er is your daughter, too.”

They chatted a bit longer before Yan Yu excused herself, retiring to her room earlier than usual. She made sure Sheng'er wasn’t about to fall asleep, then took the sleeping draught the physician had prescribed. Quickly, she drifted into slumber.

This time, things went smoothly. The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself in that familiar dream—trapped in the little black room, unable to speak or move, not even blink. Yet inside her head, she cried out.

Feng’er, I want to move! I want to speak! If I’m your unfinished business, lift my restraints!

A second later, she could indeed move. She stepped over to the window and whispered, “Feng’er?”

But the white figure at the window didn’t stir or reply, no matter how she tried to talk.

Eventually, Yan Yu set her sights on the mysterious white slip of ghost money on the table.

“I want that money,” she murmured.

Still no response. The white figure didn’t so much as twitch.

Yan Yu gritted her teeth and approached the table. She certainly didn’t want Sheng'er to know what she was up to. Her husband bore a ghost’s curse, and she was convinced he desperately needed this ghostly banknote—otherwise, he wouldn’t have looked so rattled when it first came up. After all these years together, she knew him far too well to miss that fleeting hint of shock in his eyes.

Her hand neared the slip of paper, mind brimming with memories. But dread slammed into her like an icy blade—imminent doom, a prickle of death, as though stabbing needles were closing in from all sides. Some hidden rule seemed triggered.

Suddenly, the white figure made a grinding noise like bones snapping. It lowered its head, black hair masking that cracked, pallid face, and shuffled forward in harsh, jerky motions. It snatched the paper off the table, then placed it in Yan Yu’s hand.

In an instant, all that overwhelming terror vanished. It seemed Yan Yu couldn’t just take that ghost money on her own; the white figure had to give it to her.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Two days later.

Yan Yu’s

illness

vanished. She quickly saddled up, flanked by the ebony marquises, and galloped through the north gate into the open countryside, coming at last to the banks of the Silver Creek River beyond Gemhill.

The grass was lush and green, wildflowers bloomed bright, and a misty row of willows stirred in the breeze. Leaving the ebony marquises on guard at the entrance, Yan Yu walked over to where Li Yuan was waiting.

“I heard you caught a cold,” he said, concerned.

She put her hands on her hips. “I’m perfectly fine now. Feeling great, actually.”

With that, she plopped down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes roamed across the shimmering lake, and she spoke softly, “It’s only been four years or so, but so much has happened. Everyone jokes that you’re some sort of old monster in disguise, but I know you’re still you. My husband is capable of anything.”

She lightly stroked his hand.

Li Yuan chuckled. “What’s with all the sentimentality today?”

Yan Yu closed her eyes, breathing in and out before replying with a small laugh, “Oh, nothing. I’m a woman; aren’t I allowed to talk like this once in a while? You’ve brought me a life I never even dreamed of, and I just wish I could do more for you.”

“Why say that?”

She smiled. “No reason. Sometimes a girl just wants to say it.”

They chatted a while longer in hushed tones, then parted ways. The spring wind whipped around her as she mounted her horse. Though she wasn’t even ninth rank, she looked striking as she galloped off with her hulking canine guardians at her side.

Watching her go, Li Yuan suddenly had a strong feeling. Reaching into his pocket, he found a white slip of paper radiating a mysterious aura—

1 mace

. At the same moment, he sensed a shift in his status.

Where once the equipment slot in his status window was locked, it now showed

1 mace

. And even as he held that ghost money, it vanished from his hand. But with a thought, he could make it reappear. Clearly, it was genuine ghost currency.

Li Yuan stared in stunned silence. He wanted to chase after his wife, haul her right back, and scold her for taking such a risk. But he understood perfectly why she had feigned sickness. It was the only way to keep Sheng'er away and seize the money for him by herself.

He squeezed the ghost money tightly. This wasn’t the time to fret. Now that he had the money, he had to lift the curse as quickly as possible, then go home and scold his disobedient wife to his heart’s content.

Immediately, Li Yuan stood up and changed into a mask and cloak from a nearby bundle. He stuffed some rag padding inside his clothes to alter his silhouette, then slipped off into the distance, winding through narrow alleys. After a series of back-and-forth maneuvers, about half an hour of taking cramped side streets, he finally stepped into the mysterious old marketplace once again.

It was the same ancient cobblestone lane lined with traditional buildings. Vendors wearing eerie smiles continued hawking their wares, and dark shapes lurked in the deeper alleys. Not far away, another newcomer appeared, glancing around in curiosity at the odd surroundings.

