The invincible female ghost is a bit love-struck.

Chapter 276 The Dead Smash Leads to the Living! (6600)

The deepest layer of the face reflected in the black mirror is slowly opening its eyes.

It wasn't suddenly lifted, nor was it suddenly revealed; rather, it was extremely light and slow, with a sliver of grayish-white light seeping out from a thin crack.

The light was dim, yet it sent chills down one's spine, like the cold air buried deep in an old mountain grave for over a hundred years, finally being lifted from the ground.

Lu Yuan saw it clearly, and the sweat on his back instantly cooled down.

This wasn't the first time he'd encountered something strange, but this time was different.

Previously, there were wet faces outside the door, shells on the door panels, and eyeballs turning over on the ground.

Although dangerous, it was still within the "game," and salt, cinnabar, soot, lamplight, and corpses could be used to suppress, lure, and deceive.

But this layer inside the mirror is clearly not something that can be easily held down by ordinary objects.

That was a "standard" face.

Like the main bone of this entire evil root system, the faces, shells, embryos, and paths in front are all segments of tendrils that have branched off from it.

"Don't look in the mirror."

Lu Yuan's voice was low: "If you look at it, you'll easily get annoyed by it."

Song Qinghe almost trembled as she held the lamp, immediately averting her gaze and staring intently at the oil spots on the table, no longer daring to look at the mirror.

Zhou Heng wiped the sweat from his forehead, his throat tightening slightly: "What exactly is this thing?"

"An evil god?"

"Not yet." Lu Yuan didn't look away, only staring at the outline of the old face that was slowly opening in the black mirror: "The true form of the evil god may not be so easy to see."

"It's more like an old opening left underground, a main face."

"It's not here to show itself, but to learn from the example it has set out to follow."

"Light the way?" Wang Cheng'an was taken aback. "Light the way for what?"

Lu Yuan didn't answer him, but suddenly turned his gaze to the doorway.

The black hand was still hanging on the door panel, its five fingers like five thin black nails, trying to probe inward little by little along the door crack.

But the hand was testing very slowly, as if it was also afraid, afraid of the salt under the threshold, afraid of the light in the mirror, afraid of the half-exposed eyelid in the center of the room.

The fetal footprint underground no longer pushed outwards; instead, it shrank by half an inch.

The tiny white light beneath the floor tiles, illuminated by the black mirror, seemed to tremble as if it were alive, as if trying to hide.

Lu Yuan immediately understood.

"They are afraid of mirrors."

He whispered, "The Soul-Revealing Mirror isn't for reflecting people; it's for reflecting evil spirits."

"Iron Abacus hid this thing in the wall not to keep people out, but to keep out the thing at the bottom of this cellar that comes out to find the way."

At this point, he suddenly took half a step forward and reached out to pinch the three dry, cracked red lines on the back of the mirror.

When the red thread touched it, it made a very faint "squeak".

It's like extremely old and worn-out tendons and skin that have been forcibly pulled.

Lu Yuan's gaze grew even colder: "This mirror is still usable."

"Cheng'an, cinnabar."

"Second child, salt."

"Zhou Heng, pull the body of Tie Suanpan back three feet."

"Lin Zhaoxuan, don't loosen the black wooden plaque; suppress that little bit of light underground."

"Qinghe, shine the light behind the mirror, not directly at your face."

Upon hearing this, the group immediately complied.

Wang Cheng'an was quick; he grabbed the cinnabar jar early and flicked it with his thumb, causing the cinnabar to fall onto the edge of the mirror, its red color fierce, like a newly opened wound.

Xu Erxiao then used both hands to sprinkle salt around the mirror. The salt grains fell to the ground and broke into small pieces, which, along with the red and white cinnabar, perfectly surrounded the mirror.

Zhou Heng and Wang Cheng'an dragged the body of Tie Suanpan back three feet.

When the tip of the abacus brushed the ground, it made a soft "sand" sound, as if countless tiny mouths were biting at the skin from underground.

Zhou Heng gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead: "This old thing is really heavy, like pulling a rock."

