noveltune Chapter 244 Heavenly Fire Illuminates the Heavenly Path, Earthly Fire Illuminates the Earthly Gate!
Chapter 244 Heavenly Fire Illuminates the Heavenly Path, Earthly Fire Illuminates the Earthly Gate!
Chapter 244 Heavenly Fire Illuminates the Heavenly Path, Earthly Fire Illuminates the Earthly Gate! (4200)
Just as Lu Yuan's "ancestral fire" surged from his chest, and before the warm light at the end of the stone path had fully settled, the entire Yin Altar was suddenly lifted up from below by some giant hand.
First, the ground.
Those white lines that were originally hidden in the cracks of the rocks suddenly straightened up, emitting a thin but extremely sharp "buzzing" sound, like countless old needles scraping across a copper plate at the same time.
Immediately afterwards, the red and white paper banners on both sides of the stone path pressed down towards the middle, and the paper faces behind the banners bulged up one by one, as if life was rising from within.
Looking at the shrinking coffin again, the lid did not move anymore, but the mound of earth, the ash ring, the incense ash, and the salt line around the coffin opening all began to sink slightly.
It's like the whole road is sliding down into a bigger opening.
Zhou Heng was the first to sense something was wrong and whispered sharply, "Fellow Daoist Lu, the altar is closing!"
Lu Yuan's face was ashen, his left palm still held high, while his right palm was pressed down in front of his chest, as if he were nailed to the eye of the storm.
He didn't answer, but gritted his teeth, and the ancestral fire energy that had just surged up in his body was forcibly raised another half inch.
Don't panic.
He said in a deep voice, "It's not about closing the jar; it's about turning it upside down."
Song Qinghe's face paled: "Reverse deduction?"
"Yes." Lu Yuan's eyes were as cold as ice: "It previously turned this section of the stone path in Savage Gully into a Yin Altar. Now that I have forced the altar's eye to light up, it wants to turn the whole altar over and put the people, lamps, books, shadows, and coffins inside all at the bottom of the altar."
Upon hearing this, Lin Zhaoxuan's forehead immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He gently trembled the Thunder Token in his palm: "If we really turn it against us, will we become mere offerings in a jar?"
"Exactly." Lu Yuan said very quickly: "So we have to twist the foot of the jar off-center before it's completely sealed."
Zhou Heng took a deep breath, slowly lowering his sword, but his gaze hardened: "What do you want me to do?"
Lu Yuan didn't reply immediately. Instead, he turned to look at Song Qinghe and whispered, "Miss Song, your plate doesn't just reflect the yin-yang symbol; there's a 'directional' element within it."
"Use it as a compass to find the southern vein at the foot of the altar."
Song Qinghe was taken aback: "The base of the altar has north and south?"
Lu Yuan explained quickly: "All altars have a direction, but the direction of the yin altar is especially important."
"This altar adopts the old method of traditional banquets outside the Great Wall. The base of the altar is determined according to the position of the North Star, the main position faces the northwest, and the inauspicious direction is in the southeast."
"If it really wants to close up, the first thing to close will be the path back to the main seat between the culprit and the host's seat."
"7
"If we can lift a corner of the path to the banquet, the jar will not be destroyed."
Song Qinghe felt a chill run down her spine, but dared not hesitate. She quickly held the sealing disc to her chest, pinched the edge of the disc with both hands, and turned it slightly.
The yin-yang symbol in the dish was originally rotating in reverse, but she forcibly moved it to the upright position, and the cold light immediately became extremely stable, slowly sweeping across the ground.
She whispered, "To the southeast—there's a very thin gray vein, like it's being pressed down by something."
Lu Yuan's eyes lit up: "That's it!"
He suddenly took three steps in reverse, almost gliding along the salt line. Although the short knife was not drawn, the end of the scabbard tapped lightly on the ground.
"Zhou Heng, cut the base of the banner, but not the body!"
"Lin Zhaoxuan, lightning strikes the southeast, but won't split the coffin!"
"Cheng'an, Erxiao, follow Miss Song's guidance, sprinkle salt along the gray veins, don't scatter!"
Everyone immediately did as instructed.
Zhou Heng's sword moved like the wind, grazing the white banner on the right side, not slicing the paper, but cutting the two black lines binding the banner's feet.
As soon as the black line broke, the white banner immediately slumped down on one side and stopped pushing towards the center.
Lin Zhaoxuan then slightly turned the Thunder Token to the side, pointing the tip at the southeast evil point, and hurriedly chanted: "Nine Heavens Thunder Ancestor above, lend me a thread to open the altar nail."
