infodatos Chapter 179 Are you Erduolong?!
Chapter 179 Are you Erduolong?!
Chapter 179 Are you Erduolong?! (4600)
Lu Yuan's words completely stunned Hu Huhu.
Hu Huhu looked at Lu Yuan with disbelief in his cloudy eyes.
Hu Huhu never expected that Lu Yuan would suddenly say such a thing.
As for how Lu Yuan knew—
"Let's speak frankly and openly."
Stop pretending.
"Now, I will go and retrieve your wife's soul."
"Then you will take me to my master, and I promise that as long as my master returns safely, I will still ask him to help with Tiger and Rabbit's problem!"
Lu Yuan's hand gripped Hu Huhu's shoulder, and the light of thunder magic seeped out from between his fingers, purplish-white, with a faint "sizzling" sound.
Hu Huhu's shoulders were trembling slightly.
It wasn't fear, but rather the burning sensation from the lightning; a wisp of blue smoke rose from the shoulder of the cotton-padded jacket.
Then, Lu Yuan released his hand from Hu Huhu's shoulder, and the power of the thunder magic on his body gradually dissipated.
But his face remained expressionless.
Hu Huhu stared at Lu Yuan in shock, his mouth agape, unable to utter a single word.
Hu Huhu felt that he knew a great deal about what he had learned outside the Great Wall.
This is naturally because of the connection between the Xu Denghu family and the "gods" outside the pass, so Hu Huhu knows many things and many secrets.
However, Hu Hu Hu truly had no idea how Lu Yuan had found out about his wife's affair.
This kid—
How did they know that?!
and----
He said—he could save them?!
Could it be that he knows the truth?!
Did Yangyang say that?!
impossible!!
Even the tiger and sheep wouldn't know about that!
Lu Yuan knew with absolute certainty that his wife's soul was lost and could not be found again.
he----
Hu Huhu broke out in a cold sweat.
At this moment, Lu Yuan still stared straight at Hu Huhu with a blank expression.
As for how Lu Yuan knew—
That's because—
The sentence that Tiger Sheep said back then was about what happened to Xu Deng's family back then.
Back then, when Tiger Rabbit and Tiger Sheep's mother gave birth to them, Tiger Sheep was born first.
When it came time to have tiger and rabbit puppies later, it didn't work.
In the end, their mother, and even Tiger Rabbit, were all gone.
Then, Hu Huhu, relying on the skills of the Xu Deng Hu family, put the soul of Hu Tutu into the paper figure, and it has been there ever since.
Lu Yuan felt something was off about this whole thing from the beginning.
But Lu Yuan couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange about it.
But on the way back with Tiger Sheep, Lu Yuan suddenly thought of a question.
If Hu Hu Hu can put the soul of his newborn daughter into a paper doll, why can't he put the soul of his wife who died in childbirth into it as well?
If Hu Hu Hu could turn Hu Tu Tu into this state, then he definitely has the ability to get his own wife involved too!
Why not?
There must be some reason for this!
For example, there's something wrong with the soul!
Of course, these were things that Lu Yuan had been pondering before, and he couldn't be sure about them.
but----
After Lu Yuan followed Hu Yangyang here, he was basically certain that what he thought was true!
in particular----
Lu Yuan now looked at Hu Huhu's round face, which went from shock to astonishment, and finally broke out in a fine sweat.
The lingering suspicion in my mind was finally put to rest.
You guessed right.
There's no need for Hu Huhu to speak or admit anything.
Lu Yuan understood perfectly well.
Who is Hu Huhu?
He is the head of the Xu Deng Hu family, and he is the one who can "continue" the soul of a newborn baby who has already died into a paper doll.
He's a ruthless character who's been around for years.
With this method of defying the rules of life and death and forcibly retaining a soul, would he just stand by and watch his wife's soul dissipate?
Impossible.
Therefore, from the moment Lu Yuan stepped into this room, he was looking and searching.
Look for any trace that proves there was still a "person" here.
The traces of a mother and a wife's existence.
But Lu Yuan saw nothing.
Apart from the stove, the earthen bed, and the unconscious paper doll of the girl, the room was as empty as if it had been washed with water.
There wasn't an extra table, nor a single piece of a woman's old clothing.
There wasn't even a spare bowl or chopsticks, as if they were reserved for someone else.
"He was able to resurrect the soul of his newborn, dying daughter using paper dolls."
Lu Yuan took half a step forward and could almost smell the mixture of tobacco oil and dirt on Hu Huhu.
"You have this ability to defy fate and control souls—your own wife died in childbirth."
"You're just going to watch her soul vanish, leaving not a single trace of her memory?"
A spark popped from the firewood in the stove.
Hu Huhu's fingers, which were tucked into his sleeves, twitched almost imperceptibly.
"But I've been here for so long, looked around for so long, and in your house—"
Lu Yuan's voice suddenly became more forceful.
"Besides the paper figures of Tiger and Rabbit, there was no trace of anything else."
"Where is your wife's soul?"
"Where did you put her?"
Or perhaps—
Lu Yuan stared intently at Hu Huhu's eyes, which appeared even more murky in the firelight, and said, word by word, "Her soul was never in your hands."
