Chapter 31

Xue Jin'an opened the game folder, and three full pages of software popped up.

For this hardcore otaku, his love for games is second only to his love for novels. He has hundreds of games on his computer's platform accounts, and he has played a lot of mobile games.

He's someone who likes to try new things and doesn't have any particular preferences, so he plays all kinds of games, from popular shooting and MOBA games to unique single-player games like escape rooms and number mazes, and even old-fashioned games like Minesweeper, Snake, and Candy Crush... there's no game he hasn't played.

He's also a bit sentimental. He wants a better phone but can't bear to part with his old one, so he turned his thousand-yuan phone into a magical artifact, equipping it with a bunch of random accessories. He doesn't delete games he's played long ago or even those that have stopped operating.

Xue Jin'an glanced at the list and saw that most of the games were still in the "updating" state. The games that loaded were all small single-player games that didn't take up much memory, but their icons had all turned gray and couldn't be clicked. The only game that was lit up was a game with a white little person icon.

This is a puzzle game that uses visual illusion to find your way. The player controls a white little man who doesn't even have a face, while the villain is a crow man. The white little man needs to avoid the crow man to reach the destination. The geometric block style graphics have a cute and delicate feel.

The gameplay was incredibly simple, but the concept was so novel and fun that it became an instant hit upon release. Later, a hardcore gamer even spent 24 yuan to play the second game, but his opinion was that it wasn't as good as the first one, so he deleted the second one and kept the first.

Xue Jin'an opened the game. The white, multifaceted wooden palace spun around for a moment before finally settling on the Roman numeral 1. A white light illuminated the icon, and the chapter title popped up:

[Yihe Palace | Here, Xue Jin'an begins a journey to uncover the truth.]

The moment he clicked the white circle to start the game, Xue Jin'an felt most of his already meager magical power being drained, and his field of vision suddenly rose, overlooking the entire palace.

Yihe Palace was transformed into a geometric style reminiscent of a game. He became a faceless white figure, while the fourth prince opposite him became a yellow block with only one eye. Naturally, the eunuchs and maids in the palace all became crow people.

Xue Jin'an adjusted to the God's-eye view, rotated the screen to find his destination, quickly planned the route, and tapped the ground with his finger to prepare to control the white faceless little man to walk on his own.

However, just as the white figure reached the windowsill, the yellow block followed closely behind, and a dialogue box popped up.

Yellow block: "Where are you going?"

The white, pointed hat of the little man moved, as if pointing in a direction with its face.

Yellow Block: "That's the Buddhist hall. My mother never lets anyone else in. The door is locked. Even if you avoid everyone's gaze, you still can't get in." You can tell from his words that he's very experienced.

"I won't go through the door." The little white figure didn't explain further after saying that, and nimbly climbed over the windowsill.

A yellow block followed closely behind, topped with a question mark of confusion.

As soon as they stepped out of the courtyard filled with artificial rocks, they saw crow-men coming towards them from the corridor. The question mark on the top of the yellow building block turned into a red exclamation mark: "You've died before you even got started. Aunt Ziyun has seen us. If word gets out that you infiltrated Yihe Palace, you'll definitely be punished. You'd better run away quickly. I'll buy you some time."

He spoke with such sincerity, appearing as if he would go to great lengths for his brother. If the unspoken sentiment in his parentheses wasn't just empty talk, Xue Jin'an would have truly believed him.

Xue Jin'an stared silently at the dialog box that had sprung up in a second, filling the screen with a dense, almost shoved-in-his-face text.

Yellow Block: (King Yama, you'd better hurry up and leave. I won't see you off. Don't come back next time either. I'm really itching for a fight and can't stand not seeing some blood. I want to torture a brother for fun. I strongly recommend Xiao Wu. He runs wildly on the road to getting beaten up every day. I think he must be craving death and wanting your favor... Xiao Wu, King Yama's good partner, a one-of-a-kind choice.)

(You two "kind, brave, beautiful, and generous" underworld beings are bound together and must never be separated. As the saying goes, things reach their extremes and then reverse; maybe one day you'll return to the mortal realm—I truly hope it's the day I die of old age [praying][praying][praying].)

The Fourth Prince's heart was entirely devoted to the Fifth Prince; it seemed they had a good relationship. Xue Jin'an, who only understood the literal meaning, affirmed in his heart the brotherly bond between the two.

