The invincible female ghost is a bit love-struck.

Chapter 284 Mother Stele

The figure stood at the end of the stone path, holding a knife exactly like Lu Yuan's.

It slightly raised its head, its face still blank.

"You don't need to look further up."

"I've come down to pick you up."

Xu Erxiao gripped the red cloth tightly, Wang Chengan held up the broken frame of the abacus, and Lin Zhaoxuan and Zhou Heng protected Song Qinghe on the left and right.

No one answered.

Lu Yuan stared at the shadow, first looking at its feet.

There is water on the stone path.

The black water from the well flowed out through the cracks in the rocks, leaving wet trails along the way. But the shadow's feet were clean, without a single speck of dust on them.

It has no physical form.

"Don't look at its face."

Lu Yuan whispered, "Watch your step."

The shadowy figure raised its knife, pointing the tip at Lu Yuan's chest.

"You have already seen it."

"One more look, and you'll know who the real one is."

Wang Chengan asked, "What does that mean?"

"It wants us to recognize each other."

Lu Yuan raised his hand, signaling everyone not to separate.

"The shadow demon reveals its form through the lamp, and its name is determined by the heart."

"Once we distinguish between truth and falsehood for it, it can shift its perspective according to our thoughts."

"What should we do then?"

"Turn off the lights."

Song Qinghe was taken aback.

There was only one oil lamp in the stone room.

Once the light goes out, the area around the well will be completely plunged into darkness.

Since that thing is a shadow demon, darkness may not be able to suppress it; on the contrary, it may give it a huge advantage.

Lu Yuan noticed her hesitation.

"It's not about extinguishing it, it's about extinguishing the light in front of us."

He picked up a broken domino from the ground, dipped it in some black mud from the cracks in the stone, and smeared it around the outer edge of the lamp.

Then, he formed a "Covering Lamp Mudra" with his hands in front of his chest.

Pinch the base of the ring finger with the left thumb, bring the index and middle fingers together, and place the palm of the right hand on the back of the left fingers, as if holding a lamp.

"The lamp is the eye of the sun, and the shadow is the form of the shadow."

"If the yang eye does not open, the yin form will not be visible."

"Life depends on oil, and doors depend on the core."

"When the door is closed, the fire is extinguished; when the fire is extinguished, the shadow is submerged."

"cover!"

As the last word fell, the oil lamp in Song Qinghe's hand suddenly went out.

The stone chamber was plunged into darkness.

But the shadow did not disappear.

In the darkness, the sound of a blade scraping the ground rang out first.

stab.

It is approaching.

"It's here."

Xu Erxiao lowered his voice.

"Listen to the sound, don't move."

Lu Yuan stood still, his fingers gently twirling the hilt of the knife.

The sound of dragging blades coming from the stone path shifted from left to right, as if seven or eight things were approaching from all four sides at the same time.

Wang Chengan couldn't help but move his foot.

"Don't move."

Lu Yuan reminded him again.

This time, the voice came from behind Wang Cheng'an.

"Don't move."

It was Lu Yuan's voice.

Wang Chengan's body suddenly tensed up.

The voice behind me said again, "You moved, and it knew you weren't me."

Wang Chengan did not turn around.

"Brother Lu, are you ahead of me?"

"exist."

"Then who's behind me?"

"It wasn't me."

As soon as he finished speaking, the thing behind Wang Cheng'an suddenly raised its hand, and five cold fingers landed on his shoulder.

Wang Chengan grunted and slammed the broken abacus frame down with his backhand.

A muffled sound came from the darkness.

Five bruises were scratched on his shoulder, but the thing didn't go away.

Lu Yuan shifted his feet and cut diagonally toward the sound.

The blade missed its mark.

But the next moment, a "crack" sound came from above the stone chamber, as if something was hanging upside down on the ceiling, avoiding the blade's attack.

Lu Yuan did not pursue and slash. Instead, he stuck the knife into the ground and, with the tip of the knife as the center, stomped three steps on the ground with his right foot.

The first step is to go east.

The second step is to go south.

The third step is to go north.

After taking three steps, he raised his left hand, pinched the second joint of his middle finger, and made a sword gesture with his right hand, pointing to the center of the stone chamber.

This is the "fixing of the three gates" in the Taoist ritual of walking the steps.

