themonasnovels Chapter 256 [Ding! Congratulations on successfully slaying the demon!]
Chapter 256 [Ding! Congratulations on successfully slaying the demon!]
Chapter 256 [Ding, congratulations on successfully slaying the demon] (4200)
As the three words fell, the salt lines at the four corners of the altar spirit trembled simultaneously.
The remnants of thunder, broken banners, shredded paper, and the cold light of the sealing disc on the ground were all drawn up by this suppressing force.
Like four iron chains that had been waiting for a long time, they simultaneously tightened around its body from all directions.
The spirit of the altar made one last frantic struggle.
Its black aura surged, attempting to blast away the paper face, the shadow of the mat, and the lamp wick, making a final, all-or-nothing counterattack.
But Lu Yuan had already seen through his trick.
He abruptly stepped on the outer edge of the salt ring, slammed the Seven Star Sword in his hand down, its tip pointing directly at the vital point cracked in its chest, and uttered a low shout: "You can't afford to explode anymore."
This sentence is like a hammer striking ice.
The altar's ritual movements suddenly slowed down by half a beat.
That half-beat was enough to kill it.
Zhou Heng lunged forward, his short sword slashing across, and forcefully severed the last banner bone.
Lin Zhaoxuan gritted his teeth and slammed the Thunder Token onto the ground. The remaining lightning bolts shot out along the earth's veins and exploded into a fine electric net at the foot of the altar spirit.
The sealing disc in Song Qinghe's hand finally shone to its limit, and the faint light in the center of the disc transformed into an extremely cold white line, directly covering the head of the altar spirit.
Lu Yuan watched all of this without the slightest fluctuation in his eyes.
He only pushed the sword forward half an inch more.
Only half an inch.
But that half inch was sent precisely into the core of the last breath of malevolent energy from the altar's spirit.
The shrieking of the spirit at the altar abruptly ceased.
Its whole body trembled violently as if its bones and blood had been drained, and black energy emanated from its forehead, chest, and limbs at the same time.
Like an old robe burned through by fire, it is slowly turning to ash.
Its eyes first turned black, then became empty, and finally even the emptiness disappeared, leaving only two extremely faint wisps of smoke.
With a gentle sway in the wind, it scatters into fine dust.
At that moment, all the paper banners on the stone path spontaneously combusted without fire.
But the fire wasn't red; it was grayish-white and burned extremely slowly, like paper money dissolving on its own in the underworld.
The wick in the lamp went out completely, the lamp case fell to the ground with a slight cracking sound, and then shattered into several pieces.
The altar spirit's form began to collapse.
First the shoulders, then the back, then the legs, and finally the entire black image had a main bone pulled out from it and scattered with a bang.
Those paper faces, shadowy figures, black silk, and ashes that could barely hold on all lost their anchor and drifted aimlessly in the sky.
And then, under the cold radiance of the Seven Star Sword that suppressed the pass, it shrank little by little into ashes.
Lu Yuan did not immediately sheathe his sword.
He stood still, maintaining his most stable position, until the last bit of black energy from the altar was crushed by the salt rings and starlight.
It turned into a wisp of smoke, so faint it was almost invisible, and disappeared completely into the crack in the ground, leaving not even a trace of its presence.
The wind suddenly changed.
The oppressive chill that had been suffocating suddenly eased considerably.
The paper banners on both sides of the stone path hung down, looking like a few ordinary old papers, no longer flamboyant.
The folding lamp was now just an empty shell, lying quietly on the ground.
The malevolent energy within the white salt circle slowly subsided, the lingering thunder ceased its chaotic movement, and the faint light on the sealing plate finally extinguished, returning to a state of deathly silence.
Everyone then seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, as if waking from a nightmare.
Zhou Heng loosened his grip, and the short knife clattered onto the stone path. He leaned against the wall, panting heavily, as if he had just crawled out of an icy river.
