Chapter 93: Just the Right Time—I Also Want to See Qingwan, Go Back to Visit Her

Lu Yuan's neck stiffened as he turned his head inch by inch.

What came into view was Tan Jiji's face.

A face he did not recognize at all.

There was not a trace left of the earlier timidity or pretension, only a dead, indifferent stillness.

He held a sword in one hand, standing behind Lu Yuan, his gaze empty, like a puppet without feeling.

"You are strong, but ultimately you lack experience."

Tan Jiji spoke, his voice flat, utterly calm.

"A place so important for nurturing spirits, how could it be left unguarded?"

"How could you be allowed to come up here so easily?"

"Besides, our meeting was just too coincidental, wasn't it?"

"Where in this world are there such coincidences?"

Tan Jiji's tone was indifferent, not mocking, not triumphant—just quietly explaining the matter.

Pain stabbed Lu Yuan's chest, colder than the wound itself.

He roared, pouring out the last of his strength, and swung the Divine Firmament Thunder Punishment Sword behind him!

But the slash was feeble.

Exhausted of True Qi and gravely wounded through the torso, this furious strike was easily caught by Tan Jiji with his other hand and could not move an inch further.

If Lu Yuan was proud of anything, it was his so-called experience.

He never expected to fall because of that very experience today.

Tan Jiji had been right about everything.

At that time Lu Yuan had been focused only on vanquishing demons and exorcising evil, and had tossed aside those odd details.

Looking back now, there had been far too many inconsistencies…

There were the things Tan Jiji mentioned just now and Tan Jiji's own strange behavior when he came up.

If he truly belonged to the Punishing the Netherworld family, someone who specialized in punishing malevolent ghosts, how could he fail to take down that red-clad evil spirit who was only a shell?

He had used so many impressive-looking talismans, yet they did not harm even the weakest red-clad fiend.

At that moment…

He should have been on guard…

Instead…

He was arrogant…

So arrogant that at his age he thought himself invincible.

So arrogant that he saw others of the same age as useless, ridiculous pigs.

So arrogant that he assumed those others were nothing but clowns to make him look better.

"Lu! Brother!!!"

Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an's screams snapped Lu Yuan back to reality.

Their eyes were bloodshot as they charged over like madmen!

Hum—!

At the edge of the mountaintop clearing, the forty-nine bone pins Tan Jiji had driven in abruptly pulsed with an eerie pale light.

An invisible force field activated, triggering the Forbidden Seven Absolute Array.

The formation Tan Jiji had initially set up in front of Lu Yuan and the other two.

The array that had done nothing against the red-clad spirit, against the Malevolent Deity, now activated.

Right…

Even if Tan Jiji couldn't beat the red-clad spirit then, Lu Yuan had assumed Tan Jiji was merely a theoretician.

But an array set by a theoretician should not have been entirely useless.

So many contradictions.

Lu Yuan had noticed none of them…

The Forbidden Seven Absolute Array slammed into Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an like an invisible wall.

Their bodies froze in place, unable to move.

Tan Jiji didn't even glance back at them, as if they were insects caught in a web.

"Don't struggle."

His voice carried a hint of condescending pity.

"From the moment I brought you to this summit, your fate was sealed."

"A Celestial Master so young is indeed a pity."

"If not for today, there would surely be a place for you in the future world."

"But you met me."

Indeed, when anyone occupies absolute advantage and stands invincible, they cannot help but…

"So unfortunate."

An aged, matter-of-fact voice rang out behind the two without warning.

"The real pity is that when my disciple becomes famous across the land, you children will already be rotting in the Yellow Springs, never to see it."

Tan Jiji's indifferent expression shattered instantly the moment the voice sounded!

Suspicion, alarm, and a tremor of fear from deep within his spirit crawled across his face.

His fingers whitened around the sword hilt, yet he found he couldn't even perform the simplest action of drawing the sword and retreating.

An invisible, immaterial "force" as heavy as a mountain had enveloped the entire mountaintop.

Before this "force," Lu Yuan's thunder techniques seemed violent and crude; the Malevolent Deity's evil aura appeared filthy.

This presence was profound, weighty, as if words became law and it held absolute authority to set the rules.

Tan Jiji felt trapped in quicksand; even breathing became viscous and labored.

