Not only did Godmother Cui notice, but the few helpers present also realized the formidable nature of their opponent.
Except for the old man with a scar on his face, who stood there with a cold smile, everyone else—whether it was the craftsman with one eye blinded by a nail or the snake repellent man—already intended to retreat. They were very wary of the Red Lantern floating in mid-air outside the forest.
They didn't know that the Red Lantern would only appear for a limited time; they just knew that such a powerful evil spirit had arrived, and it was too difficult to deal with.
This kind of life-or-death job wasn't something to be taken up casually.
"What are you still waiting for?"
Godmother Cui, realizing their hesitation, suddenly turned her head and shouted hoarsely at them, "At this point, you still want to run?"
"It's too late!"
She ignored the three violently shaking altars in front of her, her expression as grim as a ghost, and shouted at them, "Brothers, don't chicken out! Why do you think I insisted on dealing with these travelers? Do you know who is in their coffin?
"That's the eldest daughter of the Dongzi Li Family, who guards the ghost gate! If we let her return, will the Dongzi Li Family spare us?
"In less than half a month, every last one of us will be taken to fill the Ghost Cave!"
"What?"
These people were already in a state of panic, and now, with this revelation, they were even more terrified, almost fainting from fright.
They couldn't care about their dignity as they cursed at Godmother Cui, "Are you crazy? Why did you provoke such a family and drag us into this?"
"Drag you down?"
Godmother Cui gritted her teeth, looking more like a ghost than a person as she said ominously, "What do you mean drag you down? From the day you entered this Jianghu path, you were already dragged down.
"From the first day I got involved in this, I prepared evidence of your crimes. If anything happens to me, none of you will have it easy.
"All these years, how many benefits have you reaped from my hand, and now you want to clean your hands of this?"
The others listened, their hearts filled with shock and anger, their killing intent surging. But seeing Godmother Cui standing her ground, refusing to yield, they suddenly felt a pang of guilt; after all, they all had dirt on each other.
If this really blew up, the government might not care, but there were others who could—people who would make their lives a living hell.
Amidst the shock and anger, it was the scar-faced old man who spoke in a low voice, "Godmother, you're usually not someone without a sense of measure. Why would you provoke such a sinister family?"
"I had no choice either."
Godmother Cui seized the opening, lowering her voice. "I've done a lot of business along this Pingnan Road, and I've offended some formidable people!
"I was prepared. Normally, no one could find my residence. But I don't know what happened. That day, I had just moved to a new house that no one knew about, when I was woken in the middle of the night. Someone in a black sedan chair had found me.
"I used all sorts of Magic on him, but none of it worked. He didn't say much, just told me to abduct someone.
"I had never encountered such bizarre Magic before. Seeing that he knew so much about my background, I had no choice but to comply. Fortunately, he didn't ask for anything else, just for me to abduct that person and send them away.
"It was surprisingly easy to abduct them, and there were no incidents in selling them off. The black sedan chair never came to me again. Then one day, I suddenly found a packet of Blood Food Pills on my pillow—the payment, I guess."
Wang Lai grew anxious. "This whole thing sounds creepy! Godmother, didn't you try to figure it out?"
"Understand what?"
Godmother Cui spoke in a low voice, "This kind of person could easily take my life. I had no choice but to comply. The more extra things I did, the quicker I would die.
"You're all old hands in the jianghu. Do you have any other methods?"
For a moment, her words left everyone speechless. If they imagined themselves in her situation, facing such a mysterious and bizarre person, they truly would have had no other recourse. Finally, one of them asked, "Then what? How did you find out it was someone from the Dongzi Li Family?"
"I was on tenterhooks for months, with no further disturbances. Eventually, I did some investigating and found out the girl had already been sold to the south. After she'd changed hands a few times, my heart finally settled."
Godmother Cui gritted her teeth, as if narrating some bizarre tale. "But just a few months after that, the black sedan chair found me again in the middle of the night. The person inside coldly threw me a line, saying the young miss had been rescued and would soon be sent home.
"He also said one more thing..."
She paused before continuing in a low voice, "He said the person I abducted was the young miss of the Dongzi Li Family."
As she spoke of the girl's identity, her voice was laced with an inexplicable vexation and terror. "How was I supposed to know she was from the Dongzi Li Family? I just abducted her on a whim and conveniently sold her off!
"But that person just threw one sentence at me: it would be one thing if the Li Family's miss was no longer chaste.
"But if she returned to the Ghost Cave pure and untouched, then not just me, but all of us in the Pingnan Road Beggar Gang would have underworld officials coming for our lives!
"I had no other choice, so I rushed up to remedy the situation."
Hearing her explanation, everyone sucked in a sharp breath, their anger palpable.
