Chapter 178: Are You Erduolong!!!

Lu Yuan's words left Hu Huxu completely stunned.

Hu Huxu looked at Lu Yuan with eyes full of incredulity, his gaze murky and bewildered.

Hu Huxu simply couldn't fathom how Lu Yuan could suddenly utter those words,

And as for how Lu Yuan even knew...

"Let's lay all our cards on the table."

"Stop pretending."

"Right now, I'm going to go find your wife's soul."

"Then you take me to find my master, and I also promise that as long as my master returns safely, I will still ask my master to help with Hu Tutu's problem!"

Lu Yuan's hand gripped Hu Huxu's shoulder, the light of Thunder Techniques seeping from between his fingers, a pale violet-white, accompanied by a faint "crackling" sound.

Not from fear, but from being scorched by the Thunder Technique. A wisp of faint azure smoke rose from the cotton-padded jacket at his shoulder.

Then, Lu Yuan's hand released Hu Huxu's shoulder, and the power of Thunder Techniques on his body gradually dissipated,

But his face remained expressionless.

Hu Huxu stared at Lu Yuan, his face full of shock, mouth agape, unable to utter a single word.

Hu Huxu felt that among the things he knew beyond the Great Wall, there truly were many, many.

This was naturally due to the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp and the "gods" beyond the Great Wall, so Hu Huxu knew many things and many secrets.

But right now, Hu Huxu truly didn't know how Lu Yuan knew about this matter concerning his wife...

This kid...

How on earth did he know?!

And...

He said... he could save her?!

Could he possibly know the hidden circumstances?!

Did Yangyang tell him?!

Impossible!!

That kind of thing, even Hu Yangyang didn't know!!

Yet this Lu Yuan accurately knew that his wife's soul was lost, couldn't be found back...

He...

For a moment, cold sweat truly poured down Hu Huxu's back.

And at this moment, Lu Yuan still stared expressionlessly at Hu Huxu.

As for how Lu Yuan knew...

That was naturally because...

What Hu Yangyang said back then was exactly what happened to the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp years ago.

Years ago, when Hu Tutu and Hu Yangyang's mother gave birth to them, she first gave birth to Hu Yangyang.

When giving birth to Hu Tutu later, she couldn't go on.

In the end, their mother, including Hu Tutu herself, were gone.

Then, later, Hu Huxu relied on the skills of the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp to place Hu Tutu's soul into a paper figure, and it continued until now.

Back then, Lu Yuan felt something was off about this whole thing.

But exactly what was off, Lu Yuan couldn't quite say.

But later, on the way back with Hu Yangyang, Lu Yuan suddenly thought of a question.

If Hu Huxu could place his newborn daughter's soul into a paper figure, why couldn't he also place his wife's soul, who died in childbirth, inside?

Since Hu Huxu could make Hu Tutu what she is now, he absolutely had the ability to put his wife in there too!!

So why didn't he?

There must be some reason for this!

For example, something went wrong with the soul!

Of course, all these things were just Lu Yuan's earlier speculations, not certain.

But...

When Lu Yuan followed Hu Yangyang here, Lu Yuan was basically already certain that what he thought was true!

Especially...

Right now, Lu Yuan looked at Hu Huxu's round face, shifting from shock to being at a loss, finally seeping with fine beads of cold sweat.

The lingering speculation in his heart completely settled.

Guessed right.

Now, there was absolutely no need for Hu Huxu to speak, nor for him to admit anything.

Lu Yuan's mind was crystal clear.

What kind of person was Hu Huxu?

He was the head of the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp, someone who could forcibly "continue" the soul of a newborn baby who had already died into a paper figure.

A ruthless character who had continued it for several years.

With such means that defied the rules of life and death, forcibly retaining a soul, would he just stand by and watch his wife's soul scatter?

Absolutely impossible.

Therefore, from the moment Lu Yuan stepped into this room, he had been looking, searching.

Searching for any trace that could prove there was another "person" here.