Lu Yuan, hearing the voice, paused in surprise, then was overwhelmed by a surge of ecstatic joy.

That voice…

It was the old man?!

How could he be here?!

Tan Jiji's neck creaked from the burden as he turned his head with extreme difficulty.

Beside the empty coffin, a figure had appeared without anyone noticing.

An old Taoist in a faded indigo robe, his hair streaked with white and hastily bound with a single wooden pin.

His face was gaunt, a wine gourd hung at his waist, his hands clasped behind his back.

His frame looked thin.

Yet when he stood there, he became the very stillness of rock and grass; if one had not seen him with their own eyes, the spiritual senses might have ignored him entirely.

The old man wore no expression.

His calm gaze settled on Tan Jiji—more precisely, on the long sword that had pierced Lu Yuan's chest.

That look chilled Tan Jiji to the bone.

It was not murderous intent but a cold, knowing indifference, like a deity above the skies watching ants struggle below.

"You are…"

Tan Jiji's throat worked; his voice was dry, like sand rubbing together.

He recognized that robe—the same origin as the hemp short coat Lu Yuan wore.

The old man did not answer.

Perhaps in his eyes, someone already dying had no right to be answered.

Ignoring the Forbidden Seven Absolute Array's seal, he strolled forward as if taking a leisurely walk.

With every step, Tan Jiji's heart contracted further.

"I, Li Xiuye, swear here."

The old man's voice remained calm yet each word rang like thunder across heaven and earth.

"I will skin you and the Commanding Ghosts Liu Family who stand behind you, strip sinews from bone, and grind you to dust."

"If I break this oath, may I, Li Xiuye, be struck by five heavenly thunders, reincarnated forever as swine and dog."

Tan Jiji fell into utter despair.

A murderous crazed cruelty flashed in his eyes as he tightened his grip on the hilt, prepared to shove the sword through Lu Yuan's heart and take another with him!

But in the instant his killing intent rose—

The old man simply raised his right hand, bringing his index and middle fingers together, and lightly drew them in Tan Jiji's direction.

There was no light, no sound, not even a violent wave of energy.

Yet Tan Jiji felt the control linking him to the sword that had pierced Lu Yuan severed cleanly by a force he could neither understand nor resist—the force of "rules."

Puff!!!

Tan Jiji was struck as if by a heavy blow, groaning, his face draining of color, a trickle of blood at his mouth.

He felt as if a chunk of his spiritual sense had been gouged away; the pain was excruciating.

Worse, the sword that had been stuck in Lu Yuan began, as if on its own, to slide out!

As the blade withdrew, it did not spew more blood; instead, a warm, comforting force closed Lu Yuan's wound and steadied his life.

Clang!

The sword hit the ground.

The blood on its blade, the blood belonging to Lu Yuan, was purified by an invisible force the moment it touched the earth and evaporated away.

At the same time—

Crack… crack crack…

Around the summit, the forty-nine bone pins trembled and shattered inch by inch into powder.

The Forbidden Seven Absolute Array, broken.

With the restraint removed, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an felt their bodies lighten and roared, lunging toward Tan Jiji.

"Look after your senior brother first."

The old man's voice brooked no argument.

Their steps halted. Seeing Lu Yuan pale but breathing steadily, they wept with joy.

They hurried to his side, flustered, forcing down pills into him.

Tan Jiji staggered back, clutching his chest, staring at the broken sword and the bone pins turned to dust.

Then he looked at the shabby old Taoist who had undone all his schemes with a single finger.

A boundless terror finally consumed him.

"Let's make a deal!"

His voice trembled.

"I'll tell you everything I know!"

The old man only smiled a little and said:

"No."

"If you die, I can still make you speak."

"Your corpse is far more obedient than you are."

Tan Jiji's face turned ashen at those words.

He knew he would not survive.

There would be no negotiation, no deal—only death.

From his deadened pupils, a last frenzy of madness and cruelty exploded.

He flung his head back. His bloodshot eyes no longer looked at the old man, but at the Malevolent Deity above, which Lu Yuan had grievously wounded and which was on the brink of collapse!

"By my shattered soul, I call your true name!"

"Blood as offering, evil god, return to your place!"

"Return!!"

The shrill incantation fell, and Tan Jiji instantly withered.

