Ghost Wall

"You took this mission too?"

Jie Ling's expression immediately turned cold, her tone stern. "Are you fooling around? You're just a newly promoted Qi-Blood Realm inner disciple. What are you doing here?"

Qi-Blood Realm... newly promoted inner disciple...

A trace of disdain unconsciously flashed through everyone's eyes as they looked at Lin Nan.

Were they kidding? Although Cold Mountain Goddess Temple was merely a treasure-hunting mission, it was said to contain a hundred ghosts. Quite a few Skin-and-Flesh Realm martial artists from the previous batches had already perished inside.

"Alright, since you're here, come in with us. Cold Mountain Goddess Temple has already been explored four or five times, and its basic layout has been figured out. As long as we don't step on any landmines, there shouldn't be any major problems."

Zhou Gu coughed twice and stepped forward to smooth things over. "Before we go in, I think we should introduce ourselves first."

"My name is Wang Luoxuan, a true disciple of Azure Rock Martial Hall."

A sweet-looking young woman in fitted clothes smiled coyly.

"Jie Ling, true disciple of White Snake Martial School."

"Lin Nan, inner disciple of White Snake Martial School."

The last man, a burly fellow, grinned. "Zhang Chengchang, hall master of the Red Lion Gang. I accepted this mission from the yamen."

Everyone glanced at him in surprise. There was actually someone from a gang in this temporary team.

Zhou Gu nodded, putting away his casual manner as he said seriously, "Let's be frank. We came here for nothing more than the ghost-controlling secret art left behind by the Cold Mountain Goddess. Forget the mission reward—even in the inner city, many influential people have reportedly offered high prices for it..."

"...The highest offer was once... five hundred taels of silver, half a year's supply of Qi-Blood Pills, and five Limit-Breaking Pills."

When Zhou Gu finished speaking,

everyone except Lin Nan sucked in a sharp breath.

The higher one climbed, the harder it became to break through martial bottlenecks. Limit-Breaking Pills were therefore priceless and incredibly difficult to obtain, rare sacred medicines for martial cultivation.

For a moment, greed rose in the eyes of all four, and they finally understood why Cold Mountain Goddess Temple had drawn countless martial artists to rush in one after another.

"Of course, those are only the public terms..."

Zhou Gu added, a flash of fervor crossing his eyes. "Privately, it could probably fetch an even higher price at auction."

With that, he took out a scroll of yellow paper from his leather pouch and slowly unfolded it.

It was covered in densely packed writing and several diagrams.

"Cold Mountain Goddess Temple is divided into five areas: the front and rear courtyards, the main hall, and the left and right side halls..."

"...The front and rear courtyards have already been explored by the previous three or four groups. There's nothing particularly dangerous there. The two side halls are forbidden zones. Do not go there under any circumstances. Everyone who did died."

"So the focus of our exploration this time is the main hall, where very few people have gone..."

"Forbidden zones?"

"That's right. The side halls contain the hundred ghosts controlled by the Cold Mountain Goddess. It's said that entering them triggers the condition for the hundred ghosts to kill. Only the main hall is the temple's sole safe point. Countless people have already verified this."

Ghosts were sinister entities. To kill, they had to follow certain rules.

Lin Nan silently committed this to memory. After four or five explorations of Cold Mountain Goddess Temple, quite a bit of intelligence had already been uncovered.

"...Also, we only have half a day. Once night falls, we must leave whether we find anything or not. At night, the sinister entities in the temple gradually awaken. If you still haven't left by midnight, it's said that even more terrifying ghosts will awaken."

Zhou Gu had clearly prepared thoroughly. He raised a hand and took several blood-red talismans from his leather pouch.

"Have you all prepared your blood talismans?"

"Prepared."

Lin Nan touched the sleeve pouch against his body. Before accepting the mission, he had spent a hefty sum at the yamen to exchange for ten blood talismans and three jade talismans.

I hope I can gather enough Yin energy points this time.

The five of them secured their packs, tightened the weapons at their waists, and headed toward the ancient temple standing halfway up the mountain.

"Stay close to me later. Don't run around. As long as we follow Zhou Gu's intelligence, there won't be much danger."

Jie Ling walked beside Lin Nan and spoke softly.

"Understood, Second Senior Sister."

Lin Nan nodded and followed the other four over the broken threshold.

The blazing sun hung high in the sky, its light spilling into the courtyard.

Before them lay a spacious front courtyard, overgrown with weeds and with walls covered in moss. At the center stood a dry, abandoned well, its rim blackened with age.

Beyond the front courtyard, a dilapidated main hall stood atop a flight of steps about a hundred meters away.

Narrow paths also ran along both sides, leading directly to the two side halls.

"Let's go to the main hall."

Zhou Gu immediately strode forward. The other four quickly followed, heading straight for the main hall along the bluestone path.

"This place must have been quite prosperous back then."

Wang Luoxuan of Azure Rock Martial Hall looked relaxed as she casually plucked a vine growing from a broken wall to her right.

"The Cold Mountain Goddess was an extraordinary person in her day. She protected the people of Black Dragon City for decades, and visitors once came to this temple in an endless stream," Zhou Gu said with a smile.

"I wonder whether the rumors that the Goddess could command a hundred ghosts at night are true." Zhang Chengchang scanned their surroundings, his eyes full of curiosity.

"How could a person command a hundred ghosts? I think this secret art is overrated. Besides, didn't we come here for the Limit-Breaking Pills?"

Zhou Gu smiled and turned to look at Jie Ling and Lin Nan.

"I say, you two from White Snake Martial School don't need to look so grim. Sinister entities are different from demons. Their actions usually follow certain rules. As long as we don't trigger those rules, they can't threaten us."

"I know. I just want to find the secret art quickly and leave." Jie Ling shook her head without saying more.

"Don't worry too much. The main hall is so large that half a day might not be enough to search it all. We might even have to come a second or third time..."

As the group chatted and walked forward, an inexplicable sense of unease rose in Lin Nan's heart.

"Haven't you noticed? Something's wrong."

Lin Nan suddenly stopped.

"Something's wrong?"

Zhou Gu looked displeased. Everyone present was either a true disciple or a gang hall master. What status did this little inner disciple have to speak up?

Lin Nan's gaze was grave. "It's only a hundred meters from the entrance to the main hall. Think about it yourselves—how long have we been walking?"

The moment he said this, everyone became alert, their muscles instantly tightening.

"Something is wrong. We came here to complete a mission, not sightsee. Why would we be in the mood to chat?!"

Zhou Gu realized it at once.

The five of them abruptly stopped.

"Ah!" Wang Luoxuan suddenly screamed.

To her right stood a section of broken wall, where a vine had been plucked halfway off.

"We... we're back at that broken wall?!"

"It's a ghost wall. We've run into a ghost wall."

Jie Ling spoke in a low voice and swiftly took a jade talisman from her leather pouch.

A glow radiated from the jade talisman, which had somehow become covered in cracks.

"Damn it, the intelligence never mentioned anything about a ghost wall."

Zhou Gu's face turned ashen. He looked up at the sky. "Luckily, it's still noon, when Yang energy is at its strongest. Otherwise, this would really be troublesome."

"I say..."

Lin Nan's face was equally grim.

"When did you start under the illusion that it was still noon?"