Chapter 14: Exploring the East Courtyard
Candles, statues, corpses, and an antique latticework door, beyond which was a courtyard of undulating barren grass, a tilted bronze incense burner, and a lapis lazuli path and bright moonlight.
The dead silence was desolate and eerie.
"This place seems to be in perpetual darkness."
Zhang Yuanqing raised the palm of his hand to his mouth and spat out the small blue pill that was in his mouth.
The method worked, I'm so damn resourceful ....... He happily put the pills in his pocket, slightly more confident in his "future".
With these pills, he would have a chance to save his life in the face of the Red Dancing Shoes.
Then, he walked straight to the tribute table, thought for a moment, and reached out to hold the candlestick.
Steeply, a message surfaced before his eyes:
Name: Never-Extinguished Candle Type: Fuel Function: Evil Suppressor, Purification Description: A prop left behind by the Nymphetess of the Three Roads Mountain, it is said to be refined from the fat of the Longmind Beasts, with the effect of suppressing evils and purifying.
Remarks: Sometimes, purifying fear may not be a good thing. Also, it cannot be moved.
As expected, props can only get information by touching it with your own hands. And I didn't dare to touch the candle before, so I never knew it was a prop until I read the information .......
"Purifying fear may not be a good thing, according to the categorization Guanya said, the candle is a cost class, the cost of using it is losing fear. But I'm so scared right now, I have absolutely no thoughts of dying, let's just stay in the main hall for now."
He plopped down in front of the tribute table and thought about his next action.
"The goal of the next action is to explore the eastern courtyard, map out the dangers and patterns lurking there, and then look for ways to restrain and overcome them. The exploration time should not exceed 15 minutes, otherwise the grievous spirit will lie on your shoulder and you will surely die."
"The blue pill is my bottom card against the red dancing shoes, but it may not work, and once I face the red dancing shoes directly, it's either life or death ....... Let's explore the East Courtyard first, make a preliminary understanding of the environment over there, and then think about a strategy to deal with it."
When it came down to it, he still had a few moments of fear and withdrawal in his heart, not wanting to go out. It was a fluke that he survived last time, and it was still unknown if he could survive this time.
The situation over at the East Courtyard was unknown, it was impossible to judge the level of ferocity, and it was easy to try and pass away.
However, things in this world are never something you can do without if you don't want to.
Although the task of exploring the ancient temple had no time limit, and theoretically he could always remain meticulously in the main hall, the lack of a time limit also meant that without completing the task, he would more than likely never be able to get out.
After dragging it out for a long time, his body would slip in condition due to hunger, sleepiness, thirst, and so on.
At that time, if he went out to explore again, it would be a dead end.
"Stretching my head and shrinking my head is a cut, I can only fight!"
Zhang Yuanqing gritted his teeth and took large steps towards the outside.
Wait, I should reconsider, it's dangerous outside ....... With one foot out of the threshold, he suddenly beat a retreat and couldn't help but glance back at the hall, lingering on the light of this place.
The candlelight is warm, disperses the gloom, purifies the filth, and brings unrivaled courage and self-confidence within people.
Not much of a problem ....... Zhang Yuanqing confidently went out.
........
The moonlight is bright as frost, Zhang Yuanqing along the left side of the main hall, stepping on the goose soft stone path, re-arrived at the desolate and dilapidated courtyard.
The silence of the night without the chirping of insects and birds was frightening.
But silence is also reassuring, he is most afraid to go out and hear the sound of "da da" footsteps.
"Fifteen minutes, I only have fifteen minutes to finish exploring the eastern courtyard before the spirits haunt me ......."
He entered the easternmost room of the quadrangle, and from the corpse leaning under the window, he fumbled for the bronze mirror again and hid it in his pocket.
Then he carefully walked through the arched door and entered the east courtyard.
The East Courtyard was much larger than the Courtyard, and what met the eye was a deserted garden with rockeries, pavilions, small pools, and a large banyan tree with a thick main trunk, gnarled branches, and tender green leaves reflecting the bright moonlight.
Under the banyan tree there is an ancient well.
As his eyes skimmed over the wigwam gazebo, he could see the depths of the garden revealing the ridge of a zigzag roof.
Zhang Yuanqing did not go straight to the buildings in the depths of the garden, but cautiously walked around the big banyan tree, the information said that the tree was dangerous, but after he circled around, no accidents happened.
"Checking out the big banyan tree should also advance the exploration level, right ......"
Zhang Yuanqing thought in his heart and glanced at the dark ancient well, hesitating, he still didn't have the courage to pounce over and take a look.
He had a strong psychological shadow over this kind of ancient well from horror stories.
Zhang Yuanqing bypassed the ancient well and rustled his way through the barren grass, traveling towards the buildings deep in the garden.
"Ka-ching!"
Suddenly, there was a crunching sound under his feet, causing him to jump up in place in fright.
Fixing his eyes on it, it turned out to be a corpse buried in the barren grass, wrapped in oxidized labor uniforms, Zhang Yuanqing leaned down to inspect it, the bones of this corpse were well preserved.
It was lying on its back and fell to the ground, but the head was facing behind, which indicates that before death by something, the head was twisted hard one hundred and eighty degrees.
What kind of thing did this?
Zhang Yuanqing quietly alert, get up, was about to continue to explore forward.
