The invincible female ghost is a bit love-struck.

Chapter 288 The First Lamp Awaits You

The dark-faced voice echoed in layers, simultaneously emanating from the bottom of the well, the stone walls, and the cracks in every stone tablet.

The character "生" (life) on the stone core began to glow.

The light was neither white nor red, but a bluish-green color resembling rotting flesh.

Wherever the blue light reached, black roots quickly grew on the stone walls of the main cave, penetrating the cracks and pulling back the falling rocks.

The main cave, which was collapsing just moments before, was actually stabilized by this force.

Wang Chengan, panting heavily, looked around.

"Has it managed to hold up the mountain again?"

"It's not about being full."

Lu Yuan stared at the stone heart.

"It's about drawing all the vitality of the mountain into yourself."

Dark-faced man chuckled softly.

"If I die, the mountain dies."

"If I awaken, the mountain will come alive."

"You keep saying you want to save people, yet you're going to kill all life in these mountains with your own hands."

"Lu Yuan, do you really dare to strike?"

Lu Yuan did not answer.

Looking at the character "生" (life) on the stone, he suddenly remembered the names of those who had been sent away from the well.

Those names did not all disappear.

Some sank into the soil, some drifted into the wind, and some flowed outward along the watercourses in the mountainside.

Human names are the taboo of evil gods.

The anger is the anger of the mountain.

The evil god mixed the two together, which led everyone to mistakenly believe that breaking it was the same as breaking the mountain.

"You switched two things."

Lu Yuan said slowly.

"Your anger is not your anger."

"This mountain isn't yours."

The man with the dark face fell silent.

Lu Yuan turned to look at Lin Zhaoxuan.

"Zhaoxuan, did the fragmented names we just sent out pass through any water veins?"

Lin Zhaoxuan clutched his shoulder, his face pale.

"have."

"Those names follow the Black River, eventually parting ways outside the mountains. The water flows into the forest roots, and the names are carried by the wind."

"Does the wind carry any mountain air?"

Lin Zhaoxuan closed his eyes and gently twirled his fingers along the ink line.

"have."

"It didn't completely block out the mountain's energy."

"That means this stone core is not the heart of the mountain."

Lu Yuan looked at Song Qinghe.

"Qinghe, can you still turn on your lamp?"

Song Qinghe looked down at the broken lamp.

The lamp had cracked into three pieces, and only a charred thread remained of the wick.

"The oil is gone."

"Where's the fire?"

Song Qinghe pinched her middle finger with her thumb, and then pressed her index and middle fingers together, touching her forehead, throat, and heart.

This is the hand seal for borrowing three fires from others in Taoism.

The space between the eyebrows represents Heavenly Fire, the chest represents Human Fire, and the area below the navel represents Earthly Fire.

She said in a deep voice, "The Heavenly Fire is still there."

"The flames of humanity have not yet been extinguished."

"The earth fire is suppressed by the yin water, so we can only borrow the power of a stick of incense."

Lu Yuan nodded.

That's enough.

The dark-faced man suddenly opened his mouth.

The character "生" on the stone heart transformed into a beam of blue light, heading straight for Song Qinghe.

Lu Yuan swung his sword to block the attack.

The blue light struck the blade, and Lu Yuan's arm went numb, causing him to stagger back seven steps.

Cracks appeared beneath his feet on the remaining surface of the stone bridge.

Xu Erxiao raised his hand and formed the "Golden Gate Seal".

Pinch your ring finger with your thumb, cross your index and middle fingers, and face your palm outwards.

"The golden gate locks the door, the five vital energies return to the gate, evil light cannot enter, and yin fire cannot invade!"

A pale golden light shone from his wrist and connected to the hilt of Lu Yuan's sword.

Wang Chengan also held the broken abacus frame horizontally in front of his chest.

"Brother Lu, we'll hold you up!"

As soon as the two stood firm, black roots sprouted from the rocky ground.

One rod wrapped around Xu Erxiao's ankle, while the other pierced through the broken frame of the abacus and went straight for Wang Cheng'an's abdomen.

Wang Chengan quickly turned to the side, and the roots brushed past his clothes, cutting a bloody gash on his side.

Xu Erxiao drew his short sword and slashed three times.

Each time a root is broken, two new fine roots immediately sprout from the cut.

"We can't cut them all down!" Xu Erxiao shouted.

"Don't cut the root, find the root hole!"

Lu Yuandao.

"Each root has a closed eye; the root only moves when the eye is on it!"

Xu Erxiao looked down to examine it.

