Twisted Rules

Money Miser drew a deep breath and walked confidently toward the main gate of Northern Yin Mountain Temple.

His bony hands pressed against the heavy vermilion wooden doors. With a slight push, the doors slowly swung inward. Money Miser craned his head toward the pitch-black interior, his gaze piercing through the darkness.

In the next instant, his expression changed drastically, the confidence on his face instantly turning to terror.

Before he could react, a horrifying force erupted from within the temple and slammed viciously into Money Miser. His skinny body was like one struck head-on by a battering ram, and he was sent flying backward in an instant.

In midair, blood gushed from his mouth. Money Miser tumbled several times as he flew a full seventy or eighty meters before crashing heavily onto the ground.

His limbs twisted at unnatural angles, his chest deeply caved in, nearly all his ribs shattered.

Blood continually poured from his nose and mouth, and his aura had weakened to the extreme. His injuries were several times more miserable than Zhao Yang's had been.

Flesh Mountain's expression changed, and his massive body instantly appeared beside Money Miser.

He crouched down, his thick fingers swiftly moving across Money Miser's body as he examined his injuries. A moment later, his brows knitted even tighter.

"More than seventy percent of the bones throughout his body are shattered. All five viscera and six bowels have been displaced."

Flesh Mountain did not hesitate. He cut open his palm again, but this time he pressed it directly over Money Miser's mouth, allowing blood to flow endlessly into it.

Money Miser instinctively swallowed the blood. The shattered bones within him began to slowly mend under the nourishment of that vitality, while his displaced internal organs gradually returned to their proper places.

After roughly half a minute, he finally woke from his coma.

Flesh Mountain withdrew his hand. He stared at Money Miser, his voice low.

"What happened?"

Money Miser's face was filled with grief and indignation. Struggling to sit up, he spoke with trembling lips.

"Those two ghost gods asked whether I had ever squandered food. I answered that I never wasted anything—that I ate every grain of rice and every bite of food."

He took a deep breath, his voice brimming with resentment.

"But the ghost gods said that every time I ate leftover food in order to avoid wasting it, I caused some perfectly good food to be left until it expired.

"I could have eaten it while it was fresh, yet I insisted on waiting until it spoiled and rotted. That behavior itself was an even greater waste."

After hearing this, everyone fell silent for a moment.

That standard of judgment was simply too harsh. Life was far too long; no one could guarantee that they had never wasted even a single morsel of food.

Even an oddity like Money Miser could be judged as wasteful because forcibly storing food caused it to spoil.

The Mythic Walkers from the Four Great Megacorporations looked at one another, helplessness showing in their eyes. If even a miserly man like Money Miser, stingy to the utmost extreme, could not pass, then who could meet this condition?

Even so, opportunity lay right before them, and Mythic Walkers were still willing to take the risk.

One Mythic Walker after another stepped out from the crowd and pushed open the Mountain God's temple doors.

Some claimed they had abstained from food for years, so there should be no issue of wasting grain. Yet the ghost gods determined that, during their youth before becoming cultivators, they had wasted food.

Some said they had been taught from childhood to cherish food and had never left behind a single grain of rice. Yet the ghost gods determined that they had once eaten a few bites less because the food did not suit their tastes. The uneaten food had eventually been thrown away, which also counted as waste.

Some even claimed they had lived through famine and deeply understood the preciousness of food. Yet the ghost gods determined that, after becoming wealthy, they had ordered more food than they could eat, leaving leftovers behind. That, too, was waste.

One Mythic Walker after another was blasted backward, each suffering punishment to varying degrees. Some had shattered bones, some damaged internal organs, and some injured souls.

As they watched one Mythic Walker after another meet such miserable ends, everyone gradually recognized reality.

Flesh Mountain watched the scene before him, his expression incomparably grim.

The reason the Investigation Bureau had allowed the Four Great Megacorporations to get a share of the pie was not only because it feared they would flip the table. To a great extent, it was also to use the megacorporations' manpower to select suitable people to enter Northern Yin Mountain Temple.

Since the domain's expansion, thirteen Northern Yin Mountain Temples had appeared.

Yet apart from the first three, which people had successfully entered, the requirements of the subsequent Mountain God temples had become increasingly demanding. It was as though the entry conditions had been twisted by some unknown property, each temple stricter than the last.

The fourth Mountain God temple required entrants to have never committed a crime, but its standards were exceptionally harsh. At one point, they had become so severe that spitting on the ground, online remarks, and even certain fantasies in one's mind were all considered crimes.

The requirements of the temples afterward were even harsher. The Investigation Bureau had tried every method; nearly every Mythic Walker in the bureau, from top to bottom, had attempted them, but all had failed.

By the thirteenth temple, the requirement was actually that one must never have wasted food.

This condition seemed simple, but it was in truth harsher than all the previous ones, because the definition of waste was far too broad. Nearly any behavior related to food could be judged as wasteful.

Using the manpower of the Four Great Megacorporations was merely the Investigation Bureau's helpless expedient.

They had hoped to find someone who met the conditions from a larger population base, but now that hope seemed exceedingly slim.