Yellow Block: (Ugh, a chill runs down my spine. It's all Xue Jin'an's fault... No, no, I can't say anything bad about him, not even in my mind. If I accidentally blurt it out, I'll be in big trouble. I'll wait until the King of Hell is gone before I start cursing him.)

"..." So it turns out I'm the one with the bad relationship. Xue Jin'an understood.

Not wanting to leave now, Xue Jin'an manipulated the white figure to pull the yellow blocks and hide behind a pillar. He then rotated the screen, visually merging the two unconnected sections of the corridor together.

Yellow Block: "How can anyone hide under this pillar? Aunt Ziyun has sharp eyes. She noticed even the wrong stitch on the cloud pattern embroidery on the hem of the clothes sent by the Imperial Clothing Bureau before...? She just walked right past it? Didn't she see two people this big?"

(Aunt Ziyun, you better tell me honestly how much bribe money you received. Is this how you let Xue Jin'an in?!) The big eyes of the yellow building block closed, looking very heartbroken.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the crow-like figure suddenly appear at the other end of the corridor. His mind was filled with materialized question marks and exclamation marks. "Wait, how did she get there?"

"We just walked there," the little white figure said truthfully.

Yellow Block's eyes were glazed and blank as he said, "Could it be... that Aunt Ziyun is actually a martial arts master?" Or was he momentarily lost in thought because his brain had been damaged?

The yellow block followed the white figure around and around, watching helplessly as no matter how perfunctorily the white figure hid, the people in the palace ignored him. Several times in the blink of an eye, time flew by, and the crow man who was just in front of him would inexplicably appear on the other side. He wondered if the problem was with them or with himself.

Just then, as they hid behind a tree, crowmen scurried around them from all directions, giving them no chance to get out, and with no way to retreat behind them.

Xue Jin'an rotated the screen, using a perspective distortion to construct a path that leads from the wall, and this path also leads to the destination.

He was led on an unusual path, during which he was told not to move, his head was stepped on by a tiny white figure to climb higher, and then he inexplicably appeared in a Buddhist hall filled with yellow building blocks: "..."

The yellow block stopped thinking.

Upon reaching their destination, Xue Jin'an lost control of the white figure. The white figure stood still, while a small, red-glowing sphere floated up and slowly settled in the designated area.

Congratulations on clearing the level!

Xue Jin'an's vision went white, and after a brief moment of dizziness, his perspective returned to normal. The style of Yihe Palace also returned to normal, and the Fourth Prince, no longer a yellow building block, was standing aside in a daze, staring blankly at him.

The fourth prince, rubbing his slightly dizzy head, was wondering if all of this was real. He might actually be dreaming, right?

Having Xue Jin'an in your dreams is undoubtedly a nightmare, so when will he wake up?

Xue Jin'an ignored him, glanced at the game screen which redirected to a white polyhedral palace with the gray Roman numeral 2, and tentatively clicked on it. A dialog box popped up: [More maps are under development, stay tuned...]

Just as expected. Xue Jin'an closed the game knowingly, thinking: I wonder if this development requires him to go to the location on the map to trigger it, or if it is related to his mana growth, or if both conditions must be met at the same time.

Hmm, I'll try to find the Fifth Prince tomorrow; he's currently imprisoned in Consort Rong's Minghua Palace. It's like the saying goes, "Big data discrimination," and the King of Hell conveniently named the person he knows best as his next target.

If the Fourth Prince knew about this, he would have to sleep under the wall of Minghua Palace tonight, just to make sure he could see his dear Fifth Brother's antics as soon as possible.

Once his mind returned to his body, Xue Jin'an immediately noticed that the weight on his wrist was off; it had decreased by 7.1g, which was about the weight of a Blood Dragon Wood bead.

Xue Jin'an touched his wrist and quickly counted in his mind. There was one ball missing. He looked in the direction where the red ball was in the game screen and saw the incense burner on the altar.

That self-exiled blood dragon wood bead should be in the incense burner.

This is Consort Zhen's territory. Consort Zhen is extremely interested in the Blood Dragon Wood bracelet. If she sees a part of it here, she will definitely be thrown into a panic and might reveal some clues, which would save him time in testing her later.

Unfortunately, this was the legacy left by Consort Zhen to the original owner, and one of the few things the original owner left in this world. In novels, people always attach emotions to objects, giving ordinary objects unique value and calling them memories.

Xue Jin'an didn't understand, but respected the decision and didn't intend to leave the beads there.

