The invincible female ghost is a bit love-struck.

Chapter 277 The Main Cave of the Evil God's Offering Ground

Before dawn, the layer of black fog in the mountains had already begun to sink into the ravines.

The earthen slabs covering the cellar entrance were lifted from the outside, and a cold wind rushed in like knives.

The wind carried the scent of damp pine needles, along with a faint, sweet, fishy smell, like a jar of fermented, spoiled blood buried deep within the mountain.

Lu Yuan was the first to climb out. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he looked around.

They're no longer in that courtyard.

It's not like the old place where houses were connected to houses and courtyards were next to each other at all.

It is surrounded by mountains on all sides.

The mountain wasn't particularly high, but it stretched out incredibly far, one layer overlapping another, and the distant tree shadows seemed to be soaked in ink, lying heavily.

Nearby was a hillside that had been trampled by people, with rocks scattered all over it and wild grass growing up to knee-high. Several old pine trees leaned precariously, their branches reaching out into the night as if trying to drag people in.

Wang Chengan then climbed out and suddenly shivered.

"Damn, this mountain is really eerie."

"Even the night wind smells of death."

Xu Erxiao followed closely behind, shrugging his shoulders as he looked at the mountain path ahead, its path fragmented by the shadows of the trees, and a sense of unease crept into his heart.

"Brother Lu, which way are we going?"

Lu Yuan didn't turn around, but pointed to the darker forest on the mountainside.

"Go in."

"The road surface that the iron abacus left behind eventually broke off in that direction."

"The main entrance to the land where the evil god makes offerings is probably inside."

Lin Zhaoxuan was the last to come up, still clutching the half-broken black wooden plaque and the Soul-Illuminating Mirror in his hands, wrapped in layers of tattered cloth to prevent them from attracting any more trouble on the way.

Song Qinghe followed behind, carrying the oil lamp. The lamplight flickered violently in the mountain wind, but she still held it firmly and didn't let it go out.

Zhou Heng wiped his face and said, panting, "I finally understand. We haven't left this mountain for the past few days at all."

"The cellar of the Iron Abacus is just a small shell."

"The real opening was hidden deep in the mountains all along."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan's eyes didn't even waver.

"The cellar is a shell, and so is the mountain."

"A shell inside a shell, and another shell outside the shell."

"It's been raised for so many years, it's impossible to rely on just one place for its care."

"These roads, these ravines, these caves, these old shacks that no one lives in in the mountains, they're all probably connected by its tendons."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and rubbed the still-damp black ash on his fingertips.

Last night, after the yellow paper figure was burned, a faint, fishy smell lingered in the black ash, like the exhaust fumes left after burning offerings in front of the altar.

Lu Yuan listened with his eyes closed for a moment before saying, "Let's take this ridgeline."

"Don't step on the road in the very middle."

"The straighter the path, the more it resembles the eyes left for it."

"Turn left and follow the pine forest roots."

Wang Chengan and Xu Erxiao didn't ask any questions; they just did whatever Lu Yuan said.

The group followed the contours of the mountain and ventured deeper in, the loose stones beneath their feet rolling and making a soft, crunching sound.

It wasn't fully light yet; the woods were darker than outside.

A thin layer of frost clung to the old pine branches. When the wind blew, the frost flakes fell down in a flurry, landing on people's shoulders, feeling icy cold.

Zhou Heng hadn't gone far when he suddenly stopped.

"!"

"Hmm?" Lu Yuan turned around.

Zhou Heng pointed to a section of a leaning tree trunk ahead, his voice low: "Isn't there something over there?"

Everyone looked over.

Under the half-withered pine tree, there was a tattered red cloth strip lying across the ground.

One end of the cloth strip was tied to the tree root, and the other end dragged into the bushes. Two small, blackened copper bells were also hanging in the middle of the strip.

The copper bell, which should have been bright, was now as dark as a clod of earth.

A mountain breeze blew, and the bell swayed slightly, but it didn't make a sound.

"This is not a regular frenulum."

Lin Zhaoxuan frowned.

"Like a guiding rope."

Lu Yuan took two steps forward, but didn't rush to touch it. He just stared at the red cloth strip.

The strap was very old, with frayed edges, but there was a very faint layer of oily sheen on it, as if it had been touched and stroked by some hand over the years, making it shine.

"Some people often pass through here."

He whispered, "It's not the way a living person lives."

"This is for marking things on the road."

Upon hearing this, Wang Cheng'an tensed up even more: "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, we haven't been in the mountains long, but we've already stepped on someone else's trail," Lu Yuan said calmly. "Those evil spirits in the mountains don't necessarily all live in caves."

