In front of the solitary grave, the heavenly fragrance root and paper money ashes left from a few days ago still remained.
Who could have imagined that beneath this mound overgrown with wild grass, a super fierce twenty-star entity was buried?
Lu Yuan took out that old brass pocket watch, and the cover snapped open with a "click."
Three thirty in the afternoon.
The sun was slanting westward, the yang qi beginning to wane, while the yin qi had not yet fully awakened.
This was the last moment of tranquility in the day before yin and yang exchanged.
Lu Yuan took out paper money and incense candles, arranging them meticulously in front of the grave.
This was the first time he had actively come to "negotiate" with an evil spirit.
The old man hadn't taught him this, so Lu Yuan was completely relying on his own judgment.
He carefully considered his wording, stepped forward, extended his knuckles, and gently knocked on the decaying wooden gravestone.
"Anyone there?"
The solitary grave remained silent, without any response.
Not home?
Or was she deliberately ignoring him because he had angered her last time?
Lu Yuan didn't think it was that serious. After all, before leaving, she had left him that white jade bone token.
He guessed that she was probably out "wandering around," floating somewhere right now.
Ghosts, after all, couldn't be like shut-ins, staying cooped up in their graves every day.
So what should he do now?
Crush that white jade bone token and forcibly summon her back?
That would be far too wasteful.
The Yellow Immortal had said it was a life-saving trump card, and using it would burden him with tremendous karmic consequences.
Just as Lu Yuan was hesitating, a bone-chillingly cold yin wind without any warning pressed against the back of his neck.
An ethereal voice sounded almost as if it was against his ear.
"...Mm."
Hiss~
This sudden voice, accompanied by an eerie yin wind brushing across the back of Lu Yuan's neck, instantly gave him goosebumps all over.
Ugh!
How annoying!
Why did these ghosts always have to speak right behind a person's neck!
Lu Yuan's heart jumped, but he quickly suppressed his alarm and bowed respectfully toward the grave mound before him.
"Senior, after you left that day, this junior thought carefully. Were you... subjected to a ghost marriage?"
"And..."
The words reached his lips, but Lu Yuan got stuck.
Evil spirits were not human.
This point must be remembered.
Especially Ghost Brides, this type of fierce ghost was itself an aggregate of endless malevolent qi.
One absolutely could not treat her as an ordinary person just because of her temporary goodwill and communication.
This "kindness" was extremely unstable.
Once you touched the source of her malevolent qi, she would instantly become violent and disown even her own kin.
To put it bluntly, conversing with someone suffering from severe manic disorder, you never knew which sentence would suddenly make her go berserk.
Lu Yuan was afraid.
Afraid that what he was about to say next would instantly ignite all the malevolent qi of this twenty-star fierce entity but having already come this far, there was no reason not to say it.
Otherwise, what was Lu Yuan doing here?
Just strolling around?
So after a brief hesitation, Lu Yuan lowered his head and said with trepidation, "Were you... dug out of your eyes, had your tongue cut off, and your legs severed?!"
And when Lu Yuan finished speaking this sentence.
It moved...
The entire mountain moved!!
It was stirring!!
Bad... this was bad!!
She was really angry!!
Lu Yuan quickly raised his head, his face filled with terror as he looked around. This?
Lu Yuan now had only one thought in his mind.
Run!
Run quickly!!
However, just as Lu Yuan lifted his foot preparing to flee, suddenly, everything inexplicably became quiet again.
Complete silence.
"..."
"Yes..."
Hiss~
It seemed... it seemed she had controlled it...
Lu Yuan's heart, which had nearly jumped out of his throat, slowly returned to his chest.
Not daring to delay, he hastily continued, "Senior, please don't be angry. This junior came here to ask because I want to... help Senior restore your tongue, replace your eyes, and reconnect your legs."
"Previously, this junior promised to help Senior attain transcendence and rebirth, but with this junior's current cultivation level, it might take ten or eight years."
"Fearing that this junior cannot wait that long, I thought to first restore Senior's mutilated body, so that Senior might feel somewhat better."
"So... so if Senior is willing, this junior would like to first open the coffin to see the specific situation..."
An evil spirit's true body was its greatest secret and its only weakness, and would never be easily shown to others.
