The Source of Strangeness

Bingo… Zhang Yuanqing relaxed a little.

In fact, after exploring the Mountain Temple and dealing with the zombie, the entrance to the cave would open. However, the senior construction team had taken the Demon Subduing Staff before that.

If he could not see through this detail and return the Demon Subduing Staff, he would probably be stuck at this step forever.

Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, quietly tensing his nerves and concentrating his mind. He did not dare to be careless, because it was very likely that the source of the Mountain Temple's decline existed under the cave.

After a while, seeing no abnormalities in the collapsed hole, he summoned the red dancing shoes again and activated the second form, allowing it to replace the running shoes and wrap around his feet.

Then, he walked to the dark and deep cave and jumped lightly.

Tap… His feet quickly touched the ground, and his red dancing shoes alleviated the force of his fall.

Zhang Yuanqing found the Demon Subduing Staff among the rubble. He bent down to pick it up and regained control of this powerful tool.

With the red dancing shoes and the Demon Subduing Staff, he was confident that he could face the danger in the cave head-on.

The candlelight seeped down from above. There was a limit to how much it could illuminate. Ahead of them was a dark, silent tunnel filled with the fear of the unknown.

In such an environment, it was extremely unwise to advance blindly.

Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and looked at the tool in his hand.

The item introduction said that this was a tool that contained the power of the sun. By sacrificing blood, one could obtain divine power.

The power of the sun could dispel the darkness and bring light, right?

It was worth a try, but the "Remarks" of the attribute introduction was a little intimdating… Zhang Yuanqing exhaled silently and nailed the sharp triangular spike to his thigh.

A sharp pain assaulted him as blood gurgled out. Instead of flowing down his pants, it turned into lines of blood that poured into the bronze tool.

Zhang Yuanqing felt a warm power surge out of the Demon Subduing Staff and rush into his body along his arm. His pupils lit up with pale golden light and turned into brilliant golden pupils.

The Demon Subduing Staff didn't dispel the darkness, but it gave him the ability to see through it.

At the same time, the dizziness, difficulty breathing, heart and lungs pain, and other negative conditions disappeared, leaving only the weakness of excessive blood loss.

The corpse poison in his body was cleared.

He was indeed exchanging his life for power, but it was still acceptable… He activated his vision and looked ahead. In front of him was a wide passageway that extended into the darkness.

The two walls of the tunnel were not naturally formed.

Zhang Yuanqing walked through the tunnel at a moderate pace, the silence echoing with his footsteps.

After walking for more than ten seconds, the roots of plants appeared on the two walls of the tunnel. They grew all over the wall.

"Help, help…"

Suddenly, from the darkness ahead, came the sound of someone crying out for help.

After following the sound for a while, the path opened up and a huge grotto came into view. In the middle of the grotto was a thick tree trunk that drilled through the top and grew into the outside world.

At the bottom of this thick tree trunk, the roots were intertwined and tangled, wrapped around a stone coffin.

Most frightening of all, pale arms poked out of thick tree trunks, and pale human faces appeared. Unconsciously, they cried out for help.

Dense arms grabbed at random as if looking for a lifeline.

How scary… The candlelight and the Demon Subduing Staff gave Zhang Yuanqing courage. He only felt a slight tingling in his scalp and was not too afraid.

Then a hoarse, ancient voice said: "It's the first time a living creature has come here in years."

With that, the cries for help stopped. The seaweed-like waving arms retracted into the tree trunks, and the faces of horror hid within the tree.

"Who?"

Startled, Zhang Yuanqing looked around warily.

"Me? I'm just a tree…"

An ugly human face emerged from the trunk. Unlike the face of the vengeful spirit, its face was bark, as if it symbolized the tree itself.

It was the old banyan tree in the courtyard. Had it become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing had not expected to encounter an entity that he could communicate with in such a godforsaken place, even though it was a tree.

He dared not approach. He said tentatively: "Were you the one who killed the disciples in the temple?"

"Not me. Her."

The tree spirit's gaze dropped as if to focus on the coffin below, though it could not see it.

"Who is she?"

"She's Goddess Sandao."

Zhang Yuanqing felt as if he had been hit in the head, and his mind went blank.

In the stone coffin lay Goddess Sandao, the powerful Night Wanderer who should have ascended at the start of the Ming dynasty?

The source of the strangeness was Goddess Sandao. Was she the one who killed the disciples in the temple?

Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, "Why would she do that?"

