The blood-red figure floated eerily above the coffin.
Those hollow, crimson pupils locked firmly onto the old man.
In an instant, the old man's muscles tensed throughout his body, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Those eyes that were usually turbid instantly burst with sharp light. His hand had already flashed like lightning toward the artifact pouch at his waist!
This was the first time Lu Yuan had seen the old man like this. His heart jumped.
He suddenly came to his senses, tightly grabbing the old man's arm with both hands. At the same time, he twisted his head and shouted urgently at Gu Qingwan suspended in mid-air, "There's still a way!!"
"I said I wouldn't abandon you. Trust me, I will definitely save you!"
Before Lu Yuan's words finished falling, the old man, who was being firmly held by him, exploded on the spot. Baring his teeth, he shouted, "Save what! What are you going to use to save her!"
"I'm saying this once and for all today, to stop her from haunting you endlessly in the future!"
"If she wants to fight, this master isn't afraid of her! This is True Dragon Temple, and right behind is the Three Pure Ones Hall!!"
"If she has a problem, let her take it up with the Three Pure Ones!!"
Lu Yuan could see that the old man had truly become angry. He was already forming hand seals!
The old man's side was easy to handle. He could persuade him.
What he feared was Gu Qingwan's side!
Good heavens, he had just invited her back here, saying all sorts of nice things and immediately after, the old man was right there saying "don't care" and "don't get involved" with every sentence.
How could she not explode!
Before Lu Yuan could speak again, Gu Qingwan suspended in mid-air turned those crimson pupils toward Lu Yuan, her red lips parting slightly.
Lu Yuan knew she spoke extremely slowly. Without thinking, his other hand suddenly covered the old man's mouth to make him be quiet.
"...No..."
"..."
"...pro...blem..."
"Send..."
"me...back..."
Before she finished speaking, Lu Yuan firmly covered the old man's mouth. His eyes looked at her with utmost determination as he said word by word, "I said I can, then I can!"
"You lie back down first!"
After speaking, Lu Yuan didn't give her a chance to refuse. Covering the old man's mouth, he forcibly dragged him out of the side hall.
Gu Qingwan hovered in mid-air, her hollow pupils just quietly watching Lu Yuan struggle to drag the still-struggling old man out the hall door.
"..."
"...Oh..."
The next instant, that blood-colored figure quietly disappeared into the coffin. The coffin lid that had fallen to the ground flew up on its own and with a "clang," closed tightly and seamlessly.
...
At the same time, outside the side hall door.
Lu Yuan finally dragged the old man out. He turned to close the door.
The old man stood in place, so angry he was jumping up and down, pointing at Lu Yuan's nose and cursing, "You've been bewitched!!"
"You..."
Before the old man could finish shouting, Lu Yuan slammed the door with a "bang," turned around, and lowered his voice, saying, "Shout! Shout, shout, shout! Call everyone in the temple over, let them all come see this spectacle!"
At these words, the old man indeed stopped, but his anger didn't subside.
He rushed up to Lu Yuan in a few steps, his teeth grinding loudly, "What are you trying to do!!"
"She already said she wants to go back herself!"
"Why are you still holding onto her!!"
"If you can't cure her, she'll haunt you for the rest of your life!!"
Lu Yuan pursed his lips and stiffened his neck, saying, "I can cure her."
These words were like adding fuel to the fire. The old man was so angry he was about to jump up again on the spot.
"You can cure nothing!"
"What are you going to use to cure her!"
What Lu Yuan was going to do couldn't be told to the old man, or else he'd explode even more!
Immediately, Lu Yuan started acting like a scoundrel, directly saying, "Say no more, don't interfere in my business!"
After saying this, Lu Yuan turned and left, pushing the door open again and entering the side hall.
The old man looked at Lu Yuan's retreating back, so angry he was fuming, saying, "I can't even be bothered to care!!!"
"You just go ahead and mess around!!"
"When you get yourself killed, see if I collect your corpse!!"
After the old man finished cursing angrily, he also turned and huffily stormed off.
...
Inside the side hall, it was quiet.
Lu Yuan crouched back down. On the cold floor tiles, stroke by stroke, he quietly sketched the incantations.
"He's my master, and also my only family in this world. Back then, he dug me out from a snow pile."
