The invincible female ghost is a bit love-struck.

Chapter 278 Brother Lu

Chapter 278 Brother Lu (7800)

The stone gate is half-hidden in the mountain, and the gap is so narrow that only one person can pass through sideways.

The two lines on the door look like eyes at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they resemble an elongated mouth.

Dark red mud was embedded between the stone patterns, and when the wind blew, a faint fishy smell seeped out from behind the door.

Lu Yuan stood at the top of the steps, not going down immediately.

He held the piece of wood with the character "回" carved on it in his hand, his fingertips gently stroking the edge of the piece.

The words on the wooden piece are carved very lightly, as if someone didn't want others to see them, but still insisted on leaving them behind.

"This isn't something to open the door," Lin Zhaoxuan glanced at it and said in a low voice, "It looks like a mark."

"It's a sign for returning to one's name," Lu Yuan said. "That thing ahead said that you need to return to your name to enter the main cave. But it didn't say that returning to one's name doesn't mean returning to the person, but rather returning to its domain."

Wang Cheng'an frowned: "What's the difference?"

Lu Yuan stared at the darkness peeking through the crack in the door, his voice deep: "The difference is huge."

"If a name returns to a person, it means that the person still recognizes himself."

"If the name returns to its account, it means that wherever this person goes in the future, he will be considered one of its people."

Xu Er'er's heart tightened upon hearing this: "If we go in, wouldn't that be like handing ourselves over to them?"

"So we can't use its real name." Lu Yuan tucked the wooden piece into his sleeve. "It wants a name, so we'll give it a fake one."

"Once a pseudonym is added to the books, the books will be in chaos."

"Once the tents are in disarray, the person guarding them will have to show up."

Zhou Heng looked up at the stone door and couldn't help but ask, "Then what aliases will we use?"

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately, but instead took out a small piece of yellow paper from his pocket.

The paper was leftover from last night's burning; the edges were charred black, and a few unburnt characters remained in the middle.

He spread the yellow paper in his palm, dipped a vermilion pen in his blood, and first wrote the character "陆" (Lu). Then he wrote two extremely strange characters next to it.

Wang Chengan took a closer look but didn't recognize it.

"Brother Lu, what does this say?"

"It's not a name." Lu Yuan folded the yellow paper. "It's just an empty shell for the name."

"As long as it's written like a name, the account will be accepted first."

"As for whether it recognizes the shell after entering, it depends on who reacts first."

Holding the oil lamp, Song Qinghe asked softly, "Won't this attract evil spirits to you?"

"Yes," Lu Yuan said frankly, "so please don't call me by my real name."

"From now on, once you enter the room, no one is allowed to call me by my name."

Call me Brother Lu.

"Even if you see something, don't shout it out."

"Especially avoid calling out the names of relatives, and avoid calling out the names of deceased people."

After those words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

Iron Abacus's body was still in the cellar behind him.

That old man is dead, he's dead, he can never come back to life.

But the old roads, old names, and old skins he left behind are like a dead hand, continuing to torment them across the mountainside.

Lu Yuan turned around and glanced at the way he had come.

The fog on the cliff has gathered again, and the pile of scattered black cloth has disappeared, leaving only a few blackened copper bells hanging on the withered branches, swaying gently in the wind.

This time, there was a sound coming from the bell.

"bite.

A sound.

"bite."

Another sound.

The bell rang softly, yet it seemed to come from a very distant place.

Lu Yuan immediately raised his hand.

"Get out of here."

No one dared to delay any longer and walked down the bluestone steps.

The steps were slippery, and fine black moss grew in the cracks between the stones. The moss didn't look like grass, but rather like strands of swollen hair, climbing up the cracks in the stones.

Xu Erxiao was walking at the back when he accidentally stepped on a patch of black moss. The moss suddenly tightened and wrapped around the top of his shoe.

"Brother Lu!"

As soon as he shouted, Lu Yuan turned around and cut the wisp of black moss with a single stroke.

The broken piece of black moss twisted twice on the stone steps, oozing a layer of grayish-white sap, in which floated a few tiny black dots, like unopened eyeballs.

