Guessed correctly... Zhang Yuanqing felt a little relieved.

After exploring the Mountain God Temple and dealing with the zombies, the entrance to the cave would open. However, the construction team had taken the Demon Suppression Staff before that.

If he couldn't see through this detail and return the Demon Suppression Staff, he would be stuck forever.

Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, his nerves taut and his energy focused, not daring to be careless, because there might be the source of the Mountain God Temple's decay beneath the cave.

After a while, when nothing abnormal happened at the collapsed entrance, he summoned the Red Dancing Shoes again, activated its second form, and let it replace the running shoes, covering his feet.

He then leaped gently in front of the dark and deep cave.

Click... his feet quickly touched the ground, and the Red Dancing Shoes eliminated the falling force for him.

Zhang Yuanqing found the Demon Suppression Staff among the broken stones, picked it up, and regained control of this powerful tool.

With the Red Dancing Shoes and the Demon Suppression Staff, he was confident that he could face the dangers in the cave.

The candlelight seeped down from above, illuminating only a limited area. Ahead was a silent and dark corridor, full of unknown fears.

In such an environment, it was extremely unwise to move in the dark.

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Yuanqing looked at the tool in his hand.

The item description said that it was a tool containing the power of the sun god, and sacrificing blood would grant divine power.

The genuine power of the sun god should be able to dispel darkness and bring light, right?

It was worth a try, but the "note" in the attribute introduction made him a little uneasy... Zhang Yuanqing silently exhaled and pinned the sharp triangular spikes to his thigh.

Sharp pain struck, and blood gushed out. Instead of flowing down his pants, it turned into bloodlines and poured into this brass tool.

Zhang Yuanqing only felt a warm power surging out of the Demon Suppression Staff, rushing into his body along his arm. His pupils lit up with a light golden glow, turning into bright golden eyes.

The Demon Suppression Staff did not dispel the darkness, but gave him the ability to see through it.

At the same time, all negative effects such as dizziness, difficulty breathing, and chest pain disappeared, leaving only a feeling of weakness from excessive blood loss.

The corpse poison in his body had been cleared.

It was indeed exchanging life for power, but he could still accept it... He used his vision and looked ahead. In front of him was a spacious corridor that extended deep into the darkness.

After walking for about ten seconds, the walls of the corridor were covered with plant roots, densely entwined.

"Help, help..." Suddenly, a terrifying cry for help came from the darkness ahead.

Following the sound for a while, he suddenly came to a huge cave. In the center of the cave was a thick tree trunk that pierced through the top of the cave and grew outside.

At the bottom of this thick tree trunk, the roots were intertwined and entangled around a stone coffin.

The most frightening thing was that pale arms protruded from the thick tree trunk, revealing pale faces that unconsciously shouted for help.

The densely packed arms grabbed randomly, as if looking for a straw to save their lives.My fear of crowds has kicked in... The candlelight and the demon-slaying pestle gave Zhang Yuanqing courage. He only felt a slight tingling on his scalp, not too afraid.

At this moment, a hoarse and vicissitudes voice sounded:

"So many years have passed, and this is the first time a living being has come here."

With these words, the cries for help stopped, and the seaweed-like arms retracted into the tree trunk, and the frightened faces disappeared into the tree.

"Who?"

Zhang Yuanqing was startled and looked around warily.

"Me? I'm just a tree..."

An ugly face emerged from the trunk, different from the faces of the resentful spirits. Its face was the bark itself, as if symbolizing the tree itself.

It was the old locust tree in the courtyard, and it had become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing didn't expect to encounter a communicable entity in such a ghostly place, even if it was a tree.

He didn't dare to approach and asked tentatively, "Did you kill the disciples in the temple?"

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

The tree spirit's gaze fell down, as if staring at the stone coffin below, although it couldn't see it.

"She is San Dao Mountain's goddess."

Zhang Yuanqing was stunned, his mind went blank.

San Dao Mountain's goddess, the powerful night wandering god who should have ascended in the Ming Dynasty?

The source of the strangeness was San Dao Mountain's goddess. Did she kill the disciples in the temple?

Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, "Why did she do that?"

"Because the end of the Dharma era is coming, and practitioners can no longer break through the bottleneck. In order to live forever, San Dao Mountain's goddess fell into the demonic path. She sealed herself in the stone coffin, confined the yin spirits with the locust tree, nourished the yin with the yin, and protected her own physical body and spirit. She is a powerful night wandering god, and night wandering gods can naturally devour souls and strengthen themselves."

