Chapter 205: Isn't This Just Like That Wang Family's Nurturing Grounds Back Then?!

Gu Qingwan's blood-red heavy pupils "saw" Lu Yuan carrying the old man, accompanied by the Deity of Beauty, swiftly emerge from the depths of the passage.

And when she seemed to perceive that they were unharmed, that extremely faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation quietly subsided.

She didn't look at Lu Yuan again, nor did she pay any attention to the two figures still petrified, Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan.

Her own light calmly turned toward the cave entrance and beyond, toward the direction where chaotic, yin-evil, and violent auras still faintly pulsed.

That place was the entire village, the areas the Liu Family had managed for generations—locations full of forbidden zones, seals, and countless detained malevolent ghost-things,

as well as numerous "corpse-nurturing grounds" and "yin-gathering pools."

With Liu Xuanyin's death, the annihilation of the three super Malevolent Deities, and the collapse of the entire central formation,

the seals on those places would inevitably be rapidly dissolving.

Those malevolent ghost-things that had been suppressed, detained, and caged for countless years were probably already completely out of control,

In the mist-veiled blood-red pupils of Gu Qingwan there was no "urgency" or "worry."

Only a pure, indifferent calm, as if she were simply carrying out some kind of "cleanup" operation.

Gu Qingwan offered no explanation to Lu Yuan and waited for no one's reaction.

Her moon-white figure shifted slightly.

In the next instant she had already become a hazy silhouette, as if merged with the moonlight itself.

Without a sound... she passed through the cave entrance whose cracks had been "smoothed over."

She vanished into the night outside—spacious yet still tinged with ominous and chaotic aftertastes.

Lu Yuan, panting, carrying the old man on his back, rushed back into the main cavern.

The first thing he saw was Gu Qingwan's moonlit silhouette vanish beyond the entrance.

And those two like-statues, as if frozen by a binding spell, their expressions blank, gazing stupidly and vacantly toward the direction Gu Qingwan had disappeared—Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan.

Lu Yuan froze for a moment, then understood.

He glanced at how unusually "clean" and "quiet" both inside and outside the cave looked, as if a thorough "big cleanup" had just taken place.

He also sensed that the terrifying aura of the three super Malevolent Deities had almost entirely dissipated from the air, and he silently marveled at Qingwan’s efficiency.

Indeed... it was all resolved.

This speed... was unbelievable.

There was no time for detailed questions or stunned amazement; the old man remained unconscious with grievous injuries.

They had to leave this cursed place quickly and find somewhere safe for treatment.

"Deity of Beauty, let's go!"

Lu Yuan did not linger and didn't even pay attention to the two "statues." He only whispered to the Deity of Beauty beside him.

Teeth gritted, he forced himself to bear the heavy burden on his back and his weak body, and strode toward the cave exit, racing toward the mountain path outside.

They had to leave this place soaked in yin-evil for countless years as soon as possible to give the old man a better environment for recovery.

The Deity of Beauty nodded softly and continued to walk beside him. A faint halo of moonlight always enveloped Lu Yuan and the old man, isolating any residual yin malevolence and ill omens from the outside.

Just as Lu Yuan and the Deity of Beauty were about to run out of the cave,

those two "statues," whose souls seemed to have been drained, abruptly "came alive" because of the commotion Lu Yuan's running caused!

"Wa... wait!"

"Daoist Lu!!"

Li Guanqi reacted first. He shuddered violent as if waking from a deepest nightmare.

His purple eyes still held confusion and disbelief, but his body moved instinctively.

He scrambled to his knees and began crawling and rolling toward Lu Yuan.

His injuries were serious, his breath irregular; he ran stumblingly but not slowly.

Fu Yuanshan snapped back to awareness as well; his face flushed and paled in turns.

He couldn't take time to check his nearly shattered blackwood staff or his severe internal wounds.

Summoning a breath, he steadied himself with the staff, his steps unsteady yet desperate as he chased after Lu Yuan.

His emotions were a chaotic tangle.

Relief at surviving, awe and terror at Gu Qingwan's unfathomable power,

and overwhelming shame and ridicule at his earlier words of warning and persuasion.

The two of them practically used hands and feet to chase out of the cave.

Once they burst out, the scene before them drove their just-lyrched minds into an even deeper shock and stupefaction.

Outside, where the Blood-Skeleton Spirit Lord's foul blood-bone waves and countless evil cultists had raged, turning the village and hills into a proper ghost domain,

there was now an eerie and magnificent sight.

Beneath the night sky, a moon-white, hazy, ethereal figure hung above the ruined village like an exile from a lunar palace.

She seemed like a celestial maiden of purification and destruction, quietly suspended above the village's wreckage.

She did not perform any earth-shattering move or cast any world-ending spells.

She simply... hovered there, motionless.

Then, centered on her, an invisible, omnipresent force of "purification" and "erasure" spread outward.

Like the gentlest yet most irresistible moonlight, it slowly yet incredibly swiftly expanded in all directions across the village,

reaching into the distant hills and woods, spreading and permeating everything.

