The invincible female ghost is a bit love-struck.

Chapter 289 Mountain God Protects Life

Lu Yuan stared at the line of black characters on the snow for three breaths.

The black characters had no ink marks, like a layer of scorched moss growing under the snow.

Every stroke seemed to wriggle slightly, especially the last character "you," where tiny red threads connected the strokes, leading into the depths of the birch forest.

"Don't step on it."

Lu Yuan raised his hand to stop Xu Erxiao.

Xu Erxiao had already lifted his foot, but upon hearing this, he quickly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Words are doors."

Lu Yuan squatted down, picked up a small handful of snow from the ground, and placed it in his palm.

The snow melted quickly, but instead of dripping down the fingers, the water droplets rolled towards the line of black text.

When the water droplet touched the character "陆" (Lu), it immediately turned into a tiny black insect and burrowed into the snow.

"It recognizes people by their names," Lu Yuandao said. "Whoever steps on it, its name will be remembered."

Wang Chengan glanced at the words and his expression turned grim.

"Then what do we do? Go around it?"

"There's no way around it."

Why?

"Look at the footprints."

Everyone looked down.

The old cloth shoe prints originally led to the woods to the north, but after the black characters appeared, all the footprints changed direction.

They stopped moving forward and instead circled around the line of words, like someone pacing back and forth in place while wearing shoes.

Lin Zhaoxuan used the ink line to probe the ground. As soon as the end of the line touched the snow, it made a slight snapping sound.

There's something underground.

"Which floor?" Lu Yuan asked.

"At least three layers."

Lin Zhaoxuan closed his eyes and listened for a while.

"The first layer is permafrost, the second layer is like a wooden board, and the third layer—breathes."

Ah Sheng, who was lying on Lu Yuan's back, suddenly opened his eyes.

"Not breathing."

"Someone is learning to breathe."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a gasp came from the snow.

It was very long and very cold.

It was like the entire birch forest taking a breath of fresh air at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, a woman's voice came from downstairs: "Lu Yuan, come in."

The sound came from all directions, carrying the accents of northern China.

"Child, it's cold outside."

"Come in and have some hot water."

"You can see whoever you want to see as soon as you come in."

Xu Erxiao suddenly turned around.

On the snowy slope behind him, a low earthen house had appeared out of nowhere.

The roof was covered with thick snow, and warm yellow light shone through the paper windows.

There were shadowy figures moving around behind the window, as if someone was busy tending a fire by the stove.

Wang Chengan also saw it.

"When was this house built?"

"It's been there ever since we came out," Lu Yuan said.

"But why didn't I see it?"

"Because it didn't want you to see it just now."

Lu Yuan didn't look at the mud house, but stared at the ground.

"When a ghost builds a house, it first builds the shadow, then the door. The shadow is real, the house is fake."

Song Qinghe asked in a low voice, "Where are the lights in the room?"

"The lamp is real."

"Who ordered it?"

"The person who was called in."

The earthen house on the snow slope suddenly opened its door.

A woman wearing a blue cotton-padded jacket stood at the door, holding a white paper lantern in her hand.

Her hair was wet and clung to her face, and she was barefoot, her ten toes sinking deep into the snow.

She looked at Lu Yuan and said softly, "Guest, please come inside."

Lu Yuan glanced at her.

"You're not one of the people in this house."

The woman smiled.

"Then who am I?"

"You are the one in the lamp."

The smile on the woman's face froze instantly.

Song Qinghe gripped the broken lamp tightly.

"Her lantern was made of white paper, but the edges of the paper had oil stains."

"White paper should not be used for offering lamps."

"White paper lanterns are for guiding the dead."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Look at her feet."

The woman's toes twitched slightly.

"Feet face inwards, but shoe prints face outwards from the woods."

She wasn't standing at the door.

u

"It was buried upside down in the snow."

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman suddenly looked up.

Her neck bent backward at an incredible angle, her mouth opened, and she exhaled a puff of white mist.

As the white mist landed, the earthen houses on the snow-covered slope instantly collapsed into sheets of black paper.

The warm yellow lamp inside the house rolled into the snow, but the light did not go out.

It rolled towards the crowd along the snow.

Lu Yuan drew his sword, the tip drawing a horizontal line on the snow.

"The lamp cannot cross the line."

The lamp hit the horizontal line and immediately stood up.

A young man's face was reflected in the lampshade.

The man's eyes were tightly closed, and his lips kept opening and closing.

"Help me."

"Get me out of here."

"I didn't come here voluntarily."

"I just want to find my wife."

Song Qinghe's expression changed.

"It belongs to the owner of those footprints."

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately.

He tapped the lampshade three times lightly with the back of his knife.

The first time, the light veered to the left.

The second time, the light veered to the right.

The third time, the lamps stand upright.

"The people inside are not dead yet."

