Chapter 5: Ancient Temple
An abandoned tunnel
Zhang Yuanqing looked around nervously, suddenly finding himself in an unfamiliar environment. Anyone would be flustered in such a situation.
"A tunnel? Is this the Sheling Tunnel from ghost stories?"
As a native of Songhai City, he was certainly familiar with the Sheling Tunnel, one of the ten famous ghost stories. When he was little and mischievously refused to sleep at night, his grandmother would scare him with these tales.
However, putting aside the fact that ghost stories were just intangible tales, Zhang Yuanqing had actually passed by the real Sheling Tunnel a few days ago when he returned home to pay respects to his father.
How could the real Sheling Tunnel be like this, so old and dilapidated?
"Right, this is a spirit realm, not the actual Sheling Tunnel."
The cramped environment made him uneasy. Zhang Yuanqing cautiously moved forward, hearing only the lonely echo of his own footsteps.
As he walked, he pondered his situation, reflecting on the information provided by the voice in his head.
Without a doubt, he had encountered a supernatural phenomenon, brought into a ghost story to complete tasks assigned by some mysterious force.
"That voice gave me two tasks: survive for three hours and explore the spirit realm. Difficulty level S, single-person death type... that 'death type' really makes me nervous."
Surviving for three hours meant there would be extreme danger.
Exploring the spirit realm probably meant exploring this tunnel, which implied that the tunnel was dangerous?
He silently tensed his nerves while a question flashed through his mind: What would be the reward for completing the tasks?
Since they were tasks, there must be rewards, right?
"Hmm, according to the attribute panel earlier, my profession is Night Walker, but at level 0 instead of 1. Becoming a Night Walker should be one of the rewards, but what is a Night Walker?"
"The soldier was right, this black card will indeed change my life, but I overlooked the latter part of what he said - that this thing is difficult to master. Did he mean the level of danger?"
Zhang Yuanqing quietly analyzed, combining the known information.
Just then, the old-style xenon lamp beside him seemed to have an unstable circuit and flickered a few times. In the interplay of light and shadow, Zhang Yuanqing vaguely saw the figure of a person wearing a miner's helmet standing under the lamp.
Damn! He jumped in fright, his train of thought instantly broken, and he ran forward a distance like a startled deer.
Looking back, the xenon lamp continued to shine steadily, no longer flickering.
The dark figure wearing a miner's helmet from earlier seemed like an illusion.
After this scare, Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to stay in this ghostly place any longer and quickly headed towards the tunnel exit.
Tap tap tap. The footsteps echoed in the quiet tunnel. Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare to stop, walking briskly for five or six minutes. The old-style xenon lamps with arched ceilings flickered again, but this time, no figure wearing a miner's helmet appeared.
"They didn't follow?"
His heart eased slightly, but he dared not linger. He walked quickly with his head down when suddenly, his gaze fixed on the ground, catching a detail that made his heart stop.
The orange xenon light cast his shadow long, and beside his shadow were more than a dozen other shadows following.
They've been following me all along?!
A chill ran from his feet to his head, raising goosebumps all over his body. Zhang Yuanqing's face turned pale as he started sprinting wildly.
Finally, the tunnel exit appeared ahead, with the cold, frost-like moonlight outside.
Zhang Yuanqing rushed out of the tunnel in one breath, bending over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air.
After catching his breath, he surveyed his surroundings. The moon hung lonely in the night sky like a plate, its radiance dimming the stars.
Lush woods bathed in moonlight, casting large patches of dense shadows.
He found himself in a remote, wild mountain area.
The xenon lamps in the tunnel flickered a few times before completely extinguishing. The vast tunnel entrance was now dark and silent, like the mouth of a beast waiting to devour its prey.
"Get away quickly"
Zhang Yuanqing felt a chill run down his spine and began climbing the rugged mountain path.
After walking about a dozen steps, he looked back again and saw a row of figures standing at the tunnel entrance. They wore miner's helmets and tattered clothes, their heads bowed low.
They stood in the shadows where moonlight couldn't reach, silent, as if seeing him off.
Zhang Yuanqing retreated a few steps in shock, then turned and ran up the mountain.
The mountain path was flanked by lush branches and leaves, scattering bits of moonlight, enough for Zhang Yuanqing to see the road clearly.
But the mountain was terrifyingly quiet. There were no insect or bird sounds in the forest, making Zhang Yuanqing's footsteps seem exceptionally loud.
"It's too quiet. It's impossible not to have even insect sounds in the mountains at this time of year."
He looked around. The moon was round like a plate, tree shadows swayed, and he always felt like something in the darkness was watching him.
After walking for an unknown length of time, until his body was covered in a thin layer of sweat, Zhang Yuanqing finally emerged from the dense forest. His view suddenly opened up.
Moonlight poured down like water, the surroundings deathly quiet. At the end of the rugged mountain path stood an abandoned ancient temple.
It stood silently in the darkness.
This ancient temple had been abandoned for who knows how many years. The main gate in front of the temple was covered in peeling, blackened paint and full of holes. The lanterns at the eaves had fallen to the ground, leaving only bamboo frames.
The plaque was still there, covered in cobwebs, hanging crookedly under the eaves, but the light was too dim to make out what was written on it.
The steps in front of the temple door were cracked, with weeds growing in the crevices.
How could there be a temple here in this remote mountain area, far from any village or inn?
Wait a minute... a temple?!
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly realized, seemingly hearing the voice from the spirit realm information introduction in his ear:
"Don't enter the temple, don't enter the temple"
"According to that strange voice's hint, I shouldn't enter the temple. No, I've already left the tunnel, which means what I really need to explore is this dilapidated ancient temple."
