Chapter 217: The Blood-Soaked Doll

“This… this… this is just too ominous!”

Huoyuan Liang had originally thought that Shui Miao might actually conjure up some treasures, but he never expected that what would emerge was an ominous urn. He hurriedly stepped back a couple of paces, fearing that he might be tainted by bad luck.

Shui Miao, on the other hand, noticed that the purple aura was emanating from inside the urn.

Picking up the urn, Shui Miao tried to open it but found it locked, and it was surprisingly heavy—its contents unknown.

He decided to just take it with him. Without further thought, Shui Miao grabbed the urn and stepped outside.

Seeing this, Huoyuan Liang was shocked and quickly followed after Shui Miao, asking, “Young man, you’re not seriously thinking of taking this with you, are you? This is extremely inauspicious!”

When the driver saw Shui Miao carrying an urn, he hurriedly got out of the car to block his path. “Hey, young man, I absolutely won’t allow this kind of item in my vehicle. If you insist on taking it, then you’ll have to find another ride.”

“Alright then…”

Shui Miao hesitated slightly, thinking that parting ways might not be so bad after all. He turned to Huoyuan Liang and said, “All good things must come to an end. Uncle Huo, if fate allows, we shall meet again.”

With that, Shui Miao turned and walked away with the urn.

Huoyuan Liang quickly caught up. “Young man, I didn’t mean to chase you off. It’s just that this situation is too sudden. How about this—why don’t you open the urn first? If it contains something messy, just throw it away. If not, then take it with you, alright?”

“But it’s locked.”

Shui Miao didn’t want to carry an urn around the streets, especially not knowing how others might interpret it.

“I’ll get the tools.”

Huoyuan Liang hurriedly turned to the driver, gave him twenty yuan, borrowed a pair of steel pliers, and then went with Shui Miao to the roadside, where he quickly snapped the lock off. Upon opening the urn, Shui Miao saw a severed hand and three black dice inside. Each die was as big as a quail egg, jet-black in color, with blood-red pips that looked eerie.

“Ugh…”

Seeing the severed hand, Huoyuan Liang was greatly startled. “Young man, let’s just leave quickly. this thing is too strange.”

“It’s just a severed hand. Nothing to be afraid of.” Shui Miao noticed that the purple aura was coming from the dice, while the severed hand was just an ordinary severed hand. He took a closer look, then reached in and grabbed the dice. The dice felt icy cold in his hands—but in the blink of an eye, they vanished completely!

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Huoyuan Liang was so frightened that he stumbled backward and ran toward the minivan.

Shui Miao, however, stood up and looked at his own hand. He noticed that his hand was turning black—the coldness from the dice was gathering in his palm. Looking down at the ground, he saw that the blackened part of his hand matched exactly with the severed hand in the urn. Then, on the back of his hand, the pattern of the three dice appeared clearly, as if the dice had been embedded into his flesh.

The sensation was just chilly, with no other discomfort.

Detecting no threat, Shui Miao remained calm. Although the phenomenon was strange, it emitted only purple aura and yin energy, nothing else. With a thought, a stream of immortal energy flowed from his dantian to his hand. The color of his hand changed, and the three dice reappeared in his palm—strange and fascinating. Shui Miao couldn’t help but wonder: What kind of treasure was this? It emitted purple aura and pure yin energy, and it could transform. Could it be a dice spirit formed from condensed yin energy?

The sound of an engine revving up snapped Shui Miao out of his thoughts. He turned his head and saw the minivan starting to move.

“Young man, I’ll go ahead and find another vehicle to come back for you!”

Huoyuan Liang shouted from inside the van. Clearly, the driver no longer wanted to carry Shui Miao.

“No need. I’ll figure something out myself.”

Shui Miao waved his hand at Huoyuan Liang and the anxious Huoxiang inside the van. As he lowered his hand, he noticed that it had turned black again, and the three dice patterns had reappeared on the back of his hand.

“Hehe, no wonder people would rather cut off their hands than keep this,” Shui Miao chuckled at his darkened right hand, completely unbothered as he walked forward. Just as he spoke, the dice patterns on his hand changed to show three sixes—rolling triple sixes. “Looks like my luck isn’t too bad after all!”

Shui Miao walked forward with ease. Soon, he spotted a side road made of bricks not far from the roadside. The path extended northward for about a hundred meters before reaching many houses. With his extraordinary eyesight, Shui Miao saw a two-story building in the distance, about two hundred meters away, with the words “Custom Banquet Catering” painted on its wall. He headed straight there.

When he arrived at the door, he saw a group of people inside playing dice. A young woman noticed Shui Miao and came out to ask what he needed. Shui Miao took out a thousand yuan and said he wanted to buy ten roosters, but only their blood—he didn’t need the chickens themselves. Such a deal was hard to find, so the woman quickly told her husband. Upon hearing this, the husband immediately gave his dice-playing spot to someone else and came out to meet Shui Miao.

The man was very polite, smiling as he offered Shui Miao a cigarette and asked what he needed the rooster blood for.

