Dian Chunqiu looked at Li Qing; his expression impassive as he spread his hands, "Do you see anything else in my hands that can explode?"

"I remember you have a kind of talisman that’s really powerful when it explodes, right?" Li Qing asked in astonishment.

"I don’t have any today," Dian Chunqiu said indifferently.

Li Qing: ...

He had looked closely just now, and there were not a few graves on these mountains ahead—there must be six or seven.

Exploding someone’s grave, this matter is somewhat unethical.

"Because you can’t bear to strike at someone’s grave?" Dian Chunqiu asked with a faint smile.

Li Qing nodded.

Isn’t that the reason?

If it were a barren mountain with nothing growing, he would have taken action without any hesitation.

Even if he had to overturn these mountains, he wouldn’t care.

But exploding someone’s ancestral grave is akin to slaughtering their parents; this matter is somewhat lacking in virtue after all.

"It’s a land of cultivation for evil; within a few months, this place will certainly breed demons. If you don’t explode them now, people might die later," Dian Chunqiu said.

"Is there no other way?" Li Qing asked.

"There is!" Dian Chunqiu nodded and said, "Wait for the demon to be born, then you go and hunt it down, but by that time, people could die at any moment."

"Unless you set up camp here, keeping watch day and night without end."

Upon hearing this, Li Qing immediately felt his scalp tingle.

He really didn’t want to do such a miserable job.

"Explode it, then. Your thunder should avoid the graves below, and as for the one above, that’s the one to explode," Dian Chunqiu said.

"Senior, the grave on top is surrounded by a purple aura, while the ones below have a grey and white aura intertwined. How come it’s the top one we’re exploding?" Li Qing asked, not understanding.

Although he had only recently started to learn about energy auras, he still had no understanding of the geographical layout.

"Some evil cultivators in the cultivator community use others as furnaces to enhance their own strength," Dian Chunqiu explained with a rather unpleasant look, "The grave on top is almost identical to that practice, seizing others’ fortune for oneself, using the advantage of the land’s form, forcibly turning this place into a Land of Yin and Sha, aiding in their own advancement. Does this family look like a bunch of good people to you?"

"Now what you need to choose is whether to kill one person to save countless others or to destroy those innocent Yin souls, saving that wicked person at the very top."

Li Qing narrowed his eyes, as Dian Chunqiu had never fully explained the situation.

But now he began to understand the implications.

It was the grave on top that was borrowing the power of the graves below it, forcibly turning this place into a Land of Yin and Sha.

Then the five or six graves below became wrapped in Yin and Sha and transformed into evil spirits, eventually benefiting the grave on top.

It was the classic scenario of sacrificing others for one’s own gain.

Li Qing voiced his guess and asked Dian Chunqiu, "Senior, is my understanding correct?"

"Not too stupid," Dian Chunqiu nodded and said, "Hurting others does not benefit oneself. For the temporary prosperity of their family’s fortune, they harm six or seven other families, and even more people. Once a demon emerges, people will inevitably lose their lives."

Li Qing didn’t waste any more words; he simply uttered a strange syllable, "Formation!"

With such a vicious heart, I’ll deliver a fierce move!

Crack.

A rumble echoed through the sky.

A bolt of white lightning appeared out of nowhere, resoundingly exploding towards the very opulent grave on top.

Even the heavens have eyes.

Especially the Heavenly Punishment; its scales are more accurate than anyone’s.

Boom!

A muffled sound rang out, dust flew into the air, and the vermilion wood soared into the sky, shattered by the lightning.

Indistinctly, Li Qing could still see some scattered pieces of clothing.

The corner of Li Qing’s mouth twitched slightly, the thunderbolt today was exceptionally precise.

This strike was like flogging a corpse.

Although it was said that the descendants of this person were no good birds, sacrificing others to vie for their family’s fortune.

But in truth, it had little to do with the one buried here.

After all, who could decide matters of their own death?

However, the Heavenly Thunder seemed to have determined it was this person’s fault, not only obliterating the burial mounds but also flipping open the coffins.

When the lightning dissipated and the dust settled, the grave had directly turned into a large pit.

What was strange was that as the grave was destroyed, the mist shrouding the mountaintop quickly changed color.

The graves below that previously entwined with gray and white now had significantly faded, with even a hint of light red.

As for the fierce and terrifying purple-black, it was almost completely invisible.

"In our line of work, we often have to make such choices," Dian Chunqiu said indifferently. "We can never truly be the good guys."

"You may think destroying someone’s grave is immoral, but when a yōkai is born, you will have to slay someone’s ancestors."

"Moreover, the ones you kill are actually the good people, they are the Yin Souls in those graves below. They did nothing wrong, but because they are caught up in the situation, they have no choice but to turn into yōkai."

Li Qing nodded, he was already aware of it.

However, he actually didn’t bear much of a psychological burden.

It was just a bit tragic for the corpse that was probably blasted away; he was also a victim.

The ones who were truly at fault and had malicious hearts were his descendants; a dead person couldn’t make any decisions.

"Throw another thunderbolt; there’s still one that slipped through the net. That thing seems to have gained some spirit intelligence and even knew to avoid the attack by borrowing the force," Dian Chunqiu suddenly said.

Li Qing was startled, "Senior, where is there another ghostly thing?"

Dian Chunqiu pointed towards the lower left of the graves, at a crooked willow tree in the gully.

The tree, just like the mountain range where it grew, was bare and seemingly had very few leaves, but it appeared to be still alive.

"Senior, a willow tree... It can’t do much, can it?" Li Qing asked incredulously.

How could a tree harm anyone?

He wasn’t developing any unnecessary pity; he genuinely didn’t understand.

"Have you ever seen someone hang themselves from a tree, or heard of similar incidents?" Dian Chunqiu countered.

Li Qing nodded; such events were not uncommon.

There were such trees in Sanhe Village.

On the river beach, there was an old apricot tree; to Li Qing’s knowledge, two young people had already hanged themselves there. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Dian Chunqiu explained, "In the Land of Yin and Sha, some trees that occupy special positions, after being nourished by Yin and Sha over the years, will awaken their spirit intelligence and turn into yōkai. Rooted in the ground, unable to move, they can only influence people’s minds, leading them to hang themselves from the southeast branch."

"Once they have absorbed a sufficient number of wrongful Yin Souls, they will one day transform into spirits."

"The plants of the sacred Mount Ling can take hundreds of years to become spirits, but turning into yōkai may take as few as a few decades."

"These things also know how to take shortcuts."

Li Qing instantly gained insight.

There was indeed much to learn here, and every single matter was something he had never heard of before.

"So by that logic, the apricot tree in our village should also be a yōkai. To my knowledge, two people have already hung themselves from it," Li Qing spoke, "And that apricot tree is already more than a hundred years old."