Chapter 230: Tai Chi Seal to Suppress Evil Plate

After listening to Lu Yuan’s warning, which was almost like “flinging open the coffin lid for them to see,” the blood drained inch by inch from Lin Zhaoxuan’s face.

He did not speak right away, only lowering his head and running his fingers again and again over the crack at the edge of the Thunderclap Token, as if weighing the gravity of the matter in his mind.

The fire crackled, the morning wind blew through the withered branches of the old willow, and its shadow swayed lightly on the ground like a huge beast lying in wait, staring at them from the dark.

Zhou Heng was the first to lose his composure and, forcing his voice low, said:

“Senior brother... since Brother Lu has put it that way, shouldn’t we withdraw first?”

“This place is bizarrely evil. If our cultivation isn’t enough, leaving isn’t necessarily cowardly.”

He spoke softly, and it was obvious he genuinely worried about Lin Zhaoxuan.

Song Qinghe frowned as well, hesitated a moment, then added in a low voice:

“Senior brother, Brother Lu isn’t wrong.”

“Last night we already pushed the Blood-Fire Pill and the Thunder Token to their limits. If we go any deeper, no one can say for sure who can hold up.”

“Getting out alive would already be a blessing.”

But Lin Zhaoxuan still didn’t lift his head.

He fell silent for a long time.

Long enough that even Xu Erxiao thought he would back down, when Lin Zhaoxuan suddenly looked up.

In that instant, the fatigue and weakness in his eyes were still there, but something far deeper—a resolute light—slowly began to ignite.

“No.”

Three words, spoken not loudly, but they hit the ground like nails.

Zhou Heng was stunned:

“Senior brother?”

Lin Zhaoxuan slowly straightened up; though his spine still felt shaky, he forced it to be erect.

He looked at Lu Yuan without averting his gaze and spoke each word deliberately:

“Brother Lu, you’re right. This place is evil, eviler than we first thought.”

“But precisely because it’s evil, we cannot leave.”

He paused, as if suppressing the qi and blood surging in his chest, and as if restraining the emotion that threatened to flare up inside him.

“My master used to tell us one thing more than any other—”

Lin Zhaoxuan’s voice gradually rose. The firelight cast his profile, and the stubborn edge and sharpness of a young man appeared bit by bit.

“A person who cultivates the Dao does not carry a sword in their hand, but a breath, a lamp.”

“If the lamp burns, it must light the way; if the breath remains, it must cut down evil.”

“If you see evil and do not eliminate it, how can you claim to follow the Dao?”

He raised his hand, gripping the Thunderclap Token tightly, his voice growing firmer.

“Our master taught us thunder techniques not so we could avoid powerful things, nor so we could only preach from safe places.”

“He taught that those who cultivate, if they only seek their own safety, what they cultivate is not the Dao but mere survival!”

“Since we know Wildman Ditch holds evil puppets, since we know someone is using living people’s vitality, household qi, and incense offerings to feed something nameless, since we know it’s still down there harming people!”

“Then we cannot leave!”

“We can avoid needless bravado, we can choose not to throw away our lives, but we cannot pretend we did not see it!”

Each sentence landed heavier than the last, and by the end his words had taken on a stirring, almost rousing tone.

“Daoism speaks of a vast righteous qi, it speaks for all living beings, it says the unjust should be made right and unclean places must be cleansed!”

“If today we retreat out of fear of death, and this thing emerges again, the harm will not be limited to us but to the whole region beyond the Great Wall, to who knows how many lives in and beyond this ditch!”

“If Master were still here, he would tell us to go forward!”

When he finished, the circle around the fire fell silent for a moment.

Zhou Heng was the first to redden and grit his teeth. He slammed his fist against his own knee.

“All right!”

“If Senior brother goes, I’ll go with him!”

“If I were truly afraid of dying, I would never have come out with you in the first place!”

His words were coarse but unwavering.

Song Qinghe first nodded in affirmation, then bit her lip and lowered her head, as if restraining her emotions.

But after a breath or two she lifted her head, and in a soft yet firm voice said:

“I’ll go too.”

“Senior brother is right. What our master taught us was to act when we see evil and not to retreat from hardship.”

“My Dao techniques aren’t as good as yours, but I can still paste talismans, guard the altar, and press the formation.”

“As long as I can stand, I won’t leave.”

Lin Zhaoxuan looked at the two of them; his expression clearly softened a little, then quickly returned to Lu Yuan.

“Brother Lu.”

“We know our cultivation is shallow, but we did not come here to be a burden. We came to dispel evil.”

He paused, and his tone sank word by word, steadier and firmer than before:

“I, Lin Zhaoxuan, put my pledge here today—”

“If there truly is a greater evil in this ditch, even if I must give my life, I will go with it to see what it is.”

“If I survive and come out, I will bear this cause fully.”

“If I die here, it will be the path I chose; I will blame neither heaven nor man.”

The firelight washed over his pale face, giving it a near-blazing resolution.

Lu Yuan looked at him, and the faint coldness that had been in his eyes gradually dissipated.

He knew that once a person like this made a decision, not even ten horses could drag him back.

