The Source of the Uncanny

You guessed right. Zhang Yuanqing felt a little relieved.

Once he'd explored the Mountain God Temple and dealt with the zombies, the entrance to the cave would open. But the construction crew's senior had taken the Demon Subduing Pestle before then.

If he hadn't seen through that detail and returned the pestle, he might have been stuck at this step forever.

Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, quietly tensing his nerves and gathering his focus. He didn't dare let his guard down for a moment. The source of the Mountain God Temple's decline might be lurking beneath the cave.

After a long while, when nothing unusual happened at the collapsed entrance, he summoned the Red Dancing Shoes again and activated their second form, replacing his running shoes and wrapping them around his feet.

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

His feet soon touched the ground with a pat. The Red Dancing Shoes had canceled out the force of his fall.

Zhang Yuanqing found the Demon Subduing Pestle among the scattered rocks, bent down to pick it up, and took control of the powerful item once more.

With the Red Dancing Shoes and the Demon Subduing Pestle, he was confident he could face whatever dangers lay in the cave.

Candlelight filtered down from above, illuminating only a limited area. Ahead lay a dark, silent passage, filled with unknown terrors.

In an environment like this, stumbling blindly forward would be extremely unwise.

Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, then looked at the item in his hand.

Its description said it contained Solar Power and could grant him divine power if he offered blood as a sacrifice.

True Solar Power should be able to dispel darkness and bring light, right?

It was worth a try. The "Notes" in its attributes were just a little unsettling. Zhang Yuanqing let out a silent breath and drove the sharp, three-edged spike into his thigh.

A sharp pain struck, and blood welled up. Instead of trickling down his pant leg, it formed thin streams that flowed into the bronze item.

Zhang Yuanqing felt a warm power surge from the Demon Subduing Pestle, travel up his arm, and rush into his body. His pupils glimmered with a pale golden light, turning into brilliant golden eyes.

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

At the same time, the dizziness, shortness of breath, pain in his heart and lungs, and other negative effects vanished, leaving only the weakness of blood loss.

The corpse poison in his body had been purged.

So he really was trading his life for power. Still, he could live with that. He focused his eyesight and looked ahead. A wide passage stretched from before him into the depths of the darkness.

The passage walls bore signs of having been carved by human hands. They hadn't formed naturally.

Zhang Yuanqing walked at an even pace through the passage, his footsteps echoing through the silent space.

After a dozen seconds, plant roots appeared along both walls, crawling over them in a dense mass.

"Help! Someone, help me!"

A chilling cry for help suddenly came from the darkness ahead, plaintive and mournful.

He followed the voice for a while. The passage opened up into a vast stone cavern. In its very center stood a thick tree trunk that had pierced through the cavern ceiling and grown into the outside world.

At the base of the massive trunk, tangled roots wound around a stone coffin.

Most terrifying of all, pale arms emerged from the trunk, and pale faces appeared across its surface. They mindlessly cried out, "Help!"

The arms reached and grasped at random in a dense mass, as if searching for a lifeline.

My trypophobia's kicking in. The candlelight and the Demon Subduing Pestle gave Zhang Yuanqing courage. His scalp only prickled slightly; he wasn't too frightened.

Just then, a hoarse, weathered voice spoke:

"It's been so many years. You're the first living creature to come here."

As the voice spoke, the cries for help stopped. The arms that had waved like seaweed withdrew into the trunk, and the terrified faces vanished into the wood.

"Who's there?"

Zhang Yuanqing jumped, warily looking around.

"Me? I'm just a tree."

An ugly face emerged from the trunk. Unlike those of the resentful spirits, its face was made of bark, as if it represented the tree itself.

So the old Banyan Tree in the courtyard had become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing hadn't expected to meet a being he could communicate with in a place like this, even if it was a tree.

He didn't dare approach, and asked tentatively,

"Were you the one who killed the temple's disciples?"

"It wasn't me. It was her."

The Tree Spirit's gaze lowered, as if staring at the stone coffin below, though it couldn't see it.

"Who is she?"

"She's the Lady of Three Paths Mountain."

Zhang Yuanqing felt as if someone had struck him over the head with a club. His mind went blank.

The Lady of Three Paths Mountain lay in the stone coffin—the powerful Night Wanderer who should have passed away in the early Ming dynasty?

Was the Lady of Three Paths Mountain the source of the strange events? Had she killed the temple's disciples?

