Your Mother, King Zhou!

Yang He leaned against the ruins, with no intention of leaving the fish's stomach.

For now, the safest place in all of Peibai City was the fish's stomach. Old Man Yang would not be returning to the earthen house anytime in the next few days.

Ghost in the Stone: 5/5 (0%)

"Five whole chances to enter the Lore World."

"Ghost in the Stone..."

Yang He carefully recalled Investiture of the Gods. The only one related to stones was Shi Ji.

Well, his impression of her came from the cartoon, where Shi Ji had been a major villain. She seemed to have been transformed from a stubborn stone, but it felt as though it could not be that simple.

The five chances offered by Ghost in the Stone clearly indicated something even more dangerous than Ghost Lotus. Shi Ji's status was not high enough for that.

Mundane Object: Stone-Born Stone

Associated Lore: 'Ghost in the Stone.' Consume 1 point of Spiritual Vision to enter the Lore World?

"Confirm."

Please select the identity you will play in the Lore.

Three faces appeared before Yang He's eyes, along with the faint silhouette of a Daoist initiate.

Temple Keeper (White): Five Lights Temple was famous far and wide. Located on the outskirts of Chaoge, it received countless nobles and dignitaries offering incense every day. You were a temple keeper who had just entered the temple, responsible for consecrating mundane objects.

Stonecutter (White): Chaoge needed to create a batch of divine statues and send them to Five Lights Temple for consecration. As a hired laborer gathering stone, you were led into an abandoned mine.

Hunter (White): You searched the wilderness alone for isolated prey, only to discover that the mountains and forests had fallen utterly silent, with the wild beasts nowhere to be found.

"The setting is Chaoge? The stage is huge. Maybe I'll get a chance to meet Li Jing."

Yang He's expression turned complicated. Chaoge City was the capital of the Shang Dynasty and the center of the chaos in Investiture of the Gods. Who knew what it might drag him into?

He noticed the information about the Resident Character, which likewise hinted at Ghost in the Stone's unusual nature.

Corpse Daoist Initiate: You are a True Disciple of Qianyuan Mountain. While traveling down the mountain to cultivate, you passed through Chaoge and noticed that the city seemed to be preparing for a festival.

Resident Characters require an additional 25 points of Spiritual Vision.

If no identity is selected, you will enter the Lore World in your true body.

Yang He frowned deeply, muttering several key phrases. "A festival in Chaoge, divine statue consecration, the incense-flourishing Five Lights Temple..."

"Although it's a temple keeper, this is clearly the Buddhist style of consecration. Creepy."

"I can't figure it out. Logically, there shouldn't be any Buddhist temples in Investiture of the Gods."

Yang He's gaze passed over the temple keeper. That identity's range of activity was limited to Five Lights Temple, making it unsuitable for probing Ghost in the Stone at the start.

"I'll play the stonecutter."

Consume 2 points of Spiritual Vision to teach the identity 'Stonecutter' the Qi Gazing Technique?

"Confirm."

Yang He did not bring Force Ghost with him. He did not think his first trip into Ghost in the Stone would go smoothly.

Stonecutter (Green): Chaoge needed to create a batch of divine statues and send them to Five Lights Temple for consecration. As a hired laborer gathering stone, through your inherited Qi Gazing Technique, you could clearly sense that something was wrong with the abandoned mine you were heading to.

Yang He's consciousness blurred, and when he awoke, he was no longer in the main world.

Inside the dim mine, only a single oil lamp gave off light. The surrounding rock walls possessed a rough, bizarre texture and color.

Drip.

Water droplets slid from the stalactites.

Yang He's pupils focused as he sensed Pupil Ghost cheering excitedly within him. After all, the concentration of yin energy between the two worlds was as different as heaven and earth.

Pupil Ghost greedily absorbed the surrounding yin energy, blood vessels spreading across the whites of his eyes.

"Yang He, this is your first time entering a mine, isn't it?"

A man in his forties or fifties led the way before Yang He, holding an oil lamp in one hand and a bronze chisel in the other.

"Yeah. Are there any rules?"

The stonecutter Yang He played was only around twenty years old. The thick calluses on his palms made it obvious that he came from a life of hardship.

"Rules? Rules are dead, people are alive."

The man took a deep breath before adding, "Remember not to make a fuss. Going into the mine in the dead of night already makes it easy to disturb ghosts and gods."