After hesitating at the temple gate for a long time, Zhang Yuanqing cautiously stepped forward, walking towards the ancient temple standing in the darkness, crossing over the broken threshold.
What met his eyes was a vast front courtyard, overgrown with waist-high weeds. A rotted incense burner half as tall as a person lay toppled in the grass, having weathered countless years of wind and rain.
At his feet was a path paved with blue flagstones, with tufts of weeds growing between the cracks.
Following the undulating weeds with his gaze to the end of the stone path, there stood a dilapidated main hall with a high foundation and six steps leading up to it. A dim yellow light shone through the latticed doors of the main hall.
"There's light?"
The surroundings were silent and desolate. In this environment bathed in clear moonlight, that faint glow didn't bring Zhang Yuanqing even a hint of warmth.
In fact, it felt even more terrifying.
Rustle rustle
Treading on tufts of withered yellow weeds as he advanced, he remained vigilant as he walked towards the main hall. In the open space, his footsteps were particularly clear.
Rustle, rustle. Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing's ears twitched as he heard an extra set of footsteps behind him. Something was following him.
He whirled around abruptly.
The night was like water, the weeds lush. There was nothing behind him.
"Was it my imagination?"
Zhang Yuanqing paused for a moment, heart pounding, then started walking again.
"Rustle rustle rustle"
The footsteps came again. This time he heard them clearly - something really was following him.
It can't be this bizarre, encountering something unclean as soon as I enter the temple? He didn't dare to look back, just quickened his pace.
The footsteps behind him also quickened.
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't hold back anymore. As goosebumps rose all over his body, he broke into a run, sprinting towards the main hall.
The footsteps behind him followed like a shadow, in hot pursuit.
During the chase, Zhang Yuanqing quickly burst out of the overgrown weeds, approaching the main hall. He leapt up the six steps in two bounds and finally, with a loud "bang", crashed through the two latticed doors of the main hall.
The footsteps behind him suddenly disappeared.
"Huff, huff"
He panted heavily, finally daring to look back. Moonlight poured like water over the courtyard, the weeds, and the stone path, eerily quiet, but there was nothing there.
"Fortunately, it didn't follow me in."
After catching his breath, Zhang Yuanqing gently closed the doors of the main hall, as if shutting out the fear outside.
Then, he surveyed the scene inside the main hall. On a high stone pedestal was enshrined a goddess wearing a fur cape and ornate clothing. Her face was round and plump, with long, fine eyes exuding kindness.
This goddess held a duster in one hand, while the other hand was in a gripping posture, as if originally holding something, but now empty.
On either side were sword-bearing children and book-carrying maids.
In front of the pedestal was an offering table covered in dust. On the table stood a candlestick with a candle about twenty centimeters long and as thick as a baby's forearm, burning quietly.
The candlelight dispelled the darkness and seemed to dispel the fear in Zhang Yuanqing's heart as well. He felt his emotions stabilize considerably.
On the wall to the left hung two faded and cracked wooden boards covered in regular script characters.
Zhang Yuanqing walked over to the wall and gazed at it in the dim candlelight. The style of writing was classical Chinese.
His Chinese skills were quite good, so through half-guessing and half-reading, he gained a clear understanding of his environment.
This mountain was called Three Paths Mountain, and the mountain god enshrined in the temple was the Three Paths Mountain Goddess.
This mountain goddess was a person from Songfu in the early Ming Dynasty who cultivated on Three Paths Mountain in Songfu. She was proficient in talisman magic, knowledgeable in alchemy, could pray for rain and drive away ghosts, and blessed the area with favorable weather. For these reasons, she was revered as a deity by the common people.
After her ascension, the local government built this temple on Three Paths Mountain, naming it "Three Paths Mountain Goddess Temple". It was managed by the goddess's disciples who acted as temple keepers.
"A temple from the early Ming Dynasty? That's five or six hundred years old," Zhang Yuanqing muttered.
At this moment, he inadvertently glanced under the offering table and his heart suddenly tightened.
A dark figure lay in the shadows under the table.
Earlier, his state of mind had been too anxious, and the candlelight too dim, for him to notice it immediately.
Zhang Yuanqing steeled himself to approach, and upon closer inspection, he saw it was a skeletal corpse.
In the midst of his fear, Zhang Yuanqing also felt a sense of relief. Compared to this eerie mountain god temple, a corpse seemed less terrifying.
Walking a few steps closer, by the faint candlelight, he could see the clothes on the skeleton - a dust-covered work uniform.
A worker?
"Is this from the construction team back then? So I really have entered the world of ghost stories."
Just as Zhang Yuanqing made this guess, he thought of an even more chilling possibility - perhaps the construction team from back then, like him, had accidentally entered this place.
That's why an urban legend was left behind.
If it was the former, then this so-called spirit realm generated scenes based on ghost stories.
But if it was the latter, it meant the ancient temple had always existed, and the construction team, like him now, were all victims.
Based on the historical background of the mountain god temple, Zhang Yuanqing leaned towards the latter explanation.
"An entire construction team died in the temple, with only one survivor. People really do die here... Now I've also entered this temple, I could face unknown dangers at any moment."
Hiss~ He drew in a sharp breath, his emotions tightening again as he instinctively looked around.
Then, he suddenly realized a chilling detail.
This ancient temple was from the Ming Dynasty, with a long history. How could the candle still be burning? Who was replacing the candles in the main hall?
The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed. Even the kind-looking statue began to exude an eerie, sinister aura in the candlelight.
Although the three clay statues were covered in dust, they were lifelike, with every detail sculpted vividly and realistically, especially the eyes.
They stood on the pedestal, looking down at Zhang Yuanqing in the dim candlelight.
(End of chapter)