I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

On the way back from the Songzi Temple to the courtyard in Huai'an County, no one spoke.

"Lu Chen".

Han Zhao dipped his fingertip in tea and wrote the two characters on the old wooden table. The water stains quickly spread through the cracked wood grain.

"He was a centurion of the Huai'an County branch of the Demon Suppression Bureau, who presided over the Name Sealing Formation. He once brought that thing covered by a red cloth into the Temple of Fertility, and in the end, his name was swallowed up by the monster's body." Meng Changlu concisely pieced together the owner behind this name. "And the reaction of the Weeping Goddess to this name when we were evacuating just now proves that he is not only a person from the past, but also a 'key' left over from that Name Sealing Formation back then."

Lu Yan looked at the gradually calming energy on the compass, his eyes gleaming.

"We won't set up a trap in the courtyard, nor will we go directly into the shrine to send off children." Han Zhao pointed to the sketch drawn by Lu Yan, his fingertip pointing to a blank space between the shrine to send off children and the mass grave riverbank. "The best location: this old sacrificial path."

"We're close enough to the origin to lure her out; we're not directly under the red cloth to avoid being instantly swallowed by the main body; most importantly, there are remnants of the sealing array's bottom line on the ground that we can use, and it's convenient to retreat at any time."

Without any objections, the team rested briefly and left the city again before the sun began to set.

……

The evening mist began to rise from the mass grave riverbank.

Without any unnecessary chatter or sentimental remarks, the team swiftly and professionally deployed their forces along the sacrificial path.

Lu Yan knelt on the muddy sacrificial path, his array needles flying, precisely connecting the dark gold pattern from Kunlun with the remaining traces of the sealing array on the ground.

Fang Bai buried nine layers of specially made pseudonyms around the sacrificial path, according to the positions of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.

Lin Xiaolu crushed a large amount of pungent pure yang herbs and scattered them along the edge of the sacrificial path, suppressing the infant resentment that was trying to erupt prematurely from the riverbed.

Xu Chenzhou and Han Zhao cleared an unobstructed retreat route on both sides, the cold glint of their swords flashing faintly in the dim light.

Holding a low-spiritual-pressure recording artifact, Luo Qi held his breath and concentrated, preparing to capture every fluctuation of the rules that was about to erupt.

The most crucial step was entrusted to Xie Wujiu.

Xie Wujiu walked to the core of the formation, enduring the excruciating pain of the paper doll's body constantly cracking, and pressed the paper doll that sealed the "Name Mark" and the broken scabbard engraved with blood words into the formation at the same time.

Then, he used his remaining left hand to form a Yin Dharma Seal, extracting an extremely faint trace of the Yin soul aura from the paper doll's body and injecting it into it.

The moment before the sun completely sets.

A blurry figure slowly took shape on the old sacrificial path.

That wasn't a real person. It had no facial features, no breath, and no life. It was merely a shadow pieced together from paper figures, broken swords, a wisp of name trace, a trace of underworld soul position, and intricate name-sealing array patterns.

The shadow, dressed in the tattered official robes of a centurion of the Demon Suppression Bureau, with a broken sword at his waist, stood alone on the sacrificial path, his back to the direction of the Fertility Shrine.

It doesn't speak, nor does it respond to any calls. It's like a silent ghost, stubbornly guarding this place.

This is the trap they set for the Weeping Goddess—the illusion of "Lu Chen Returns".

……

The sky grew completely dark.

Night fell on the first realm.

The thick fog instantly became as viscous as ink. On the withered tree outside the Temple of Fertility, countless blackened and rusty longevity locks suddenly began to collide wildly without a breath of wind, making a teeth-grinding "clanging" sound.

Deep within the ancestral hall, beneath a dark red cloth, came the chilling cries of an infant and the overlapping whispers of a woman.

But this time, the Crying Goddess did not wander aimlessly searching for the scent of the living, as she had the night before.

The cries and whispers in the ancestral hall were instantly replaced by an immense obsession and terror. Almost immediately, all the chilling atmosphere locked onto the figure standing on the sacrificial path.

"Lu Chen..."

The gentle yet endlessly resentful voice of the woman drifted out from the ancestral hall.

"Lu Chen... why did you dare to come back...?"

"You sealed my name back then... You trapped me here... You lied to me..."

The overlapping sounds swirled above the sacrificial path.

From these frantic words, everyone clearly grasped the truth of what happened back then: Lu Chen had indeed used the Sealing Array to seal her, inflicting severe damage and even sealing her most vital part. But Lu Chen ultimately failed and was devoured by her.