"That's right, he's sinking," Lu Yuan said. "He still has some lingering energy on him."

As soon as the corpse of the iron abacus moved, the black hand outside the door indeed shrank back, as if it had lost its aim.

Taking advantage of this opening, the white light underground suddenly jumped.

"puff."

Like a needle piercing through paper, instantly creating a hole.

Lu Yuan's pupils constricted sharply, and he shouted, "Lin Zhaoxuan, suppress!"

Lin Zhaoxuan was already kneeling on the ground, pressing down on the half of the black wooden plaque with both hands. Upon seeing this, he immediately sank down.

The black wooden plaque pressed down hard on the floor tile with a "click," forcing the white light beneath it to shrink, almost closing its narrow slit.

But just then, the deepest face in the black mirror suddenly moved.

It didn't raise its head or open its mouth, but rather very lightly "stick" forward.

The movement was indescribably strange, as if he were slowly smearing himself onto a mirror through a layer of water, a layer of mud, and a layer of skin.

The mirror immediately fogged up.

Through the fog, the outline of that face became clearer.

Her face was extremely thin, with high cheekbones, but her mouth was extremely wide, with a gaping mouth that stretched all the way to her ears, looking like a smile, but also like a slit.

His eyes were long and narrow, with droopy eyelids, and the whites of his eyes were covered with very dense lines, like a net made of countless loose threads.

The strangest thing was that there was a small black hole in the center of the forehead of that face.

It looks like it has been nailed before, or like it has always had a bottomless hole.

Lu Yuan stared at it for only a moment before his heart sank.

"The part of the road that the iron abacus didn't finish telling us probably leads out from here."

He said slowly, "This face is a street face."

"All the dirty things that borrow doors, land, or names will eventually have to go through this face."

Zhou Heng felt a chill run down his spine: "Doesn't this make us our ancestors?"

"More or less," Lu Yuan said, "but it's not the real form yet."

"If the real body were still there, the face in the mirror wouldn't just be a simple reflection; it would have been revealed by the lens long ago."

Before he could finish speaking, a very soft "click" sounded from outside the door.

It seems to refer to a slight misalignment of the joints.

Immediately afterwards, the black hand on the door panel suddenly thrust forward, its five fingers squeezing halfway in through the crack.

"It's trying to break down the door!"

Wang Chengan shouted sharply and casually flung the cinnabar in his hand towards the crack in the door.

The cinnabar splattered onto the door panel, and Black Hand immediately jerked as if burned, a wisp of white smoke rising from the back of his hand.

But at the same moment, the white light under the floor tiles suddenly jumped again.

It actually collided with the black hand outside the door, separated by the door panel, floor tiles, black wooden sign, and salt line, on the same line.

"Buzz"

A deep, rumbling sound echoed through the cellar.

It was silent, yet extremely deep.

Like a large bell buried in the ground, struck from the deepest part of the earth.

Lu Yuan's expression changed drastically, and he immediately realized something was wrong.

"They're merging!"

"That hand outside the door isn't just a single shell!"

"It's feeding its body to that thing down there!"

"Pass yourself over?" Zhou Heng was taken aback. "How?"

Lu Yuan didn't have time to explain in detail and directly shouted, "Flip the mirror over!"

"quick!"

Wang Cheng'an was startled: "Flipping through the mirror?"

"Yes, mirror side down, back side up!"

"Make it unable to see the road!"

The group immediately complied.

But this black mirror was strangely heavy. The four of them worked together and only managed to lift the mirror up by half an inch when the face in the mirror suddenly shrank, as if sensing something was wrong, and its eyelids lifted abruptly.

With that lift, half of the mirror surface darkened.

Lu Yuan had already drawn his short knife, and the tip of the knife sliced ​​a very shallow bloodstain outside the cinnabar circle.

He ran his fingertip over the bloodstain and hissed, "Use the yang energy to seal the mirror, use blood to cut off the path!"

After saying that, he smeared the blood on the red line on the back of the mirror.

"laugh""

When the red thread came into contact with blood, it seemed to come alive, swelling up segment by segment.

