Guessed right..... Zhang Yuanqing felt a slight relief.
Actually, after exploring the Mountain God Temple and eliminating the zombie, the entrance to the cave would open, but the construction team seniors had taken away the Demon Subduing Pestle before that.
If he couldn't see through this detail and return the Demon Subduing Pestle, he would probably be stuck at this step forever.
Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, quietly tensing his nerves and concentrating his energy, not daring to be careless in the slightest, because deep within the cave, there was likely the source of the Mountain God Temple's decline.
After a while, seeing no anomalies appearing at the collapsed cave entrance, he re-summoned the Red Dancing Shoes, activated their second form, and had them replace the running shoes, wrapping around his feet.
Then, he walked to the dark and deep cave entrance and leaped gently.
Thump..... his feet quickly touched the ground, the Red Dancing Shoes eliminating the force of the fall for him.
Zhang Yuanqing found the Demon Subduing Pestle among the rubble, bent down to pick it up, and regained control of this powerful item.
With the Red Dancing Shoes and the Demon Subduing Pestle, he was confident he could face the dangers in the cave head-on.
Candlelight filtered down from above, illuminating only a limited area, and ahead was a dark and silent tunnel, filled with unknown terrors.
In such an environment, advancing blindly would be extremely unwise.
Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and turned his gaze to the item in his hand.
The item description said that it was a tool containing the power of the Sun God, and by sacrificing blood, one could obtain divine power.
Genuine Sun God power should be able to dispel darkness and bring light, right?
It was worth a try, but the "note" in the attribute description was a little unsettling....... Zhang Yuanqing exhaled silently and stabbed the sharp triangular spike into his thigh.
A sharp pain struck, and fresh blood gushed out, not flowing down his trouser leg, but turning into streaks of blood that poured into the bronze tool.
Zhang Yuanqing only felt a warm power surging from the Demon Subduing Pestle, rushing into his body along his arm, and his pupils lit up with a pale golden glow, transforming into brilliant golden eyes.
The Demon Subduing Pestle did not dispel the darkness, but it granted him the ability to see through it.
At the same time, dizziness, difficulty breathing, chest pain, and other negative states all disappeared, leaving only the weakness of blood loss.
The corpse poison in his body was cleared.
It was indeed trading life for power, but it was still acceptable........ He used his eyesight to look ahead, and before him was a wide tunnel, stretching into the depths of darkness.
The walls of the tunnel showed traces of artificial excavation, not naturally formed.
Zhang Yuanqing walked along the tunnel at a measured pace, the silence of the space echoing with his footsteps.
After walking for a dozen seconds, the walls of the tunnel were covered with plant roots, densely packed.
"Help, help me......"
Suddenly, from the darkness ahead, a chilling cry for help came, mournful and pleading.
Following the sound for a while, the space opened up, and a huge grotto came into view. In the very center of the grotto was a thick tree trunk, piercing through the top of the grotto and growing outwards.
At the base of this thick tree trunk, tangled roots intertwined, wrapping around a stone coffin.
Most terrifying of all, from the thick tree trunk, pale arms stretched out, and pale faces emerged, mindlessly uttering cries for "help".
Densely packed arms grasped randomly, as if searching for a lifeline.
My trypophobia is acting up....... The candlelight and the Demon Subduing Pestle gave Zhang Yuanqing courage. He felt only a slight tingling on his scalp, not too much fear.
At this moment, a hoarse and aged voice sounded:
"After so many years, this is the first time a living being has come here."
With this sentence, the cries for help ceased, and the seaweed-like swaying arms all retracted into the tree trunk, the faces disappearing into the tree in terror.
"Who?"
Zhang Yuanqing was startled and looked around warily.
"Me? I'm just a tree....."
A grotesque face emerged from the tree trunk, different from the faces of those vengeful spirits. Its skin was tree bark, as if representing the tree itself.
It was the old banyan tree in the courtyard, become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing didn't expect to encounter a being he could communicate with in such a ghostly place, even if it was a tree.
He didn't dare approach and tentatively asked:
"Did you kill the disciples in the temple?"
"Not me, it was her."
The tree spirit's gaze fell downwards, as if gazing at the stone coffin below, even though it couldn't see it.
"Who is she?"
"She is the Niangniang of Three Paths Mountain."
Zhang Yuanqing felt like he had been struck on the head, his mind reeling.
The Niangniang of Three Paths Mountain was lying in the stone coffin, the powerful Night Walker who was supposed to have ascended to immortality in the early Ming Dynasty?
The source of the strangeness was the Niangniang of Three Paths Mountain, and she killed the disciples in the temple?
Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, "Why would she do that?"
