Source of the Anomaly

He guessed right. Zhang Yuanqing felt a slight sense of relief.

Actually, once the Mountain God Temple was explored and the zombies were dealt with, the entrance to the cavern would have opened, but the construction team predecessors had taken the Demon Subduing Pestle beforehand.

If he hadn't seen through this detail and returned the Demon Subduing Pestle, he likely would have been stuck at this step forever.

Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, quietly tensing his nerves and focusing his energy, not daring to be the least bit careless, because at the bottom of the cavern, there very likely existed the source of the Mountain God Temple's decay.

After a while, seeing that no abnormalities appeared at the collapsed entrance, he summoned the Red Dancing Shoes again, activating their second form to replace his running shoes and wrap around his feet.

He then walked to the pitch-black, deep cavern and leaped lightly.

Thud. His soles touched the ground quickly, the Red Dancing Shoes absorbing 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 within the cavern head-on.

Candlelight filtered down from above, but the area it could illuminate was limited; ahead lay a dark, silent corridor filled with unknown terrors.

In such an environment, moving forward blindly was extremely unwise.

Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, turning his gaze toward the item in his hand.

The item description stated that this was an item containing the divine power of the sun, and by sacrificing fresh blood, one could obtain that power.

Proper solar divine power should be able to dispel darkness and bring light, right?

It was worth a try, though the "remarks" in the attribute description were a bit unsettling. Zhang Yuanqing exhaled silently and drove the sharp, three-edged spike into his thigh.

A sharp pain struck, and blood gushed out, but instead of running down his pant leg, it transformed into streaks of blood that poured into the brass item.

Zhang Yuanqing felt a warm power surge from the Demon Subduing Pestle, rushing up his arm and into his body; his pupils lit up with a pale golden radiance, 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, negative statuses like dizziness, difficulty breathing, and chest pain vanished entirely, leaving only the weakness of excessive blood loss.

The corpse poison in his body had been purged.

He was indeed trading his life for power, but it was acceptable. He focused his vision and looked ahead; before him was a spacious corridor extending into the depths of the darkness.

The walls of the corridor bore traces of manual excavation, not natural formation.

Zhang Yuanqing walked through the corridor at a steady pace, his footsteps echoing in the silent space.

After walking for a dozen seconds, plant roots appeared on both walls, crawling densely across them.

"Help, help me."

Suddenly, from the darkness ahead, came a chilling cry for help, sounding like weeping and pleading.

Following the sound for a while, the space ahead suddenly opened up. A massive stone grotto came into view, and in the center of the grotto stood a thick tree trunk that had pierced through the ceiling of the grotto to grow into the outside world.

At the base of this thick trunk, roots were intertwined and knotted, wrapping around a stone coffin.

The most terrifying part was that from the thick trunk, pale arms reached out, and pale human faces emerged, unconsciously issuing cries for "help."

The dense mass of arms grabbed wildly, as if searching for a straw to clutch at.

My trypophobia is acting up. The candlelight and the Demon Subduing Pestle gave Zhang Yuanqing courage; he only felt a slight tingling on his scalp and was not overly terrified.

At this moment, a hoarse, weathered voice spoke:

"After so many years, this is the first time a living soul has come here."

With these words, the cries for help ceased, the seaweed-like arms retracted into the trunk one after another, and the human faces hid in terror back into the tree.

"Who's there?"

Zhang Yuanqing was startled, looking around vigilantly.

"Me? I am just a tree."

An ugly human face emerged from the trunk; unlike the faces of the vengeful spirits, its skin was bark, as if symbolizing the tree itself.

It's that Old Banyan Tree from the courtyard—it's become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing hadn't expected to encounter something he could communicate with in a hellhole like this, even if the other party was a tree.

He didn't dare approach, testing the waters:

"Did you kill the disciples in the temple?"

"Not me, it was her."

The tree spirit's gaze dropped downward, as if staring at the stone coffin below, though it could not see.

"Who is she?"

"She is the Lady of Three Paths Mountain."

Zhang Yuanqing felt as if he had been struck on the head, his mind reeling.

The Lady of Three Paths Mountain was lying in the stone coffin—that powerful Night Wanderer who should have ascended in the early Ming Dynasty?

The source of the weirdness was the Lady of Three Paths Mountain; was it she who killed the disciples in the temple?

Zhang Yuanqing blurted out: "Why would she do such a thing?"

"Because the Age of Dharma Decline has arrived, and practitioners find it difficult to break through bottlenecks. For the sake of immortality, the Lady of Three Paths Mountain fell into the demonic path. She sealed herself in the stone coffin, using the banyan tree to imprison wandering souls, nourishing yin with yin, to ensure her own flesh and Primordial Spirit would not perish. She is a powerful Night Wanderer, and Night Wanderers are born with the ability to devour souls to strengthen themselves."