"He's worried I can't handle your situation, that you'll harm me."
Lu Yuan spoke while drawing the talismans.
The coffin beside him was silent for a long time.
"...I..."
"..."
"...won't..."
"..."
Hearing this response, Lu Yuan raised his head and grinned at the coffin. That smile carried a trace of youthful cunning and certainty.
"I know."
"That's why I brought you back."
"And I really can save you. Just trust me."
After Lu Yuan finished speaking, he stood up and quietly crept to the window, peering through the gap to confirm that the old man had really gone far away.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. From the deepest part of his inner shoulder bag, he took out a seemingly ordinary yellow silk pouch.
The pouch’s mouth was tightly tied with red cord, and from the knot hung a small white jade ring, smooth and lustrous like polished fat.
This wasn't any artifact, but rather a special "container."
This thing existed in all Daoist temples, placed beneath the Three Pure Ones statues of each temple.
Lu Yuan untied the pouch but didn't open it. He just held it in his palm.
The pouch was light as nothing, but when he focused his senses, he could feel it contained a warm, complex yet extremely gentle torrent.
This wasn't heaven and earth spiritual qi, nor was it the essence of sun and moon, but faith power.
It was the 'thought' condensed from the most simple, most sincere prayers of thousands of pilgrims.
It wasn’t sharp or overbearing, but like a gentle stream, ceaseless and enduring—most able to nourish life and moisten all things in silence and it could also... dissolve certain shackles of malicious intent based on 'compulsion.'
Lu Yuan raised his eyes, his gaze burning as he looked at that heavy, dark coffin.
"These sinister techniques on your body are products of the caster's absolute malice and desire for control, twisting nature and forcibly altering yin and yang."
"Their power comes from 'compulsion' and 'deprivation,' while pilgrim faith power comes from 'prayer' and 'hope.'"
"Perhaps... with the 'wishes' of all beings, one can break the 'evil' of a single person."
This idea was very bold.
Pilgrim faith power had always been regarded by temples as the foundation for nourishing earth veins and stabilizing mountain gate fortune, gentle and precious.
Very few people had thought to use it as a "curse-breaking" blade but in that profound “Dao” from the system rewards, Lu Yuan had once glimpsed a few words mentioning:
"Ten thousand household lights can illuminate the netherworld; the wishes of all beings can move mountains."
So... Lu Yuan wanted to pull a switcheroo.
Using the faith power originally meant for the Three Pure Ones statue to break the techniques on Gu Qingwan.
This naturally couldn't be known by the old man.
If the old man knew he was using faith power meant for the Three Pure Ones statue on an evil spirit...
Lu Yuan feared the old man would beat him to death.
...
Late at night, past the zi hour.
Lu Yuan bent at the waist, his footsteps lighter than a cat's. He silently circled around the junior brother dozing off on night watch in the main hall and slipped into the Three Pure Ones Hall.
The talisman formation in the side hall was already completely finished.
That formation was both a cage isolating evil qi and a bridge conducting faith power.
What he needed to do now was to bury a small “Aspiration-Intercepting Array” under the floor tile where the yellow silk pouch was usually placed.
In this way, the faith power generated by pilgrims in the future would continuously flow toward the side hall along the formation.
Washing away the century-old evil curse on Gu Qingwan.
Lu Yuan moved like a real thief, tiptoeing to the back of the Three Pure Ones statue's base.
He took out a small knife and, along the seam of a floor tile, extremely slowly and with great effort, scraped, trying his utmost not to make a single sound.
Soon, all four edges were cut.
Lu Yuan inserted the knife tip into the gap, held his breath, and gently pried.
Click.
A faint sound, almost inaudible, and one corner of the floor tile was pried up.
Lu Yuan quickly stuffed a pre-drawn aspiration-intercepting talisman inside but this wasn't finished yet.
He picked up the cinnabar brush and, by the faint moonlight, quickly sketched the remaining formation patterns on the back of the floor tile.
Lu Yuan was very nervous. This was the first time doing something so heaven-defying.
His level of nervousness was no less than when playing games as a child, about to encounter a jiangshi, yet unable to jump up the wall.
"Tsk~"
"You drew it wrong! This stroke goes to the right!"
The old man's voice suddenly rang out behind Lu Yuan.
[NEXT CHAPTER]