madnovel Chapter 180 Now... it's up to you.
Chapter 180 Now... it's up to you.
Chapter 180 Now... it's up to you. (4800)
Lu Yuan's final, almost roaring curse exploded in the low earthen house, causing dust to fall from the roof beams.
Lu Yuan grabbed Hu Huhu by the collar and almost lifted the short, stocky man off the ground.
Those eyes, which usually held a hint of laziness or calculation, were now burning with intense heat.
"Did they stuff donkey hair in their ears?!"
Lu Yuan's voice snapped, filled with a burning impatience and agitation.
"I've been arguing with you for ages, can't you tell I'm serious?!"
"Or do you think I'm just bored and making fun of your trivial matters?!"
Hu Huhu was being held by him, the collar of his gray cotton-padded jacket tightening around his neck until it turned red, making it difficult for him to breathe.
But the ashen numbness and disbelief on his face were like a thick scab that couldn't be peeled off.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Lu Yuan didn't give him the chance.
"Your nonsense, whether you're a Celestial Master or a Taoist Priest, is useless!"
Lu Yuan abruptly released his grip, and Hu Huhu staggered, only managing to regain his balance by grabbing the earthen bed beside him.
Lu Yuan stopped looking at him and paced around the room irritably, pointing his thumb to his chin.
"They're no good! They're useless! They're incompetent!"
"What does this have to do with me, Lu Yuan, and my Zhenlong Temple?!"
Lu Yuan turned around abruptly to face Hu Huhu again, his chest heaving with intense emotions.
"Okay, I admit it, your wife's situation is troublesome and tricky, otherwise I wouldn't be here talking to you about it."
Lu Yuan's voice lowered, but became even more forceful, each word sounding as if it were being chiseled out from between his teeth.
"But have you forgotten, Hu Hu Hu? Who told you that your daughter, Hu Tu Tu, had a paper doll body?!"
""
"Who told you that your wife's soul hasn't dissipated, and that you've just managed to keep it hanging outside with those nonsensical rubbish contraptions?!"
"It's me!!"
Lu Yuan pointed to his own nose, his eyes fierce as if he wanted to devour someone.
"Did any of those lousy Taoist masters you hired figure out the true secrets of this courtyard?!"
"Is there anyone who can tell you with as much certainty as I can that your wife's soul is still there, just tied down?!"
He took a step forward, almost pressing himself against Hu Huhu's face, his spittle nearly hitting the other man's face.
"You think I'm just bragging to you?!"
"Since I dare to say it, I have a way to do it!!"
Lu Yuan's voice rose again, carrying an undeniable arrogance.
"Now, stop being such a coward and listen to me properly!"
"Are you going to let me have my way or not?!"
"I'm fucking out of time too!!"
Lu Yuan's final, almost roaring question was like a heavy hammer blow, shattering the ashen numbness on Hu Huhu's face.
He staggered to his feet, breathing heavily, the red marks on his neck from being strangled particularly glaring in the dim light.
He stared into Lu Yuan's burning, unquestionable eyes, his chest heaving violently.
The sound coming from his throat was like a broken bellows.
After a long while, just as Lu Yuan's patience was about to run out, Hu Hu Hu finally made his move.
He moved extremely slowly, as if using all his strength, and raised his rough, mud-covered hand to wipe his face.
When I wiped my eyelids with the back of my hand, it seemed to pick up a little moisture.
But when he put his hand down, all that remained on his face was a rough, calm expression honed by life.
But something cracked deep within those murky eyes.
And then something else, with a desperate, all-or-nothing resolve, struggled out of the crack.
"----all."
A single word was squeezed out from Hu Huhu's cracked lips, hoarse, yet carrying the weight of a stone falling to the ground.
He paused, took a deep breath as if to expel the stale air that had been building up in his chest for years, and then continued, speaking slowly but with exceptional clarity: "I—I'm going to prepare the paper figures."
"The best paper, the best pulp, I'll glue it myself."
"It has to be just like the one Rabbit had back then—no, it has to be even better."