His life essence was drawn out by invisible forces; flesh tightened to bone, and in moments he transformed from a young man into a desiccated corpse.

A last, dense wave of evil aura burst from him, forming a blood-red stream that barreled into the Malevolent Deity!

Tan Jiji burned his remaining blood and soul; even if he couldn't turn the tide, he would not let these people have peace!

He poured all his life into the Malevolent Deity!

Hum—!

The mountaintop space violently warped. An evil aura ten times more ferocious and a hundred times more chaotic than before detonated!

The Malevolent Deity, nearly shattered by Lu Yuan's Mountain-Suppressing Thunder Seal, sprouted countless dark-red nodules that writhed and interwove, wounds rapidly sealing at an astonishing speed!

Its body swelled again; momentum surged upward. It was about to regain its former peak!

Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an tensed and instinctively placed themselves between the recuperating Lu Yuan and the threat.

But Li Xiuye never even raised an eyelid.

He simply looked at the collapsed, dried-up Tan Jiji sitting like a withered old man on the ground.

"Watch carefully. I will use this on your father and mother as well."

Having said this, the old man extended his index finger and aimed it at the Malevolent Deity whose aura now surged.

This time, Li Xiuye slowly uttered four words.

Each word came like a law-toned sound from the heavens, heavy, clear, unquestionable.

"Thunder."

At that word, wind halted, clouds froze, and everything was silent.

"Strike."

At the second, from the depths of the void came a dull, heartbeat-like drum.

"Myriad."

At the third, an invisible terrifying pressure enveloped the head, the earth shuddering slightly.

"Balance."

When the last syllable fell, the fingertip glowed with an exquisitely pure speck of purple-gold light, as if condensed from the first lightning that split the original chaos.

It was neither Lu Yuan's silver thunder nor the golden Divine Firmament thunder—this was purple-gold, like the primeval lightning of creation.

The instant the speck appeared, the heavens dimmed.

Sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, all life lost color—only that purple-gold point remained the sole truth of the universe.

A vast, ancient, supreme thunder will of celestial punishment descended!

Li Xiuye flicked his finger.

"Go."

The purple-gold speck leapt from his fingertip. Its trajectory seemed slow yet ignored space and distance, and in an instant it appeared at the Malevolent Deity's brow.

It gently touched and settled.

There was no cataclysmic explosion.

No ear-splitting roar.

The purple-gold point silently merged into the Deity's brow.

Time froze.

All the Deity's frenzied roars, all its surging evil aura, all violent motion—stopped completely in that instant.

The hatred-filled, mad eyes quickly died out into hollowness.

From that purple-gold point on its brow, its massive, twisted dark-red body began to turn transparent.

A purification from inside out, a cleansing at the root.

Only one breath.

Only one breath was needed.

The terrifying colossal body of the Malevolent Deity did not turn to ash nor dissipate as smoke.

Instead, it was utterly "erased."

Its form, its aura, its concept—every trace of its existence—

Was cleanly wiped from this world by that purple-gold thunderlight.

As if it had never existed.

The mountaintop returned to dead silence.

Only the whisper of wind across scorched earth remained.

Lu Yuan stared at the empty sky. The last taut string inside him finally snapped.

Master had come.

Everything was over.

His eyelids felt like weights of a thousand jin and slowly closed.

So tired…

…

Lu Yuan did not know how long he slept.

Consciousness rose like surfacing from a deep sea; the first thing he noticed was the pervasive swaying.

A carriage.

He opened his eyes to the plain wooden grain of the carriage roof.

Then a tearing pain in his chest made him gasp; the pale color returning to his face drained away again.

"Awake?"

A familiar voice with a hint of alcohol sounded nearby.

Lu Yuan turned with effort and saw the old man leaning against the carriage wall, clutching his ever-present wine gourd, his gaze clear as he looked at him.

Beside them, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an had their heads together, sleeping soundly with slack, foolish smiles at their mouths.

The old man's voice was low, but the two slept like cats with tails stepped on and jolted awake.

"Brother Lu!"

They were instantly alert and rushed over, eyes reddening with relief.

"Help me sit up."

Lu Yuan's voice was weak.

They hurriedly found a large cushion, propping it behind him so he could recline comfortably.

Once steadied, Lu Yuan asked plainly, eyes fixed on the old man.