The face on the tree trunk sighed. "The Banyan Tree Spirit has absorbed too many souls, and by receiving their wills, I slowly birthed sentience—that is me. Over the years, people have wandered here one after another, died here, and eventually became her nutrients. I carry the hatred and resentment of these vengeful spirits, waiting all this time for someone to come here and end her for me."

So that's it. Does this count as triggering an NPC quest? Zhang Yuanqing's eyes flickered. "What should I do?"

"Open the stone coffin and use the weapon in your hand to pierce her heart; that will end it all. Heh, the Demon Subduing Pestle seals half of her Yang Soul. Piercing her heart will seal the remaining Yang Soul from her physical body into the artifact. Without the protection of her Yang Soul, her physical body will perish instantly." After the Banyan Tree Spirit finished speaking, it added slowly:

"And you will be able to leave this place."

Zhang Yuanqing did not move, remaining silent.

The Banyan Tree Spirit spoke slowly: "Young man, what are you still hesitating for?"

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly said:

"I'm thinking about a question."

The Banyan Tree Spirit responded gently: "What question?"

Zhang Yuanqing stood in the 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 into sudden silence. A few seconds later, the Banyan Tree Spirit said in a low tone:

"The Temple Keeper was the first person to be bewitched by the Lady of Three Paths Mountain. He became her puppet and later became that woman's nutrients. If you don't believe me, come over and open the stone coffin, and you will know I am not lying to you."

"Then you open it for me."

"I cannot open it; I am merely a tree."

"Is it that you can't open it, or that you dare not?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have received the answer he wanted, the corners of his mouth curling up:

"The one lying in the coffin is the Temple Keeper, isn't it? And you—you are his guardian, or perhaps his soul?"

After delivering this probe, he entered a state of high alert, waiting for the tree spirit's reaction.

As a tech-savvy gamer skilled at clearing games, after experiencing so many crises, it would be pathetic if he couldn't see through the secrets of the Mountain God Temple.

First, the Lady of Three Paths Mountain ascended to immortality in the early Ming Dynasty; the local government only built this temple for her after she died.

Yet, the disciples in the temple went missing without cause during the Yongle era. There was a gap of at least fifty or sixty years—one or two generations.

Second, the information prompt in the main hall indicated that the Lady of Three Paths Mountain was a righteous figure. The Banyan Tree Spirit's claim that she had fallen into the demonic path was merely its own side of the story, and Zhang Yuanqing was more inclined to believe the former.

Finally, and most crucially, the note in the diary read: Do not trust the master!

In truth, the Spirit Realm had already hinted at who the real enemy was through these details.

It was just that Zhang Yuanqing hadn't understood why the Temple Keeper would kill his own disciples.

Now, he knew.

If one replaced the person seeking immortality and falling into the demonic path with the Temple Keeper, all the doubts were resolved.

The cave fell into silence. The Banyan Tree Spirit sighed: "Your guard is too high. From beginning to end, I have had no malice toward you, let alone any intent to harm you."

"Is it that you won't harm me, or that you cannot?" Zhang Yuanqing took a few steps back slowly and said:

"Hmm, let me guess. Your method of killing involves snapping necks, but it should be related to illusions and the mind. You tried to kill me not long ago, but unfortunately, I didn't look back."

At this, the face of the Banyan Tree Spirit changed abruptly.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing knew his deduction was entirely correct.

The Night Wanderer mentioned in the Taiyi Sect files clearly and explicitly pointed out two things: first, the banyan tree is very dangerous; second, do not look back.

That was why his exploration of the ancient well had yielded nothing—because there was nothing wrong with the well itself; the problem was the tree.

Furthermore, he was able to accurately judge it as an "illusion" because the female ghost had called out the name Zhang Yuanqing, not Yuanshi Tianzun.

As for the final point, when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, his mind had jumped to a famous horror film from a certain island nation, creating a psychological shadow that made him afraid to peer into the bottom of the well.

Consequently, the female ghost that crawled out of the well—white-clad, disheveled hair, faceless—matched the vague fear in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

"You're putting on an act, speaking to me with honeyed words, because your illusions can no longer deceive me. After all, I have the Lady of Three Paths Mountain's Demon Subduing Pestle, which grants immunity to illusions." Zhang Yuanqing remained calm, dissecting the truth:

"Tricking me into going over there was an attempt to kill me by other means. If illusions are ineffective against me, then it must be physical attacks, right?"

He glanced at the tree roots crawling all over the cave walls and suddenly thrust the pestle downward.