Chapter 5: The Ancient Temple
An abandoned tunnel ........
Zhang Yuanqing looked around in a bit of panic, being abruptly brought into an unfamiliar environment, anyone would be flustered.
"Tunnel? Is this the She-Spirit Tunnel from the weird story?"
As a native of Songhai City, of course he knew about the She-Spirit Tunnel in the Top Ten Weird Tales, when he was naughty and didn't sleep at night when he was a child, his grandma used the Weird Tales to scare him.
However, not to mention the fact that the strange stories were just vague stories, take the She Spirit Tunnel as an example, Zhang Yuanqing had even passed by the She Spirit Tunnel when he returned to his hometown to pay homage to his father a few days ago.
Where was the real She Spirit Tunnel like this, so outdated?
"Right, this is the Spirit Realm, not the real She Spirit Tunnel."
The cramped environment was unsettling, and Zhang Yuanqing cautiously walked forward, with only the sound of his lonely footsteps in his ears.
As he walked, he pondered over his situation and the information given by the voice in his head.
There was no doubt that he had encountered a supernatural phenomenon and had been brought to the weird story, and would be going to fulfill the task enacted by the mysterious power.
"The voice gave me two quests, surviving for three hours; exploring the spirit realm. Difficulty level S, single death type ..... This death type makes me panic."
Surviving for three hours meant that there would be great danger.
Explore the Spirit Realm ...... It should be exploring this tunnel, which means that the tunnel is dangerous?
He quietly tensed his nerves, and at the same time, a question flashed through his mind: what would be the reward for completing the quest?
Since it was a quest, there must be a reward, right?
"Hmm, according to the attribute panel just now, my profession is Night Voyager, but at rank 0 instead of 1. Becoming a Night Voyager should be one of the rewards, right, what's a Night Voyager?"
"Bing is right, this black card will indeed be life-changing, but I overlooked the second half of his sentence, this thing is hard to master, referring to the level of danger?"
Zhang Yuanqing combined the known information and analyzed it silently.
Just then, the old xenon lamp on his side, which seemed to have unstable circuits, flickered a few times, and between the intertwining of light and darkness, Zhang Yuanqing vaguely saw a silhouette wearing a miner's cap standing under the lamp.
Fuck ....... He jumped up in fear, the thoughts in his head were instantly interrupted, and he ran forward a distance like a frightened deer.
Looking back, the xenon lights continued to supply light without flickering again.
The black shadow wearing a miner's cap just now seemed to be his illusion.
With this scare, Zhang Yuanqing did not dare to stay in this ghost place and quickly traveled towards the outside of the tunnel.
Da da da da ...... Footsteps echoed in the quiet tunnel, Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to stop even for a single step, just like this sprinted for five or six minutes, the old xenon lights of the curved dome flickered once again, but this time, no silhouettes wearing miner's hats appeared.
"Not following?"
With a slight relief in his heart, he dared not linger, keeping his head down and walking quickly, when suddenly, with his eyes fixed on the ground, he caught a detail that made his heart stop.
The orange xenon light dragged his shadow long, and by his shadow, a dozen shadows followed.
They've been following me?
Coldness ran from his feet to his head, exploding goosebumps all over his body, Zhang Yuanqing's face turned white with fear, and he "stomped" furiously.
Finally, the tunnel entrance appeared in front of him, and outside the tunnel, the moonlight was as cold as frost.
Zhang Yuanqing rushed out of the tunnel in one breath, holding his knees, bending over to catch his breath.
After catching his breath, he looked around at his surroundings, the full moon was like a disk, hanging silently in the night sky, the stars were eclipsed under its light.
The lush forest was bathed in the moonlight, casting large, dense shadows.
He was in the middle of a deserted mountain.
The xenon lights in the tunnel flickered a few times and all went out. The mouth of the large tunnel was dark and ghostly, like the mouth of a beast that chose to eat.
"Hurry up and leave ......."
Zhang Yuanqing's scalp tingled as he climbed along the rugged mountain path.
