After returning from Tengchong, I wanted to spend more time with Senior Shu. We had completed a few cases, but all of them were easy otherworldly items.

Li Mazi had recovered well after half a month. He insisted that he had to see me. Senior Shu immediately shooed me away. “If Li Mazi comes, I can’t live in peace.”

I felt embarrassed and was afraid that Li Mazi would really come here. After confirming that Senior Shu was all right, I bid him farewell. When I returned to my antique shop, Li Mazi was fuming and screaming in my face that I wasn't concerned about him.

On the same day, our two families had gathered for a big lunch. At around twilight, Li Mazi and Ru Xue took their little Nianchu home. I held Yin Xinyue’s hand and slowly drove home.

While having lunch together, I had already noticed that she wasn’t okay. Although she looked cheerful and excited, she couldn’t hide the grief in her eyes.

“Are you okay, honey?” I asked when we arrived home.

“I’m fine.” She shook her head.

As we had been living together for quite a long time, I knew her well. I didn’t believe her words.

I kept pestering her about it. Yin Xinyue couldn’t hide it anymore. She hugged me and cried.

While sobbing, she said, “Hubby, my parents are sick. I even invited doctors from the US to check on them. However, they couldn't find the cause of their sickness. Their condition is getting worse. What should I do now?”

I was perplexed. From her words, it seemed her parents had been sick for a while, but she decided to tell me only today. I guessed she didn’t want to distract me.

I hadn’t spent a lot of time with her after getting married, and I hadn’t even seen my in-laws yet… I felt sorry and also embarrassed. I pulled her tightly in my chest and comforted her. “Wife, don’t worry. I’m sure I can help cure your parents!”

I had spent a long time with her to calm her down. With red eyes, she told me about her parents’ situation.

A few days ago, Yin Xinyue had free time. As I was away to deal with a case, she went home to visit her parents. She found that neither of them appeared to look well.

At first, she thought that her parents were mad at her because she didn’t bring her husband home to see her parents after getting married for quite a long time. But at night, she saw her father carefully bring a bucket of warm water to the bedroom. Then, she heard her mother whimpering in pain.

Yin Xinyue was a smart woman. She immediately knew that her parents were hiding something from her. She secretly peeped through the slit of the door. She screamed at the first glance. Her mother had blue scales all over her body. Her father was using a pair of scissors to help her cut the scales off.

Her mother bled after every cut. Although Yin Xinyue had seen a lot of abnormal situations since she had been with me, when it happened to her mother, she almost cracked. While crying, she asked her parents what had happened to them.

Yin Xinyue’s parents sighed as they knew they couldn’t hide their sickness from her anymore.

It turned out the two of them had started to have strange and unknown itchy spots on their bodies. They scratched their skin to ease the itch and ignored the problem at first. Unfortunately, the situation had gotten worse, and they no longer felt comfortable with just scratching. It seemed they had something that wanted to drill out from under their skin. They had tried several antiseptics only to no avail.

The old couple was worried. They visited many hospitals from modern to traditional medical practices in the big cities and the small villages to see what had happened to them. However, no one had found the cause yet.

They were old-fashioned people, so they were a little reluctant when it came to spending money on medical treatment. Moreover, as the cause remained unknown, they eventually gave up on finding a treatment. They went home and followed a traditional method: To use a needle to prick the itchiest spots. They hoped it would help extract the toxin out of their body.

Unexpectedly, after one sleep, they had blue scales all over their bodies. The old couple now recognized that the situation wasn’t simple at all. However, they were quite conservative as they were afraid of going to the hospital for proper treatment. They were also afraid that people would call them monsters, which was why they endured the pain and cut the scales.

More scales showed up the next day, which looked even denser than the day before. They were baffled and knew that they couldn’t just cut the scales off. However, no one would want such alien objects growing on their bodies, so they still went ahead and got rid of the scales daily. Day by day, the scales became tougher, while they were getting weaker and weaker…

Yin Xinyue said, “Husband, please save my parents. I’m sure they are being pestered by a foul thing. I didn’t want to distract you while you were away. But now that you’re back, please help them. I’m begging you!”

As she was emotional, her words weren’t orderly. I felt even more embarrassed and held her tightly in my embrace. “Wife, don’t worry. Even if I have to risk my life, I will save your parents!”

Yin Xinyue didn’t talk anymore. She gave me a firm nod then rested her head against my chest. After she had calmed down, we didn’t linger for even a second. I packed up the Emei Piercer and the Holy Mother Pierce with some other items I would likely use and departed.

Senior Shu had made me keep the Holy Mother Scepter. The Holy Mother Scepter had both offensive and defensive functions, which was the same as the Sirius Whip and the Yin and Yang Umbrella. I thought that I wouldn’t need the Sirius Whip. The whip’s power always drained after a few times of use. In a critical moment, it could be my fatal weakness.

Since it was something happening to my family, after thinking about Yin Xinyue’s feelings, I didn’t tell Li Mazi the details. I just told him that I was going to visit my in-laws.

Yin Xinyue’s family came from the Dai ethnic minority. However, her parents had moved North when they were young. They now resided in a small town in Rizhao City, Shandong Province. I drove calmly through the night, and we arrived at the village early in the morning.