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

"When the Age of Declining Dharma arrived, cultivators could no longer break through their bottlenecks. Seeking immortality, the Lady of Three Paths Mountain fell into demonic ways. She sealed herself inside the stone coffin and used the Banyan Tree to imprison souls, nurturing yin with yin to preserve her body and soul. She was a powerful Night Wanderer, and Night Wanderers are born able to devour souls and strengthen themselves."

The face on the trunk sighed. "The Banyan Tree took in too many souls and absorbed their wills. Gradually, it developed a mind of its own—that's what I am. Over the years, people have wandered in here and died, one after another, becoming her nourishment. I bear the resentment and anguish of the spirits, and I've been waiting for someone to come here and end her."

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

"Open the stone coffin and pierce her heart with the weapon in your hand. That will put an end to everything. Heh, half of her yang soul is sealed inside the Demon Subduing Pestle. If you pierce her heart, it can seal the rest of the yang soul in her body inside the weapon. Without her yang soul to protect her, her body will die at once." After speaking, the Banyan Tree Spirit continued slowly,

"Then you'll be able to leave."

Zhang Yuanqing didn't move. He remained silent.

The Banyan Tree Spirit spoke slowly. "Young man, what are you hesitating about?"

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly said,

"I'm thinking about something."

The Banyan Tree Spirit replied gently, "What is it?"

Zhang Yuanqing stood at a distance, staring at the face on the trunk. He spoke each word carefully:

"You wouldn't happen to be the Temple Keeper, would you?"

The cavern fell silent. A few seconds later, the Banyan Tree Spirit said in a low voice,

"The Temple Keeper was the first person the Lady of Three Paths Mountain bewitched. He became her puppet, and later became nourishment for that woman. If you don't believe me, come open the coffin. You'll see I'm not lying."

"Then you open it for me."

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

"Can't open it, or don't dare to?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted. He curled his lips into a smile.

"The Temple Keeper is in the coffin, isn't he? And you're his guardian—or his soul?"

After testing the waters with those words, he went on guard, waiting for the Tree Spirit's reaction.

As a tech geek who was good at beating games, he'd be hopeless if he still couldn't uncover the secrets of the Mountain God Temple after surviving so many dangers.

First, the Lady of Three Paths Mountain had passed away in the early Ming dynasty. The local government had only built the temple after her death.

The temple's disciples had started disappearing without explanation during the Yongle era, at least fifty or sixty years later—one or two generations apart.

Second, the main hall's information had identified the Lady of Three Paths Mountain as a righteous figure. The Tree Spirit's claim that she'd fallen into demonic ways was just its side of the story. Zhang Yuanqing was more inclined to believe the former.

Lastly, and most importantly, the note had said: Don't trust Master!

The Spirit Realm had already hinted at who the real enemy was through these details.

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

Now he did.

If the person seeking immortality and falling into demonic ways was the Temple Keeper instead, all the unanswered questions fell into place.

Silence settled over the cavern. The Banyan Tree Spirit sighed. "You're far too guarded. I've had no ill will toward you from beginning to end, and I would never hurt you."

"Wouldn't hurt me, or can't hurt me?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly backed away a few steps. "Let me guess. You kill people by twisting their necks, but your method has something to do with illusions and the mind, doesn't it? You tried to kill me not long ago, but I didn't look back."

This time, the Banyan Tree Spirit's expression changed abruptly.

Seeing that, Zhang Yuanqing knew his deductions were completely correct.

Taiyi Sect's records about that Night Wanderer clearly stated two things: first, the Banyan Tree was dangerous; second, don't look back.

That was why his exploration of the ancient well had turned up nothing. There was nothing wrong with the well; the tree was the problem.

He could also tell it had been an illusion because the female ghost had called him Zhang Yuanqing, not Yuanshi Tianzun.

One last thing: when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, he'd thought of a famous horror movie from a certain island nation. The thought had left him too scared to look down into the well.

Then the female ghost had climbed out of it—dressed in white, with her hair hanging loose and no facial features—matching the vague image of terror in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

"You pretended to be harmless and spoke to me so kindly because your illusion could no longer fool me, right? I have the Lady's Demon Subduing Pestle now, which makes me immune to illusions." Zhang Yuanqing remained calm as he laid out the truth. "You wanted to lure me over so you could kill me some other way. If illusions don't work on me, that leaves physical attacks, right?"

He glanced at the roots crawling over the passage walls, then suddenly thrust the pestle into them.

###