They were running out of time.
And now that the sarira was gone, it was enough to drive anyone crazy.
Assistant Fang was about to say something else when Fu Yingqi happened to glance at him.
That one indifferent look was enough to make the words die in his throat.
Shen Sangyu didn’t answer immediately.
She pretended to think it over and slipped her hand into the pocket of her down jacket.
That fake gold ring was still in there!
The sarira could absorb the artifact aura from antiques.
Perhaps that was the key to suppressing the ominous aura in Fu Yingqi’s meridians.
If she transferred some of the artifact aura from the lotus bud into the gold ring and gave it to Fu Yingqi, wouldn’t that solve the problem?!
She really was a little genius!
Unfortunately, Shen Sangyu hadn’t anticipated one thing.
The gold ring was a counterfeit, so it couldn’t hold too much artifact aura…
Fu Yingqi watched the girl in front of him sigh silently.
Her light-brown eyes continued to wander over him, examining him from head to toe.
Without realizing it, he straightened his posture.
“…Mr. Fu, could I take a look at the prayer beads you’re wearing?”
Since the gold ring wasn’t going to work, Shen Sangyu decided to set her sights on Fu Yingqi himself.
Something a big shot wore every day had to be extremely valuable, right?!
The moment Assistant Fang heard this, he immediately tried to stop her.
“No…!”
Before he could finish, he swallowed the rest of his sentence.
He was nothing more than a clown.
A love-struck clown.
Fu Yingqi, however, hardly hesitated at all.
He was already reaching for the prayer beads around his wrist.
“Wait.”
Shen Sangyu grabbed Fu Yingqi’s left hand.
“I won’t look at them for free. I’ll trade you this.”
She placed the gold ring in his palm.
Just moments earlier, when Fu Yingqi had been about to remove the prayer beads, Shen Sangyu had suddenly sensed the ominous aura around him intensify.
The dark aura in his meridians had even begun moving toward his heart.
There was no time for her to explain.
She quickly placed the counterfeit ring, which contained a small amount of artifact aura, into his palm.
Her unexpected movement left Fu Yingqi momentarily stunned.
“You…”
His slightly hoarse voice carried a hint of disbelief.
She had touched his palm.
Shen Sangyu looked at him in confusion.
How could she possibly know that Fu Yingqi’s mind was already in turmoil?
Ever since he was old enough to remember, everyone around Fu Yingqi had kept their distance from him.
After he grew older and understood what his fate meant, he had also deliberately kept his distance from everyone in order to protect the people he cared about.
Because he was the lone star of misfortune.
Anyone who got too close to him or touched him would suffer some kind of bloody disaster.
They would either be injured or die.
For all these years, he had always been alone.
Even though he longed to be reunited with his family, he could only maintain his distance from them.
Fu Yingqi stopped halfway through removing the prayer beads.
He stared intently at Shen Sangyu, terrified that some unexpected accident might occur and hurt the girl standing before him.
He couldn’t describe what he felt toward Shen Sangyu.
It was like…
Like a lonely traveler suddenly encountering someone walking the same road.
Like a warm, dim light in the dead of night, something that drew the heart toward it, yet was too precious to touch carelessly.
Shen Sangyu stared at the man sitting opposite her as though he had suddenly entered a deep meditation.
It wasn’t just him.
Assistant Fang had also widened his eyes in astonishment.
When Shen Sangyu saw that Fu Yingqi hadn’t reacted for such a long time, she waved her hand in front of his face.
“Mr. Fu? Are you all right?”
Only then did Fu Yingqi come back to his senses.
He lowered his head and looked at the ring in his palm, instinctively closing his fingers around it.
How could he not tell that it was a counterfeit?
Yet he still willingly removed the prayer beads from his wrist.
Shen Sangyu took them from him and carefully examined Fu Yingqi again.
Thank goodness.
Although the ring was fake, it still had some use.
The artifact aura inside the gold ring could temporarily protect Fu Yingqi’s heart meridians.
The crucial question now was how much artifact aura these prayer beads could hold.
“Mr. Fu, are these Qibao Buddhist prayer beads?”
According to the Prajnaparamita Sutras, Buddhism had Qibao, namely gold, silver, glass, mother-of-pearl, agate, amber, and coral.