Zhou Heng's teeth ached from looking at it, and he couldn't help but say, "How come this mirror looks like it's alive?"

"It's not that the mirror is alive," Lu Yuandao said, "it's that the breath inside hasn't died."

"Iron Abacus used its own blood, old roads, door nails, and road dust to forcibly bind a shell for itself."

"Once the shell is loosened, the contents inside will naturally be turned inside out."

As he was speaking, he suddenly noticed that a little black water was slowly seeping out from the edge of the black mirror.

The black liquid was as thick as ink, with an extremely strong fishy smell. When it dripped onto the ground, it did not disperse but instead condensed into small black beads, like eyeballs or insect eggs.

"Don't touch it!"

Lu Yuan shouted, "That's the mercury seeping out from under the lamp."

"Once you get it, you'll follow it."

Xu Erxiao was so startled that he shrank back and almost stepped on the salt line. It was only after Song Qinghe whispered a reminder that he managed to stop himself.

As soon as the black water droplet landed, the black hand outside the door trembled slightly, as if it had received some kind of signal.

The next moment, a very faint laugh suddenly came from the other side of the door.

The laughter wasn't human; it sounded more like bubbles squeezed out of a throat, gurgling and rolling, with a fishy, ​​watery smell that sent chills down your spine.

"Brother Lu," Wang Cheng'an swallowed, "What's it laughing at?"

Lu Yuan didn't reply immediately, but his eyes grew even colder.

"It's not a laugh."

"It recognized it."

"In this mirror, there is the old path it once walked."

At this moment, the fog on the black mirror became even thicker, and the black hole in the center of the face on the ground became even clearer, like an old well.

Something seemed to be slowly probing out of the well; first a line of white, then a speck of gray, and finally, a tiny, barely visible eye.

Its eyes were small, dark and bright, and it was staring unblinkingly outside.

Lu Yuan's heart tightened suddenly.

Those aren't the eyes of the face in the mirror.

That means "someone" is looking behind the mirror.

There's another layer behind it.

He said in a deep voice, "A mirror within a mirror."

"Hiding this thing in the iron abacus not only locked up a face, but also sealed off a deeper mouth."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the mirror suddenly made a "ding" sound, as if something sharp had gently touched it from inside.

Immediately afterwards, the corner of the face in the mirror twitched, as if it were about to laugh out of the mist.

"Retreat first!"

Lu Yuan immediately shouted, "Slam the mirror to the ground!"

"Don't let it face the door!"

The group quickly used all their strength to press the black mirror face down heavily onto the ground.

"Thump!"

The moment the mirror hit the ground, the entire cellar seemed to sink.

But at that moment, the black hand outside the door suddenly grabbed hard, and a sharp, piercing scraping sound came from the crack in the door.

At the same time, the white light from underground suddenly shot up half an inch, so white it was almost blinding.

The black mirror was pressed to the ground, but the red line on the back of the mirror was still pulsating, as if someone inside was using their fingernails to crawl out along the end of the line.

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes, then suddenly lifted his foot and stepped on the vermilion ring on the back of the mirror.

"Snapped!"

His foot landed perfectly, right in the very center of the intersection of the red lines.

Suddenly, the bulging thread on the back of the mirror seemed to be snapped, and a very faint scream came from inside.

The cry was neither human nor beast; it sounded more like something unborn was being forcibly pulled halfway through its life.

"Aww!"

At the same time, the white light underground suddenly dimmed, and the black hand outside the door abruptly retracted.

Everyone in the room was stunned by this.

But Lu Yuan didn't stop.

Taking advantage of the situation, he flipped his left hand, turned the dagger hilt downwards, and forcefully drove it into the edge of the black mirror.

He grabbed a handful of salt with his right hand and poured it directly down the handle of the knife.

"Seal it off!"

When the salt grains came into contact with the cinnabar and blood streaks, they popped and crackled, as if they were burning.

The breath hidden beneath the black mirror was sealed off, and a brief silence fell.

Becoming still too quickly is actually not good.

Lu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately whispered, "Be careful, everyone."

