Chapter 6: The Story of the Mountain God Temple
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly didn't want to stay in the main hall anymore.
He felt a sense of desperation, as if calling out to heaven and earth would yield no response.
This place was extremely dangerous, but he couldn't seek help from the outside world. He could only rely on himself.
After much hesitation, he gritted his teeth and steeled his heart, bending down to pull out the skeleton wrapped in work clothes.
Rip~
During the process of pulling, the work clothes easily tore. After so many years, the clothes had long since rotted.
Dragging the corpse into the candlelight, he suppressed his discomfort and began to examine it.
Though the person was dead, the body could still speak. Figuring out the cause of death could help him avoid many dangers.
"Several ribs and the sternum are broken, and there are fine cracks on the right shoulder, but not too severe."
The deceased had suffered severe trauma before death, but due to the passage of time, the specific cause of death couldn't be determined.
Next, Zhang Yuanqing found a few yellowed and brittle pieces of paper in the pocket of his worker predecessor, which seemed quite old.
The paper was covered in tiny, neat characters.
Zhang Yuanqing's heart leapt with joy. The paper was clearly something the worker had found in the temple, which would help him understand the situation of this ancient temple.
By the light of the candle, he concentrated on reading the contents of the paper.
"Last night, another junior disciple disappeared. This is already the third fellow disciple to mysteriously vanish from the temple. The brothers say that Three Peaks Mountain is haunted, or perhaps a powerful demon has come to snatch people from the temple to eat each night. But the many disciples in the temple have cultivated powers, and the master is a renowned true person within a hundred miles. What demon would be foolish enough to come here seeking food?
"As for ghosts, my corpse-binding talismans and spirit-summoning talismans are enough to deal with them, without troubling the master. I have a bad feeling about this. I must go consult with the senior disciple."
"Today, another person disappeared. This is the fifth. The master told us to keep it from the worshippers, or it would affect the temple's incense offerings. He must know something. The senior disciple and I plan to patrol at night."
"Three days have passed, and three more people have disappeared in that time, but the senior disciple and I haven't discovered any clues. The nights have been calm. My ominous feeling has deepened."
"The senior disciple was very strange today. He seems to have discovered something and appeared very angry. I asked him about it, but he didn't tell me. His mood wasn't good, so I'll ask again tomorrow."
"Today, the person who disappeared was the senior disciple. I searched the entire Three Peaks Mountain but couldn't find him. I... I can't take it anymore. I'm going to ask the master for clarification. The other disciples support me because they're scared too."
The handwriting in this passage was somewhat messy, indicating that the writer's state of mind had somewhat collapsed.
Zhang Yuanqing continued reading:
"After my persistent questioning, the master finally agreed to tell me the truth. My intuition wasn't wrong; he indeed knows the reason for the junior disciples' mysterious disappearances. But the master said that during the day there are too many people and too much chatter, so after sunset, he will come to my room to tell me a great secret. This secret relates to thousands of years of rise and fall."
"After finishing the evening meal, I waited in my room, waiting for sunset. Since people started disappearing at night, I've never looked forward to nightfall as much as today."
The content recorded on the paper ended here.
That's it? This cliffhanger was a bit frustrating. Zhang Yuanqing grimaced.
He sorted through the information from the paper. In a certain year, the disciples of this Mountain God Temple had mysteriously disappeared one after another.
The disciples were at a loss and panic spread. And this matter, the temple's abbot, their master, seemed to know the reason.
This reason was related to a great secret concerning thousands of years of rise and fall.
"The reason for the Mountain God Temple's decline is unknown. If I uncover this source, would it complete the second main quest?" Zhang Yuanqing speculated.
He put the brittle paper back into the corpse's work clothes, pushed it back under the table, out of sight and out of mind, then pondered what to do next.
"There's only this much information in the main hall. If I want to explore the ancient temple, I'll have to go out, which means I must face the dangers in the temple."
"In the legend of the Shu Ling Tunnel, there was a worker who successfully survived. Following his path might help find a way to survive."