"Some people use ropes, belts, and markings to cross forests and slopes, specifically to ambush people."

Xu Erxiao swallowed hard and couldn't help but glance back.

"I have a feeling we've walked into some kind of big trap?"

"Pretty much," Lu Yuan said. "They support the evil gods not through a single village or cave, but through the air vents of the entire mountain."

"Everyone probably remembers which road someone took, which ditch they entered, and which rock they stopped by."

"This red cloth is a sign."

Having said that, he raised his knife and flicked it, the tip of the knife gently pushing the two copper bells apart.

When the copper bell was turned over, everyone saw that there were two pieces of dried meat that had already turned black inside the bell shell, which looked like some kind of sacrificial remnant.

The diced meat was covered with fine white hairs, making it look disgusting.

Song Qinghe's face paled slightly, and she forced herself not to utter a sound.

Lu Yuan glanced at it only once before saying, "Don't touch this thing."

"Wipe your hands with cinnabar."

"It's not for people to hear, it's for those things on the road to recognize the scent."

Wang Chengan quickly did as instructed, taking out cinnabar and rubbing it on his palm. The others also rubbed some on their hands, and the cold, fishy smell in their palms subsided slightly.

As you walk further in, the woods become increasingly dense.

The tree roots were intertwined, and the mountain path was almost unrecognizable, covered by withered leaves and rocks.

In some places, there are patches of moss, making them very slippery to walk on.

Strangely, despite the strong wind in the forest, birdsong was barely audible.

It was very quiet.

It was as quiet as a giant pot covered in the mountains, so quiet that even the chirping of insects was muffled.

As they walked, a cliff suddenly appeared ahead.

The cliff wasn't high, but the bottom was deep, with wisps of mist billowing out from within, creeping ominously towards one's feet.

A stone tablet stands askew on the edge of the cliff, half of its body cracked. The original inscription on it has long been worn away by wind and rain, and only a faint trace of the character "禁" (forbidden) can be seen.

Upon seeing the stele, Wang Cheng'an muttered under his breath, "There really is a stele with forbidden words here?"

"I also went there and said that there wasn't a single clean place in the mountains."

Lu Yuan walked to the monument and reached out to touch the stone surface.

The stones were so cold they were sharp to the touch.

What bothered him even more was the very faint gray-white mark at the base of the monument.

The mark resembled salt or bone meal, forming a semicircle around the base of the monument.

"This is no ordinary forbidden stele," Lu Yuandao said. "This is a barrier stele."

"Anyone passing through here must stop in front of the monument first."

"Being able to stop means you know the way."

"If you can't stop, you'll probably end up in a ditch."

Lu Yuan didn't say much, but looked down at the cliff.

A narrow mountain path could be vaguely seen in the clouds below the cliff, winding its way down the cliff face, its destination unknown.

Beside the mountain path stood several withered trees, their branches leaning askew, with several faded strips of cloth tied to their tips.

The strips of cloth hung there, swaying gently, as if someone had marked them.

"Get out of here."

Lu Yuan only uttered two words.

Zhou Heng's face stiffened: "Won't it be difficult to walk down this path?"

"That means we're on the right track," Lu Yuan said calmly. "The harder the path, the closer it is to the right one."

"The places it doesn't want people to leave are often the openings."

"6

The group exchanged glances and had no choice but to follow suit and begin touching downwards.

The cliffs were steep, the path narrow, and the stones underfoot were loose; one had to be extremely careful with every step when going down.

Since it was inconvenient for Song Qinghe to carry the lamp, Lin Zhaoxuan had to light the way for her, while he kept the black wooden plaque and the Soul-Illuminating Mirror close to his body.

When we reached the middle of the cliff, the fog suddenly became thicker.

That was no ordinary mountain mist; it was grayish-white, with a very faint sweet and fishy smell mixed in.

When the fog hits your face, it feels like something is slowly scratching your skin, making your heart tighten.

Wang Cheng'an couldn't help but raise his hand to fan the fog: "Why is this fog so sticky?"

"Don't fan the air," Lu Yuan said immediately. "This fog has a road-like quality."

"The fan has blown away the smoke, but it's now trying to get into your eyes."

Wang Chengan quickly put his hand down.

But it was already too late.

Suddenly, a very faint "clucking" sound came from the fog.

It sounds like someone is laughing, or like teeth clashing.

Everyone stopped at once.

Lu Yuan raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, then slowly turned his head to look at a protruding stone platform on the edge of the cliff.

On that stone platform, there was a person sitting.

It's a woman.

He was wearing an old blue cotton-padded jacket, his hair was neatly tied up, his knees were together, his hands were hanging down on his legs, and he was looking down without moving.

