infodatos Chapter 18 Do you want this spiritual flesh, or your grandson's life?
Chapter 18 Do you want this spiritual flesh, or your grandson's life?
Wang Youde's brick courtyard was one of the best in the village, but now the doors were tightly shut, exuding an air of decline.
According to Wang Youde, half a month ago, while renovating the backyard, he dug up a yellow fairy, which immediately fled without causing any harm.
Unexpectedly, the family was thrown into turmoil, and eventually the beast became attached to the weakest of the grandsons.
Lu Yuan listened without saying a word, only saying:
"Take care of the child first."
Wang Youde's grandson, Tiedan, lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the inner room, wrapped in a thick quilt, but his body was covered in cold sweat.
The eight-year-old child was so thin he was unrecognizable, with a dark bluish-black tinge around his forehead, his lips were chapped, and he was muttering incoherently.
Lu Yuan stepped forward and got closer, but still couldn't make heads or tails of it.
He extended two fingers and gently pressed them against the child's forehead, then closed his eyes.
Beneath his fingertips, he could clearly "see" the child's three souls—
Main Soul, Awakening Soul, Living Soul.
At this moment, the three souls were like startled birds, stirred up by an external force and in a state of chaos, possibly leaving the body and dissipating at any moment.
Deeper within that soul, a cold and stubborn thought, like a poisonous vine, tightly entwined the living soul that represented vitality.
Lu Yuan opened his eyes and glanced at the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
Wang Youde nervously rubbed his hands together, his palms were covered in sweat.
His burly son, Wang Dali, glared fiercely at his unconscious son on the kang (a heated brick bed), and uttered a curse:
"Little debt collector."
In the shadows of the corner, Wang Youde's gaunt wife, who was also the child's grandmother, was wiping away tears with her sleeve.
Her body trembled slightly from suppressed sobs, but she dared not cry out loud, while stealing glances at her son and husband from time to time.
Lu Yuan understood immediately, then turned to Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, who had just put down their toolboxes, and instructed them:
"First, calm his soul, then give him a bowl of talismanic water."
These most basic tasks can be left to Xu Erxiao and Wang Chengan.
To be honest, Lu Yuan brought these two boys out so that they could train and gain experience alongside him.
Xu Erxiao and Wang Chengan nodded immediately and opened the wooden box very quickly.
Then Xu Erxiao skillfully picked up a yellow talisman and muttered a spell under his breath.
With a flick of his finger, a soft "hiss" was heard, and the yellow talisman spontaneously combusted without wind, rising into a wisp of bright yellow flame.
Wang Chengan, who was standing nearby, had already prepared a bowl of water.
Xu Erxiao threw the half-burnt talisman paper directly into the bowl, and the ash quickly melted.
Lu Yuan then looked at the nervous Wang Youde and said:
"Where did you find the weasel? Take me there."
Wang Youde was clearly taken aback, but then he realized what was happening and nodded repeatedly, leading Lu Yuan toward the backyard.
The backyard was spacious, with neatly built pigsties, but the old locust tree next to it had withered and yellow leaves, exuding a lifeless aura.
When Lu Yuan walked to the old locust tree in the backyard, the "Yin Iron Bell" hanging from his waist trembled slightly. It didn't ring, but the bell exuded a sharp, cold feeling.
Lu Yuan squatted down, grabbed a handful of freshly turned soil from under the tree, sniffed it lightly, and then slowly rubbed it apart with his fingers.
Besides the earthy smell, there was also a very faint smell of blood, as if it had been soaked in rainwater.
"Was anything unusual when you dug up that nest of weasels?"
Lu Yuan asked, his gaze sharp as he looked at Wang Youde.
Wang Youde's Adam's apple bobbed, and his eyes showed some panic.
"No, nothing unusual, just an ordinary animal..."
Looking at Wang Youde's behavior and how he looked when he first entered the village, if Lu Yuan still couldn't sense that something was wrong, he would be a complete idiot.