"But the soul has already been replaced by the lamp."

Wang Cheng'an frowned: "What does it mean that your soul was replaced by the lamp?"

"The man is still in the woods, but the lamp has borrowed his shadow."

Lu Yuan took out a piece of yellow paper from his pocket and drew a little person on it.

The little man's head has no facial features, and there is only a black dot on his chest.

He folded the yellow paper into paper shields and pressed them onto the lampshade.

The left hand forms the "Shadow-Retention Technique," with the thumb pinching the base of the ring finger and the index and middle fingers pointing towards the light.

With his right hand, he touched the ground with the tip of the knife and drew a triangle.

"A person has three souls, and a shadow has three gates."

"The door is not lit by lamps, and the shadow is not touched by fire."

"Return to where you came from."

"I do not bind the soul, but only the illusion."

"Go back!"

The man inside the lampshade suddenly opened his eyes.

His eyes were completely white, and his face was covered with cracked lines, like those from freezing.

"Don't let me go back!"

"Going back will mean death!"

"There's a fire here, food here, and someone to keep me company!"

Lu Yuan stared at that face.

"What's your name?"

The man did not answer.

"What's your name?"

"I----"

The lights began to flicker violently.

My name is ————

The mouth of that face was covered from the inside by a black hand.

Black Hand had long, thin fingers, and his fingernails were filled with incense ash.

Lu Yuan placed a copper coin on top of the lamp, and used the tip of his knife to pick up the paper armor.

"Name not spoken, shadow not returned."

"If you want to live, say your own name."

Black tears streamed from the man's eyes.

"My name is Zhao Shun."

The black hand tightened suddenly.

"We'll see."

"My name is Zhao Shun!"

The lights suddenly turned white.

The black hand was scorched by the white light, and blue smoke rose from its five fingers.

Lu Yuan raised his hand and changed the gesture, bending his index and middle fingers, pressing his thumb on the knuckles of his two fingers, with his left palm facing outward.

"The name belongs to the person, the shadow belongs to the body."

"Paper serves as proof, money serves as security."

"Borrowing a path through fire, returning to one's original form under snow."

"Zhao Shun, go back!"

The lampshade shattered with a bang.

A dark shadow flew out of the lamp, landed on the snow, and quickly transformed into a curled-up man.

He was wearing a tattered cotton-padded coat, his hands were frozen purple, and there were black marks on his chest from incense burning.

At the same time, a scream came from deep within the birch forest.

The voice belonged to the woman in the blue cotton-padded jacket: "Give him back to me!"

"He's been offering sacrifices for three nights!"

"His shadow is mine!"

Lu Yuan peeled the paper armor off the lampshade, folded it into a paper crane, and pressed it against Zhao Shun's chest.

"Don't let him sleep yet."

He winked at Lin Zhaoxuan.

Lin Zhaoxuan immediately squatted down and used an ink line to draw a small circle around Zhao Shun.

"Protect the yang within the circle, reject the yin outside the circle."

"Brother Zhao, don't close your eyes."

Zhao Shun was trembling all over.

"My wife is in the woods."

"Her name is Li Guilan."

"She went up the mountain to look for me three days ago and hasn't come back."

"Was that woman just now her?" Song Qinghe asked.

Zhao Shun shook his head, tears frozen on his eyelashes.

"no."

"Gui Lan has a black mole on her foot."

"That woman didn't."

Lu Yuan looked into the woods.

Among the birch tree trunks, one after another white paper lanterns hung faintly. The lights were dim, but they illuminated a gray-white path in the snow.

At the end of the road stood seven or eight people.

They were dressed in clothes from different eras; there were hunters, cart drivers, and scholars wearing long gowns from within the Great Wall.

Each person carried a lamp, facing the same direction, with their backs to the crowd.

Zhou Heng lowered his voice: "Are they all dead?"

"Some will die, some will live," Lu Yuan said.

"What do you think?"

"Watching the lamplight."

Everyone looked over.

The shadows of all those people were cast in front, except for the last person who had no shadow.

The man was wearing a floral cotton-padded jacket and had a blue cloth wrapped around his head.

Upon seeing her, Zhao Shun immediately struggled to his feet.

"Gui Lan!"

The woman in the floral cotton-padded jacket slowly turned around.

It was Li Guilan.

Her face was pale, her lips were blue from the cold, one of her right shoes had fallen off, and a black rope was wrapped around her ankle.

"Zhao Shun?"

Her voice was very soft.

Zhao Shun tried to rush over, but Lu Yuan grabbed him and held him down.

"Don't call me a second time."

Why?

"She heard it."

In the woods, the lantern bearers all turned half their faces away at the same time.

Their eyes had no whites, only rings of red wicks.

Li Guilan reached out her hand to Zhao Shun.

"Come pick me up."

Zhao Shun choked up and said, "Guilan, I'm coming right now."