If it weren't for the fact that her figure was so clear in the fog, one would almost mistake her for a stone.

Xu Erxiao's throat tightened, and he almost blurted it out.

Lu Yuan raised his hand and pressed it on his shoulder, whispering, "Don't make a sound."

"She's not human."

The group felt a chill run up their spines.

The woman seemed to have heard something and slowly raised her head slightly.

The lamplight flickered, illuminating half of his face.

His face was deathly pale, but his lips were an unnatural red, and his eyes were empty, like two wells that had been emptied out.

The most horrifying thing was that there was a thin black line around the corner of her mouth, like it had been stitched up, or like someone had tied her skin with silk thread.

She looked at them, and the corners of her mouth slowly curved upwards.

"You guys are here too."

The voice was soft, like old cotton wool blown by the mountain wind, yet it was chillingly cold.

Song Qinghe nearly dropped the lamp, and only managed to keep from screaming by clenching her teeth tightly.

Lu Yuan's eyes darkened, and the knife had already quietly slid into his palm.

"Who are you?"

The woman tilted her head, as if stumped by the question, then smiled softly: "I—guard the bridge."

"bridge?"

Wang Cheng'an's expression changed. "What bridge?"

The woman raised her hand and pointed to the faintly visible mountain path in the mist below the cliff, saying slowly, "Once you cross the bridge, you'll reach the supply point."

"If you don't cross the bridge, I won't let you go down."

As she spoke, her eyes slowly turned to the left, glancing at the knife in Lu Yuan's hand.

"Your knife—it's killed its face."

Lu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, but he remained outwardly calm.

"You'll guard the door for it?"

The woman chuckled twice, and the dark lines on her face twitched.

"I'll recruit people for it."

"Recruiting people?" Zhou Heng suddenly took half a step back, almost missing his footing.

"What kind of people are you recruiting?"

"Accept those who are willing to contribute."

The woman said slowly, "Those who are willing to contribute can go up."

Those who are unwilling to pay must stay.

As soon as she said this, several faint, echoing sounds seemed to emanate from the fog, as if someone was responding softly from all around.

A chill suddenly appeared in Lu Yuan's eyes.

"They're all here."

He already had a plan in mind.

The woman on the cliff is not a solitary evil spirit.

She was the "final stop" for this section of the mountain road.

Once we cross this bridge, the main cave below will probably be not far away.

"Are you going to stop me?" Lu Yuan asked.

The woman's smile softened even more: "I can't stop you."

"I'm going there just to tell you that you have to follow the rules when you're on a mountain road."

"Rules?" Lu Yuan scoffed. "Whose rules?"

The woman slowly raised her head, looked at the mist below the cliff, then at the crowd, and finally her gaze fell on the cloth bundle containing the Soul-Revealing Mirror. A very faint hint of greed flashed in her eyes.

"Its rules."

"If you come to make offerings to the land but don't first establish your own reputation, the road won't recognize you."

"A confession?" Wang Cheng'an couldn't help but curse, "Bullshit!"

The woman's smile froze instantly, her eyes twitched, and the black line at the corner of her mouth suddenly split open, revealing flesh as white as paper.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan became even more certain.

This thing doesn't look human, but it can still talk about "rules" and "offering names," so it's clearly part of the evil god's offering system.

These evil spirits in the mountains are all linked together by rosters, testimonies, and travel permits.

"What name do you want?"

Lu Yuan asked.

The woman slowly extended one hand; her fingers were slender, but her nails were shiny black.

Write one.

"Who should we write about?"

"Write down the name of one of you," she said with a smile, her voice as soft as if coaxing a child. "Write down one, and you'll be halfway there."

"Write two, and you can cross the whole bridge."

"If you don't write anything—" She paused, then the corners of her mouth suddenly widened into an extremely long smile, "I'll just collect your corpse."

Zhou Heng felt as if his scalp was about to explode.

"What kind of ridiculous rules are these?!"

Lu Yuan understood.

"Offering a name".

He said slowly, "It's demanding a name."

"All the evil spirits along the way survive by offering names, using substitute names, borrowing names, and changing names."

"This is especially true when you reach this mountain pass."

"To enter the main cave, you need to present someone's name as payment."

Song Qinghe's face turned pale, and she quickly lowered her head to avoid the woman's gaze.

Xu Erxiao clenched his fist and muttered, "I won't write it. My name isn't worth anything, why should I give it to it?"

Whether a name is valuable or not is not up to you to decide.

Lu Yuandao.

After he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his hand and took out the yellow paper ash that had been burned in the cellar earlier. He rubbed it in his palm and found a little black ash with characters on it.

