MAO SƠN DỊ LỤC – HẠNH NHI TRÓC QUỶ
Chapter 7: Three Days to Die
“The next person to be cursed... is you.”
The moment Hạnh Nhi finished speaking, the room fell completely silent.
Tô Tuấn looked down at his wrist.
The black mark had only crawled across a short stretch of skin earlier, but now it had extended almost to his elbow.
It didn’t look like a bruise.
Thin black lines twisted beneath his skin, resembling dozens of worms slowly crawling along his blood vessels.
Tô Tuấn frowned.
“Three days?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
Tô Tuấn looked up.
“You’re not sure, yet you’re saying it so calmly?”
Hạnh Nhi squatted beside Master Tô, placing two fingers against his neck to check his pulse.
“Three days is the longest.”
“And the soonest?”
“Tonight.”
Tô Tuấn: “...”
Mạnh Ái immediately blurted out from beside him:
“That’s how you talk to someone who’s about to die?”
Hạnh Nhi raised her head.
“How should I talk?”
“You should at least comfort him!”
“I don’t know how.”
“For example, ‘Don’t worry. I’m here.’”
Hạnh Nhi thought for a moment, then turned to Tô Tuấn.
“Don’t worry.”
Tô Tuấn was slightly surprised.
“I’m here.”
The corner of Tô Tuấn’s mouth had just started to lift when Hạnh Nhi continued:
“You might die a little slower.”
His smile vanished instantly.
Mạnh Ái covered her forehead.
“Forget it. Don’t comfort anyone ever again.”
Somehow, in the middle of this situation, Tô Tuấn actually laughed.
“It’s fine.”
He looked at Hạnh Nhi.
“At least she doesn’t lie.”
Hạnh Nhi didn’t respond.
She took out a yellow talisman and placed it on Master Tô’s forehead.
The moment the talisman touched his skin, it turned gray.
A moment later...
Whoosh!
It burst into flames on its own.
Hạnh Nhi immediately pulled her hand back.
“As expected.”
Tô Tuấn walked over.
“What’s wrong with my father?”
“He wasn’t struck by an evil spirit.”
“Then what?”
“His luck is being borrowed.”
Tô Tuấn frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Hạnh Nhi stood up.
“Everyone is born with fate and fortune.”
“Fate is difficult to change.”
“But fortune can flourish or decline.”
“Someone is using a curse to drain the Tô family’s fortune.”
Mạnh Ái understood immediately.
“That’s why the shops’ businesses failed, the warehouse burned down, and things kept happening to everyone in the family?”
“Yeah.”
“But what are they draining the fortune for?”
Hạnh Nhi looked at the wooden box in Tô Tuấn’s room.
“That’s what I want to know.”
Tô Tuấn was silent for a moment before asking:
“If someone took the Tô family’s fortune, where did it go?”
Hạnh Nhi looked at him.
It was exactly the right question.
“Into an object.”
“Or a person.”
Tô Tuấn immediately said:
“Then follow the money.”
Mạnh Ái stared blankly.
“What?”
“Follow the money.”
“We’re talking about talismans and spells.”
“I know.”
Tô Tuấn went to the table and pulled the stack of files toward him.
“If that person wants to destroy the Tô family, they don’t necessarily have to rely only on evil magic.”
“The failed shops create opportunities for other people to make money.”
“The warehouse fire benefits certain competitors.”
“If contracts were canceled, someone definitely received those contracts in our place.”
He spread the stacks of papers across the table.
“I don’t understand ghosts and spirits.”
“But I can find where the money went.”
Mạnh Ái looked at Hạnh Nhi.
Hạnh Nhi looked at Tô Tuấn too.
After a moment, she said:
“I’m beginning to understand why you haven’t died yet.”
Tô Tuấn raised an eyebrow.
“Was that a compliment?”
“Yeah.”
Mạnh Ái cut in:
“That’s the second time she’s complimented you.”
“Is that rare?”
“Extremely.”
Tô Tuấn chuckled softly.
Hạnh Nhi had already lowered her head to examine the files.
She didn’t notice that Tô Tuấn’s gaze lingered on her longer than usual.
Half an hour later.
Five names appeared on the table.
Five trade houses that had once competed with the Tô family.
Tô Tuấn circled one of the names with his pen.
Vạn Thịnh Đường.
