You guessed it... Zhang Yuanqing felt a little relieved.

In fact, after exploring the mountain temple and getting rid of the zombies, the entrance to the cave will be opened, but the seniors of the construction team took away the demon pestle before that.

If he couldn't see through this detail and return the pestle, he might be stuck at this step forever.

Zhang Yuanqing waited patiently, quietly tensing up his nerves and concentrating his energy, not daring to be careless at all, because there might well be the source of the mountain temple's decline under the cave.

After a while, seeing that there was no abnormality in the collapsed hole, he summoned the red dancing shoes again, activated the second form, and let it replace the running shoes and wrap his feet.

Then he walked to the dark and deep cave and jumped lightly.

Snap... The soles of his feet quickly touched the ground, and the red shoes eliminated the force of his fall.

Zhang Yuanqing found the Demon-Conquering Pestle among the pieces of rubble, bent down to pick it up, and regained control of this powerful tool.

With the red dancing shoes and the magic pestle, he was confident that he could face the dangers in the cave.

The candlelight penetrated from the top of the head, and the place it could illuminate was limited. Ahead was a dark and silent tunnel, full of unknown fear.

In such an environment, it would be extremely unwise to move forward with discredit.

Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and turned his gaze to the prop in his hand.

The item introduction says that this is a prop that contains the divine power of the sun. If you sacrifice it with blood, you can gain the divine power.

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

It's worth a try, but the "notes" in the attribute introduction are a bit confusing... Zhang Yuanqing breathed out silently and nailed the sharp triangular spikes to his thigh.

A sharp pain hit, and blood gurgled out. Instead of flowing along the pants leg, it turned into blood lines and poured into the brass prop.

Zhang Yuanqing only felt a warm power pouring out of the Demon-Conquering Pestle and rushing into his body along his arms. His pupils lit up with a light golden light and turned into brilliant golden pupils.

The Demonic Pestle did not dispel the darkness, but gave him the ability to see through it.

At the same time, negative states such as dizziness, dyspnea, and cardiopulmonary pain all disappeared, leaving only the feeling of weakness due to excessive blood loss.

The corpse toxins in the body were removed.

He was indeed exchanging his life for strength, but he could still accept it... He raised his eyes and looked ahead. In front of him was a spacious corridor, extending into the depths of darkness.

There are traces of man-made excavations on both walls of the corridor, which are not naturally formed.

Zhang Yuanqing walked in the corridor neither fast nor slow, and the sound of his footsteps echoed in the silent space.

After walking for more than ten seconds, plant roots appeared on both sides of the corridor, and they were densely packed all over the walls.

"Help, help..."

Suddenly, in the darkness ahead, there was a terrifying cry for help.

After following the sound for a while, the front suddenly opened up, and a huge grotto came into view. In the center of the grotto was a thick tree trunk, which penetrated the top of the grotto and grew to the outside world.

At the bottom of this thick tree trunk, the roots are intertwined and entangled with a sarcophagus.

The most frightening thing was that pale arms protruded from the thick tree trunks, and pale human faces emerged, unconsciously shouting "help".

The densely packed arms grabbed at random, as if looking for a life-saving straw.

My trypophobia broke out... The candlelight and the magic pestle gave Zhang Yuanqing courage. He only felt a slight numbness in his scalp and did not feel too much fear.

At this time, a hoarse and vicissitudes of voice sounded:

"This is the first time in so many years that a living creature has come here."

With these words, the cries for help stopped, the arms swinging like seaweed retracted back to the tree trunks, and the human faces disappeared into the trees in fear.

"who?"

Zhang Yuanqing was startled and looked around warily.

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

An ugly human face emerges from the tree trunk. Unlike the faces of those resentful spirits, its face is the bark of the tree, as if it symbolizes the tree itself.

Is it the old locust tree in the yard that has become a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing didn't expect to encounter a being who could communicate with him in such a ghost place, even though the other party was a tree.

He didn't dare to get close and tried:

"Did you kill the disciples in the temple?"

"It's not me, it's her."

The dryad's gaze dropped, as if staring at the sarcophagus underneath, although it couldn't see it.

"who is she?"

"She is the Empress of Sandao Mountain."

Zhang Yuanqing felt as if someone had hit him in the head with a stick, and his mind was in a daze.

Lying in the sarcophagus is Sandaoshan Empress, the powerful night wandering god who should have emerged in the early Ming Dynasty?

The source of the strangeness is the Empress of Sandao Mountain. Did she kill the disciples in the temple?

Zhang Yuanqing blurted out: "Why did she do this?"