"It's not admitting defeat, it's just changing its shell."

"Re-shelled?" Lin Zhaoxuan's eyes narrowed.

Lu Yuan slowly raised his head and looked at the mirror, the door panel, and the floor tiles.

"That hand outside the door wasn't just grabbing randomly."

"It's delivering the skin to that eye underground."

"That face in the black mirror wasn't smiling just now."

"It's opening the back of the tube."

"Right now that we've blocked the mirrors, they can't move in a straight line, so they'll probably have to move somewhere else."

As he said this, his gaze suddenly fell on a loose mud brick in the corner of the east wall.

That place was the empty space at the base of the wall after the body of the Iron Abacus had been dragged there.

At that moment, a little blackness slowly seeped out from the crack in that brick.

It was as black as ink.

It was as black as water.

It looks more like the pupil of an eye, slowly opening from inside the wall.

"there!"

Zhou Heng exclaimed in disbelief.

Lu Yuan took a step forward, flicked the tip of his knife, and pried open the loose brick.

Behind the brick was neither soil nor stone, but a small hollow cavity.

Inside the cavity was a wad of blackened cloth.

There was something wrapped in the cloth, square and neat, like a wooden plaque or a small box.

Lu Yuan pulled it out and opened it to find a yellow paper figure folded into four folds inside.

The paper figure had its face painted with cinnabar, with slender eyebrows and eyes, and a wide-open mouth, bearing a striking resemblance to the face on the street in the black mirror.

The most sinister thing is that there is a moldy yellow talisman pasted on the chest of this paper figure. The talisman head has long been soaked and rotten by water, but the character in the middle can still be vaguely recognized as "引" (yin).

Lu Yuan's breath hitched.

"Found it."

He said in a low voice.

"What was found?"

Wang Chengan asked urgently.

"A cover," Lu Yuan said. "This is the part that it hasn't shown all this time."

"Borrowing a face outside the door, borrowing eyes on the ground, borrowing a path in the mirror, in the end we all have to rely on this paper figure as the center line."

"What Tie Suanpan was guarding was not just a cellar."

"He is guarding the main entrance to a living, dark path in these mountains."

As he said this, Lu Yuan's eyes darkened inch by inch.

"In other words, we haven't even touched the true form of the evil god yet."

"But I've already touched one of its outstretched fingers."

The people inside felt a chill run down their spines.

But Lu Yuan didn't let them stand there in a daze any longer. He quickly unfolded the paper figure and shone it under the lamp, only to find that there was a dense string of small characters written on the back of the paper figure. The characters were crooked and black, as if they were written with blood mixed with ink.

The very top line clearly displays a name.

It's not a person's name.

It is a name offered.

The paper figure's back is inscribed with: Eyespanner, Guide, Gatekeeper, Lamp Bearer, Bed Presser —

Each name was followed by a small circle.

Some circles have been blacked out, while others are still empty.

Zhou Heng's lips turned white as he looked at it: "What—what does this mean?"

Lu Yuan stared at the string of words, his eyes growing increasingly cold: "List of names."

"It remembers who fed it, who watched over it, and who breathed on it."

"Those empty circles are gaps that haven't been filled yet."

"These wounds require lives to heal."

Upon hearing this, Wang Cheng'an gritted his teeth: "Just how many years has this evil thing been raised?"

"Who knows?" Lu Yuandao said, "but the fact that they were able to produce the roster shows that they stopped treating people as human beings a long time ago."

"Iron Abacus is nothing more than an old nail pressed down on the list."

"Now that the nails have come loose, it's our turn to oversee the accounts below."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly turned the yellow paper figure over to face up.

The paper figure's face bore a striking resemblance to the wet face that had appeared outside the door earlier.

The same crack at the corner of the mouth, the same slender neck, only the eyes on the paper are still closed, the eyelids tightly shut, as if the person is fast asleep.

Lu Yuan's heart stirred, and he suddenly understood something.

"This paper figure is not a shell."

"It's just a rebranded shell."

"The face outside the door, the eye on the ground, the road in the mirror—all of them depend on it to change their names."

