Spirit Realm Wanderer

Chapter 17: The Source of the Mystery

He’d guessed right… Zhang Yuanqing felt a slight sense of relief. In fact, once the Mountain God Temple had been explored and the zombie dealt with, the entrance to the cavern would open—but the senior member of the construction crew had already taken the Demon-Subduing Mace before that happened. If he hadn’t caught on to this detail and returned the Demon-Subduing Mace, he feared he would have been stuck at this stage forever. Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, quietly tensing his nerves and focusing his energy, not daring to let his guard down even for a moment, because deep within the cavern lay the very source that had likely caused the Mountain God Temple’s decline. After quite a while, seeing that nothing unusual was happening at the collapsed cave entrance, he summoned the Red Dance Shoes once more, activated their second form, and had them replace his running shoes, enveloping his feet. He then walked to the entrance of the pitch-black, deep cavern and leaped lightly. Thud... His feet quickly touched the ground, and the Red Dance Shoes absorbed the force of his descent. Zhang Yuanqing found the Demon-Subduing Mace among the scattered rubble, bent down to pick it up, and regained control of this powerful artifact. With the Red Dancing Shoes and the Demon-Subduing Mace, he was confident he could face the dangers within the cavern head-on. Candlelight filtered down from above, illuminating only a limited area; ahead lay a dark, silent passageway, filled with the fear of the unknown. In such an environment, it would be extremely unwise to proceed in the dark. Zhang Yuanqing paused for a moment, then turned his gaze to the artifact in his hand. The item description stated that this was an artifact imbued with the divine power of the Sun; by offering a sacrifice of blood, one could obtain that divine power. Genuine divine power of the Sun should be able to dispel the darkness and bring light, right? It was worth a try, though the “Notes” section in the item description was a bit unsettling... Zhang Yuanqing exhaled silently and drove the sharp, triangular spike into his thigh. A sharp pain surged through him, and blood began to flow from the wound. Instead of flowing down his pant leg, it formed streams of crimson that poured into the brass artifact. Zhang Yuanqing felt a warm power surge from the Demon-Subduing Mace, rushing up his arm and into his body. His pupils glowed with a pale golden light, transforming into dazzling golden eyes. The Demon-Subduing Mace did not dispel the darkness, but it granted him the ability to see through it. At the same time, all negative effects—dizziness, shortness of breath, and pain in his heart and lungs—vanished completely, leaving only a sense of weakness from excessive blood loss. The corpse poison within his body had been purged. It was indeed a trade-off—power for his life—but it was still acceptable... He strained his eyes and looked ahead. Before him lay a spacious passageway, stretching into the depths of the darkness. The walls of the passage bore traces of artificial carving; it was not a natural formation. Zhang Yuanqing walked through the passage at a steady pace, his footsteps echoing in the silent space. After walking for about ten seconds, plant roots began to appear on both walls of the passageway, densely covering the surfaces. “Help! Help me...” Suddenly, from the darkness ahead, a chilling cry for help rang out, sounding like a heart-wrenching lament. Following the sound for a moment, the passage suddenly opened up, revealing a massive stone cave. In the very center of the cave stood a massive tree trunk that had broken through the ceiling and grown out into the open air. At the base of this massive trunk, intertwined roots and vines entwined a stone coffin. Most terrifying of all, pale arms reached out from within the massive tree trunk, and pale human faces emerged, all unconsciously crying out, “Help!” A dense tangle of arms reached out wildly, as if grasping at a lifeline. My fear of clusters was kicking in... The candlelight and the Demon-Subduing Mace gave Zhang Yuanqing courage; he felt only a slight tingling on his scalp and wasn’t overly frightened. Just then, a hoarse, weathered voice rang out “After all these years, this is the first time a living being has come here.” As the words faded, the cries for help ceased. The arms, swaying like seaweed, retracted into the tree trunk one by one, and the terrified human faces vanished into the wood. “Who’s there?” Zhang Yuanqing startled and looked around warily. “Me? I’m just a tree....” An ugly human face emerged from the tree trunk. Unlike the faces of those vengeful spirits, its skin was bark, as if symbolizing the tree itself. Was it the old locust tree in the courtyard—had it become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing hadn’t expected to encounter a being he could communicate with in such a spooky place, even if it was just a tree. He didn’t dare get any closer and asked tentatively “Did you kill the disciple at the temple?” “It wasn’t me—it was her.” The tree spirit’s gaze dropped downward, as if fixated on the stone coffin below—even though it couldn’t actually see it. “Who is she?” “She is the Lady of the Three Paths Mountain.” Zhang Yuanqing felt as if he’d been struck on the head with a club; his mind went blank. Lying in the stone coffin was the Lady of San Dao Mountain—that powerful Night Wanderer who should have ascended to immortality in the early Ming Dynasty? Was the Lady of San Dao Mountain the source of this eerie phenomenon? Was she the one who killed the disciples in the temple? Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, “Why would she do that?” “Because the Age of Decline has arrived, and it has become nearly impossible for cultivators to break through their bottlenecks. In pursuit of immortality, the Lady of San Dao Mountain fell into the path of darkness. She sealed herself within this stone coffin, using the locust tree to confine wandering spirits—nourishing the yin with the yin—to ensure her physical body and primordial spirit would never perish. She is a powerful Night Wanderer, and Night-Roaming Deities are naturally capable of devouring souls to strengthen themselves.” The face on the tree trunk sighed, “The locust tree has absorbed too many souls and, by absorbing their wills, has gradually developed sentience—that is, me. Over the years, people have strayed into this place one after another, died here, and ultimately become her nourishment. I bear the hatred and resentment of these vengeful spirits, and have been waiting for someone to come here and put an end to her on my behalf.” “I see. Does this count as triggering an NPC quest?” Zhang Yuanqing’s eyes flickered slightly. “I should do this.” “Open the stone coffin and pierce her heart with the weapon in your hand—that will put an end to all this. Heh, half of her yang soul is sealed within the Demon-Subduing Mace. By piercing her heart, you can seal the remaining yang soul from her physical body into the artifact. Without the yang soul to protect her, her physical body will die instantly.” After the locust tree spirit finished speaking, it added slowly “And then you’ll be able to leave this place.” Zhang Yuanqing remained motionless, saying nothing. The Locust Tree Spirit said slowly, “Young man, what are you still hesitating about?” Zhang Yuanqing suddenly said “I’m thinking about something...” The locust tree spirit replied gently, “What question?” Zhang Yuanqing stood at a distance, gazing at the face on the tree trunk, and said, enunciating each word clearly “You aren’t the temple caretaker, are you?” The cave fell suddenly silent. A few seconds later, the Locust Tree Spirit said in a low voice “The temple caretaker was the first person to be bewitched by the Lady of the Three Peaks; he became her puppet and later served as nourishment for that woman. If you don’t believe me, come over and open the stone coffin—then you’ll know I’m not lying to you.” “Then help me open it.” “I can’t open it—I’m just a tree.” “Is it that you can’t open it, or that you’re afraid to?” Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted, and the corners of his mouth turned up “The temple caretaker is lying in that coffin, isn’t he? And you—are you his guardian, or perhaps his spirit?” After uttering these probing words, he went on high alert, waiting for the tree spirit’s reaction. As a tech geek skilled at beating video games, if he still couldn’t unravel the secrets of the Mountain Goddess Temple after surviving so many crises, that would be truly pathetic. First of all, the Mountain Goddess ascended to immortality in the early Ming Dynasty; it wasn’t until after her death that the local authorities built this temple for her. The disappearances of the temple’s disciples, however, occurred during the Yongle era—a gap of at least fifty or sixty years, or one or two generations. Second, the information displayed in the main hall indicated that Lady Shandao was a righteous figure, while the locust tree spirit’s claim of having “fallen into the path of evil” was merely its own version of the story; Zhang Yuanqing was more inclined to believe the former. Finally, and most crucially, the essay states: “Do not trust the master!” In fact, the Spirit Realm had long hinted at the true identity of the enemy through these details. It’s just that Zhang Yuanqing hadn’t figured out why the temple caretaker would kill his own disciple. Now he knows. If the temple caretaker were the one seeking immortality and having fallen into the path of evil, all the mysteries would be easily resolved. Silence fell over the cave, and the locust tree spirit sighed, “You’re far too wary. From start to finish, I’ve never harbored any ill will toward you, much less intended to harm you.” “Is it that you won’t harm me, or that you can’t?” Zhang Yuanqing took a few slow steps back and said “Hmm, let me guess: you kill by snapping necks, but your technique must involve illusions and mind control. You tried to kill me not long ago—unfortunately, I didn’t turn around.” This time, the Sophora Spirit’s expression suddenly changed. Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing knew his deduction was entirely correct. The Night Wanderer mentioned in the Taiyi Sect’s records clearly and explicitly pointed out two things: first, the locust tree is dangerous; second, do not look back. That was why his exploration deep inside the ancient well had yielded nothing—because there was nothing wrong with the well itself; the problem lay with the tree. Furthermore, he was able to accurately identify it as an “illusion” because the female ghost had called out “Zhang Yuanqing” by name, rather than “Yuanshi Tianzun.” Finally, when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, he was reminded of a famous horror film from a certain island nation, which had left him with a psychological trauma—he was too afraid to peer into the well’s depths. Subsequently, the female ghost that emerged from the well—clad in white, with disheveled hair, and lacking facial features—matched the vague fear in Zhang Yuanqing’s mind. “You’re putting on an act and speaking to me so politely because the illusion can no longer deceive me, right? After all, now that I have the Empress’s Demon-Subduing Mace, I’m immune to illusions.” Zhang Yuanqing remained completely calm as he analyzed the situation “You lured me here to kill me by other means. If illusions don’t work on me, then it must be a physical attack, right?” He glanced at the tree roots crawling up the tunnel wall and suddenly thrust the pestle downward.