Just then, a gust of wind blew over, the garden's barren grass undulated and rustled, and the large banyan tree behind him seemed to have come to life, shaking its branches and leaves in a somewhat twisted manner.
"Zhang Yuanqing, Zhang Yuanqing ......"
A shrill cry came from behind him.
The voice drifted over with the wind, as if it was whispering in the ears, bringing a burst of creepy chill.
Zhang Yuanqing was about to turn around on guard out of instinct, when the information from the profile flashed steeply in his mind:
Do not turn around!
"Zhang Yuanqing, Zhang Yuanqing ....."
Seeing that he did not respond, the voice seemed to be a bit anxious, wanting him to turn his head around in a hurry.
Of course Zhang Yuanqing wouldn't turn around, he stood still and didn't move, quietly unzipping the pocket zipper of his rushing jacket, he felt out the brass mirror and slowly lifted it up, reaching a position higher than his shoulders.
The brass mirror reflected the scene behind him, not too clearly in the mirror.
In the ancient well, drilled out a cloaked white woman, her face has no five senses, is about to that miserable white flesh face, watching Zhang Yuanqing.
Grass your grandfather ....... Zhang Yuanqing's face turned white, stifling his head and running forward.
"Zhang Yuanqing, Zhang Yuanqing ......"
The voice called out over and over again, eagerly, but could only watch helplessly as he ran further and further away.
Soon, Zhang Yuanqing bypassed the rockery and came to the depths of the garden, where there was a large house with a zigzag ridge, stone foundations, and walls made of yellow earth.
This side of the house was even more dilapidated than the courtyard, the roof tiles were sparse and broken with many holes.
"That night wanderer in the data also came here, he only said not to turn back, but didn't say that you can't go back, the call of the female ghost in the well may only be directed at people who turn back. In that case, when I return later, I should not encounter danger ......"
He took a deep breath in place, calming the churning fear and horror and focusing on the present.
"Explore the house first."
The large house had three doors in total, representing three rooms.
He carefully leaned in close to the leftmost one and reached out to push the battered wooden door open with a firm hand.
"Squeak~"
At the sound of the wooden door opening, Zhang Yuanqing hastily stepped back and assumed a guarded stance.
In the middle of the day, nothing happened.
Boldly entering the house, the moonlight shone in from the tattered roof, and he tried to keep his eyes wide open, letting his pupils absorb as much light as possible.
This was the kitchen and canteen, with two brick stoves, pots and pans, water tanks, cupboards, and other objects that had long since rotted and gathered dust.
No danger, finally found the container ....... Zhang Yuanqing grabbed a dusty gourd dipper and couldn't help but think out loud:
"I heard that children's urine can break evil."
He considered whether or not to catch a scoop of children's urine, and after careful thought, he helplessly gave up on the idea.
Although he hadn't dated a girl, Zhang Yuanqing felt that he shouldn't be considered a child.
"I've indulged you guys too much, giving you chance after chance to pretend." He gazed down at his hands with some pain.
After some exploration and confirming that this big house was a combination of a kitchen and a cafeteria, and that there was nothing special or dangerous about it, Zhang Yuanqing took a rusty chopper and a wooden stick, walked out of the house, and set his eyes on the last big rectangular house.
Unlike the kitchen that doubled up as a large cafeteria, this house had four doors that divided into four rooms.
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but tighten his grip on the wooden stick and kitchen knife in his hand; they might not be useful, but they could bring comfort to one's heart.
He carefully inspected the first and second rooms, they belonged to the utility room, piled up with old style farming tools, furniture, and fundraising boxes and whatnot.
Nothing of value ....... Zhang Yuanqing turned to the third room.
This was a weapons storehouse, with swords, bows, daggers, short swords and other weapons hanging on the wall, many of which had fallen to the ground due to the rotting of the lanyards.
Next to the windows were two rows of weapon racks, one of which was tipped over, with sticks and lances scattered all over the place.
By the side of the overturned weapon rack, there were two corpses lying on the ground.
Seeing these weapons, Zhang Yuanqing was not surprised, the disciples in the temple were under the tutelage of the Three Daoist Mountain Maiden, and were able to produce the Corpse Suppressor Talisman, so they obviously had the ability to do so.
It was not surprising that they could dance and make sticks.
As usual, he went to inspect the corpse, looking for information from his predecessors.
When he approached the corpses, he couldn't help but let out an "eek". The two corpses lying on the ground weren't skeletons, but two dried corpses.
The skin was gray and wrinkled, close to the bones, and the belly was low.
"How could there be dried corpses?"
Zhang Yuanqing frowned for a while, as a student of Songhai University, he had a rich enough store of knowledge.
There were two reasons for the formation of dry corpses, one was artificial embalming and the other was natural formation.
The first could be ruled out straight away, and in the case of the second, it was mostly formed in dry areas such as deserts.
The conditions in the temple clearly did not match.
He carefully examined the two dry corpses, there were no fatal injuries on their bodies, and their bones had not been stepped on by the Red Dancing Shoes, but there were two obvious holes in the flesh at the neck.
It looked like they were bitten out by the sharp fangs of a fierce beast.
"What did they get sucked into manhood? Hiss ........"
Zhang Yuanqing drew in a breath of cool air and his body tensed up.
At this moment, he heard a "thud" from the next room, like the sound of knocking on a wooden door.
Instantly, his scalp exploded, and Zhang Yuanqing, like a sharp-witted wild deer, craned his neck to listen.