"It must be tied tightly, the eyebrows and eyes must resemble hers, and the figure must also resemble hers—"
As he spoke, his eyes glazed over, as if he could already see the paper figure that was about to take shape, and that elusive hope.
"Master Lu."
Hu Huhu raised his head and, for the first time, looked at Lu Yuan with an almost pleading gaze.
"Once you summon her soul back, you will put it into the paper figure."
"Just like a rabbit—able to talk, able to walk, able to recognize me, able to remember sheep and rabbit—that's enough."
"If you can stay with me—that's enough—"
Before he could finish speaking, his voice choked up, and a faint light flickered in his cloudy eyes—an almost humble hope.
"fart!"
Lu Yuan interrupted him without hesitation, his voice cold and hard, leaving no room for negotiation.
He stepped forward, his gaze sharp as a knife, piercing the pitiful hope in Hu Hu Hu's eyes.
"Hu Hu Hu, have you really been driven mad by all these years of torment?!"
Lu Yuan's voice carried an almost cruel clarity.
"Your daughter, Hu Tutu, had just passed away, her soul on the verge of dissipation. You used your Tiger family's secret technique to forcefully 'restore' her soul into a paper effigy before it completely left her body and before her consciousness was completely extinguished!"
"That was striking while the iron was hot, a gamble to survive!"
Lu Yuan pointed at Hu Huhu, his finger almost touching the tip of the other's nose.
"Where's your wife?!"
"How many years has she been gone?!"
"Her soul was forcibly suspended outside by you using that nonsensical 'Soul-Locking Reversal Array.'"
"Neither up nor down, neither returning nor parting, exposed to wind and sun, enduring unknown entanglements and wear and tear, how many years have passed?!"
"How could it possibly be a complete soul?!"
Lu Yuan's words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Hu Huhu's heart, which had just begun to ignite.
"I'm telling you clearly."
Lu Yuan spoke slowly and deliberately, each word like a nail hammered into Hu Huhu's ears.
"Even if I were to go to great lengths to summon back that last remnant of your soul, it would no longer be the complete 'person' it once was!"
"His intelligence has been almost completely worn away, and his memories have probably long since faded!"
"If you press it into the paper doll now, it won't be your wife!"
"It will only become a lifeless, dull, speechless block of wood, barely clinging to her spirit!"
"A living dead, even worse than a tiger or a rabbit!"
Hu Huhu's body trembled violently, and the color drained from his face at a visible speed, turning it deathly pale.
His lips trembled; he wanted to retort, but no sound came out.
The scene Lu Yuan described was like the most vicious curse, shattering his last bit of self-deceptive fantasy.
"Is that what you want?!"
Lu Yuan pressed him, his voice not loud, but it was so forceful it made it hard to breathe.
"A fool disguised as your wife is always hanging around in front of you."
"It reminds you of how much she suffered and what a horrible mess she ended up in!!"
"Hu Hu Hu, wake up, you fucking idiot!"
Lu Yuan took a deep breath and softened his tone, but the coldness and determination in his voice remained undiminished.
"What I can do is find her and pull back her last remaining trace of her soul, the one still connected to your Tiger family bloodline and still recognizing this home, from that wretched, insignificant place."
"Then, let her soul return to her original body, even if all that's left is a handful of soil, that's where she belongs."
"Let her have a place to settle down, end this tragic relationship, leave this world cleanly, be buried in peace, and be reincarnated."
Looking at Hu Huhu's distraught face, Lu Yuan's voice was low and clear: "Should we continue to let her suffer in the cracks between life and death, deceiving herself with an empty shell, or should we let her truly find liberation?"
"Tiger Hu Hu, you choose."
"But I want to tell you that the latter is what's best for her, best for you, and best for your two daughters."
"The former will only drag you and your whole family into another endless and more painful abyss."
After Lu Yuan finished speaking, he stopped urging him and just looked coldly at Hu Huhu.
