Chapter 297: This Mountain Has No God Name

The broken stone steps emerged from beneath the snowline of the northern ridge, ascending step by step like a frozen black serpent.

The steps were ancient, their corners gnawed smooth by wind and snow. Every ninth step, an iron nail was driven into the stone crevice, its head polished to a sheen, as if trodden by countless soles.

Wang Cheng'an crouched down for a look.

"This isn't a path the mountain folk normally walk."

Lin Zhaoxuan picked up the thread:

"It's an altar path."

"Altar path?" Xu Erxiao asked.

"The road walked by those who feed the altars," Lin Zhaoxuan said. "A nail every nine steps presses down the returning shadow. Those going up must not look back; those going down must not raise their heads. The nails press down the eyes, and the shadows too."

Lu Yuan stood before the first iron nail, not immediately ascending.

The nail bore red rust.

No, not iron rust.

It was dried cinnabar and blood mixed together, aged by years into a dark crimson.

"This path doesn't lead to the skylight."

Mister Meng confirmed.

"But the lamp pointed here."

"The lamp pointed at the path the Malevolent Deity wants us to take."

Lu Yuan used his blade tip to pry away the snow beneath the first iron nail.

Beneath the snow lay a crushed yellow talisman.

On the talisman were written four characters:

"Entering the mountain, acknowledge the root."

"See that?" Lu Yuan said. "It's not afraid of us going up the mountain."

"It's hoping I'll go up by this path."

Asheng asked: "Why?"

"Because walking up by the altar path, the first step counts as acknowledging the road."

"Acknowledge the road, and the second step acknowledges the mountain."

"Acknowledge the mountain, and the eighth step must acknowledge the root."

Lin Zhaoxuan held the great green lamp, and its flame suddenly rose a cun higher.

"Daoist Lu, should we switch paths?"

Meng An looked to both sides of the stone steps.

To the right was a sheer cliff; to the left, old forest. The cliff had little wind but treacherous snow; beyond the old forest, tree roots were tangled, shadows dense as a net.

"We could switch, but it will still be waiting."

Song Qinghe said: "Then what do we do?"

Lu Yuan took a white cord unstained with cinnabar from the ink-line box.

This cord was not an ink-line, but hemp twine, coarse of fiber, like the kind ordinary farm households used for sewing clothes.

"Altar paths fear one thing."

"What?"

"The road a living person walks out for themselves."

He tied one end of the hemp cord to his left wrist and handed the other end to Xu Erxiao.

"From now on, don't step on the main steps. Walk along the edges."

"At every ninth step, don't step on the nail, don't look at the nail."

"Whoever hears someone calling their name from behind, touch the cord first."

"If the cord is there, keep walking."

"If the cord is gone, immediately report your full name."

Xu Erxiao passed the cord in turn to Wang Cheng'an, Lin Zhaoxuan, Song Qinghe, Zhou Heng, Asheng, Meng An, and Mister Meng.

Lu Yuan finally tied the end back to his own right wrist, and the group was linked by a circle of living hemp cord.

He formed the "Avoid Altar Path Walking Seal" with his right hand.

Thumb pressing the little finger, index and middle fingers extended straight, ring finger tucked inward, palm facing forward, then turning over to face downward.

"The altar path has nails, I enter no nails."

"The mountain road has roots, I acknowledge no roots."

"Feet tread the snow's edge, heart guards my true name."

"Man leads man by the cord, the cord leads living qi."

"Borrowing the way through, not making it a journey home."

"March!"

The first step fell, and Lu Yuan did not step on the center of the stone step, but on the snow along its edge.

The snow was slick, but his feet were as steady as if nailed to the ground.

The others followed upward.

When they reached the ninth step, the first iron nail suddenly gave a soft ring.

Ting.

The sound was faint, yet it fell on the ear like a copper bell.

Mister Meng's shoulders trembled.

From behind came Liang Chenglin's voice:

"Meng Jun, turn around."

"Your father's bones haven't been buried yet."

Mister Meng's lips pressed tight. He did not turn back, only gripped the hemp cord desperately.

Lu Yuan did not stop.

"Report."

Mister Meng said in a low voice:

"My name is Meng Jun."

"I held my father's bones."

"I will bury him with my own hands."

