Chapter 5 Ancient Temple

An abandoned tunnel.....

Zhang Yuanqing looked around in panic. He was suddenly brought to an unfamiliar environment. Anyone would be panicked.

"Tunnel? Is this the Sheling Tunnel in the ghost story?"

As a native of Songhai City, he certainly knew the Sheling Tunnel in the top ten ghost stories. When he was a child, he was naughty and didn't sleep at night, so his grandmother used ghost stories to scare him.

However, let's not talk about the ghost story being just an illusory story. Take the Sheling Tunnel for example. Zhang Yuanqing went back to his hometown to worship his father a few days ago and passed by the Sheling Tunnel.

How could the real Sheling Tunnel be like this and so old?

"By the way, this is a spiritual realm, not the real Sheling Tunnel."

The cramped environment made people uneasy. Zhang Yuanqing walked forward cautiously, with only his lonely footsteps in his ears.

As he walked, he thought about his situation and the information given by the voice in his mind.

There is no doubt that he encountered supernatural phenomena and was brought into the ghost story to complete the task issued by the mysterious power. .

"That voice gave me two tasks, namely, survive for three hours and explore the spirit realm. Difficulty S level, single death type... This death type makes me panic."

Survive for three hours, which means there will be great danger.

Explore the spirit realm... should be to explore this tunnel, that is to say, the tunnel is very dangerous?

He quietly tensed his nerves, and at the same time, a question flashed through his mind: What rewards will there be for completing the task?

Since it is a task, there must be rewards.

"Well, according to the attribute panel just now, my profession is Night Wanderer, but level 0 instead of 1. Becoming a Night Wanderer should be one of the rewards, what is a Night Wanderer?"

"Brother Bing is right, this black card will indeed change your life, but I ignored the second half of his words. This thing is difficult to control. Does it mean the degree of danger?"

Zhang Yuanqing combined the known information and analyzed silently.

At this moment, the old xenon lamp beside him seemed to have an unstable circuit and flickered a few times. In the interweaving of light and darkness, Zhang Yuanqing vaguely saw a figure wearing a miner's hat standing under the lamp.

Fuck... He jumped up in shock, and the train of thought in his mind was instantly interrupted. He ran forward for a distance like a frightened deer.

Looking back, the xenon lamp continued to light up and stopped flashing.

The black shadow wearing a miner's hat just now seemed to be his illusion.

After this shock, Zhang Yuanqing did not dare to stay in this ghost place and walked quickly out of the tunnel.

Da Da Da... The footsteps echoed in the quiet tunnel. Zhang Yuanqing did not dare to stop for a step. He walked for five or six minutes. The old-fashioned xenon lamp on the arc dome flashed again, but this time, no figure wearing a miner's hat appeared.

"Didn't catch up?"

He felt a little relieved and did not dare to stop. He walked quickly with his head down. Suddenly, he stared at the ground and caught a detail that made his heart stop.

The orange xenon lamp dragged his shadow very long. There were more than a dozen shadows following him.

They have been following me? !

The chill ran from his feet to his head, causing goose bumps all over his body. Zhang Yuanqing's face turned pale with fear, and he ran wildly.

Finally, the tunnel entrance appeared in front of him, and outside the tunnel was the cold moonlight.

Zhang Yuanqing rushed out of the tunnel in one breath, holding his knees, bending over and gasping for breath.

After catching his breath, he looked around the surrounding environment. The full moon was like a disk, hanging lonely in the night sky. Under its brilliance, the stars were eclipsed.

The lush forest was bathed in the moonlight, casting large patches of thick shadows.

He was in a barren mountain.

The xenon lights in the tunnel flickered a few times and all went out. The huge tunnel entrance was dark and quiet, like the mouth of a beast that was choosing people to eat.

"Hurry up and leave..."

Zhang Yuanqing's scalp was numb, and he climbed the mountain along the rugged mountain path.

After walking a dozen steps, he looked back again and saw a row of people wearing miners' hats, wearing shabby clothes and lowering their heads standing at the entrance of the tunnel.

They stood in the shadows where the moonlight could not reach, without saying a word, as if they were seeing him off.

Zhang Yuanqing took a few steps back in shock, turned around and ran up the mountain.

The branches and leaves on both sides of the mountain road were lush, and the fine and fragmented moonlight was enough for Zhang Yuanqing to see the road clearly.

It was just that the silence in the mountains was terrifying, and there were no insects or birds in the forest, which made Zhang Yuanqing's footsteps seem particularly loud.

"It's too quiet, it's impossible that there are no insects in the mountains at this season."

He looked around, the full moon was like a disk, the shadows of the trees were swaying, and he always felt that something was watching him in the dark.

I don't know how long I walked, until a layer of sweat came out of my body, Zhang Yuanqing finally walked out of the dense forest, and his vision suddenly widened.

The moonlight was like water, and the surroundings were dead silent. At the end of the rugged mountain road, there was an abandoned ancient temple.

Standing quietly in the darkness.

This ancient temple has been abandoned for who knows how many years. The paint on the gate in front of the temple was mottled and black, covered with holes, and the lanterns on the eaves fell to the ground, leaving only the bamboo skeleton.

The plaque was still there, covered with spider webs, hanging diagonally under the eaves, but the light was too dim to see what was written on the plaque.

The steps in front of the temple were cracked, and weeds grew in the cracks.

How could there be a temple here in the wild mountains and ridges, with no village in front and no shop behind.

Wait... Temple? !

Zhang Yuanqing reacted suddenly, and the voice in the spiritual realm information introduction seemed to ring in his ears:

"Don't enter the temple, don't enter the temple..."

