Chapter 6 - The Tale of the Mountain God Temple
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly no longer wanted to stay in the Main Hall.
He felt an overwhelming sense of dread, as if heaven and earth would not respond to his cries for help.
He was in extreme danger, yet he could not seek help from the outside world; his only reliance was on himself.
After much hesitation, he clenched his teeth and steeled his heart, bending over to pull out the skeleton wrapped in work clothes.
Rip~
During the process, the work clothes were easily torn apart, having rotted away over the many years.
Dragging the corpse into the candlelight, he fought back his discomfort and began to examine it.
Although the person was dead, the body could tell its own story, and understanding the cause of death could help him avoid many dangers.
"Several ribs and the sternum are broken, and there is a fine crack in the right shoulder, but it's not severe."
The deceased had suffered a heavy blow during his life, but the specific cause of death was indiscernible due to the age of the remains.
Next, Zhang Yuanqing found several yellowed and brittle pieces of paper in the pockets of the deceased worker.
The papers were written in small, regular script.
Zhang Yuanqing was elated; the papers were clearly something the former worker had found in the temple, which could help him understand the situation of this ancient temple.
With the aid of candlelight, he focused and began to read the contents of the papers.
"Another junior brother disappeared last night; this makes the third bizarre disappearance in the temple. My fellow disciples say that Sandao Mountain is haunted, or perhaps a powerful demon has arrived, coming to the temple each night to abduct and eat someone. But many of the temple's disciples have powerful cultivation, and our master is a renowned sage within a hundred miles. Which demon would dare to come here to hunt for food?
"As for ghosts and ghouls, my Corpse Suppression Talisman and Spirit Summoning Talisman should be sufficient to deal with them, no need to trouble the master. I have a bad feeling; I need to discuss this with the eldest senior brother."
"Today, another has disappeared; this is the fifth person. The master told us to keep it from the pilgrims, lest it affects the temple's incense offerings. He must know something. The eldest senior brother and I plan to patrol tonight."
"Three days have passed, and three more have disappeared, but the eldest senior brother and I have found no clues, and the nights have been calm. My ominous premonition has deepened."
"The eldest senior brother was acting very strange today; it seemed like he had discovered something and was extremely angry. I asked him about it, but he did not tell me. He was in a bad mood; I'll ask again tomorrow."
"The person who disappeared today was the eldest senior brother. I searched the entire Sandao Mountain and couldn't find him. I can't take this anymore. I have to ask the master for clarity. The other brothers in the temple support me because they are also very scared."
The handwriting of this passage was sloppy, showing that the writer was on the verge of collapse.
Zhang Yuanqing continued reading:
"After much questioning, the master finally agreed to tell me the truth. My premonition was not wrong; he indeed knows the reason behind the strange disappearances of the junior brothers. But the master said that the daytime is too busy with people talking, so he will come to my room after sunset, to reveal a great secret to me. This secret concerns the rise and fall of thousands of years."
"After the evening meal, I waited in my room for the sunset. Ever since people started disappearing at night, I have never looked forward to darkness so much."
The record on the paper ended here.
That's it? The abrupt end of the notes was frustrating. Zhang Yuanqing grimaced in annoyance.
He sorted through the information on the papers. During a certain year, disciples of the Mountain God Temple disappeared one after another under mysterious circumstances.
The disciples were helpless, and panic spread. The temple's priest, their master, seemed to know the reason.
This reason was related to a great secret of the rise and fall over thousands of years.
"Cause of the decline of the Mountain God Temple unknown; could unraveling this source complete the second Main Quest?" Zhang Yuanqing speculated.
He slipped the brittle paper back into the corpse's work clothes and shoved it back under the table, out of sight, out of mind. Then he began to ponder his next move.
"There's only so much information in the Main Hall. If I'm to explore the ancient temple, I'll have to go outside and face the dangers within."
"In the ghost stories about the Sheling Tunnel, there was a worker who managed to survive. By following his trail, maybe I can find a way to live through this."
After much thought, Zhang Yuanqing approached the entrance of the Main Hall and opened the well-preserved lattice doors.
"Squeak~"
The wooden hinges let out a grating sound that set one's teeth on edge.
Bracing himself against the doorframe, he peered out cautiously, looking left and right. It was eerily silent outside, desolate and grim, but he saw no immediate danger.
After a moment's surveillance, he stepped over the threshold, following the cobblestone path to the left of the Main Hall, heading towards the back courtyard of the Mountain God Temple.
Bathed in moonlight, the wild grass undulated around him. After a minute or two, Zhang Yuanqing saw a cluster of buildings ahead.
It was a series of bungalows connected together, forming a vast Siheyuan with black tiles and white walls, and ridge roofs in a straight line. Under the eaves were lattice windows and doors.
The lattice doors were covered in dust, some open, some fallen, others firmly shut. The paper that had once sealed the windows was now torn and tattered by the years.
The moonlight was bright and clear, casting the courtyard in a frost-like glow. Taking advantage of the light, he scanned the layout of the Mountain God Temple's back courtyard.
Beyond the Siheyuan in front of him, there was an arched doorway to the east that resembled the back entrance to a large estate, commonly found in dramas, connecting different courtyards.
In the neighboring courtyard, there stood a towering tree with lush branches and intertwining limbs.
"Huh?"
In the overgrown courtyard, he spotted several skeletons wrapped in work clothes.
Approaching carefully, he examined them closely. Each skeleton was severely damaged, with bones broken beneath the work clothes. Unlike the one in the Main Hall, these skeletons had intact shoulder bones without any cracks.
"These people suffered terrible blows before they died; their deaths were horrific."
A gust of wind rustled the leaves, and amidst the rustling, Zhang Yuanqing thought he heard a low whisper carried by the wind:
"Save me, save me."