Lu Yuan raised his sword and held it in front of him.

"She had rope on her feet."

"Cut the rope first, then rescue the person."

"But that's my wife!"

"Precisely because she's your wife, we can't let you go there."

The white paper lamp behind Li Guilan also swayed.

Seven or eight lamps and seven or eight voices came from the forest at the same time: "Husband and wife welcome each other, yin and yang unite."

95

"Blood relatives recognize each other, and names are returned to the altar."

"bring it on."

"She can go back as long as she walks under the lamp."

Zhao Shun's body was noticeably leaning forward.

Lu Yuan placed his palm on the back of his neck.

"Zhao Shun, listen to me."

"If your wife really wanted you to go over there, she wouldn't have asked you to walk under the lamp."

"She will tell you to stand outside the light."

Two streams of black tears suddenly flowed down Li Guilan's face.

"Zhao Shun, don't come any closer."

She only said this one sentence before the black rope beneath her feet suddenly tightened.

A trail of blood ran up her ankle and down to her calf.

Zhao Shun finally understood, covered his mouth, and dared not shout anymore.

Lu Yuan looked at the black rope.

One end of the black rope was tied to Li Guilan's foot, and the other end disappeared into the forest. A small wooden sign was tied to the rope every foot.

The wooden sign didn't have names written on it, but rather the word "wish".

"Wish-granting rope".

Song Qinghe said.

"It even used the idea of ​​the couple recognizing each other to nourish the lamp."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"If Zhao Shun shouts again, there will be one more knot in the rope binding her."

"Then how do we save her?" Xu Erxiao asked.

"Let her pull her foot back on her own first."

Lu Yuan shouted into the woods, "Li Guilan, can you hear me?"

Li Guilan did not look at him.

"I can hear you."

Do you still recognize Zhao Shun?

"I recognize it."

"Do you want him to come pick you up?"

Li Guilan remained silent for a long time.

"think."

Suddenly, a wooden plaque appeared on the offering rope.

Zhao Shun's face turned deathly pale.

Lu Yuan did not blame her.

"Wanting to pick him up is your wish."

"But you have to say first, are you willing to let this rope make the decisions for you?"

Li Guilan raised her head.

The lights behind her began to shrink, like countless eyes staring at her.

"I don't want to."

Her voice trembled.

"But I don't have the strength."

"Strength does not come from desire."

Lu Yuan raised his left hand, fingers together, thumb pressed into his palm, and his right hand made the "Yang-Guiding Technique".

"When people walk on sunny paths, their feet are firmly planted on the ground."

"The rope binds the skin and bones, but not the heart."

""

"Li Guilan, pull your feet back."

Li Guilan bit her lip.

Her foot, which was bound by the black rope, slowly moved back an inch.

The black rope immediately tightened, and seven or eight lights in the forest simultaneously emitted a sharp whistling sound.

A dark shadow lunged out from under the light, like a group of paper figures draped in human skin, and pressed down on Li Guilan.

"Zhao Xuan!" Lu Yuan shouted.

Lin Zhaoxuan had already prepared the ink line.

He swung the ink line in the air, the end of which was covered with cinnabar, and when it landed, it formed a red arc.

"Ink divides into yin and yang, lines define the four directions!"

"The gates of heaven are closed, and the gates of earth are hidden."

"Birch trees bear witness, snow and earth form the walls."

"Those with shadows return to their posts; those without shadows step down!"

The red line suddenly jolted across the sky.

The paper figures were blocked outside the arc, and their bodies were twisted and contorted as they crashed into it.

Zhou Heng seized the opportunity to rush into the forest and slashed at the offering rope with his short knife.

The moment the blade touched the rope, it was repelled by a sinister force.

His hand split open, and he stumbled back three steps.

"There's a nail on the rope!"

"Where should we nail it?"

"Behind each wooden sign!"

Lu Yuan pulled out three cracked black nails and handed them to Xu Erxiao and Wang Chengan.

"Second child, third from the left."

"Cheng An, third from the right."

"Zhou Heng, cut in the middle."

Xu Erxiao and Wang Chengan each took the black nail and rushed towards the tree trunks on both sides.

Instead of cutting the rope, they hammered black nails into the snow next to it.

Wang Cheng'an asked in surprise, "Brother Lu, what's going on?"

"Use a nail to draw another nail."

"The nails on the offering rope recognize evil gods, while the nails in your hands recognize the life-severing monument. The two kinds of nails clash, which is why the rope loosens."

Xu Erxiao inserted the first black nail into the snow, forming the "Breaking Through the Barrier" incantation: "The nail has its owner, the rope has its end."

"Evil nails are evil, and wishful nails are wishful."

"Today, we'll use a broken nail to break through the old barrier!"

As soon as the black nail fell, the offering rope trembled violently.

The three wooden plaques on the left cracked simultaneously.