Especially the craftsman who had obtained the Seven Shackles Punishment Wood. He widened his one remaining eye, glaring fiercely at Godmother Cui. "You old hag! I should have known why you were suddenly so generous, giving me this treasure!"
He knew that in the past, when Godmother Cui abducted people, especially those with notable backgrounds, she would plant a nail in their heads to avoid trouble. This nail made them forget their past, preventing further complications, and also made them obedient; whatever Godmother Cui said, they would do. How could she casually give away such a treasure? Now it was clear! She was worried that if the Dongzi Li Family found out, they could trace the nail back to the Seven Shackles Punishment Wood, and then to her. That's why she wanted to pass on this hot potato!
In that tense moment, everyone present, including the portly scar-faced man, was itching to kill Godmother Cui on the spot.
But Godmother Cui became defiant, a cold sneer on her lips. "Well, that's the situation. It's an unmitigated disaster for me, and you lot are already dragged into it.
"If she really returns and this whole thing blows up, forget about the Dongzi Li Family; even the Old Master in that black sedan chair probably wouldn't let us live...
"At this point, do any of you have a better plan?"
Listening to her brazen arguments and obstinacy, those present were at a loss for words.
The Dongzi Li Family, the Dongzi Li Family...
Since this matter truly involved the Dongzi Li Family, they were already in too deep to pull out. Now that they were all implicated, they had to deal with this immediate crisis first and settle scores with Godmother Cui later!
"We can't hold back! Not a single one of them can be left alive!"
The snake repellent man gritted his teeth and pulled a gray leather bag from his cart. Something bulged within it from time to time, looking extremely eerie.
At this moment, he showed a rare ruthlessness. Tearing open the bag's mouth, he reached inside. The next moment, his face contorted in pain, but he still slowly, painstakingly, pulled the bag's contents out.
When the others saw it, they were instantly terrified and averted their eyes.
"A two-headed snake!"
What he pulled out was a vividly red snake. Eerily, it had heads at both ends, savage and vicious. One of the snake heads was now biting into his arm.
Its fangs sank into his flesh, and black blood began to seep out.
This was an extremely baleful creature that Wang Lai, the snake handler, had spent his entire life searching for.
Ordinary people would be cursed with terrible luck just by glancing at it; they'd have to rush home, burn incense, bathe, and then confine themselves indoors for three full days to avoid misfortune.
By bringing out this snake, he was undoubtedly prepared to use his deadliest measures.
"Old Carpenter..."
The snake handler gritted his teeth, enduring the searing pain, and called out to the craftsman, "Your Path uses nightmare Magic that can turn a place of good fortune into an Evil Land. But what do you think of my snake?"
"Never mind, never mind! It was greed for this Seven Shackles Punishment Wood that got me entangled in this mess..."
The craftsman, his face etched with deep apprehension, glanced at the two-headed snake. He then gritted his teeth, unslung a basket from his back, and after rummaging through it, pulled out an oddly shaped file.
He shouted angrily, "I have no choice but to use this Method! But once it's used, whether it succeeds or fails, it will bring disaster upon my descendants. Of my three sons, it's likely only two will live to adulthood...
"...Godmother Cui, you'll remember this debt!"
As he spoke, he tore his clothes, grabbed a handful of mud from the ground, and smeared it on his face.
Then, facing the direction of the Magic Altar, he clapped his hands upwards once, then respectfully knelt, his palms falling flat and his forehead striking the ground.
He performed a full five-limbed prostration kowtow.
"Godmother Cui, you've brought great suffering to all our comrades on Pingnan Road..."
Even the portly scar-faced man closed his eyes slightly. After a long moment, he sighed and said to Godmother Cui, "The people of the Dongzi Li Family rarely leave their homes, content to guard their own small patch of land. But did you truly think they were easy to deal with?
"If it was just about abducting someone, Lingshou Prefecture has plenty of Beggar Gangs. So why did they travel so far to find you on Pingnan Road?
"To put it bluntly, wasn't it so that if it succeeded, all would be well, but if it failed, you'd be the one left to bear the consequences?"
Godmother Cui spat viciously on the ground. "What's the use of saying all that now, old brother?
"I've already dragged you all into this, and I intend to pull in the entire Beggar Gang to protect our lives. If we help them and succeed, then that's that.
"If not, can they really wipe out the entire Beggar Gang?"
"It's not that simple..."
The portly scar-faced man sighed softly and pulled a leather whip, studded with bone segments, from his sleeve.
"My Life-Stealing Whip... it hasn't been used in years...
"But when this is over, Godmother, help me 'invite' over that young lady from the Dongchang Prefecture's government office. We'll need to go into hiding for a while too..."
Godmother Cui was momentarily taken aback by his words, then suddenly laughed. "Good! Very good indeed!"