The black tendril was as thin as a vine, and its surface was covered with scales, making it impossible to discern the eye.

Suddenly, Wang Chengan raised his foot and stomped hard on the tendril.

"Second Little One, listen to me!"

"What?"

"Before it moves, it first retracts half an inch to the left!"

Wang Chengan slammed the broken abacus frame onto the ground, using the recoil to press down the roots.

Xu Erxiao immediately swept his sword along the ground.

The blade grazed the middle of the root, splitting open an eye the size of a grain of rice.

The black root immediately went limp, turning into a pool of foul-smelling black water.

Xu Erxiao took a breath.

"This method works!"

"It's not a method, it's that it has eyes."

Wang Chengan covered the wound on his side.

"If it has eyes, it will blink eventually; we'll find it sooner or later."

On the other side, Zhou Heng used a short knife to press down the crack in the dead stele, while Lin Zhaoxuan rewrapped the ink line around the stele.

Song Qinghe stood in front of the memorial tablet, her hands protecting the last embers of fire in her chest.

Lu Yuan turned and walked toward the stone heart.

The dark-faced man seemed to sense his intention, and all seven eyes turned to him at the same time.

"You want to remove the unfamiliar characters?"

"right."

You are not qualified.

"Qualifications are not bestowed by anyone."

Lu Yuan inserted the knife into the crevice next to the stone heart and took out the old bone of the iron abacus from his bosom.

The bone fragments were soaked in black blood, and the edges were a dark red.

Iron Abacus left him with little.

Broken plaques, shattered mirrors, three bone nails, and this piece of old bone that no one knows who it came from.

Previously, Lu Yuan had always thought that the bone fragments were used as a catalyst.

But now he suddenly understood.

It does not attract evil.

It refers to "ownerless objects".

The evil god has no body of its own, the embryonic root has no name of its own, the offering lamp has no fire of its own, and even the so-called word "life" is just borrowed from the living and the mountains.

Anything that is unclaimed can be taken and possessed by an evil god.

Similarly, once something is returned to its rightful place, the evil god can no longer possess it.

Lu Yuan bit his fingertip and smeared the blood on the bone fragment.

The left hand forms the "Return to the Origin" seal.

Press your thumb against the base of your little finger, straighten your index and middle fingers, curl your ring finger inward, and place your palm down.

The right hand holds the bone fragment between the sword gestures.

"Bone has its origin, and fire has its root."

"Mountain energy returns to the mountain, and blood energy returns to the blood."

"What is not mine shall not be taken by evil."

"Those not born of God are not nourished by God."

"Return to the origin, open!"

A layer of pale white light emerged from the bone fragment.

The blue light on the stone core suddenly contracted.

The dark-faced man let out a sharp, angry roar: "Who are you going to return the character '生' to?"

"Give it back to the living."

Lu Yuan took a step forward, his left foot landing on the Gen position and his right foot on the Kan position.

Instead of cutting the stone core directly, he pasted bone fragments onto the character "生" (life).

The moment the bone fragment touched the stone core, countless sounds burst forth from within.

Some elderly people complained of the cold.

A child is crying that he is hungry.

A woman cried and said she wanted to go home.

Some people kept repeating the same sentence: "I want to live."

These voices are not just Ah Sheng's.

It is the will to live left behind by all those who entered this mountain over the years and sought survival from evil gods.

The evil god locked these thoughts into the stone heart, making it look like a beating heart.

"It's not Ah Sheng's heart," Lu Yuan said.

"This is the thought left behind by the donor."

Ah Sheng looked at the stone heart, his body trembling slightly.

"And what about my heart?"

Lu Yuan turned to look at him.

"In your own chest."

Ah Sheng lowered his head.

There was indeed a tiny, fleshy heart inside.

It was small and slow, but it never stopped beating.

"I thought it was fake."

"The truly valuable things often don't shine."

Lu Yuan turned around and drew his knife.

"Ah Sheng, when I peel off the character for 'life,' you must catch it yourself."

"What if you can't catch it?"

"Then let's try again."

"How many times?"

"Until you recognize it."

The dark-faced man lunged down suddenly.

This time, it no longer used its hands, but instead opened its entire chest cavity.

Countless stone tablets rotated inside his chest cavity, forming a huge millstone that pressed down on Lu Yuan and A Sheng.

Lin Zhaoxuan ripped off the ink line.

"Senior Brother Lu, we can't block it head-on!"

"Lead them back to the edge of the well!"

Lu Yuan shouted.

"You all step back, I'll break the millstone."