Xu Erxiao's face turned pale.

"Isn't even the grass in these mountains clean?"

"There's no grass in here." Lu Yuan wiped the juice off the knife on the salt. "It's all stuff that was offered up."

"Some feed on blood, some on fame, and some on the shadows of the living."

"You think they grow on the ground, but they actually grow out of the offering mouth."

The lower you go down the stone steps, the lower the temperature gets.

When you reach the thirty-seventh step, the stone gate is already blocking your way.

There was no wind coming from the crack in the door, but there was a heavy breathing, coming in and out with long intervals. With each breath, a little dust would drift out from the crack.

The oil lamp in Song Qinghe's hand was blown by that breath, and the flame almost touched the wick.

There's something inside.

Wang Chengan said in a low voice.

"Not just one," Lu Yuan said, "at least three layers."

"The outermost part is the shell of the cave, the middle part is the place of offering, and the deepest part is the main entrance."

Lin Zhaoxuan took out the Soul-Illuminating Mirror and placed the mirror face towards the stone door.

The mirror did not reflect the stone gate, but instead showed a hazy, gray mountainside.

Inside the mountain, many things were hanging densely: wooden plaques, bone fragments, copper bells, old clothes, and strings of yellow paper with illegible characters.

They were all suspended in mid-air, swaying gently with some unseen airflow.

Below those things, there was a faint black stone ditch.

The ditch was filled with a viscous, black water.

In the middle of the black water, pale faces floated.

"Offerings," Lu Yuandao said. "This is the outer cave."

"Some people hang all the things they've kept in their entire lives here."

"If an object is left behind, a name will be attached to it."

"Once a name has a place to attach itself to, it can be used to change its appearance."

Looking at the old clothes in the mirror, Zhou Heng felt increasingly suffocated.

"Whose things are these?"

"All the people who died in the mountains and weren't properly buried," Lu Yuan said. "And those who were brought in."

Wang Cheng'an turned his head sharply: "Were they brought in?"

Lu Yuan nodded: "Evil gods need offerings, not just livestock."

Its most important supply is people.

"But not swallowed whole."

"It first breaks down a person's name, then separates the shadow, memory, bones, and old objects."

"In this way, the dead are not considered complete dead people, and the living are not considered complete living people."

"They can then guard the road for it indefinitely."

Xu Erxiao gripped the stick tightly: "Then I'll smash all of these today."

"Don't rush." Lu Yuan pressed down on his wrist. "The things inside the outer cave are tents, not roots."

"Smashing the account book rashly would be tantamount to alarming the accountant."

"Let's go in first and find the main entrance."

After saying that, Lu Yuan pasted the written yellow paper on the stone door.

The yellow paper immediately sank an inch into the stone surface upon contact.

It's like a stone that isn't actually a stone, but rather a layer of damp, cold skin.

The breathing behind the door suddenly stopped.

The surroundings were so quiet that only the sound of the lights burning could be heard.

The next moment, an aged voice came from inside the stone gate.

"Return to name."

The voice was extremely soft, as if someone were speaking through a thick layer of soil.

Wang Chengan nearly dropped the cinnabar from his hand.

Lu Yuan remained unfazed, pressed his hand on the yellow paper, and whispered, "The way home."

Shimen remained silent for a moment.

"Offering a name".

Lu Yuan replied, "Unclaimed."

There was silence inside the door for a while.

"Who lured it?"

Lu Yuan pasted the piece of wood with the character "回" onto the yellow paper.

"Old lead."

As soon as those two words were uttered, a faint grinding sound suddenly rang out from inside the stone gate.

It looked like countless fingers were crawling across the stone surface from behind the door.

Immediately afterwards, a very fine crack extended downwards from above the door seam, and where the crack passed, the stone patterns opened slightly like eyelids.

"The old guide is dead," the voice from within the door rang out again. "Who is the new guide?"

Lu Yuan's eyes turned cold.

This thing really knew that Iron Abacus was dead.

"The old guide is dead, but the road is not," he said. "As long as the road is not cut off, the accountant should be replaced."

