Chapter 164: Departure! To find the Faceless Malevolent Deity!

Moonlight slanted in through the window.

The flame of the eternal lamp jumped sharply.

The air inside the hall was changing too.

That faint, lingering musty smell, the yin chill, and the indistinct stench of rot that had been coming from the coffin were dissipating bit by bit.

In their place came a light, fresh scent of grass and wood.

It was the breath of the millennium willow root.

Not just the willow root.

There was also the aura brought by that bluish-black "form."

The scent was so faint it was almost imperceptible, but Lu Yuan knew it was the breath of life.

Where death reaches its extreme, a spirit is born.

The hall was very quiet.

Quiet enough to hear the occasional soft crackle from the eternal lamp's flame.

Quiet enough to hear the night wind rustling bamboo leaves outside the window.

Lu Yuan leaned on the coffin edge, gasping at the mouth of the tomb.

At the same time, a red-black mist surged out from the coffin.

Then Gu Qingwan rose slowly from within the coffin.

Her face was different from before.

Now that face had color.

Not the pale of the dead, not the bluish-black of a yin creature, but a faint, healthy flush of life.

The redness came up from deep in her cheeks and spread little by little, like the first warm touch of spring melting winter snow.

Lu Yuan braced his hands on the coffin rim and looked up at Gu Qingwan.

She, in turn, looked down at him.

They stared at each other in silence.

Finally, Lu Yuan spoke first:

"It... should be successful, right?!"

Why isn't she speaking?!

Gu Qingwan blinked those pretty eyes and nodded seriously.

"Mm..."

Lu Yuan: "???"

Why does she still speak in single syllables?

Lu Yuan was about to say something when he suddenly froze.

He steadied himself on the coffin edge, looked up at Gu Qingwan drifting above the coffin.

Moonlight shone from behind her, wrapping her in a hazy halo.

She wore that plain white garment, the hem hanging down and fluttering gently though there was no wind.

Exactly the same as before.

But...

something seemed slightly different.

Lu Yuan looked into her eyes.

Those eyes were still beautiful—shape, size, color all identical to before.

But whatever lived in those eyes had changed.

Previously, when Gu Qingwan looked at someone, her gaze was empty.

Not that she couldn't focus...

That emptiness, that unfocused hollowness, had vanished the moment Lu Yuan succeeded in setting her eyes.

The "emptiness" Lu Yuan referred to...

How to put it...

If he had to pick a precise description—

It was the gaze of an evil worshiper!

That kind of indifferent, assessing look, the hollow that lacked emotion.

Now those eyes were different.

Moonlight entered her pupils and they sparkled; there was light inside them.

Not the reflected light of moonbeams, but a light coming from the eyes themselves.

The light of something living.

Hmm...

How to say it...

It finally had a "human touch"!

No longer that flat, dead stare.

"How do you feel now?"

Back to his senses, Lu Yuan asked immediately.

Gu Qingwan lowered her gaze slightly, as if testing her newly restored tongue.

A few seconds later she looked up at Lu Yuan again, nodded lightly, and said earnestly:

"Very good."

Lu Yuan:

Alright then...

It seemed Qingwan was a rather taciturn person, not fond of speaking much?

At least the tongue restoration had definitely worked.

At minimum, Qingwan was no longer stammering like before.

Lu Yuan was about to ask more when he suddenly turned his head toward the hall door.

In the next moment he dashed to the door and yanked it open.

Two surprised exclamations met him—Aunt Qin and Aunt Qiao'er looked adorably excited.

The two grande aunts were squatting at the doorway, heads tilted up, four eyes all fixed on Lu Yuan.

Moonlight shone on their faces and on those expectant eyes.

Lu Yuan was taken aback by the scene.

"What are you two doing squatting out here?"

Aunt Qin blinked, showing no embarrassment at being caught; instead she answered unabashedly:

"Waiting for news!"

"Done?!"

As she spoke, their gazes drifted past Lu Yuan to the space above the coffin.

Gu Qingwan still floated there, wrapped in that soft moonlit halo.

Her white garment hung and drifted slightly though no wind blew.

Aunt Qin and Aunt Qiao'er looked her over and their eyes lit up.

Not the earlier light of expectation, but the light of recognition—confirmation—and a weight lifted from their hearts.

Aunt Qin's mouth curved up.

"She's recovered?"

She asked Lu Yuan softly, her joy barely hidden.

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Yes."

He immediately stepped aside to let the two of them in.

He had thought the two grande aunts would have already gone to bed.

After all, tomorrow Aunt Qiao'er and Aunt Qin were returning to Fengtian City.

They should be resting well tonight.

But then again, how could these two ever sleep?

They had known about Qingwan's tongue restoration all day.

Of course they wanted to wait for the outcome—how could they sleep otherwise.

After coming inside, the two grande aunts circled Gu Qingwan, peering left and right, asking questions.

Lu Yuan busied himself tidying things while smiling at their chatter.

"You two should get some rest. You leave early tomorrow, right?"