The traces of a mother, a wife's existence.

But Lu Yuan saw nothing.

Besides the stove, the kang bed, and the unconscious paper figure daughter, this room was as empty as if it had been washed clean by water.

Not one extra table, not one piece of old women's clothing.

Not even an extra set of bowls and chopsticks, as if reserved for someone.

"You can forcibly 'continue' your newborn, dying daughter's soul using a paper figure,"

Lu Yuan leaned forward half a step, almost able to smell the mixture of tobacco tar and earth on Hu Huxu's body.

"You have this ability to defy heaven and change fate, to capture souls and anchor spirits... Your own wife died in childbirth."

"You just stood by and watched her soul scatter to the winds, not leaving even the slightest memento?"

A spark burst with a "crackle" from the firewood in the stove.

Hu Huxu's fingers, hidden in his sleeves, curled almost imperceptibly.

"But I've been here this long, looked this long, in your house..."

Lu Yuan's voice suddenly intensified.

"Besides Hu Tutu this living? paper figure, there isn't the slightest trace of any other? thing."

"Where is your wife's soul?"

"Where have you put her?"

"Or is it..."

Lu Yuan stared tightly into Hu Huxu's eyes, which grew murkier under the firelight, enunciating each word clearly:

"Her soul simply isn't in your hands."

"Or rather, it's not in a 'safe place.'"

"Something went wrong with it, right?"

Hu Huxu's body stiffened almost imperceptibly for an instant.

Although his face still showed little expression, his perpetually drooping eyelids finally slowly opened a slit.

The murky eyeballs turned toward Lu Yuan, churning with extremely complex emotions.

Shock, dismay at being seen through, and a deeply buried, unspeakable pain.

"You..."

"Just based on what Yangyang told you about that incident back then..."

"You guessed it?"

Hu Huxu stared at Lu Yuan, his face full of dismay.

Lu Yuan slightly raised his head and said:

"Those were just suspicions at first."

Hearing this, Hu Huxu couldn't help but swallow.

Ignoring the stormy waves in Hu Huxu's eyes, Lu Yuan released his hand, turned, and walked toward the doorway.

But his gaze had already passed over Hu Huxu, landing on the empty courtyard bathed in morning light.

"Hu Yangyang's one sentence was just the trigger."

"What truly made me certain was your courtyard."

Lu Yuan's voice wasn't loud, but carried a cold certainty, echoing clearly in the low earthen house.

He walked to the doorway, his back to Hu Huxu, his finger seemingly casually pointing outside.

"The millstone, placed at the southeast Xun position in your courtyard, three inches off the ground, with three unpolished bluestones propping it up underneath."

"Xun represents wind, governs entry and exit, governs dissipation."

"You placed such a 'grinding' object here, propped up underneath with 'unopened' stubborn stones."

"It's not for grinding grain, it's to 'grind down' something, preventing it from scattering out along the wind position, and even more so, preventing it from entering the door."

As he spoke, Lu Yuan slightly tilted his head, the corner of his eye sweeping over Hu Huxu's instantly tightened jaw.

"The northwest Qian position, governs heaven, governs the father, also governs conclusion and the place of return."

"You, on the other hand, a worn-out broom, just casually leaned against the base of the wall, the broom head pointing toward the house."

"A broom sweeps away filth, worn out means its strength is exhausted, placed at the Qian position, head pointing inward..."

Lu Yuan paused, his voice growing colder.

"This isn't cleaning, this is trying to use this 'broken sweep' power!"

"To guide certain things that shouldn't linger, or rather... things that wish to return but find it difficult, from the 'heaven position' toward 'home.'"

"Yet powerless, only futilely pointing the direction."

Hu Huxu's breathing noticeably grew heavier for an instant.

Lu Yuan continued, his pace not fast, but each word striking Hu Huxu's heart:

"That overturned broken vat in the very center of the courtyard, with a small hole deliberately chiseled in the bottom."

