Chapter 172: The main body has appeared, hurry up and make your move!!

Actually, Lu Yuan could see it too.

There isn't a single evil entity in the world that isn't afraid of Thunder Techniques.

Moreover, the danger indicator on Lu Yuan's [Vanquish Demons and Exorcise Evil] system had clearly marked it.

This meant that his Thunder Technique had not struck the true body of the Faceless Malevolent Deity.

So now the problem arose.

Even knowing this now, breaking through it would be extremely difficult.

The previous thunderbolt had blasted away one old woman's face, but there were still countless faces within that qi.

Even if Lu Yuan were at his peak with his zhenran, he would still need to control the power of his zhenran and the heavenly thunder, striking multiple times.

But how many more times could he strike?!

When would he ever finish striking them all?

Where would Lu Yuan get that much zhenran?

Watching the Faceless Malevolent Deity standing in place, then reaching out again, grabbing and pressing another old man's face onto its own, Lu Yuan felt a bit helpless.

No wonder the Faceless Malevolent Deity had been completely motionless earlier...

It didn't even try to interrupt Lu Yuan during his lengthy thunder-summoning process...

This Faceless Malevolent Deity simply wasn't afraid!

Direct confrontation wouldn't work; he needed a different method.

Lu Yuan glanced at the Yunting in his hand.

The cloud patterns on the sword blade had dimmed significantly, with only a small section near the hilt still glowing faintly.

He couldn't use Thunder Techniques anymore, and his zhenran was mostly depleted.

Lu Yuan looked up at that mass of qi.

The qi was surging out from the crack, spreading across the ground, covering everything with those faces.

The faces tumbled within the qi, floating to the edge of the crack only to be sucked back in, floating out, being sucked back, unable to escape.

Staring at that process, Lu Yuan suddenly thought of something.

The old man had taught him a method of sealing and suppression, not attacking, but sealing.

Seal those souls within the qi, preventing them from coming out.

If the souls couldn't come out, the Malevolent Deity would have no shells to swap into.

With no shells to swap, it would be exposed.

The next moment, Lu Yuan sheathed his sword, slung the Yunting onto his back, and pulled five talismans from his robe.

Not thunder talismans, but "Soul-Suppressing Talismans."

Yellow paper with cinnabar, drawn in the traditional Daoist method for suppressing souls, every stroke taught to him hand-in-hand by the old man.

The talisman bore the character for "rescue," surrounded by the Eight Trigrams, with a chain pattern encircling the outside.

The chain had a beginning and an end, the head at the top of the talisman, the tail at the bottom, connecting end to end, link interlocking with link.

At the same time, the paper figure Hu Tutu also rushed over to help, holding the lamp aloft with both hands, its white light still covering those faces.

"Daoist Priest, I'll help you hold off the Faceless Malevolent Deity!"

The paper figure Hu Tutu's voice was quite loud, sounding as if there were no issues.

But a glance over revealed she wouldn't last long; the lamp was shaking, her hands were shaking, her whole body was trembling.

Lu Yuan didn't respond to her.

He spread the five talismans on the ground, bit the tip of his tongue, and spat a mouthful of blood onto the talismans.

Blood from the tip of the tongue was supremely yang, most effective for suppressing souls.

As the blood landed, the cinnabar on the talismans glowed briefly, and the chain patterns seemed to come alive, writhing slightly on the paper.

He formed a "Suppression Altar Seal" with his left hand.

Thumb pressing the base of the ring finger, index and middle fingers extended forward together, ring and little fingers curled, palm facing down.

This was the opening gesture for sealing and suppressing yin souls in Daoist practice. When the old man taught him, he said this hand seal couldn't be formed carelessly; once formed, it couldn't be released, or the souls would escape.

"Heaven clear, earth numinous, souls return to their positions."

"Yin returns to the yin underworld, yang returns to the yang heavens."

"The Six Paths have their gates, the Nine Netherworlds have their roads."

"Today I seal this place, souls shall not emerge."

He recited one line, taking a step forward.

