Chapter 17: The Source of the Weirdness
Guessed right ..... Zhang Yuanqing's heart was slightly relieved.
In fact, after exploring the Mountain God Temple and solving the zombies, the entrance to the cave would open, but the construction team seniors had taken away the voodoo pestle before that.
If he could not see through this detail and return the Voodoo Pestle, he was afraid that he would be stuck at this step forever.
Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, quietly tensing his nerves and gathering his energies, not daring to be the slightest bit careless, because underneath the cave, there was likely to be the source that allowed the Mountain God Temple to decay.
After a while, seeing that no abnormality appeared in the collapsed cave entrance, he re-summoned the Red Dancing Shoes and opened his second form, allowing it to replace his running shoes and wrap his feet.
Then he walked over to the dark and deep cave and took a slight leap.
Snapping ..... The soles of his feet quickly touched the ground, and the Red Dancing Shoes eliminated the force of his descent for him.
Zhang Yuanqing found the Voodoo Pestle amongst a piece of rubble and bent down to pick it up, regaining control of this powerful prop.
With the Red Dancing Shoes and the Mortar and Pestle, he was confident that he could face the dangers in the cave head on.
Candlelight seeped down from the top of his head and could illuminate only a limited amount of places, and in front of him was a dark and silent tunnel, full of unknown fears.
In such an environment, it was extremely unwise to go forward in the dark.
Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and cast his eyes on the prop in his hand.
The item description said that this was a prop that contained the divine power of the sun, and by sacrificing blood, one could obtain the divine power.
A proper Divine Power of the Sun should be able to dispel darkness and bring light, right?
It's worth a try, but the "Remarks" in the attribute description is a bit alarming. ....... Zhang Yuanqing exhaled noisily and pushed the sharp three-pronged spike into his thigh.
The sharp pain came, and the blood bubbled out, not flowing along the pants, but turning into a line of blood, pouring into the brass prop.
Zhang Yuanqing only felt a warm power that surged out from the Voodoo Pestle and rushed into his body along his arm, and his pupils lit up with a light golden glow, transforming into brilliant golden pupils.
The Voodoo Pestle did not dispel the darkness, but it granted him the ability to see through it.
At the same time, the negative states such as dizziness, difficulty breathing, and pain in the heart and lungs disappeared as much as they could, leaving only the weakness of blood loss.
The corpse poison in his body was removed.
It was indeed trading his life for power, but it was still acceptable ........ He utilized his eyesight and looked ahead, and in front of him was a spacious tunnel that extended into the depths of darkness.
The two walls of the tunnel had traces of man-made excavations, not a natural formation.
Zhang Yuanqing's pace was not fast or slow as he walked through the tunnel, the silent space echoing with the sound of his footsteps.
After walking for more than ten seconds, plant roots appeared on the two walls of the tunnel, and they densely crawled all over the walls.
"Help, help ah ......"
Suddenly, a creepy cry for help came from the darkness ahead, like a sob.
After following the sound for a while, a huge grotto opened up in front of them, and a huge grotto came into view, and right in the center of the grotto was a thick tree trunk that had drilled through the top of the grotto and grew to the outside world.
At the bottom of this thick tree trunk, the roots were intertwined and tangled, entangling a sarcophagus.
The most terrible thing is, the thick tree trunk, poking out a pale arm, emerging a pale human face, they unconsciously issued a "help" cry.
Densely dotted arm randomly grabbing, as if looking for a life preserver.
My dense phobia is guilty of ....... Candlelight and mortar and pestle brought Zhang Yuanqing courage, he only felt a slight numbness of the scalp, not too much fear.
At this time, a hoarse and vicissitudes voice rang out:
"For the first time in so many years, a living being has come here."
Along with these words, the cries for help stopped, the seaweed-like swinging arms retracted back into the trunks of the trees, and the human faces were hidden into the trees in terror.
"Who?"
Zhang Yuanqing was startled and looked left and right warily.
"Me? I'm just a tree ....."
An ugly human face floated out of the trunk of the tree, unlike the faces of those spiteful spirits, its face skin was the bark of the tree, as if it symbolized the tree itself.
It was the old banyan tree in the courtyard that had become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing didn't expect that in such a haunted place, he could still come across a being that he could communicate with, even though the other party was a tree.
He didn't dare to get closer and tried:
"Was it you who killed the temple disciple?"
"It wasn't me, it was her."
The tree spirit's gaze dropped downward, as if it was gazing at the sarcophagus underneath, even though it couldn't see it.
"Who is she?"
"She's the Three Dao Mountain Maiden."
Zhang Yuanqing was as if he had been hit on the head with a stick, his mind reeling.
Inside the sarcophagus lay the Sandaoshan Nymphetess, that powerful night wandering goddess who was supposed to have been feathered at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty?
The source of the strangeness was the Sandaoshan Niangniang, was she the one who killed the disciples in the temple?
Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, "Why did she do that."
