Chapter 1 The Nameless Mountain

To the west of Heyue Town stood a small mountain. It wasn't very large or steep, more like a hill than a mountain, and it had been nameless since ancient times.

However, the temple situated on that mountain did have a name—Liuhe Temple.

Today, the exact date of the temple's construction is impossible to verify, but the claim that it was "millennial" is likely accurate. Records from the outside world, as well as ancient scriptures preserved within the temple itself, all attest to its long history.

As a building that has existed for over a thousand years and is still in use, Liuhe Temple has undoubtedly undergone numerous renovations. The monks' minor repairs and patching over the years are countless, but just considering the major renovations... there are nineteen recorded. And the most recent one... was forty years ago.

At that time, Heyue Town was enjoying its most stable and prosperous period. After decades of development and accumulation, the third generation descendants of those refugees were experiencing a golden age. While it couldn't be said that there wasn't a single poor person in the town, people sleeping on the streets and starving... were certainly nowhere to be found.

As the saying goes... when the granary is full, people know etiquette; when they are well-fed and clothed, they know honor and shame. Now that the residents of Heyue Town were doing well in terms of material civilization, they naturally had the leisure to engage in some spiritual civilization construction.

The common people of that era (the setting of this script is roughly equivalent to ancient feudal Chinese society) couldn't possibly come up with something like the Eight Honors and Eight Shames. Besides the traditional propriety, justice, integrity, and sense of shame, they also talked about religious superstition.

Considering that the monks of Liuhe Temple had been kind to the townspeople's ancestors, and that the town had generally enjoyed favorable weather over the years... therefore, the townspeople decided to do something for the temple, firstly to repay the kindness of the monks, and secondly to thank the gods for their protection over the years.

Thus, forty years ago, after consultation between the then-mayor of Heyue Town and the abbot of Liuhe Temple, the townspeople raised a sum of charitable funds, intending to use this money to completely renovate the temple and re-gild the many Buddha statues within.

This was originally a good thing, but the ending of the matter was beyond everyone's expectations...

...

Renovating a temple as large as Liuhe Temple was a long and time-consuming project, requiring a large number of craftsmen and laborers. Relying solely on the manpower of Heyue Town was obviously not enough. Fortunately... the project funds were relatively abundant, so the foreman in charge of the project recruited a lot of people from the surrounding towns and villages.

That year, among the workers who came to repair the temple, there was a middle-aged stonemason from another village. This man's surname was Zhang, and his given name was Ke. Although his parents gave him a very stable name, Zhang Ke's personality seemed to be the opposite of his name. Not only was he not cautious, but he was also particularly impetuous and frivolous, always meddling in other people's business.

One night, forty years ago, Zhang Ke had a few extra drinks at the town's wine shop. Fueled by the alcohol, he suddenly had a whimsical idea: to explore the "Stone Courtyard Pagoda" in Liuhe Temple...

Speaking of that Stone Courtyard Pagoda, it was indeed a rather mysterious place. Liuhe Temple had a strict iron rule since ancient times—except for the abbot himself, no one was allowed to enter the Stone Courtyard, let alone set foot in the pagoda within the Stone Courtyard.

Before the temple renovation, the abbot had repeatedly urged the mayor not to let anyone approach the Stone Courtyard. And the mayor... had faithfully conveyed the abbot's words to all the workers involved in the renovation.

To be honest... in the workers' eyes, this was nothing special. If it were a nunnery... if you said there was a forbidden area or something, people might still have a little interest in peeking; but this forbidden area in a Buddhist temple... if you can't enter, then you can't enter, right? You don't expect to find Xiuzhen (cultivation) magic weapons or peerless secret manuals if you sneak in, do you?

But there just happened to be someone with a particularly strong sense of curiosity... and that was Zhang Ke.

This guy was a typical case of chuunibyou (middle-school syndrome) that had gone untreated for too long and turned into a lifelong terminal illness. Moreover, his personality was the type where his IQ went offline and his courage became boundless after downing two bowls of huangtang (yellow wine). The more you didn't let him go somewhere, the more he insisted on going... and after going, it would be great to come back and brag about it to his colleagues, acting like a hero.

But we all know that true heroes... more or less have some extraordinary qualities, they have "strength."

Some people can still walk mountain roads in the dark after downing a few pounds of old wine, and single-handedly kill a ferocious national first-class protected animal; while some people can also walk mountain roads in the dark after downing a few pounds of old wine, but end up slipping and falling to their death in a ravine.