"No splitting of the coffin, no dismemberment of the corpse, just nailing a nail to the base of the altar, an inch deep!"
"If there's a mouth in the southeast, seal its throat first; if there's a road in the northwest, borrow its boat temporarily; if thunder comes but doesn't rumble, if thunder comes but doesn't sound, first cut off the return banquet, then cut off the yin lamp!"
"Imperial Edict!"
When the word "edict" was uttered, the Thunder Commander did not spew thunder, but instead emitted a very thin wisp of white-blue lightning, which pierced through the crack in the ground like a needle.
"Smack."
A small plume of black smoke immediately rose from the crack in the ground to the southeast, like an animal hide pierced by a needle.
The thin gray vein, which was originally very fine, suddenly trembled, revealing a dark brown wood grain underneath, as if the bones of an urn had been exposed.
"I've seen the wood!"
Song Qinghe exclaimed in surprise.
Lu Yuan's gaze was sharp as a blade: "The exposed wood of the jar is just right."
After saying that, he suddenly stopped, his scabbard slammed to the ground, and he squatted cross-legged, his left palm supporting the sky without moving, while his right palm slowly flipped in front of his chest.
They displayed a very rare "altar-flipping technique".
This "Turning Altar Technique" is not a seal for attack, but rather an extremely difficult "turning point" technique to use within the Taoist school.
With the left index finger pressing against the back of the middle finger, the thumb hooking the base of the ring finger, and the remaining three fingers slightly bent as if holding a seal; with the right palm facing down, the five fingers are naturally spread out.
It's like pressing an invisible tabletop on the ground.
He slowly uttered a spell, his voice not loud, but each word as steady as iron: "The altar has altar bones, and the bones have altar hearts."
""
"If the heart is not upright, the bones will not be at peace."
"I turn his bones with my left hand, and I press his heart with my right hand."
"One turn to the underworld, one press down on the gates of life."
"
"I'll flip you over until you can't tell north from south, I'll crush you until you're speechless and nowhere to be seen!!"
"rise!"
As he uttered the last word, Lu Yuan slammed his right palm down onto the ground.
The entire stone path emitted a low, booming sound.
It wasn't a mountain shaking or rocks cracking, but rather like some old jar tiles buried deep underground were suddenly and violently lifted.
The dark brown wood grain at the southeast corner suddenly arched, revealing half an inch of the edge of the jar bone.
The white lines on the ground immediately became tangled, and the altar pattern that was originally converging towards the center was torn open.
The host's expression changed for the first time.
It stood before the coffin, its already thin body appearing even longer, like a black wooden stake wrapped in old paper.
Two bluish-white sparks slowly emerged from its hollow eye sockets. As soon as the sparks lit up, it turned its gaze to the southeast.
"Someone disturbed the urn containing the bones."
It whispered.
The paper-masked man hugged the cracked cloth, his body beginning to tremble slightly.
Black, oily liquid kept seeping from the cracks in its white paper mask, clearly indicating that the formation was being overturned more and more violently, and it was about to lose control.
"Master————"
It wanted to say something, but was forced to retreat by a gust of cold wind from the coffin opening.
Before the other party could react, Lu Yuan immediately shouted, "Now!"
"Zhou Heng cuts the paper, Lin Zhaoxuan presses down the lamp, and Song Qinghe follows me to turn the bones!"
Zhou Heng remained silent, and his sword flashed suddenly. Instead of striking the person, he only cut the edge of the thin book in the masked man's hand.
The thin book had been half-cut off by the lightning and sword intent just now.
At this moment, after being struck by another sword, the remaining pages scattered with a "whoosh," and several fragments flew up and were instantly swept away by the cold wind that swirled up in the stone path.
As soon as the pages of the book were scattered, the blue and white lamps that had been supported by the book on both sides of the stone path immediately began to sway.
Upon seeing this, Lin Zhaoxuan immediately pressed down the Thunder Token and uttered a "Lamp-Suppressing Incantation": "A lamp has a root, and the root is in the wick."
"Without a nameless lamp, a door cannot be opened at night."
"I'll use lightning to suppress your core, suppressing it until you're pale and your soul is gone."
"One breath, one nail; one nail, one sinking; nailing your lamp stand, you won't be able to turn things around!"
"Imperial Edict!"
When the thunderous decree descended, it did not strike the coffin or the people, but instead swept towards the flames of the nearest few blue and white lamps.