"We will not welcome you at the East Gate, we will not greet you at the South Gate, and we will not keep you at the North Gate."

"People walk on the sidewalk, and shadows walk on the path."

"Using the mountain as the boundary, and the stone as the marker."

"Those without roots must not touch the ground!"

As the hand seals were applied, three points of pale white light suddenly illuminated the stone chamber.

The light was not like fire, but rather like phosphorescence seeping from inside the stone.

The three points of light fell on the east, south, and north respectively, effectively blocking the possible retreat of the shadow.

Something suddenly fell from above.

When it landed, it still looked like Lu Yuan, and the knife in its hand was already stabbing in front of Wang Cheng'an.

Xu Erxiao flung out a red cloth and wrapped it around its wrist.

Wang Chengan stepped back.

The red cloth was stretched taut, but the shadow did not struggle to break free. Instead, it slid quickly along the cloth, like a pool of black water spreading across the surface, and reached Xu Erxiao's hand in an instant.

Just as Xu Erxiao was about to let go, Lu Yuan shouted, "Hold on tight!"

"It's using your hand to get around!"

Xu Erxiao gritted his teeth and wrapped the red cloth around his palm.

"How do we get it down?"

"Recite the backtracking mantra in reverse."

"I can't!"

"Repeat after me."

Lu Yuan stepped onto the middle of the red cloth, made a hand seal with his left hand, and pressed his right hand on the hilt of the knife.

"A red cloth leads the way, and the way will not lead astray."

Xu Erxiao followed along, reciting: "Red cloth leads the way, the way does not lead to evil."

"The hand is the gateway to life, the wrist is the barrier to death."

"If evil goes beyond three inches, it will return to the cloth but not to the person."

"If evil crosses three inches, the cloth will return, but the person will not!"

As he finished speaking, Lu Yuan slammed the back of his knife heavily against the red cloth.

The wooden piece bearing the character "回" on the red cloth made a soft sound.

The dark shadow suddenly detached from the cloth, fell to the ground, and reformed into a human shape.

Its face still lacked features, but a thin slit had appeared on its chest.

A black stone slab was faintly embedded in the crevice.

The stone slab is engraved with the character "影" (shadow).

Lin Zhaoxuan said, "The inscription is on it."

"It is not the guardian of the monument," Lu Yuandao said. "It is a wisp of the monument's spirit that has separated from the shadow monument."

Ying Xie lowered his head and reached out to touch his chest.

"Shadows do not belong to people."

"Man is merely a vessel for shadow."

"As long as you acknowledge this, the mountain will collect your corpses."

It suddenly opened its arms.

Five blurry human figures emerged from the darkness surrounding the stone chamber.

Each dish resembled the others, yet none possessed a face.

Instead of lunging at the main body, the humanoid figures stood behind the group and placed their hands on the back of each person's neck.

Song Qinghe's breath hitched.

She couldn't see what was behind her, but she could feel gusts of cold air creeping into her collar from the back of her neck.

Lin Zhaoxuan said, "This thing is creating shadows."

"It's not a split image."

Lu Yuan looked at the ground.

"It's turning our shadows up from under our feet."

Everyone looked down.

The shadow that was originally close to my feet is now gradually rising.

It's like a piece of black paper being peeled off the ground.

Once the shadow stands completely upright, the person's body becomes an empty shell.

"Zhaoxuan, ink line."

Lin Zhaoxuan immediately took the inkwell from his waist.

"Where should we fire it?"

"Seal our feet, but don't seal them."

Lin Zhaoxuan understood, tightened the ink line with both hands, and flicked it horizontally past everyone's feet.

Snapped!

The ink line fell to the ground, leaving a straight red line on the stone slab from the cinnabar and black mud.

Lu Yuan grabbed a handful of salt and sprinkled it along the red line.

"Feet are the earth's gate, shadow is the root of man."

"If the red line is not crossed, yin energy will not rise."

"Everyone guards their feet, and every soul guards their body."

"Anyone whose shadow leaves the body, retreat!"

After he finished speaking, he raised his right hand in a sword gesture from bottom to top.

The five newly erected shadows flickered simultaneously and were pressed back to the ground by the red line.

The Shadow Demon emitted a piercing sound, as if many fingernails were scraping against the coffin lid at the same time.