"But not in an evil altar."

The ringing of the iron nail stopped.

Another nine steps.

The second iron nail vibrated.

This time, Xu Erxiao heard his own master's voice:

"Erxiao, come back."

"Your senior brother is going to die on the mountain."

"You can't stop it."

Xu Erxiao's face went pale, and his foot nearly missed its step.

Wang Cheng'an grabbed the hemp cord.

"Report!"

Xu Erxiao gritted his teeth:

"My name is Xu Erxiao."

"My senior brother is Lu Yuan."

"He hasn't told me to go back, so I won't."

Lu Yuan walked at the front without turning, yet said:

"Too many words."

Xu Erxiao's eyes grew hot, and he laughed as he cursed:

"Well, I'm still alive, aren't I?"

The nail fell silent again.

The higher they climbed, the weaker the wind.

By all logic, the wind should have been fiercer at the summit, but above the stone steps, it was eerily still.

So still that the group could only hear their own breathing and the sound of snow crusts shattering beneath their feet.

The third iron nail, the fourth iron nail, the fifth iron nail rang out in succession.

Each one called out a person's name.

Wang Cheng'an heard the weeping of debtors.

Lin Zhaoxuan heard the old Daoist hall's junior uncle calling him to guard the gates.

Song Qinghe heard someone telling her to return within the passes.

Zhou Heng heard his younger sister telling him not to go on.

Asheng heard a vague woman calling him "Xiaoman."

Meng An heard Li Xiulan whisper softly within the lamp:

"An'er, don't go."

But one by one, they reported their own names, gripping the hemp cord, not retreating a single step.

When they reached the seventy-second step, Lu Yuan stopped.

Ahead, there was no seventy-third step.

The stone steps ended abruptly in the snow.

Beyond the broken edge lay a flat, open mountaintop clearing.

In the center of the clearing was a skylight.

Calling it a well was generous; it was more like an eye split open in the mountain's belly.

The well mouth was built of black stone, with no railing around it, only seven half-person-tall stone pillars.

Each pillar was wrapped in old cloth strips of different colors.

Black, white, red, yellow, green, gray, brown.

The seven colored cloth strips drifted slowly in the windless air, like the tongues of seven dead men.

Above the well mouth hung a stone plaque.

The plaque had no rope, no bracket; it simply hung there in midair.

On the plaque were carved two characters:

"Lu Root."

Xu Erxiao's face changed on the spot.

"Senior brother, it's really using your surname to make a point."

Lu Yuan stared at those two characters, but his gaze was calmer than before.

"It's not a surname."

"It's trying to make me treat 'Lu' as a root."

Song Qinghe said in a low voice:

"You clearly came from somewhere else, yet it insists on planting a root for you."

"Because I have no local family register," Lu Yuan said.

"No family register, so it can fill in whatever it wants."

"No ancestral grave, so it can bury whatever it wants."

"No parents or kin, so it can claim whatever it wants."

He stepped off the stone steps and walked into the skylight clearing.

The moment his foot touched the ground, all seven stone pillars lit up at once.

The black pillar floated "Name."

The white pillar floated "Wish."

The red pillar floated "Life."

The yellow pillar floated "Death."

The green pillar floated "Home."

The gray pillar floated "Shadow."

The brown pillar floated "Offering."

Seven characters appeared together.

But unlike before, these seven characters did not remain separate; they converged toward the center of the well mouth.

From the bottom of the well came a slow breath.

Like something that had slept for years, finally opening its eyes.

The small lamp in Meng An's arms flickered out for an instant, then rekindled.

Within the lamplight, Li Xiulan's name trembled faintly.

"There's something down there."

"Mm."

Lu Yuan walked to the edge of the well mouth.

There was no water in the well.

The shaft was deep, and below lay pitch-black mountain belly. At the far end of the mountain belly, a massive root tree was faintly visible. The tree had no leaves, no branches, only countless thick root tendrils burrowing deep into the rock walls.

Embedded in the center of the root tree was a black stone.

The black stone had no facial features, but it was covered in cracks.

Those cracks combined to form a character not yet finished writing.

Not "God."

Not "Mountain."

Not "Home" either.

It was a "Offering" that had been dismantled.