They can't exactly throw a newborn baby in there, can they? Flesh Mountain smiled bitterly inwardly.

Babies truly had never wasted food, because they did not even know how to eat yet. But how could a baby explore a Mountain God temple? This was simply a dead end.

He gave the Mountain God temple one final look and shook his head.

The opportunity within the Mountain God temple was incomparably precious, especially the Mountain God Tablet, a treasure the Investigation Bureau had dreamed of obtaining. But if they could not enter, there was no point wasting time here.

They might as well use this chance to search for more Mythic Material. At least then they could gain something tangible.

Flesh Mountain turned and left, his massive body moving swiftly through the mountain forest before soon disappearing from sight. The other Investigation Bureau members followed in succession, scattering in different directions to explore.

Only then did the Mythic Walkers of the Four Great Megacorporations understand why Xu Yu had not personally attempted to enter the Mountain God temple.

That Scavenger Perfection powerhouse had long guessed the outcome. He knew that, given his past, he could not possibly meet such a harsh condition.

The reason he had issued that order regarding the Mountain God Tablet before leaving was both to deter the Four Great Megacorporations and to leave behind a fallback plan.

Should anyone truly manage to enter the Mountain God temple and obtain the Mountain God Tablet, the Investigation Bureau could purchase it at a high price. That was better than letting the treasure slip away.

The Mythic Walkers of the Four Great Megacorporations gazed unwillingly at the Mountain God temple. Opportunity was close enough to touch, yet beyond their reach. The feeling made everyone miserable.

Mythic Walkers gradually departed as well, heading off to explore other parts of the domain.

Just half an hour later, Northern Yin Mountain Temple had returned to its initial silence.

Another hour passed, and the area before the Mountain God temple was soundless. Occasionally, Mythic Walkers passed through, but after receiving the news, they merely observed the temple from afar, shook their heads, and left without any intention of trying.

The sun slanted westward, and the twilight glow gradually faded. Night fell, and beneath the moonlight, the Mountain God temple appeared even more mysterious and imposing.

No one knew that there had been an observer here from beginning to end.

Only after confirming that there were no other Mythic Walkers within several kilometers did Yellow Wind Little Sage finally relax completely.

The warped light and shadows dissipated, and Yellow Wind Little Sage's figure emerged amid the silence, arriving before the main gate of the Mountain God temple.

Yellow Wind Little Sage had seen everything that had happened before the temple with perfect clarity. He had witnessed the failure of one Mythic Walker after another and heard the standards by which those ghost gods judged them.

"Food must not be wasted; violators will face execution?" Yellow Wind Little Sage scratched his round little head with a tiny claw.

"Why does that sound a little familiar?"

Yellow Wind Little Sage looked up at the Mountain God temple, anticipation rising in his eyes.

Under normal circumstances, ordinary people could not pass the rules of Northern Yin Mountain Temple. The definition of squandering food was simply too broad: being picky counted, leaving leftovers counted, improper storage that caused spoilage counted, and even ordering too much food to finish counted.

The temple was the maker of the rules and possessed absolute authority to interpret them.

Under such stringent rules, almost no one could be exempt. Even a Grandet as miserly as Money Miser had been judged wasteful.

But Yellow Wind Little Sage was different!

Strictly speaking, this incarnation of Yellow Wind Little Sage had existed for only three days since its birth.

As an incarnation formed through the fusion of Mythic Material, he did not need food at all to sustain his existence. The nourishment of Mythic Factors was sufficient to support all his activities. Food was utterly optional to him.

Having never eaten during those three days, he naturally had never had any chance to waste food.

"Though I don't know how far the rules have been twisted, I still have a chance. It is worth trying!"

At worst, he would be blasted out and suffer some injuries. But if he succeeded, the rewards would be beyond measure.

"The Investigation Bureau craves the Mountain God Tablet so badly. Perhaps there is another secret behind this."

Yellow Wind Little Sage drew a deep breath and strode toward the main gate of the Mountain God temple on his short little legs.

The enormous wooden doors looked especially heavy in the night. The bronze studs on them gleamed with a dim, eerie luster.

Yellow Wind Little Sage extended a tiny claw and pressed it against the door. The heavy wooden doors slowly swung inward.

What entered his sight was not the darkness seen by observers, but an ancient, unadorned temple.

The bluestone floor was long blanketed in dust. The beams and pillars were damaged, the murals on the walls mottled and faded, and several statues stood along both sides.

Those statues were likely attendants or temple guardians. Their painted surfaces had long faded away, leaving only gray-white stone bodies.

On the altar at the very center sat an ebony tablet, covered in cracks. Its golden lettering had dimmed, and only the words "Northern Yin" and "Mountain God" could vaguely be made out.

Just as Yellow Wind Little Sage attempted to inspect it closely, two enormous figures suddenly appeared on either side of the gate.

The two ghost gods wore battle armor, their faces blue and their fangs exposed. The weapons in their hands crossed, blocking Yellow Wind Little Sage's view.

Their savage mouths opened, and voices of interrogation that seemed to carry the laws of heaven and earth echoed through the temple.

"You, do you know..."

As though a computer program had encountered a bug, the imposing interrogation abruptly cut off.