"According to the hint of that strange voice, I should not be able to enter the temple. No, I have already come out of the tunnel, which means that what I really want to explore is this dilapidated ancient temple."

After hesitating for a long time at the temple gate, Zhang Yuanqing took cautious steps, walked towards the ancient temple standing in the dark, and stepped over the dilapidated threshold.

What came into view was a vast front yard with waist-high weeds growing in the yard. A rotten half-man-high incense burner fell in the grass, and it was unknown how many years of wind and rain it had been exposed.

Under his feet was a road paved with bluestone slabs, and clumps of weeds also grew between the cracks of the slabs.

His eyes followed the undulating withered grass and looked at the end of the bluestone road, where there was a dilapidated main hall with a high foundation and six steps. A dim light shone through the lattice door of the main hall.

"Is there a light?"

The surroundings were silent, desolate and dilapidated, with bright moonlight shining down. In such an environment, the halo did not bring a trace of warmth to Zhang Yuanqing.

It even felt more terrifying.

Rustle....

Stepping on the clumps of withered and yellow weeds, he kept alert and walked towards the main hall. In the empty environment, the footsteps were particularly clear.

Rustle, rustle... Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing's ears moved slightly, and he heard another footstep behind him. Something was following him.

He turned his head suddenly.

The night was like water, the weeds were lush, and there was nothing behind him.

"Hearing it?"

Zhang Yuanqing stopped for a moment with fear, and moved his legs again.

"Rustle..."

The footsteps came again, and this time he heard it clearly, there was really something following behind him.

.... It can't be so weird, encountering dirty things just after entering the temple? He didn't dare to look back and quickened his pace.

The footsteps behind him also accelerated.

Zhang Yuanqing could no longer hold back, and with goosebumps on his skin, he ran wildly towards the main hall.

The footsteps behind him followed him closely.

During the chase, Zhang Yuanqing quickly rushed out of the weeds and approached the main hall. He jumped up the six steps in two steps, and finally, with a loud "clang", he broke through the two lattice doors of the main hall.

The footsteps behind him suddenly disappeared.

"Huff, huff..."

He panted and finally dared to look back. The moonlight sprinkled on the courtyard like water, the weeds, the stone road, the quietness was scary, but there was nothing.

"Fortunately, they didn't chase me."

After Zhang Yuanqing took a breath, he gently closed the door of the main hall, as if blocking the fear outside.

Then, he scanned the scene in the main hall. On the high stone pedestal, there was a goddess wearing a fur cloak and gorgeous clothes. She had a round face, slender eyebrows and eyes, and a kind heart.

The goddess held a whisk in one hand and grasped something with the other hand. It seemed that she was holding something, but now it was empty.

On the left and right sides were boys holding swords and maids holding books.

In front of the pedestal was a dusty tribute table with a candlestick on it. A 20-centimeter-long candle, as thick as a baby's arm, burned quietly.

The candlelight dispelled the darkness and seemed to dispel the fear in Zhang Yuanqing's heart. He felt much more stable.

On the left wall, there were two faded and cracked wooden boards, which were engraved with regular script.

Zhang Yuanqing walked to the wall and stared at it in the evening candlelight. The style of these regular scripts was classical Chinese.

His Chinese language level was not bad. Through half guessing and half watching, he had a clear understanding of the environment he was in.

This mountain is called Sandao Mountain, and the mountain god worshipped in the temple is called Sandao Mountain Goddess.

This mountain god goddess was a native of Songfu in the early Ming Dynasty. She practiced in Sandao Mountain in Songfu. She was proficient in the method of talismans and the art of alchemy. She could pray for rain and drive away ghosts, and bless the area with good weather and good harvests. Therefore, she was worshipped as a god by the people.

After her death, the local government built this temple in Sandao Mountain and named it "Sandao Mountain Goddess Temple". The descendants of the goddess managed the incense and served as temple priests.

"This temple in the early Ming Dynasty has been five or six hundred years old." Zhang Yuanqing muttered.

At this time, he couldn't help but glance under the tribute table, and his heart suddenly shuddered.

A black shadow was lying in the shadow under the table.

Just now, he was too panicked and the candlelight was dim, so he didn't notice it at the first time.

Zhang Yuanqing gritted his teeth and approached. When he looked closely, he found that it was a corpse with only a skeleton left.

Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief in his fear. Compared with this strange mountain temple, the corpse was not so scary.

He walked a few steps closer and saw the clothes on the skeleton in the faint candlelight. It was a dusty work suit.

Worker?

"Is this the construction team of that year? So I really entered the world of ghost stories."

Zhang Yuanqing just made a guess and thought of a more sensational possibility. Maybe the construction team of that year, like me, mistakenly entered this place.

That's why the urban legend was left.

If it is the former, this so-called spiritual realm is a scene generated based on the ghost story.

If it is the latter, it means that the ancient temple has always existed, and the construction team, like him at this moment, are victims.

According to the historical background of the mountain temple, Zhang Yuanqing is more inclined to the latter.

"The whole construction team died in the temple, and only one person survived. People really die here... Now I have also entered this temple, and I will face unknown dangers at any time..."

Hiss~ He took a breath, his emotions tensed again, and he looked around subconsciously.

Then, he suddenly realized a detail that was extremely scary.

This ancient temple is from the Ming Dynasty and has a long history. How could the candles still be burning? Who is replacing the candles in the main hall?

The more he thought about it, the more horrified he felt. Even the kind-looking sculpture seemed to reveal a strange and gloomy feeling in the candlelight.

Although the three clay sculptures were covered with dust, they were lifelike, and every detail was carved vividly, especially the eyes.

They stood on the pedestal, staring down at Zhang Yuanqing in the candlelight at dusk.