[{"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-235":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},1706423,2180,"Chapter 235: Anyone who dares to come! Slay them!","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-235",235,"\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's eyes darkened. His short blade flipped with a sharp \"ah,\" and he shouted rapidly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Heaven clear, earth calm, yang correct, yin even!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The earth has the virtue of soil, suppress evils and secure form!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Borrow my golden edge, sever your ghost root!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Urgently, urgently, as by the law's command!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having spoken, he stepped down, using the momentum to lunge forward half a pace. The short blade sliced toward that hundred-handed wrist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blade's flash passed; from inside the Black King came an extremely thin \"hiss.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A jet-black split immediately opened on that wrist, as if scorched, emitting a faint metallic scent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the hand did not retract. Instead it shook violently, and a second hand pushed up from the earth beside it, then another from the shoulder, then the head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The child stood only half a person tall. It wore a faded, grayish-red bellyband. Its face was painted deathly white; two dots of vermilion marked either corner of its mouth, forming an awkward, fixed smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A ring of faded yellow cord circled its neck; a half-torn yellow talisman was stuck on its forehead. The ink on the talisman twisted, faintly showing the character \"lead.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most bizarrely, it was half paper, half seemingly revived by some yin energy. Beneath the paper skin the outlines of joints and bones could be vaguely seen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Paper child summoning malevolence...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Zhaoxuan muttered, and his voice finally betrayed uncontrollable anger:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is using a child-shaped paper fiend to open the yin gate!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's gaze chilled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not to open. To welcome.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In the old customs beyond the Great Wall, during funerals, passings, and opening yin gates, to avoid stray ghosts colliding on the road, people would make paper children, paper horses, paper carriages to 'lead the way' ahead.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But this ditch isn't ordinary folk custom. They're using those things for yin welcoming.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They're not welcoming the dead.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They're welcoming the breathing mouth of whatever's below.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Lu Yuan said this, the paper child suddenly lifted its head and cracked a smile; the sound was like rubbing torn paper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next instant, both its paper hands flung out sideways and tore open the black soil under its feet in a foot-wide rip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bone-chilling wind blasted out of the fissure. The gust carried a distinct iron-sweet smell, like blood bubbling in cold water, or like a corpse turning over in its coffin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Suppress it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan barked, and Lin Zhaoxuan moved almost at the same time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pinched the token in his left hand, dragged two fingers across its face with his right, and shouted:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thunder's majestic might, hide the evil spirits!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"True qi from the five directions, return to the center!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Heavenly aid of thunder and fire, seal and suppress the yin beam!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Order!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that final word, a short bluish-white arc of lightning crawled along the Thunderclap Token.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bolt did not strike the paper child directly. Lin Zhaoxuan guided it to fall obliquely, striking the edge of the fissure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Boom!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black soil at the fissure's rim was instantly flung up. The paper child's half-body was forced to tilt by the lightning and fire; its paper skin quickly blackened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the child did not retreat. It fixed that deathly white face on Lin Zhaoxuan and opened and closed its mouth as if trying to speak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Come......\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Co-me... to... me....\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The voice was thin and sticky, as if squeezed from cotton.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Heng felt anger flare and lifted his sword to chop, but Lu Yuan shouted sharply:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't behead it!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's not the true body. Beheading is useless and will only startle the paper road below!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Heng forced himself to halt his sword, sweat beading on his brow:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then how do we break it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's gaze swept the surroundings quickly, finally landing on the copper bells still trembling under the Yin Poplar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It didn't come out on its own.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It was pulled up by the bell sounds, the red thread, and the soul-binding stone together.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The paper child is only the first layer.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The real road hasn't been cut.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having said that, Lu Yuan suddenly reached out and said in a low voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cheng'an, give me all the black ash on you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Cheng'an did not hesitate. He immediately fished out the last half-bag of black ash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan took it single-handedly, pinched the bag's opening with his fingers, then pulled from his sleeve three pieces of yellow paper folded extremely small. Each corner of the papers bore a dab of cinnabar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"These are door-suppressing talismans.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Watch carefully. When I lay the road, don't step wrong.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saying this, he unfolded the yellow papers in public, then dipped a finger in the black ash and rapidly drew three short lines on the back of each sheet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One horizontal, one vertical, one oblique — together forming a minimalist gate-sealing pattern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He flipped his palm, pressing the talisman to the ground, and chanted under his breath:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Earth gate below, heaven gate above!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The middle line severs your coming and going!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Black ash for the road, cinnabar for the wall!