Before he could finish speaking, a very short "thump" suddenly sounded from outside the door.

It felt like something had finally pushed against the outermost part of the door panel.

Immediately afterwards, the white light underground also became fully illuminated.

It didn't illuminate, but rather "transmitted".

It was so white it was blinding, like a tiny eyeball that had been forced up a thin film from the soil.

The entire cellar was instantly chilled by the white light.

Song Qinghe nearly dropped the lamp, but gritted her teeth and kept it steady.

"Brother Lu—it's coming out!"

"Not yet," Lu Yuan said sternly, "We forced it to take a breath!"

"Listen to me, everyone."

He threw the yellow paper figure to the ground. As soon as the paper figure landed, it slid an inch between the door, the mirror, and the ground, as if it were being pulled by an invisible thread.

Seizing the moment, Lu Yuan suddenly raised his hand and kicked the corpse of the iron abacus over, so that the corpse landed squarely on the back of the yellow paper figure.

"A dead body pressing down on a living person!"

"Block the outer shell, the underground eye, the path in the mirror—block them all!"

"Cheng An, splash cinnabar on the corpse's back!"

"Second Brother, sprinkle salt through the door cracks!"

"Zhou Heng, turn the black mirror up half an inch, don't let it close completely!"

"Qinghe, the lamp illuminates the paper figure's face!"

"Lin Zhaoxuan, hold down the black wooden plaque, don't let it flip over!"

The group was so busy they were practically fumbling around, but none of them dared to slow down.

When cinnabar was splashed onto the back of the corpse of the iron abacus, the red and white clashed, creating a thin mist.

Salt was sprinkled through the crack in the door, and the black hand outside immediately began to tremble violently.

The black mirror was flipped half an inch, and the face reflected in the mirror was forcibly torn with a crooked slit.

The oil lamp shone on the paper figure's face, and the paper face instantly turned a pale yellow sweat color, as if a living person was being forced to wake up by the fire.

Just as this series of actions was completed, the eye underground finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Snapped!"

A very faint, crisp sound came from deep within the soil.

Like an eyelid that has been closed for too long, finally being pushed open by what's inside.

White light suddenly burst out from the crack, illuminating the entire cellar in a ghastly white light.

Lu Yuan's pupils contracted sharply, and only one thought remained in his mind: he couldn't let them open fully.

He bit his fingertip hard, and as soon as blood gushed out, he raised his hand and pressed it against the black spot on the broken surface of the black wooden plaque.

"With blood as nails!"

"Locked in name only!"

"Using death to suppress life!"

"Since you've been hiding in the mountains eating people, don't blame me for exposing you today!"

When the blood was pressed on, the black spot made a "poof" sound, as if it had been scalded open.

Immediately afterwards, the shrunken outline of the human face in the cross-section of the black wooden plaque suddenly shrank inward, as if something had pulled it back from the deepest part of the body.

At the same time, a piercing shriek came from outside the door.

The sound was so sharp it hurt your eardrums, like a hundred fingernails scraping against your bones.

The black hand on the door suddenly loosened its grip, its five fingers twisted into a dark mass, and instantly retracted outwards.

The face reflected in the black mirror twitched violently, and the cracks on both sides of the cheeks instantly split open, as if they had been forcibly torn apart.

Lu Yuan dared not loosen his grip even slightly. His left hand remained firmly pressed against the black dot, while his right hand grabbed the yellow paper figure and pressed it directly onto the crack of white light in the ground.

"Get down!"

"This paper effigy is your nameplate; today, you'll use your own skin to plug your own eyes!"

The paper figure ignited with a faint yellow flame the moment it touched the white light.

The flames were small, but extremely eerie. They burned the cinnabar on the paper figure's face, twisting the corners of its mouth as if something inside was screaming in agony.

「嗷一」6

A deep, drawn-out cry came from the deepest part of the earth.

It didn't come from outside the door, nor from the mirror, but rather seemed to have squeezed out from the very bones of the entire mountain.

Lu Yuan swayed, nearly being knocked back a step by the sound.