Are you alone?

"I am not alone."

Lu Yuan held the broken sword horizontally in front of his chest, pressing down on the back of the blade with his other hand.

Xu Erxiao, Wang Chengan, Lin Zhaoxuan, Song Qinghe, and Zhou Heng stood behind him at the same time.

The shadows of the five people stretched out on the ground.

Song Qinghe suddenly understood something.

"It swallowed a single person."

"Then we won't let it find a single person."

Lu Yuandao.

"Six people, but only one shadow."

The black millstone was pressing down on his head.

Lu Yuan murmured, "May the Six Ding protect me, and the Six Jia accompany me."

"There's a road ahead, but a gate behind."

"Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right; Vermilion Bird in front, Black Tortoise behind."

"A person is inseparable from their shadow, and a shadow is inseparable from a person."

"Take the masses as your own body, and the same as your life."

He made a hand seal with his right hand, his index and middle fingers together, and his thumb pressing on his ring and little fingers. He held a knife in his left hand, with the tip pointing to the ground.

This is not an orthodox method for eliminating evil.

It is a method of taking a photo together when Taoist wandering monks encounter a "split-soul ghost".

The technique does not aim to kill the enemy, but only to temporarily connect the auras of each person, so that evil spirits cannot pick one of them to devour.

The black grinding disc pressed down.

The shadows of the six people expanded outwards simultaneously.

The millstone collided with the shadow and was stopped.

The floor of the stone corridor is cracked in pieces.

Lu Yuan's knees gradually sank.

Xu Erxiao spat out the copper coin and pressed his hands firmly against Lu Yuan's shoulders.

"Brother Lu, I'm here!"

Wang Cheng'an gritted his teeth and said, "I'm here too!"

Lin Zhaoxuan raised his hand, and the ink line on his wrist was already embedded in his flesh.

"Lin Zhaoxuan is here."

Song Qinghe whispered, "Song Qinghe is here."

"6

Zhou Heng gripped the short knife.

"Zhou Heng is here."

Each person only said one sentence.

The black millstone suddenly stopped.

It could no longer find a "name" among the six that it could devour alone.

Lu Yuan seized the opportunity to raise his sword, and the blade slashed upwards.

"When shadows and forms merge, evil grinds itself apart!"

The blade flashed through the millstone.

The black stone tablets crumbled one after another.

The enormous fetal root within the evil god's chest cavity was forced to manifest.

At the very center of the embryonic root is the stone heart.

Lu Yuan reached out and grabbed the bone fragment, then yanked it sharply.

"Ah Sheng!"

Ah Sheng did not hesitate.

He raised his hands and pressed them against his own flesh and blood heart in his chest.

"My name is Asheng."

"This is my life."

"It's not its."

As these words were spoken, the character "生" (life/birth) on the stone core detached from the surface of the monument.

It neither flew toward the evil god nor fell into Asen's chest.

The blue character struggled violently in mid-air, like a live snake that had been skinned.

Lu Yuan held the "Sword Technique" in his left hand and formed the "Soul-Capturing Technique" with his right.

Press your thumb against the tip of your middle finger, slightly bend your index and middle fingers, and face your palm inward.

"Words return to their original meaning, and spirit returns to its essence."

"Birth is not a talisman, destiny is not an offering."

"go!"

The character "青" transformed into a beam of blue light and shot into Ah Sheng's chest.

Ah Sheng fell backward.

Song Qinghe stepped forward to help him up.

The dark flesh on his face quickly dried and cracked, peeling off in pieces to reveal pale skin.

The little heart in my chest began to beat strongly.

thump.

thump.

thump.

With each thud, one of the lamps in the cave goes out.

The evil god let out a low, almost desperate roar.

The character "生" is still there.

"The mountain will not die."

97

Lu Yuan looked at it.

"Your mountain is no longer a mountain."

"What is that?"

"It's the shell you left over from eating it."

He pulled the broken knife out of the well and pointed the tip at the root of the fetus.

"Now it's your turn."

The fetal root suddenly retracted backward.

The evil god is actually trying to escape.

It did not flee out of the mountain, nor did it continue to attack the group. Instead, it quickly retreated into the darkness below the black well.

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

The voice was different from before.

It looks like countless iron chains are being dragged underwater.

Lin Zhaoxuan looked up at the well opening.

"It's going to crawl into the underworld."

"The Death Stele is broken," Zhou Heng said.

"A dead end doesn't mean there's no other way out," Lu Yuandao said. "There are still power lines outside, so it can use them to get around."

