[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele":3,"chapter-the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-188":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Invincible Female Ghost Is A Bit Of A Hopeless Romantic",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1706376,2180,"Chapter 188: Naïveté","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-188",188,"\u003Cp>Lu Yuan’s heart had just steadied a little thanks to the clear Dao resonance from the old man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That resonance, born from the Daoist lineage and rites, was his only consolation and guide in this desperate situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, just as he instinctively tried to activate the Jiutian Yingyuan Thunder Sound Universal Transformation Heavenly Pivot Scripture,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and mobilize the few remaining zhenran in his dantian that should have been slowly restoring to nourish his injured right fist and exhausted body,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>a freezing, deathly, indescribable stagnation—like the hardest of chains—instantly bound his dantian qi sea!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The zhenran stopped circulating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, it wasn’t merely stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was more like... it had solidified?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some invisible force had firmly \"locked\" it deep in his dantian, forcibly severing its connection with the meridians and acupuncture points throughout his body!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the zhenran that had once obeyed like a faithful limb, lively and responsive, now lay like water frozen solid, utterly motionless!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the thick external earth-vein yin energy could no longer be absorbed and refined into his own zhenran!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The source of Lu Yuan’s power was cut off!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His face changed dramatically, his pupils snapping narrow!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He immediately stopped moving. Ignoring Hu Huxu, he sat cross-legged and began rapidly changing hand seals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He formed the Daoist basics—the most core seals—“Inner-vision Perambulation Seal” and “Guiding Return Seal,”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>trying to look inward, find the problem, and forcefully break that invisible restraint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mind guards within, return and observe.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Qi sinks to the dantian, intent connects the perambulation…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan chanted the inner-vision method, concentrating all his spirit, attempting to “see” the internal condition of his dantian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what he “saw” was a chaotic darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dantian qi sea seemed shrouded by an invisible, viscous gray mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That mist did not belong to him, nor was it simply outside yin energy; it was a stranger, more insidious, more domineering force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It did not “absorb” or “poison” his zhenran, it directly “forbade” and “isolated” it,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>completely separating his zhenran and body from the outside world!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it this cave’s problem?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is it the pervasive earth-vein yin energy here?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or is it some kind of restriction specifically targeting Daoist zhenran that he had failed to detect?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan swallowed, then tried several Daoist secret hand seals recorded for breaking internal binds and unblocking meridians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Open the mysterious portals, unseal the locks.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Three guards pierced, a hundred meridians united.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I invoke the law of Prime Honored Celestial, open!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pointed to several major acupoints on his body while rapidly reciting an “Opening Orifices and Unblocking Meridians Incantation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His seals precise, the incantation clear, yet nothing responded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No zhenran flowed into his fingertips, and the spells lost their power without zhenran to drive them, sounding like words spoken by an ordinary mortal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan changed seals again, attempting to use the “Golden Light Dispelling Filth Seal” to draw on the residual righteous qi and strike at the gray mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heaven and Earth’s mysterious ancestor, root of myriad beings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Countless trials cultivated, witness my divine prowess.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Inside and outside the three realms, only the Dao stands supreme.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My body bears golden light, covering and mirroring me…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let the golden light appear swiftly, protect the true person.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Urgently, urgently, as by the law’s command!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Golden Light Charm was one of Daoism’s fundamental defensive, evil-dispelling incantations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If driven by zhenran, it could cleanse internal corruption and dispel evil obstacles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, Lu Yuan’s interior was empty. After chanting, all that flickered in his sea of consciousness was a barely perceptible, pure righteous thought born of spirit source.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It could not move the strange gray prohibition outside his dantian one bit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Again!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Purifying Heaven and Earth Divine Incantation!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Heaven and Earth natural order, filth disperse.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Within the cave, profound void, resplendent primal source.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mighty spirits from eight directions, make way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Command of spiritual treasure talisman, proclaim to the nine heavens...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Evil filth vanish, Dao endure.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Urgently, urgently, as by the law’s command!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also ineffective.