The prayer beads in her hand were made from these seven materials.
Compared with prayer beads made from ordinary materials, the Qibao prayer beads possessed much stronger Buddhist energy.
“They are Qibao prayer beads. Miss Shen, do you like them?”
Fu Yingqi had noticed how seriously Shen Sangyu was examining them.
Assistant Fang was practically sweating bullets.
He was terrified that if Miss Shen said she liked them, his boss would hand them over to her without a second thought.
These Qibao prayer beads had been personally obtained by Old Master Fu.
According to legend, they had originated in ancient Tianzhu and were said to have been left behind after Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment.
For Third Master, they were practically a life-saving talisman.
If he actually gave them away, would Assistant Fang even make it back to the capital in one piece?
The members of the Fu family would probably eat him alive!
Fortunately…
Shen Sangyu shook her head.
“They’re definitely a wonderful treasure, but these prayer beads are extremely important to you, Mr. Fu. I only think they’re rare and interesting. I don’t actually need them. Compared with my personal preferences and your life, your life is obviously more important.”
Shen Sangyu casually made it clear that she had no intention of taking this precious treasure.
In reality, she was secretly using her Relic Eye to examine them.
There were two different energies within the prayer beads.
Dense black energy was slowly devouring the little golden mist that remained.
Shen Sangyu frowned.
It seemed these prayer beads wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
No wonder Fu Yingqi had come all the way to Haishi looking for the sarira.
Shen Sangyu activated her Relic Eye and absorbed both the black energy and the golden mist.
Fortunately, the Buddhist energy of the sarira instantly purified the black energy, transforming it into golden mist.
Shen Sangyu could feel her body filling with pure energy.
She quietly guided this artifact aura along her fingertips, letting it flow bit by bit into the Qibao prayer beads in her hands.
Across from her, Fu Yingqi watched Shen Sangyu’s little face alternate between a frown and a suppressed smile.
He didn’t notice that the corners of his own lips had unconsciously curved upward.
“Here you go, Mr. Fu. I’m finished looking at them…”
She handed the prayer beads back to him, now filled with artifact aura.
“You have to keep them on you, okay? Don’t take them off even when you’re sleeping or bathing!”
“All right…”
It was as though he had just made some momentous decision.
Fu Yingqi answered solemnly.
Then he simply stared at Shen Sangyu without moving.
Shen Sangyu seemed completely unaware of the intense look in Fu Yingqi’s eyes.
When she saw that he still hadn’t taken the prayer beads, she began to worry that the counterfeit ring might not hold out much longer.
So she simply reached over and pulled his arm closer.
She grabbed the man’s powerful wrist.
The veins beneath his skin stood out prominently.
Shen Sangyu estimated that Third Master Fu could probably pick her up like a little chick without breaking a sweat.
Fu Yingqi’s already rigid body became even more tense.
He watched Shen Sangyu’s red lips move as she said something to him.
But his attention was completely focused on the warm sensation around his wrist.
The girl’s hand was slender and delicate, almost boneless.
Her fingers gently encircled his wrist.
She probably couldn’t even wrap one hand completely around it.
Fu Yingqi’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
His eyes darkened like ink.
He forcefully suppressed the restless emotions rising inside him.
He couldn’t.
He absolutely couldn’t.
If Shen Sangyu knew that Fu Yingqi had managed to play out an entire emotional drama in his head in less than a minute, she would probably have laughed out loud.
If it had been anything else, Shen Sangyu would have run as far away as possible.
But her Relic Eye could purify ominous aura.
It could even restore antiques.
She loved it!
There was no reason for her to be afraid.
Shen Sangyu continued talking for quite some time, reminding Fu Yingqi of all the things he needed to pay attention to.
If nothing unexpected happened, the artifact aura inside the prayer beads should be enough to protect him from the effects of the ominous aura for at least a year.
But after all that explanation, Fu Yingqi was only staring at his prayer beads!
Assistant Fang’s inner thoughts: Boss, you’re obviously looking at her hand!
Shen Sangyu gently tugged on the man’s sleeve again.
“Mr. Fu, did you hear what I said…?”