Wang Youde's face was covered in cold sweat, still caught in an internal struggle but Wang Dali, who was being pinned down at the shoulders by Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, somehow found the strength to suddenly surge upward!
In an instant, he threw both unprepared half-grown boys to the ground, each falling hard on their backsides.
Wang Dali, eyes red, charged straight at Lu Yuan, roaring loudly, "Give back the spirit meat!!"
Lu Yuan didn't even look at him properly, just glanced sideways and kicked out with his right foot.
This kick landed precisely on Wang Dali's chest.
That burly, thick-waisted man's body instantly flew backward like a kite with a cut string.
With a "crash," he smashed through the wooden window and fell heavily into the courtyard outside.
Wang Dali lay on the ground, letting out pig-like squeals of "Aiyou!" in agony. This time, he truly couldn't get up again.
The moment the window shattered, "Tiedan" perched on the roof beam found his chance!
It ran along the beam at an extremely bizarre speed, then a golden-brown shadow shot toward the window like an arrow!
Lu Yuan reacted even faster. A "Wind-Fixing Talisman" from his hand had already been flung out, precisely sticking to the broken window opening.
The shadow crashed headlong into an invisible barrier, making a muffled thud.
Above the eight-year-old child Tiedan's head, a phantom distorted figure was forcibly revealed...
It was a large yellow weasel with sleek, glossy fur, now standing upright like a human, a pair of blood-red eyes glaring venomously at Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan formed the "Earth-Binding Seal" with his left hand and pressed it downward toward the ground.
From the cracks between the green floor tiles, several ink-line-like streams of black qi suddenly shot out, lightning-fast, wrapping around Tiedan's legs.
At the same time, his right hand swept up, and three "Evil-Breaking Copper Coins" soaked in rooster blood flew from his grasp.
The copper coins pinned themselves to the open ground before the window in a triangular formation. With a flash of golden light, they instantly formed a simple trapping array.
After completing all this, Lu Yuan slid a palm-sized "Soul-Capturing Alligator Drum" from his sleeve.
The drum frame was made from old alligator dragon belly armor, specifically from a crocodile over twenty years old.
The drumskin was made from the shed skin of a giant python that had been struck by lightning.
Lu Yuan merely tapped the drum surface lightly with his finger, his face expressionless as he looked at the snarling little grandson, his voice cold as ice, "Stay put. It's not your turn yet!"
A muffled sound seemed to strike directly at the soul.
The little grandson's entire body violently stiffened, extreme unwillingness and fear flashing through his blood-red eyes.
In the end, he reluctantly lowered his body, not daring to move another inch.
Having dealt with this side, Lu Yuan finally turned his gaze back to Wang Youde, who hadn't moved from the start.
Just then, the door was kicked open from outside with a "bang."
Seven or eight villagers charged in, wielding hoes and iron rakes with aggressive momentum.
Lu Yuan initially thought they had come to help with the exorcism. However, the leader, a man in his forties, didn't even look at the possessed little grandson. Instead, he shouted urgently at Wang Youde, "You can't give away the spirit meat!!"
"Village Chief! We've already contacted the merchant association in the city! They're coming tomorrow to collect it, thirteen thousand coins!!"
The crowd behind him instantly exploded, everyone agitated and with contorted faces.
"That's right! Wang Youde! We all risked our lives to help you kill that yellow weasel together!"
"We agreed that after selling the spirit meat, you'd give each of us two hundred coins as a reward! You can't go back on your word!"
"Without the spirit meat, what will you use to pay us!"
"Besides, with over ten thousand coins, your son Dali could marry how many wives and give you how many fat grandsons!"
"Hurry up and get the spirit meat back! Otherwise don't blame us for turning hostile!!"
The villagers stared fixedly at the pink spirit meat in Lu Yuan's hand, their eyes completely red.
Their greedy, crazed appearance made it seem as if they were the ones possessed.
Wang Youde, who had been silent all along, seemed to finally make up his mind amid the villagers' clamoring.
He slowly raised his head, the hesitation in his eyes replaced by viciousness, and then he actually extended his hand toward Lu Yuan, palm up.
"Daoist, return the spirit meat. You don't need to concern yourself with today's matter anymore. I'll pay you your full consulting fee for this trip."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tiedan's grandmother, as if gone mad, threw herself before Wang Youde.
She gripped Wang Youde's collar tightly, shaking and crying out in despair, "Head of household! Tiedan is our own grandson!!"
"You mustn't be confused! You mustn't be confused!!!"
But what she received in return was Wang Youde's vicious kick!
One kick sent Tiedan's grandmother falling backward. Her head struck the table and she lay still.
Lu Yuan quietly watched this ugly scene unfold before him.
He had originally thought this would be a story where familial love triumphed over greed, with a reasonably good ending but sometimes, reality was far more cold-blooded than any story.
Wang Youde ultimately chose money.
Indeed, this was pink spirit meat worth over ten thousand coins.