The face on the trunk sighed, "The locust tree has accommodated too many souls, and received their will, gradually giving birth to wisdom, which is me. Over the years, people have stumbled into this place and died here, becoming her nutrients. I have borne the hatred and unwillingness of the resentful spirits, waiting for someone to come here and end her."

So that's it. Does this count as triggering an NPC mission? Zhang Yuanqing's eyes flickered, "What should I do?"

"Open the stone coffin and pierce her heart with your weapon. With the demon-slaying pestle, you can seal half of her yang soul in the pestle by piercing her heart, and without the protection of her yang soul, her physical body will die immediately." The locust tree spirit finished speaking and said slowly, "Then you can leave here."

Zhang Yuanqing didn't move and remained silent.

The locust tree spirit said slowly, "Young man, what are you hesitating about?"

Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "[pawread.c𝘰m]"

Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing said, "I'm thinking about a question..."

The locust tree spirit responded gently, "What question?"

Zhang Yuanqing stood far away, staring at the face on the trunk, and said word by word, "Aren't you the temple priest?"

The cave suddenly became quiet. After a few seconds, the locust tree spirit said in a low voice, "The temple priest was the first person to be bewitched by San Dao Mountain's goddess and became her puppet. Later, he also became the woman's nutrient. If you don't believe me, come and open the stone coffin, and you will know that I am not deceiving you."

"Then help me open it."

"I can't open it. I'm just a tree.""Can't open it, or don't dare to open it?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to get the answer he wanted and lifted the corners of his mouth.

"Is the temple caretaker lying in the coffin, or are you his guardian, or his soul?"

After saying this probing question, he entered a state of alertness, waiting for the tree spirit's reaction.

As a tech geek who excelled at game strategy, if he couldn't uncover the secrets of the Mountain God Temple after experiencing so many crises, then he would be too incompetent.

First of all, the Mountain Goddess transformed into a bird in the early Ming Dynasty. After her death, the local government built the temple for her.

The disciples in the temple disappeared for no reason during the Yongle period, which was at least fifty or sixty years later, or one or two generations.

Secondly, the information prompt in the main hall indicated that the Mountain Goddess was a righteous person, and the so-called fall into the evil way by the Huai tree spirit was just its own words. Zhang Yuanqing preferred to believe the former.

Finally, and most importantly, the content written in the notes was: "Don't trust your master!"

In fact, the real enemy was already hinted at in these details in the Spirit Realm.

It's just that Zhang Yuanqing didn't figure out why the temple caretaker wanted to kill his own disciples.

Now he knows.

If the person who wants to achieve immortality and fall into the evil way is replaced by the temple caretaker, all doubts will be resolved.

There was silence in the cave, and the Huai tree spirit sighed, "You are too guarded. From beginning to end, I have no ill intentions towards you, let alone harm you."

"Is it that you won't harm me, or that you can't harm me?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly stepped back a few steps and said, "Let me guess, your way of killing is to twist the neck, but the technique should be related to illusions and the mind. You wanted to kill me not long ago, but unfortunately, I didn't turn back."

This time, the Huai tree spirit's face suddenly changed.

Zhang Yuanqing knew that his reasoning was completely correct.

The Night God in the Taiyi Sect's information clearly stated two things: first, the Huai tree was very dangerous; second, don't turn back.

So he found nothing in the ancient well because the well itself was not the problem, it was the tree.

In addition, he could accurately judge the "illusion" because the female ghost called his name Zhang Yuanqing, not Yuan Shi Tianzun.

Finally, when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, he thought of a famous horror movie from a certain island nation, which created a psychological shadow and dared not peek into the well.

Later, the ghost woman crawled out of the well, wearing a white dress and disheveled hair, with no facial features, which matched the vague fear in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

"You are pretending to be kind and talking to me because illusions can no longer deceive me. After all, I have the Mountain Goddess's demon-slaying pestle and am immune to illusions." Zhang Yuanqing analyzed the truth calmly, "You tricked me over to kill me with other methods. If illusions don't work on me, then it's physical attacks, right?"

He glanced at the tree roots crawling all over the wall and suddenly stabbed the pestle down.

.......

PS: Two chapters will be updated today, and there will be another chapter later, within an hour.