That intermittent phrase "You... very... good..." dissipated in the night wind, and Lu Yuan's entire body froze.
Good?
What good?
Was she saying his soul summoning and resurrection that had failed twice just now was done well?
What the hell was good about it!
It had completely failed!
Or was she saying... that he, as a Daoist, hadn't indiscriminately slaughtered spirit creatures without distinguishing right from wrong, and that this was good?
Lu Yuan's mind was in complete chaos, he simply couldn't figure it out.
Another thing was... why did it sound like this...
Each word sounded incredibly difficult, as if something was strangling her throat.
Just as Lu Yuan was stunned, that pale jade, slender hand withdrew from beside his ear without warning.
The ice-cold fingertips brushed against his ear, barely touching it.
A chill instantly coursed through his entire body!
Lu Yuan almost instinctively retreated three steps backward, his heart racing wildly as he stared at the Ghost Bride in alarm.
His reaction seemed to catch the Ghost Bride off guard as well.
That hand just froze in mid-air, as if she hadn't expected that such a small movement of hers would scare this young Daoist into such a state.
Honestly speaking, this really wasn't Lu Yuan's fault.
No matter who was being followed closely by a twenty-star top-tier evil spirit, even Uncle Ying himself couldn't remain as steady as Mount Tai.
Moreover, this Ghost Bride had never clearly stated her intentions, only silently following along. This kind of unknown oppressive feeling was enough to stretch anyone's nerves to the limit.
The Ghost Bride's hand suspended in mid-air seemed to have originally wanted to point out something more but seeing Lu Yuan's intense reaction, she ultimately slowly lowered it.
She looked at Lu Yuan one last time.
The next moment, she turned around, and that piercing blood-red color merged into the endless pitch-black night and disappeared without a trace.
With her departure, the suffocating evil qi around them also vanished into thin air.
A palm-sized white jade token, ice-cold to the touch, silently fell into Lu Yuan's hand.
The token's body was neither metal nor jade, emanating an ancient, eerie aura.
Lu Yuan gripped the bone token. When he raised his head again, that string of blood-red coordinate text in the night sky had also completely disappeared.
She... left?
And moreover... she seemed angry?!
Was his reaction just now too hurtful?
After all, she had just helped him yet he had shown such complete distrust?
Lu Yuan stood in place, his face full of chagrin and confusion.
"Kid, what exactly is your background?!"
A sharp, duck-like voice exploded beside him.
Lu Yuan lowered his head and met a pair of black, beady eyes.
The large yellow weasel that had just been resurrected was now standing upright like a human, staring at Lu Yuan with eyes full of shock and disbelief.
"To have a super evil spirit of this level personally act as your guardian... you..."
Before Lu Yuan could speak, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an also jogged back.
The first thing the two said upon returning was, "Brother Lu, you can even hook up with female ghosts?"
Lu Yuan: "..."
...
The zi hour had passed, and the night grew deeper.
Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an were cleaning up the altar in the distance, while Lu Yuan sat cross-legged under a crooked-neck tree, repeatedly rubbing the ice-cold white jade token in his hand.
"This thing seems like a token of some kind, or rather... a catalyst."
Yellow Braised Chicken beside him leaned over, staring at the token with shifty eyes, saying with certainty.
Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow, "Catalyst?"
"Right!" Yellow Braised Chicken nodded vigorously.
"Just like the jade slips your Daoist temple leaves for disciples. If someone dies outside, the jade slip at the temple will shatter, and the temple immediately knows something happened to you."
Hearing it say this, Lu Yuan reexamined the bone token, his brow slightly furrowed.
"If that's really the case, what does she mean by giving this to me?"
Lu Yuan couldn't figure it out and muttered to himself, "The key thing is, why doesn't she speak... those three words were so labored, it shouldn't be like this. You can jabber on endlessly..."
"Hey! What do you mean I can jabber on!"
Yellow Braised Chicken immediately became displeased, placing both paws on its waist.
"I'm a properly cultivated Yellow Immortal! With seventy or eighty years of cultivation, eloquent speech is basic skill!"
Lu Yuan was too lazy to pay attention to it, his gaze still locked on the bone token.
His other hand pulled out the bundle from his chest and tossed it to Yellow Braised Chicken.
Inside was that piece of pink spirit meat, Yellow Braised Chicken caught the bundle and froze, seemingly not expecting Lu Yuan to be so straightforward.
Opening the bundle, rich spiritual qi instantly escaped, causing the surrounding cold wind to howl as countless things hidden in the darkness stirred restlessly.
"Kid, you're righteous enough!"
"I've cultivated for eighty years and never seen a Daoist like you."
Yellow Braised Chicken looked at Lu Yuan seriously.
"You saved my life. By rights, this thing should be given to you as a thank-you gift."
"But I've completely lost my cultivation now. Without it to restore my power, I'm afraid I can barely move an inch in this region beyond the pass."
"I'm borrowing this spirit meat from you! In the future, I will definitely repay you with a great fortune!"
Having said this, it stuffed the pink spirit meat into its mouth and began devouring it in large bites.
Lu Yuan pursed his lips.
Good grief, even a yellow weasel had learned to make empty promises.
Lu Yuan was too lazy to deal with this yellow weasel.
Although pink spirit meat was precious, Lu Yuan had never intended to keep it for himself.
Just then, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an finished packing up and ran over.