After careful consideration, Zhang Yuanqing walked to the main hall's entrance and opened the two well-preserved lattice doors.
"Creeak~"
The wooden door hinges made a teeth-grinding sound.
He leaned against the doorframe, poked his head out, and looked around. Outside was silent, apart from being somewhat desolate and gloomy, he saw no danger.
After observing for a while, he stepped over the threshold and followed the goose-soft stone path along the left side of the main hall towards the back courtyard of the Mountain God Temple.
Moonlight shimmered like water, wild grass undulated. Zhang Yuanqing walked for a minute or two before a cluster of buildings appeared ahead.
It was a series of connected single-story houses forming a vast courtyard, with black tiles and white walls, straight ridges, and lattice windows and doors under the eaves.
The lattice doors were gray and dusty, some open, some fallen, some tightly shut. The paper used to cover the windows was tattered and torn from years of erosion.
The moonlight was bright, as if frost had settled on the ground. He scanned the layout of the Mountain God Temple's back courtyard in the moonlight.
Besides the courtyard in front of him, there was an arched door on the east side, somewhat like the back courtyards of wealthy families in TV dramas, which always have such an arched door connecting different courtyards.
In the neighboring courtyard stood a towering tree with lush branches and leaves, its boughs gnarled.
"Hmm?"
He discovered several skeletons wrapped in work clothes among the swaying wild grass in the courtyard.
Cautiously approaching, he carefully examined them. Each skeleton was severely damaged, with broken bones under the work clothes, but unlike the one in the main hall, the shoulder bones of these skeletons were well-preserved, without cracks.
"These people suffered terrible trauma before death. They died horribly."
A gust of wind blew, rustling the branches and leaves. Faintly, Zhang Yuanqing heard a plaintive whisper mixed in with the "rustle rustle" sound carried by the wind:
"Help, help me"
In this desolate, dead night, cold sweat broke out on Zhang Yuanqing's back.
He stood rigidly in place for a good while. The wind stopped, and the whimpering whispers ceased with it.
The neighboring courtyard seemed a bit dangerous, but whatever was in there didn't come over. He silently exhaled, stepped through the grass-filled courtyard, and walked under the eaves, intending to explore this quadrangle.
This seemed to be where the temple disciples lived, filled with old, dust-covered furniture. A faint, musty odor permeated the air.
Zhang Yuanqing explored the rooms one by one, finding nothing particularly special, until he pushed open the easternmost lattice door.
"Creak~"
The door, sealed for who knows how many years, was pushed open again. Dust fell in a shower. Zhang Yuanqing patted the dust off his shoulders, his gaze sweeping warily across every corner of the room.
In this long-abandoned room, by the window, a corpse leaned against the wall, lying askew.
From the attire and the fallen miner's hat, it could be deduced that this was another predecessor.
Stepping over the threshold into the room, Zhang Yuanqing shuddered, inexplicably feeling that the surrounding temperature seemed to have dropped significantly.
"It's a bit cold."
He cautiously approached the corpse, unbuttoned the tattered clothes, and as usual, observed the condition of the skeleton. This time, he didn't see any shattered bones; this skeleton was well-preserved.
But when his gaze fell on the shoulder bones of the corpse, his pupils constricted. On the shoulder bones of this corpse were exaggerated fractures.
These were similar to the cracks on the shoulder of the corpse in the main hall, the difference being that the injuries to this corpse before him were more severe.
"Only the one in the room and the one in the main hall have shattered shoulder bones. Is it a coincidence?" He muttered uneasily.
Then, Zhang Yuanqing noticed that the corpse's trouser pocket was bulging, as if hiding something.
Reaching in, he pulled out a yellowed ancient book, a dusty bronze mirror, and a yellow paper talisman from the deceased's pocket.
The yellow paper talisman had twisted patterns drawn in cinnabar, somewhat resembling runes. These patterns converged to form a character that looked like the traditional Chinese character for "corpse".