"Don't worry, Qingwan is fine."

Hearing that Qingwan was truly okay, the two grande aunts nodded repeatedly.

After all, they'd been playing mahjong together for days; even without Lu Yuan's connection, they would have been concerned.

Speaking of mahjong, one person was missing from the four-player group—the Deity of Beauty.

Aunt Qiao'er couldn't help but arch her brows and complain:

"That Deity of Beauty... she knew Qingwan was getting her tongue restored today, so why didn't she come back to check?"

Aunt Qin nodded emphatically, clearly annoyed at the friend who used to drag them to mahjong every day.

Lu Yuan understood why they were upset.

It was like family waiting outside during surgery; of course they'd be anxious.

But the Deity of Beauty hadn't come back even though she wasn't playing mahjong—she simply vanished, and didn't check on Qingwan today.

Lu Yuan didn't think much of it.

Maybe the Deity of Beauty trusted her own abilities?

Confident that if she acted, everything would be flawless.

It didn't matter much—whether the Deity of Beauty was here or not didn't affect Lu Yuan's ritual.

After tidying up, Lu Yuan went over to look at Gu Qingwan's physical body beside the coffin.

Next were the tasks of attaching her legs and placing the Yansheng Coins to clear the major acupoints around her body.

Those things required further waiting.

Come to think of it, with more people from Zhenlong Temple helping, these remaining tasks would probably be finished within half a year at most.

That was far faster than the one or two years he had originally anticipated.

After all, so many unexpected events had happened along the way.

When Lu Yuan finished packing, Aunt Qin and Aunt Qiao'er still showed no sign of leaving; they kept hovering near Gu Qingwan asking questions.

Lu Yuan yawned and prepared to go to his room for a proper sleep.

Tomorrow.

Not only would Aunt Qiao'er and Aunt Qin set off back to Fengtian City.

Lu Yuan would also depart for Heishui Lingzi.

Of course he hadn't told the two grande aunts about this.

If he had, they would have refused to let him go.

As for why Lu Yuan was heading to Heishui Lingzi...

Naturally, it wasn't to kill some malevolent deity.

Although Lu Yuan's recovery was nearly complete, a malevolent deity was still a malevolent deity; even at his peak he would be cautious.

Now was even more reason to be careful.

He only wanted to get a closer look at the relationship between the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp and that malevolent deity.

Although Lu Yuan had been using a little paper figure to track Hu Tutu, having the paper figure follow Hu Tutu and Lu Yuan going himself were totally different matters.

The paper figure could only show images; it couldn't convey detailed sensations.

Especially these past days, as Lu Yuan watched Hu Tutu via the paper figure...

Something had felt off to him...

Lu Yuan went back to his room but didn't sleep. He prepared instead.

Early tomorrow, after sending off Aunt Qin and Aunt Qiao'er, Lu Yuan had to leave immediately.

Four days had passed since Hu Tutu entered Heishui Lingzi—he had to hurry!

Leaving in the morning without stopping, he'd likely arrive at Heishui Lingzi around eleven or twelve at night.

When the door closed, moonlight was shut out and the room went pitch black.

He didn't light a lamp, feeling his way to the table, and reached under it for a wooden box.

The box was small, about a foot square, carved with a Taiji diagram on top. The corners were bound with copper plating that had developed verdigris.

This was an heirloom passed down from the old man; its contents were normally unnecessary.

Lu Yuan set the box on the table but did not open it hastily.

He first lit three incense sticks and placed them in the small censer on the table.

Blue-gray smoke curled up; invisible in the dark, but the faint scent of sandalwood could be smelled.

He stepped back, formed hand seals with both hands, and intoned:

"With the Three Pure Ones above, disciple Lu Yuan opens the box tonight to take the ritual tools for travel."

"The place to be visited is dangerous, the things to be faced are evil cultists who must be exterminated."

"I humbly request ancestral protection, grant potency to these tools, let evil not invade the righteous."

After reciting this, he bowed three times.

Only then did he reach out and open the box.

Although he was not going to exterminate the malevolent deity, some items must be prepared in case of emergency.

Moonlight squeezed through the window gap and illuminated the box.

After a moment of rummaging, Lu Yuan produced several items.

First, a compass about the size of a palm, made of copper, the face etched with dense characters.

It was not an ordinary bagua direction disc, but marked with heavenly stems and earthly branches, the Twenty-Eight Mansions, and the twelve earthly hours in concentric rings that made the eyes dizzy.

At the center was a small circular mirror, its surface blackened as if smoked.

Lu Yuan took this compass and inspected it.

This was the Black Mirror Compass.

That black mirror was not an ordinary mirror; it was a specially treated bronze mirror that could reveal things invisible to normal sight.

The malevolent deity had no face—no fixed appearance, able to assume any form.

But the compass did not reflect faces; it reflected "qi."

No matter how many transformations occurred, the qi could not change.

As long as it remained, the compass could reveal it.

The second item was a small cloth pouch, washed until its yellow had faded.

