Chapter 141 Breaking the Array

I stared blankly down at my own chest.

It was only in this final, fleeting moment that I realized Chanshu’s voice had come from the jade pendant hanging around my neck.

I quickly reached out and fished the pendant out.

Yet at this moment, the pendant was slowly turning white—a dull, lifeless, ash-grey white, utterly devoid of any luster.

I felt a phantom sensation of being caressed across my face.

It seemed as though low murmurs were still ringing in my ears, but I could no longer hear them clearly.

The jade pendant completely weathered away and vanished in my palm.

I stood in place, staring blankly down, while a sharp, twisting pain tore through my heart.

Could it be that Chanshu’s scattered soul fragment had been by my side all this time?

Although the greater part of it had been destroyed by Wang Bing, it had not completely dissipated; this tiny thread of it had somehow remained.

But now, even this last thread was gone.

The wrenching agony in my chest made it almost difficult to breathe.

The disintegration of the jade pendant and the final departure of Chanshu’s soul fragment suddenly left me with an immense, hollow feeling, as if I had utterly lost something irreplaceable.

Then there were the last words that had echoed in my ear.

"It’s too late. It’s already too late... Xie Yuan, I know everything now... You must never trust me..."

Chanshu was warning me not to trust her.

In other words, she was telling me not to trust her true body!

I closed my eyes. When I opened them a moment later, a resolute decision had formed in my heart.

Chanshu—at least the Chanshu I knew—was already trying to stop me from meddling in this matter.

This meant there was undoubtedly more to this than I understood.

Perhaps Chanshu’s true body was not entirely unaware of these things? After all, only this single soul fragment of hers had left.

My heart ached terribly. This fragment of Chanshu knew everything that was happening, yet she had still chosen me, while I had previously harbored thoughts of turning away from her.

Right at that moment, the mist surrounding us slowly began to dissipate.

"Xie Yuan, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Li Yue asked suddenly.

My body gave a slight shudder. My hands were now completely empty.

After turning grey-white, the jade pendant had simply vanished from my palms.

I muttered quietly, "It's nothing. Just thought of some things, and figured a few things out."

"Don't worry, Senior Sister, Xie Yuan will be fine. He's way tougher than we are."

Wang Erjun's voice managed to dilute some of my swirling thoughts and anguish.

Zhang Chang cast a thoughtful glance at me and continued, "It's time for business. Once the seal is broken, we not only have to deal with the Ghost Hag, but we also have to trap the Three Corpses Spirit. It won't be as easy as we think. Xie Yuan, you must keep your focus. Your mother's Three Corpses Spirit is something only you have a chance of keeping here; the rest of us certainly aren't her match."

I took a deep breath, nodded, and said, "Don't worry, I won't mess up."

With that, my gaze found Granny Li.

She was already standing quietly in front of the Ghost Hag's corpse, the wooden crutch in her hand gently touching the ground.

Zhang Chang walked over, took a deep breath, and said, "If you have any preparations to make, you can set them up now to help deal with the Ghost Hag later. But if you intend to throw your life away in a desperate fight, you should stand aside and let us handle it. If you're in danger, Xie Yuan will definitely save you. This matter is extremely important to him, and the same goes for you, right? People get muddled when they grow old; you must not do anything foolish."

Granny Li kept her head down, half-crouching on the ground, and began setting things up along the perimeter of the wall.

Li Yue and Wang Erjun were also covering the ground with things like Bagua arrays.

As for Zhang Chang, he unzipped the backpack on his back, took out three straw effigies, and directly slashed his own palm, letting his blood slowly drip down.

It took quite a while before barely twenty drops of blood had dripped out.

It was as if Zhang Chang's body was too old and shriveled, leaving him with very little blood left inside.

I gripped the Thousand-Nether Whip tightly in one hand while my other hand brushed against the Ghost-Rearing Jar.

I didn't want to use these two ghost-capturing items against my mother's Three Corpses Spirit, but just in case—if it came down to necessity—I would hold nothing back.

Only by keeping her here would there be any chance of bringing her back to life.

About half an hour passed before Wang Erjun finally finished his preparations.

Granny Li and Old Master Wang had already completed theirs much earlier.

Most of the hair on the Ghost Hag's corpse had fallen out. Her bald crown was entirely devoid of hair, surrounded only by a sparse, pathetic ring of white hair that looked utterly repulsive.

The clothes on her body were ancient and tattered.

Her tightly closed eyes resembled the withered, shriveled bark of an old tree.

In the inner circle around her were placed several clay figurines made of earthenware, woven together with a blackish-red cord...