Lin Zhaoxuan knelt on the ground, the Thunder Token still stuck in the soil. He looked up at the dissipated black shadows, his eyes somewhat dazed, as if he couldn't believe he had really won.
Song Qinghe slowly put the sealing disc back into her bosom, her fingertips still trembling, but she finally let out a long breath.
Wang Chengan and Xu Erxiao collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted, like empty shells who had survived a disaster.
Only then did Lu Yuan slowly lower the Seven Star Sword that guarded the pass.
The afterglow of the seventh star on the sword gradually dimmed, and the sixth and fifth stars also slowly disappeared.
In the end, all that remained was a cold, still iron, as if nothing had ever happened.
The spot where the sword guard touched Lu Yuan's palm was already stained dark with his blood.
His arm trembled, and he finally knelt on one knee. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he forced back the mouthful of blood that was rising in his throat.
"Lu Yuan!"
Song Qinghe hurriedly stepped forward.
Lu Yuan raised his hand to indicate that he was alright, then slowly raised his eyes to look at the now empty stone path.
He neither laughed nor spoke, but simply took a few breaths, as if to confirm that the evil spirit in the jar had truly dissipated completely.
Only after confirming that there was no further disturbance did he slowly retract the Seven Star Sword, his fingers still tightly gripping the hilt.
Because he knew that although this round was over, the price everyone paid was also considerable.
Their clothes were soaked with cold sweat, and their hands, faces, and cuffs were covered with blood, ash, salt, and scraps of paper.
The oppressive atmosphere that had been pressing down on both sides of the stone path, making it almost impossible to breathe, was finally buried by a silent snowfall, leaving only the wind blowing from the distant wilderness beyond the pass.
It carried a slightly dry, cool, but finally no longer sinister scent.
After catching his breath, Zhou Heng asked in a hoarse voice, "—Is it really over?"
Lu Yuan remained silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the burnt paper ashes, broken banner ribs, and extinguished lamp casings on the ground, before finally saying indifferently, "It's over."
"The spirit of the altar has dispersed."
"I've also overturned this altar of evil spirits."
After saying that, he slowly stood up.
The wind blew from the end of the stone path, fluttering the hem of his blood-stained clothes.
The sky outside the pass had already darkened, and the distant mountains looked like layers of pressing gray-black shadows. The snow had not yet arrived, but the chill had already come first.
But that previously omnipresent evil aura finally disappeared.
This battle was so dangerous, it felt like snatching a life from the jaws of death.
But they did win after all.
After the altar's offerings were finished, the Wild Man Valley became strangely quiet.
The oppressive aura that had chilled one's spine seemed to have been uprooted, and the old trees that had been rustling on both sides of the valley were now only swaying gently in the wind.
The stone path was littered with charred paper ash, broken banner bones, and scattered white salt, along with lamp casings, black threads, and broken talismans.
Swaying in the night wind, it slowly drifted towards the other side of the valley.
No one spoke.
The fierce battle just now was too intense and urgent. Everyone's mind is still on edge, like a string just pulled from the ice, ready to vibrate again at the slightest touch.
It wasn't until Lu Yuan sheathed the Seven Star Sword that he pointed to the side of the stone path that everyone truly came to their senses.
"Let's rest here for a while."
His voice was a little hoarse, but his tone was still steady.
"Don't rush to leave. The yin energy in the valley dissipates slowly. Let's calm the energy down first."
Zhou Heng plopped down on a bluestone half-buried in the soil and let out a long sigh.
He then placed the short knife he had been clutching on his lap and gave a bitter laugh.
"This is the first time in my life I've ever seen a paper face fly like that."
As he spoke, he raised his hand to wipe his face, his sleeves covered in dust: "If you hadn't pressed down on it so hard, that thing could have scared someone to death."
Lin Zhaoxuan sat down against an old elm tree, the Thunder Token lying across his lap, his fingertips still bearing traces of burn marks.