"How did you get there?"

The old man did not hide it. He tipped back a big swig of wine, exhaled a breath of liquor, and answered leisurely:

"I went to probe the reality of those Nurturing Malevolence Sites."

Huh?

Lu Yuan's face filled with question marks.

The old man briefly described what had happened in the past days.

Lu Yuan ran the map through his mind, his brow snapping up as he glared:

"Hey? That doesn't make sense!"

"The road home from Mount Daqing doesn't go the way you went!"

"Mangniu Village is behind Mount Daqing; we intentionally detoured past it."

"How did you end up going to Mangniu Village?"

The old man took another sip, nodding proudly.

"I was heading home, but halfway there the wine sobered me up and I sensed something off."

Huh?

Lu Yuan looked at him oddly.

The old man continued, swaying and speaking with a smug air:

"You're as sly as a monkey."

"No way you'd knowingly go into Mount Daqing with bandits and not take a detour."

"I figured you'd detour to the eleventh one."

"I thought it over and over. I checked the first eight for you. Don't let the last one be the one to go wrong."

He chuckled with a sense of accomplishment.

"See!"

"Without me, you'd be done for!"

Lu Yuan mimicked the old man and scoffed, unimpressed.

"Done for how?"

"If you didn't come, I wouldn't die. At worst I'd call Qingwan."

No sooner had he finished than the old man's palm blurred and smacked the top of Lu Yuan's head hard.

A crisp thwack.

"Yow!!!"

"It hurts!!! Why'd you hit me!!"

Lu Yuan clutched the rapidly swelling bump, teeth bared, and shouted.

The old man was even angrier, glaring like a father scolding a foolish son.

"Yow!!!"

"You good-for-nothing!!!"

"I told you—don't get involved with that female ghost, don't get involved with that female ghost, it's asking for trouble!"

"Why can't you listen!!!"

Lu Yuan snapped back, bristling:

"If you hadn't come then and I hadn't called her, what else could I do!"

"I would've really died there!!"

The old man glared and spat:

"Have some respect for our Patriarch!"

Lu Yuan froze, his expression odd.

"Aren't you the one who said inviting that thing ten times would only bring it once at most?"

After saying this, he pursed his lips and muttered:

"Besides, invoking the Patriarch is such a hassle. In that situation, who had the time!"

The old man's eyes flared, spittle nearly flying into Lu Yuan's face.

"That's other people's Patriarch!"

"Our Patriarch protects his own kids!"

"Invite him ten times and eight times he'll show!"

Saying this, he leisurely lifted his wine gourd and added with a sway:

"Besides, you happen to be the Patriarch's favorite."

"Probably ten out of ten times he'd come!"

Lu Yuan was about to retort when a long, distant street vendor's cry rang from outside the carriage.

"Candied hawthorns~~~ gourd-shaped~~~"

At those words, the last of the wounded gloom evaporated from Lu Yuan, and he sat bolt upright.

"Where are we?"

"Quick, buy me two skewers of candied hawthorns!"

Wang Cheng'an and Xu Erxiao rose and answered as they moved:

"We're in Fengtian City, Brother Lu."

Lu Yuan paused, then stood up himself.

"Then fine, I'll go pick them."

He looked out and called:

"Stop the carriage!"

The carriage halted. Lu Yuan checked the white cloth wrapped over his chest and began putting on his clothes, saying:

"Erxiao, Cheng'an, you two go back with Master. Spend New Year at home this year."

Originally, Lu Yuan planned to return to attend the opening of the Luotian Grand Offering, then lead Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an to the Nurturing Malevolence Site.

But with his current condition, he needed ten days of rest at least.

So he could attend the entire Luotian Grand Offering, and let the two go home for a proper New Year, leaving to set out again after the holiday.

Wang Cheng'an and Xu Erxiao brightened at the news and nodded repeatedly.

Before they could say more, the silent old man suddenly spoke.

"You should go home and celebrate the New Year too."

Hmm…

Lu Yuan paused, glanced at the old man, blinked, and then grinned:

"Alright."

"Just the right time—I also want to see Qingwan, go back to visit her."

The moment Lu Yuan finished, the old man blew out his cheeks and glared angrily.

"Yow!!!!"

"You're really bewitched!!!"

"How can your head always be stuck on that female ghost!!!"