A shop assistant in Fengtian City working hard for a month would only earn seven or eight coins.
Thirteen thousand coins would be enough for that assistant to work for one hundred fifty or sixty years without eating or drinking...
Converting this would be equivalent to ten million on Earth.
Moreover, the ten-thousand-plus coins here were far more valuable and durable than ten million on Earth.
There was no need to look down too much on Wang Youde. After all, exchanging a child for ten million... Lu Yuan felt that in any world, countless people would do it, and they'd scramble to do it.
After hearing Wang Youde's words, Lu Yuan didn't utter a sound. He simply turned his head to look at the yellow weasel locked by his talismanic arts in the distance.
He put away the "Soul-Capturing Alligator Drum" and took out a seven-inch tall matte black clay gourd.
The gourd's surface was unglazed, warm to the touch, with a faded red cord tied around its waist strung with three rust-spotted evil-breaking copper coins.
Lu Yuan held the "Yin-Collecting Gourd" and spoke solemnly to the trapped yellow weasel, "This poor Daoist has witnessed your grievance."
"The Wang family's evil deeds are condemned by heaven and earth."
"However, what wrong has this innocent child committed? His physical body was bestowed by his parents, not your enemy..."
Before he finished speaking, the yellow weasel possessing Tiedan suddenly spoke in human language, its voice sharp and piercing, "Cut the crap with this poor master!"
"They destroyed my cultivation, stole my spirit meat, and now you want me to let them go?!"
"I will make this family utterly destroyed today! The first to die will be this little brat!"
Lu Yuan: "..."
So you can actually talk!
Well, this was a yellow weasel after all.
After cultivating for seventy or eighty years, they dared to block roads demanding recognition, asking passersby "Do you think I look like a human or a deity?" Naturally they were different from ordinary spirit creatures.
Though he didn't know why it had held back from speaking earlier.
Looking at the yellow weasel that was spewing human speech and having lost its temper, Lu Yuan frowned slightly and said, "You can see the situation now. These beasts have already decided not to spare this child's life."
"After I leave today, they'll take your pink spirit meat to Fengtian City to exchange for money, then turn around and hire a Celestial Master to capture you."
"Do you think with just a wisp of your remnant soul, you can withstand the thunder techniques of an orthodox Celestial Master?!"
Lu Yuan's words made everyone present, as well as the yellow weasel, pause.
Before they could react, Lu Yuan continued, "If you trust me, enter this 'Yin-Collecting Gourd.' Within three days, I will retrieve your corpse and summon your soul back to life."
"Once you return to life and consume this spirit meat again, your cultivation might be restored to its original state."
As soon as he finished speaking, the yellow weasel immediately bared its teeth and screeched, "You young upstart Daoist sure talk big! Even orthodox Celestial Masters don't dare claim they can summon souls back to life, and you think you can?!"
"Besides, Yellow Immortal's body was already thrown away by these beasts to who knows where, how can you summon my soul?!"
"Yellow Immortal gained spiritual intelligence before your father was even born! Think you can fool me? No way!"
Looking at the snarling yellow weasel, Lu Yuan inwardly shook his head slightly.
To be honest, Lu Yuan could have ignored this matter.
If other Daoists encountered this kind of situation, most would probably just turn around and leave. However... Lu Yuan remembered something the old man at home had said.
To speak truthfully, the old man at home drank heavily every day, and most of what came out of his mouth was nonsense and drunken ramblings.
Even when sober, the crazy things he said, Lu Yuan couldn't agree with but there was one thing Lu Yuan strongly agreed with and had practiced until now.
People must have a conscience.
Daoists, even more so, must uphold conscience.
"Alright, you cut the crap too."
"Asking you to come in yourself was to avoid harming this wisp of your remnant soul. Since you're unwilling, don't cry about pain later!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Yuan raised high the "Yin-Collecting Gourd" in his hand and lightly chanted an incantation, "Get in here!!"
The next second, a powerful suction force surged from the black clay gourd. The phantom yellow weasel above the little grandson's head only now realized the danger but it was too late.
The powerful suction from the black clay gourd directly stretched and deformed the phantom figure into a thick line.
Finally, this wisp of the yellow weasel's remnant soul was directly sucked into the black clay gourd.
"Bang."
Lu Yuan capped the gourd's mouth, hung it at his waist, turned to look at Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an and said, "Pack up, we're leaving."
Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an responded and immediately went to shoulder their boxes.
Lu Yuan directly walked past the dumbstruck Wang Youde and his group, preparing to leave.
"Daoist!"
"Our spirit meat!"
Wang Youde stood behind Lu Yuan, shouting loudly.
Lu Yuan tucked the lump of pink spirit meat into his sleeve with a backhand motion, turned around with a strange expression and said, "What meat?"
Wang Youde frowned and shouted sternly, "Spirit meat!!"
Lu Yuan blinked, "Spirit what?"