Inside was a short dagger, about seven inches long, entirely black even along the blade.

This was not a common dagger.

It was a Yansheng Dagger.

The blade was made from jujube wood struck by lightning.

Jujube wood itself wards off evil; jujube struck by lightning is supremely yang.

The blade was covered in carved talismans, dense and tactile under the fingers.

Most importantly, this dagger had been consecrated with the "Killing Light."

Ordinary ritual tools are consecrated to invite a deity to inhabit them, giving the tool spirit.

This dagger, however, was consecrated to invite "murderous intent."

It was not for banishing, but for killing.

Ordinary exorcism tools were useless against a malevolent deity.

That thing had been nourished by incense offerings; ordinary talismans and charms wouldn't scratch it.

Only a weapon specifically forged to slay evil would stand a chance.

Lu Yuan rewrapped the dagger and placed it beside the compass.

The third item was a small porcelain bottle, white and palm-sized, its mouth sealed with red cloth painted with sigils.

He removed the red cloth and brought it to his nose.

A metallic-sweet smell hit his nostrils.

This was Black Dog Blood, but not ordinary black dog blood.

It had to come from a pure black male dog, the firstborn, raised since birth.

This black dog blood was supremely yang and rigid, specifically for breaking through the yin qi of evil cultists.

The fourth item was a small cloth bag containing seven copper coins.

The coins were ordinary in size but polished bright.

These were the Five Emperor Coins, but not the kind hung on household doors.

They had been specially treated—each soaked in cinnabar, sun-dried through the hottest days, then nourished in incense ash for three years.

Seven coins represented the Big Dipper. Strung together with red cord, they formed the Seven Stars Soul-Locking Formation.

If a malevolent deity possessed a person or took human form, these seven coins could bind its soul and force it to reveal its true form.

Lu Yuan tied the pouch tight and set it aside.

The fifth item was a wooden plaque, palm-sized and jet black, the front carved with the character "Order," the back covered with dense talismanic script.

This was the Thunder Ancestor Command.

Taoist ritual tools come in three ranks: lower tools to dispel evil, middle tools to suppress calamity, and upper tools to summon deities.

The Thunder Ancestor Command was an upper-tier tool.

What it summoned was not an ordinary guardian deity but the Nine Heavens' Thunder Ancestor.

Of course, whether one could actually summon it depended on skill.

Even so, the plaque itself had suppressive power against evil entities; carrying it would keep malevolent deities at bay.

He turned the plaque over and studied the back's script.

Moonlight fell across it and the talismans seemed alive, faintly shifting.

The final item was a talisman.

Not an ordinary yellow talisman, but a purple talisman.

A purple talisman.

Taoist talismans rank yellow, red, purple, and gold.

Yellow talismans are the most common, red second, purple counts as high-level talismans, and gold talismans are stuff of legend.

Six items in total: compass to find the way, Yansheng Dagger to slay, black dog blood to break barriers, Seven Star coins to bind souls, Thunder Ancestor Command to protect the bearer, and the purple talisman as a last resort.

That should be enough.

Lu Yuan packed each item away—what belonged in a bag went in a bag, what needed to be kept close he tucked into his robes.

The next morning.

It was just beginning to get light; a pale wash of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon.

Lu Yuan pushed open his door and stretched on the threshold.

Although he had slept late, the sleep had been deep, and he woke feeling refreshed.

After washing, he headed for the dining hall.

Before he entered he heard voices inside.

When Lu Yuan stepped in, Aunt Qin and Aunt Qiao'er were already seated at the table.

They had changed into neat clothes and their hair was tidily arranged.

Small dishes lay on the table—pickles, dried radish, and a plate of scrambled eggs.

Aunt Qin and Aunt Qiao'er ate and chatted, covering trivial household matters.

Business in Fengtian City, things to take care of after returning, when they'd come back next time.

Once Lu Yuan sat down, their conversation turned from small talk to talk about him.

They simply urged him to take care of himself and to visit Fengtian City when there was nothing to do.

Or they offered that they'd come back when they had time.

After breakfast the three of them went to the side hall.

The hall doors were open; moonlight had already withdrawn and been replaced by soft morning light.

The eternal lamp still burned, its flame steady and warm.

The two grande aunts said their final goodbyes to Gu Qingwan and then left.

The three of them walked to the mountain gate.

Morning light from the east tinted the whole gate in a gentle gold.

Outside, the stone steps stretched downward into the morning mist.

The two grande aunts climbed into the ready carriage and lifted its curtain to show two exquisitely beautiful faces.

Both women wore expressions of reluctance.

Lu Yuan waved casually as if nothing was amiss, prompting the two grande aunts to scold him teasingly for being heartless.

Finally the carriage headed down the mountain.

Lu Yuan stood at the gate watching them grow smaller and then disappear into the mist.

A breeze brought the chill of morning air.

He stood for a moment, then turned and strode back inside.

Departure!

Go find the Faceless Malevolent Deity!