After taking a dozen steps, he turned back once again and saw a row of figures wearing miners' hats, shabby clothing and lowered heads standing at the tunnel entrance.
They stood in the shadows where the moonlight could not shine, not saying a word, as if they were seeing him off.
Zhang Yuanqing was shocked and took a few steps back, twisted his body and ran up the hill.
The leaves on both sides of the mountain road were lush, shedding a thin and fragmented moonlight, enough for Zhang Yuanqing to see the road clearly.
It was just that the mountains were terribly silent, and there were no insects or birds chirping in the forest, which made Zhang Yuanqing's footsteps seem extra loud.
"It's too quiet, isn't it, it's impossible for the mountains to not even have insects chirping in this season."
He looked around, the full moon was like a disk, the shade of the trees, and he always felt that there was something watching him in the darkness.
He didn't know how long he had been walking until his body was seeping with a layer of fine sweat, Zhang Yuanqing finally stepped out of the dense forest, and his field of vision opened up all of a sudden.
The moonlight was like water, the surroundings were dead silent, and at the end of the rugged mountain road was a deserted ancient temple.
It stood quietly in the darkness.
This ancient temple does not know how many years of abandonment, the temple in front of the door paint mottled black, covered with etched holes, the eaves of the lantern fell to the ground, only the bamboo gabion skeleton.
The plaque is still there, full of cobwebs, hanging diagonally under the eaves, but the light is too dark to see what is written on the plaque.
The steps in front of the temple gate are cracked, and the cracks are overgrown with weeds.
Here in the wilderness, not in front of the village and not behind the store, how could there be a temple.
Wait ....... Temple?
Zhang Yuanqing reacted fiercely, as if the voice from the Spirit Realm's information introduction was ringing in his ears:
"Don't enter the temple, don't enter the temple ......."
"According to the hints of that weird voice, I shouldn't be able to enter the temple, no, the tunnel I've already come out, that means that what I really want to explore is this dilapidated ancient temple."
After hesitating for a long time at the entrance of the temple, Zhang Yuanqing cautiously took a step towards the ancient temple that stood in the darkness, stepping over the tattered threshold.
What met his eyes was a vast front yard, with waist-high weeds growing within it, and a rotting half-human-high incense burner tipping over in the grass, not knowing how many years of wind and rain it had been subjected to.
Under the feet is a road paved with green stone slabs, between the cracks of the stone slabs, the same clumps of weeds grow.
The eyes followed the undulating decaying grass to the end of the green stone road, where there was a dilapidated main hall with a high foundation and six steps. A dim light filtered through the main hall's latticed doors.
"There's light?"
The surroundings were silent, desolate and dilapidated, bright moonlight poured down, and in such an environment, the little halo of light did not bring Zhang Yuanqing a trace of warmth.
It even felt more terrifying.
Shasha .......
Stepping forward on a clump of withered weeds, he kept his guard up as he walked towards the main hall, the sound of his footsteps extraordinarily clear in the empty environment.
Rustle, rustle ...... Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing's ears twitched slightly as he heard an additional footstep behind him, something was following him.
Huo turned his head.
The night was like water, the barren grass was lush, and there was nothing behind him.
"Hallucinating?"
Zhang Yuanqing's heart trembled as he stopped for a moment and once again moved his legs forward.
"Rustling ......."
The footsteps came again, this time he heard it clearly, there was really something following behind him.
....... It can't be this evil, just entered the temple and encountered something dirty? He didn't dare to turn around to look, and accelerated his steps.
That footsteps behind him also sped up.
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't collapse any longer, and while his goosebumps protruded, he sent his feet running wildly, rushing towards the main hall.
The footsteps behind him followed him like a shadow.
During the chase, Zhang Yuanqing quickly rushed out of the barren grass and approached the main hall, jumped up the six steps in two steps, and finally, with a loud "clang", broke open the two lattice doors of the main hall.