With a few soft "poof" sounds, the flame seemed to be extinguished, and it immediately shrank by half.
As the lamp went lower, the shadow behind the seated person also shrank.
Lu Yuan saw it clearly and immediately shouted sharply, "Its shadow is shrinking!"
"quick!"
As he spoke, he raised his short knife, tip pointing downwards, and swiftly drew three extremely fine lines along the gray vein illuminated by Song Qinghe's light.
The three marks formed a "品" shape, landing precisely on the exposed edge of the jar bone.
"The celestial marks are the door, the terrestrial marks are the lock."
"The central mark will serve as a pillar, holding up your dark, shady bones!"
"I don't ask for the creation of the world, I only ask for a sliver of space in your home!"
"Miss Song, focus on the third mark, don't miss it!"
At this moment, Song Qinghe could no longer care about being frightened. She held the plate with both hands, and the cold light of the yin-yang fish steadily suppressed the third mark.
She felt a sudden heat in the center of the jar, followed by a chill, as if some extremely subtle force was being drawn from her palm to mend the rim of the jar that Lu Yuan had cut open.
"Mr. Lu, there seems to be something blocking the top of the forum!"
"Let it rise!"
Lu Yuan shouted, "The harder you push, the more of the jar's bones will be exposed!"
Sure enough, in just a few breaths, a fine crack slowly appeared on the edge of the wood grain at the southeast corner.
When the opening appeared, there were no treasures inside, nor did any corpse energy leak out. Instead, a layer of gray-white, finely scaled old jar bricks was revealed.
Each of those gray bricks was engraved with very faint runes, like the "bone-suppressing bricks" used by Taoist priests in ancient times when they used altars to suppress evil spirits.
"This is the bottom layer of the old altar!"
Lin Zhaoxuan exclaimed in surprise, "There was originally an altar here!"
Lu Yuan's expression was calm, but his voice was even lower: "It wasn't that there was originally an altar; someone borrowed the old altar to bury a new one."
"This game at Savage Valley is even more complicated than we expected."
As he said this, a thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately realized an even more terrifying truth.
This altar for the dead is not a recent creation, but rather a result of several layers of ancient practices, including the Liaodong Old Temple, the Mountain Ghost Banquet, the Guest House outside the Great Wall, and the old burial ground.
Its most ruthless aspect lies not in its tactics, but in its "borrowing".
By borrowing the terrain, the old altar, the names of people, and the faces of the dead, they twisted together the originally unrelated entities into a single line.
As long as the thread remains unbroken, this jar can be kept alive again and again.
"No wonder there's another lamp under the lamp."
Lu Yuan felt a chill run down his spine: "It's not a single mat at all; it's several mats stacked together."
As if hearing his thoughts, the host slowly raised his head and chuckled softly, "You finally figured it out."
"So what if you can tell?"
With a flick of its sleeve, the black thread within suddenly burst forth again, but this time it didn't spread out towards the crowd; instead, it pierced fiercely towards the newly exposed old altar brick.
"It needs to replenish the bones in the jar!"
Lu Yuan shouted sharply, "Stop it!"
Zhou Heng's longsword suddenly shot out, the blade sweeping across the air and forcefully severing the two foremost strands of black lines.
But the broken black line didn't fall to the ground; instead, it seemed to curl back up like ink-stained silk, continuing from the other end.
Lin Zhaoxuan gritted his teeth, raised the Thunder Token high, and for the first time, instead of pressing down the lamp, turned it towards the paper mask figure.
"Lei Zu, lend me five parts of your fire, and I'll burn your paper-thin shell!"
"You're not the mastermind, but an accomplice!"
"Once the cardboard is torn, the ancestral altar will lose a corner!"
'
"Imperial Edict!"
The bluish-white lightning bolt flew out from the tip of the command, this time not in a straight line, but circling around the top of the paper mask's head in a semi-circle, landing directly on the right cheek of the paper mask.
"Sizzle!"
The paper mask charred and curled at the edges immediately upon being struck by lightning, and the crack widened rapidly. A bluish-gray face was revealed inside.
His face wasn't young; in fact, he had the appearance of a somewhat thin scholar.
His skin was pale and bloodless, his eye sockets were sunken, and his lips were dry and thin like two pieces of faded paper.
The strangest thing was that there was a very faint red mark on his forehead, like someone who had received a seal at a temple outside the Great Wall in the old days.
When he revealed his true appearance, the master's eyelids twitched slightly.
"So you're the survivor."