The only sounds in the house were the crackling of firewood burning in the stove and Hu Huhu's heavy, labored breathing, like a broken bellows.
Lu Yuan's words were like a cold knife, scraping away Hu Huhu's last bit of self-deceiving illusion.
The color drained from his face, his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word.
But his hunched body swayed even more violently, as if it would fall apart at any moment.
The firelight flickered in the stove, reflecting in his murky eyes that had completely lost their luster, leaving only a deathly, ashen look.
The long silence seemed to freeze the low, earthen house in place.
Only Hu Huhu's heavy breathing and the increasingly faint but never extinguished crackling sound of the stove fire could be heard.
Finally, Hu Huhu nodded very slowly.
The movement was so small it was almost invisible, yet it seemed to have used all his strength.
He didn't look at Lu Yuan again, his gaze falling on his own rough hands, covered in black mud, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing: "Master Lu—you're right."
"It was me—it was me who was confused."
"For so many years—I've been too greedy—always thinking, always thinking she could come back, that things could be like before—"
He choked up for a moment, raised his hand, and wiped his face hard with his dirty sleeve.
When she put it down again, only a numb calm remained on her face.
But deep in those eyes lay an undeniable, enormous emptiness and—a trace of resigned relief.
"————I————choose the second path."
"Let her leave—cleanly and without any blemish."
After Hu Huhu finished speaking, it was as if half of his energy and spirit had been instantly drained away, and his back hunched even lower.
He said nothing more, but silently turned around and walked towards the west room of the earthen house.
Lu Yuan didn't say anything, but followed after him.
The west room was darker and narrower than the main room, filled with clutter and smelling of dust and old things.
Hu Huhu walked to a dilapidated wooden cabinet against the wall, squatted down, and groped around at the bottom of the cabinet with both hands.
There was a soft "click" sound, as if some mechanism had been triggered.
The wooden cabinet silently slid half a foot to the side, revealing a dark, narrow opening behind it, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
A chilling aura, a mixture of strange earth and preservative herbs, seeped eerily from the cave entrance.
Hu Huhu took out a tinderbox from his pocket, blew on it, and the dim light barely illuminated the few simple stone steps leading down from the cave entrance.
He glanced back at Lu Yuan with a complicated look in his eyes, then silently lowered his head and went inside.
Lu Yuan frowned, but without hesitation, he followed closely behind.
The stone steps were short, only seven or eight steps, but the further down you went, the stronger the cold and mixed herbal smell became.
After descending the stone steps, there is a narrow passageway that can only accommodate one person at a time.
Surprisingly, the earthen walls on both sides of the passageway were not empty; instead, every few steps, a shallow niche was carved out.
In each niche, a small, white candle was lit.
The candle flame was small and burned quietly, almost frozen in place.
The candlelight emitted a cold, devoid of any warmth.
Lu Yuan glanced at the scene and felt a slight chill run down his spine.
Seven-Star Soul-Locking Lamp.
It's not a real lamp, but rather candlelight to simulate star positions.
The distribution of these seven niches, seemingly random, actually corresponds to the positions of the seven stars of the Big Dipper: Tian Shu, Tian Xuan, Tian Ji, Tian Quan, Yu Heng, Kai Yang, and Yao Guang.
The candlelight is cold and white, without smoke or fragrance. This is to simulate starlight, using the power of constellations and a specific yin earth environment to form a low-end "star lock" formation.
Used to stabilize and restrain something, preventing it from "scattering" or "losing its position".
This is usually used to temporarily stabilize those extremely unstable and easily disintegrating fragments of the soul.
Or—to suppress certain restless spirits.
It is quite expensive, and the specially made candles that have been enchanted need to be replaced regularly, making it difficult to maintain.
Hu Huhu went to great lengths to preserve the last remnant of his wife's soul, employing many of the Hu family's most secret methods.
Of course, this is a Taoist technique, which Lu Yuan had used several times before, so he naturally recognized it.
Lu Yuan thought to himself, but kept walking.
At the end of the passageway was a low wooden door, its panels worn and old.