As he was examining the yellow paper talisman, a blue information prompt appeared before Zhang Yuanqing's eyes:
[Name: Corpse-Binding Talisman]
[Type: Consumable]
[Function: Bind Corpses]
[Description: A talisman created by a powerful Night Wandering God, the bane of all corpse-type Yin entities. Seal can be completed by attaching it to the forehead of the Yin entity.]
[Note: It can only be used once.]
The blue information was somewhat like his attribute panel, clearly a prompt given by the "Spirit Realm".
This was the first time Zhang Yuanqing had seen such a prompt since entering the eerie ancient temple.
"This should be an important item." Zhang Yuanqing folded it neatly and put it in the pocket of his parka, zipping it up.
After a moment's thought, he unzipped it again.
Because he remembered a plot point from a wuxia novel, where a swordsman with superb sword skills liked to wrap his sword in cloth and carry it on his back.
One day, when the swordsman was eating, a challenger came to challenge him.
And then the swordsman was no more.
The cause of death was the inconvenience of unwrapping the cloth.
Zhang Yuanqing then picked up the ancient book and bronze mirror, but no related information appeared.
He set the bronze mirror aside and carefully opened the yellowed and brittle booklet with curled page corners.
It read:
"It's been two and a half years since I joined the Goddess Temple on Three Peaks Mountain. I've learned to read and write. Senior brother says that when Master returns from delivering souls, he can formally induct me and teach me the Moon-Swallowing Soul-Nurturing Technique. This is the entry-level method to become a Night Wandering God."
"The Yan King has rebelled, and beacon fires are lit everywhere. Master, being the strongest of the Night Wandering Gods of the Song mansion, had to descend the mountain to deliver souls. Otherwise, with the war undecided and Yin calamities rising again, the common people would find no peace."
Zhang Yuanqing felt his shoulders aching and rubbed them. He initially judged this to be a journal, or diary.
The contents of the diary were all about the 'author's' experiences of cultivation and life in the temple. Based on the handwriting, this diary and the paper on the corpse in the main hall were from the same source.
From phrases like "Yan King's rebellion", the timeline was during the Jingnan Campaign period of history.
But he wasn't sure if this temple actually existed in history, because the diary contained inexplicable terms like "cultivation", "Night Wandering God", "breathing techniques", and "talismans".
Zhang Yuanqing flexed his sore shoulders, vigilantly scanned the room, listened for any movement outside, and after confirming there was nothing unusual, continued reading the diary.
Soon, he came to the continuation of the content from the main hall. The first few pages had been torn out, and the subsequent content read:
"At sunset, it finally got dark. I heard a knock on the door. I eagerly opened it, but standing outside wasn't the master, but the senior brother who had disappeared last night."
"The senior brother who had been missing for a day and night had returned, but I felt no joy, because he was already dead. What came back was a corpse. His chest was covered in blood, his heart had been dug out by someone."
"Senior brother stared at me fixedly. He said: Don't trust the master."
These few lines were written crookedly. One can imagine that when the diary's owner wrote this content, their state of mind was utterly shattered.
When Zhang Yuanqing turned to the next page, he found there was no continuation of the diary. The diary's owner never wrote in it again.
"Hiss... What does 'Don't trust the master' mean?"
Zhang Yuanqing was chilled to the core by this twist.
Did the abbot kill that senior brother? Was he also the culprit behind the successive disappearances of the disciples? Zhang Yuanqing rubbed his shoulders, put the booklet back in the corpse's pocket, then picked up the bronze mirror, about to leave.
But when his peripheral vision inadvertently glanced at the bronze mirror, his body suddenly stiffened.
Moonlight shimmered like water, casting onto the mirror's surface. The bronze mirror reflected his appearance, and on his back, someone was clinging.
That person's face was deathly pale, lips deep purple, with a pair of white eyes. The head was tilted, resting on Zhang Yuanqing's shoulder, those white eyes staring lifelessly at him.
PS: This book has supernatural elements, but it's not primarily focused on the supernatural. Readers who don't like supernatural content can rest assured.
(End of Chapter)