Following the directions given by Lu Yuan, Wang Cheng'an hammered in the three black nails one by one.

His method lacked Taoist rules, yet he tucked the abacus frame under his arm and chanted his own mantra: "Accounts have inflows, accounts have outflows."

"Who owes whom, who should repay; we can't be confused."

"This black rope was miscalculated; let's call it even today!"

Three black nails sank into the snow at the same time.

The wooden sign on the right side of the rope flipped over, revealing blood-red words on the back.

"My wish is to live and die together."

"My wife's wish: to stay with me until we grow old."

"God's wish: to return to the altar together."

Lu Yuan's eyes darkened when he saw the last four words.

"Zhou Heng!"

Zhou Heng had already rushed to the center of the rope.

He gripped the knife with both hands, but instead of cutting the rope, he aimed the blade at the largest wooden sign attached to it.

With a "crack", the wooden sign was split open.

The wooden plaque contained no wooden core, only a tangled mass of human hair.

Two copper wedding invitations were tucked into her hair, bearing the names of Zhao Shun and Li Guilan.

The black hair suddenly wrapped around Zhou Heng's knife.

Just as Zhou Heng was about to exert his strength, all the paper figures in the forest rushed at him at the same time.

Song Qinghe pressed the broken pieces of the lamp onto the ground, interlaced his fingers, and formed the "Lamp Flower Incantation".

"A lamp without oil will not go out."

"The body may have no door, but the soul has a path."

"With my three fires, I borrow a ray of light from the snow."

"According to!"

Three faint lights simultaneously appeared between her eyebrows, on her throat, and on her chest.

The faint light connected in a line and fell on the dying lamp.

Although the lamp was broken, a wisp of bluish-white flame rose again.

As soon as the flames shone on them, the paper figures that rushed towards them revealed their true forms.

They are not people, but paper shells folded from offering paper. Inside the shells are hair, fingernails, and incense ash, and the same word is written on their chests: "Wish".

"Zhou Heng, get your hair burned!" Lu Yuan shouted.

Zhou Heng immediately released the knife, grabbed a handful of snow, and covered the roots of his hair.

Lin Zhaoxuan wrapped the ink thread around the hilt of the knife and pulled it sharply.

Her hair was pulled off by the ink line, and Song Qinghe's bluish-white flames fell upon it.

There was no flame when the hair burned; only wisps of blue smoke rose.

The voices of the husband and wife could be heard coming from within the blue smoke: "May we live together."

"I'm willing to die with you."

Zhao Shun cried out, "Guilan, don't believe it! If you want to go back, we'll go back together!"

Li Guilan suddenly looked up.

"Zhao Shun, do you still remember the day we got married?"

Zhao Shun was taken aback.

"I recognize it."

What did you say at the time?

"I said—" Zhao Shun's voice trembled, "I said that from now on, if we have anything to eat, we'll each have half."

"Anything else?"

"I said I'd fix your windows in winter and repair your awning in summer."

Li Guilan smiled, and tears finally fell.

"You didn't say you'd live and die together."

"That's what it added for us."

"right."

Lu Yuan looked at the line of blood-red words.

"What evil gods are best at is turning people's small wishes into grand vows."

"When people only want to take care of each other, it changes to living and dying together; when people only want a full meal, it changes to a lifelong sacrifice."

"Once words are added to a wish, it is no longer a human wish."

Li Guilan raised her hands and made an extremely awkward gesture.

Her thumb was pressed into her palm, while her other four fingers were slightly spread, as if she were holding an invisible lamp.

"I, Li Guilan, will not die with you."

"I just want to go home alive with Zhao Shun."

Even if I have no home when I go back, I will still live on.

As soon as he finished speaking, large pieces of black writing on the offering rope fell off.

Zhou Heng cut off the last piece of rope with a single stroke.

The moment the black rope snapped, all seven or eight white paper lanterns in the forest burst open.

Black paper ash flew out of the lamp, turning into countless mouths as they landed and lunged at the crowd.

Lu Yuan touched the ground with the tip of his knife and took a step in the style of Yu Bu.

The first step is to locate the lower position.

"The water recedes at Yin Gate."

The second step is to move out of position.

"The fire illuminates the path for people."

The third step is to place the object in the Gen position.

"Mountains stop evil deeds."

The fourth step is to place the object in the Qian position.

"The sky is clear and the earth is peaceful."

He flipped his hands over, his left hand forming the "Jade Purity Mantra" and his right hand raising the "Thunder Finger," while his four feet combined to form a single position.

"The sky is clear and the earth is sacred."

"There are no bones in paper, and no name in ashes."

"Those who borrow from others' wishes, shall withdraw their forms today."

"retreat!"

The black mouths on the snow closed in unison, turning into a layer of black ash.

But the black ash did not disperse.

They reassembled into a giant face on the snow.