“Over the past three months, we’ve lost seven major contracts.”
“Five of them went to Vạn Thịnh.”
Mạnh Ái asked:
“Who owns it?”
“Lục Trường Phong.”
“Does he have a grudge against your family?”
“In business, there are no true friends.”
“So that means yes.”
Tô Tuấn nodded.
“Ten years ago, my father caused the Lục family to lose a very important deal.”
“And then?”
“The Lục family nearly went bankrupt.”
Hạnh Nhi asked:
“Did anyone die?”
Tô Tuấn froze.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Lục Trường Phong’s eldest son.”
“How did he die?”
“He jumped from a building.”
Hạnh Nhi immediately raised her head.
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
“What date?”
Tô Tuấn thought about it.
“The seventeenth day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar.”
Hạnh Nhi’s expression changed.
Mạnh Ái noticed at once.
“What’s special about that day?”
“It’s close to the day the Ghost Gate opens.”
The air in the room suddenly turned cold.
Hạnh Nhi continued:
“Where was the body buried?”
“I don’t know.”
“We have to find it.”
“Is it related?”
“Possibly.”
Hạnh Nhi looked at the names on the table.
“To use the spell that borrows fortune, the caster needs a conduit.”
“The stronger the conduit’s resentment, the more powerful the effect.”
Mạnh Ái swallowed.
“You think they used...”
“The dead.”
Hạnh Nhi answered.
“But it may not be the Lục family.”
Tô Tuấn nodded.
“Then we’ll investigate both possibilities.”
Hạnh Nhi raised her eyebrows slightly.
“Both?”
“You search for the talisman.”
“I’ll search for the person.”
He pushed one stack of files aside.
“Before tonight, I’ll have all the information on the Lục family.”
Mạnh Ái braced her hands on the table.
“What about me?”
Tô Tuấn looked at her.
“You can—”
“Don’t say you’ll pay me.”
Tô Tuấn immediately fell silent.
Hạnh Nhi said:
“You’re coming with me.”
Mạnh Ái’s eyes lit up.
“We’re going ghost hunting?”
“Digging.”
Behind the Tô residence was an abandoned garden.
According to the steward, it had once been Madam Tô’s flower garden.
But three months ago, the plants began to die.
At first, it was only one flower bush.
Then the larger trees.
Finally, the entire garden became a stretch of barren earth.
Hạnh Nhi stopped the moment she stepped inside.
“Don’t step on the tree shadows.”
Mạnh Ái immediately pulled her foot back.
“Why not?”
“Because the trees are dead.”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“But their shadows are still alive.”
Mạnh Ái looked down.
The slanting afternoon light passed through the dry branches.
On the ground, the tree shadows intertwined.
She watched for a moment.
Then her expression changed.
One of the shadows moved.
There was no wind.
Yet the shadow of a branch slowly crawled across the ground like an arm.
Mạnh Ái backed away.
“What is that...?”
“Don’t be afraid.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“Do you want me to comfort you?”
“Forget it.”
Mạnh Ái immediately shook her head.
Hạnh Nhi took a brass compass from her pocket.
The needle spun wildly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then it stopped abruptly.
Northwest.
Hạnh Nhi followed it.
At the far end of the garden stood a large pagoda tree.
Every other tree was dead.
Only this one was still green.
Mạnh Ái looked up.
“This tree is doing pretty well.”
“No.”
Hạnh Nhi looked at the trunk.
“It’s dead too.”
“But the leaves are still green.”
“Because it isn’t being nourished by water.”
Hạnh Nhi used her peachwood sword to scrape away a layer of bark.
A dark-red liquid flowed out from inside.
Mạnh Ái immediately backed away.
“Blood?”
“Not human blood.”
“Then whose blood is it?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Hạnh Nhi looked down at the base of the tree.
“Dig.”
Mạnh Ái pointed at herself.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll observe.”
Mạnh Ái glared at her.
“You’re not just trying to be lazy, are you?”
“No.”
“Then switch with me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I’m a Daoist.”
“Daoists don’t dig?”
“We do.”
“Then dig!”
Hạnh Nhi was silent for several seconds.
Finally...
She picked up the shovel.
“Fine.”
Mạnh Ái looked smug.
“See?”
Hạnh Nhi handed her the peachwood sword.
“You stand guard.”
