The Story of the Mountain God Temple

Damn it. Zhangyuanqing suddenly didn't want to stay in the main hall anymore.

He felt a sense of panic, as if he were in a desperate situation where heaven wouldn't answer his pleas and the earth wouldn't respond to his calls.

This place was extremely dangerous, yet he couldn't ask the outside world for help; he could only rely on himself.

After much hesitation, he gritted his teeth and steeled himself, leaning over to pull out the skeleton wrapped in work clothes.

Rip~

During the tugging, the work uniform tore easily; after so many years, the fabric had long since rotted away.

Dragging the corpse into the candlelight, he suppressed his discomfort and began to examine it.

Although the person was dead, the body could speak; figuring out the cause of death could help him avoid many dangers.

"The sternum and ribs are broken in several places, and there are fine cracks on the right shoulder, but it's not too serious."

The deceased had suffered heavy trauma before death, but the specific cause of death was impossible to determine due to the passage of so much time.

Next, Zhangyuanqing found several yellowed and brittle pieces of paper in the worker's pocket, which were quite old.

The paper was covered in tiny, fly-head-sized characters written in regular script.

Zhangyuanqing felt a surge of joy; the papers were clearly found by the worker in the temple, which would help him understand the situation of this ancient temple.

Using the candlelight, he focused his attention on reading the contents of the papers.

"Another junior brother went missing last night. This is already the third fellow disciple to disappear mysteriously from the temple. The brothers say that Three Paths Mountain is haunted, or perhaps a powerful demon has come to snatch people to eat every night. But the many disciples in the temple have cultivation to protect them, and our master is a renowned master within a hundred miles. Which demon is so blind as to dare come here to forage?"

"As for ghosts, my Zombie Suppressing Talisman and Spirit Summoning Talisman are enough to handle them; there's no need to trouble Master. I have a bad premonition and must go find Senior Brother to discuss this."

"Another person went missing today. This is the fifth. Master told us to keep it from the pilgrims, otherwise, it would affect the temple's incense; he must know something. Senior Brother and I plan to patrol at night."

"Three days have passed, and three more people have gone missing during that time, but Senior Brother and I haven't found any clues; the nights have been calm. My ominous premonition has deepened."

"Senior Brother is very strange today. He seems to have discovered something and appears very angry. I asked him, but he wouldn't tell me. He's in a bad mood, so I'll ask him again tomorrow."

"The person who went missing today is Senior Brother. I searched the entire Three Paths Mountain but couldn't find him. I... I can't take it anymore. I'm going to find Master to ask for the truth. The brothers in the temple support me because they are also very scared."

The handwriting in this passage was somewhat sloppy, showing that the author's mental state had collapsed.

Zhangyuanqing continued reading:

"After my persistent questioning, Master finally agreed to tell me the truth. My premonition was right; he indeed knows the reason for the mysterious disappearances of the junior brothers. But Master said that there are too many ears during the day, so he will come to my room after sunset to tell me a great secret—a secret that concerns the rise and fall of thousands of years."

"After finishing dinner, I waited in my room, waiting for sunset. Ever since people started going missing at night, I have never looked forward to the darkness like this before."

The records on the paper ended there.

That's it? This cliffhanger is a bit frustrating. Zhangyuanqing grimaced.

He sorted through the information on the papers: in a certain year, the disciples of this Mountain God Temple had disappeared one after another in a bizarre fashion.

The disciples were helpless, and panic spread. And regarding this matter, the Temple Keeper—their master—seemed to know the reason.

This reason concerned a great secret about the rise and fall of thousands of years.

"The reason for the decline of the Mountain God Temple is unknown. If I uncover this source, could I complete the second main quest?" Zhangyuanqing speculated.

He put the brittle paper back into the worker's uniform and pushed the body back under the table, out of sight, then began to think about what he should do next.

"There's only so much information in the main hall. Since I need to explore the ancient temple, I have to go out, which means I must face the dangers in the temple directly."

"In the urban legend of the Sheling Tunnel, one worker managed to survive. By following his path, perhaps I can find a way to survive."