The sound of footsteps behind him disappeared abruptly.
"Huff, puff ........"
Gasping for air, he finally dared to look back, the moonlight like water spilling over the courtyard, the barren grass, the stone path, the silence was frightening, but there was nothing.
"Luckily, they didn't come after us."
After Zhang Yuanqing caught his breath, he gently closed the door of the main hall, as if blocking out the fear.
Then, he scanned the scene inside the main hall, the high stone pedestal was dedicated to a Nymphetess clad in a fur cloak and gorgeous attire, her face was rounded, her eyebrows were slender, and she was characterized by a sense of charity.
This maiden held a duster in one hand, and the other hand made a tackle, which originally seemed to be holding something, but at the moment it was empty.
To the left and right were children holding swords and maids holding books.
In front of the pedestal was a dusty tribute table with a candlestick, a twenty centimeter long, baby's small arm thick candle, burning quietly.
The candlelight dispelled the darkness, and seemed to dispel the fear in Zhang Yuanqing's heart as well, and he felt much more emotionally stable.
On the left wall, there were two faded and cracked wooden boards hanging, which were engraved with italicized characters.
Zhang Yuanqing walked faithfully to the wall and gazed through the dusk candlelight, the stylistic style of these italicized texts was literary.
His language skills were not bad, and through half guessing and half reading, he had a clear understanding of the environment he was in.
This mountain was called San Dao Mountain, and the mountain god enshrined in the temple was called San Dao Mountain Niang Niang.
This mountain goddess was a person from Songfu in the early Ming Dynasty, practicing in Songfu's Sandao Mountain, proficient in the method of talismans and the art of alchemy, able to pray for rain and drive away ghosts, blessing one side with fair winds and good rains, and was therefore worshipped by the people as a god.
After she was immortalized, the local government built this temple in Sandao Mountain, named "Sandao Mountain Niangniang Temple", by the Niangniang's mantle heir to the management of incense, as the temple priest.
"A temple from the early Ming Dynasty, it's been five or six hundred years." Zhang Yuanqing muttered.
At this time, he couldn't help but opinion sweep the bottom of the tribute table, and his heart abruptly flinched.
A black shadow was lying in the shadow at the bottom of the table.
Just now, his mind was too terrified and the candlelight was dim, so he did not notice it at first.
Zhang Yuanqing stiffly approached and fixed his eyes on it, but it turned out to be a corpse that was only a skeleton.
Zhang Yuanqing was relieved amidst his fear, compared to this bizarre Mountain God Temple, the corpse was less terrifying.
A few steps closer, through the weak candlelight, he saw the clothes on the skeleton, a dusty labor suit.
Laborers?
"This is the construction team from back in the day? So I have indeed entered the world in the Weird Tales."
Zhang Yuanqing had just made a guess when he thought of an even more alarming possibility, perhaps, the construction team back then had mistakenly entered this place just like me.
That's why the urban legend was left behind.
If it was the former, this so-called Spirit Realm was generating scenes based on strange tales.
And if it was the latter, it meant that the ancient temple had always existed, and the construction team was a victim just like him at this moment.
Based on the introduction of the historical background of the Mountain God Temple, Zhang Yuanqing was more inclined towards the latter.
"An entire construction team died in the temple and only one person survived, people will really die here ...... Now that I have also entered this temple, I will face unknown dangers at any time ......"
Hiss~ He drew in a breath of cool air, his emotions tensing up once again as he subconsciously looked around him.
Then, he suddenly realized a fine detail.
This ancient temple was in the Ming Dynasty now, with a long history, how could the candles still be burning? Who was replacing the candles in the main hall?
The more he thought about it, the more horrified he felt, and even the sculpture with the kind eyebrows seemed to emanate an eerie gloominess in the candlelight.
The three clay sculptures were dusty, but they were lifelike, with every detail carved in an evocative and realistic manner, especially the eyes.
They stood on the pedestal, staring condescendingly at Zhang Yuanqing in the dusk candlelight.
