Ancient Temple for Suppressing Evil

When I woke up again, it was already dusk the next day. My head was still groggy, and I felt utterly drained of strength. A dull pain throbbed from my shoulder, which was now wrapped in thick bandages. I wasn't sure who had dressed my wound, but they had done a decent job. Rosa, the aloof woman, was by my side, looking somewhat weary. It seemed she had been taking care of me while I was unconscious.

"Feeling any better?"

Rosa asked as I opened my eyes. Her face was as cold as ever, but her tone carried a hint of concern. She handed me a bottle of mineral water and even twisted the cap off for me.

I hadn't expected her to be so attentive.

At that moment, I really didn't have the strength to even open a bottle of water. After taking a sip, which made me feel much better, I nodded and said, "Thank you."

Rosa shook her head without saying anything.

Having spent two days with her, I had come to understand her personality a bit. She wasn't one for small talk, so I asked about our current situation.

Rosa explained in detail.

It turned out that because of my injury, we had stayed in the same spot for a whole day. Zhang Jinya and Qingyi had gone out to scout the area. After all, the appearance of a Tomb Tiger indicated that the main entity from the Ten Deadly Tombs was likely already on the move. The situation had changed, and the entire Qinling Mountains might be in turmoil. The Ten Deadly Tombs had been around for a long time, and whatever was now emerging was bound to be a disaster. Zhang Jinya and the others had gone out hoping to find some clues.

They did indeed find traces of people in the Qinling Mountains, but not the good kind. Tomb robbers had come to "lease the mountain for mining." A conflict almost erupted, but Rosa arrived in time, shooting one of the robbers and driving them away.

So much had happened in just one day. Thankfully, there were no casualties, but the pressure was palpable, and it was clear that Rosa was not taking it lightly either!

As for me...

My situation was quite interesting, to say the least. I say this because I had a stroke of "misfortune turned fortune." After being bitten by the Tomb Tiger, I was poisoned by corpse poison, which caused my fainting. However, this poison was absorbed by the corpse qi from the smiling corpse within me.

In other words, the corpse qi from the smiling corpse that had been troubling me was now completely removed. I no longer had to worry about being targeted by it at any moment.

Qingyi had also removed the corpse poison from my body. Thankfully, the Tomb Tiger had only recently transformed, so its poison wasn't too strong. Otherwise, given the limited resources in the wilderness, even Qingyi would have been helpless, and I would have been left waiting for the grim reaper.

Thinking about all this, I could only bitterly smile. It had only been a few days, and I had already fainted twice. Just like my dad said, someone with my weak constitution really shouldn't be dealing with these dirty things. It's like walking on thin ice; one wrong step could cost me my life.

After adjusting my mood a bit, I asked Rosa what our next steps were.

"Of course, we keep moving."

Rosa sighed softly, giving me a complicated look before saying, "Some things can't be given up just because you want to. Even if you know there's a slim chance of survival ahead, you still have to face it head-on. That's what it means to be caught in the rivers and lakes. Your dad was like this, and so am I."

After saying this, Rosa got up and left my tent. Watching her back, I fell into deep thought.

Was she hinting at something?

...

That night, because I was injured, I wasn't assigned to keep watch. After dinner, feeling a bit better, I applied some herbal medicine Qingyi had given me to my wound and went back to sleep in my tent. We packed up and set off at dawn.

This was our third day in the mountains, and we were venturing deeper into the dense Qinling Mountains. The vegetation was thick, vines everywhere, and the sunlight that managed to penetrate was growing scarcer, blocked by the leaves. The forest felt eerily quiet, and the path became increasingly difficult to navigate. It was clear that our spirits had dampened since encountering the Tomb Tiger.

The Tomb Tiger wasn't the scariest part; its appearance signified that something had changed with the Ten Deadly Tombs in the Qinling Mountains.

Fortunately, we didn't encounter any troubles or wild animal attacks that day. We traveled nearly sixty miles and arrived at a valley by evening. Surprisingly, there was an ancient temple here, though who built it and when was a mystery. It was dilapidated but could still provide shelter from the wind and rain.

"Ha, finally, no need to set up camp!"