"Or rather, not in a 'safe' place."
"Something's wrong with it, isn't it?"
Hu Huhu's body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment.
Although his face remained expressionless, his droopy eyelids finally slowly opened a crack.
Her cloudy eyes turned to Lu Yuan, filled with extremely complex emotions.
It was shock, the astonishment of being seen through, and a deep-seated, unspeakable pain.
"you----"
"Just because Yangyang told you about that thing from back then—"
"So you guessed it?"
Hu Huhu stared at Lu Yuan in astonishment.
Lu Yuan raised his head slightly and said, "Those were just suspicions at first."
Upon hearing this, Hu Huhu couldn't help but swallow.
Ignoring the turmoil in Hu Huhu's eyes, Lu Yuan released his grip and turned to walk towards the door.
His gaze, however, had already passed over Hu Huhu and was now fixed on the open space in the courtyard that was bathed in the morning light.
"Tiger Sheep's words were just the beginning."
"What truly confirms my suspicions is your yard."
Lu Yuan's voice was not loud, but it carried a cold certainty, echoing clearly in the low earthen house.
He walked to the door, his back to Hu Huhu, and casually pointed outside.
"The millstone is located in the southeast corner of your yard, three inches off the ground, and it's supported by three unpolished bluestones."
"The Xun trigram represents wind, signifying coming and going, and dissipation."
"You put this millstone here, with unpolished stones underneath it."
"It's not for grinding grain, it's for 'grinding' something, preventing it from escaping with the wind, and even more so, preventing it from entering the house."
As Lu Yuan spoke, he slightly turned his head, his eyes glancing at Hu Huhu's instantly tense jaw.
"The northwest Qian position governs Heaven, the Father, and also the end and final destination."
"And you, you just casually lean a worn-out broom against the wall, with the broom head pointing inwards."
"A broom sweeps away filth until it's bald, signifying exhaustion; place it in the 'north' position, head facing inward—"
Lu Yuan paused, his voice growing even colder.
"This isn't cleaning, this is trying to use the power of this broken broom!"
"To guide things that shouldn't linger, or rather—things that yearn to return but cannot—from the 'heavenly' position back to the 'home.'"
"Yet I lack the strength to do so, and can only point in the direction in vain."
Hu Huhu's breathing became noticeably heavier for a moment.
Lu Yuan continued, speaking slowly but each word striking Hu Huhu's heart: "The overturned broken jar in the center of the courtyard has a small hole specially drilled in the bottom."
"A jar is for storing and concealing; turning it upside down means covering; and having a hole at the bottom means it leaks."
"Placing it in the central earth position is an attempt to contain" something, yet also to prevent complete suffocation, leaving a glimmer of hope—
'
"Or rather, leave an exit."
"But he opened his mouth awkwardly, and it was forced."
"besides!"
Lu Yuan finally turned around completely, facing Hu Huhu, his eyes sharp as knives.
"The things buried in the four corners of the courtyard, though I couldn't see them clearly, didn't escape my notice with their subtle yet palpable sense of stillness and stagnation."
"The four corners, facing east, west, south, and north, are used as protective charms, not to ward off evil spirits, but to lock something in this courtyard, preventing it from leaving!"
"And yet—there's no safe haven to be found."
"If I'm not mistaken, what you buried was an old item imbued with the blood of your Tiger family, mixed with incense ash and grave soil, wasn't it?"
"This is called 'Blood Ties, Retaining the Soul in the Underworld,' a method used to forcibly retain the scattered souls of close relatives."
"But it's very dangerous. If you're not careful, you might not be able to retain the soul and could even damage the vital essence of the person who buried the object."
As Lu Yuan finished speaking, he gently shook his head, his face showing no trace of pride, only a solemn expression of profound understanding.
"Your courtyard is a clumsy yet vicious 'Soul-Locking Reversal Array.'"
"Every seemingly ordinary, dilapidated decoration is stuck in an awkward yet decisive position, contradicting and intertwined with each other."
"You want to lock up a soul so that it doesn't completely dissipate, and you also want to bring it back, but you can't find the right way, so you can only use these unorthodox methods to drag it away by force."
"This formation is set up in a way that is painful and desperate, completely unlike what you would expect from someone of your strength. It's more like the chaotic struggle of someone who has no other options."
Lu Yuan took a step forward, staring intently into Hu Huhu's cloudy eyes, which had lost their luster after being thoroughly exposed.
"Who else could make you manipulate the yard like this, using such a harmful and self-destructive method to forcibly retain the soul of your closest relative?"
"Moreover, this soul must have encountered a serious problem; ordinary methods of 'renewing the lamp' are completely ineffective, and it might even be—no longer under your control!"
"This is the only way you can barely maintain a faint connection, or prevent it from being completely taken away by something."
Lu Yuan's voice finally settled, carrying an undeniable conclusion: "Therefore, Patriarch Hu, there's no need to hide anything any longer."
"Your wife's soul isn't lost; it's just that something's gone wrong that you can't handle!!"