"A vat represents 'collection' and 'storage,' overturned is 'covering,' a hole in the bottom is 'leakage.'"

"Placed at the central palace earth position, this is trying to 'collect and cover' something, yet also afraid of completely smothering it, leaving a thread of life..."

"Or rather, leaving an 'exit.'"

"But this exit is awkwardly opened, forcibly opened."

"And also!"

Lu Yuan finally turned completely around, facing Hu Huxu, his gaze sharp as a blade.

"The things buried at the four corners of the courtyard, although I can't see them clearly, that faint, elusive sense of 'anchoring energy' and 'stagnation intent' can't fool me."

"East, south, west, north, four-corner anchoring objects, not to guard against external evil, but to lock something inside this courtyard, preventing it from getting out!"

"And also... preventing it from entering a stable resting place."

"If I'm not mistaken, what you buried are old items tainted with your Hu family's bloodline aura, mixed with incense ash and grave soil, right?"

"This is called 'blood-kin bonds, yin earth retains soul,' a method to forcibly retain the scattered soul of a close relative."

"But it's extremely dangerous. If not done properly, you won't retain the soul, but instead harm the essence and foundation of the person performing the ritual."

Lu Yuan here lightly shook his head, his face showing no trace of smugness, only a grave solemnity after seeing through everything.

"Your entire courtyard is one clumsy yet vicious 'Soul-Locking Reverse Return Formation.'"

"Every seemingly ordinary piece of junk arrangement is stuck in an awkward yet desperate position, contradicting each other yet mutually entangled."

"You want to lock a soul, prevent it from completely dissipating, yet also want to guide it back, but can't find the proper path, can only use these unorthodox methods to forcibly drag it."

"This formation is arranged... painfully and desperately, completely unlike what someone of your skill should devise, more like the frantic struggle of someone at the end of their rope."

Lu Yuan took a step forward, staring down Hu Huxu's murky eyes that had lost their luster after being completely exposed.

"What could make you arrange your courtyard like this, using such self-harming, nearly self-destructive methods to forcibly retain, if not the soul of your closest kin?"

"And moreover, this soul must have encountered a major problem. Ordinary 'Continuing the Lamp' methods are completely ineffective, perhaps even... it's no longer within your control!"

"You can only use this method to barely maintain a faint, elusive connection, or, prevent it from being completely taken away by something."

Lu Yuan's voice finally sank low, carrying an indisputable conclusion:

"So, Head of the Hu family, no need to hide and conceal any longer."

"Your wife's soul isn't lost, it's encountered a problem you can't solve!!"

"You've barely 'hung' it inside and outside your courtyard using this stopgap formation, neither up nor down, neither returning nor scattering, right?"

Hu Huxu opened his mouth, a "gurgling" sound coming from his throat, but not a single word emerged.

Only his hunched body swayed almost imperceptibly.

As if the last pillar supporting him had also been forcibly pulled away by Lu Yuan's words.

"You underestimated me too much."

"No matter what, I am also a Two-Star Celestial Master who possesses orthodox Daoist tradition, inheriting the dharma lineage!"

"When it comes to things like making paper figures, or connections with 'gods,' my Daoist tradition may not compare to you families beyond the Great Wall."

"But when it comes to these things, I can see through them at a glance!"

Lu Yuan raised his head, speaking loudly with a hint of pride:

"Stop dawdling! If you want your wife's soul to safely enter the paper figure you made, only I can help you now!"

Hu Huxu's hunched body swayed. His murky eyes stared fixedly at Lu Yuan, the stormy waves churning within gradually settling.

Turning into a deeper, nearly ashen exhaustion and... a trace of barely perceptible mockery.

He opened his mouth, the "gurgling" sound in his throat turning into a hoarse, dry laugh, carrying the roughness of years of smoke and fire exposure.

"Orthodox Daoist tradition... Two-Star Celestial Master..."

He repeated Lu Yuan's words, each word spoken slowly, heavily.