Mạnh Ái took it.
“Easy.”
Hạnh Nhi had barely made her third dig...
when the ground behind Mạnh Ái suddenly bulged.
A pitch-black hand crawled out of the earth.
Mạnh Ái didn’t notice it at all.
Hạnh Nhi calmly said:
“Behind you.”
Mạnh Ái turned around.
“Aah!”
She swung the sword instinctively.
Smack!
The peachwood sword struck the hand head-on.
A shriek rang out.
The hand immediately withdrew underground.
Mạnh Ái looked at the sword.
Then at Hạnh Nhi.
“I hit it?”
“Yeah.”
“A ghost?”
“A corpse puppet.”
“What?”
“A corpse being controlled.”
Mạnh Ái immediately gripped the sword with both hands.
“How many more are there?”
Hạnh Nhi looked around.
“Probably...”
The ground began to tremble.
One hand.
Two hands.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Hạnh Nhi sighed.
“Quite a few.”
Mạnh Ái turned to her.
“‘Quite a few’ means five?”
Hạnh Nhi looked at the hands continuing to crawl out.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
“No.”
“Twelve.”
Mạnh Ái: “...”
“Dig faster!”
Twelve corpse puppets crawled out of the earth one after another.
Not one of them was intact.
One had lost half its face.
Another had only one arm left.
Black talismans were pasted to all their foreheads.
Hạnh Nhi recognized them immediately.
“Huyền Môn.”
Mạnh Ái shouted while dodging a corpse puppet:
“That Huyền Sát guy again?”
“Possibly.”
“Stop saying ‘possibly’!”
“Left.”
“Huh?”
“Left!”
Mạnh Ái turned around.
A corpse puppet lunged at her.
She closed her eyes and swung the sword.
Smack!
It fell straight to the ground.
Mạnh Ái opened her eyes.
“I killed it?”
“It was already dead.”
“Oh, right.”
“Tear off the talisman.”
“Which one?”
“On its forehead!”
Mạnh Ái immediately rushed over and ripped off the black talisman.
The corpse puppet instantly lay motionless.
Her eyes lit up.
“It’s that easy?”
“Yeah.”
“You could’ve said so sooner!”
Mạnh Ái began running in circles.
“Come here!”
“I’ll tear every last one of you apart!”
Hạnh Nhi looked at her.
“Don’t provoke them.”
“Why not?”
All eleven corpse puppets turned their heads toward Mạnh Ái at once.
Hạnh Nhi calmly replied:
“They can hear you.”
Mạnh Ái: “...”
“You should’ve said that sooner!”
She turned and ran.
Hạnh Nhi shook her head.
But a trace of amusement flashed in her eyes.
She took out three talismans.
“By the command of the Three Pure Ones.”
“Freeze!”
The three talismans flew out.
Three corpse puppets immediately stiffened.
“Now.”
Mạnh Ái understood.
She charged forward.
Rip!
Rip!
Rip!
The three black talismans were torn down.
The three corpse puppets collapsed.
The two of them worked together faster and faster.
In less than fifteen minutes...
all twelve corpse puppets lay motionless.
Mạnh Ái leaned on the sword and panted.
“Am I... pretty amazing?”
Hạnh Nhi nodded.
“You’re improving.”
Mạnh Ái immediately smiled.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“When will you teach me talismans?”
“Not yet.”
“The sword?”
“Not yet.”
“Magic?”
“No.”
Mạnh Ái pouted.
“Then what am I learning?”
Hạnh Nhi handed her the shovel.
“Digging.”
The two of them dug nearly another half meter down.
Clang!
The shovel blade struck something hard.
Hạnh Nhi crouched down.
She brushed away the dirt with her hand.
A bronze box gradually emerged.
An image of a snake biting its own tail was engraved on the lid.
Hạnh Nhi immediately stopped.
“Don’t open it.”
Mạnh Ái had been about to touch it, but quickly pulled her hand back.
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know again?”
“But this symbol...”
Hạnh Nhi wiped away the dirt.
Beneath the image of the snake was an ancient character.
FATE.
She stared at it for a long time.
“This is a fate-locking box.”
“Whose fate does it lock?”
Hạnh Nhi took out a red thread.
She tied it around the box.
The moment the thread touched the metal...
Whoosh!
It burned to ash.