The black ash was already charred, but a few strokes still remained.

Lu Yuan spread the gray characters out in his palm and looked at them against the misty light. Suddenly, he noticed that the broken characters on them had a connection to the list of names on the back of the paper figure from last night.

His eyes darkened slightly, and then he said, "Don't move."

"I'll talk to her."

Upon hearing this, the woman's smile deepened, as if she had been waiting for this remark.

Lu Yuan took half a step forward and stood in the middle of the cliff path. The wind slipped under the hem of his clothes, causing the dust on his back to rustle slightly.

He looked up at the woman and said, word by word, "You want a name? Fine."

"But first tell me, what exactly is that thing enshrined in the main cave ahead?"

The woman's eyes slowly rolled.

"I told you, do you dare to go?"

"dare."

"Then you should write your name down."

Why?

"Because when you go to see it, you have to give a reply."

She laughed very softly, like the rubbing of paper, "Those who don't return their names, once they enter the main cave, can't come out."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.

Returning to the name.

This is a term that has never been explicitly stated before.

But just by listening, he knew that the support system in the mountains was even more comprehensive than he had previously thought.

Not only must one offer up one's name, but one must also return it.

In other words, those who enter this mountain pass are essentially lending out their names first, and when they encounter the evil god inside, they have to find a way to get their names back.

If we can't get it back, then it will become a permanent part of their accounts.

"Do you know Iron Abacus?"

Lu Yuan suddenly asked.

The woman paused for a moment, then nodded gently: "I know you."

"He is the old Moriguchi."

"He also gave his name."

"Whose name was it given to?"

The woman smiled but didn't answer; instead, she raised her hand and pointed down into the mist.

"The person you're looking for is down there."

"The old gate, the old name, the old paper figure, the old mirror, the old road, are all there."

Lu Yuan's gaze was deep, and his heart was already churning with turmoil.

Iron Abacus was not a lone gatekeeper. He was a link in the old system.

In the mountains where evil gods are worshipped, every stretch of road is guarded, and every entrance has an old register of names.

The yellow paper figures burned last night only unearthed part of the roster; the real account book is probably still under the main cave.

"I'm not going to waste my breath on you."

The woman suddenly stood up slowly.

She was so light that she seemed to have no bones, and she landed without making a sound.

"To cross the bridge, write your name first."

"To write or not to write?"

Lu Yuan stared at her for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

"You want a name, I'll give you a name."

The woman's eyes lit up.

But the next instant, the half of the black wooden plaque in Lu Yuan's hand suddenly flipped forward, the black dot facing outward, directly towards her face.

"However, it's not our name."

97

"It's yours."

The smile on the woman's face froze instantly.

"You dare?"

"If you dare to take lives, what wouldn't I dare to do?" Lu Yuan's voice turned cold. "Lin Zhaoxuan, bring out the mirror."

"Zhou Heng, seal off the salt line at the cliff!"

"Cheng An, give me the cinnabar!"

"Second Brother, step back!"

Upon hearing this, the group immediately took action.

Lin Zhaoxuan pulled the Soul-Illuminating Mirror out of the cloth bag, flipped the mirror over, and a flash of cold light appeared, pointing directly at the woman's feet.

Zhou Heng and Wang Cheng'an worked swiftly, spreading salt along the edge of the cliff, instantly blocking the woman's escape route.

Xu Erxiao raised his hand and flung the cinnabar in front of the woman, leaving a dense array of red dots, like a face covered in blood rain.

The woman's expression finally changed.

The black line at the corner of her mouth snapped open, making her mouth appear even longer, almost reaching her ears.

"You all—"

Her voice suddenly turned shrill, like dry wood snapping.

Taking advantage of the opening, Lu Yuan suddenly raised his knife and slashed his palm, smearing the blood directly onto the black wooden plaque, and then pressed it against the Soul-Reflecting Mirror.

"Shoot!" he hissed.

As the mirror lit up, the woman's figure instantly became distorted in the reflection.

The once neat blue cotton jacket and tidy hair bun instantly looked as if they had been soaked in water, slowly revealing the true appearance underneath.

She no longer had any semblance of human appearance.

It was simply layers of wet black cloth wrapped around a long, thin skeleton with a hollow chest, as if it had been hollowed out.

Most terrifyingly, she was trailing an extremely long gray shadow behind her.

The gray shadows faintly connect to the mountain path shrouded in mist below the cliff, like a thread, like a tail, like a conduit that allows air to pass through everything on the road.

"It really was a loose thread."

Yu Yuan's eyes flashed. "You're not the bridge keeper; you're the one who ties the bridge together."

