Chapter 62

That afternoon, under the attending physician’s deeply disapproving yet silently enduring gaze, Yang Siguang got into Li Bo’s car.

Li Bo took Yang Siguang to find the legendary person "who might be able to help take a look," but, uncharacteristically, he did not have his secretary act as the driver.

Li Bo himself was the one behind the wheel.

He drove around the various streets and alleys of City A for a long time, seemingly following some pattern that Yang Siguang could not comprehend.

It was not until dusk that the car came to a sudden, screeching halt before a dilapidated courtyard in the suburbs that resembled a farmhouse restaurant.

Yang Siguang got out of the car and dry-heaved for a while before laboriously straightening his posture.

With a jolt of surprise, he realized he could not tell where on earth they were... Even as a local of City A, Yang Siguang should have been relatively familiar with the surroundings. Yet everything that met his eyes appeared extraordinarily unfamiliar.

Of course, the most important thing was...

According to his expectations, when dealing with haunting and supernatural disturbances, Li Bo should have at least taken him to a Taoist temple or a Buddhist monastery to find some grand master.

Yet, of all places, Li Bo had brought him to a rural farmhouse? At that moment, he could even hear the various clucking and quacking noises of chickens, ducks, and geese in the air, along with the faint sound of trickling water.

Li Bo then returned to Yang Siguang's side and reached out to steady him.

He lowered his voice and cautioned Yang Siguang: "Just listen to whatever I say later. If I tell you to call someone, you call them..."

Mid-sentence, Li Bo paused to ponder for a moment before speaking.

"That person actually has great abilities, it's just that her temper is a little peculiar."

Just as he was speaking, a loud, crisp crash echoed from behind them as a metal basin hit the ground.

Startled, Yang Siguang whipped around and saw a slightly plump middle-aged woman with a tanned, reddish face standing on the dirt path behind them.

The woman looked no different from any other woman running a farmhouse restaurant in the suburbs.

No, to be precise, there was a difference.

Other women running farmhouses would beam with smiles just to drum up business when confronted with a "fat sheep" like Li Bo.

Yet this woman simply dropped the chicken-feeding basin in her hands and turned on her heel to run away.

Without waiting for Yang Siguang to react, Li Bo dashed toward the woman.

"Aunt Qiao!"

he shouted.

With a swift side-step, leveraging his height and long legs, he forcefully blocked the path of the middle-aged woman named Aunt Qiao.

Seeing her way blocked like that, the woman's face turned ashen. She stumbled and slowly came to a halt.

"...Don't call me Aunt Qiao. I'm not your aunt, and we're not that familiar."

Li Bo immediately broke into a smile toward Aunt Qiao.

"How can you say we're not familiar? If it weren't for Aunt Qiao, this hand of mine wouldn't have been saved. Who in all of City A doesn't know that there are only a handful of people with genuine skills, and Aunt Qiao is the most formidable among them? Doesn't everyone call you... the metaphysical beauty of the west?"

Hearing that final phrase, the corners of Aunt Qiao's mouth twitched involuntarily. She tried to hold back a smile, but ultimately failed.

"Pfft—"

After that chuckle, the previously tense atmosphere instantly relaxed.

Aunt Qiao glanced at Li Bo, her tone softening gradually.

"What metaphysical beauty, don't try that routine on me. Anyway, flattering me is useless. My abilities only go this far, and taking the risk to treat your hand before already put me in great danger. That thing your Li family worships..."

At the mention of the Li family, a trace of gloom flashed across Aunt Qiao's face.

"Anyway, that thing is simply not something ordinary people can handle. When you came to me back then, I already told you I was just treating a dead horse as if it were still alive. If it didn't work, I wouldn't be giving refunds. It's all up to fate, right?"

Li Bo's smile remained unchanged.

His body intentionally or unintentionally blocked Aunt Qiao's path.

"How can you say that? What Aunt Qiao did was clearly a miraculous recovery, not leaving it up to fate at all. It's precisely because Aunt Qiao cured my hand that I've specially come to you again... I have a little friend who, just like me, has encountered some trouble and needs your help to resolve it..."

Before Li Bo could finish speaking, the atmosphere that had just begun to ease instantly tightened once more.

Aunt Qiao's expression abruptly turned gloomy.

"A little friend of yours... Li Bo, did you not understand what I said? Helping you that time was already taking a huge risk. I'll consider that favor settled, but now you're dragging people along and bringing another 'friend'? I can't handle this, I really can't handle it. Go find someone else."