Knowing that, Lu Yuan still did not immediately relent.

He lifted his chin and scanned the three of them with his gaze.

His eyes rested on Lin Zhaoxuan, Zhou Heng, and Song Qinghe for a moment, then returned to the ember of burning wood in the fire.

“I hear your resolve,” he said, voice low and calm, but the meaning left no room for compromise.

“But resolve is one thing, life is another.”

“Words of courage now won’t give you thirty percent more cultivation.”

Lin Zhaoxuan’s expression tightened.

Lu Yuan looked up at him; his tone remained steady but became colder and harder than before:

“I am not saying I do not believe you want to dispel the evil. I do not believe your current bodies.”

“With your limited foundation, if you truly follow, won’t you become a drag?”

“You’ve already seen that tree and that soul-shadow.”

“That was only what’s visible on the surface.”

“What lies beyond, no one can say for sure.”

“If you insist on following and something happens, I’ll have to take care of you, and if I don’t, that would mean sending you to your deaths.”

He paused and swept his gaze over Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng’an.

“It’s the same if I bring those two with me.”

“If I promise you, I’m effectively promising to stake five lives together.”

“I will not shoulder that burden.”

His words were blunt, offering almost no room for negotiation.

Zhou Heng immediately grew anxious.

“Brother Lu, aren’t you going too far?”

“We’re not paper people. If it comes to a fight, it may not—”

“May not what?”

Lu Yuan cut him off directly.

“May not die?”

“Or may not make things worse?”

Zhou Heng froze, his face flushing red.

Song Qinghe frowned and said quietly:

“Brother Lu, we know our cultivation is less than yours, but you can’t decide we’ll fail just because our levels are low.”

Lu Yuan glanced at her.

“I’m not judging whether you will succeed.”

“I’m judging that if you go in with us, you will certainly suffer losses.”

“In Daoism it’s about knowing when to advance and retreat, weighing priorities. It’s not about charging forward on a burst of zeal.”

Lu Yuan’s tone was low, but like cold iron pressing down, it left people momentarily speechless.

Lin Zhaoxuan pressed his lips together, as if he wanted to argue further, but in the end he only tightened his hold on the Thunderclap Token and said in a low voice:

“Brother Lu, we will not be a burden.”

“I can forgo the Thunderclap Token and guard the perimeter. Zhou Heng can wield the sword, Qinghe can secure the talismans and formations. The three of us aren’t necessarily only fit to stand aside and watch.”

“If you ask me to leave, I won’t.”

“This isn’t bravado; it’s karma.”

“What our master taught was never to retreat when faced with hardship.”

“If I retreat today, how can I later face evil with any integrity?”

As he spoke the last part, his tone rose again, full of stubborn resolve.

Lu Yuan only watched him without replying.

After a moment, he pinched a bit of ash from the fire and rubbed it between his fingers before saying:

“I believe half of what you said when you claim you won’t be a burden.”

“The other half I don’t believe.”

“Because it isn’t a question of whether you want to be a burden, it’s whether you have the ability to avoid being one.”

Lin Zhaoxuan’s face stiffened.

The air suddenly grew tense.

Just then, Song Qinghe lifted her head as if she had made up her mind and reached slowly into her bosom.

Her movements were careful, as if the thing were priceless and must not be handled roughly.

“Since Brother Lu doesn’t trust us, then look at this first.”

She opened her palm, revealing a small object.

It was only palm-sized, dark and heavy-looking, seemingly between wood and bone, wrapped in a layer of old red cord. Several copper coins, worn bright from handling, were bound into the knot.

Most striking was a round jade piece, black and white, set in the center, faintly engraved with a ring of thin seal-script characters.

When she held it out and the firelight fell on it, a low, restrained spiritual pressure seemed to emanate.

Zhou Heng froze.

“Sister, you brought this out?”

Lin Zhaoxuan shot up, surprise flickering in his eyes.

Song Qinghe bit her lip and said in a low voice:

“At this point, hiding it is useless.”

She turned to Lu Yuan and said earnestly:

“This is a talismanic device passed down in our sect, called the Tai Chi Seal to Suppress Evil Plate.”

“It’s normally kept at the mountain gate and not taken out lightly.”

“When Master left, he said that if one day we encountered a truly deadly situation, this plate may be borrowed temporarily to suppress yin, stabilize qi, and protect the altar.”

She inhaled deeply. Then, as if anxious Lu Yuan wouldn’t believe her, she turned the jade plate slightly to reveal a faint line of ancient characters on the back.

“When yin and yang are divided, evil will not approach.”

“This thing isn’t for showing off, but if it’s just to go down and take a look, it should be enough to guard our three breaths of true qi.”

The Tai Chi Seal to Suppress Evil Plate turned its black-and-white colors slightly in the firelight as if its aura were slowly flowing inside.

Lu Yuan finally lifted his eyes and focused on the device.

He didn’t take it eagerly. He first looked at the plate in Song Qinghe’s palm, then scanned her knuckles, the web between thumb and index, and the well-worn copper coins in the knot, as if evaluating both the object and the method used to bind it.