After reciting four lines, he stood before the mass of qi.

The qi churned at his feet, those faces floating up from within, one by one sticking to his legs.

Once stuck, they became motionless, pale and ghastly, with no eyes, no nose, no mouth, just plastered to his legs.

No pain, no itch, but cold.

Cold to the bone, cold to the heart.

Lu Yuan ignored them.

He brought the two fingers of his right hand together, drawing a talisman pattern on his left palm.

To be precise, it was zhenran flowing across his palm.

Where his finger passed, his palm grew hot.

After finishing, he slammed his left palm onto the ground.

"Seal!"

The ground flashed briefly.

Not light, but patterns.

Pattern after pattern spread outward from his palm, like a spider's web, like tree roots.

Where the patterns spread, those faces stopped moving.

No tumbling, no surging, no sticking to his legs.

Fixed there, like white circles drawn on the ground.

The light from the paper figure Hu Tutu's lamp shone over, falling on those faces. The faces trembled, but couldn't move.

And at that very moment, the Faceless Malevolent Deity to the side moved!!

Not walking, but sliding.

It didn't take steps; its entire body slid across the ground, impossibly fast.

The Faceless Malevolent Deity, now wearing an old man's face again, opened its wide mouth—no teeth, no tongue, just a dark hole.

Wind poured from the dark hole, cold wind carrying the stench of a rotting mud pond, sweeping up paper ashes and fallen leaves from the ground, crashing down upon them.

The paper figure Hu Tutu stood in front of Lu Yuan, raising the lamp overhead.

"Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp, lend me your power—Lamp Wall!"

She planted the lamp on the ground before her feet. As the lamp landed, the light from the wick exploded outward—not illumination, but a wall.

A bluish-white wall of light surged from the wick, over a person's height, about three feet wide, shielding her and Lu Yuan behind it.

The light wall was thin as paper, with something swimming inside, like fish, like snakes, like those faces churning in the qi.

The Faceless Malevolent Deity crashed into it.

The light wall emitted a "dong" sound, like a massive temple bell being struck.

The paper figure Hu Tutu staggered back a step, her shoe soles scraping a mark on the ground.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed forward a step, pressing both hands on the lamp. The lamp shook, the light wall shook, her whole body shook.

The Faceless Malevolent Deity pressed against the light wall, its newly swapped face distorted from the pressure.

"Daoist Priest! Hurry!"

The paper figure Hu Tutu shouted, her voice cracking.

Lu Yuan also knew the situation was critical. Not daring to delay, he quickly retreated three steps, forming the "Soul-Sealing Seal" with both hands.

Palms pressed together, fingers interlocked, thumbs pressed against each other. This was the final step of the seal; once the seal was complete, the sealing was done.

"Five Directions suppress souls, Eight Trigrams seal the gates."

"Souls return to their positions, hun-po guard their roots."

"Within this boundary, this domain, souls shall not leave."

"By the Supreme Dao's command, urgently, urgently, as by the law's command!"

After reciting the final line, he pressed both hands downward.

The five talismans lit up simultaneously.

The red of the cinnabar, the gold of the chain patterns, the silver of the Eight Trigrams—three-colored light intertwined, like five pillars pinning that mass of qi to the ground.

The qi stopped spreading.

Those faces stopped tumbling.

Fixed there, completely motionless.

The crack was still there, but the qi couldn't emerge.

Sealed by the five talismans, sealed over that crack, like a pot lid covering a pot.

The paper figure Hu Tutu's lamp dimmed, shifting from white light back to a dim yellow glow.

She leaned on her knees, panting heavily, the lamp in her arms swaying back and forth.

And at that moment, the Faceless Malevolent Deity retreated a step.

Not forced back, but retreated on its own.

It retreated a step, tilting its head. It had no eyes, but it was looking at the patterns on the ground, at those fixed faces, at Lu Yuan.

Then it moved again.

This time, not a crash, but a smash.

It raised that fingerless claw and smashed it against the light wall.

The light wall emitted a "crack" sound, splitting a fissure.

