The Wang Youde family's blue brick courtyard was among the best in the village, yet at this moment the gates were tightly shut, exuding an air of decline.
According to Wang Youde, half a month ago while renovating the back courtyard, they dug up a Yellow Immortal. At the time it had fled in alarm without causing harm.
Unexpectedly, from then on the household had been unsettled, and finally that beast had latched onto the weakest grandson.
After listening, Lu Yuan didn't speak, only saying, "Let me see the child first."
Wang Youde's grandson Tiedan lay on the kang in the inner room, wrapped in thick blankets yet drenched in cold sweat all over.
The eight-year-old child was emaciated beyond recognition. A mass of heavy bluish-black qi filled the area between his eyebrows and would not disperse. His lips were cracked and dry as he mumbled deliriously.
Lu Yuan stepped forward, leaning in closer, but still couldn't make out what he was saying.
He extended two fingers, gently pressing on the child's brow, then closed his eyes.
Beneath his fingertips, he could clearly "see" the child's three souls—
The main soul, the awareness soul, and the life soul.
At this moment, these three souls were like startled birds, stirred into chaotic disarray by an external force, liable to leave the body and scatter at any moment and in the deeper depths of those souls, a cold and stubborn thought clung tightly to the life soul that represented vitality, like poisonous vines.
Lu Yuan opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping past the edge of the kang.
Wang Youde's hands nervously rubbed against each other, his palms full of sweat.
His burly son Wang Dali glared viciously at his unconscious biological son on the kang, squeezing out a curse from his throat, "Little debt collector."
In the shadowy corner, Wang Youde's gaunt wife, the child's grandmother, was continuously wiping tears with her sleeve.
Her body trembled slightly from suppressed sobbing, yet she never dared cry aloud, occasionally stealing glances at her son's and husband's expressions.
Lu Yuan understood in his heart. He turned to Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, who had just set down their tool box, and instructed, "First stabilize his soul. Pour him a bowl of talisman water."
This most basic work was fine for Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an to handle.
Speaking of which, Lu Yuan brought these two boys along to let them cultivate and gain experience following him.
Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an immediately nodded, very nimbly opening the wooden chest then Xu Erxiao skillfully pinched up a yellow talisman, chanting an incantation under his breath.
As his fingertip trembled, with a light "tss" sound, the yellow talisman spontaneously combusted without wind, rising with a strand of bright yellow flame.
Wang Cheng'an beside him had already prepared a bowl of clear water.
Xu Erxiao then directly tossed the half-burned talisman paper into the bowl. The talisman ash quickly dissolved.
Lu Yuan looked at the nervous Wang Youde beside him, "Where did you discover the yellow weasel? Lead me to see."
Wang Youde was clearly startled, then reacted, nodding repeatedly as he led Lu Yuan toward the back courtyard.
The back courtyard was spacious, the newly built pigsty neat and tidy, but that old locust tree beside it had withered yellowish leaves, exuding an air of death.
When they reached beneath that old locust tree in the back courtyard, the "Yin Iron Bell" hanging at Lu Yuan's waist trembled lightly. It didn't ring, but the bell body transmitted a piercing cold.
Lu Yuan squatted down, grabbed a handful from the newly turned soil beneath the tree, brought it to his nose to sniff lightly, then slowly twisted it between his fingers.
Besides the earthy smell, there was also an extremely faint bloody smell soaked by rainwater.
"When you dug up that nest of yellow weasels, was there anything unusual?"
Lu Yuan asked, his gaze sharp as he looked at Wang Youde.
Wang Youde's Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes somewhat panicked, "No, nothing unusual, just ordinary beasts..."
Watching Wang Youde's behavior, plus how people had acted when they first entered the village, if Lu Yuan still didn't sense something was wrong, he'd be a complete fool.
This kind of lying by employers was honestly quite common.
So from their meeting just now, Lu Yuan hadn't fully believed anything the Wang Youde family said.
"That's not right, is it?"
Lu Yuan's tone was calm but carried undeniable pressure, "Village Chief Wang, the heavenly Dao demands retribution, karma is unfailing. If you don't speak the full truth, we cannot drive out this evil, nor dare we try."
Wang Youde's complexion paled but his son Wang Dali stiffened his neck and shouted, "What's there not to say?!"
"We just dug up a yellow weasel. Who knew it would be so evil!"
Lu Yuan no longer bothered with the father and son. Instead, he took out a small packet of specially made "Manifestation Incense" from his pouch.
This incense was mixed with rhinoceros horn powder, peachwood shavings, and aged hearth soil, specifically to break illusions and reveal lingering information.
Lu Yuan scattered the incense powder in a circle around the locust tree roots. With a spark of his fingertip's true qi, the powder ignited without fire, rising with bluish-white smoke.
The smoke swirled, not rising but instead clinging to the ground, slowly seeping into the soil.
After a moment, a strange scene appeared.
On the ground within a foot around the tree roots, reflected in the smoke, a twisted, struggling dark red shadow vaguely emerged, sized exactly like a yellow weasel.
Below the shadow, in an even deeper place, there seemed to be another pink object.
Looking at this scene, Lu Yuan stood up, turned back to the father and son, and frowned, "Blood resentment condensed in the earth, residual consciousness undispersed. This wasn't frightening it away at all, but clearly torture and bloodshed with a heavy object buried!"
Lu Yuan was exactly right, making Wang Youde break out in cold sweat.
Before the father and son could say anything, a scream came from the front courtyard room.
Hearing this commotion, the three of Lu Yuan quickly ran toward the front courtyard.
At this moment, a ring of villagers watching the excitement had already gathered at the Wang Youde family's main gate.