"The new door is outside."

"Sign up."

Lu Yuan did not answer.

He suddenly raised his hand and nailed the piece of wood to the stone door.

"Snapped!"

The wooden piece was embedded in the stone, nailed precisely to the center of the "eye pattern".

"Reputation isn't something you can just talk about," Lu Yuan said. "It's something you can achieve on the road."

"If you want to admit it, then come out and admit it yourself."

The room suddenly fell silent.

The next moment, the entire stone door shook violently.

Countless thin black lines emerged from the cracks in the rock, gushing out like wet hair.

The black lines fell onto the steps, quickly forming blurry characters.

Some faces are young, some are old, and some don't even have facial features.

As soon as they appeared, they all opened their mouths.

"land""

The first word had barely escaped his lips when Lu Yuan's short knife swept across the room.

The blade, streaked with salt, swept across the faces of several people.

"hiss!"

The black lines receded, leaving several scorch-like marks on the steps.

Lu Yuan turned around and said coldly, "Did you hear everything?"

"They will call out their real names first."

"Whoever agrees will be recognized by it."

"No matter who shouts, you are not allowed to turn around."

Xu Erxiao asked, "What if it calls for our family members?"

"You're not allowed to go back either."

"What if it screams that someone is dying?"

"And you are not allowed to go back."

After saying that, Lu Yuan stepped over the threshold.

The stone gate did not obstruct them.

But the moment he stepped inside, the oil lamp flames suddenly bent backward, as if blown by the darkness inside the door.

Wang Chengan, Xu Erxiao, Zhou Heng, and Lin Zhaoxuan followed closely behind.

Song Qinghe was the last to enter. As soon as she stepped over the stone threshold, a soft call came from behind her.

"Qinghe".

Her body stiffened.

The voice was a man's voice, gentle and weary, like the one that had called her many years ago on a snowy night.

Her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

But the next moment, Lu Yuan's hand reached out from the side and pressed down on her shoulder.

Don't go back.

Song Qinghe bit her lip tightly, tears welling up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

The voice behind him called again.

"Qinghe, look back."

This time, the voice was even more similar.

Like her father who has been dead for many years.

The lamp in her hand shook violently, almost going out.

Lu Yuan didn't look at her, only saying, "That's not your father."

"If your father really wanted to call you, he wouldn't tell you to turn around."

"It will only call your name."

Upon hearing this, Song Qinghe finally swallowed her anger, steadied the oil lamp, and continued forward.

After entering the stone gate, what lies inside is not a cave, but a very long stone corridor.

Many small niches were carved on both sides of the stone corridor.

Each shrine contained an offering.

There were cloth shoes, combs, old tobacco pouches, wooden bowls, broken scissors, and some small items whose purpose was no longer discernible.

In front of each offering was a small sign.

The sign didn't show names, but rather people's identities.

"eldest son."

"widow."

"Medicine boy".

"Out-of-towner".

"deserter."

"The charcoal seller."

"Forest ranger".

"It doesn't remember names." Wang Cheng'an's teeth clenched as he looked at it. "What it remembers is who the person is."

"Remembering an identity is more reliable than remembering a name," Lu Yuandao said. "Names can change, but an identity can lock a person down."

"Once a person is defined as a certain type of person, even after they die, others will still call them that."

"After being called that for so long, this identity has become his second skin."

Lin Zhaoxuan suddenly stopped in front of a small shrine.

There was an old abacus in the small niche.

Two beads were missing from the abacus, and the edges of the wooden frame were worn white, as if it had been held in someone's hand for many years.

The sign had three characters written on it.

"The accountant."

Lin Zhaoxuan's breath hitched.

"This is something from the Iron Abacus."

Lu Yuan walked over, stared at the abacus for a moment, but didn't reach out.

"He didn't leave from here."

"He was released from here."

Wang Cheng'an didn't understand: "What's the difference?"

"Those who were released all carried a tent with them," Lu Yuan said. "When Tie Suanpan left the main cave, he carried this abacus in his hand and his old name on his body."