It pounced on Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan did not retreat, but instead stepped forward to meet him.

The two knives collided.

The knife in the opponent's hand was formed from a shadow, with a long and thin blade, which slid down along Lu Yuan's blade.

Lu Yuan twisted his wrist, pressing the back of his blade against the opponent's wrist. He dipped his left fingertip in cinnabar and quickly drew the character "止" (stop) on the black stone piece on its chest.

Shadow Demon suddenly froze.

But its head continued to stretch forward, its mouth splitting open, almost touching Lu Yuan's face.

"You're nowhere to be seen either."

"You're not from here."

"Your shadow will eventually return to where it came from."

Lu Yuan exerted force with his wrist, pressing it back to the ground.

"That's not your place to deliver it."

He raised his knee and slammed it into Yingxie's chest.

Yingxie bent backward, making the stone shard on his chest more visible.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lu Yuan thrust the tip of his knife into the gap between the stone slab and the shadow, but instead of piercing through, he flicked it outwards.

"Clang!"

The black stone shards were picked out.

The moment the stone slab detached from the body, the shadow of the entire stone chamber vanished simultaneously.

All that remained beneath their feet was the darkness after the lights went out.

As Shadow Demon lost the stone fragment, his body began to collapse.

However, the stone did not fall to the ground.

It hangs in mid-air, and the character "影" on its surface slowly rotates.

A shrill voice came from the stone slab: "The monument must not be destroyed."

"Destroy the monument, and the shadow will dissipate."

"The shadows disperse, the mountains recede."

Lu Yuan caught the stone shard but did not smash it directly.

The stone slab was cold to the touch, and it felt as if countless tiny footsteps were running back and forth inside.

"The iron abacus is right."

Lu Yuandao said, "The monument must not be destroyed, nor can the inscription be forcibly erased."

He took out a piece of yellow paper and spread it out on the ground.

Then place the stone on the paper and draw four short lines along the four sides of the stone with cinnabar.

One road to the east, one road to the south, one road to the west, and one road to the north.

With each stroke of his pen, he would recite a phrase: "Returning eastward on the journey."

"The South returns to illuminate itself."

"Returning to the west gate."

"Return the old land to the north."

With the four vermilion lines completed, Lu Yuan formed the "Returning Shadow Technique" with both hands.

With your left hand, fingers together and palm facing down, pinch the tip of your right middle finger with your right thumb, and extend your index and middle fingers. Gently tap your left palm three times.

"The shadow is not the master, the form is not the guest."

"A person has a body, and a shadow has a place."

"The name is not on the monument, but it belongs to its original place."

"The soul has a way home, and evil has no excuse."

"Return!"

He placed his right hand on the stone slab.

The character "影" on the stone tablet immediately faded.

At the same time, the shadows of the five people reappeared from the darkness and returned to their respective feet.

The Shadow Demon's tattered body let out a low groan, turned into a layer of black ash, and burrowed into the crack in the rock.

The stone shard fell onto the yellow paper.

The character “影” is now empty.

The sound of water came from the direction of the well.

The black water level dropped an inch.

The red light on the ninth "Life" monument dimmed a little more.

Lu Yuan put away the blank stone tablet and turned his gaze to the top of the stone chamber.

There, a stone staircase leading upwards appeared out of nowhere.

Old-fashioned wooden stakes were stuck on both sides of the stone steps, with rotten white paper strips hanging on them.

The paper was rustled by the mountain wind.

Each slip of paper had the same word written on it: "Mother".

Lin Zhaoxuan looked at the stone steps.

"Is this the next level?"

"Yes."

Lu Yuan wiped the black ash off the knife.

"The memorial stone is empty; Yamane will fill it immediately."

"The next monument will not send a single spirit."

Wang Cheng'an asked, "What could that be?"

Lu Yuan looked up.

At the end of the stone steps, the sound of a wooden door opening could be heard.

Then, a woman whispered in the darkness, "Child, it's time to go inside."

Lu Yuan gripped his knife tightly and took the lead in stepping onto the first step.

"It is an evil spirit guarding the mother's monument."

"It uses the life force of a living person to recreate a new embryo in an empty shell without a mother."

"From this moment on, no one shall touch the white paper in the woods, and no one shall enter the door."