The surface was painted with dark red, dried, and blackened paint, depicting twisted, indistinct patterns that exuded an eerie aura.
Hu Huhu reached out his hand, but instead of pushing the door open, he tapped seven times on a specific spot on the door panel with his finger in a strange rhythm.
"Click".
The wooden door opened automatically inwards, releasing an even stronger aroma that blended a strange medicinal fragrance with a faint scent of humus.
Inside the door was a small stone chamber, much more orderly than the earthen house above, square in shape, about ten feet in size.
There were no skylights inside; the only lighting came from four oil lamps burning in the four corners of the stone chamber.
And in the center of the stone chamber, there was a small, bean-sized oil lamp placed at the head of a simple stone bed.
Lu Yuan's gaze swept across the room's furnishings with lightning speed.
The four-cornered oil lamps had eerie, ghostly blue flames that burned silently without emitting any smoke.
This is the "Four Directions Soul-Stabilizing Lamp," which uses the power of the four directions to stabilize the space.
It isolates the body from external and internal disturbances, preventing the soul from being affected by changes in yin and yang.
The oil must have been mixed with special soul-stabilizing spices and yin-attribute materials.
The most crucial element was the small oil lamp by the bedside.
The lamp was made of rough black pottery, the oil was cloudy, and the wick was extremely thin.
The flames were so weak they seemed ready to go out at any moment, yet they stubbornly shone, emitting a faint, warm light with a fishy smell.
This is a "Life-Continuing Lamp," in which the lamp oil is inevitably mixed with the deceased's blood, hair, or personal belongings, and the wick is also related to the deceased's birth date and time.
As long as this lamp remains lit, it means that the last connection between the deceased and the living world has not been completely severed.
The body can thus maintain its "living" state to the greatest extent possible and resist decay.
However, this method is extremely taxing on the energy and lifespan of the person lighting the lamp, and the lamp oil formula is demanding, making it difficult to maintain.
On the stone bed, a woman lay quietly.
When Lu Yuan's gaze fell on her, his pupils contracted slightly.
The woman was dressed in coarse cloth clothes that had been washed until they were faded, her hair was neatly combed, her face was serene, and her eyes were closed.
The skin had an unnatural, almost transparent pale color, but there were not many signs of decay, only that the skin was slightly shrunken and wrinkled.
It really looked like it was asleep, but it was sleeping so soundly that it seemed like it would never wake up.
Eight or nine years have passed since her death, and the fact that she has maintained her appearance in this way is due to the special environment of this underground stone chamber.
The "Life-Sustaining Lamp" and the surrounding "Seven Star Soul Locking" and "Four Directions Soul Stabilizing" arrangements played an indispensable role.
At the foot of the bed, on the floor, was a brass basin filled halfway with a clear, slightly silvery liquid.
Lu Yuan's nostrils twitched slightly as he caught a faint scent of a mixture of "rootless water" and "moonlight dew".
It also appears to contain some calming and tranquilizing medicinal powders.
This is "purifying water for the soul," not for the living, but for regularly wiping the body of the deceased.
Wash away any lingering negative energy that may have accumulated, keeping the body "clean".
So that if the soul were to return, it could more easily "attach".
A clean white coarse cloth was draped over the edge of the basin.
The entire stone chamber was silent and cold, yet it also exuded an eerie sense of "meticulous maintenance."
Every arrangement and every item points to the same purpose.
At any cost, preserve this body and wait for the almost impossible "return of the soul".
Hu Huhu stood by the stone bed, his back hunched, quietly watching his wife who seemed to be fast asleep.
He didn't cry or say anything; he just stared at her for a long time.
The dim candlelight and the ghostly blue lamplight mingled, casting flickering shadows on his rough face.
Finally, he slowly turned around to face Lu Yuan, his voice hoarse as if he had been trekking through the desert for a long time: "Master Lu, this is it."
"My wife's body is right here."
"Over the years, I've done everything I could."
""
"Now—it's up to you."
""