"Because the Age of the End is upon us, it is no longer difficult for cultivators to break through the bottleneck, for the sake of longevity, the Sandaoshan Empress fell into the devil's path, she sealed herself in a sarcophagus, detained the Yin souls with a banyan tree, and nourished Yin with Yin to keep her flesh and her Yuan Shen from perishing. She is a powerful night wanderer, and night wanderers are naturally able to devour souls and strengthen themselves."
The human face on the tree trunk sighed, "The banyan tree accommodated too many souls, receiving their will and slowly giving birth to a spirit, which is me. Over the years, one after another, people have mistakenly entered this place and died here, and in the end, they all became her sustenance. I carry the hatred and unwillingness of the resentful spirits, and have been waiting for someone to come here and end her for me."
I see, does this count as triggering the NPC's quest? Zhang Yuanqing's gaze flickered slightly, "What should I do."
"Open the sarcophagus and use the weapon in your hand to pierce her heart to end it all. Hehe, half of her yang prana is sealed in the vorpal pestle, stabbing the heart will seal the remaining yang prana in her flesh into the vessel, without the yang prana to protect her body, her flesh will die immediately." The banyan tree spirit finished and slowly said:
"You will also be able to leave this place."
Zhang Yuanqing did not move and was silent.
The Banyan Tree Spirit slowly said, "Young man, what are you still hesitating for?"
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly said:
"I'm thinking about a question ......."
The Banyan Tree Spirit responded gently, "What question."
Zhang Yuanqing stood in the distance, gazing at the face on the tree trunk, and said word for word:
"You wouldn't be the Temple Blessing, would you."
The cave was suddenly quiet, and after a few seconds, the banyan tree spirit said in a low tone:
"Temple Blessing was the first person to be compelled by the Three Daoist Mountain Maiden to become her puppet, and later became that woman's sustenance as well. If you don't believe me, come over and open the sarcophagus, then you will know that I am not lying to you."
"Then you help me open it."
"I can't open it, I'm just a tree."
"Is it that you can't open it, or you don't dare to open it?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted and picked up the corner of his mouth:
"The one lying in the coffin is the temple priest, right, and you, his guardian, or his spirit?"
After saying these tentative words, he went into a state of alert, waiting for the tree spirit's reaction.
As a technical otaku who was good at strategy games, after going through so many crises, if he still couldn't survey the hidden secrets of the Mountain God Temple, it would be too bad.
First of all, the Sandaoshan Maiden was feathered at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and it was only after her death that the local government built this temple for her.
And the unexplained disappearance of the temple's disciples was during the Yongle years, a difference of at least fifty or sixty years, or one or two generations, in between.
Secondly, the information from the main temple hinted that the Sandaoshan Maiden was a decent figure, while the banyan tree spirit's so-called fall into the devil's path was its side of the story, and Zhang Yuanqing was more willing to believe the former.
Lastly, and most crucial, what was written in the accompanying letter was: don't trust the Master!
In fact, who the real enemy was, the Spirit Realm had long given hints in these details.
It was just that Zhang Yuanqing hadn't figured out why the temple priest wanted to kill his own disciple.
Now it was known.
If the person who wanted to live forever and fell into the demonic path was replaced with the Temple Blessing, all the doubts would be solved.
The cave fell into silence, and the Banyan Tree Spirit sighed, "Your wariness is too strong, from beginning to end, I have no ill will towards you, much less will I harm you."
"Is it that you won't harm, or that you can't harm?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly took a few steps back and said:
"Well, let me guess, the way you kill is by wringing the neck, but the technique should be related to illusions and the mind, right? You tried to kill me not too long ago, but unfortunately, I didn't look back."
This time, the banyan tree spirit's face changed abruptly.
When Zhang Yuanqing saw this, he knew that his reasoning was completely correct.
That Night Wanderer in the Taiyi Sect's information clearly and unequivocally pointed out two things: one, the banyan tree was dangerous; and two, don't turn back.
That's why he explored deep into the ancient well and found nothing, because there was nothing wrong with that well at all, it was the tree that was problematic.
In addition, he was able to accurately determine the "illusions" because the name the female ghost called out was Zhang Yuanqing, not the First Heavenly Father.
The last point is that when Zhang Yuanqing found the ancient well, what came to his mind was a famous horror movie from an island country, so he had a psychological shadow and didn't dare to peep into the bottom of the well.
Subsequently, the female ghost that drilled out of the well, white and cloaked, with no facial features, matched the hazy fear in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.
"You're pretending to talk to me in a nice manner because illusions can't confuse me anymore, right? After all, I have the Nymphet's Voodoo Pestle and am immune to illusions." With a calm face, Zhang Yuanqing dissected the truth:
"Tricking me to go over there was to kill me in some other way, and if illusion magic is ineffective against me, then it's a physical attack, right?"
He glanced at the tree roots crawling on the walls of the canal and suddenly stabbed down with a pestle.
.......
PS: Two chapters together today, and one more later, well, in an hour, I guess.