"Later, he guarded the road for it, collected its name, and guarded the gate for it."

"Perhaps he didn't intend to stay in the first place."

"But he owes money."

Zhou Heng stared at the abacus in the small niche and suddenly said, "He's dead, so the debt is settled, isn't it?"

Lu Yuan shook his head: "The person is dead, but the debt isn't settled."

"The account will be transferred to the next person."

As soon as he finished speaking, a "crackling" sound suddenly rang out from the depths of the stone corridor.

Like abacus beads being moved.

One grain.

Two.

Three pills.

The sound was getting closer.

Everyone turned around.

In the darkness, something is slowly approaching.

There were no footsteps, only the sound of abacus beads clattering together.

"Brother Lu—" Wang Cheng'an whispered, "Could it be Iron Abacus—"

"It wasn't him." Lu Yuan's tone was cold. "Iron Abacus is dead."

"The dead cannot be brought back to life."

"This is his account; he's looking for someone."

The sound of the abacus stopped at the end of the stone corridor.

A slender figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

The figure wore an old jacket, with an abacus hanging from its waist. Its head was bowed low, obscuring its face. With each step it took, the abacus chimed.

But that jacket was the same old jacket that Tie Suanpan had worn last night.

Xu Erxiao's face turned pale: "It's wearing the clothes of an abacus."

"Clothes aren't people." Lu Yuan raised his knife. "Don't let them take your place."

The figure slowly raised its head.

Its face lacked the features of an abacus, only a layer of white skin swollen from being soaked in water. A crack appeared in the middle of the white skin, and two abacus beads were embedded in the crack.

It looked at Lu Yuan and slowly said, "The account—someone should take over."

Lu Yuandao: "You answer it?"

"I won't answer." The voice was dry. "You answer."

He took the abacus from his waist and handed it to Lu Yuan.

The beads on the abacus moved on their own, eventually forming four characters.

Lu Yuan took over the account.

Wang Chengan took a deep breath.

Lu Yuan's eyes remained fixed as he reached into his sleeve and took out the ashes from the burnt yellow paper from the previous night, gently wiping them onto the abacus.

"The accountant who makes the decisions, he has to bear the consequences himself."

"Your rule is that debts don't die with a person."

"But you're using the old skin of a dead person to ask a living person to take out a debt; that's breaking your own rules."

The white man's image didn't understand, but he still handed the abacus forward.

"Receive the payment."

The sounds are increasing.

The identity plaques in the small niche also began to vibrate one by one.

"Eldest son." "Widow." "Medicine boy." "Stranger." "Forest ranger."

"Receive the payment." "Receive the payment." "Receive the payment."

Countless voices crowded in the stone corridor, like a group of unseen things whispering around them.

The oil lamp in Song Qinghe's hand suddenly dimmed by half.

Lin Zhaoxuan immediately placed the black wooden plaque horizontally in front of the lamp and whispered, "They are looking for their identities."

"Once someone accepts an identity in their heart, the signboard will mark it."

Lu Yuan looked at the small niches on both sides and suddenly understood.

This is not simply a gallery of offerings.

This is the "Name Recognition Gallery".

Anyone who enters will be called by a certain identity plaque, and as long as they respond in their mind, even if only for a moment, they will be remembered by the main cave.

And hidden within these labels is surely the identity that each of them is most easily shaken about.

Wang Chengan suddenly heard a sound coming from the small niche on the left.

"son."

He stopped in his tracks.

The voice was old and weary, like his mother's voice.

"Son, come here."

Wang Cheng'an's eyes reddened, and he almost stepped out.

Lu Yuan suddenly grabbed him.

"Don't answer."

On the other side, Xu Erxiao heard a woman's voice.

"Second Little One".

He trembled.

That was his sister's voice.

What Zhou Heng heard was a woman crying.

The crying was intermittent.

Only Song Qinghe did not hear the voices of her relatives.

She heard someone say in her ear, "You were never a celebrity to begin with."

Nobody remembers you.

"Once you hand over your name, you won't have to be afraid anymore."