The blood-red ghost shadow seen before, even if completely annihilated, as long as the true body remained intact, could make a comeback after spending a hundred years but if the true body was destroyed, that would truly mean the complete obliteration of the soul. However, Lu Yuan thought that honestly speaking, his relationship with this Ghost Bride was quite good.
He had offered her incense.
She had saved him and helped him.
Moreover, he already knew where her true body was located and he had come here to help her. With this kind of relationship between them, this Ghost Bride should allow him to open the coffin for examination.
Hmm...
The old man had said that Daoists must avoid forming emotional attachments with evil spirits...
But...
But Lu Yuan still decided to ask. Even if she disagreed, Lu Yuan would just turn around and leave.
After Lu Yuan finished asking, the solitary grave fell silent for a few seconds...
"..."
"Alright..."
...
At three forty-five in the afternoon, Lu Yuan made preparations before opening the coffin.
Digging up a grave wasn't some brutish task where you just grabbed a hoe, stuck out your rear end, and started digging away haphazardly.
Especially when digging up a grave that buried a super fierce entity.
Lu Yuan walked slowly around the solitary grave, his footsteps neither light nor heavy, each step landing at a specific position.
This wasn't random walking, but "measuring the ground."
Using the soles of his feet to sense the flow and distribution of yin qi underground.
When Lu Yuan walked to the diagonal rear of the solitary grave, he couldn't help but stop.
Where his left foot stepped down, the soil transmitted an extremely subtle, suction-like yin coldness.
"This is the spot."
Lu Yuan murmured, "The Earth Eye."
The so-called Earth Eye was not a feng shui treasure point, but rather the spot in this burial ground where yin qi converged and connected most closely with the Ghost Bride underground.
Later, the first strike of the hoe would start from here then Lu Yuan began to methodically take out items from his shoulder bag, his movements incredibly steady.
The first step was to set stakes to mark boundaries and draw the yin-yang line.
He took out seven three-inch-long jujube wood nails, their bodies densely covered with "Earth-Breaking Incantations" drawn in cinnabar.
With the Earth Eye as the center, Lu Yuan drove the wooden nails into the soil one by one according to the positions of the Big Dipper constellation.
With each nail driven in, he silently recited a verse.
"Tianshu anchors the left, Tianxuan locks the right."
"Yaoguang points the way, Kaiyang seals the rear."
"Seven stars nail the positions, the yin-yang boundary opens!"
The seven wooden nails were driven seven-tenths into the earth, leaving three-tenths outside. The nail heads glimmered faintly in the slanting sunlight, as if absorbing the yin coldness underground.
Immediately after, Lu Yuan used a bundle of ink line that had been soaked in black dog blood and dried for seven consecutive noon periods, connecting the seven wooden nails from head to tail.
He drew an irregular area around the grave.
The line was three inches off the ground, pulled taut and straight. When the breeze passed, it emitted an almost inaudible humming sound.
This was the "Seven Stars Lock Yin Boundary."
Inside the circle was yin, the area of activity left for the Ghost Bride.
Outside the circle was yang, a barrier to prevent yin qi from leaking out.
When a twenty-star super fierce entity's coffin was opened, Lu Yuan didn't even dare to imagine how terrifying the burst of evil qi would be.
If the evil qi leaked out, forget other places, just in Ningyuan Town at the foot of the mountain, eighty out of a hundred people would become possessed and fall into madness.
After completing all this, Lu Yuan retreated outside the boundary circle and sat cross-legged on a sheltered bluestone.
The second step was to prepare artifacts and wait for the right time.
He closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, circulated the meager yet pure innate qi within his body, and gradually harmonized his mind with the formation he had set up.
The pocket watch moved silently within his clothing.
The slanting setting sun stretched his solitary shadow extremely long, merging with the twisted branch shadows of the withered mulberry tree.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the sun to completely sink into the western mountains.
Waiting for the last trace of yang qi between heaven and earth to dissipate.
When night had completely fallen, Lu Yuan lit a warning Kongming lantern and watched it leisurely rise into the sky.
Lu Yuan shouldered his hoe and walked step by step toward that solitary grave.
Dig!!