To be honest, it's quite common for employers to lie like this.
Therefore, since meeting them, Lu Yuan hasn't believed anything the Wang Youde family has said.
"That doesn't seem right?"
Lu Yuan's tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable pressure:
"Village Chief Wang, Heaven's justice is inescapable, and retribution is inevitable. If we do not tell the whole truth, we cannot and dare not exorcise this evil spirit."
Wang Youde's face turned pale.
His son, Wang Dali, stubbornly retorted:
"What's there to be afraid to say?!"
"We just dug up a weasel, who knew it would be so evil!"
Lu Yuan ignored the father and son and took out a small packet of specially made "manifestation fragrance" from his satchel.
This incense is made from a mixture of rhinoceros horn powder, peach wood shavings, and aged hearth soil, specifically designed to dispel illusions and reveal residual information.
Lu Yuan sprinkled the incense powder around the base of the locust tree, then channeled his true qi into it with his fingertips, causing the powder to ignite without fire, producing a bluish-white smoke.
The smoke swirled around, but instead of rising, it stayed close to the ground and slowly seeped into the soil.
A moment later, a strange scene unfolded.
In the smoke, a dark red, twisted, and struggling shadow, about the size of a weasel, could be faintly seen on the ground about a foot square around the tree roots.
Beneath the shadow, deeper in the shadows, there appeared to be a pink object.
Looking at the scene before him, Lu Yuan stood up, turned to look at the father and son, and frowned, saying:
"Blood and resentment cling to the ground, lingering consciousness remains—this isn't just a panicked escape, it's clearly a brutal murder with bloodshed, and there's even something heavy covering it!"
Lu Yuan's words were absolutely accurate, causing Wang Youde to break out in a cold sweat.
Before the father and son could say anything, a scream came from inside the house in the front yard.
Hearing the commotion, Lu Yuan and the other two quickly ran towards the front yard.
At this moment, a group of villagers had gathered at the gate of Wang Youde's house to watch the commotion.
They craned their necks, peeking furtively inside, but none dared to step into the courtyard.
Lu Yuan ignored these idle people and stepped into the main room.
Upon entering the house, one could see Wang Youde's grandson hanging upside down from the roof beam in an extremely bizarre posture.
His face, which was already so thin it looked unrecognizable, has now become even more pointed and monkey-like, eerie and sinister, resembling a human-shaped weasel.
It also made strange "hoho" sounds coming from its throat.
The child's grandmother, that thin old woman, was slumped in the corner, terrified out of her wits, only able to scream.
"What's going on?"
Lu Yuan looked at Xu Erxiao and Wang Chengan, who had already drawn their wooden swords, and asked them a question.
The two looked completely bewildered.
"I don't know!"
"After that bowl of talismanic water was poured down his throat, he ended up like this!"
Looking at his grandson on the roof beam, Lu Yuan immediately turned to Wang Youde, who was shouting in fright beside him, and said:
"village head!"
"Still not going to talk?!"
Before Wang Youde could say anything, Wang Dali, standing to the side, looked at Lu Yuan anxiously and said:
"Why do you care so much about him?!"
"This weasel has already revealed itself, why don't you, a Taoist priest, just subdue it?!"
The world is never simply black and white.
The relationship between Taoist priests and evil spirits does not necessarily have to be a life-or-death struggle.
The duty of a Taoist priest is to discern cause and effect, not to exterminate all.
This looks like there's a big problem.
This place is outside the Great Wall; who doesn't recognize fox, weasel, white fox, and willow catkins?!
The gray fairy mouse and the white fairy hedgehog are fine.
But fox spirits, yellow fox spirits, and willow spirits are the most taboo for ordinary people.
If anyone were to encounter such a person, they would not hesitate to offer them the best food and drink, for fear of offending them and bringing trouble upon themselves.
Why would they kill him?
Under these circumstances, Lu Yuan would never act rashly!