Hạnh Nhi understood immediately.
“Tô Tuấn.”
Mạnh Ái froze.
“Him?”
“Yeah.”
“Then should we smash it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If we smash the box...”
Hạnh Nhi looked toward the Tô residence.
“The person whose fate is locked will die too.”
At the same time.
In his room, Tô Tuấn was going through the files.
A servant entered.
“Young master.”
“Any news?”
“Yes.”
The servant placed a letter on the table.
“Lục Trường Phong disappeared three months ago.”
Tô Tuấn frowned.
“Three months?”
“Yes.”
“At the same time the trouble began for the Tô family.”
“Yes.”
Tô Tuấn opened the letter.
Inside was information on the Lục family.
He read through it quickly.
When he reached the final page...
Tô Tuấn suddenly stopped.
A photograph.
In it, Lục Trường Phong stood beside a man wearing black Daoist robes.
On the man’s hand...
was a silver ring.
Tô Tuấn immediately stood up.
“Hạnh Nhi!”
But after taking only one step...
he froze.
The black mark on his arm suddenly spread rapidly.
From his elbow to his shoulder.
Then it raced straight toward his chest.
Tô Tuấn dropped to his knees.
A violent pain clutched his heart.
He tried to reach for the bell to summon someone.
But...
Click.
The door locked itself.
A voice sounded from behind him.
“Don’t call anyone.”
Tô Tuấn turned his head.
A man was sitting in a chair.
Black Daoist robes.
The silver ring.
Huyền Sát.
Tô Tuấn gritted his teeth.
“You...”
“Me?”
Huyền Sát smiled.
“I’m here to help you.”
“Help?”
“That’s right.”
He placed a small knife on the table.
“Do you want to live?”
Tô Tuấn looked at the knife.
“What do you want?”
“Smart.”
Huyền Sát stood up.
“I like talking to smart people.”
He walked in front of Tô Tuấn.
“You only need to do one thing.”
“What?”
“Kill Hạnh Nhi.”
Tô Tuấn laughed despite his deathly pale face.
“You think I’ll do that?”
“No.”
Huyền Sát shook his head.
“But three hours from now...”
“You’ll beg me to let you do it.”
He vanished.
The door flew open.
Tô Tuấn collapsed onto the floor.
In his palm...
there was a black talisman.
He didn’t know when it had appeared.
One character was written on it.
DEATH.
Hạnh Nhi suddenly stopped walking.
The brass bell at her waist began ringing on its own.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Three times.
Her expression immediately changed.
Mạnh Ái asked:
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone has tampered with Tô Tuấn’s fate.”
“How long does he have?”
Hạnh Nhi looked at the sky.
The sun was gradually sinking.
She tightened her grip on the bronze box.
“Not three days.”
“Then how long?”
“Three hours.”
Mạnh Ái went pale.
“Can we save him?”
Hạnh Nhi didn’t answer immediately.
She looked at the character FATE on the bronze box.
Then at the corpses scattered around the pagoda tree.
Twelve corpse puppets.
Twelve talismans.
Twelve dead people.
But the fortune-draining formation only needed...
thirteen.
Hạnh Nhi suddenly raised her head.
“This is bad.”
“What?”
“Tô Tuấn isn’t the final person to be cursed.”
“Then who is?”
Hạnh Nhi looked toward the room where Tô Tuấn was staying.
Her gaze turned cold.
“He’s the thirteenth sacrifice.”
Just then...
A bell rang from the Tô residence.
Boom!
Only once.
But every bird on the rooftops took flight at the same time.
Hạnh Nhi immediately ran.
“Mạnh Ái!”
“Yes!”
“Bring the box!”
“What about you?”
“I’m saving someone.”
The two of them charged toward the Tô residence.
Neither of them noticed...
A woman in white slowly stepped out from behind the pagoda tree.
She bent down and looked at the twelve corpse puppets.
Then she raised her head toward Tô Tuấn’s room.
The corners of her mouth stretched into a smile.
“One is missing.”
“Twelve corpses.”
“One living person.”
“That’s enough.”
Inside the room...
Tô Tuấn lay motionless on the floor.
The black mark had reached his heart.
And on the wall behind him...
A line of blood-red writing slowly appeared.
THE THIRD WATCH.
THE TÔ FAMILY’S FATE ENDS HERE.