Guessed it right...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 open, but the senior from the construction team took away the Demon-Subduing Pestle before that.

If he fails to see through this detail and return the Demon-Subduing Pestle, he will probably be stuck at this step forever.

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

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

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

Snap...his feet quickly touched the ground, and his red dancing shoes relieved the force of his fall.

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

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

The candlelight penetrated from above, illuminating a limited area. Ahead was a dark and silent corridor filled with unknown fear.

In such an environment, it is extremely unwise to move forward with smear campaigns.

Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and looked at the props in his hand.

The item description said that this was a tool that contained the power of the sun, and that by sacrificing blood one could gain that power.

The real 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 description are a bit unsettling... Zhang Yuanqing exhaled silently and nailed the sharp three-edged spike into his thigh.

A sharp pain came over him, and blood gushed out. Instead of flowing down the trouser legs, it turned into lines of blood and poured into the brass tool.

Zhang Yuanqing only felt a warm force surging out from the Demon-Subduing Pestle and rushing into his body along his arm. His pupils lit up with a pale golden glow and turned into brilliant golden pupils.

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

At the same time, negative conditions such as dizziness, difficulty breathing, heart and lung pain all disappeared, leaving only a feeling of weakness due to excessive blood loss.

The corpse toxins in the body were cleared.

He was indeed exchanging his life for power, but it was still acceptable... He used his eyesight to look forward. In front of him was a spacious corridor that extended into the depths of darkness.

There are traces of artificial excavation on both walls of the corridor, and it is not formed naturally.

Zhang Yuanqing walked in the corridor at a moderate pace, and the silent space echoed his footsteps.

After walking for more than ten seconds, plant roots appeared on both walls of the corridor, densely covering the walls.

"Help, help..."

Suddenly, from the darkness ahead came a creepy cry for help, like a sob.

After walking for a while following the sound, the front suddenly opened up and a huge cave came into view. In the center of the cave was a thick tree trunk that broke through the top of the cave and grew into the outside world.

At the base of this thick tree trunk, the roots are intertwined and entangled, wrapping around a sarcophagus.

The most terrifying thing is that pale arms and pale human faces stretched out from the thick tree trunks, and they unconsciously cried for help.

The densely packed arms were grabbing around randomly, as if looking for a life-saving straw.

My trypophobia kicked in...The candlelight and the demon-subduing pestle gave Zhang Yuanqing courage. He only felt a slight tingling sensation on his scalp, but was not too frightened.

At this time, a hoarse and vicissitudes voice sounded:

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

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

"who?"

Zhang Yuanqing was startled and looked around vigilantly.

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

An ugly human face emerged from the trunk. Unlike the faces of those evil spirits, its face was actually the bark of the tree, as if symbolizing the tree itself.

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

He didn't dare to get close, and tried to test:

"Did you kill the disciples in the temple?"

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

The dryad's eyes dropped downward, as if staring at the sarcophagus below, although it could not see it.

"who is she?"

"She is the Lady of Sandaoshan."

Zhang Yuanqing felt like he was hit on the head with a stick and his mind was confused.

Lying in the sarcophagus is Sandaoshan Niangniang, the powerful night-wandering goddess who was supposed to have passed away in the early Ming Dynasty?

The source of the weirdness is Sandaoshan Niangniang. Was it she who killed the disciples in the temple?

Zhang Yuanqing blurted out: "Why would she do that?"

"Because of the coming of the Dharma Ending Age, it is difficult for practitioners to break through the bottleneck. In order to achieve immortality, the Sanda Mountain Goddess fell into the devil's way. She sealed herself in a stone coffin, imprisoned the soul with a locust tree, and used the yin to nourish the yin to protect her body and soul. She is a powerful night wandering god, and the night wandering god is born with the ability to devour souls and strengthen herself."

The face on the trunk sighed and said, "The locust tree has housed too many souls. It has absorbed their wills and slowly given birth to spiritual wisdom, which is me. Over the years, people have mistakenly entered this place and died here, and in the end, they all became nutrients for it. I carry the hatred and resentment of the vengeful spirits, and have been waiting for someone to come here and put an end to it for me."

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

"Open the sarcophagus and pierce her heart with the weapon in your hand, and this will end it all. Haha, half of her Yang soul is sealed in the Demon Subduing Pestle. Pierce it into her heart and the remaining Yang soul in her body will be sealed into the weapon. Without the Yang soul to protect her body, her body will die immediately." After the Sophora Tree Spirit finished speaking, he slowly said:

"You can leave here, too."

Zhang Yuanqing did not move and remained silent.

The locust 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 are not the temple keeper."

The cave suddenly became quiet. After a few seconds, the locust tree spirit said in a low voice:

"The temple keeper was the first person to be bewitched by the Sanda Mountain Goddess. He became her puppet, and later became the nourishment of that woman. If you don't believe me, come and open the sarcophagus, and you will know that I am not lying to you."

"Then help me open it."

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

"Is it that you can't open it, or that 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 a temple priest, right? And you are his guardian, or his soul?"

After saying these tentative words, he became alert, waiting for the dryad's reaction.

As a technical geek who is good at game strategies, it would be a shame if I still couldn't uncover the secrets of the mountain temple after experiencing so many crises.

First of all, Shan Daoshan Niangniang passed away 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 a gap of at least fifty or sixty years, or one or two generations.

Secondly, the information in the main hall indicated that Shan Dao Shan Niangniang was an upright person, and the so-called fall into the evil way of the locust tree spirit was its one-sided statement. Zhang Yuanqing was more willing to believe the former.

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

In fact, Lingjing had already given hints in these details about who the real enemy was.

But Zhang Yuanqing didn’t understand why the temple keeper wanted to kill his own disciple.

Now I know.

If the person who wants to live forever and falls into the devil's way is replaced by a temple keeper, all doubts will be resolved.

The cave fell into silence, and the locust tree spirit sighed and said, "You are too cautious. From the beginning to the end, I have no ill will towards you, and I will never hurt you."

"Will it not hurt, or is it impossible to hurt?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly stepped back a few steps and said:

"Well, let me guess. Your way of killing people is by twisting their necks, but your method should be related to illusion and mind. You wanted to kill me not long ago, but unfortunately I didn't turn back."

This time, the locust 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’s documents clearly pointed out two things: one, the locust tree is very dangerous; two, don’t look back.

That's why he found nothing when he explored the ancient well, because there was nothing wrong with the well, the problem was the tree.

In addition, he was able to accurately identify it as an "illusion" because the name the female ghost shouted was Zhang Yuanqing, not Yuanshi Tianzun.

Finally, when Zhang Yuanqing discovered the ancient well, what came to his mind was a famous horror movie from a certain island country, which caused him to suffer from psychological trauma and he did not dare to look into the bottom of the well.

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

"You are pretending to be nice and conversing with me because the illusions can no longer deceive me. After all, I have the Queen's Demon-Subduing Pestle, which makes me immune to illusions." Zhang Yuanqing looked calm and analyzed the truth:

"You tricked me into coming here so you can kill me by other means. If illusions don't work on me, then you can just use physical attacks, right?"

He glanced at the tree roots that covered the walls of the corridor and suddenly stabbed them with a pestle.

.......

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