""

Wang Chengan's expression changed.

"Should we give chase or not?"

Lu Yuan glanced at Asheng, who was lying in Song Qinghe's arms.

Then he looked around at the main cave, which was collapsing.

"We can't chase after them."

Xu Erxiao exclaimed anxiously, "The evil god is about to escape!"

"It's not running."

Lu Yuan picked up the cracked nail from the ground.

"It goes back into the power supply line."

"That's its true body."

"If we had waited any longer, the people outside the mountain would have regrown it."

Deep within the black well, the evil god suddenly stopped.

An eye opened in the black mist.

"Lu Yuan."

"Will you come down the mountain to find me?"

"meeting."

"The people outside the mountains won't let you touch their gods."

"Then first ask them whether they are worshipping gods or their own lives."

Black mist surged.

The eye slowly closed.

The evil god's final voice came from beyond the distant mountains: "The first lamp is in the north of the birch forest."

"The second lamp is at the wellhead in the old village."

"The third lamp is in the refugee's temple."

"Lu Yuan, every time you turn off a lamp, a group of people will lose their way to live."

Lu Yuan gripped the raw nail tightly.

"You've finally told me where the power supply line is."

"Because you can't get out of this mountain."

"No."

Lu Yuan looked at the stone gate that was beginning to collapse.

"It's because you think I'll follow your rules."

He turned around and carried Ah Sheng on his back.

Ah Sheng is too light, like a tree branch just dug out of the ground.

Xu Erxiao immediately stepped forward to help.

"Brother Lu, I'll carry him."

"You guard the left flank."

"But you're injured."

"He's not dead yet."

Lu Yuan tucked the broken sword back into his waistband.

"Walk."

The group retreated along the remaining ends of the stone bridge.

The main cave is collapsing inch by inch.

Gravel fell from above, black water surged past their feet, and the faint panting of an evil god echoed from within the stone wall.

Song Qinghe looked back.

The three root stones were all cracked, but they did not fall completely.

In each crack, thin red lines extend outwards from the mountain.

She whispered, "It's still there."

"Of course I am."

Lu Yuan did not turn around.

"The evil god is not a stone."

"Severing a body can only be considered drawing blood."

"To cut it off, we must thoroughly investigate the people who provide it, the lamps that provide it, and the roads that provide it."

Night finally appeared at the end of the stone steps.

When the group rushed out of the mountain, it was snowing outside.

The wind from beyond the pass, carrying snowflakes, stung my face, and the birch forest swayed precariously in the darkness.

There were no village lights in the distance.

Only three faint red lights flickered across the valley.

Like three eyes waiting to open in the darkness.

Ah Sheng, lying on Lu Yuan's back, suddenly whispered, "Those aren't three lamps."

"What is it?"

"There are three altars."

"There is someone at the altar."

Lu Yuan followed his gaze.

Sure enough, from deep within the snow curtain, a low chanting could be heard.

"The mountain god is divine, protecting my whole family."

"The mountain god is divine, protect my children."

"May the mountain god protect me and help me through this ordeal."

The sound was repeated over and over again.

Each time this is repeated, the three red lights brighten by one point.

Wang Chengan gripped the broken frame of the abacus tightly.

"Shall we go now?"

Lu Yuan glanced at the sky.

The east was not yet dawn.

The night outside the pass will last for at least another two hours.

"First, we need to find a place to settle Ah Sheng."

"Let's go to the birch forest to the north."

Lin Zhaoxuan asked, "Why go there first?"

Lu Yuan took out the broken stone tablet with red lines engraved on it from his pocket.

The first red line on the broken stone tablet was getting slightly warm.

"Because the first lamp is closest to here."

"And it's not in the village."

"It's in the mountains."

"Who would offer lamps to evil gods in the mountains?" Zhou Heng asked.

Lu Yuan looked up at the birch forest to the north.

There's a string of fresh footprints on the snow over there.

There was only one pair of footprints.

Wearing old cloth shoes.

He walked into the forest from outside the mountains, but never returned.

Lu Yuan examined the footprints for a moment.

"It's not anyone who's making the offerings."

"Someone was called in by it."

He carried Ah Sheng steadily on his back and led the group toward the birch forest.

Before they had walked ten paces, a bell suddenly rang out from the mountainside behind them.

thump.

The three red lights went out simultaneously.

The footprints on the snow gradually turned black in front of everyone.

The black lines crawled forward along the footprints, eventually coalescing into a crooked line of words: "Lu Yuan, the first lamp awaits you."