However, as Xue Jin'an stepped forward, before his hand even touched the incense burner, he received a warning from the software's backend: [This data is important. Deleting it may cause the application to malfunction. Delete it?]

One bead for the destruction of the entire game? Xue Jin'an paused. From the data analysis, he should now choose to preserve the game data without hesitation. After all, the game is very useful and can help him collect more clues. The only valuable thing about the Blood Dragon Wood bracelet is the lingering thoughts of humans that he doesn't understand. Moreover, the bracelet has eighteen beads, so losing one won't matter.

Xue Jin'an thought this, but still closed his fingers and did not retrieve the Blood Dragon Wood Bead.

Anyway, putting it here was the best choice.

He turned his head and saw the Fourth Prince secretly glancing at him. When he looked over, the Fourth Prince quickly looked away, pretending that he wasn't looking at him at all.

After settling her itinerary, Xue Jin looked around the room.

The Buddhist hall was not large. All the doors and windows were sealed with talisman paper. A yellow silk cloth with images of gods was used to divide the space into two halves. On a long altar, there was a Buddhist shrine with a Bodhisattva enshrined inside. On either side of the Bodhisattva, there was a blank memorial tablet.

The fourth prince had also come to his senses. It was the first time he had ever seen a Buddha statue and a memorial tablet placed in the same shrine. He couldn't help but examine the two tablets closely. "This is too strange."

The memorial tablet on the left was small, but it contained a complete piece of fine black jade, engraved with auspicious dragons and cloud patterns. Despite its exquisite craftsmanship, it was not engraved with a name. Underneath the tablet was a plain brocade handkerchief with cloud patterns.

The fourth prince was so curious that he stepped forward and opened the handkerchief. Inside was a longevity lock, which, judging by its size, should have been for an infant. It was stained with large patches of oxidized and blackened blood.

"This is the Tenth Prince." Xue Jin'an revealed the identity of the tablet's owner and then casually covered the handkerchief back up as if no one had touched it, even the angle of the edge of the handkerchief was exactly the same as before.

The fourth prince was completely distracted by his actions; his fingers were stiff, his mind was in turmoil, and he looked utterly lost.

Actually, when he saw the longevity lock, he realized whose memorial tablet it was. However, Xiao Shi died in infancy, and children who die young cannot have a tombstone or memorial tablet erected for them, nor can they be buried in the ancestral grave. This also meant that he was not allowed to offer sacrifices, burn paper money, or receive incense.

Ordinary people are very reluctant to discuss these matters, let alone those in the imperial palace. If such matters were to be exposed, the consequences would be far more severe than simply being punished.

In the Fourth Prince's memory, his mother had never made a single wrong move, but he never imagined that a big secret had been hidden in the Buddhist hall all along, and it just so happened that it was Xue Jin'an, who was the one who was least on good terms with them, who saw it.

Remembering that Xue Jin'an had come straight to the Buddhist hall, the Fourth Prince couldn't help but suspect that he had received a message and was deliberately coming to test the waters.

Completely unaware that the Fourth Prince had started speculating about a conspiracy, Xue Jin'an was looking at another memorial tablet. This blank tablet was made of wood, and in terms of its exquisite craftsmanship, it was far inferior to the Tenth Prince's tablet. In fact, it was even somewhat perfunctory and sloppy. The strangest thing was that the tablet was made of peach wood.

Peach wood wards off evil spirits, and locust wood attracts yin energy. Xue Jin'an, who only knows about human habits and customs through reading novels, knows that these two types of wood are the least likely to be chosen for memorial tablets. Underneath this strange memorial tablet is a handkerchief, which, when opened, contains a piece of hair tied with a yellow talisman.

Using peach wood to make a memorial tablet and pressing hair down underneath makes it look more like a curse than a genuine act of worship.

The fourth prince also thought it looked like it. His vision went black, and he felt a pang of fear: "It's over. There's something even bigger here. If someone with ulterior motives finds out, it won't just be about offending the Holy Body. It could even be twisted into the Emperor of Nightmare!"

"Mother, you've been so foolish!" The Fourth Prince lamented bitterly, while Xue Jin'an passed through the yellow silk cloth to another space.

There was only a low table here, with a futon and a brazier for burning paper money next to it. The low table had a complete set of writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone. Judging from the signs of use, people were sitting here copying and burning scriptures until around 5 a.m. this morning.

There were a few copies that had been copied but not burned on the low table. Xue Jin'an glanced at them and quickly identified where they came from.