After careful consideration, Zhangyuanqing walked to the entrance of the main hall and opened the two well-preserved lattice doors.

Creeeak~

The wooden door hinges made a teeth-grinding sound.

He braced himself against the door frame and poked his head out to look around. Outside, it was silent; apart from being desolate and eerie, he saw no immediate danger.

After observing for a while, he stepped over the threshold and followed the cobblestone path on the left side of the main hall toward the backyard of the Mountain God Temple.

The moonlight was like water, and the wild grass swayed. After walking for a minute or two, a cluster of buildings appeared ahead.

They were several connected bungalows forming a large courtyard with black tiles, white walls, straight roof ridges, and lattice windows and doors under the eaves.

The lattice doors were dusty, some open, some fallen, others tightly shut, and the paper used to cover the windows was tattered and torn by the erosion of time.

The moonlight was bright, like frost on the ground, and he scanned the layout of the Mountain God Temple's backyard by its light.

Besides the courtyard in front of him, there was an arched gate on the east side, much like the ones found in the back residences of wealthy families in period dramas, used to connect different courtyards.

In the courtyard next door, there was a towering tree with lush branches and gnarled limbs.

"Huh?"

In the overgrown courtyard, he discovered several skeletons wrapped in work clothes.

Carefully approaching them, he examined them closely. Each skeleton was severely damaged, with broken bones beneath the work clothes, but unlike the one in the main hall, the shoulder bones of these skeletons were intact, without cracks.

"These people suffered terrible trauma before they died; they died very miserably."

A gust of wind blew, and the leaves rustled. Faintly, Zhangyuanqing heard whispers mixed into the "rustling" sound brought by the wind, sounding like weeping and pleading:

"Help me, help me."

In this desolate and deathly silent night, cold sweat beaded on Zhang Yuanqing's back.

He stood frozen in place, his entire body rigid. After a long moment, the wind died down, and the mournful whispering ceased along with it.

That courtyard next door seems a bit dangerous, but whatever is inside hasn't come over. He exhaled silently, stepped over the overgrown weeds filling the yard, and entered the eaves, intending to explore the quadrangle.

This appeared to be the living quarters for the disciples of the Temple of the Lady of Three Paths Mountain. It was piled with dilapidated, dust-covered furniture, and the air was thick with a faint, decaying scent.

Zhang Yuanqing explored the rooms one by one, finding nothing of note until he pushed open the lattice door at the far east end.

"Creak~"

The door, sealed by dust for who knows how many years, swung open, sending dust cascading down. Zhang Yuanqing brushed the grit from his shoulders, his gaze sweeping vigilantly across every corner of the room.

In this long-abandoned room, a corpse leaned against the wall near the window, slumped at an angle.

Judging by the attire and the miner's helmet that had rolled away, this was another predecessor.

Crossing the threshold into the room, Zhang Yuanqing shivered, inexplicably feeling the ambient temperature drop significantly.

"A bit cold."

He cautiously approached the corpse, loosened the tattered clothing, and observed the state of the bones as was his habit. This time, he saw no shattered bones; the skeleton was perfectly preserved.

But when he cast his gaze toward the shoulder blades, his pupils constricted. There were exaggerated cracks on the shoulder bones of this skeleton.

It was the same as the cracks on the shoulder of the corpse in the main hall, the only difference being that this skeleton had suffered even heavier damage.

"Is it just a coincidence that only the one in this room and the one in the main hall have shattered shoulder bones?" he muttered to himself, feeling a sense of unease.

Next, Zhang Yuanqing noticed the corpse's pants pocket was bulging, as if hiding something.

He reached in and fished out a yellowed ancient booklet, a dusty bronze mirror, and a Yellow Paper Talisman.

The Yellow Paper Talisman was marked with twisted lines drawn in cinnabar, resembling runes; these lines converged to form a character that looked like a traditional Chinese "corpse."