Each craned their necks, sneakily peeping inside, yet not one dared step through the gate.
Lu Yuan couldn't be bothered with these idle people and stepped into the main room.
Upon entering, he saw Wang Youde's little grandson hanging upside down from the roof beam in an extremely eerie posture.
His face, already emaciated beyond recognition, had now become sharp-mouthed and monkey-cheeked, eerily sinister, exactly like a humanoid yellow weasel.
Strange "keh keh" sounds even came from his throat.
The child's grandmother, that gaunt old woman, had already collapsed in the corner, scared out of her wits, only able to scream.
"What's the situation?"
Lu Yuan looked at Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, who had already drawn their wooden swords, and asked.
The two looked completely bewildered, "We don't know!"
"After we poured that bowl of talisman water down, he became like this!"
Looking at the little grandson on the beam, Lu Yuan immediately turned to look at the shocked and shouting Wang Youde beside him, "Village Chief!"
"Still won't talk?!"
Before Wang Youde could say anything, Wang Dali at the side looked at Lu Yuan anxiously, "Why do you care so much about that!!"
"This yellow weasel has already manifested. You're a Daoist, just subdue it!!"
The world was never simply black and white.
Daoists and evil spirits didn't necessarily have to fight to the death.
A Daoist's duty was to discern cause and effect, not to exterminate everything.
This matter clearly had major problems.
This was the region beyond the pass. Which family didn't recognize the Fox, Yellow, White, Willow, and Gray immortals?!
The Gray Immortal rats and White Immortal hedgehogs were one thing but the Fox Immortals, Yellow Immortals, and Willow Immortals were most taboo for ordinary families.
If any family encountered them, forget attacking or killing them, they'd rush to offer good food and drink, fearing to offend and invite disaster.
How could they strike to kill?
Under these circumstances, Lu Yuan absolutely couldn't act rashly!
Using the old man's words, for such matters where cause and effect were unclear, if you muddle-headedly helped one side, you'd have to bear half of their karma.
After Wang Dali finished shouting anxiously, Lu Yuan only stared at Wang Youde, who was covered in sweat with a struggling expression, and said word by word, "Village Chief, I'll say it again. If you don't speak the full truth, we cannot drive out this evil. Find someone else. We'll leave right now!"
Before Wang Youde could finish speaking, his son Wang Dali at the side couldn't help but shout angrily, "What kind of damn Daoists are you!!"
"The evil spirit has already manifested before you, and you still won't hurry up and drive it out!!"
"If anything happens to my son, I'll definitely go report you to Fengtian City!!"
After Wang Dali finished cursing, Lu Yuan exchanged glances with Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an.
The next second, understanding each other's intent, the two ran to the door and with a "bang" shut it, completely isolating the prying eyes outside.
Immediately after, the two spun around like two young tigers descending the mountain, charging viciously at Wang Dali.
"I'll teach you to run your mouth!"
"Try shouting at our Brother Lu one more time!"
"Take my fist! You stinking pig head!"
Although Wang Dali was burly, how could he compare to young men who traveled dozens of li through mountain roads daily while constantly cultivating?
In just one exchange, Wang Dali was pressed to the ground. Fists and feet fell like raindrops, beating him until he screamed like a slaughtered pig.
This sudden scene not only stunned Wang Youde and his wife beside them.
Even the "Yellow Immortal" hanging upside down on the beam seemed dumbfounded, the strange cries from its throat pausing for half a second.
After a thorough beating with fists and feet, Wang Dali curled up on the ground, face bruised and swollen, begging for mercy, "Stop hitting, stop hitting..."
Lu Yuan didn't even glance at the bruised Wang Dali, but looked at Wang Youde, who seemed lost in thought, with a serious expression, "Village Chief, you need to think this through carefully."
"This Yellow Immortal's resentment is overwhelming. It vows to completely devour the child's life soul. At most one day, your only grandson will die!"
Wang Youde's face alternated between pale and flushed, looking very conflicted.
Just then, the old woman who had been collapsed in the corner, the child's grandmother, seemed to suddenly make some kind of decision and fiercely scrambled up from the ground.
While crying and shouting, she stumbled to that large wooden cabinet in the room and frantically rummaged through it.
Finally, from the very bottom, she pulled out something wrapped in layers of cloth.
Wang Dali on the ground saw this and immediately panicked. Struggling to get up, he shouted hoarsely, "Mother!! What are you doing!!"
Unfortunately, as soon as he moved, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an each planted a foot on his shoulders, pinning him down so he couldn't move an inch.
That gaunt old woman now seemed to have infinite strength. Holding that bundle, while wailing and crying, she rushed quickly before Lu Yuan, "Immortal! Please, I beg you, quickly save our Tiedan..."
The old woman came before Lu Yuan, with trembling hands unwrapping the bundle layer by layer, revealing what was inside.
"It's all because of this damned thing!"
She cried out, her voice shrill.
"My husband and my heartless son, just to steal the Yellow Great Immortal's spirit meat, they... they beat it to death alive!"
Lu Yuan's gaze fell on the piece of flesh in the old woman's hands that emitted a soft pink glow.
In an instant, everything became clear.
No wonder even with the child nearly dead, his father and grandfather absolutely refused to reveal the truth.
Pink spirit meat.
This was even more precious than the blue spirit meat he'd seen at Zhao Qiao'er's.
Just this palm-sized piece of pink spirit meat, if sold in Fengtian City, would be worth at least ten thousand yuan!
Lu Yuan extended his hand, expressionlessly receiving that piece of spirit meat from the old woman's hands, then raised his eyes to look at Wang Youde, whose face was ashen, slowly asking, "This spirit meat, or your grandson's life?"