The host said in a low voice.
The man trembled, as if his true soul had finally been forced out of the cardboard box by lightning. His lips trembled a few times, and he managed to squeeze out a sentence with a sob in his voice: "I—I didn't mean to—"
Lu Yuan's gaze darkened: "You were not the mastermind after all."
"You were chosen to 'hold the register'."
The man trembled as he looked up, his eyes filled with fear. He seemed to want to say something, but a black thread from the master's sleeve silently wrapped around his neck.
His expression changed drastically, and he made a soft "gurgling" sound in his throat.
"Help—help me—"
Lu Yuan's eyes turned cold. He abruptly turned his short sword around, the back of the blade snapping in mid-air as he shouted, "Binding Thread, loosen!"
"Lend me your sword's energy to sever your ties!"
"open!"
With a ripple of sword energy, the black thread wrapped around the opponent's neck snapped off by an inch.
At the same time, the host suddenly revealed a very light and cold smile: "Then it's your turn to hold the book."
As soon as he finished speaking, a damp, cold page of paper floated silently through the air and landed squarely on Lu Yuan's forehead.
The ink on the paper was still wet, and two words were faintly visible.
"Here we are."
Lu Yuan's pupils contracted sharply, and he raised his right hand with a short knife. The copper coin on the back of the knife trembled, as if he were about to forcefully shred the page of paper.
But just as the blade touched the paper, a strong sense of vigilance suddenly arose in his heart.
You cannot kill him.
This page is not meant to hurt him, but to "remember him".
Once those two words are firmly attached, the Yin Altar will recognize him as one of the guests.
At that time, no matter how he cuts, breaks, or ignites, he will be regarded as a guest of this altar, and any move he makes will be considered "beating the mat," which is tantamount to self-harm.
"Zhou Heng!"
Lu Yuan shouted sharply, his voice almost splitting the wind: "Break the lamp for me!"
Zhou Heng was startled, then sprang up, crashing into the nearest swaying bluish-white lamppost like a tiger.
"Bang!"
The lamppost tilted, the light flickered suddenly, and the page of "At the Seat" also tilted slightly.
Lu Yuan seized this brief opening, took a few quick steps, and spun in an arc as if skimming the ground.
With a swift slap of the back of the short knife, he forcefully slapped the page of paper into the crack of the old jar bricks that had been turned over on the ground.
"Bang!"
The paper fell through the seam and immediately scorched into a small clump of black ash.
"That was close!" Song Qinghe exclaimed, a cold sweat breaking out on her back.
The host's gaze darkened slightly, and for the first time he truly looked at Lu Yuan, as if he were reassessing him.
"You understand the situation."
"He also accepts his fate."
Lu Yuan met its gaze without fear, his voice cold and hard: "I only know one thing."
"You're not sitting at a feast, you're sitting in the seat of the dead."
"This seat was never reserved for you."
Upon hearing this, the two bluish-white sparks in the empty eye sockets of the seat master suddenly became extremely bright.
"A dead man's position?"
It repeated softly, as if hearing something ancient and laughable: "Do you know how many people are buried under this mat, how many people have sat here?"
"If a seat is empty, a ghost shall sit in it."
"If you don't acknowledge the host, the host will naturally acknowledge you."
"In the remote gullies beyond the Great Wall, which old coffin didn't come from this kind of history?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan's heart tightened.
He knew that the other party was stalling for time.
Because the edge of the jar bone that he had turned over was now revealing an increasingly large piece of old jar brick under the combined effects of the black line and the cold wind.
If it were just half an inch longer, the broken hole could be repaired using the jar bone.
"We can't delay any longer."
Lu Yuan suddenly bit the tip of his tongue and spat it onto the back of the short knife.
A mouthful of blood from the tip of his tongue fell onto the copper coin on the back of the knife, and the coin instantly seemed to ignite, emitting a layer of dark gold-red light.
"Didn't you want to identify your seat?"
"I'll light a 'yang lamp' for you."
Lu Yuan suddenly looked up, took three quick steps, and recited another extremely rare "Invocation of the Yang Lamp": "The Yang Lamp does not invite ghosts, the Ghost Lamp does not shine on people."
"Heavenly fire illuminates the heavenly path, earthly fire illuminates the earthly gate."
"I borrow a touch of warmth from the human world to illuminate the last speck of dust on your dark altar!!"
"The lamp does not fall from the mat, the mat does not fall from the soul; the lamp shines like the sun, and when the sun rises, there is no shadow!!"
"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!"