Xu Erxiao, Wang Chengan, and others followed.

As soon as the group stepped down more than thirty stone steps, the stone chamber behind them suddenly closed shut.

Looking back, the path we came from has become a complete stone wall.

At the end of the stone steps, a typical wooden cabin, common in areas outside the Great Wall, came into view.

The roof was covered with a thick layer of snow, and dim light shone through the paper windows.

There was an iron pot standing in front of the door. There was no water in the pot, but white steam was rising from it.

A string of wind chimes hangs under the eaves.

The wind chimes did not ring in the wind.

They began to rock on their own amidst the cries of babies.

"Waaaaah————"

The door to the wooden cabin slowly opened.

A woman wearing a white cotton-padded jacket was sitting inside the door.

She had her back to everyone, holding a swaddled baby in her arms.

There was no baby in the swaddling clothes, only a piece of wood bound with red thread.

The woman gently patted the wood and hummed a lullaby from the folk songs of the Northeast: "Sleep, sleep, the snow is heavy in the mountains."

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, there's no home outside."

As she sang the last line, she slowly turned her head.

She has three mouths on her face.

Three mouths spoke at the same time: "Who will be the child's mother?"

The snow in the courtyard suddenly sank.

Eight pale hands reached out from under the snow and grabbed at the people's ankles.

Lu Yuan thrust his sword into the frozen ground before the threshold and shouted sternly, "Stand on the stone steps!"

"Don't let it snow!"

Everyone immediately stopped.

Those hands grasped at empty air, their fingernails scraping against the stone steps with a series of harsh sounds.

The woman stood up, holding the swaddled baby.

She didn't come down the steps, but stood inside the door, quietly watching Lu Yuan.

Aren't you coming in?

"The Mother Monument does not enter the house."

Lu Yuandao.

"The house is a person's house, and the monument is a mountain's monument. Since you use the house to perform the Dharma, you have already lost your position as the mother."

The woman laughed from all three mouths at the same time.

You're wrong.

"There's no one in this house."

"So whoever comes in is the child's mother."

Lu Yuan pinched a cinnabar nail and handed it to Lin Zhaoxuan.

"Nail the right corner of the door."

He handed another one to Song Qinghe.

"Nail the left corner of the door."

He took out the last one himself and stood in the middle of the threshold.

"A mother's duty is to protect life, not to nurture evil."

"Let's not go inside. Let it vomit up what's inside first."

Lu Yuan raised his hand to form a hand seal.

Interlace your fingers, press your thumbs together, and then simultaneously separate them outwards.

"Open the fetal gate."

The woman's three mouths suddenly stopped laughing.

"You dare!"

Lu Yuan drove the cinnabar nail into the threshold.

"open!"

The lights inside the wooden house turned deathly white in an instant.

Black water seeped from the cracks in all the wooden planks of the floor, walls, and roof.

The black water gathered at the woman's feet, gradually lifting the piece of wood in her arms.

The red lines on the surface of the wood broke off on their own.

Inside, paper faces stacked together were visible.

Each paper figure has the character "mother" written on its face.

Lu Yuan glanced at it and said, "The true mother figure is not found in women."

"In the wooden dome in her arms."

The woman hugged the log tightly, and her figure rapidly expanded.

The white cotton-padded coat was torn apart, and black tree roots emerged from the cuffs and hem, embedding themselves in the walls of the wooden house.

The three mouths simultaneously uttered a strange, rural song to induce childbirth.

As soon as the song began, the people on the stone steps felt a tightness in their chests, as if something was trying to push out of their abdomens.

Xu Erxiao's face turned pale.

"What kind of method is this?"

"The 'Borrowing a Womb' song," Lu Yuan said. "Covering your ears won't help; the sound has already entered your body."

He placed his palm on his chest, pinched the "heart protection mantra" with his left hand, pressed his thumb against his middle finger, and extended his index finger, placing it in front of the Tanzhong acupoint.

"If the heart fire does not subside, the spleen earth will not collapse."

"The fetal sound enters the ear, but does not penetrate the bone."

"External songs are for guests, internal energy is for the master."

"Defend!"

Everyone followed his action and placed their hands on their hearts.

Lu Yuan added, "Don't breathe in rhythm with it."

"Each person counts to seven breaths, taking a long inhale, a short pause, and a slow exhale."