"Because of the arrival of the Cultivationless Age, it was difficult for cultivators to break through the bottleneck. In order to live forever, Goddess Sandao fell into the demonic path. She sealed herself in a stone coffin and used the banyan tree to imprison ghosts. She used Yin energy to nurture and protect her body and spirit. She was a powerful Night Wanderer, and the Night Wanderer was born to devour souls and strengthen itself."

The face on the tree trunk sighed. "The banyan tree accommodated too many souls. It received their wills and slowly gave birth to intelligence, which was me. Over the years, one after another, people entered this place by mistake and died here. In the end, they became her nutrients. I carried the hatred and unwillingness of the vengeful spirits and kept waiting for someone to come here and end her for me."

I see. Does this count as triggering an NPC mission? Zhang Yuanqing's eyes flickered. "What should I do?"

"Open the coffin and stab her in the heart with the weapon in your hand. That will end everything. Heh, half of her Yang soul is sealed in the Demon Subduing Staff. If you stab her in the heart, you can seal the remaining Yang soul in her body into the artifact. Without the Yang soul to protect her, her body will die immediately." The banyan spirit finished speaking.

"That's all you need to do to get out of here."

Zhang Yuanqing did not move. He remained silent.

The banyan spirit said slowly, "What are you hesitating for, young man?"

Zhang Yuanqing said suddenly: "I'm thinking of a question…"

The banyan spirit responded gently. "What question."

Zhang Yuanqing stood at a distance, staring at the face on the tree trunk.

"You can't be the temple attendant, right?"

There was a sudden silence in the cavern. After a few seconds, the banyan spirit said in a low voice:

"The temple attendant was the first person to be bewitched by Goddess Sandao. He became her puppet and later became the nourishment for that woman. If you don't believe me, come and open the stone coffin. You'll know that I'm not lying to you."

Zhang Yuanqing retorted, "Then open it for me."

"I can't open it. I'm just a tree."

"Is it that you can't open it, or are you afraid to open it?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted. His lips curled up.

"It's the temple attendant's corpse in the coffin, isn't it? And you're his guardian, or perhaps his soul?"

With these probing words, he went on guard, waiting for the spirit's reaction.

As a technical geek who was good at strategy games, it would be terrible if he couldn't crack the secrets of the Mountain Temple after so many hints.

First of all, Goddess Sandao ascended in the early Ming dynasty. After her death, the local authorities built this temple for her.

The disciples in the temple disappeared for no reason during the Yongle era. There was a difference of at least 50 to 60 years, which was one or two generations.

Secondly, the information from the main hall indicated that Goddess Sandao was a decent person, and the banyan tree spirit's so-called fall into the demonic path was a one-sided story. Zhang Yuanqing was more willing to believe the former.

Finally, and most importantly, the contents of the letter said: Don't trust Master!

Actually, the Spirit Realm had long hinted at who the real enemy was.

However, Zhang Yuanqing did not understand why the temple attendant wanted to kill his disciples.

I do now.

If he replaced the one who wanted to live forever and fell into the demonic path with the temple attendant, all the doubts would be resolved.

Silence fell in the cavern. The banyan spirit sighed. "You are too wary. From beginning to end, I mean you no harm."

"Or rather, you can't harm me?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly took a few steps back.

"Well, let me guess. You kill others by twisting their necks, but the technique must have something to do with illusion and the mind. You tried to kill me not long ago. Unfortunately, I didn't look back."

This time the banyan spirit's face changed abruptly.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing knew that his deduction was completely correct.

The Night Wanderer in the information of the Supreme Solitary Sect made two things clear: one, the banyan tree was dangerous; and two, don't look back.

That was why he had found nothing when he explored the ancient well. That was because there was nothing wrong with the well at all. The problem was the tree.

In addition, he could accurately say "illusion" because the name the female ghost shouted was Zhang Yuanqing, not the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning.

Finally, when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, he thought of a famous horror movie from an island country. As a result, he was traumatized and did not dare to pry into the bottom of the well.

Then, the female ghost emerged from the well. She was dressed in white and had disheveled hair. She had no facial features, which matched the vague fear in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

"You're pretending to talk to me nicely because illusions can no longer confuse me. After all, I have the Goddess' Demon Subduing Staff and am immune to illusions." Zhang Yuanqing looked calm as he analyzed the truth.

"You lied to me because you wanted to kill me in other ways. If illusions don't work on me, then it's a physical attack?"

He glanced at the roots crawling along the wall of the tunnel and suddenly stabbed down.

....