Yin Xinyue had told me that the Northeastern people were very friendly. If they knew that the son-in-law had come to visit his in-laws, they would come to share the joy. If they came, we wouldn’t be able to hide her parents’ sickness.

I stopped the car at the village entrance and took a view of the entire place. This village was a typical Northeastern village. The ground was paved with gravel, and since it had just snowed, it was all icy. It gently cracked when we walked.

The wind blew, which made me feel chilly. Sometimes, snow fell off the tree branches. After walking for a while, Yin Xinyue and I had snowflakes on our heads.

Her place was a normal-looking farmhouse. Since we had called them on the way here, her parents had woken up early to wait for us. When Yin Xinyue saw her mother, she directly went into her arms. The two women burst into tears.

Her father had red-brimmed eyes. He held my hands and repeatedly welcomed me. “Good, good. It’s good that you’re finally home.”

They were honest farmers. I felt the pressure in my heart reduce greatly. I went into the house and ate a bowl of beef noodles. I didn’t feel cold anymore.

I turned to talk to Yin Xinyue’s father. “Father, please show me your wound.”

When I first saw them, their faces were strangely ashen. At that time, I thought it was because of the cold weather. But even after a long time of sitting in the warm room with a brazier, their faces were still pale. I was worried.

My father-in-law nodded. He unbuttoned his thick puffer and exposed his torso. At first glance, I had to take a deep breath.

His situation was even worse than what Yin Xinyue had told me. From his belly button to his collarbone, there was no place where I could see his skin. Scales were everywhere. People would think it was a dragon’s belly.

Since he had cut the scales daily, it had created a thick layer of blood clots on his scales, which looked horrible.

I frowned and turned to my mother-in-law. She gave me a confirming nod, her face twisted. Her situation was the same.

“Did anything strange happen in your house these days?” I asked.

The scales on their bodies indicated that they had messed with something foul. If I couldn’t solve this problem, they would have scales all over their bodies. At that point, even a powerful immortal couldn’t save them. I knew I had to find the cause as fast as possible.

However, they thought for a while and shook their heads. “Except for the scales growing on our bodies, there’s nothing else strange.”

I nodded, then asked Yin Xinyue to bring me a small bowl of vinegar. I drank the vinegar and stood next to my father-in-law. I sensed around with closed eyes.

Some powerful foul things could deliberately hide their Yin energy. The vinegar could facilitate the sense of smell and break the concealment the foul things had cast. Unexpectedly, after I had drunk the vinegar, I still didn’t feel the existence of Yin energy in this house.

I didn’t know where to start. For the time being, I decided to make some potions that could treat the corpse toxin. Senior Shu had taught me and showed me how to apply them. Not long after applying the ointment, I noticed that my father-in-law started to twist his body. At first, perhaps it was because he had minded his image, so he didn’t move much. However, it seemed he couldn’t endure it for long. In the end, he rubbed his body against the wall and started to cut the scales with a pair of scissors.

“Husband, besides cutting off those scales, do we have any other solution?”

My mother-in-law asked Yin Xinyue to help her cut the scales. While holding the scissors, Yin Xinyue wept. “Mom, scales are growing on your body. Cutting them isn’t different from cutting your flesh.”

Before I found the cause, they would have to cut the scales every day. Otherwise, once the scales covered their entire bodies, their deaths would come eventually.

After cutting the scales, they went to their room to rest. I picked up a scale from the ground and brought it to my nose to smell. It had a strong stink of fried fish. I frowned and walked to the basin outside to take some water to clean the scale. The smell didn’t disperse.

Yin Xinyue saw that and felt helpless. “Do you have any solution?”

I hugged her. “Let’s wait and see. Perhaps my ointment can save our parents.”

However, this possibility wasn’t high.

At twilight, they got up. My father-in-law was so excited. “Son, I’m okay now!”

Then, he showed me his belly. I was surprised to see that many scales were peeling off. His soft skin was revealed underneath.

My mother-in-law looked at me and smiled. “Usually, new scales would have grown by now, but they aren’t growing today! I feel so comfortable.”

She spun twice and looked at me pleasantly. It seemed the proverb was true: When the mother-in-law sees her son-in-law, she becomes happy.

Yin Xinyue hadn’t expected the situation to change so quickly. She was perplexed for quite a long time. Then, her tears rolled silently.

She sobbed. “Thank you. Thank you so much, my husband…”

“Wife, why are you crying?”

I wiped her tears. To thoroughly cure this strange disease, I made some more ointment and applied it to their skin one more time.

Yin Xinyue cooked a simple dinner. After dinner, my in-laws went to sleep early while I restlessly shifted on the bed. I couldn’t sleep as I was afraid that when we woke up tomorrow, everything would be the same. I resolutely grabbed the Holy Mother Scepter and sat in the yard, watching.

Since that thing was able to hide its Yin energy, I smeared ox tears on my eyelids, bit the tip of my finger, and touched my glabella.

The Heavenly Temple acupoint was a spot between the eyes. People with profound cultivation could use a spell to open their Heavenly Eye. Although I hadn’t reached that level, this method could let me use the Heavenly Temple acupoint to sense the Yin energy!