"Brother Lu, are we traveling tonight or finding a place to rest?"
The past two days had exhausted all three of them.
Last night's ordeal meant Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an hadn't even slept.
Just now, while cleaning up the altar, the two had been yawning one after another.
"Tonight we'll find a sheltered place to sleep, and continue traveling first thing tomorrow morning."
Lu Yuan looked at Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an's expectant faces and said.
Hearing they could rest, the two immediately grinned and laughed, "Great!"
Yellow Braised Chicken, who had just finished eating the spirit meat and was burping, pointed in a direction.
"Over this slope, there's a ruined temple ahead."
Having a temple was naturally better than sleeping outdoors.
Of course, for ordinary people, they'd rather stay in the wilderness than go to an abandoned temple.
After all, in abandoned temples, who knew whether gods or evil spirits currently resided but what did Lu Yuan's group do for a living?
Naturally they weren't afraid of such things.
Lu Yuan looked at Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, "Go get the boxes. We're sleeping in the temple tonight."
The two immediately nodded and turned to shoulder the wooden boxes, while Lu Yuan still leaned against the crooked-neck tree, frowning as he pondered the bone token in his hand.
What exactly was this thing...
"I think it might be a life-saving catalyst, a protective charm, burp~~"
Yellow Braised Chicken, who had just wolfed down the pink spirit meat in a few large bites, suddenly said while burping.
Life-saving catalyst?
Protective charm.
Lu Yuan looked at Yellow Braised Chicken with a strange expression.
Yellow Braised Chicken stuck its paw into its mouth, picking at meat scraps stuck between its teeth while saying, "You can try injecting your spiritual power into the white jade bone token."
"I think what she meant is, if you encounter danger, do this, and she'll come save you."
Huh?
This thing...
Why did it sound so much like those communication devices from sects in the xuanhuan novels he'd read on Earth?
However, this world did indeed have similar things.
So could this be one?
Lu Yuan subconsciously injected his spiritual power into this white jade bone token. However, the spiritual power entering was like a clay ox entering the sea, without any response whatsoever.
"Nonsense!"
"It's completely useless."
Lu Yuan looked around. There wasn't a trace of blood-red text.
"Besides, why would she keep helping and saving me over and over..."
Lu Yuan couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Seeing Lu Yuan didn't believe it, Yellow Braised Chicken immediately became agitated, "Hey!! How would I know what relationship you two have, but this thing is definitely a life-saving catalyst!"
"If injecting spiritual power doesn't work, it might require blood, or even more simply, smashing it!"
"Haven't you heard of smashing a cup as a signal?!"
Lu Yuan: "???"
What nonsense was this!
Lu Yuan felt this definitely wasn't what it meant.
He and that Ghost Bride had only met a few times. She had already saved his life and acted as his guardian, which was more than enough.
This time he had even "angered" her away. How could she possibly leave behind a protective charm that could be summoned at will?
There was no such logic!
That said, Lu Yuan felt vexed, and being annoyed by Yellow Braised Chicken's chatter, he subconsciously tightened his grip on the bone token in his hand.
An extremely soft crisp sound rang out in his palm.
Lu Yuan's entire body stiffened.
He suddenly opened his palm.
He saw that on the flawless white jade bone token, a fine crack had clearly appeared!
Holy crap!
How could this thing be so fragile?!
Lu Yuan was completely dumbfounded and immediately jumped up from the ground.
Yellow Braised Chicken beside him was also stunned, looking utterly grief-stricken as it raised its head to look at Lu Yuan, "You actually squeezed it!!"
"This kind of life-saving token, especially one given by such a super evil spirit, can only be used once! Worth a fortune! How could you just use it like that!!"
Looking at Yellow Braised Chicken's expression, Lu Yuan couldn't help but purse his lips.
Talking as if it were real...
Before Lu Yuan could say anything, Yellow Braised Chicken's expression instantly changed from shock to extreme terror.
It fell to the ground with a "thud," its head frantically pounding the ground like pounding garlic.
"This lowly one pays respects to the Great Immortal!"
"This lowly one pays respects to the Great Immortal!"
"It has nothing to do with this lowly one, he squeezed it himself!"
Looking at Yellow Braised Chicken suddenly kowtowing rapidly with bang bang bang sounds, Lu Yuan was speechless.
Everyone said yellow weasels liked to mess with people.
Good grief, now it was messing with him!
Lu Yuan was about to say something when he felt a cold wind on the back of his neck...
Wait... wait a moment...
Lu Yuan's body stiffened as he turned his head inch by inch.
Behind him, there was no one but before he could feel relieved, when Lu Yuan raised his head...
He saw that on the branches of the crooked-neck tree, at some unknown time, a blood-red figure had appeared.
She stood there quietly, looking down from above.
Those familiar, hollow crimson eyes were staring directly at Lu Yuan, and at the... cracked bone token in Lu Yuan's hand.
The wind stopped, and all was silent.
Lu Yuan felt he could see on that exquisitely beautiful yet ice-cold face, a trace of... confusion.
Immediately after, under Lu Yuan's shocked gaze, the Ghost Bride's head tilted slightly to one side.
If this were a manga, Lu Yuan felt there would definitely be a giant question mark floating above her head right now.
Of course...
Above Lu Yuan's own head, the question mark might be even bigger.
No way...
How did she... actually come back?!