Xue Jin'an had no knowledge of Buddhism whatsoever. The novel didn't describe the monks' understanding and insights into the scriptures in detail. He could recognize these scriptures simply because he had heard them before.

As mentioned before, the original owner had poor sleep. Xue Jin'an could block out all his senses when he was asleep, but that did not mean that his physical condition would not affect his soul. If his body did not sleep well, no matter how well his soul slept, he would still feel tired. Therefore, he would open a music app every night and set it for half an hour to lull his body to sleep.

Xue Jin'an, with only a mobile phone, naturally had no preference for music, and in fact, he had absolutely no talent for it. He couldn't tell the difference between good and bad songs; rousing music and farewell music sounded the same to him, products of the five notes of the pentatonic scale. The emotions in the music had limited impact on him.

Furthermore, although he never intentionally listened to any song, as long as it was played and left a data trace, he could completely copy the melody and lyrics.

Xue Jin'an himself wouldn't get bored with repetitive data, but his human brain would. After becoming human, he rarely looked at the same things repeatedly, and listening to songs was naturally the same.

He would randomly select a playlist each day, and he even came across a playlist of Buddhist scriptures, which is how he memorized the contents of those scriptures.

However, remembering does not mean understanding. He may not understand the meaning of the scripture, but that's okay, he can ask someone who knows.

Wasn't Master Cen just a monk?

Xue Jin'an blinked, took pictures of all the scriptures, opened the learning software, and found Master Cen's account. The software was a bit outdated and couldn't send images, so he directly extracted the text from the images, copied and pasted it, and sent it.

So, Master Cen, who was burning his disciple's daily homework for his master to see and chat with his master about whether the Taoist temple had a successor, received this great gift.

I almost threw it into the fire pit, but after seeing the extremely rigorous and orderly characters on it, I hurriedly fished it out. It turned out to be a Buddhist scripture.

Master Cen, who had been a Taoist priest since childhood: "...?"

Master Cen was so shocked that he did not notice the person tiptoeing behind him.

I secretly ran over to hear how my master told my grandmaster about my destiny, but as soon as I came in, I saw my master looking at the paper in his hand with a pained expression. I thought to myself, "Oh no, could it be that I was too tired last night and accidentally mixed up Laozi's 'Qingjing Jing' and 'Tao Te Ching'?"

Yuansheng tiptoed closer and peeked out, "Hey, this is the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, right? The ones below should be the Amitabha Sutra and the Infinite Life Sutra... They are all Buddhist scriptures for liberating souls from resentment."

He casually took the manuscripts from his master and flipped through them one by one, accurately reciting their sources, completely unaware that his master's gaze was becoming increasingly strange.

He closed the paper in his hand and suddenly asked, "Master, are you missing Grandmaster? If you burn these Buddhist scriptures for the old man, he will indeed be angry and come to see you, but he will also beat you up! If he accidentally takes you away, I will have to inherit the Taoist temple... Master, I am still young, don't leave in such a hurry!"

Master Cen smiled and reached out to pat his head. "Hehe, my good disciple, don't worry. When I leave, I will definitely take you with me. So that you will no longer have to worry about worldly affairs, and so that our grandmaster can see what kind of wicked child I have taken in."

"Oh no!" Yuansheng had already sensed something was wrong and immediately turned and ran out. "Master, I just remembered that I haven't finished my homework in the Imperial Study. I won't disturb you and Grandmaster's chat. Please continue your conversation!"

Master Cen, with his otherworldly air, stroked his long eyebrows and wore a kind smile. He didn't get up to chase after his disciple, but instead wrote a reply and burned it back. Only then did he get up, slowly and methodically rolled up his robe sleeves with a ribbon to secure them, and then took out the ancestral whisk from behind the statue of his master, holding the hairy end in the back.

With a "whoosh," a flash of cold light appeared, and Master Cen grasped a sword as thin as a thread. "You unfilial disciple, if you don't explain to your master why you, as a Taoist priest, can't even copy your own scriptures, yet you remember those damned Buddhist scriptures so well, I will cleanse your sect today, so that you will know what rules and propriety are!"

Master Cen stormed out in a rage, and soon after, Yuansheng's wailing echoed through the air: "Master, I'm innocent! It's all because the vegetarian food at Wanfu Temple was too delicious! They lured this naive young Taoist boy across the line! It's all their fault, Master!..."

*

You received a gray message from Master Cen.