No, that didn't look like cord at all; rather, it looked more like the tendon of some animal.

The tendons connected the clay figures, and their bodies were entirely stained in a dark, bruised red, as if they had been molded not with water, but with blood.

Among the clay figures was also a small existence that was not human.

It was a dog...

A faint jolt of alarm ran through me, accompanied by a heavy wave of sorrow radiating from Granny Li.

This was the first layer of defense designed to deal with the Ghost Hag's soul.

The second layer was the talisman array laid out by Wang Erjun and Li Yue.

Aside from the talismans they usually drew, it also incorporated the Quaking Talisman and the Melting Talisman I had given them.

Furthermore, Li Yue... was actually standing right there, completely motionless.

Even though Wang Erjun had already stepped away, she remained in place, holding a small gourd in her hands.

Was Li Yue going to use herself as a component of the second layer of power?

All of this was likely tied to the small gourd in her hands.

I took a deep breath, strode forward, and reached out to pull Li Yue away.

However, Wang Erjun blocked my path.

The look in his eyes as he gazed at me now had shifted slightly. He said in a low voice, "Don't go trying to pull the Senior Sister away. Her intentions are already clear. Besides, if you trust us, you should know she understands that if she gets hurt, you will desperately try to save her. She won't become a burden to you."

I stopped moving.

Turning my head, I glanced at Zhang Chang and nodded to signal that I was ready.

The Quaking Talisman, Melting Talisman, Fighting Talisman, and Death Talisman could not be used against my mother; they would harm her. The only things I could use were the Thousand-Nether Whip and the Ghost-Rearing Jar.

If my mother refused to be detained willingly,

I would have no choice but to rely on the sheer strength of my own soul to forcefully suppress her.

As the one in charge of the final barrier, Zhang Chang held a slender dagger, and three straw effigies stained with his blood lay on the ground.

"I'm going to release their souls shortly. You all can tell the Ghost Hag and Xie Yuan's mother apart, right? Make sure you don't attack the wrong person. The Three Corpses Spirit is extremely sensitive and ferocious—she is far fiercer than the Ghost Hag. You must steer clear of her, or we'll be in deep trouble."

After Zhang Chang finished speaking, both Wang Erjun and Li Yue nodded.

Granny Li spoke in a hoarse voice, "Even if I turn to ash, I'll remember the Ghost Hag's face. Today, her soul will scatter right here."

Zhang Chang closed his eyes.

He rolled up his sleeves, and to my shock, I saw that some bizarre scales were growing along his arms.

My expression changed drastically. These scales bore a striking resemblance to the scales of the horned dragon hidden within the mountain belly.

Zhang Chang forcefully ripped one of the scales off, moved his feet in a swift blur, and dashed directly in front of the Ghost Hag's corpse.

He slapped the scale straight onto the Ghost Hag's forehead!

Inside the room, the yin energy surged violently with explosive force!

The Ghost Hag's hair fluttered without any wind, and the clothes on her body billowed sharply as if they had been inflated with air.

The overwhelming yin energy gave me a jolt of alarm.

"He's acting as a third force, disrupting the equilibrium of the Three-Corpse Soul-Sealing Array."

Li Yue murmured softly.

The next instant, Zhang Chang quickly retreated back to his original position and stood still.

Right at that moment, the Ghost Hag's corpse abruptly sat straight up.

She sat completely rigid, and her eyes suddenly snapped wide open!

One of her eyes was pitch-black and immensely gloomy, brimming with unusual malice, while the other eye was filled with sheer indifference—an utter, chilling indifference toward everything in existence.

A strand of black vapor drifted out from that malicious eye.

At the same time, an extremely shrill voice rang out, trembling with the utmost excitement.

"Twenty years! You actually let me out! I'm finally out!"

The Ghost Hag's voice was warped and hoarse, sounding exceptionally stifling to the ears.

The black vapor remained tethered to her eyes, continuously billowing outward.

Very soon, a ghost that looked nearly identical to her corpse materialized before our eyes.

She grinned hideously and said, "You can't trap me!"

At that moment, Granny Li spoke in a raspy, grating voice, "Letting you out is so I can kill you!"

"Xiaohei, come out!"

The instant her words fell, the earthenware clay dog seemed to spring to life, instantly transforming into a massive black hound!

This black dog was none other than Xiaohei!

Only, it radiated a murderous ferocity countless times greater than before.

It was genuine slaughter, far beyond mere malevolent dread!

Its eyes were entirely consumed by killing intent!

"Do you know what Xiaohei was raised on?"

Granny Li's voice chilled to the bone.