She harbored extreme resentment towards Lu Chen, but deep down, she also harbored an indelible fear!

"The name recognition rule has been activated." Lu Yan stared intently at the array plate.

The Weeping Goddess began trying to force the figure to respond; if the shadow dared to utter a sound, her rules would instantly devour the body completely.

But Lu Chen's shadow had no soul, no consciousness; it was just an empty shell that would never speak.

"The land sank!"

The crying became harsh and agitated.

Every time she shouted "Lu Chen", the remaining threads of the sealing array that Lu Yan had connected on the ground of the sacrificial path would light up faintly in the opposite direction!

Each time it lit up, it was like an invisible nail, driving back into her deformed, rule-bound body, following the sound of her calling "Lu Chen".

"It's effective." Cold sweat beaded on Lu Yan's forehead, but his eyes were extremely bright. "She's locking herself in! The more she calls that name, the deeper she's sealed herself away!"

Fang Bai desperately maintained the operation of the fake name talisman on the ninth underground level, and blood had already spilled from the corner of his mouth; Xie Wujiu's paper doll emanated a "crackling" sound due to the unbearable strain, but he gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed the shock within his soul position; Lin Xiaolu pressed her hands to the ground, using all her strength to suppress the corrupt vitality that was provoked and trying to surge underground.

However, this evil rule, pieced together from countless names and despair, cannot be deceived by a mute shadow forever.

When the Crying Goddess realized that no matter how she called out, "Lu Chen" would not turn around, and did not even show the slightest fear of the living.

She seemed to sense that something was wrong.

"It's fake...you're not Lu Chen..."

The sounds inside the ancestral hall instantly became extremely shrill. Immediately afterward, a foul-smelling, eerie wind swept out from the shrine.

On the muddy ground at the edge of the sacrificial path, several wet footprints suddenly appeared without warning. These footprints were extremely strange; they bypassed Lu Chen's avatar at the center of the formation and rapidly spread towards Lu Yan, who was manipulating the formation plate at the edge of the formation!

She gave up on identifying the imposter and began searching for the person behind it all!

"Xu Chenzhou! Execute him!" Han Zhao roared fiercely.

Xu Chenzhou, who had been guarding the flank, had eyes as cold and sharp as knives. Without any hesitation, he forcefully broke the true essence seal, which was now a notch deeper than before.

"Zheng—!"

The old iron sword emitted a clear and melodious sword cry, and a solid, tangible sword light slashed fiercely at the approaching wet footprints!

"laugh--"

The sword light carved a deep furrow in the muddy ground, brutally severing the connection between the footprints and the formation.

But this sword strike also caused fluctuations in the boundary repulsion of this world. The dark clouds in the sky began to churn, and a faint rumble of thunder was brewing.

"Heavenly Thunder Warning! We can't delay any longer!" Xu Chenzhou sheathed his sword and retreated, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

"Close the net!" Han Zhao gave the final order.

A ruthless glint flashed in Lu Yan's eyes. He pressed his hands down sharply, transforming the name "Lu Chen" that the Crying Goddess had called out countless times into an invisible turbulent current of rules, forcibly inserting it into the incomplete diagram of the Sealing Name Array!

Almost simultaneously, Xie Wujiu forcefully pressed the wisp of real "name trace" that he had intercepted the previous night into the core of the formation!

The last fake name tag that Fang Bai buried underground was burned to ashes.

"Buzz—!"

An extremely piercing buzzing sound erupted from the center of the formation.

Under the reverse strangulation of the rules, the monster beneath the red cloth of the Fertility Shrine let out an extremely shrill scream. A twisted, chaotic phantom was forced out from the depths of the shrine, exposed to the dim light of the array.

That wasn't a complete face, nor a complete name.

It was a long, waterlogged, overlapping list of countless indistinct surnames and given names pieced together as "fragmented names." It was like a rotting chain covered in malignant tumors, struggling violently and emitting a nauseating stench and despair.

This is part of the core rules and structure of the Crying Goddess!

Han Zhao coldly stared at the crazed and twisted remains in the formation, then turned to Xu Chenzhou, his voice as icy as ice:

"Slay one of her."

Xu Chenzhou took a deep breath, gripped the sword hilt tightly with both hands, and frantically poured the unsealed true essence within his body into the old iron sword. The blade emitted a chilling light powerful enough to tear through the night.

He slowly raised his longsword high.

Inside the Temple of the Child-Giving, the eerie weeping that had haunted the place for years changed for the first time at this moment.

The voice no longer held any seductive power, nor any sorrow.

That sounded like extreme fear.