He glanced at the extinguished remains of the tidal flat lamps at the end of the valley and whispered, "It's not just scary, it's terrifying."
"This type of inauspicious seating arrangement is all about 'suppression'."
"Whoever causes chaos first loses."
"We've held on this time."
Song Qinghe didn't speak, but instead looked down to check the sealing disc.
The plate was badly cracked, with several fine lines on the rim that had turned white, clearly indicating that it had been stretched to its limit.
She turned the plate over, gently ran her fingertips along the crack, then sighed, but couldn't help showing a hint of relief mixed with lingering fear.
Xu Erxiao, standing to the side, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Luckily, Brother Lu reacted quickly."
"If we had been even half a cup of tea later, and the altar spirit had connected the air vents to the mat nails and the turning lamp, we probably wouldn't have been able to escape so easily."
""
Upon hearing this, Wang Chengan immediately shook his head vigorously, as if afraid that his words would attract some unclean things.
"Don't mention it, don't mention it."
"My legs felt like they weren't even mine when I was standing there."
"When those paper-faced people surrounded me, I thought I was going to die here today."
As the group chatted amongst themselves, their nerves, which had been taut to the point of almost snapping, gradually relaxed with each joke and banter.
The laughter was low, as if afraid of disturbing the lingering energy in the valley.
Lu Yuan did not sit down immediately.
He walked to the edge of the valley, stood on a wind-sheltered rock, placed the Seven Star Sword of Zhenguan across his knees, and slowly wiped away the bloodstains and ash from the sword.
The blade gleamed with a calm, cold light in the dim firelight. The previous menacing sharpness had been withdrawn, leaving only the steadiness unique to old objects.
Seeing his movements, Song Qinghe asked softly, "Is your wound alright?"
Lu Yuan glanced at her, his tone flat: "It's nothing."
"I took two hits on the shoulder from the backlash of yin energy, but it wasn't a serious injury."
"Just wipe it with hot water and apply some medicine afterwards."
He spoke casually, but Song Qinghe still noticed a tear in the fabric on his right shoulder, revealing a faint purplish-blue mark underneath.
It wasn't serious, just a scratch from the cold wind, the skin wasn't even broken, but it looked a bit scary.
She felt a little relieved and turned to pick up the talismans and utensils scattered on the ground.
After wiping his sword and sheathing it, Lu Yuan finally sat down by the stone.
The night wind in Savage Valley slanted in from the valley entrance, carrying a bit of residual heat from the rocks after being baked by the daytime sun, mixed with the chill of the night, but it felt quite comfortable on my face.
The shadows of several old trees in the valley stretched long, and the occasional chirping of unknown insects could be heard from under the trees, but the eerie and muffled sounds of before were gone.
Lin Zhaoxuan added two dry branches to the fire, and sparks flew up, illuminating the weariness on everyone's faces.
"They really know how to pick a place."
He looked into the depths of the valley, his voice still carrying a hint of lingering fear: "During the day, it just looked like a desolate valley, but once you're inside, you realize how many tricks are hidden there."
"Paper banners, flipping lanterns, mat nails, paper faces—one after another, as if they had been laid out in advance."
Zhou Heng twisted his neck and couldn't help but sigh, "Thank goodness Master Lu held on—"
"Otherwise, today—I'm afraid it will be difficult—"
That's true.
If Lu Yuan hadn't stabilized the situation at the beginning and suppressed two broken altar formations during the repeated counterattacks of the altar spirit, everyone's morale would probably have been dampened by this evil altar.
Especially in the final strike, the Seven Star Sword of Zhenguan crushed the altar bones of the spirit, finally bringing this terrible situation to a complete end.
Lu Yuan heard this but did not respond.
He looked up at the top of the valley.
Night had fallen, and a crescent moon slowly peeked out from behind the clouds.
The moonlight wasn't bright, but it was enough to illuminate the stone path in the valley with a cold white glow. In the distance, the mountain ridges resembled a hunched black spine, quiet and utterly silent.