The paper figure Hu Tutu was jolted, landing hard on her rear.

The lamp tilted, the light wall tilted, leaning heavily to one side.

She scrambled up, lunged to straighten the lamp, pressing both hands on it, her whole body lying on the ground, using her body to prop up the lamp.

"Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp, lend me life—the lamp shall not extinguish!"

The light within the wick dimmed briefly, then brightened again.

Dimmer than before, but it brightened.

The fissure on the light wall slowed, stopped spreading upward, halting there.

But it didn't close; it remained cracked.

The Faceless Malevolent Deity raised its claw, preparing to smash again.

The paper figure Hu Tutu, lying on the ground, looked up at Lu Yuan.

Her face was covered in dust, her two little buns completely askew.

"Lock!"

Accompanied by Lu Yuan's furious shout, that mass of qi was completely suppressed by him!!

At the same moment, the Faceless Malevolent Deity's claw came smashing down.

The light wall shattered with a "pa!"

Not cracked, but shattered.

Bluish-white light exploded, shattering into countless points of light like fireflies, like broken glass.

The paper figure Hu Tutu was blasted backward, her back slamming into a tree, the lamp flying from her hands.

It rolled on the ground, tumbling three times before stopping in a pile of fallen leaves.

The lamp was still lit, a dim yellow, flickering unsteadily.

Simultaneously, Lu Yuan had already turned to face the Faceless Malevolent Deity.

Success!

But now a problem arose...

After the previous series of maneuvers, the zhenran in Lu Yuan's body was nearly depleted again!!

At the same time, the paper figure Hu Tutu struggled up from under the tree.

Her back had hit the tree, tearing a hole in her clothing, revealing pale white skin beneath.

The skin bore patterns, not human patterns, but paper patterns, line after line, like paper that had been folded and then unfolded.

She glanced down at her arm, pulled her sleeve down to cover it, and stumbled over to retrieve the eight-hole lamp.

The lamp lay in the pile of fallen leaves, the wick still glowing, a dim yellow, flickering unsteadily.

She hugged the lamp to her chest; it trembled slightly, its light dimming another fraction.

"Daoist Priest..."

She called out, her voice raspy, like paper rubbing together.

The Faceless Malevolent Deity took a step forward.

Moonlight shone upon it, tall and thin like a bamboo pole.

The face it wore now was an old man's, wrinkled and creased, eyebrows drooping, corners of the mouth also sagging, the entire face like one of mourning.

It tilted its head, looking at the paper figure Hu Tutu.

No eyes, but it was looking.

Looking at her lamp, at the patterns on her arm, at her hands holding the lamp.

Then it raised that fingerless claw, reaching out in her direction.

From over ten feet away, it was grasping.

The lamp in the paper figure Hu Tutu's arms suddenly brightened, then dimmed.

The light from the wick had been siphoned away a segment, dimming significantly.

The paper figure Hu Tutu's face paled briefly. Hugging the lamp, she crouched on the ground, trembling all over.

It was draining her lamp.

Lu Yuan didn't hesitate.

He drew the Yunting from his back. The moment the blade left the scabbard, the moonlight brightened again.

Only a few segments of the cloud patterns on the sword blade remained, dimming from tip to base, with only a tiny section near the hilt still glowing.

He brought the two fingers of his left hand together, drawing a talisman pattern on the sword blade, zhenran flowing across it.

Where his finger passed, the blade glowed briefly.

After finishing, one more of those last few cloud pattern segments lit up.

Lu Yuan forced out the last bit of light from the sword. The blade flashed once, then dimmed.

Zhenran squeezed out from the depths of his dantian, like scooping the last ladle of water from a dried-up well.

His hand shook, not from fear, but from the spasming of his dantian.

The paper figure Hu Tutu knelt on the ground, lamp hugged to her chest, its light now too dim to see.

All those paper patterns on her arm were fully exposed, crawling from wrist to shoulder, from shoulder to neck, from neck to face.

Her face was also changing, patterns showing through her pale skin beneath, like creases from folded paper.