Wherever this "moonlight" shone—

the evil spirits, ghostly things, zombies, and skeletons clawing out from fractured houses, collapsed walls, and cracked ground—each that emitted strong yin and resentment—

like snow thrown under a blazing sun, silently... vaporized and dissolved.

No screams, no struggles—just obediently and entirely returning to nothingness.

Those "nurturing grounds" and "yin-gathering pools" that had emitted stench and filthy energies in hidden corners, gullies, and dry wells, the corrupted energies churning within and their twisted spawn,

under this "moonlight" were as if baptized by the purest holy water.

They quickly lost color, dried up, were cleansed, and ultimately turned into ordinary patches of earth or puddles with even a hint of fresh scent.

Even the centuries-accumulated yin-evil, resentment, and violent aura lingering in the air were, under this "moonlight" wash, filtered and rapidly became clear and peaceful.

The whole village the Liu Family had operated for generations, a web of places filled with malevolent ghost-things, and the surrounding tainted hills and fields,

were being purified from head to toe, inside and out, at a visible rate by this supreme force originating from Gu Qingwan.

It was a thorough, silent... purification.

There were no intense battles, no clashes of power, no lamenting wails.

Only a deathly stillness, laced with a breathtaking, sacred-yet-devastating aesthetic of purification and erasure.

Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan stood dumbly at the cave mouth, heads tilted back, gazing at that moon-white figure above the night sky.

They stared at the village and hills being swiftly "purified" and restored to "purity" below.

Their mouths gaped but no sound came out.

Their brains crashed into absolute, blank paralysis again.

This... this goddamn... is... cleaning?!

Waving her hand... crushing three super Malevolent Deities...

Now... like moonlight... shining and... it purifies the whole Liu Family's forbidden grounds?!

At that moment they finally understood why Lu Yuan had regarded their warnings and pleas with such disdain before,

why Lu Yuan and the Deity of Beauty could leave without a backward glance to rescue Li Xiuye,

why Lu Yuan had only told Gu Qingwan, "Do it. Leave not one alive," before turning and walking away.

Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan—figures considered top-tier beyond the Great Wall—were like children seeing the ocean for the first time.

They were spiritually blown away by that boundless, unfathomable azure!

They exchanged a look and saw in each other's eyes the same complex, indescribable emotion.

Then, without a word, they both turned their gazes forward again.

There, striding with the old man on his back and the Deity of Beauty protecting him as he raced for the mountain exit, was Lu Yuan.

They met each other's eyes and instantly reached an unspoken understanding.

"Go!"

"Catch up with Daoist Lu!"

Li Guanqi barked, forcing himself to ignore his injuries as he pushed himself forward in pursuit of Lu Yuan's departing direction.

Fu Yuanshan took a deep breath, clutched his nearly splintered blackwood staff, and silently followed closely.

Under the night sky, Lu Yuan ran with the old man on his back and the Deity of Beauty by his side.

Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan, who had just experienced a collapse of cognition, followed with hearts full of shock and lingering fear.

Behind them, the moon-white figure of Gu Qingwan still hovered silently in the night sky.

Like the purest moonlight, she fell soundlessly, cleansing this land soaked in filth for countless years inch by inch, restoring and renewing it.

Dawn's first light dispersed the last threads of cold mist in the mountain air.

It also illuminated a rather simple yet unusually steady carriage on the mountain road.

The carriage looked somewhat aged; the two old horses accustomed to the mountain path plodded along at an even pace.

Inside, the carriage was fairly spacious, with clean straw mats laid down.

The old man was placed furthest inside, cushioned by soft clothing, covered with a thick cloak contributed by Fu Yuanshan.

His eyes remained tightly shut, his face pale as paper, but his breathing was steadier than the night on the Yin Malevolence Soul-Refining Platform.

Though still faint, it no longer felt on the verge of stopping.

This was the temporary effect of Lu Yuan using the Soul-Pacifying and Spirit-Settling Seal and the Protective Golden Light Charm.

The Deity of Beauty’s faint, calming, and purifying aura along the way obviously helped.

But the old man's injuries were too severe and his soul severely harmed; he could not recover in a short time and remained deeply unconscious.

Lu Yuan sat beside him, leaning against the carriage wall, still a little pale, lips cracked, eyes heavy with exhaustion.

He dared not relax; one hand remained lightly on the old man's wrist, constantly sensing the weak pulse.

The wounds on Lu Yuan's body had been superficially "smoothed" by the Deity of Beauty in a strange way,

but the internal injuries and the zhenran sealed by the Spirit-Locking Forbidden Land had not recovered; he was still clinging on.

The Deity of Beauty sat opposite Lu Yuan in a simple moon-white dress, immaculate.

As if last night's earth-shattering battle and purification had been nothing more than a casual stroll to her.

Her eyes were half-closed, long lashes casting faint shadows in the dawn, her perfect face carrying a serene, peaceful expression—

as if feigning sleep, yet also sensing everything around her in a way beyond the five senses.

A faint, pure, gentle aura lingered in the carriage.

It especially enveloped the old man and Lu Yuan, shielding them from the jolts and cold of the outside, and brought a hint of nourishment.

Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan sat near the carriage door, facing Lu Yuan and the Deity of Beauty.

Their complexions were grim; Li Guanqi’s purple eyes dimmed, weariness marked between his brows.

His deep-blue battle robe was stained with dust and dried blood.

A tear ripped open his left shoulder, revealing white bandaging beneath, faint blood seeping through.

Fu Yuanshan was worse; his grey robe was almost ragged strips, his graying hair disheveled, face and hands scratched and bruised.

The hand holding the cracked blackwood staff trembled uncontrollably.

Although they had not had their zhenran locked like Lu Yuan, they had braved the three deities' counterattacks in haste last night,

suffered cognitive collapse, and then ran hard to pursue; both internal and external injuries were severe and being forcibly suppressed.

The carriage was quiet—only the wheels on the mountain road, the occasional snort of the horses, and the breaths of the people inside.

The silence lasted a long while.

Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan repeatedly opened their mouths to speak but hesitated, their lights of thought circling between Lu Yuan, the Deity of Beauty, and the unconscious old man.

It seemed they had countless things to say, yet none knew where to start.

Finally Li Guanqi took a deep breath and broke the silence.

He tried to make his voice calm, sincere, and even carried an imperceptible hint of reverence:

"Daoist Lu..."

He leaned slightly forward and looked at Lu Yuan.

"Last night... thank you, Daoist, for intervening and saving our lives..."

"And... for averting a catastrophe in the borderlands that could have devastated all living things."

"Li Guanqi is truly grateful."

He spoke with extreme solemnity, addressing both Lu Yuan and the Deity of Beauty resting with eyes closed.

His attitude was worlds apart from the anxiousness when they first met last night.

Fu Yuanshan hurriedly cupped his hands and saluted, his voice hoarse:

"Young friend Lu, this old man... thanks you as well."

"My earlier words were offensive; it was my narrow vision and failure to recognize a true deity. Please forgive this old man."

Lu Yuan lifted his eyelids and glanced at the two men, his gaze calm.

He did not move at their flattery and simply said lightly:

"No need."

"Liu Xuanyin deserved to die."

"As for saving you, it was just a convenience."

Silence fell again in the carriage.

After a while Fu Yuanshan adjusted his breathing, his face turning grave, and spoke again with greater caution than before:

"Young friend Lu, last night's divine might swept through the Liu Family's nest and purified its core forbidden grounds. This is a tremendous merit; all living things beyond the Great Wall owe you gratitude."

"But..."

He hesitated, looked at Lu Yuan’s face, and seeing no impatience continued:

"However, the Commanding Ghosts Liu Family has entrenched itself in the borderlands for centuries. Its power and arrangements are far more than just that one core nest last night."

"The family, through generations, maintained numerous yin-evil perilous spots and secluded places and secretly set up no fewer than ten 'nurturing grounds' and 'yin-gathering pools,'"

"to cultivate, detain, and seal various evil beings."

"Additionally, there are some deity-supply grounds similar to the three super Malevolent Deities from last night, but perhaps smaller in scale or not yet fully cultivated..."

Li Guanqi took over and added:

"Those places are relatively independent from each other, each maintained by its own smaller formations."

"Although indirectly controlled by Liu Xuanyin and the central formation, they are not entirely dependent on them."

"With Liu Xuanyin dead and the core formation destroyed, the seals at those locations may loosen, weaken, or cause the evil beings to riot, but they may not immediately collapse entirely."

"Over time, lacking the central formation’s restraint and true supply, the seals will inevitably fail."

"When that happens, the evil beings inside will also become disasters. Because they are scattered across the land, once they break loose, the harm could be broader and much harder to clear."

Fu Yuanshan nodded.

"Exactly."

"The Liu Family’s outer strongholds are extremely secretive; only core Liu members know their locations."

"Even our Du'e Li Family and the Backing Yin Fu Family only know the general area of a few, not the specifics."

"Now that the Liu core has fallen, these places have become ownerless hazards. If not dealt with promptly, trouble will arise sooner or later."

Lu Yuan listened without any reaction.

This matter was not new to him.

Isn't this just like that Wang Family’s nurturing grounds back then!

In fact, Lu Yuan had already considered this, whether Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan said it or not.

Whether it was that parent-child evil deity back then, or the Deity of Beauty’s former self, weren't those deity supply grounds always out there,

maintained and supplied by the Commanding Ghosts Liu Family?

Now that Liu Xuanyin was dead, the Commanding Ghosts Liu Family might not be entirely wiped out, but they certainly wouldn't dare act recklessly again.

They might even flee the borderlands.

And without Liu's maintenance and supply, those spots would inevitably fall into chaos.

So how to solve this?

It was simple—just like with the Life-Severing Wang Family’s incident.

As long as they could find the distribution map, it would be easy to solve.

Only...

Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan bringing this up first...

Could it be...

For a moment Lu Yuan looked curiously at Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan and asked:

"So, what do you two mean?"

Li Guanqi and Fu Yuanshan immediately replied in unison:

"We will find those places!"