That face didn't have seven eyes; it only had one.

Three altars were reflected in the distance.

"You turned off the first lamp."

"But the person under the lamp will light a second one."

"You saved Zhao Shun and Li Guilan, but what about the wishes of the rest of the village?"

Below the black face, many tiny figures quickly appeared in black and gray.

There were mothers holding their children, elderly people using canes, and coachmen leading horses.

They knelt before the altar, holding incense in their hands, chanting the same phrase: "As long as the child is alive, we'll offer whatever we can."

Zhao Shun looked at the group of people and asked in a low voice, "Were they all there voluntarily?"

"Some are," Lu Yuandao said, "but voluntariness does not equate to understanding."

"They only want their children to live, but they don't know whose life force the evil god will use to fill the void."

Ah Sheng suddenly coughed on Lu Yuan's back.

He opened his eyes and looked at the figure in the black and gray.

"Next up is Xiaomantun."

There is an old well there.

"There is no water in the well, yet people hear the child crying every day."

"They burned the children's old clothes as offerings to the evil god, asking it to protect the children and help them grow up."

Lu Yuan looked up towards the east.

A very faint gray-white hue had already appeared on the horizon.

The first night is almost over.

But the smell of incense ash in the north wind grew stronger and stronger.

Wang Chengan carefully put away the broken abacus frame.

"Shall we send this couple out first, and then go to Xiaoman Village?"

"No," Lu Yuan said.

"Let's go to the old well first."

Why?

"Although the first light went out, the power supply line wasn't completely broken."

Lu Yuan picked up the broken half of the offering rope from the snow.

The rope end was still dripping black water northward.

"They set up the lights in the birch forest to stop us."

"The actual power supply was borrowed from the village's well."

"The light in the birch forest is just the eye at the door."

Song Qinghe looked at the flickering lamp that had already gone out.

"And what about the contents of this lamp?"

Lu Yuan took out the wick and wrapped it in yellow paper.

"Take it with you."

"The lamp has gone out, but it has seen the altar."

"With it, we can identify the real power supply line."

Li Guilan staggered to Zhao Shun's side.

Zhao Shun reached out to support her, but dared not call her name again.

Lu Yuan glanced at them.

"From now on, if anyone calls you in the woods, don't answer."

Even if the voice sounds like the other person's.

"When judging a person, only look at three things."

"Shadows appear beneath my feet, my breath carries my breath, and I speak my own name."

Zhao Shun nodded.

"Can we go with you?"

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately.

Wang Chengan said, "This forest isn't clean yet; it's more dangerous to leave them here."

"Take them with you," Lu Yuan said, "but let them walk in the middle."

"Since the power supply is provided by the couple, they will also be used to provide the eyes later."

The group lined up again.

Lu Yuan carried Ah Sheng on his back and walked at the front.

Xu Erxiao held a sword and guarded the left, while Wang Chengan held an abacus and guarded the right.

Lin Zhaoxuan brought up the rear, Song Qinghe carried a half-burnt lamp, and Zhou Heng protected Zhao Shun and Li Guilan on either side.

They had just stepped out of the birch forest when the sound of horse bells suddenly came from afar.

An old-fashioned truck slowly drove down the snow slope.

The cart was covered with a gray cloth, and the driver wore a dog-skin hat with his face completely covered by a scarf.

There were only two wheel tracks, but four rows of hoofprints.

Xu Erxiao whispered, "This car is wrong."

"What's wrong?" Wang Chengan asked.

"It looked like there were four horses pulling the cart."

Lu Yuan raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop.

The driver called out through the snow, "Hey everyone, need a ride?"

"Xiaomantun is just ahead."

"We can arrive before dawn."

The sound of a child crying could be heard from inside the carriage.

A sound.

Two sounds.

Third tone.

Ah Sheng suddenly grabbed Lu Yuan's collar from his back.

"Don't get on the bus."

"Are there children in the car?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Not a child."

Ah Sheng stared at the car, his face growing paler and paler.

"It's the sound of crying from the well."

The driver lifted the carriage curtain.

The carriage was empty except for a small, dark well, about the size of a palm, placed in the center of the carriage floor.

The well opening faces upwards, and three incense sticks are stuck in the well rim.

The incense did not rise upwards, but instead curved outwards from the car, pointing towards Lu Yuan.

The driver smiled and said, "Get on the carriage."

There are seats in the car.

"There's also space reserved for children."

Lu Yuan raised his sword and pointed it at the wheel.

"Driver, show your face."

"Are the customers afraid of me?"

"I'm afraid you won't dare to face anyone."

The driver slowly lowered his scarf.

Underneath the scarf wasn't a face, but a wooden plaque covered in writing.

In the center of the wooden sign were written three words: "Life Protection Vehicle".

Behind the black wooden sign, thin roots extend out and entangle the cart shaft.