Judging from Zhang Ke's performance in the past few decades of his life... he definitely belonged to the latter.

So his going... meant that he disappeared without a trace.

...

What exactly happened that night, only a very few people knew. Outsiders only knew... that after that night, no one ever saw Zhang Ke again.

A few days later, the mayor gave an explanation... Zhang Ke accidentally entered the mountains after getting drunk and was eaten by wild animals, leaving no remains.

And this explanation... naturally could not satisfy Zhang Ke's family, and they soon went to the government to complain.

The first official administrative officer of Heyue Town was appointed in the fifteenth year after the town was built, by an envoy sent by the imperial court; and the person who was appointed was the mayor at the time. Obviously, the imperial court did not pay much attention to the management of this remote town, it was just a formality. The main purpose was to formally incorporate the town into the national system, so as to facilitate taxation.

Later on, the town had a more formal yamen (government office), and the law was replaced by the imperial code, replacing the original customary "village law." But on the whole, the town was still in a state of "autonomy," and most of the officials were locals.

After the Zhang Ke case occurred, his family certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to file a complaint in Heyue Town itself... therefore, they went directly to the higher-level yamen.

And the government... did send people to investigate.

To outsiders, the process of investigating this case can be said to be shrouded in mystery. Although many rumors circulated among the people, the content was varied and difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

The only thing that can be determined is that the attitude of the official handling the case took a series of twists and turns—from an initial posture of "vowing to uphold justice and not tolerate a grain of sand in his eye," to "a cooling attitude, full of doubts," and later... his discussion of the case was in a state of "equivocation and few words."

At the same time, the constables handling the case also inadvertently revealed some eerie and bizarre remarks to the outside world... roughly saying, "In that Stone Courtyard Pagoda, there are some 'unclean things' suppressed, Zhang Ke was asking for his own death, and I'm afraid his soul has already been scattered."

In short, after a month, the case was finally closed. And the final result was... the government came forward to mediate, and had the temple give Zhang Ke's family a sum of money, whether it was compensation or hush money... anyway, the matter ended here. Zhang Ke's family either chose to take the money and accept the explanation that he was "eaten by wild animals, leaving no remains"; or... they would get neither money nor an explanation.

In this way, the family of the person involved could only choose to let the matter rest, and the matter came to an end.

However... the people at the time certainly did not expect... that this case had laid the groundwork for a catastrophe forty years later.

...

"Um... it really is eerie..." When he arrived at the gate of Liuhe Temple, Wang Tanzhi looked up at the tall bronze door and whispered.

He spoke very softly, not because he was worried about being discovered by someone far away, but because he felt nervous, so he instinctively lowered his voice.

"I thought the stench of blood in the town was bad enough, but compared to this... it's simply insignificant." Standing next to Xiao Tan, Xiao Ling covered her nose and muttered.

At this time, about half an hour had passed since the start of the script. Xiao Tan and Xiao Ling met on the way to Liuhe Temple, and until they arrived here, neither of them had found any signs of other players active nearby.

Given their detective specialization, the possibility of being secretly followed was extremely low; and if someone had arrived here before them, they would probably have noticed traces of them. Therefore... it can be basically determined that they are the two players who arrived at Liuhe Temple the fastest.

Of course... it cannot be ruled out that someone was placed inside the temple as soon as they entered the script...

"How... do we get in?" Xiao Tan thought for a few seconds in front of the gate, then turned his head and asked, "Should we try knocking, or just break the door down? Or... just climb over the wall?"

Xiao Ling heard the words, thought for a few seconds, then silently took two steps forward and grabbed the bronze handle on the door.

Squeak—

With a little force, the huge door was pushed open.

"Eh?" Xiao Tan was stunned and asked, "How did you know it would open with a push?"

"I didn't know." Xiao Ling shrugged, "I was just trying..."

She didn't finish the sentence, because before the last word "it" could be uttered, a cloud of blood mist suddenly rolled out from the door, quickly wrapping around Xiao Ling and dragging her into the door...

A second later, Xiao Tan instinctively rushed forward, wanting to grab Xiao Ling's hand, but at this moment... the cloud of blood mist had completely dragged the latter into the door.

Bang—

As an expression of shock appeared on Xiao Tan's face, the door in front of him... suddenly... closed again.

San Tian Liang Jue