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yang people tread forward, yin things retreat and hide!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Order!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment he affixed the talismans, the black ash seemed to come alive, snaking outward and in the blink of an eye pulling a semicircular pale gray line on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ash line was not large, yet it encircled half the open patch in front of the paper child, the remains of the white coffin, the red cloth scraps, and the soul-binding stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Qinghe's eyes brightened:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is this making a yin-isolation circle?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan nodded:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Correct.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Outside the circle is the human road; inside is the malevolent ground.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"First cut off its foot roots, otherwise it can crawl along the soil veins.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, with the fissure suppressed by lightning, the paper child emitted a sharp, strange laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both its paper hands tugged outward and ripped several thin, long hundred-threads from the fissure's rim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When those white threads hit the ground, they wriggled like nematodes, attempting to crawl outside the black ash circle to entangle people's ankles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's borrowing soul-silk!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Zhaoxuan shouted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's gaze flicked. His short blade struck again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time he did not use thunder techniques. With a single clean stroke he drew an extremely low horizontal arc, blade-tip skimming the earth, and shouted:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Blade walks the yin river, sever your thread gate!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hands open the eight channels, feet cut the three souls!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blade sliced across the black ash, drawing a thin cold wind that severed all those white threads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the breakpoints there was no blood, only wisps of fine black smoke retreating as if injured snakes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The smile finally left the paper child's face. The paper at its mouth split further as if torn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It suddenly threw its head back and screamed toward the Yin Poplar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scream made all the copper bells ring wildly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ding-ling— ding-ling— ding-ling—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the bell sound intensified, the red cloth that had hung slack along the stone path snapped taut at once, like strands of blood being pulled tight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, from behind the red cloth, a line of shadows walked out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time they were neither white coffins, nor red fiends, nor paper children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were figures dressed in old-style wedding garments and mourning clothes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The front few were draped in red and carried a paper-covered bridal sedan chair on their shoulders; behind them walked figures in plain white mourning robes, holding white banners and paper lanterns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They moved very slowly, but their steps were so synchronized it was as if strings in the dark controlled them — the red and white teams walking one after the other, truly like a combined wedding-and-funeral procession.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Another wave...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Heng ground his teeth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's face darkened even further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Their real 'road team' has arrived.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The white coffin, the red fiend, the paper child were all opening the mouth for this road team.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned to Lin Zhaoxuan:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How much of your thundercraft is left?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Zhaoxuan gritted his teeth: \"I can do it two more times!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's enough.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's eyes hardened. He sheathed his short blade back into his sleeve, raised both hands. His left hand formed a hook-like seal, his right made a suppressive sign.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He began to recite a strange, heavy incantation in a low voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The syllables were not long, but he spoke each with measured weight, like stepping to a drumbeat:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Heaven will not receive, earth will not release!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mountains will not answer, waters will not flow!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Borrow your red, suppress your white!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Borrow your road, sever your bridge!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If souls are lost, if ghosts run wild!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Turn mountains and waters to press the yin beam!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"By the highest's command, suppress!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment the chant began, the atmosphere tightened drastically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Zhaoxuan's pupils shrank; he immediately understood that Lu Yuan intended to use the stone path's terrain to press down the malevolence, and he loudly coordinated:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thunder and fire borrow the road, subdue the demon and lay low the evil!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Heavenly thunder becomes the lock, earthly malevolence forms the wall!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fall!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A second thunderbolt answered and fell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This lightning did not strike anyone directly. It hit the remains of the white coffin at the very front of the stone path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The coffin was already half broken. When the lightning struck it, countless paper scraps exploded outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the paper pieces flew up, many blurred human faces briefly appeared in midair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old and young, male and female, all with bloodless faces and deep eye sockets, like trapped remnant souls in paper forms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Qinghe felt her chest tighten and whispered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"These... are all souls it swallowed?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's expression was cold and hard:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ground and tarred.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Once a soul enters this place, it can't stay clean.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Some have already dispersed, some are trapped in paper bodies, others are ground layer by layer by the soul-binding stone into the 'yin powder' that feeds the malevolent deity.