The small well inside the carriage began to vibrate.

Countless children's voices echoed from the well: "Save me!"

"Take me away."

"I don't want to die."

Zhao Shun and Li Guilan took a step forward at the same time.

Lu Yuan shouted in a deep voice, "Stop!"

The two stopped, their faces showing pain.

"Is that sound real?" Zhao Shun asked.

"It's true."

"Then why can't we save them?"

"Because it wants you to carry the well away."

Lu Yuan looked at the small well in the car.

"The child's cries are real, but the child is not in the well."

"Jing just hid the crying, waiting for someone to claim it."

"Whoever claims it becomes the new donor."

The driver suddenly cracked his whip.

The whip didn't lash the horse, but instead curled towards Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan raised his sword and flicked it, severing the whip tip with the blade.

After the broken whip fell to the ground, it turned into a black snake and went straight for Ah Sheng.

Xu Erxiao leaped forward to block, his sword sweeping across and pinning the black snake into the snow.

"Senior brother, let's go first!"

"You retreat to the hillside."

Lu Yuan handed Asheng over to Song Qinghe.

"Keep an eye on him."

Song Qinghe took Ah Sheng, formed a protective lamp seal with both hands, and placed the remaining lamp on Ah Sheng's chest.

Lu Yuan walked towards the large vehicle alone.

The snow beside the wheel cracked silently, and dozens of pale hands reached out from the ground and grabbed his ankles.

He didn't draw his sword, but instead bent down, grabbed a handful of snow, and smeared it on his forehead.

Snow forms the bones of the mountains, and soil forms the human world.

"Underground actions must not cross the line."

"The Kun Gate is closed, **is sealed."

"fall!"

He pressed his right palm to the ground.

A muffled thud came from beneath the snow, and all the pale hands simultaneously withdrew into the ground.

The driver's wooden sign turned his face to the side.

"You're using the mountain method."

"You do not bear the name of a mountain."

"Who taught you that?"

"The mountain doesn't need to teach people," Lu Yuandao said. "It only needs to see who's stealing from it."

He stepped onto the carriage shaft and slashed at the small well inside the carriage with his sword.

Just before the blade fell, a small hand suddenly emerged from the well, with a red string tied around its wrist.

That hand gripped the back of the knife.

Lu Yuan's gaze darkened slightly.

"There really are children."

"Of course there is." The driver's wooden sign cracked open. "God protects life, and life protects God."

"For every one you save, you must make offerings to another."

"If you don't save them, they'll die right now."

Lu Yuan stared at the small hand.

The little fingernails were full of mud, but a small wooden plaque was tied to the red string on her wrist.

The wooden sign reads: "Human sacrifice".

Lu Yuan stretched out his left hand and pressed it against the small hand on the back of the knife.

"Child, look at me."

The crying in the well stopped abruptly.

"What's your name?"

The little hand did not answer.

"What's your name?"

The wooden sign began to heat up, and the red rope tightened more and more.

Lu Yuan pressed his thumb against the back of the knife, forming the "Name-Unraveling Formula": "Name is not on the plaque, fate is not on the rope."

"Children who have not yet come of age shall first be given their original surname."

"Ignorance is no sin, desire is no sacrifice."

"Whoever inscribes their name will be punished."

"untie!"

The two characters "生祭" (living sacrifice) on the wooden sign simultaneously crumbled.

The small hand in the well suddenly withdrew, and a weak cry came from inside: "My name is—Xiaomei."

Lu Yuan immediately replied, "We'll see."

"My name is Xiaomei!"

"Where is home?"

"The village in the south."

"6

Who's waiting for you at home?

"My mother."

"Then let's go back."

Lu Yuanshuang pointed to the knot of the red string on her wrist.

"A person has a home, and a name has its roots."

"When the red rope recedes, the yin vehicle stops."

"Go back!"

The red rope snapped with a snap.

A bloody mark appeared on Xiaomei's wrist, but her hand was no longer cold.

The dark well inside the carriage began to collapse, and the three incense sticks around the wellhead fell down at the same time.

The driver's wooden sign face emitted a shriek.

"You dare to cut off my car!"

"This is not your car."

Lu Yuan grabbed the black well in the carriage, and his palm was immediately covered with a layer of black frost.

He gritted his teeth and pulled Xiao Jing out of the car.

The bottom of the well seemed to connect to the entire mountain, so heavy it didn't look like a thing at all.

Wang Chengan rushed back down the slope and bit one end of the broken abacus frame.

"Brother Lu, I'm here to help you!"

Xu Erxiao also rushed onto the carriage shaft.

"Senior brother, I'm joining too!"

Lin Zhaoxuan placed the ink line over the well opening, while Zhou Heng pressed down on the cart shaft from the other side.

Song Qinghe raised the remaining lamp, and the three flames reignited.

All six exerted their strength simultaneously.