In the desolate silence of the night, a cold sweat broke out on Zhang Yuanqing's back.
He stood rigidly in place, and after a while, the wind ceased, and the mournful whispers with it.
The neighboring courtyard seemed dangerous. Yet, nothing from there had approached him. He silently exhaled and stepped through the overgrown grass, heading under the eaves to explore the Siheyuan.
This place appeared to be where the temple's disciples once lived, filled with old, dusty furniture and the faint scent of decay in the air.
Zhang Yuanqing searched room by room, finding nothing of note until he pushed open the lattice door at the far eastern end.
"Creak~"
The door, sealed for untold years, opened once more, and dust fell in showers. Zhang Yuanqing brushed the dust off his shoulders, his gaze wary as he scanned every corner of the room.
In this long-abandoned room, there was a body leaning against the wall by the window, lying askew.
Judging by the clothing and the fallen Miner's Cap, it was another predecessor.
He crossed the threshold into the room, shivering slightly, feeling as though the temperature around him had dropped.
"It's a bit cold."
He cautiously approached the body, undoing the tattered clothes to observe the skeletal remains as usual. This time, he found no broken bones; the skeleton was well-preserved.
But when his eyes fell on the shoulder bones of the corpse, his pupils constricted. There were exaggerated fractures on the shoulder bones.
It was similar to the crack on the shoulder of the corpse in the Main Hall, but the injuries on this corpse were much more severe.
"Is it a coincidence that only the shoulder bones of the corpse in this room and in the Main Hall are shattered?" He muttered uneasily to himself.
Then, Zhang Yuanqing noticed that the corpse's trouser pocket was bulging, seemingly hiding something.
Reaching in, he pulled out a yellowed ancient tome, a dust-covered Bronze Mirror, and a yellow paper talisman.
The paper talisman was drawn with cinnabar in twisted patterns, somewhat resembling runes, converging into a character resembling the traditional Chinese character for 'corpse'.
As he examined the talisman, a phosphorescent blue message appeared before Zhang Yuanqing's eyes:
[Name: Corpse Suppression Talisman]
[Type: Consumable]
[Function: Suppress Corpses]
[Description: A talisman crafted by a powerful Nighthaunt, the bane of all corpse-like beings of Yin. Affix it to the forehead of a Yin being to seal it.]
[Note: It can only be used once.]
The phosphorescent blue information resembled his attribute panel, clearly a prompt from the 'Spirit Realm'.
Since entering the eerie ancient temple, this was the first time Zhang Yuanqing had seen such a prompt.
"This must be an important item." Zhang Yuanqing carefully folded it and tucked it into his windbreaker jacket pocket, zipping it up.
After a moment's thought, he reopened the zipper.
He recalled a trope from a martial arts novel where a highly skilled swordsman preferred to carry his sword wrapped in cloth on his back.
One day, a challenger approached him while he was dining, issuing a challenge.
Then the swordsman was no more.
The cause of death: the cloth was inconvenient to unwrap.
Zhang Yuanqing then picked up the ancient tome and the Bronze Mirror, but no related information appeared.
He set the mirror aside and carefully opened the brittle, yellowed pages of the tome.
It read:
"Having joined The Goddess Temple of Sandao Mountain for two and a half years, I have learned to read and write. The eldest senior brother said that once Master returns from guiding lost souls, he will formally initiate me into the practice of the Moon-Devouring Soul-Nourishing Technique. This is the introductory method to becoming a Nighthaunt."
"The Yan King's rebellion has stirred up chaos. As the strongest Nighthaunt of the Song Prefecture lineage, Master had no choice but to descend the mountain to guide the dead. Otherwise, with the war unresolved and the rise of Yin calamities, the people will suffer even more."
Zhang Yuanqing felt a soreness in his shoulders and rubbed them. He tentatively concluded that this was a journal, a diary.
The diary's contents were about the 'author's' experiences in cultivation and life at the temple. Judging by the handwriting, this diary and the papers on the corpse in the Main Hall were from the same source.
From terms like 'Yan King's rebellion,' the timeline was during the period of the Jingnan Campaign.
However, he was uncertain if this temple really existed in history, as the diary mentioned 'cultivation,' 'Nighthaunt,' 'breathing techniques,' 'talismans,' and other impressive terms.
Zhang Yuanqing moved his sore shoulders, cautiously scanned the room, listened for any noises outside, and continued reading the diary.
Soon, he reached the part about the Main Hall. The first few pages were torn off, but the following content read:
"At sunset, darkness finally fell. I heard a knock at the door and hastily opened it, only to find not my Master but the eldest senior brother who disappeared last night."
"The eldest senior brother, missing for a day and a night, had returned, but there was no joy in me, for he was already dead, a corpse. His chest was drenched in blood, his heart gouged out by someone."
"Eldest senior brother stared straight at me and said: 'Do not trust Master.'"
These lines were written haphazardly, betraying the turmoil of the diary's author at that moment.
As Zhang Yuanqing turned to the next page, he found that the diary ended abruptly. The author never wrote again.
"What does 'do not trust Master' mean?" Zhang Yuanqing shivered at the twist.
Did the temple priest kill the eldest senior brother? Was he the culprit behind the successive disappearances of the disciples? Zhang Yuanqing rubbed his shoulders and placed the tome back into the corpse's pocket, then picked up the Bronze Mirror to leave.
But as he glanced at the mirror, his body stiffened.
Bathed in moonlight, the mirror reflected his image, and on his back lay a person.
The person's face was pale, lips a deep purple, with a pair of white pupils. Their head rested sideways on Zhang Yuanqing's shoulder, those lifeless white eyes staring at him.