Pulling his cloak tighter, Li Yuan headed quickly toward the quieter inner areas. The path grew narrower, the crowd thinner. On both sides stood shops selling all manner of items with clear price tags, yet not a single attendant guarded them; no one seemed worried about theft.

He studied each storefront in passing. There was only one final point he needed to confirm. Could he actually buy back his wooden doll with ghost currency?

He had already gathered evidence suggesting it might be possible—

One was that the ghostly street vendors clearly traded goods for money—exactly what they asked, and they gave change if a person overpaid. The second was that the ghostly market realm had supposedly sold Bear for one mace, following a similar transaction model.

Still, despite circling through the area, he saw no sign of the carpenter’s workshop. At one point, a man in blue tried pitching him

exotic beasts

from the Exotic Beast Park yet again, but Li Yuan pretended not to hear and promptly headed for the exit. Reaching the gateway, he felt a chill seep into his bones, so he decided not to re-enter that day. He would try again tomorrow.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

In the blink of an eye, nine days passed.

Li Yuan returned to the ancient marketplace each day, roaming the streets and noting others freely entering and exiting shops. That eased his concerns a bit.

On the tenth day, while wandering among the shops, he finally spotted a space filled with coils of wood shavings. The door stood open. Inside, a crimson wooden rack caught his eye, displaying an array of small dolls. A furnace on one side roared with flames, crackling and popping.

Li Yuan paused at the threshold, glanced around, and slipped inside.

With the first step, nothing happened. After the second, he was still fine.

He went straight to the rack and soon spotted a doll that was a near-perfect likeness of himself. The price tag read five candareens. Breathing a sigh of relief, he took out the one mace note and placed it on the rack, then picked up the wooden figure.

In that instant, he felt a frigid, malignant presence in his body evaporate. The one mace vanished, replaced by three slips of ghost money marked three candareens, one candareen, and one candareen. At the same time, a line of text in his equipment list changed—

「 Equipment 1: 3-candareen, 1-candareen (x2) 」

「 Equipment 2: Li Yuan’s Wooden Doll 」

Having completed his purchase, he prepared to leave. But before heading out, he gave the rack a final glance. No sign of Pang Yuanhua’s doll.

Confused, he peered around and noticed a figure in the furnace, one already half-burned. His eyes went wide. The charred torso bore the unmistakable face of Pang Yuanhua. Its price was dropping before his very eyes:

One candareen... Nine cash... Eight cash...

When it hit seven cash, Li Yuan made up his mind. Producing one of his one-candareen notes, he pointed to the doll in the flames. “I’ll buy that one.”

At his words, a gruesome half-face—ashen-white and devoid of emotion—peered out from behind the crimson rack. The figure reached into the furnace, retrieved the blackened remains of Pang Yuanhua’s puppet, and held it out to Li Yuan.

He handed over a candareen of ghost money.

A moment later, the pale hand returned a slip worth three cash in change.

His equipment list changed again—

「 Equipment 1: 3-candareen, 1-candareen, 3-cash 」

「 Equipment 2: Li Yuan’s Wooden Doll 」

「 Equipment 3: Pang Yuanhua’s Wooden Doll (Damaged) 」

Li Yuan didn’t linger. Hugging the dolls to his chest, he retraced his steps and left the ancient street.

Outside, he took a deep breath and decided to do a quick test. He stepped through an arch formed by interwoven tree branches. Nothing happened. He hurried back to Gemhill, passed through its gates, and still felt perfectly normal.

“The curse is really gone!”

He was overjoyed. Yet a second later, a thought struck him, and he went to the armory’s door. It was shut. He pushed it open. On the other side, he saw a row of sect servants who stood at once, saluting him respectfully.

“Patriarch.”

He closed the door again, struck by a peculiar new awareness. Pulling out

Li Yuan’s Wooden Doll

, he concentrated. A chill emanated from the figure, snaking around his arm. He opened the door a second time. This time, a harsh, rhythmic clanking sound came from within, and the eerie carpenter seemed to sense him. It turned its head, brimming with malice and hatred, glaring at the entrance.

BANG!

Li Yuan slammed the door shut, heart pounding. Tucking the doll away, he opened the door a third time, only to see the servants again, no sign of the carpenter’s workshop. The servants blinked in confusion, not comprehending his actions.

But Li Yuan understood perfectly; by redeeming his own doll, he had acquired a strange power typically reserved for the living corpse-like entities called undying husks. Now, he could open

that

door. And it led straight to the ghost carpenter’s workshop.

He tried testing Pang Yuanhua’s doll next, but it did nothing. Evidently, it belonged to Pang Yuanhua alone and had no effect in Li Yuan’s hands.