Kuroi slowly lifted off the car platform.

A huge offering sheet was revealed under the carriage.

The offering paper depicts the terrain of Xiaoman Village, with the old well, ancestral hall, granary, and each household connected by red lines.

The red lines eventually converge at the center of the paper to form a blurry character for "life".

"This is the overall power supply diagram," Lin Zhaoxuan said.

"It's not the master plan," Lu Yuan said breathlessly, "it's the acquisition plan."

"Every time a child is born, becomes seriously ill, goes missing, or dies, it will record it."

"This car isn't for dropping off children."

"It's about bringing everyone's will to survive back to the main cave."

The driver's wooden sign suddenly fell silent.

The next instant, the dark shadow under the wheels transformed into two thick arms, which suddenly grabbed Lu Yuan and Wang Cheng'an.

The wooden sign's face cracked open.

"You have already seen it."

"Then stay and finish the drawing."

The black hand tightened its grip even more.

Lu Yuan's old wound on his chest reopened, and blood soaked through his clothes.

Wang Chengan grunted, and the abacus frame rattled as it was squeezed.

"Brother Lu, my plan is about to fail!"

"The abacus cannot be broken."

Why?

"You haven't finished calculating yet."

Lu Yuan raised his hand and grabbed a corner of the offering paper.

"Cheng'an, remember this."

"The supply line isn't a line, it's an account book."

"An account has a beginning and an end."

Wang Chengan's eyes lit up.

"Then find its knot!"

He pasted the broken frame of the abacus onto the offering paper, and his fingers moved quickly through the broken beads.

Snapped.

Snapped.

Snapped.

Each time you tap the paper, one of the red lines on the paper lights up.

"Old Well opens the tent."

"Ancestral hall accounting".

"Each household should contribute to the account."

"at last----"

He suddenly stopped.

"In the end, it didn't end there."

"The tents kept heading deeper into the mountains!"

"It's not that there wasn't a knot," Lu Yuandao said. "The knot was hidden on the first person who offered it."

The black-faced wooden sign gave a cold laugh.

"The first person died long ago."

"The bones are all buried in the mountains."

Lu Yuan looked at the black well in the car.

"You left his bones in the well."

"You dare not bury him."

For the first time, Mu Pai's face showed panic.

The Kuroi well shook violently.

From below the wellhead came a hoarse cough.

"Who—is calling me?"

The voice was hoarse, like the friction of an old tree.

Lu Yuan attached the bone fragments to the well wall.

The white light on the bone fragment spread rapidly.

As the layers of black frost peeled away, the skeleton of an old man, curled up at the bottom of the well, was revealed. The skeleton was holding a stone with its hands, on which was carved a tiny character for "life".

The driver, with his wooden sign face, finally screamed, "Don't touch him!"

"He was my first guiding light!"

Lu Yuan understood.

"You weren't born in the mountains."

"You grew from the thought that someone refused to die."

"His first act of survival made him your root."

"Later, when everyone else was trying to survive, you always said it was all thanks to them."

The wooden sign face shook wildly.

"I saved him!"

"I let him live for seventy years!"

"He should have died much earlier!"

"To live is to pay back debts; that's a fundamental principle!"

Lu Yuan stared at the old man's skeleton at the bottom of the well.

"Survival is not the issue."

"You're not extending his life, you're making him guard the altar for you."

"He can't be buried even after he's dead."

"Is this what you call 'hmm'?"

The old man's skeletal fingers twitched slightly.

"I want to go home."

Lu Yuan inserted the knife into the well and formed the "Returning Bone Incantation" with both hands.

Press your left thumb against the base of your index finger, and place your right palm down with your fingers slightly bent.

"Bones return to the earth, names return to their ancestors."

"Fulfill old vows, pay off old debts."

"No unclaimed bones remain in the human world, and no unburied souls are kept in the evil altar."

"Use snow as a coffin, and earth as a door."

"open!"

Suddenly, a stream of black water gushed out from the bottom of the well.

The black water swirled around the old man's skeleton, and they tried to drag him back to the bottom of the well.

Lu Yuan grabbed the skeleton's wrist, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

"Second child, protect your bones!"

Xu Erxiao inserted the short sword into the edge of the well.

"Senior brother, which way should we move the bones?"

"southward."

"There's a village to the south!"

"His home is there."

"But there's no one left in his family."

"The soil is still there."

Xu Erxiao immediately faced south and formed the "Soul Guiding Incantation".

"The south is fire, illuminating the gates of those returning home."

"Hear the call of the old bones, do not cling to the roots of evil."

"Fire does not burn the soul, light only guides the way."

"Return!"

A faint red light flew from his fingertips and landed between the old man's eyebrows.

Wang Chengan manipulated the abacus and pressed down on the red line on the paper that led south.

"This stroke of the pen marks the return south!"