Wang Cheng'an swallowed hard.

"Its true body is down there?"

Lu Yuan shook his head.

"Not yet the true body."

"Then what is it?"

"The root of the Offering character."

"The Malevolent Deity has no self."

"Its true root is not the stone, not the well, but this 'Offering' character."

"Name, Wish, Life, Death, Home, Shadow - all of them exist to make this Offering character stand."

Lin Zhaoxuan said in a low voice:

"So in the end, we have to sever the offering."

"Sever it wrong, and people's wishes will break along with it."

"Right."

Lu Yuan gazed at the root tree in the well.

"The human world cannot be without offerings."

"Ancestral rites, mourning the dead, thanking the kitchen god, seeing off the departed - these are all proper offerings."

"What's wrong is the evil offering."

"It steals proper offerings and replaces them with sacrificed lives, sacrificed names, sacrificed descendants."

"So we can't just hack the Offering character apart with one blow."

"We have to peel the evil offering out from the proper offering."

The cloth strips on all seven stone pillars suddenly snapped taut at once.

From the bottom of the well came countless voices.

"I offer a burnt stick of incense, begging for my child to live."

"I offer a lamp, begging for the dead to return."

"I offer a bowl of rice, begging for the mountain road to open."

"I offer a name, begging for a place to take me in."

These voices were bitter at first, then gradually merged into the same words:

"Having offered, one should receive."

"Having received, one should repay."

"Unable to repay, then repay with life."

"Unable to repay, then repay with descendants."

Mister Meng's face went ashen.

"This is the altar-keeper's saying."

Lu Yuan said:

"Not the altar-keeper's saying."

"It's the rule of the evil offering."

He took out three things.

A copper coin, a pinch of stove ash, and a strip of temporary-name yellow talisman brought from the Northern Guan Righteous Manor.

The copper coin represented the living buying passage.

The stove ash represented the smoke of mortal hearths.

The temporary-name yellow talisman represented the dead leaving their names behind.

Lu Yuan placed the three items at the east, south, and west sides of the well mouth in order, leaving the north empty.

Xu Erxiao asked: "Nothing on the north side?"

"The north is left for it."

"Let it come forward on its own."

Lu Yuan formed the "Divide Offerings Seal" with his right hand.

This seal was different from the previous severing of offerings.

Severing offerings cut the evil line.

Dividing offerings distinguished right from wrong.

He pressed his thumb against the base of his index finger, curled his index and middle fingers into a half-ring, brought his ring and little fingers together pointing down, and supported his right wrist with his left hand, palms not touching, leaving a hairline gap between them.

"Offerings have three proper forms."

"Revering heaven and earth, not seeking to seize life."

"Honoring ancestors, not holding descendants hostage."

"Seeing off the dead, not trapping living souls."

"Beyond these three proper forms, any who use offerings as contracts, use contracts to claim lives, use lives to sustain altars -"

"They are all evil offerings."

"Today, with the eastern coin, the southern name, and the northern fire as witness."

"Let the proper return to the human world."

"Let the evil leave by the north gate."

"Divide!"

The three items at the well mouth lit up at once.

The copper coin gave a clear ring, the stove ash rose in a wisp of pale smoke, and the temporary-name on the yellow talisman floated into the air stroke by stroke.

Among the seven stone pillars, the green, white, and red pillars dimmed.

The pleading voices from the well bottom began to separate.

Some said:

"I only wanted to leave a mouthful of rice for my child."

Some said:

"I only wanted to remember my mother's name."

Some said:

"I was only afraid that after he died, no one would bury him."

These voices left the black stone, transforming into fine specks of white light, flying down the mountain.

But some voices did not leave.

They gathered in the empty space to the north, condensing into a pitch-black human shape.

The shape knelt by the edge of the well mouth, palms pressed together, posture devout.

"I offered."

"I should receive."

"I received."

"They should repay."

"I can't repay."

"So let others repay."

Lu Yuan stared at it.

"Who are you?"

The black shadow said in a low voice:

"I am every wish that couldn't be repaid."

"You're not a wish," Lu Yuan said.

"You're a deadbeat."

Wang Cheng'an was stunned for a moment, then snapped his abacus shut.

"Right."

"A wish is a plea."

"An offering is reverence."