Shui Miao shook his head and directly asked if the man could get him rooster blood. If not, he would find someone else.

Money was money, and the man, seeing that Shui Miao didn’t want to explain, didn’t ask further. He told Shui Miao to wait while he went to a neighbor’s house to buy some chickens.

After the man left, Shui Miao walked to the door and watched the people gamble.

Unintentionally, Shui Miao noticed that the purple auras around the gamblers were automatically converging into his hand.

The three dice were actually absorbing the purple aura!

Seeing that Shui Miao had money, the woman urged him to play a few rounds, offering him a seat. Everyone gambling there were villagers, all familiar with each other. When an outsider showed up, they naturally wanted to win his money—and insisted that Shui Miao be the banker. Shui Miao, curious to test his luck after being bound by the black dice, smiled and put down a thousand yuan as the stake. Everyone eagerly placed their bets. When Shui Miao extended his hand, however, he noticed that the black dice patterns had disappeared, and his hand was no longer as dark. Unfazed, he rolled the dice—and got triple sixes, sweeping all the bets. Everyone stared at him in shock.

Unsurprisingly, they weren’t satisfied and played three more rounds. Each time, Shui Miao rolled triple sixes again. Everyone stopped in amazement.

Shui Miao shook his head with a smile, collected his original thousand yuan, and pushed the winnings to the center of the table. Sighing lightly, he said, “I came to buy rooster blood, not to gamble. Take your money back.” He even took the dice and rolled them five or six times in the bowl, each time getting triple sixes again.

Refusing to keep the winnings and giving them back, Shui Miao’s actions surprised everyone.

Everyone took back their share of the money.

Shui Miao then pulled up a stool and sat outside the house, leaning against the wall and basking in the sun.

Because of Shui Miao’s display, everyone stopped gambling and gathered around him. Just as Shui Miao was wondering what they were up to, an elderly woman in her sixties leaned in and whispered to him conspiratorially, “Young man, did you run into that thing?”

“What thing?”

Shui Miao furrowed his brow, puzzled.

The old woman nodded toward his hand. “The black dice that let you always win.”

Did everyone in the village know about the dice?

Shui Miao’s mind raced, and he nodded slightly. “I did come across three black dice and also saw a severed hand. They were all inside an urn. Do you know about this?” Shui Miao acted calm, making everyone think he was an honest person. Combined with his act of returning the gambling money, everyone felt worried and concerned for him.

“Oh no! Young man, you’re in serious trouble. That thing is really cursed, and you don’t even realize it! Hurry to the hospital and cut off your hand! Cut it off now, or you won’t live past seven days! How many days have passed already?”

The old woman was genuinely concerned, treating Shui Miao as if he were her own family.

“Hehe, it’s not that bad.”

Shui Miao smiled faintly and stood up, looking toward the roadside. The man had already returned with ten roosters.

“Prepare a basin and collect the roosters’ blood.”

Shui Miao handed the thousand yuan to the woman, who quickly fetched a basin and a knife.

Everyone was curious about what Shui Miao was planning.

The man was quick and efficient, swiftly slaughtering the chickens and collecting the blood. Ten roosters yielded half a basin of blood.

As the last chicken was bled out, Shui Miao slowly moved his right hand over the basin, hovering above it, and slowly began to dip it into the blood.

Suddenly, he felt a powerful force wrestling against him, struggling fiercely…

“Hmph! You should’ve known I’d come after you.” Shui Miao clenched his fist and plunged his hand into the basin of blood. With a surge of immortal energy, the three dice were forced out of his body. Meanwhile, the stainless-steel basin began to bubble strangely, and it trembled violently…

Seeing this, everyone backed away in fear—some even ran off in terror.

But Shui Miao stood firm, watching the basin calmly as he said slowly, “I knew something was wrong with this thing. Don’t worry—I’m a cultivator. I came for the rooster blood specifically to deal with it.”

Seeing Shui Miao so composed and confident, the crowd calmed down somewhat.

However, witnessing such a bizarre scene, no one dared to speak rashly.

As Shui Miao watched, the situation suddenly changed. The basin stopped shaking, and the chicken blood inside began to transform. Under everyone’s astonished gaze, the blood slowly took the form of a small child…

“Ahh!”

At this sight, several more people screamed and ran away, while the rest took more steps back.

“I underestimated you!” Shui Miao muttered, somewhat embarrassed.

His spiritual sense detected that the evil entity seemed to be transparent—nonexistent. It emitted only a faint yin energy, no trace of malevolence. Yet, it was surprisingly strong. Instead of being dispelled by the yang energy in the rooster blood, it had used the blood to transform into a childlike form. This was completely unexpected. Shui Miao couldn’t help but regret his earlier haste in consuming black dog blood—how much better it would have been to save it for sealing this evil spirit.

“Hehe, you really underestimated me. I’m no ordinary evil spirit…”

The red chicken-blood child suddenly spoke, its voice eerie as it grinned at Shui Miao.