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The words sent a chill through everyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the second lightning struck the coffin remains, the red-and-white procession finally came to a halt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They stopped with unnerving precision, as if surprised someone dared to block their path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From inside the red sedan, a hand slowly extended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hand was covered by a long red embroidered sleeve, fingernails painted crimson. A circle of black thread wound around the wrist, like both a bride and a bereaved bearer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It gently raised and pointed at the group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the next moment, all the red and white funeral banners lining both sides of the stone path flipped over simultaneously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they flipped, the reverse sides did not show mere cloth — they showed pasted paper faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper faces turned in unison. Their mouth corners split into the same grotesque smiles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then those paper faces all spoke together, their voices layering into a dense chorus:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Welcoming the bride—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sending the—funeral—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Borrow—road—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Leave—your—life—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Layer upon layer of sound pressed down like bellows or like corpses turning over in mud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone's temples throbbed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan snorted. He stepped forward half a pace, drew his short blade again, holding the blade horizontal across his chest, and barked:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"An evil road from beyond the Great Wall dares to borrow the living's life?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before his words finished, a long inhalation came from inside the red sedan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if someone inside slowly lifted their head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The long intake sounded like being pulled from wet cotton, drawn-out and dragging in tone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sedan curtain did not lift, yet the breath leaked out ahead of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air along the stone path changed instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where it had been cold and taut, it became viscous, as though countless fine threads brushed through the air, scraping the skin painfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The red sedan swayed slightly, but the carrying poles did not move an inch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The four paper carriers seemed nailed to the ground; only the sedan body itself sank forward as if the \"bride\" inside was sitting up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Qinghe felt a tightness in her chest. The Tai Chi Seal to Suppress Evil Plate in her hand began to heat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not right.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She murmured:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This isn't an ordinary malevolent apparition. It's gathering qi.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan did not turn. He fixed his gaze on the red sedan, his look heavy as stone:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's starting the ritual.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In some old places beyond the Great Wall, when a wedding or a funeral reached the gate they first 'raise the ceremony'.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They make the host inside, the dead, or the malevolence acknowledge the road so they don't clash at the village entrance or mountain pass.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But this thing isn't acknowledging the road. It's acknowledging lives.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he said this, he rubbed a bit of blood onto the blade with the pad of his finger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Zhou Heng, fall back three paces to my left rear.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cheng'an, Er Xiao, hold the ash circle. Do not let the paper child slip out.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lin Zhaoxuan, do not rush your lightning. Wait for my command.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They moved at his orders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Heng swallowed and moved his sword to Lu Yuan's left rear, eyes fixed on the red sedan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment the sedan curtain trembled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hand wearing a large red embroidered sleeve slowly reached out from inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hand was unnaturally pale, with sharp red-painted nails like a row of small knives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It first rested on the sedan rim, paused two breaths, then lightly lifted the curtain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The red curtain parted half a foot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At last they saw half a face inside the sedan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an exquisitely made paper face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Powdered in gray-white dust, the eye corners were finely lined in black to form two curved strokes. The lips were painted an unnaturally dark rouge. A tiny gold foil flower was glued to the forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the paper face was not empty. Beneath the paper skin something moved, as if a few thin black cords stitched and tightened it, forcing a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stranger still, half the face was bridal while the other half faintly bore mourning signs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The left eye corner showed wedding makeup; the right temple had a small strip of white hemp pinned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Joy and mourning were forcibly mashed into one face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A red-and-white merged face...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Zhaoxuan's expression changed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is not a single fiend, but two fiends sharing a body?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's eyes hardened:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not sharing. It's a married fiend.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Someone bound a wedding fiend and a funeral fiend into a pair, letting them borrow one face, one road, one breath to harm people.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Red is the welcoming bride, white the funeral. They seem opposite, but they share the same root.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Look at the gold foil flower on its forehead. That isn't decoration — it's a soul-fixing talisman.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The stitching runs through the seven orifices, locking the fiend's heart.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, the paper face lifted another half-inch. The paper lips moved and a few halting words came out:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Please.................\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound was muffled, as though it came from beneath the sedan or had to circle around behind the paper face before emerging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Heng's temple veins twitched. He ground his teeth:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This thing really deserves a chopping!