"A debt is a debt."

"Since when is it right to force an unpayable debt onto someone else's head?"

The black shadow slowly raised its head.

It had no face, but it had a split-open mouth.

"Isn't the human world exactly like this?"

"The father owes, the son repays."

"The ancestor owes, the descendant repays."

"The living repay for the dead."

"The weak repay for the strong."

"I only wrote this rule down clearly."

Lu Yuan said coldly:

"So you're not a god."

"You're malice that turned into a debt-spirit through accumulated essence."

The black shadow erupted.

The "Offering" characters on all seven stone pillars blazed blood-red at once, and hundreds of red lines burst from the well, lunging straight at the group.

Lin Zhaoxuan whipped out his ink-line and shouted:

"Seven Stars, hold your positions!"

Xu Erxiao, Wang Cheng'an, Song Qinghe, Zhou Heng, Asheng, Meng An, and Mister Meng each guarded one pillar.

Lu Yuan had already arranged it long before.

Xu Erxiao guarded "Name," Wang Cheng'an guarded "Wish," Asheng guarded "Life," Mister Meng guarded "Death," Meng An guarded "Home," Zhou Heng guarded "Shadow," and Song Qinghe guarded "Offering."

Song Qinghe was startled.

"I guard Offering?"

"You've held the lamp the longest."

"You know the lamp shines on people, not on the altar."

She took a deep breath and placed the bronze lamp beneath the brown offering pillar.

The lamp flame clung to the stone pillar and burned with a green light.

When the red lines rushed toward her, they were blocked by the green light.

Lu Yuan called out loudly:

"Each report your position!"

Xu Erxiao shouted first:

"Name returns to its owner, not to the evil altar!"

Wang Cheng'an flicked his abacus:

"Wish returns to the heart, not made into an evil debt!"

Asheng pressed both hands to his chest:

"Life returns to my body, does not enter the well mouth!"

Mister Meng clutched the remnant tablet of his father's bones:

"Death returns beneath the earth, does not guard the black lamp!"

Meng An raised the small green lamp:

"Home returns to the living, not to a false temple!"

Zhou Heng stabbed his short blade into the ground:

"Shadow follows the feet, does not hang in the old forest!"

Song Qinghe held the lamp with both hands, her voice clear and bright:

"Offering returns to reverence, does not demand human life!"

The seven words fell, and the blood-red color on all seven stone pillars receded by a cun.

The root tree at the bottom of the well shook violently.

The black shadow let out a furious roar:

"If offerings don't claim lives, what use are they?"

Lu Yuan stepped into the empty space to the north in one stride.

"An offering is not a transaction."

"An offering is not a contract."

"An offering is not trading a stick of rotten incense for a life."

"You don't understand offerings, so all you know how to do is devour them."

The black shadow lunged at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan did not draw his blade. Instead, he took out a final blank yellow talisman.

Nothing was written on it.

He pressed the talisman against the black shadow's chest.

"Nameless evil offering, first receive this paper."

"You are not a mountain god, not a life protector, not a temple god, not an ancestor, not a mother shrine."

"You are unpaid wishes turned to debt, evil offerings given form."

"Today I give you a name."

"Evil Offering."

Slowly, two characters floated up on the yellow talisman:

"Evil Offering."

The black shadow struggled madly, as if branded with a hot iron.

"I am not evil!"

"I am the multitude of wishes!"

"The multitude of wishes should not harm people."

"I am the mountain root!"

"The mountain root should not devour people."

"I am home!"

"Home should not force people to sacrifice their children."

Lu Yuan formed the "Fix Evil and Classify Seal" with both hands.

Left palm facing up, right index and middle fingers pressing the yellow talisman, thumb pointing at the "Evil" character.

"If the name is unclear, it cannot be severed."

"If the category is unclear, it cannot be cut off."

"Today I fix its category: neither god nor ancestor, neither kin nor mountain."

"One category of evil offering, one lineage of evil debt."

"Fix!"

The two characters "Evil Offering" on the yellow talisman sank into the black shadow's chest.

All seven stone pillars cracked at once.

The root tree at the bottom of the well finally revealed its true form.

It was not a tree.

It was countless offering table legs, cart shafts, well ropes, spirit tablets, and beams tangled together, aged over the years and wrapped by black stone into a root.