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without zhenran as a bridge and fuel, no matter how exquisite the incantation or orthodox the hand seal, they remained only hollow forms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had lost the essential means to communicate with Heaven and Earth, to summon Dao power and manifest miracles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cold sweat broke out on Lu Yuan’s brow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He refused to give up and tried “Untying Knot Incantation,” the “Breaking Obstacle Seal,” the “Purity Body-and-Mind Seal,” and several other Daoist methods recorded for removing one’s abnormal state and breaking internal and external seals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For each one, Lu Yuan executed the lineage’s hand seals, words, and mental method without error.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the results were the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a stone dropped into the sea, nothing rippled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan’s zhenran had been thoroughly “locked” to death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not consumed, but forcibly forbidden and isolated by a higher, stranger power!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He might still have the cultivation rank of a two-star Celestial Master, but he could not draw on a single bit of it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now Lu Yuan, aside from a slightly tougher body and a sea of consciousness hardened by training, was no different in Daoist magic from an untrained mortal!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe even worse!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least an ordinary person’s breath runs through unimpeded; his zhenran was locked, meridians sluggish, even normal qi and blood circulation affected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His body grew heavier and his mind more muddled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the most basic Guiding Return to the deepest artifact-breaking methods, cold sweat mixed with dust from earlier fighting slid down his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each attempt ignited hope only for it to be snuffed out instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gray mist outside the dantian qi sea was like the most stubborn lock; however he assaulted it, however he tried to crack it, it held, sealing away all his zhenran.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Frustration, rage, and an indefinable panic like a cold venomous snake slowly coiled around Lu Yuan’s heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To lose his zhenran, to possess Daoist rank but be rendered helpless—it felt impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan’s mind began to think...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could the jade pendant... now also be unbreakable...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wait.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His rapid breathing suddenly stalled. His chaotic thoughts were struck by a lightning bolt and halted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the moment he discovered his zhenran had been locked and frantically attempted every self-rescue method, how long had passed?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dozens of breaths?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hundred?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time blurred in his anxiety, but it had certainly not been short.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During that long stretch... what had Hu Huxu been doing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why... was he so quiet?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Based on Hu Huxu’s earlier reactions, seeing Lu Yuan’s zhenran locked and the methods failing, he should have been more frantic, more terrified.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He should have been asking questions nonstop, trying to use his Hu family methods to probe, pacing anxiously, muttering curses at the Liu family’s treachery...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before, outside, he always voiced concern and offered advice at the right times, even if those suggestions were tinged with despair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time, from when he too had sat cross-legged and tried to break the seals, not a single sound had come from behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No questions, no footsteps, not even a stifled sigh or heavy breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A silence like death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the distant drip of water from the cave’s depths and his own slightly heavy panting from the failed attempts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A chill shot up from Lu Yuan’s tailbone to the crown of his head!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He swung his head and looked toward the place where Hu Huxu had been standing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dimness, aided by a faint, indeterminate light coming from the cave’s depths, Lu Yuan saw Hu Huxu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He simply stood there, only four or five steps away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not appear anxious, did not approach or ask anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood silently, his bent silhouette thrown into a warped shadow by the weak light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And his face...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Lu Yuan's light shone onto Hu Huxu’s face, his heart felt seized by a cold hand, his breathing constricted!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That round face that had so recently been written with guileless sincerity, despair, resolve, even gratitude and trust—had completely changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every expression was gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guileless, despair, gratitude, trust...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These emotions were washed away as if scrubbed clean.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In their place was a near-numb calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No— not calm—an utter, bone-deep indifference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What chilled Lu Yuan most was those eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hu Huxu’s eyes, which had usually been weary and cloudy but occasionally showed complex feelings, now quietly stared at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no surprise, no worry, no reaction at all to the sudden fact of “Lu Daoist Priest’s zhenran being locked.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only an abyssal darkness, and within that darkness...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>an almost imperceptible, icy glint, a coldness like a snake sizing up its prey... a malicious mockery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood and watched Lu Yuan, watched the futile struggles, the attempts, the failures,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and the corner of his mouth seemed to twitch up, forming a faint, uncanny arc that made the hairs on Lu Yuan’s arms stand up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was not Hu Huxu!