Her face slowly turned pale.

Lu Yuan glanced at her and immediately said, "Qinghe, guard the lamp."

Don't listen.

Song Qinghe suddenly came to her senses, hugged the oil lamp tightly, and the light became more stable again.

The pale-skinned figure still stood at the end of the stone corridor, handing out an abacus, repeatedly saying, "Receive the payment."

Lu Yuan suddenly plunged the dagger into the ground.

The blade pierced through the crack in the stone with a clear sound.

"Since you like settling accounts," he looked up at the object, "then let's do some settling."

The white-skinned figure remained motionless.

Lu Yuan took out a pinch of road dust and sprinkled it on the ground, then used cinnabar to draw a circle on the dust.

"The first stroke of the pen, the fate of the iron abacus."

"He guarded the gate for you for many years, only to be abandoned by you in the end."

"The second stroke is the name of the offering outside the door."

"You are using the old skin of the dead to lure the living, thus violating established norms."

"The third point is about those people in the mountains whose names were removed."

"Names, shadows, bones, old objects, you have dismantled them all to make offerings."

"The fourth step: today we're entering the house."

He raised his knife and pointed it at the white-skinned figure.

"You need to collect our debts."

"Then pay up the debts you owe first."

The white-skinned figure finally raised its face.

The white skin cracked wider, and two abacus beads inside spun around.

"That's not how you calculate the accounts."

"Who says otherwise?" Lu Yuan's voice suddenly turned cold. "Whoever holds the debt has to pay it."

"You use the names of those you offer as locks, I will use the names of those you offer as knives."

"You use identity cards to seal people off, so I'll make sure these identity cards can't recognize themselves first."

As he spoke, he scooped up a handful of salt and sprinkled it into the small niches on either side.

As the salt grains fell, the previously neatly arranged identity tags immediately began to shake wildly.

Lu Yuan then drew a horizontal line along the stone corridor floor with cinnabar, which cut off the invisible path under the white-skinned figure's feet.

"Listen up," he said to the crowd behind him, "Don't smash the identity tokens."

"Whenever they call out your identity, just silently repeat it in your mind."

"I'm not the person it's talking about." "I don't accept this claim."

Everyone responded enthusiastically.

As soon as these words were spoken, the identity plaques in the two niches on either side emitted a screeching sound.

It's like countless mouths being gagged.

Lu Yuan looked at Lin Zhaoxuan one last time.

Lin Zhaoxuan was taken aback, then realized what he was waiting for.

"I'm not the one guarding the sign," he said. "I'm just a fellow traveler."

The black wooden plaque trembled violently in his hand.

The black spot on the cross-section seemed to have been pricked by those words, suddenly shrinking into a tiny black nail.

Deep within the stone corridor, the abacus in the white-skinned figure's hand suddenly cracked open.

"Click."

The first crossbeam broke.

"Click."

The second one broke too.

One by one, the abacus beads fell to the ground and transformed into tiny white teeth.

The white-skinned figure looked down at the white teeth, showing panic for the first time.

"The accounts are in disarray."

It murmured.

"The names are all mixed up."

"The road is in disarray."

Taking advantage of the situation, Lu Yuan drew his sword, the tip of which picked up a white tooth and flicked it in front of the white-skinned figure.

"The real chaos is yet to come."

The white tooth struck the vermilion line and instantly turned into a wisp of gray smoke.

Amidst the gray smoke, an extremely thin red line appeared, stretching straight to the end of the stone corridor.

"I see it!" Lin Zhaoxuan whispered, "That's the fuse for the main cave!"

Lu Yuan looked up.

The red line pierced through the chest of the white-skinned figure, passed through the black wall at the end of the stone corridor, and extended deeper into the distance.

The red thread was extremely thin, yet it pulsated incessantly.

Like a blood vessel.

At its end, a very slow heartbeat could be heard.

"Thump."

All the niches in the stone corridor trembled at the same time.

"Thump."

This time, the sound was closer.

"Thump."

The previously blurred eye patterns on the wall suddenly opened one by one.

Each eye had no pupils, only a small cluster of dark red fire.