The so-called root of the Malevolent Deity was the offering tables that generations of people had set up wrong.

Once Lu Yuan saw this clearly, he was in no hurry to sever.

He said to the group:

"Untie the old cloth strips from each pillar."

"Don't tear them. Untie them slowly."

"With each loop untied, recite your position once."

The group set to work immediately.

Xu Erxiao untied the black cloth, reciting "Name returns to its owner."

Wang Cheng'an untied the white cloth, reciting "Wish returns to the heart."

Asheng untied the red cloth, reciting "Life returns to my body."

Mister Meng untied the yellow cloth, reciting "Death returns beneath the earth."

Meng An untied the green cloth, reciting "Home returns to the living."

Zhou Heng untied the gray cloth, reciting "Shadow follows the feet."

Song Qinghe untied the brown cloth, reciting "Offering returns to reverence."

The cloth strips grew longer as they were unwound.

Every strip was covered in tiny writing.

There were birth dates, names, offering phrases, native places, childhood nicknames, and the first cries of children.

These things wrapped around the stone pillars were originally traces of human lives.

The Malevolent Deity had wound them into pillars, like binding the days of the living into an altar.

After the time it takes a stick of incense to burn, all seven stone pillars were finally bare.

The pillars themselves were ordinary mountain stone.

Without the cloth strips, the seven characters on them also faded.

The black shadow at the bottom of the well began to shrink.

Lu Yuan raised his broken blade.

The blade was covered in cracks and could no longer withstand heavy blows.

He did not strike at the black shadow, but stabbed the blade tip into the empty space north of the well mouth.

That was exactly where the evil offering exited through the north gate.

"The proper offerings have been divided."

"The evil offering has been named."

"The wishes of the people have been returned."

"The evil debts have no claim."

"Hold your positions. Do not let go."

The group answered in unison.

Lu Yuan gripped the blade with both hands and stepped out the Gang Steps beneath his feet.

First step, treading Heavenly Pivot.

"Name."

Second step, treading Heavenly Jade.

"Wish."

Third step, treading Heavenly Mechanism.

"Life."

Fourth step, treading Heavenly Balance.

"Death."

Fifth step, treading Jade Scale.

"Home."

Sixth step, treading Opening Yang.

"Shadow."

Seventh step, treading Shaking Light.

"Offering."

With all seven steps complete, he stood due north of the well mouth, the broken blade aimed at the yellow talisman on the black shadow's chest.

"The seven characters return to their origins."

"The evil offering leaves the altar."

"The mountain does not receive you."

"The well does not hide you."

"The cart does not carry you."

"The temple does not acknowledge you."

"The righteous manor does not keep you."

"The old forest does not hang you."

"The living do not repay your debts."

"The dead do not serve as your gate."

"Sever!"

The broken blade fell.

This strike made no sound.

The yellow talisman on the black shadow's chest split down the middle.

The two characters "Evil Offering" were cleaved into four pieces by the blade's edge.

The root tree at the bottom of the well collapsed with a roar, the black stone shattering into countless fine grains. The grains did not scatter but fell back into the depths of the mountain belly, like a black snowfall.

All seven stone pillars split open at once.

There were no ghosts, no blood and bone inside the pillars - only seven small wooden boxes that tumbled out.

Lu Yuan told the others not to touch them and opened each one himself.

The first box held a register of names.

The second box held wish papers.

The third box held birth-date plaques.

The fourth box held unburied ashes.

The fifth box held fragments of door plaques.

The sixth box held shadow nails.

The seventh box held half-rotted, unburned incense.

These were the last physical remnants of the Malevolent Deity's seven offerings.

Lu Yuan handed the first six boxes to their corresponding people.

"The name register goes back to the Northern Guan Righteous Manor."

"The wish papers go back to each stockade."

"The birth-date plaques are to be burned before the stoves of the living - not taken into any temple."

"The ashes are to be buried in a chosen plot."

"The door plaque fragments go back to their original homes."

"The shadow nails are to be buried at the overturned cart site in the old logging grounds, weighed down with stones."

Song Qinghe looked at the seventh box.

"And the incense?"

Lu Yuan picked up the half-rotted stick.