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least not the Hu Huxu Lu Yuan knew—the man who’d wept over his wife’s spirit being freed,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>who’d risked his life to repay a debt of gratitude by coming into this death pit with him, who clumsily comforted his daughters and nagged about funeral arrangements—the head of the Hu family of Continuing the Lamp!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A terrifying thought crawled up Lu Yuan’s spine and made his scalp prickle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled all along the way Hu Huxu’s various “cooperations.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled his “honesty” about the matter of his wife’s spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled the “full disclosure” of Liu family intelligence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled how Hu Huxu “just so” stopped him from barging into a black stone hut, then “timely” led him to this “real” entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A dreadful possibility surged: could this have been a setup from the start?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A larger, more intricate trap targeted at him—Lu Yuan—or more broadly at the Daoist rescuers?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Hu Huxu... from beginning to end, was he the most lethal, most concealed link in that trap?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan stared hard at the indifferent figure a few steps away, at the cold eyes of the “Hu Huxu.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His body trembled slightly from shock; the sharp pain at his right hand’s bandage felt almost numb.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only a bone-chilling cold spread from his heart to his limbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I was tricked.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan spoke first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice echoed in the silent cave, flat and emotionless, like stating a fact no longer related to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shock, fright, and anger that had been on his face had ebbed away like a receding tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only a deep, still pool remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan slowly rose, his movements stiff and slow from his locked zhenran and injuries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he straightened his back and fixed his self-light on the Hu Huxu who seemed like a different person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mocking cold on Hu Huxu’s face seemed to deepen when Lu Yuan spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not answer immediately, merely tilted his head slightly, regarding Lu Yuan with the kind of appraisal reserved for inspecting an object.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes roved up and down Lu Yuan, as if evaluating how many secret cards lay behind the admission of being deceived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or rather, how many... futile, dying struggles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A low, nasal chuckle finally escaped Hu Huxu’s throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This laugh was nothing like his previous guileless or despairing tone; it carried condescension and derision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Daoist Lu, your reaction is steadier than I expected.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hu Huxu spoke, his voice still that familiar accent from beyond the Great Wall,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but the tone was icy, devoid of any human warmth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I thought you’d either curse aloud or refuse to believe.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Or... try to fight me to the death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan said nothing, only studied him quietly with deep eyes, as if trying to pierce the skin and see the soul beneath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Lu Yuan so calm, Hu Huxu seemed bored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or perhaps, confident of victory, he no longer needed any pretense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stepped forward a little, the cold and cunning mixing more clearly on his round face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Right, it is a scheme.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hu Huxu nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It began when you came to my door, or perhaps even earlier.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan finally spoke, his voice still calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Including the thing about your wife’s spirit?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Including the junk in your yard—the Soul-Locking Reverse Return Formation display?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Including that heart-wrenching performance on the back mountain?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hu Huxu’s mouth twitched as if to make a nostalgic expression, but it formed into a grotesque contortion instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xiu’e’s matter was true.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She died in childbirth, and her spirit had problems. I tried everything but couldn’t keep her. That’s true.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The junk in the yard, I did mess about with it—trying to leave behind something to hold onto her last traces. That’s true too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course... my pity for Yangyang and Tutu was real.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paused. A flash of complex feeling crossed his eyes, then an even deeper cold covered it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But those ‘truths’ don’t prevent me from weaving them into a story you would believe.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A portrait of a desperate head of household, ruined and driven to seek only his wife’s release, willing to pay any price.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You believed it, didn’t you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You believed in my despair, believed in my gratitude, believed I’d betray the Ten Families’ blood oath to repay you by bringing you into this dragon pit and tiger den.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hu Huxu shook his head, and the mockery on his face sharpened:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Daoist Lu, you are still too young, too naïve.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are the blood oaths between the Ten Families so easily broken?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If any person, for a little private feeling or a small favor, could easily betray and disclose family secrets, even lead outsiders in to strike…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then what reason would our Ten Families beyond the Great Wall have to maintain a foothold on this land for hundreds of years?”\u003C\u002Fp>",2267,"2026-06-06T14:45:54.833Z",1,"novelbin.me","cc78a143542c5ed99800c8e06204f79826c9ae878faf2fade751329681bd1f84","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-189","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-187",241,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-cover.jpg"]