Master Cen's letter arrived a little later than Xue Jin'an had calculated. With a thought, he sent out a cloud of ash from the main interface. The black ash dispersed in the air and formed a short line of words that faintly carried a murderous aura.

The handwriting was much wilder and more sloppy than usual, as if it was written in a hurry.

If Xue Jin'an hadn't successfully inputted the other party's handwriting and analyzed all aspects of the writing, such as the stroke structure, he really wouldn't have been able to tell what was written at a glance.

"They're all scriptures for salvation..." Xue Jin'an thoughtfully dispersed the gray characters materialized by magic in front of him.

The Fourth Prince, seeing something amiss through the silk cloth, went over to investigate, only to find Xue Jin'an waving his hand. He glanced at the empty air with a puzzled look and asked, "Is there something there?"

"It's not important." Xue Jin'an brushed it off and directly stated the result he had obtained after integrating the clues: "Consort Zhen is really afraid that the Tenth Prince will become a vengeful ghost. She has been writing scriptures to pray for his soul's salvation for the past few years."

What was said unintentionally was taken to heart by the listener. The Fourth Prince was not usually one to overthink things, but the unusual occurrences in this Buddhist temple forced him to ponder them, even conjuring up some unpleasant thoughts.

He had just suppressed those bad thoughts when Xue Jin'an's words struck him like a heavy hammer, making his heart skip a beat: Tenth Brother's death was deliberately caused. It was fine for Mother Consort to write scriptures and perform rituals to help him pass on to the afterlife, but two years, a full two years of rituals, longer than Tenth Brother's life! All the resentment should have dissipated by now!

However, his mother still came here every day, and sometimes, like yesterday, she would stay here alone until dawn. The Fourth Prince shook his head vigorously until his head felt dizzy, and he took two steps back.

His mind was still clear; he knew exactly what had just happened. He shouldn't think about it any further, but...

He couldn't help but look up at Xue Jin'an, his eyes revealing a panicked and flustered look that he couldn't hide for a moment.

"I hope this is all a dream, I hope I can wake up soon," the Fourth Prince prayed silently, but received no response.

Finally, he pursed his lips and could only plead with Xue Jin'an in a helpless and fearful voice, "Please don't tell anyone, Xue Jin'an, I'm begging you..."

"Oh, I won't agree." Xue Jin'an coldly and ruthlessly rejected the request.

The fourth prince stood there dumbfounded, his expression slowly contorting. He forcibly suppressed the panic surging in his heart, took a deep breath, and pleaded, "Seventh brother, I know I was wrong. You can punish me however you want. Last time it was 13%, right? Today it should be 20%, right?"

The events of the last time were deeply imprinted in the Fourth Prince's mind. Countless times he dreamt of that day, and all the details of the conversation came rushing back to him. He remembered them clearly. Today, he finally understood that Xue Jin'an had mentioned the number thirteen percent to him twice. He realized that Xue Jin'an was retaliating against him.

Although they often use decimals to count, using a hundred to measure hatred is frighteningly large, but he felt he could still handle it.

So he said, "I can bear your revenge, but don't involve my mother. I only have my mother."

As Xue Jin'an looked at the Fourth Prince, who was neither crying nor making a fuss and bowing his head to admit his mistake, a memory suddenly flashed through his mind: the first time he watched the video of the Imperial Study, when the Fourth Prince was late and was punished by being made to stand outside the door, and what Master Cen had said.

"Is he truly aware of his mistake, or did he only bow his head in desperation after being punished by me?" Xue Jin'an asked him in his own words.

The fourth prince was taken aback, vaguely feeling that these words were somewhat familiar.

Xue Jin'an nodded knowingly, and without waiting for his answer, replied to his other question, "Your progress is still 13%."

"Why?!" The Fourth Prince broke down, exclaiming excitedly, "You hit me on the head and in the chest today, how come I haven't made any progress at all? This shouldn't be happening!"

"I'm here to discipline you, not to beat you up," Xue Jin'an corrected.

The fourth prince was shocked: "What's the difference between this and hitting me?"

Xue Jin'an thought for a second: "Hitting you doesn't involve any monetary transaction."

The fourth prince was even more shocked: "What? You're going to ask me for money?!"

In the end, Xue Jin'an didn't accept the money. He simply reached out and pressed his hand on the spot where his beloved battery was, saying, "Take good care of it." He wanted the battery to be in perfect health again, as he wanted it to be 100% working.

The fourth prince shrank his shoulders, feeling a chill creep down his back for no apparent reason.