The incense was black, with no flame at the tip, yet it continuously gave off an extremely faint wisp of smoke.

The smoke did not rise upward but burrowed into the mountain belly.

"This is the final offering fire."

"Extinguish it, and the evil offering is cut off."

Wang Cheng'an said: "Just pinch it out?"

"No," Lu Yuan said.

"Incense cannot be pinched out."

"Pinching it out is the same as cutting off people's reverence."

"It has to be sent off."

"Sent where?"

"Sent out of the altar."

In the snow, Lu Yuan drew a small censer shape with cinnabar, filled it with stove ash, and inserted the half-rotted incense into it.

He did not kneel, did not bow, only supported his right wrist with his left hand and formed the "Send Off Evil Incense Seal."

"Incense is reverence by nature, not an evil go-between."

"This incense mistakenly entered an evil altar and long suffered evil debts."

"Today it receives no offerings, conveys no wishes, demands no lives."

"Smoke returns to the wind, ash returns to the earth."

"The incense road ends here."

"Send!"

Song Qinghe moved the bronze lamp beside the incense tip.

The lamplight did not ignite the black incense, but instead turned the wisp of black smoke at its tip into pale gray.

The pale gray smoke rose upward and scattered into the wind and snow of the northern ridge.

The half-rotted incense broke itself into two pieces and fell into the stove ash.

The skylight suddenly fell silent.

The breathing from the depths of the mountain belly vanished.

Snow began to fall in earnest.

Not wind-whipped snow grains, but soft, gentle flakes.

Xu Erxiao sat down on the ground and let out a long breath.

"Dead for good this time, right?"

Lu Yuan did not answer immediately.

He walked to the floating stone plaque.

The two characters "Lu Root" had already faded.

But on the back of the stone plaque, a line of small characters slowly emerged:

"Evil offering severed, god name empty."

"God name empty?"

Lin Zhaoxuan's face changed.

"There's still a god name?"

Lu Yuan reached out and ran his finger across the back of the stone plaque.

A bit of black ash clung to his fingertip.

The black ash fell onto the snow and assembled into a character missing its final stroke.

"He."

Mister Meng's voice came out hoarse:

"This character isn't commonly used among the folk."

Lu Yuan said:

"It never had a god name."

"The evil offering is severed, the feeding system has collapsed."

"But the empty shell that was fed into existence still remains."

"It's like a temple being demolished, the offering tables removed."

"Yet some people still feel in their hearts that something on the mountain is watching them."

Asheng asked: "Then what do we do?"

"Sever the god name."

"But it has no name."

"So we make it so it can never have a name again."

Lu Yuan dragged the stone plaque down from midair.

The plaque was heavy, and when it hit the ground it sent snow flying in all directions.

With his broken blade, he struck three horizontal cuts across the two characters "Lu Root."

First cut, severing "Lu."

"My name will not be a root."

Second cut, severing "Root."

"The mountain root will not be a god."

Third cut, severing the incomplete character on the back.

"No name shall receive enshrinement."

The broken blade finally gave out. With a crack, it snapped in two.

Xu Erxiao's face changed drastically.

"Senior brother!"

Lu Yuan gripped the remaining half of the hilt, his expression unchanged.

He thrust the broken blade into the center of the stone plaque.

"The final seal needs no blade's edge."

"It needs names."

He raised his hand, beckoning the group to surround the skylight.

"Report your names."

Xu Erxiao stood up:

"My name is Xu Erxiao!"

Wang Cheng'an:

"My name is Wang Cheng'an!"

Lin Zhaoxuan:

"My name is Lin Zhaoxuan!"

Song Qinghe:

"My name is Song Qinghe!"

Zhou Heng:

"My name is Zhou Heng!"

Asheng:

"My name is Asheng!"

Meng An:

"My name is Meng An!"

Mister Meng:

"My name is Meng Jun!"

Lu Yuan spoke last:

"My name is Lu Yuan."

Nine names landed around the skylight.

The residual character on the stone plaque trembled violently, as if trying to gather itself back into a god name.

Lu Yuan pressed his left hand on the blade hilt and formed the "Sever Name Seal" with his right hand.

Index and middle fingers together, pressed before his lips, thumb braced against his throat, then palm pushed outward.