The white-skinned figure suddenly looked up, and the abacus beads in his mouth clanged together.

"The master has woken up."

it says.

"The Lord wants to see you."

Lu Yuan gripped the knife handle tightly.

He finally realized that the so-called evil god's true form was not in the outer cave, nor at the entrance, nor in that eye socket underground.

It is hidden at the end of the red line.

Moreover, it already knew they were coming.

"Walk."

Lu Yuandao.

Wang Cheng'an was taken aback: "Where to?"

"Follow the red line."

"That thing wants us to go see it?"

"It wasn't it that made the noise," Lu Yuan said, staring at the white-skinned figure. "It's that it could no longer hide."

"We've completely messed up the outer shell, the old credentials, the pseudonyms, and the identity records."

"If it doesn't reveal its true nature soon, the entire shrine will be thrown into chaos."

Xu Erxiao looked at the black wall ahead: "But how do we get over this wall?"

Lu Yuan walked to the black wall and pressed his hand on it.

The walls were cold, but there was a very slight pulsation inside.

"There's a hole behind the wall," he said, "but it's not a door."

"It's leather."

"It's Pi again?" Zhou Heng felt a chill run down his spine.

"Things of evil gods love to hide their true forms," Lu Yuan said. "They're afraid people will see what they really look like."

"The more leather is used, the more it indicates that the contents inside are not meant to be recognized."

He told everyone to step aside, and then placed the black wooden plaque, the soul-revealing mirror, and the piece of wood engraved with the character "回" on the ground, arranging them in a triangle.

Then, he took out the ash left by the abacus and gently sprinkled it along the red line.

As dust settles on the ground, the red line immediately becomes visible.

It passed through the chest of the white-skinned figure, extended towards the black wall, and finally tied a knot in the middle of the wall.

The knot was shaped like a closed eye.

Lu Yuan raised his sword, aiming it at the center of the knot.

"Cinnabar".

"Salt."

"Pick up that abacus."

"The Soul-Illuminating Mirror faces the red line."

Give me the lamp.

Everyone did as instructed.

Song Qinghe handed over the oil lamp, which Lu Yuan took and held up to the black wall.

The light shone on the wall, and the dark wall seemed to undulate slightly.

Like a layer of wet skin stuck to the outside of a cave.

Zhou Heng handed over the cracked abacus, but Lu Yuan didn't take it, only saying, "Smash the wall."

Zhou Heng was taken aback: "Use it?"

"Use it."

"Isn't this something from an abacus?"

"Things that rely on iron abacuses should ultimately be used to smash its doors," Lu Yuandao said. "He spent his whole life doing the math for it, and even in death, he can't let it use its abacus to collect people anymore."

Zhou Heng's eyes hardened, and he snatched the abacus, smashing it hard against the knot of the red thread.

"Bang!"

A section of the black wall has been recessed.

A low, muffled thud came from behind the wall, like something had been hit and hurt.

Zhou Heng didn't stop; he slammed down a second and a third time in quick succession.

With each strike, the eye-shaped patterns on the wall contract simultaneously.

Taking advantage of the situation, Wang Chengan and Xu Erxiao sprinkled salt and cinnabar on the depression, the red and white colors intermingling, causing the black skin to continuously emit smoke.

Lin Zhaoxuan aimed the Soul-Illuminating Mirror at the red line, and the mirror immediately revealed a deep darkness behind the wall.

In the center of the darkness, there is a stone platform.

There was something standing on the stone platform.

The thing was covered in layers of black cloth, looked like a person, but was much taller.

It had no head; above its shoulders was a blurry shadow, within which hung dozens of closed eyes.

Seven pottery jars were placed around the stone platform.

Each pottery jar had a yellow paper pasted on it.

The yellow paper was covered with names of those who had made offerings.

"I see it." Lin Zhaoxuan's voice was deep. "The main cave is behind the wall."

What's on the stone platform?

"I can't see clearly."

"Then let's break down the wall."

Zhou Heng grabbed the abacus and smashed it again.

This time, the black wall finally cracked.