"By using this poison-like formation, I've been barely hanging here in and out of your courtyard, neither here nor there, neither returning nor dispersing, right?"
Hu Huhu opened his mouth, making a "hoarse" sound in his throat, but couldn't utter a single word.
But his hunched body swayed almost imperceptibly.
It was as if the last pillar supporting him had been pulled away by Lu Yuan's words.
You underestimate me.
"No matter what, I am a two-star Celestial Master with orthodox Taoist lineage and inherited teachings!"
"When it comes to making paper figures or having connections with 'deities,' our Taoist sect is no match for you ten sects from beyond the Great Wall."
"But if it's these things, I can see through them at a glance!"
Lu Yuan raised his head, a hint of arrogance in his voice, and said loudly, "Stop dawdling! If you want your wife's soul to peacefully enter the paper effigy you made, only I can help you now!"
Hu Huhu's hunched body swayed, his cloudy eyes fixed on Lu Yuan, the turbulent emotions within them gradually subsiding.
It turned into a deeper, almost deathly weariness and — a hint of barely perceptible mockery.
He opened his mouth, and the "hoarse" sound in his throat turned into a hoarse, dry laugh, rough and calloused from years of exposure to smoke and fire.
"The orthodox lineage of Taoism—the Two-Star Celestial Master—"
He repeated Lu Yuan's words, emphasizing each word slowly and heavily.
It was as if it were squeezed out from between the teeth, or as if it were chewing on some kind of bitterness that had been tasted countless times before.
"young people----"
Hu Huhu shook his head, his movements heavy as if he were moving a large boulder.
"You have a keen eye; you can see right through the intricacies of my courtyard and uncover the secrets hidden in my heart—I admit, I underestimated you."
He raised his rough hand, covered in black mud, pointed to his face, and then to the dilapidated house.
Finally, the finger drooped limply, pointing to the "array eyes" in the courtyard that Lu Yuan had explained one by one, each bearing the weight of desperate struggle.
"But do you know how many orthodox Taoist masters I've consulted over the years?"
"How many so-called lineage-bearing Celestial Masters, Taoist priests, or even wandering sorcerers claiming to have received true teachings have you seen?"
Hu Huhu's voice was flat, without questioning or anger, only a numbness born from countless hopes being ignited and extinguished by cold water.
"From one star to three stars, and even—there was a Taoist priest who was invited from within the Great Wall at great expense and was said to have already glimpsed the Grand Celestial Master."
He paused, looking at the sky outside the door, as if recalling those long-blurred faces that came with hope but ultimately shook their heads and sighed as they left.
"Some of them talk in a more mysterious way than you do, and they put on a bigger show than you do."
"Talismans and magical artifacts were spread all over the ground, and golden incantations were chanted loudly."
"Yes, some are taciturn. They just walk around the courtyard a few times, then do some calculations with their fingers, and their expressions change drastically. They wave their hands repeatedly."
They said the karmic burden was too heavy, that they were bound by negative karma, and that it was beyond human control, so they didn't even dare to accept the payment and turned to leave.
He slowly turned his head and looked at Lu Yuan. The mockery in his yellowish, cloudy eyes faded, leaving only a naked, almost overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
"They all figured it out, kid."
"You can see that my courtyard is a complete soul-locking formation," you can see the pain of wanting to stay but being unable to, wanting to lead but being unable to bring them back.
"But then what?"
"Nobody can tell me what's holding my wife's soul captive."
"No one can break that shackle that I can't see or touch, yet which has truly bound her for so many years."
"And no one can—bring her back safely from that in-between, neither-here-nor-there, neither-human-nor-ghost state."
Hu Huhu's voice lowered, carrying a self-mocking hoarseness: "The orthodox lineage?"
"Don't joke around—my methods, the methods of the Continuing Tiger Clan, might be considered unorthodox and heretical by your Taoist sects, dealing with evil gods."
"But this territory beyond the pass, this involves ten families, those inexplicable rules and 'existence'—"
"Sometimes, your orthodox Taoist methods aren't necessarily more effective than our simple, unorthodox ones!"
"And those remnant souls that even our Tiger Clan's secret 'Soul-Continuing Lamp' cannot light or summon back—"
"What good are your Taoist soul-guiding banners and soul-soothing incantations?"
He took half a step forward, getting closer to Lu Yuan, and the smell of soil, tobacco oil, and herbs became even stronger.
"Lu Yuan, Master Lu."
"You're amazing. You're a two-star Celestial Master at such a young age. You have a bright future ahead of you."
"I believe you can see the despair in my yard."
"But you said you could bring my wife's soul back—"
Hu Huhu slowly, extremely slowly, shook his head, every wrinkle on his face filled with disbelief.
Just as Hu Huhu was about to speak...
The next second, Lu Yuan, unable to bear it any longer, grabbed Hu Huhu by the collar, lifted him up, and shouted, "Are you fucking Erduolong?!"
"I said I'll bring your wife's soul back right now!!!"
"fuck your mother!!"
"Can't you even listen to what other people are saying?!"
"You're always saying you don't have time for this or that. With a slow-moving, stupid pig like you, of course I don't have time for anything!!"
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