When he reached out, his movement was deliberate; his fingertip lightly touched the edge of the jade plate.

At that touch, the crease of his brow moved imperceptibly.

“There’s something,” Lu Yuan murmured.

He took the device and held it in his palm, not flipping it over yet, only using the firelight to sense its overall aura.

It felt heavy, not in weight but in the kind of heaviness that could suppress things.

The outer ring was formed like a Yin Embryo, the wood tone indistinct but the grain ancient, as if it had been nurtured by incense and tempered by thunder and frost across generations.

The red cord was not common cinnabar thread, but a five-colored strand steeped in protective cinnabar and twisted tight; the knot retained a faint trace of golden qi that neither dispersed nor floated, firmly rooted to the device.

Most crucial was the black-and-white jade piece set in the center.

Lu Yuan glanced at it a few times and already formed an opinion.

This was not a mere yin-yang ornament nor a token made for show. The ring of fine seal script around the jade followed the method of “innate Tai Chi dividing yin and yang, later talismanic road locking the gate of evil.”

Although the pattern was fine, not a stroke was out of place. The aura flowed from the center outward, then was gathered by the outer red cord and looped back, forming a complete cycle of mutual generation and control.

What did that indicate?

It showed the maker of this device understood not only crude suppression but also the Daoist device methods of “collecting evil, dividing evil, and sealing evil” in three layers.

Most devices rely on brute suppression—like a big stone covering a well. If what’s in the well surges, the lid will explode.

This Tai Chi Seal to Suppress Evil Plate was different: it didn’t block with force but “divide then lock.”

It sorts the yin and yang channels, draws the malicious qi into the dead center of the plate, and by Tai Chi’s rotation grinds the evil slowly, dulling and dissipating it.

Such a device is most dangerous in inexperienced hands, but in competent hands it can suppress, protect the altar, and at crucial moments take a blow of yin backlash for people.

Lu Yuan’s fingertip traced the ancient line of characters on the back again.

“When yin and yang are divided, evil will not approach.”

He mouthed the phrase silently and nodded inwardly.

A good item.

Not an empty heirloom propped up by ancestral reputation, but a real device with an instrument soul.

Calling it a sect heirloom was not an exaggeration.

Judging by its spiritual pressure, it had been warmed for at least three generations of altar masters; the plate’s center qi was steady like a deep well that neither erupts nor dries, specialized in countering yin filth, household evil, and earth-bound things.

If last night’s old willow was a “living evil,” this plate was made specifically to counter such a thing.

If they encountered whatever was in the earth below, the device might not directly slay it, but it could at least keep the three from being scattered by the first surge of pernicious qi.

Lu Yuan flipped the device over and tapped it lightly with his knuckle.

The sound was not crisp but dull, yet it carried a thin reverberation, indicating the plate’s spiritual mechanism still turned.

After examining it, Lu Yuan was silent for a moment.

The extinguishing light in his eyes seemed briefly illuminated by the plate’s yin-yang aura.

Then he returned the device to Song Qinghe and looked at the three young Taoists.

This time, his refusal had faded considerably, replaced by practical assessment.

Lin Zhaoxuan, Zhou Heng, and Song Qinghe said nothing, only stared straight at him, awaiting his decision.

His gaze lingered on them, especially on Lin Zhaoxuan’s face.

The young Taoist’s face was still pale, his shoulders tense from injury, but that stubborn will was like a lamp not blown out by the wind.

His Dao heart might not be fully seasoned, but his backbone was firm.

Lu Yuan sighed inwardly.

People with that kind of will were often the most troublesome and the most precious.

After a while, he finally nodded.

“All right.”

The single word fell, and the group by the fire simultaneously breathed out.

Lu Yuan continued, his tone still calm but no longer rejecting:

“This device is qualified.”

“It’s not a showpiece; it can truly control the scene.”

“With it, you three at least won’t be immediately shattered by the yin malevolence when you go down.”

He paused, then looked at Lin Zhaoxuan with a sterner expression.

“But let me be clear.”

“Being allowed to come doesn’t mean you can act recklessly.”

“Once you go in, the device is the device, people are people.”

“If you let your zeal run loose and disobey orders, you still die.”

Lin Zhaoxuan’s eyes brightened, and he answered at once:

“Understood!”

Zhou Heng exhaled in relief and nodded quickly.

Song Qinghe carefully took the Tai Chi Seal to Suppress Evil Plate back into her palm as if afraid Lu Yuan would change his mind; her movements were quick.

Lu Yuan saw this but said nothing. He rose, brushed the dust from his clothes,

glanced once more at the three, and said coolly:

“If you’re coming, don’t talk idly.”

“When we go down, show me your true skills.”

“If you cooperate well, maybe you’ll live a little longer.”

With that, he turned his gaze toward the deeper shadows of Wildman Ditch where the darkness had not yet dissipated, and his expression grew solemn again.

At once the three Taoists by the fire eagerly nodded.

Lu Yuan didn’t ask what they were excited about; he simply sat down, began sorting the provisions, and said:

“Rest well. We depart at noon.”