Chapter 6 Entering the Temple

The night was dark and people were walking in the biting cold wind, holding torches.

The heavy snow had stopped, but the wind was still frighteningly cold. Lin Qiushi's feet made a crunching sound as they stepped on the ground. He was wearing thick clothes, his hat pulled up to cover his ears and the lower half of his face. He was slightly hunched over, carrying a beautiful girl on his back.

No one talked to each other along the way, and the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

When the temple that the carpenter had mentioned appeared in front of everyone, someone finally broke the silence.

"Is this a temple?" Zhang Zishuang asked, "This temple looks... too weird."

The temple looked quite strange in the night. At first glance, it looked very old, but if you looked closely, you would find that it was actually very exquisite. The relief carvings on the two pillars at the entrance alone were not ordinary.

Lin Qiushi put Ruan Baijie down and looked at the specific content of the relief on the pillar with a torch. He found that the relief was carved with scenes of the eighteen levels of hell. Whether it was evil ghosts or suffering souls, they all looked lifelike on the pillar.

"This pillar is so beautiful." Ruan Baijie suddenly praised.

"It's quite beautiful." Lin Qiushi agreed.

These reliefs do not look like the products of this backward mountain village at all; they can even be called works of art.

If everyone didn't have more important things to do right now, Lin Qiushi might have taken the time to observe carefully.

"Who goes first?" Xiong Qi asked.

He asked who would go in first, but no one answered. This was too dangerous. If entering the temple was a death sentence, then whoever went in first would become the victim.

"Why do we have to go in alone?" Ruan Baijie suddenly asked, "What if that old man is lying to us?"

Xiong Qi said, "But it's better to listen to him than to go against him."

Ruan Baijie: "That's not necessarily true." She turned her head and glanced at Lin Qiushi. "Qiushi, I'm scared. Let's go in together."

Lin Qiushi hesitated slightly after hearing this: "But what if two people entering the temple is the triggering condition?"

Ruan Baijie said, "We don't know the answers right now. I'd rather take a gamble. After all, if someone goes in alone and something happens, no one will know." She glanced at the dark temple before her, "After all... if someone goes in, there's no guarantee they'll come out as something else."

Her words gave everyone goosebumps, even Lin Qiushi. He rubbed his arms, glanced at Ruan Baijie's expression, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Okay."

Xiong Qi frowned: "Do you know what you are doing? If there are two of you..."

He seemed to be about to persuade her, but was interrupted by Ruan Baijie, "What if it's just one person? Who can say for sure?"

This is indeed the case, Xiong Qi remained silent.

"We don't care how you arrange the order." Ruan Baijie said softly, "It's too cold today, Qiushi, let's go in first and go home to sleep early."

Perhaps the mention of sleep reminded everyone that the dreaded night was about to begin. If they lingered any longer, their entire time would likely be wasted, and what they would encounter would be completely unpredictable.

"Let's go." Ruan Baijie took Lin Qiushi's hand and leaned against him.

Lin Qiushi had already gotten used to Ruan Baijie's clinginess. He nodded, gritted his teeth, and said, "Let's go."

The two of them walked towards the temple.

The others looked at their backs and fell into a brief silence.

The temple had a wooden door, half-closed. It was pitch black inside, and nothing could be seen. Ruan Baijie reached out and gently pushed open the door in front of her.

With a crisp creak, the door opened and the air inside rushed in.

Lin Qiushi smelled a faint fragrance. The scent was very faint, but it was very out of place in such an environment.

Lin Qiushi used the dim light of the torch to clearly see the decorations in the temple.

The temple was not large, and its structure was very simple. In the center stood an incense table and statues of some gods, with a huge alms box next to it. There seemed to be some words engraved on the alms box, but because it was too far away, Lin Qiushi could not see clearly.

"Let's go." Ruan Baijie said.

The two continued forward and walked towards the cushion in front of the statue.

The statue was a Buddha statue. Lin Qiushi didn't recognize what kind of Buddha it was, but it looked kind and had a sense of saving all living beings.

Ruan Baijie's expression was very calm. She knelt down on the cushion and bowed to the Buddha statue.

Lin Qiushi stood nearby and held his breath.

After a quiet wait, nothing happened. The Buddha statue remained benevolent, its half-closed eyes silently gazing at the believers before it. Aside from the whistling wind, the temple was filled with a reassuring tranquility.

Lin Qiushi breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay." Ruan Baijie stood up and cleared the dust off her knees. "You come on."

Lin Qiushi nodded, handed the torch to Ruan Baijie, and knelt on the cushion to worship. Lin Qiushi didn't know what Ruan Baijie was thinking as she worshipped, but he was extremely pious, praying for the protection of the deity before him.