"Don't travel tonight."
"We'll rest in the valley for the night. We'll look for the road again when it gets light."
No one objected.
Wang Chengan and Xu Erxiao were already feeling weak in the legs and wished they could find a place to lie down immediately. Upon hearing this, they quickly gathered some dry wood and helped to build a fire.
Zhou Heng then carefully inspected the stone path, gathering the remaining unburned banner bones and paper ash together to prevent any further mishaps during the night.
Lin Zhaoxuan then casually placed the Thunder Token on a flat stone, using the heat to slowly dry the dampness on it.
After Song Qinghe wrapped up the sealing plate, she also walked to the fire and sat down. She stretched out her hands to warm them, and the color in her face slowly returned.
The fire crackled, and the light made everyone's expressions seem much more relaxed than before.
Before long, Zhou Heng found a relatively flat piece of dead wood by the valley, trimmed the edges, and temporarily built a simple backrest for Lu Yuan.
He then took a cleaner coat from his own bag and the other two's bags and handed it over.
"Wear it for now."
"It's late at night in the valley, don't let the cold air seep into your wounds."
Lu Yuan took it, put it on, and nodded as a thank you.
The group gathered around the fire and began to quietly review the battle they had just fought.
"The most sinister thing about that altar for worshipping spirits is neither the paper face nor the lamp."
Lin Zhaoxuan thought for a moment and said, "It's its ability to exchange the altar for the mat root."
"If Fellow Daoist Lu hadn't stopped it when it changed its form, it might have really turned the tide."
Song Qinghe continued, "And there's that mat nail. It was hidden so well that if the jar cover hadn't been turned out at the end, no one would have known that the true core of the jar was actually there."
"The most feared thing about these old altars and shrines outside the Great Wall is that they can be twisted into a single force by evil magic."
"It looks messy, but it's all bones."
Zhou Heng nodded: "In the end, it's because we lack experience."
"I used to think that evil spirits only came to people, but who knew they could also borrow altars, feasts, lamps, and paper to turn a whole funeral into a harmful one."
The crowd spoke in hushed tones, and the atmosphere gradually calmed down.
The wind was not strong in the valley, but the firelight was bright. Several people were gathered together, which really looked like travelers from the Northeast during the Republic of China era who spent the night in a deserted valley.
Although they had almost perished here, those who were still alive now sat by the fire, finding even a breath of warmth precious.
Lu Yuan didn't say much.
He leaned against the stone and closed his eyes to rest for a while, until the energy in his body, which had been disrupted by the yin wind, slowly returned to normal before letting out a long breath.
The fire gradually dwindled, and the temperature in the valley also dropped.
Seeing this, Song Qinghe got up and took out a few pieces of dried biscuits and a small bag of fried noodles from her bag, and distributed them to everyone.
Although none of the food was hot, having some dry rations to tide you over in this kind of place was already a rare treat.
As the night deepened, the valley fell completely silent.
Only the soft rustling of firewood remained by the campfire, and occasionally a gust of wind swept across the valley entrance, causing the shadows of the trees to sway gently.
The mountain road in the distance was dark and gloomy, showing no sign of anything unusual.
After the spirit of the altar dissipated, the oppressive yin energy in the valley finally receded, leaving only the night dew of the mountains and the clear light of the cold moon.
Lu Yuan leaned against the stone, his expression calm, as if he were waiting for something.
That night is over.
With the spirit of the altar dead and the altar of the Fiend overturned, everyone was finally able to catch their breath in the Savage Valley.
Although the road ahead may not be entirely smooth, at least for now, they have personally suppressed this most dangerous situation.
The firelight flickered gently, illuminating everyone's slightly tired but finally settled faces.
Deep in the Savage Valley, only the wind slowly travels through.
At that moment, a clear, cold voice appeared in Lu Yuan's ear.
[Ding! Congratulations on successfully slaying the demon!]
[Reward: Cultivation Points]