"Because the Age of Ending Dharma is coming, it is difficult for practitioners to break through the bottleneck. In order to live forever, the Empress of Sandao Mountain fell into the devil's way. She sealed herself in a stone coffin, used locust trees to imprison the ghosts, and used the yin to nourish the yin to protect her body and soul from death. . She is a powerful Night God, and the Night God is born with the ability to devour souls and strengthen herself."

The human face on the tree trunk sighed: "The locust tree accommodates too many souls, and after receiving their wills, spiritual wisdom is slowly born, which is me. Over the years, one after another people have mistakenly entered this place and died here, and in the end they all became I have received her nourishment. I have carried the hatred and unwillingness of the resentful spirit, and have been waiting for someone to come here and end her for me."

So that’s it, does this count as triggering the NPC’s mission? Zhang Yuanqing's eyes flashed slightly, "I should do this."

"Open the sarcophagus and pierce her heart with the weapon in your hand to end all of this. Oh, half of her yang soul is sealed in the Fumo pestle, and piercing the heart can seal the remaining yang soul in her body. Without the protection of Yang soul in the vessel, her physical body will die immediately." After finishing speaking, the Sophora Tree Spirit said slowly:

"You can leave here too."

Zhang Yuanqing did not move and remained silent.

The Sophora Tree Spirit said slowly: "Young man, what are you still hesitating about?"

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly said:

"I'm thinking about a question..."

The Sophora japonica tree spirit responded gently: "What's the problem?"

Zhang Yuanqing stood in the distance, staring at the face on the tree trunk, and said word by word:

"You're not just a temple blessing, are you?"

The cave suddenly became quiet. After a few seconds, the Sophora Tree Spirit said in a low tone:

"Miao Zhu was the first person to be bewitched by the Empress of Sandao Mountain. He became her puppet and later became that woman's nourishment. If you don't believe it, come and open the sarcophagus and you will know that I am not lying to you."

"Then open it for me."

"I can't open it, I'm just a tree."

"Is it because you can't open it, or you don't dare to open it?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted, and raised the corner of his mouth:

"The person lying in the coffin is Miao Zhu, and are you his guardian, or his soul?"

After saying these probing words, he went into alert mode, waiting for the reaction of the tree spirit.

As a technical nerd who is good at strategy games, after experiencing so many crises, it would be too bad if he could not uncover the secrets of the mountain temple.

First of all, Lady Shandaoshan came into being in the early Ming Dynasty. After her death, the local government built this temple for her.

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

Secondly, the information in the main hall reminds that the Lady of Mount Daoshan is an upright person, and the sophora tree spirit's so-called falling into the devil's path is just one side of her story, and Zhang Yuanqing is more willing to believe the former.

Finally, and most importantly, what is written in the essay is: Don’t believe Master!

In fact, who the real enemy is, the spirit realm has already given hints in these details.

It's just that Zhang Yuanqing didn't understand why Miao Zhu killed his disciple.

Now I know.

If people who want to live forever and fall into the evil way are replaced by temple blessings, all doubts will be solved.

Silence fell in the cave, and the Sophora Tree Spirit sighed: "You are too wary. From the beginning to the end, I have no ill intentions towards you, let alone hurt you."

"It won't hurt, or it can't hurt?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly took a few steps back and said:

"Well, let me guess, the way you kill is by twisting the neck, but the method should be related to illusion and mind. You wanted to kill me not long ago, but it's a pity that I didn't look back."

This time, the Sophora Tree Spirit's face suddenly changed.

When Zhang Yuanqing saw this, he knew that his reasoning was completely correct.

The Night Wandering God in the Taiyi Sect materials clearly points out two things: first, the locust tree is dangerous; second, don't look back.

That's why he went deep into the ancient well to explore and found nothing, because there was nothing wrong with the well, but the tree was the problem.

In addition, he could accurately judge the "illusion" because the name the female ghost shouted was Zhang Yuanqing, not Yuanshi Tianzun.

Finally, when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, he was thinking of a famous horror movie from a certain island country, so he had a psychological shadow and did not dare to pry into the bottom of the well.

Later, a female ghost emerged from the well. She was dressed in white, had disheveled hair, and had no facial features, which fit the vague fear in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

"You are pretending to be nice and talking to me because illusions can no longer confuse me. After all, I have the queen's magic pestle, which makes me immune to illusions." Zhang Yuanqing looked calm and analyzed the truth:

"You lied to me and wanted to use other methods to kill me. If the illusion is ineffective on me, then it will be a physical attack?"

He glanced at the tree roots climbing up the wall of the cave, and suddenly stabbed them with a pestle.

.......

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