"Why go in the dead of night?"

Yang He could already sense something strange. His Spiritual Vision had begun growing again after a long absence.

"You can write a few words, yet you know less than I, Wang San. Yang energy is strong in the daytime. Aren't you afraid the old women inside the stones will come alive?"

Yang He's mouth fell slightly open as he realized this trip was about far more than mining stone.

"At least twenty or thirty groups of stonecutters have entered the deep mountains recently. We aren't greedy. As long as we dig out one... stone, we'll have earned enough."

Wang San raised the oil lamp above his head and slowly felt his way forward.

"Boss Liu should already be looking for a suitable stone. I wonder if he's found one."

"We're almost there."

There was no wind in the mine, yet the oil lamp's flame kept swaying. At the same time, Yang He smelled something drifting toward him...

The scent of rouge?

"Brother Wang, do you know what festival Chaoge is holding soon?"

"A festival? The Myriad People Prayer Festival won't be for several more months. I heard the Great King will personally offer incense, though I don't know whether it's true."

Yang He looked thoughtful. Just as he was about to ask more, he saw an old man hurrying toward them.

"Wang Er, did you bring white cloth? If we don't cover those old women, all dozen of us will die here!!"

"We brought it."

Wang Er took over a dozen folded sheets of white cloth from his robes.

"Go!!"

Boss Liu led the two of them hurriedly deeper into the mine.

Spiritual Vision: 108.9 points

After walking for a while, Yang He's Spiritual Vision began increasing at an ever more alarming rate.

The three arrived at a downward-sloping opening and noticed four stonecutters standing there with vacant expressions, their legs trembling without pause.

"The white cloth is here. You..."

Boss Liu's expression changed drastically. "Did the old women in the rock wall come out?"

"O... one came out."

"Didn't I tell you never to look away? As long as you keep staring at those old women, they won't come out of the rock walls!!"

Yang He felt increasingly creeped out and looked into the cave with the aid of Pupil Ghost.

A horrifying sight entered his vision.

The rock walls on both sides of the cave were actually covered in blood. Their structures formed human shapes, as though living people had been imprisoned inside the mountain itself, a sight that made one's scalp crawl.

From different angles, the human-shaped structures seemed to be slowly twisting their bodies.

It gave the illusion that they might break free at any moment.

Cold sweat streamed down Boss Liu's face. "What are you all stunned for? Cover the old women! Fortunately, it's the dead of night, so the old women that come out won't develop sentience."

Everyone hurriedly complied, using rivets to secure the white cloth to the rock walls.

Like corpses covered with white cloth in a mortuary, the human-shaped structures could even be seen rising and falling faintly at the chest.

"Once an old woman leaves the rock wall, it takes three days before she settles down and returns. We can only leave the mine and rest for a while, otherwise..."

Yang He's eyelids twitched wildly. Pupil Ghost had already spotted a figure in the darkness.

The figure was graceful and curvaceous, standing motionless in place. Her face had no features, yet a line of bloody tears seeped from her eye sockets.

"What the hell is that?"

In the blink of an eye, the figure in the darkness vanished.

Yang He could no longer concern himself with anything else. He asked, "Are the old women in the stones being prepared for the festival? What festival is it?"

Boss Liu glanced at Yang He.

"You've already seen the stone old women, yet you still don't know it's Empress Nuwa's birthday."

Wang San licked his lips. "March 15th is Empress Nuwa's birthday. This year is her centennial birthday, so they need one hundred and eight divine statues carved from stone old women to offer sacrifices to heaven."

Yang He had already guessed which chapter of Investiture of the Gods Ghost in the Stone came from.

"Hurry up, we..."

"It's too late." Yang He cut him off.

Pupil Ghost swept its gaze around them. At some point, a stone old woman had appeared behind Wang San.

Before Wang San could even react, his neck twisted one hundred and eighty degrees.

The corpse fell onto its back. Blood stained the rock wall, and it seemed that a new stone old woman was being born. The others fled the mine in terror.

"Either way, we're dead!"

Yang He grabbed a pickaxe and crazily smashed it into the stone old woman covered by the white cloth. Then he felt an icy arm seize his neck.

He gouged out the stone old woman's eyeballs, and half a breath later, his head crashed heavily to the ground.

"Your mother, King Zhou!!!"

Your character 'Stonecutter' has died. The Lore performance has ended.