But he gritted his teeth and stood still.

"Cheng'an!"

"Horiko!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengan immediately lit the tinderbox and handed it over.

Lu Yuan took the torch and flicked it at the yellow paper figure.

With a "boom," the paper figure finally burst into flames.

The flame was small, but it swallowed the paper face whole.

The handwriting on the paper gradually curled, blackened, and cracked in the fire, like an old bill being burned through.

Just as the paper figure burned through, a muffled loud noise came from three places simultaneously: outside the door, inside the mirror, and underground.

The whole cellar shook.

Fine dust settled on the soil, and the oil lamp in the corner flickered violently, almost going out.

Song Qinghe held onto the lamp tightly, biting her lips until they turned white.

Zhou Heng collapsed onto the ground, panting like an animal pulling a millstone.

Wang Chengan and Xu Erxiao both stumbled and almost bumped into each other.

Lin Zhaoxuan's temples were throbbing with veins, and he was still pressing down on the black wooden plaque with both hands, not daring to let go.

Lu Yuan stood in front of the burning paper fire, his eyes unblinking.

He saw that the black hand outside the door had disappeared.

The face imprint on the door panel has sunk.

The white light underground seemed to be forced back in, receding inch by inch.

The face reflected in the black mirror was twisted by the red thread on the back of the mirror, the tear becoming an extremely long black slit, like a mouth being split in two.

"boom"

What startled him most was that the deepest old face slowly turned around and glanced at him in the instant the fire was about to go out.

That glance held not a trace of haste or anger.

There was only a cold, almost unreasonable calm.

It's as if she remembered him.

It's as if he himself was also included in the account.

Lu Yuan's heart sank slightly, but he remained expressionless and slowly sheathed his sword.

The room remained quiet for a long time.

Until the paper figure was burned to the last bit of ashes, there was no more sound outside the door, and the ground stopped undulating completely. The black mirror was like a piece of dead iron stuck to the ground, and no one dared to speak first.

After a long pause, Wang Cheng'an asked in a hoarse voice, "Brother Lu—is this considered suppressed?"

Lu Yuan looked at the clump of black ash on the ground and said in a low voice, "It's suppressed a barrier."

"The root wasn't suppressed."

Lin Zhaoxuan looked up: "You saw it?"

"Yes." Lu Yuan nodded. "That deepest face recognized me."

"What we burned was a piece of its fine skin, a guiding thread."

"But its main body is still in the mountains."

"And it's older than we thought."

"Deeper."

"Even more difficult to deal with."

Upon hearing this, the people inside the room immediately felt a renewed sense of relief.

Lu Yuan raised his eyes, glanced at everyone, and said in a very steady tone, "But it wasn't a complete loss."

"We've uncovered a corner of the truth by leaving this clue behind."

"It's now confirmed that there's more than one supply point in these mountains."

"Doors, ground, mirrors, registers—these are its outer shell and tentacles."

"The true form of the evil god should still be hidden in the deeper main cave."

"From now on, we're not going to guard this cellar anymore."

"Follow the line that's exposed and go deeper into the mountains."

Lin Zhaoxuan glanced at Lu Yuan and said in a deep voice, "Then let's go."

"Before it fully recovers."

"The deeper you go into the mountains, the earlier you should go."

Lu Yuan didn't reply immediately. He bent down to pick up the broken black wooden plaque, gathered up the charred yellow paper ash, and put it into a tattered cloth.

He knew this was far from over.

Tonight, they only peeled back the layers of the evil god's sanctuary and touched the main thread.

Burning a famous skin forced the deepest face to turn around and take a look.

But the real mountainside, the real main cave, and the real offerings are still waiting ahead.

It may be deep inside a cave.

Perhaps at the bottom of a dry well.

Perhaps it lies behind some unseen altar, waiting for someone to awaken it completely.

Lu Yuan tucked the knife back into his waistband and looked up at the dark, heavy earthen roof above the cellar.

His eyes were cold, as cold as the night wind blowing through the mountains.

"Walk."

"Go and dig out that evil spirit from the bottom of this mountain with your own hands."