As he examined the Yellow Paper Talisman, a fluorescent blue message appeared before Zhang Yuanqing's eyes:

[Name: Zombie Suppressing Talisman]
[Type: Consumable]
[Function: Suppress zombies]
[Introduction: A talisman created by a powerful Night Wanderer, it is the bane of all corpse-type yin entities. Stick it on the forehead of a yin entity to complete the sealing.]
[Note: It can only be used once.]

The fluorescent blue information looked much like his attribute panel; it was clearly a prompt provided by the Spirit Realm.

This was the first time Zhang Yuanqing had seen such a prompt since entering the eerie ancient temple.

"This must be an important item." Zhang Yuanqing folded it up, tucked it into the pocket of his windbreaker, and zipped it shut.

After a moment's thought, he unzipped it again.

He had recalled a trope from a wuxia novel: a master swordsman who liked to wrap his sword in cloth and carry it on his back.

One day, a challenger challenged the swordsman while he was eating.

Then the swordsman was gone.

The cause of death was that the cloth was too inconvenient to unwrap.

Zhang Yuanqing then picked up the ancient booklet and the bronze mirror, but no relevant information appeared.

He set the bronze mirror aside and carefully opened the yellowed, brittle booklet with its curled edges.

It read:

"It has been two and a half years since I entered the Temple of the Lady of Three Paths Mountain. I have already learned to read and write. Senior Brother says that once Master returns to the mountain after performing rites for the wandering souls, he can officially initiate me and teach me the Moon-Swallowing Soul-Nurturing Technique. This is the introductory method to becoming a Night Wanderer."

"The Prince of Yan has rebelled, and the flames of war are everywhere. As the strongest of the Night Wanderer lineage in Song Prefecture, Master had to descend the mountain to perform rites for the dead; otherwise, with the war unsettled and yin disasters rising again, the common people would have no peace."

Zhang Yuanqing felt his shoulder aching and rubbed it, tentatively concluding that this was a memoir—a diary.

The content of the diary consisted of the 'author's' experiences of cultivation and life in the temple. Based on the handwriting, this diary and the papers found on the corpse in the main hall were from the same source.

Judging by phrases like "Prince of Yan has rebelled," the timeline was the history of the Jingnan Campaign.

However, he wasn't sure if this temple truly existed in history, as the memoir contained terms like "cultivation," "Night Wanderer," "breathing techniques," and "talismans"—words that sounded obscure yet powerful.

Zhang Yuanqing stretched his aching shoulder, scanned the room vigilantly, and listened for movement outside. Satisfied there was nothing unusual, he continued reading the memoir.

Soon, he reached the aftermath of the events in the main hall. The preceding pages had been torn out, and the subsequent content read:

"Sunset. The sky finally turned dark. I heard a knock at the door and rushed to open it, but standing outside was not Master, but Senior Brother, who had gone missing last night."

"Senior Brother, who had been missing for a day and a night, had returned, but I felt no joy, for he was already dead. What returned was a corpse. His chest was drenched in blood, and his heart had been dug out by someone."

"Senior Brother stared straight at me and said: Do not trust Master."

These lines were written in a jagged, crooked hand; one could imagine the author's mental state was shattered while writing this.

When Zhang Yuanqing turned to the next page, he found there was no more; the owner of the diary never wrote in it again.

"Hiss... what does 'do not trust Master' mean?"

Zhang Yuanqing felt a chill run through his heart at this twist.

Was it the Temple Keeper who killed that Senior Brother? Was he also the culprit behind the disciples disappearing one after another? Zhang Yuanqing rubbed his shoulder, tucked the booklet back into the corpse's pocket, and then picked up the bronze mirror, preparing to leave.

But as his peripheral vision inadvertently caught a glimpse of the bronze mirror, his body suddenly stiffened.

Moonlight like water cast upon the mirror's surface, reflecting his image, yet on his back, a person was clinging to him.

That person had a deathly pale complexion, deep purple lips, and a pair of white pupils; their head was tilted, resting on Zhang Yuanqing's shoulder, and those white pupils were staring at him with dead silence.

ps: This book contains supernatural elements, but it is not the main focus; readers who dislike the supernatural can rest assured.