"Because the Age of Dharma Decline has arrived, and it is increasingly difficult for cultivators to break through bottlenecks. For the sake of longevity, the Niangniang of Three Paths Mountain fell into demonic ways. She sealed herself in the stone coffin, using the banyan tree to imprison Yin spirits, using Yin to nourish Yin, to preserve her own flesh and primordial spirit. She is a powerful Night Walker, and Night Walkers are born to devour souls to strengthen themselves."
The face on the tree trunk sighed, "The banyan tree has accommodated too many souls, receiving their will, and slowly giving birth to sentience, which is me. Over the years, people have mistakenly entered this place one after another, died here, and eventually became her nourishment. I carry the hatred and unwillingness of the vengeful spirits and have been waiting for someone to come here and end her for me."
So that's how it is. Does this count as triggering an NPC's quest? Zhang Yuanqing's eyes flickered slightly, "What should I do?"
"Open the stone coffin and use the weapon in your hand to pierce her heart, and you can end it all. Heh, the Demon Subduing Pestle seals half of her Yang spirit. Piercing her heart will seal the remaining Yang spirit in her flesh into the weapon. Without the protection of the Yang spirit, her flesh will die immediately." After the banyan tree spirit finished speaking, it slowly said:
"And you can leave here."
Zhang Yuanqing didn't move, remaining silent.
The banyan tree spirit slowly said, "Young man, what are you hesitating about?"
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly said:
"I'm thinking about a question......."
The banyan tree spirit responded gently, "What question?"
Zhang Yuanqing stood at a distance, staring at the face on the tree trunk, and said, word by word:
"You wouldn't happen to be the Temple Keeper, would you?"
The cave fell silent abruptly. After a few seconds, the banyan tree spirit said in a low voice:
"The Temple Keeper was the first person to be bewitched by the Niangniang of Three Paths Mountain, becoming her puppet, and later becoming that woman's nourishment. If you don't believe me, come over and open the stone coffin, and you will know that I am not lying to you."
"Then help me open it."
"I cannot open it. I am just a tree."
"Is it that you can't open it, or that you don't dare to open it?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted, and raised the corners of his mouth:
"The Temple Keeper is lying in the coffin, right? And you are his guardian, or his soul?"
After saying these probing words, he entered a state of alert, waiting for the tree spirit's reaction.
As a techie who is good at strategy games, if he still can't figure out the secrets of the Mountain God Temple after experiencing so many crises, then he's too useless.
First of all, the Niangniang of Three Paths Mountain ascended to immortality in the early Ming Dynasty. After her death, the local government built this temple for her.
The disciples in the temple went missing for no reason during the Yongle period, which was at least fifty or sixty years apart, or one or two generations.
Secondly, the information prompt in the main hall was that the Niangniang of Three Paths Mountain was a righteous figure, and the banyan tree spirit's so-called fall into demonic ways was only its word. Zhang Yuanqing was more willing to believe the former.
Finally, and most importantly, the content written in the notes was: Don't trust the master!
In fact, the spirit realm had already hinted at who the real enemy was in these details.
It's just that Zhang Yuanqing didn't understand why the Temple Keeper wanted to kill his disciples.
Now he knows.
If you change the person who wanted to live forever and fell into the demonic path to the Temple Keeper, all the doubts will be solved.
The cave fell into silence. The banyan tree spirit sighed, "Your vigilance is too strong. From beginning to end, I have had no ill intentions towards you, and I will not harm you."
"Is it that you won't harm me, or that you can't harm me?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly took a few steps back and said:
"Um, let me guess, your way of killing people is by twisting their necks, but the technique should be related to illusions and the mind, right? You wanted to kill me not long ago, but unfortunately, I didn't look back."
This time, the banyan tree spirit's face suddenly changed.
Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing knew that his reasoning was completely correct.
The Night Walker in the Taiyi Sect's information clearly and explicitly pointed out two things: First, the banyan tree is very dangerous; second, don't look back.
That's why he got nothing when he went deep into the ancient well to explore, because there was nothing wrong with the well at all. The problem was the tree.
In addition, he was able to accurately judge "illusion" because the female ghost called out Zhang Yuanqing's name, not Yuanshi Tianzun.
Finally, when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, what came to his mind was a famous horror movie from a certain island country, which caused him to have a psychological shadow and dare not peer into the bottom of the well.
Subsequently, the female ghost that crawled out of the well, wearing white clothes, disheveled hair, and no facial features, matched the vague fear in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.
"You're pretending, talking to me nicely, because the illusion can't confuse me anymore, right? After all, I have the Niangniang's Demon Subduing Pestle and am immune to illusions." Zhang Yuanqing analyzed the truth with a calm face:
"You want to kill me by other means by tricking me over there. If illusions are ineffective against me, then it's physical attacks?"
He glanced at the tree roots covering the tunnel wall and suddenly stabbed the Demon Subduing Pestle down.
.......
ps: Two chapters will be updated together today, and there will be another chapter later, um, within an hour.