As if squeezed from between his teeth, or as if chewing on a bitterness tasted countless times before.

"Young man..."

Hu Huxu shook his head, the movement heavy as if moving a large stone.

"Your eyes are sharp, you can see through the tricks of my courtyard, you can point out the matter hidden in my heart... I admit, I underestimated you."

He raised that rough, black-dirt-embedded hand, pointed at his own face, then at this dilapidated house.

Finally, that finger dropped powerlessly, pointing at those "formation eyes" in the courtyard that Lu Yuan had exposed one by one, bearing desperate struggles.

"But do you know how many 'orthodox Daoist tradition' practitioners I've invited these past few years?"

"How many so-called 'dharma lineage inheriting' Celestial Masters, Daoist Priests, even wandering practitioners claiming to have received true transmissions, have I seen?"

Hu Huxu's voice was flat, without interrogation, without anger, only a numbness born from countless hopes ignited and countless times doused with cold water.

"From One-Star, to Three-Star, even... a Daoist Priest I invited at great expense from inside the Great Wall, said to have glimpsed the Grand Celestial Master realm."

He paused, his gaze turning to the sky outside the door, as if recalling those long-blurred faces that came with hope only to eventually shake their heads and sigh as they left.

"Some of them spoke more mysteriously than you, made a bigger show than you."

"Talismans and Ritual Tools spread all over the ground, Golden Light Charm incantations chanted until the heavens shook."

"Some, taciturn, just circled this courtyard a few times, then calculated with their fingers, their faces changing dramatically, repeatedly waving their hands."

"Saying things like 'karmic burden too heavy, karma entangled, beyond human power,' not even daring to take payment, turning and leaving."

He slowly turned his head back, looking at Lu Yuan. The mockery in those yellowish, murky eyes faded, leaving only naked, almost overwhelming powerlessness.

"They all saw it, kid."

"Saw that my courtyard is a clumsy 'Soul-Locking Formation,' saw the pain of me wanting to retain but unable to retain, wanting to guide but unable to guide back."

"But then what?"

"No one could tell me what 'thing' my wife's soul was being held back by."

"No one could break that 'lock' I couldn't see, couldn't touch, yet had trapped her for so many years."

"And even more so, no one could... bring her back safely and securely from that state of being neither up nor down, neither human nor ghost."

Hu Huxu's voice lowered, carrying a self-mocking hoarseness:

"Orthodox dharma lineage?"

"Don't make me laugh... The methods of my Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp might seem unorthodox, heretical to your Daoist tradition, dealing with 'Malevolent Deities.'"

"But in this land beyond the Great Wall, in matters involving the Ten Families, involving those unclear 'rules' and 'existences'..."

"Sometimes, those grand, righteous methods of your Daoist tradition aren't necessarily better than our local methods!"

"And those remnant souls that even our Hu family's secret 'Soul-Continuing Lamp' cannot light, cannot guide back..."

"What can your Daoist tradition's soul-guiding banners, soul-calming chants do?"

He shuffled forward half a step, closer to Lu Yuan. That smell mixing earth, tobacco tar, and medicinal herbs grew stronger.

"Lu Yuan, Daoist Priest Lu."

"You're very capable, a Two-Star Celestial Master at such a young age, with boundless prospects."

"You can see the despair in my courtyard, I believe that."

"But you say you can find my wife's soul and bring it back..."

Hu Huxu slowly, extremely slowly, shook his head. Every wrinkle on his face was filled with disbelief.

And just as Hu Huxu was about to speak again.

The next second, Lu Yuan, who could no longer bear it, grabbed Hu Huxu by the collar, hoisted him up, and loudly cursed:

"Are you a fucking Er Duo Long or what?!!"

"I said I'll get your wife's soul back right now!!!"

"Fuck your mother!!"

"Can you listen properly to what others are saying?!!"

"You're always saying you have no time for this, no time for that, of course you have no time for anything when you run into a dawdling idiot like you!!"