When the woman saw her reflection in the mirror, her body trembled violently, as if her skin had been peeled off.

She yelled, "Don't take the picture!"

"Don't take photos of me!"

"I'm just going to deliver a message!"

"Whose message are you relaying?" Lu Yuan pressed.

The woman struggled frantically, uttering a rapid, swift sentence: "The one in the main cave has partially awakened!"

"Who told you to overturn the intersection? Who told you to burn the nameplates!"

"It needs a new driver!"

"Who should we replace them with?"

The woman suddenly turned her head and looked into the distance, her eyes filled with a mixture of resentment and fear.

"It's your turn!"

This sound was almost a scream.

Before she could finish speaking, her blue cotton-padded jacket suddenly ripped open from the shoulder, and she fell straight down into the mist below the cliff like a piece of skin that had been suddenly stretched open.

Without a second thought, Yu Yuan flashed the platform and threw out the black wooden plaque.

"Keep her pinned down!"

The black wooden plaque flew out in half and hit the middle of the gray shadow.

The woman immediately let out a shrill scream, and her whole body twisted violently in mid-air, turning into a wet, black strip of cloth that exploded in all directions.

As soon as the strips of cloth hit the ground, they slithered wildly along the edge of the salt line like live snakes.

"Don't let it get lost!"

Yu Yuan said sternly.

Wang Chengan and Zhou Heng rushed forward at the same time, throwing handfuls of cinnabar at the strips of cloth while stomping on the black cloth that was trying to burrow through.

Xu Erxiao grabbed a piece of dry wood and started poking and prodding at the black cloth, shouting, "I'll teach you to stop me! I'll teach you to demand your name!"

Lin Zhaoxuan pressed down slightly on the Soul-Illuminating Mirror. The gray shadow in the mirror was nailed to the black wooden plaque and was slowly shrinking inward, like a broken thread that could not be broken no matter what it did.

Yu Yuan took advantage of the moment when he bent down and picked something up from the pile of shattered black cloth.

It was a small piece of wood, as thin as a fingernail.

There was only one very faint character engraved on it.

"Return".

Upon seeing these words, Yu Yuan's gaze immediately turned extremely deep.

"Return to name."

He whispered, "And it really is like that."

Wang Cheng'an came running over, panting heavily and covered in sweat: "Brother Yu, if we break her up, will we be able to get through this?"

"Pass?" Lu Yuan slowly shook his head. "We've only just arrived at the mountain gate."

"This woman is just a knot on the bridge; untying her is merely peeling off her skin."

"The gray shadow behind her is the real thread connecting her to the main cave."

"So what do we do now?"

Yu Yuan raised his eyes and looked down at the winding mountain path below the cliff, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

"Follow it."

"Since it tells us to write our names, return our names, and offer our names, then let's take its thread and twist it back around."

"We're almost there at its main cave."

After saying that, he looked down at the piece of wood with the character "回" in his hand, then at the gray shadow and broken thread nailed to the black wooden plaque, and suddenly said, "Cheng'an, bring that piece of red cloth."

"What?"

"The one on the tree in front of the official."

Wang Chengan hurriedly ran to pick up the red cloth ribbon and handed it to Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan wrapped the red cloth around the wooden piece with the character "回" and tied it into a very tight knot.

Then he placed a pinch of cinnabar on the knot and wiped it with his fingertip.

"Go to the mountain pass, and you will gain official rank and fame."

"If it wants us to write, then we write for it."

"But who gets written about is up to us."

Lin Zhaoxuan looked at the piece of red cloth and seemed to understand something: "You want to use it as a road sign to send our names into jail?"

"Yes." Yu Yuan nodded. "They leave markers, lines, guides, and shells along the way, just so that people going into the mountains will send their names up themselves, right?"

""

"Then let's turn things around and pry open their openings."

As he spoke, he stuffed the red cloth into his bosom, then gathered up the Soul-Revealing Mirror, the Black Wooden Plaque, the Iron Abacus Ash, the Yellow Paper Ash, and the Cinnabar Salt Thread, and straightened his belt.

The mountain wind picked up a bit more, but a wisp of mist slowly dissipated below the cliff.

From within the mist, a section of blue stone steps faintly appears.

The steps lead downwards, one after another, as if leading to the bottomless depths of a mountain.

At the end of those steps, dark and gloomy, stood what seemed to be a stone gate half-hidden in the mountainside.

There are patterns on the stone gate.

Eye tattoo.

It also resembles a face.

The moment I looked at the stone gate from afar, my fingers tightened slightly.

"arrive.

"The main cave of the evil god's shrine is right behind that door."