There were no stone chips in the crack, only a large patch of thick, black water gushing out along the crack in the wall.

Countless tiny sounds were mixed in with the black water.

Some people are crying. Some are shouting. Some are whispering their own names.

Another aged voice, through the black water, counted over and over: "—".

"three.

""Four.

It looks like they are counting offerings.

Lu Yuan looked at the seven pottery jars and suddenly said, "There aren't seven."

"There are eight."

"There's another one hidden under the stone platform."

Lin Zhaoxuan was startled: "How did you know?"

"When that face deepest inside looked at me just now, a glint of white light flashed through its black hole," Lu Yuan said in a deep voice. "That wasn't an eye; it was the mouth of the jar."

"They take people's eyes, names, and shadows, and finally put them into jars."

"Seven are for the outer cave, and the last one is for the main body."

"That is the main offering."

The black water surged faster and faster.

The cracks in the stone wall were stretched wider and wider, and the inner "skin" had begun to peel outwards.

A low voice came from behind the door.

"Lu Yuan."

This time, it called out clearly.

Everyone heard it.

Lu Yuan's expression remained unchanged; he simply pushed the oil lamp forward.

Call me Brother Lu.

He said.

The sounds from behind the door stopped.

Then, all those closed eyes opened at the same time.

In the darkness, a gray-white light suddenly spread out.

"Brother Lu".

The voice rang out again.

"You've finally arrived."

Lu Yuan stared at the gray-white light and slowly drew his short sword.

"I didn't come to see you."

"I'm here to settle accounts with you."

The black wall suddenly cracked open.

A chilling, almost solidified aura emanated from within, causing the oil lamp flame to nearly snap horizontally.

Wang Chengan, Xu Erxiao, and Zhou Heng all retreated, while Lu Yuan stood at the forefront, his knife tip touching the ground, the salt line beneath his feet not retreating an inch.

Behind the black wall, the stone platform was finally fully revealed.

The tall thing covered in black cloth was standing on the stone platform.

It has no head.

From the shadow on his shoulder, dozens of eyes slowly moved, finally all fixing on Lu Yuan.

Below the stone platform, eight pottery jars are lined up in a row.

Seven of them had old yellow paper pasted on them.

The last earthenware jar, however, contained no paper.

A black line hangs above the mouth of the can.

The other end of the line was connected to the piece of wood with the character "回" in Lu Yuan's hand.

Lu Yuan glanced down at the wooden piece, his eyes finally turning extremely cold.

"When did it connect?"

Wang Chengan asked in surprise.

"From the moment we passed through the stone gate," Lu Yuan said, "it doesn't want to recognize our names."

"It's trying to tie me to the priest first."

The headless black figure on the stone platform raised a hand.

That hand had no nails, only five thin, long black bones.

It gently hooked.

The wooden piece in Lu Yuan's sleeve suddenly heated up, and the black lines tightened sharply, as if trying to pull something out of his flesh and blood.

Lu Yuan groaned, blood dripping from the edge of the wooden piece from his palm.

"Brother Lu!"

Song Qinghe exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't come any closer!" Lu Yuan shouted sharply, "It's looking for my name!"

He raised his hand and used the dagger to cut the black line directly.

The blade sliced through, but the black line didn't break. Instead, it coiled around the blade like a live snake, crawling up the hilt to his wrist.

Lu Yuan thrust the knife into the ground with his backhand, the blade carrying salt and cinnabar. The black line was pressed at the boundary between red and white, and a wisp of black smoke immediately rose.

But the headless black figure on the stone platform beckoned with its finger.

The earthenware jar without paper suddenly made a soft sound.

"Click."

A crack appeared at the mouth of the jar.

A grayish-white eye was visible through the crack.

That eye had no eyelid and was staring intently at Lu Yuan.

At the same time, the piece of wood with the character "回" in Lu Yuan's palm also cracked.

On the back of the wooden piece, a new line of words slowly emerged.

It's not "回".

It consists of two blood-red characters.

"Returning to Name".

The headless black figure on the stone platform finally spoke.