Lin Zhaoxuan threw out the ink line, and the end of the line wrapped around the skeleton's waist.

Zhou Heng planted his feet firmly on the carriage shaft and suddenly pulled backward.

Song Qinghe raised the dying lamp high, illuminating the last embers of human light into the dark well.

Lu Yuan used all his strength to pull the old man's skeleton out of the well.

The moment the skeleton left the well, the entire life-saving vehicle collapsed with a roar.

The coachman's wooden sign split in two, and a clump of black fetal flesh fell out.

The fetal flesh kept wriggling, and countless eyes opened on its surface as it flew towards the northern mountainside.

"It's trying to escape!" Zhou Heng shouted.

"Let it escape," Lu Yuan said.

He placed the old man's skeleton on the snow, then turned and slashed at the offering paper with his broken knife.

Instead of being cut open, the paper offering was met with a mournful cry.

Each household in the picture is illuminated by a small red light.

Dozens of lights lit up simultaneously in the direction of Xiaomantun.

Someone is chanting scriptures inside the house.

Someone is striking a wooden fish.

Someone is burning paper money.

The children's cries pierced through the wind and snow, merging into a deep, somber tide.

"The mountain god protects life."

"The mountain god protects life."

"The mountain god protects life."

The mass of black fetal flesh paused in mid-air, as if an invisible thread had pulled it back to its original position.

Lu Yuan looked up at it and finally understood why the evil god had placed the first lamp in the mountain.

It is not guarding the altar.

They were waiting for someone to shut off the well in the car, then unleash everyone's survival fears all at once.

The power supply line was not broken.

Instead, they changed direction.

All the red light converged towards Xiaoman Village.

"It wants to turn the entire village into a new altar."

Ah Sheng lifted his head from Song Qinghe's embrace and looked at the village in the distance.

"The old well has been opened."

"Everyone in the well has woken up."

Lu Yuan carried Asheng on his back and picked up the bone fragments buried in the snow.

"Walk."

Wang Cheng'an asked, "Should we still save this old man?"

"Send him south first."

"What about Xiaomantun?"

"We must go."

Lu Yuan looked towards the village that was gradually coming to light.

"That's not the next light."

"That's the body the evil god is preparing to give me."

The group helped the old man's frame up and hurried south as the sky began to brighten.

Unbeknownst to them, the wooden sign that had been split in two was slowly coming back together in the snow behind them.

Through the cracks in the wooden sign, a tiny black eye opened.

It gazed at Lu Yuan's retreating figure and uttered a barely audible whisper: "Lu Yuan."

"If you save the whole village, you must bear the burden of all their lives."

"If you do not save them, you will watch them feed themselves to me."

"This time, you don't have six people to form a single shadow."

His dark eyes blinked.

A new line of words appeared on the snow: "The second lamp, in the old well of Xiaoman Village."

In the distance, the first rays of dawn pierced through the birch forest.

However, the sky above Xiaoman Village did not brighten.

A thin layer of dark clouds hung over the village, with dozens of red lines hanging down from them, like an inverted blood net.

At the end of each red line is the roof of a house.

The old well in the center of the village was already crowded with people.

They faced the well opening, their hands clasped together.

An old man wearing a black raincoat stood at the front, holding a bronze lamp in his hand.

Under the lamp were three things: a bowl of white rice, an old cotton-padded jacket worn by a child, and a razor.

The old man looked up and seemed to see Lu Yuan through the wind and snow.

"Outsider".

"You've finally arrived."

""

Lu Yuan stopped at the village entrance.

Do you know me?

The old man smiled.

"The evil god doesn't recognize you."

"It's this well that I know you."

The sound of a child crying came from the well.

At the same time, Ah Sheng, who was lying on Lu Yuan's back, suddenly covered his ears tightly.

"Brother Lu".

"The well is calling my name."

Lu Yuan looked towards the old well.

On the edge of the well, a line of wet, black characters slowly emerged: "Asheng returns to the well, and ten thousand households are saved."

The villagers all turned around.

There was no malice in their eyes, only the last bit of weary hope after surviving the famine.

Someone is holding a child.

Someone was helping the elderly person.

Some people were still holding freshly cooked rice porridge.

An old man in a straw raincoat raised a bronze lamp, his voice echoing throughout the village: "Outsider, hand that child over to the well."

"If one person is fed by the well, the whole village will be protected."

"This is a rule passed down from our ancestors."

Lu Yuan lifted Ah Sheng up.

"Who made the rules?"

The old man looked at him, and a slow smile spread across his face.

"It was decided by the dead."

"9

Inside the old well, the flame of the bronze lamp suddenly turned black.

The red lines on all the rooftops in Xiaoman Village were simultaneously tightened.

Lu Yuan gripped the knife handle and took his first step into the village.

"Then let the dead come out."

"I'll ask him in person if this rule still holds true."

T