"Every person has a name, gods may not seize it."

"Every wish has its owner, evil may not claim it."

"This mountain has no god name."

"This well has no god seat."

"This altar has no offering master."

"Should any later person offer incense to a nameless one, the incense will not reach."

"Should any later person use evil offerings to claim lives, the contract will not hold."

"Should any later person borrow Lu Yuan's name to plant a root -"

"- The name's owner stands here. Not permitted!"

He yanked the broken blade out.

The stone plaque split down the middle.

From the crack burst a stream of black qi.

The black qi condensed in midair into a massive face.

The face still had no features, but for the first time, it showed fear.

It tried to cry out something, but had no name to cry.

It tried to grab the offering lines, but all seven lines were severed.

It tried to crawl back into the well, but the root tree had collapsed.

It tried to borrow Lu Yuan's shadow, but the shadow stayed firmly plastered beneath Lu Yuan's feet.

In the end, all it could do was let out a wail like wind passing through an empty temple.

Lu Yuan watched it.

"You are not a god."

"You are only an empty shell that people mistakenly fed into existence."

"Disperse."

The black qi was swept away by the wind and snow.

From beneath the skylight came seven consecutive cracking sounds.

Name, Wish, Life, Death, Home, Shadow, Offering.

The seven old offering grounds were completely severed at that moment.

In the distance, toward Xiaoman Stockade, dogs began to bark.

Toward Ma family gully, someone pushed open a door.

At the Northern Guan Righteous Manor, thirty-seven new spirit tablets clinked softly in the wind.

Beneath the overturned wooden cart in the old logging grounds, thirty-seven yellow talismans lay quietly in the snow.

Everything seemed to have finally returned to how it should be in the human world.

The small green lamp in Meng An's arms slowly went out.

He did not panic. He only held the lamp tighter.

"Did my mother leave?"

Lu Yuan nodded.

"She's returned to her name."

Meng An's eyes were red, but he managed a smile.

"That's good, then."

Mister Meng placed his hand on his son's shoulder, and the father and son stood in the snow, silent for a long time.

Song Qinghe walked up beside Lu Yuan.

"Is it over?"

Lu Yuan looked down at the broken blade.

The blade was ruined, and the ink-line box had a crack running through it as well.

"The Malevolent Deity's offering grounds are severed."

"But the fear in people's hearts won't disappear overnight."

"There will still be people who light incense, make wishes, and want to trade someone else's life for their own safety."

"Then what do we do?"

"Set the rules."

Lu Yuan looked down the mountain.

"Write the truth out."

"Tell Xiaoman Stockade, Ma family gully, the Northern Guan Righteous Manor, and everyone who has ever walked these mountains."

"There is no life-protecting god on this mountain."

"There are only seven evil offering grounds."

"The offering carts deceived people, the righteous well collected names, the righteous manor trapped souls, the old forest hung shadows, the skylight merged offerings."

"From now on, anyone who borrows the name of life protection to collect names, birth dates, or shadows will be dealt with as an evil altar."

Lin Zhaoxuan nodded.

"I'll write it."

Wang Cheng'an patted his abacus.

"I'll get the accounts straight."

Xu Erxiao raised his short sword.

"If anyone disagrees, I'll go have a talk with them."

Lu Yuan glanced at him.

"Put the sword away first."

Xu Erxiao sheepishly sheathed his blade.

The sky was gradually brightening.

The clouds over the northern ridge parted in a single line, and sunlight fell on the edge of the skylight.

The seven cracked stone pillars became ordinary mountain stone in the light, and the characters on the shattered plaque fragments vanished completely.

Lu Yuan took one last look into the well.

The bottom was no longer pitch black.

The black stone sand lay at the deepest point, slowly soaked by meltwater, like a silent pile of old ashes.

He turned and walked down the mountain.

The others followed behind.

This time, they did not walk the altar path again.

Lu Yuan led them around the stone steps, treading out a new route from the flank of the snowy ridge.

No iron nails, no red cords, no wooden plaques.

Only a string of footprints, varying in depth, stretching toward the smoke of human habitation below.

Halfway down the mountain, Asheng suddenly looked back.

"Brother Lu."

"What?"

"Over by the skylight, it feels like someone's watching us."