She raised the lamp, pointing it at the Faceless Malevolent Deity.

"Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp... lend me life..."

The lamp brightened again, but it was a very small flame, burning from the wick, a dim yellow like a candle about to go out.

That flame shone upon the Faceless Malevolent Deity, upon that old man's face it wore.

Illuminated by the flame, that face stopped moving, stopped smiling, stopped opening its mouth, closing its eyes and fixing there.

But it only fixed for an instant.

The flame was too small, couldn't hold it.

That face began to move again, the corners of its mouth curling upward, curling once, then again.

It was smiling.

The Faceless Malevolent Deity raised its claw, grasping toward the paper figure Hu Tutu.

The lamp swayed, the flame tilted, shrinking to the size of a mung bean.

Blood began to trickle from the paper figure Hu Tutu's nose, dripping onto the lamp. Stained with blood, the lamp brightened briefly, then dimmed.

The patterns on her arm deepened further, bulging from beneath the skin like paper fold lines, like knife cuts.

Lu Yuan took a step forward.

Sword tip aimed at that face, at that old man with closed eyes, smiling.

He had only one sword strike left, the final one. His zhenran was gone, the light on the sword almost gone, only a tiny bit left near the hilt, like a needle tip, like a grain of rice.

Lu Yuan forced all that light to the sword tip. The tip glowed, bluish-white, like a star.

Given the current situation, Lu Yuan's one sword strike could only sever this old man from the Faceless Malevolent Deity's face.

And only after severing this old man could he face the Faceless Malevolent Deity's true body...

What should he do?

Call Qingwan?

To be honest, if he could avoid it, Lu Yuan really didn't want to call Qingwan.

The reason was actually simple.

It wasn't about embarrassment, nor about being an orthodox Daoist practitioner yet calling an evil entity for help.

The relationship between Lu Yuan and Gu Qingwan had long passed the point of embarrassment.

As for an orthodox Daoist practitioner calling an evil entity for help, Lu Yuan didn't see an issue with that either.

Lu Yuan had long stopped viewing Qingwan as an evil entity.

The reason Lu Yuan didn't want to call Qingwan now was just one...

That was, Lu Yuan hadn't slain an evil entity for a long time, or rather, an evil entity of such a high danger level.

The last time he slew an evil entity was when dealing with those Nurturing Malevolence Sites.

But the evil entities at those Nurturing Malevolence Sites back then weren't highly dangerous.

Lu Yuan's insistence on slaying high-level evil entities was because slaying these highly dangerous ones would grant him rewards from [Vanquish Demons and Exorcise Evil]!

Including, but not limited to, raising his cultivation realm, obtaining top-tier ritual tools, and such.

These were things Lu Yuan desperately needed right now.

If he called Qingwan here, then...

Then it would have nothing to do with Lu Yuan again.

After all, given the Faceless Malevolent Deity's strength, if Qingwan came, it would probably dissipate with just a breath from her.

She wouldn't give Lu Yuan any opportunity.

But...

Although somewhat unwilling, looking at the current situation...

It seemed there was no other way besides calling Qingwan.

He couldn't just throw his life away for the sake of rewards, could he?

And just as Lu Yuan decided to do this...

The next second, a sharp, feminine cry suddenly rang out behind Lu Yuan:

"Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp, lend me your power—Lamp Extinguish!"

Immediately after, a black talisman inscribed with silver patterns shot over Lu Yuan's head, rushing toward the Faceless Malevolent Deity ahead.

This black talisman was extremely strange; the silver patterns writhed across it like living things under the moonlight.

Almost instantly, this talisman stuck to the Faceless Malevolent Deity's face.

The moment the talisman adhered, that old man's face changed.

The mouth corners stopped curling, the eyebrows stopped drooping, the entire face seemed frozen.

Then, like melted wax, it sloughed off the Faceless Malevolent Deity's face.

At that same moment, the living Hu Tutu's voice sharply cried out from behind Lu Yuan:

"What are you still standing there for?!"

"The true body is out, hurry up and attack!!"