"Alright." These few short movements seemed to have exhausted all his strength. When nothing happened after the worship, Lin Qiushi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's go." Ruan Baijie turned around, "We should go out."

So the two of them slowly left the temple.

The people standing outside were surprised when they saw the two of them come out intact. Xiong Qi asked, "Did something happen?"

Lin Qiushi shook his head: "No."

Although no one said anything, everyone had strange expressions on their faces, and some people began to hesitate.

"Why don't we go in two by two?" Xiong Qi said, "Since everyone in front is fine..."

"Are you sure they're okay?" One member looked at Ruan Baijie and Lin Qiushi warily. "She just said that if someone goes in, they might be human, but what comes out might not be. How can you be sure they're still human?"

Lin Qiushi, whose identity was under suspicion, was about to explain, but Ruan Baijie waved her hand, stopping him. She said indifferently, "We won't try to persuade you. Do as you please."

"Brother Xiong, I'm scared too." Xiao Ke said, "Shall we go in together?"

Xiong Qi seemed a little hesitant.

The timid members began to look for partners, while others were stubborn and refused to go against the old carpenter's words.

"Then do as you wish." Xiong Qi finally made a decision, "Xiao Ke, let's go in together."

Xiao Ke nodded in surprise.

Following the order they had agreed upon, the second group to enter the temple was a single man. He entered and exited alone, and nothing happened. However, when he emerged, he looked puzzled, as if he wanted to say something.

But before he could say anything, the third group of people had already gone in.

"What did you see in the temple?" The only man who came in asked Lin Qiushi in a low voice.

"I didn't see anything," Lin Qiushi said. "Just the statue and the cushion."

"Don't you think that statue is a little strange..." the man said, "I've never seen a statue like it before."

Lin Qiushi was stunned when he heard this, not understanding what the man meant.

The man whispered, "Have you ever seen it? The statue looks so strange..."

Lin Qiushi shook his head, not quite understanding what the man meant. But as he thought about it, a chilling thought came to his mind: "What did the deity you saw look like?"

"It's a woman." As soon as these words came out, the smile on Lin Qiushi's face disappeared. The man continued to talk quietly, not noticing that Lin Qiushi's expression was amiss. "She doesn't look like a Bodhisattva, but she just looked at me with a smile. The thing in her hand doesn't look like a magical tool held by a statue, but more like..."

"Like what?" Lin Qiushi asked dryly.

"More like an axe for chopping down trees," the man said, glancing toward the temple. "And after I finished praying, she seemed to move a little..." At this point, he finally noticed something was amiss with Lin Qiushi's expression. "What about you? Did you see it too?"

"No." Although it was cruel, Lin Qiushi still told the man the truth, "The Buddha statue we saw is different from yours."

"Why is it different?" The man's face changed instantly when he heard this. "What kind of statue did you see?"

"A Buddha..." Lin Qiushi said, "A male."

The man's face was as pale as paper, and his eyes looking towards the temple were filled with fear and despair. He was trembling all over and began to say, "No, no, it can't be like this. How could it be? The problem must be you, it must be you..." After he said these words, he looked around vigilantly, as if he was afraid that what he said would be heard by others.

The third group of people was Xiong Qi and Xiao Ke. When they came out, their expressions were also very calm, and it seemed that nothing strange had happened.

Next came the fourth group... the fifth group... These groups included both men and women, and one person had two people, but Lin Qiushi soon discovered a pattern: whenever one person went in, they would come out with a bad expression.

When the last person came out, everyone finally determined a certain pattern - when one person went in and when two people went in together, they saw completely different statues.

What Lin Qiushi and the others saw was a Buddha statue, while those who went in alone saw a woman with a strange smile, holding an axe.

"They must be wrong. We were following the carpenter's instructions..." Someone began to lose their temper after discovering this, muttering, "It can't be wrong. We can't be wrong. The statue must be that woman... Yes, it's a woman."

Lin Qiushi could only comfort them: "It's really not certain yet, don't be too nervous."

In fact, everyone knows that the woman could never be a statue in the temple. Which temple would enshrine such a thing?

"Yeah, it's not certain yet." Ruan Baijie laughed. She reached out and touched her hair, saying softly, "Besides, so many people entered the temple together. Even if someone were to die, it wouldn't necessarily be me who would die."

"Could you please stop laughing?" Xiao Ke said rudely.

"Why don't you laugh?" Ruan Baijie retorted coldly, "It's better to die with a smile than to die with tears."

As soon as she finished speaking, someone shouted, "Look at the pillars!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiushi looked up and discovered that the relief on the pillar began to slowly move.