Zhang Jinya was delighted at the sight of the temple, his big gold tooth shining brightly: "How about we make do and spend the night here? After walking all day, I really don't feel like moving anymore. Setting up camp now would be too much of a hassle!"

His words resonated with many of us. The day's journey had been much harder than the first, and in the deep mountains, it was difficult to replenish our physical strength. Even Rosa and Qingyi, who were in better shape, were struggling.

At least on the first day, I didn't see Qingyi sweating, but today, his clothes were clearly soaked with sweat.

So, after a brief discussion, we all agreed with Zhang Jinya's suggestion to spend the night in the ancient temple.

As soon as we entered the temple, Zhang Jinya started muttering: "Damn, something feels off about this place. A temple should have statues of Guanyin or Buddha, but why are all the deities here from the underworld, like Ox-Head and Horse-Face?"

I hadn't noticed these details at first, busy laying down dry grass. But when Zhang Jinya pointed it out, I looked up at the dilapidated statues and was taken aback. They were indeed statues of the Ten Kings of Hell and other underworld deities.

Typically, larger temples have several halls, with the main hall dedicated to Buddha and the side halls to various Bodhisattvas. The hall for the Ten Kings of Hell is usually on the right side of the entrance. Deities like the Child-Giving Guanyin are not worshipped inside the halls but at the entrance.

Smaller temples can't afford to cast many statues, so they usually just have one of Buddha and one of Guanyin. I had never seen a temple that only worshipped the Ten Kings of Hell instead of Buddha or Guanyin.

"Zhang, can you stop being so jumpy all the time?"

Wu Pangzi complained from the side: "At this rate, I won't be scared to death by ghosts but by your constant freaking out."

"You don't know shit!"

Zhang Jinya spat on the ground forcefully: "Being cautious never hurt anyone, you know?"

Wu Pangzi was about to retort when Qingyi suddenly interjected: "Enough, both of you. This temple is indeed not ordinary. If I'm not mistaken, it was built to suppress evil spirits. There might have been ghosts and monsters rampant in this area in the past, so this temple was constructed to ensure peace by suppressing them, which is why it only houses the Ten Kings of Hell and not Buddha or Guanyin!"

Suppressing evil?

Qingyi's explanation startled me. Had we inadvertently stumbled into a place we shouldn't have?

Before we could ask, Qingyi continued: "I don't know if you noticed, but less than twenty miles from this temple, there's a barren land."

Now that he mentioned it, I did recall passing such a place. It was starkly different from the surrounding lush vegetation, with knee-high weeds but almost no trees, which was quite strange.

"If I'm not mistaken, that barren land used to be inhabited. Perhaps a long time ago, a group of ancient mountain people lived there. As you know, building houses requires laying foundations. Generally, places with foundations don't support tree growth because the stones used in the foundations inhibit it. Trees can't root deeply in such soil."

Qingyi slowly said: "Considering this temple and the barren land, I have a theory that there was once a village here. Unfortunately, it seems the temple didn't serve its purpose well, or the village wouldn't have disappeared. However, we don't know exactly how it vanished. They might have fled or been wiped out by the very thing this temple was meant to suppress."

Hearing Qingyi's theory, our faces turned grim.

"Damn it, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!"

Wu Pangzi immediately exclaimed: "The creatures from the Qinling ancient tomb group are trouble enough; we don't need to mess with something that can wipe out an entire village. Let's not invite trouble."

"It's too late."

Qingyi sighed and looked outside the temple: "The sun has almost set. The yin energy is naturally strong in these deep mountains and forests. Once the sun sets, those dirty things will dare to come out. It's not advantageous to tangle with them in the wilderness. If we get separated, it'll be even more troublesome. It's better to stay here and deal with whatever comes."

"Damn, looks like we're in for a rough night!"

Wu Pangzi, cursing with every other word, seemed quite imposing, but he was actually quite timid, sitting down on the ground: "This Qinling ancient tomb group is too dangerous. Ever since we got close, nothing good has happened. I wonder how vicious that main entity must be!"

We just smiled bitterly at his words, not responding.

Still worried about the main entity in the Qinling ancient tombs?

Let's see if you can survive tonight first. Whatever wiped out that village is not to be trifled with!!