"If the Qi is not disordered, nothing will be generated in the body."

When the labor-inducing song failed, the woman abruptly threw the wooden womb she was holding onto the stone steps.

The wooden frame fell to the ground and cracked into eight pieces.

Eight paper figures crawled out from inside, with long, thin arms and legs, and the word "mother" written on their heads.

They rushed towards the crowd along the stone steps.

Lu Yuan did not chase after them, but instead sprinkled a handful of white salt on the edge of the steps.

"Second child, cover the left side with red cloth."

"Cheng An, the abacus is pressed to the right."

"Zhao Xuan, ink lines across the gate."

"Qinghe, the oil lamp illuminates the fetus, not the person."

The group immediately split up and took action.

Xu Erxiao tied the red cloth to the wooden stake on the left side of the stone steps, and then used the other end to go around the paper figure that was the first to rush over.

When the paper figure touched the red cloth, the character "mother" on its body began to bleed.

Wang Chengan used the broken frame of an abacus to press down the steps on the right. As the paper figure crawled past, the wooden beads in the broken frame rolled automatically, making a series of chaotic noises.

With each sound, the paper figure's movements slowed down a fraction.

Lin Zhaoxuan flicked the ink line across the threshold.

The vermilion thread collided with the black water in the wooden house, making a soft "hissing" sound.

Song Qinghe held up a lantern and shone it on the cracked wooden frame.

As the light fell, the outline of a small stone tablet emerged from inside the wooden frame.

The character "母" (mother) is faintly engraved on the monument.

Upon seeing the words, Lu Yuan immediately understood the key to breaking the spell.

"Don't hit the paper doll!"

"Drive them back into the wooden frame!"

"The characters on the mother monument are still in their embryonic stage; the paper figure is merely the outer shell!"

The group changed their approach.

Xu Erxiao stopped whipping the paper figures with the red cloth and instead used it to wrap around the paper figures, forcing them one by one toward the wooden frame.

Wang Cheng'an tapped the ground with the broken frame of his abacus, shouting "Return to the womb!" with each tap.

Lin Zhaoxuan sealed both sides with ink lines, and Song Qinghe steadily shone the oil lamp on the wooden frame, preventing the light from shifting.

Lu Yuan stood at the front, his hands forming the "Fetal Concealment Mantra".

With your left palm facing up and your fingers slightly bent, bring your right index and middle fingers together and circle your left palm.

"The fetus is the house, and the mother is the door."

"If the door is not opened, evil cannot arise."

"Paper returns to wood, and names return to monuments."

"The borrowed mother, return her to the foot of the mountain."

"receive!"

The eight paper figures screamed simultaneously, their bodies forced back into the wooden frame by the red cloth, the sound of the abacus, and the ink lines.

The woman struggled frantically, and all the tree roots on the walls lunged at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan drew his sword and slashed repeatedly, severing the black root that was coming towards him.

With each severing branch, a section of the wooden house collapsed.

The woman shouted from three mouths simultaneously, "If you destroy the house, the child will be gone!"

"The house isn't a child," Lu Yuandao said. "And you're not a mother either."

He plunged the final blow into the center of the wooden core.

The tip of the knife did not touch the stone tablet, but only carved the character "归" (return) on the wooden outer shell.

"The mother returns to her place, and the fetus returns to its earth."

"The evil god is alive and weaned today."

"Break!"

The wooden frame snapped shut with a loud thud.

The woman's three mouths closed simultaneously, and the black root, like a vine that had lost its moisture, quickly retreated into the cracks of the wooden house.

The pale white light inside the door went out.

The entire wooden house collapsed inward with a dull cracking sound.

The snow was leveled again, leaving only a black stone slab half-buried in the soil.

The character "母" (mother) on the stone tablet is now empty.

Lu Yuan put the stone fragment away.

A very distant low roar came from deep within the mountain.

The sound was neither human nor beast; it was more like some enormous being turning over through thick layers of rock.

The red light on the "Life" stele among the nine stone tablets suddenly dimmed.

The black water was boiling in the direction of the well.

Ah Sheng's voice came from the mountain breeze: "It's awake."

Lu Yuan looked up into the depths of the birch forest.

The area behind the forest, which had been pitch black, was now illuminated by three oil lamps.