With that, ignoring Li Bo blocking her way, Aunt Qiao shoved past the man and started to walk off.

At that moment, Li Bo followed directly behind Aunt Qiao and raised his voice: "Triple!"

Aunt Qiao's steps faltered.

"...This damn well isn't a matter of money!"

the woman said coldly.

Li Bo's expression remained steady as he continued, "Ten times."

Aunt Qiao: "..."

"I'll pay ten times the previous price. Aunt Qiao, consider me in your debt. Please just take a look at that little friend of mine. He has nowhere else to turn."

Li Bo said.

Aunt Qiao let out a long sigh, finally turning around slowly with a troubled expression.

"Fine, fine, I'll take a look for him then," the woman muttered, her face a mask of conflict. "But I'll say it again, these matters depend entirely on human effort while listening to the mandate of heaven. All I can do is..."

During this exchange, Li Bo had already waved to Yang Siguang by the car and brought him before the woman.

"Call her Aunt Qiao,"

he instructed Yang Siguang.

Then, smiling at Aunt Qiao, he said, "Aunt Qiao, look, this is Yang Siguang, that little friend of mine..."

Before he could finish, however, he saw Aunt Qiao violently shudder. Her face instantly turned pale, and she involuntarily stumbled backward step by step.

"No, no... I can't handle this person, nobody can... Forget ten times or twenty times the money, even if you brought mountains of gold and silver to smash down here, I still couldn't handle it..."

In just a brief moment, beads of sweat the size of soybeans had already broken out across the woman's forehead, streaming down continuously.

"Get out! Hurry up and get out!"

Aunt Qiao's eyes were bloodshot as she glared at Yang Siguang and screamed.

"Aunt Qiao?!"

Realizing something was terribly wrong, Li Bo felt his heart skip a beat and hurriedly pulled Yang Siguang behind him.

Yet the moment she saw Li Bo make that move, Aunt Qiao's voice became exceptionally shrill: "You still dare to touch him—and I was wondering why you suddenly provoked such a ferocious entity, it's because of him! A curse has already been cast on him, and whoever dares to provoke him will die!"

Yang Siguang had originally been somewhat dazed and bewildered, but at those words, his entire body stiffened involuntarily.

"What... what do you mean?"

His face pale, he slowly poked his head out from behind Li Bo.

He looked toward Aunt Qiao.

"What do you mean, a curse has been cast on me?"

The moment Aunt Qiao locked eyes with Yang Siguang, she quickly averted her face as if she had looked upon something utterly terrifying, her body trembling continuously.

With his brows tightly furrowed and unable to care about much else, Li Bo pressed on with his questions.

"Aunt Qiao, it's fine. If you don't want to get involved, that's fine... But if you know something, I beg you to tell us."

With that, thinking for a moment, he simply pulled Yang Siguang forward and rolled up Yang Siguang's sleeve right in front of Aunt Qiao.

The horrifying purplish-blue claw marks were instantly exposed to Aunt Qiao's view.

Aunt Qiao's gaze locked onto them, and visibly, she shuddered all over once again.

"Aunt Qiao! Look at him... These marks weren't here originally! But after he simply had a nightmare, his body ended up like this when he woke up! And I've seen with my own eyes how he's being plagued by a ghost. I don't know much about these things, but I can sense that... Siguang is in grave danger right now."

*

Aunt Qiao sat blankly on the ground for quite a while. With Li Bo desperately trying to smooth things over on the side, the woman finally looked a bit calmer.

After struggling internally for a long time, she lowered her head and spoke with a slight quiver in her voice: "...Of course he's in danger. That little friend of yours already has the aura of death all over his face."

With that, as if finally making up her mind, she mustered the courage to lift her head and darted a quick glance in Yang Siguang's direction.

Visibly, even more sweat broke out across her forehead.

"What did you say your name was again? Ah, right, Yang Siguang, is it?" the woman's voice was exceedingly hoarse. "Do you remember anyone giving you anything during this period?"

"What?"

"Anything at all, as long as it's something newly added to your possession that wasn't there before, and something you've been particularly fond of lately—always wanting to keep it close and carry it by your side—all of that counts."

"That thing is called a curse-root."

"Once you accepted that thing, you accepted the curse."

"Someone has... cast a fatal curse on you. Do you have any clue about this?"

"That person... truly wants you dead..."