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan said in a low, commanding voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't move!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's testing your heart fire.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you act in anger, it will have a way through.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then suddenly raised his right hand, pressing two fingers together on the blade's spine and flicked quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A light \"clang\" sounded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound was not loud, but like striking a bronze bell, and it made the paper face in front shudder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan seized that moment and took three rapid steps. His footwork was neither ordinary Yu Steps nor some martial arts pattern, but a strange rhythm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Left advance, right sidestep, forward press, back hold — as if he treated the entire stone path as a talisman paper to be stepped in sequence, stamping out formation positions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He moved while intoning:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Central earth represses, the four quarters submit!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I step one step, the yin gate retreats one foot!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With each phrase the black ash circle brightened faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not light but cinnabar vapor being forced out from the ash line by his steps, like a thin warm mist curling outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Qinghe recognized the method and blurted out:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Using earth qi to array the formation!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan did not reply. He flipped his hand and the \"rescue\" talisman on his palm appeared again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time he did not throw it. He rolled it between his fingers and spoke in a deep voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Highest profound gate, open and close with measure!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yin and yang misaligned, all return to one place!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"With my zhenran, I seal your way!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Urgently, urgently, as by the law's command!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the last word he flung his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The talisman did not fly to the red sedan but fell obliquely onto the fissure between the paper child and the red-and-white procession.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a light slap the talisman landed and dissolved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At once, the white threads that had been crawling out of the black ash circle struck an invisible wall and snapped back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper child let out a sharp, bitter scream and half its body lurched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper face in the red sedan seemed pulled by an invisible tether and halted mid-motion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Effective!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Heng's eyes lit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't be glad yet.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's voice was cold and hard:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It stopped because it's waiting for something else to take over.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he finished, faint footfalls rose from behind the red-and-white banners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were slow, steady, each step like someone walking on packed snow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone looked toward the end of the banner shadows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the far end, a figure slowly walked out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not tall, wearing a high hat and a gray cloth long robe, with a black palm-sized plaque hanging on his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no characters on the plaque, only a strip of white hemp pressed at the corner. He walked unhurriedly, but each step felt like pressing on everyone's chest as he neared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is it a road-guard?\" Wang Cheng'an asked, his throat tight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan's expression grew grim:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Not a guard.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A caller.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In places with a full set of wedding-funeral road rites, there is always a master of registration who names and summons the fiends.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The red sedan, white banners, paper face were just the display.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The real master is often not the most conspicuous one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This man's appearance means they've decided the road is ready to be closed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Zhaoxuan understood immediately:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So they want us to walk in ourselves?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Yuan nodded:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They're not in a hurry to pounce on people.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They want to turn us from spectators into travelers on their road.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gray-robed figure stopped before the red team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He raised his head, revealing not a face but a roughly pasted white paper mask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two eyeholes were empty, and a faint upturned red curve was drawn for a mouth, like a smile that could also be a cry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He drew a thin booklet from his robe and slowly traced his finger across the pages, then lifted a bony hand and pointed toward them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Those who come, register.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was not loud, but like metal scraping on ice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Qinghe felt the hairs on her scalp rise and whispered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He's calling souls by name.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coldness deepened in Lu Yuan's eyes. He crossed his short blade over his chest and answered in a low voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Under Wildman Ditch, borrow the road, not the life.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper-masked man seemed to pause, then chuckled twice softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The laugh was light but sounded like wind pressed inside cardboard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Lu Yuan spoke, he formed a left-hand seal, planted the blade-tip into the earth with his right, and suddenly shouted:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mountain gate closed, ghost gate open!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Open the gate, close the disaster!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I hold three inches of thunderfire!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Dare to come! Slain!\"\u003C\u002Fp>",3306,"2026-06-06T14:45:54.834Z",1,"novelbin.me","64435c28e89e12c9aff8cbcca128d2c1bd7d41a5773db7af90617338906c135e","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-236","the-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-chapter-234",241,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-invincible-female-ghost-is-a-bit-of-a-hopele-cover.jpg"]