As the old man in my family would say, if you help one side in a matter where the cause and effect are unclear, then half of the other side's karma will fall on you.
After Wang Dali shouted in a panic, Lu Yuan simply stared at Wang Youde, who was covered in sweat and struggling, and said, word by word:
"Village chief, I'll say it again. If you don't tell the whole truth, we can't exorcise this evil. You should find someone else; we'll leave now!"
Before Wang Youde could finish speaking, his son, Wang Dali, couldn't help but shout and curse:
"What kind of bullshit Taoist priests are you?!"
"The evil spirits have revealed themselves before you, why aren't you exorcising them?!"
"If anything happens to my son, I will definitely go to Fengtian City and sue you!!"
After Wang Dali finished cursing, Lu Yuan, Xu Erxiao, and Wang Chengan exchanged glances.
The next second, the two understood each other and ran to the door, slamming it shut and completely blocking the prying eyes from outside.
Immediately afterwards, the two turned around abruptly, like two little tigers descending a mountain, and charged fiercely towards Wang Dali.
"I'll teach you to be so foul-mouthed!"
"Try yelling at me, Brother Lu, again!"
"Take this punch, you stinking pig!"
Although Wang Dali was burly and strong, how could he possibly keep up with the young man who walked dozens of miles of mountain paths every day and constantly practiced cultivation?
In just one exchange, Wang Dali was pinned to the ground by the two men, who rained down punches and kicks on him, making him scream like a pig being slaughtered.
This sudden scene left Wang Youde and his wife completely dumbfounded.
Even the "Huang Xian'er" hanging upside down on the roof beam seemed stunned, and the strange cry in her throat paused for half a second.
After a thorough beating, Wang Dali curled up on the ground, bruised and battered, begging for mercy.
"Stop hitting him, stop hitting him..."
Lu Yuan didn't even glance at Wang Dali, whose face was bruised and swollen, but looked at Wang Youde, who seemed to be deep in thought, and said seriously:
"Village chief, you should think this through carefully."
"This weasel spirit is filled with boundless resentment and is determined to completely devour the child's soul. At most, your only son will perish in a day!"
Wang Youde's face turned pale and then red, looking very troubled.
Just then, the old woman who had been slumped in the corner, the child's grandmother, seemed to have suddenly made up her mind and abruptly got up from the ground.
She cried and staggered to the large wooden cabinet in the room, frantically rummaging through it.
Finally, they pulled out something wrapped in layers of cloth from the very bottom.
Upon seeing this, Wang Dali on the ground panicked and struggled to get up, shouting hoarsely:
"Mom!! What are you doing?!"
Unfortunately, the moment he moved, Xu Erxiao and Wang Chengan each stepped on his shoulders, pinning him down completely.
The gaunt old woman, however, seemed to possess boundless strength. Holding the package, she wailed and rushed towards Lu Yuan.
"Immortal! Please, save my Tiedan..."
The old woman approached Lu Yuan, her hands trembling as she unwrapped the package layer by layer, revealing its contents.
"It's all because of this damned thing!"
She cried out, her voice filled with anguish.
"My husband and my heartless son beat the Weasel spirit to death just to steal its sacred flesh!"
Lu Yuan's gaze fell on the piece of meat in the old woman's hand, which emitted a soft pink glow.
In an instant, everything became clear.
No wonder the child was on the verge of death, yet his father and grandfather refused to reveal the truth.
Pink spirit flesh.
This is even more valuable than the blue spiritual flesh I saw from Zhao Qiao'er before.
This small piece of pink spiritual flesh, no bigger than the palm of your hand, would be worth at least ten thousand yuan if sold in Fengtian City!
Lu Yuan reached out and expressionlessly took the piece of spiritual meat from the old woman's hand. Then, he raised his eyes, looked at Wang Youde, whose face was ashen, and slowly asked:
"Do you want this body and spirit, or your grandson's life?"