Chapter 29: Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva

“You died.”

“But your death had value.”

“The path of escape has already opened before you. Complete the final section of your patrol route. Two days from now, you will obtain your final victory.”

“Because the player’s death rating exceeded the average standard, you will receive additional Soulstone rewards.”

“The player currently possesses: 110 Soulstones.”

“Remaining revivals: 10.”

“Merchant entity: Ghost Granny, deceased.”

“Ghost Granny’s main shop has closed. You may no longer purchase any items related to her.”

Zhou You re-entered the game.

That crossroads once again appeared before his eyes.

Although he already possessed the items needed to clear it, he did not rush to choose a path. Instead, he took out the face-skin, eyeball, and incense one by one and carefully compared them before finally making his selection.

However, he did not choose the Faceless Ghost route that he was somewhat more familiar with.

Instead, he chose the Eyeball Ghost’s path.

Because he was paying close attention, the moment he stepped onto the road, he felt something spine-chilling cling to his back.

Yet it was not an eyeball.

Rather, it was a light, childlike figure.

The thing rested its damaged head on his shoulder.

The instant he turned around or looked back, he would immediately collide face-to-face with it.

Zhou You decisively used the eyeball.

The System’s instruction had been simple:

Crush it.

Thus, the cloudy crystal shattered instantly in his hand.

A sticky sensation, enough to make his skin crawl, spread across his palm.

But in the next moment, the strange coldness behind him also disappeared.

Zhou You cautiously glanced backward.

He saw a translucent figure desperately trying to stuff something into its empty eye socket.

At the same time, he realized that the object was precisely the eyeball he had just crushed.

“So this is how these three special items work?”

“They use false substitutes to replace the body parts missing from these ghosts, delaying them for a while...”

“But then why is the third item incense?”

Zhou You considered it briefly before giving up on further speculation.

Taking advantage of the ghost’s distraction, he hurried forward.

After all, he had no idea how long Ghost Granny’s method could fool these creatures.

If the thing regained its senses before he crossed the intersection...

Then “furious” would not even begin to describe the result.

Whether it was because Ghost Granny’s merchandise was exceptionally reliable or because Zhou You was lucky, he actually made it all the way through the road without incident.

However, something unexpected awaited him at the end.

The road split into two forks.

One clearly led toward the final destination of this journey, Longsong Slope.

The other was a narrow path.

It had never appeared on the patrol map.

Dark and gloomy, it disappeared into the distance.

No one knew where it led.

Obviously, this was another choice between two mysteries.

If Zhou You only had a few lives left, or if he had only managed to obtain one item from Ghost Granny, he would have immediately ignored the suspicious side path and headed straight for the patrol route’s endpoint.

But...

Zhou You looked at his ten remaining lives, then at the face-skin and incense still in his possession.

After hesitating for only a few seconds, he turned toward the side path.

Normally speaking, RPG branching paths always hide treasure.

And the System probably would not have gone through the trouble of creating an entirely new route for no reason.

So with a safety net available, why not take the gamble?

However, the scenery along the side path was fundamentally different from everything around it.

Over the past several days and nights, everything Zhou You had seen belonged to a modern city.

Even if it was old and dilapidated, it was still a jungle of steel and concrete built by a technological society.

But here, the surroundings abruptly transformed into a wilderness of overgrown weeds.

Occasionally, scattered shrubs and stunted trees could be seen.

Most had long since died, leaving behind only withered branches and decaying leaves.

The streetlights had vanished completely.

Only a crescent moon hung in the sky.

Yet compared to those residential buildings packed with ghostly faces, this sort of desolate wilderness straight out of a ghost story actually put Zhou You more at ease.

After walking through the wasteland for an unknown length of time, Zhou You finally spotted a building.

It was a temple.

The temple was not large.

One glance was enough to take in the entire structure.

However, it seemed not to have been repaired for many years.

Half of its walls had collapsed.

Layers of vines covered the exterior.

The vermilion gate was scarred by wind and rain.

Only the plaque hanging above remained relatively intact.

Unfortunately, most of the lettering had peeled away, making it impossible to read.

Nevertheless, Zhou You immediately recalled the newspaper article he had seen earlier.

“A temple... Could this be Sanhua Temple? The one scheduled for demolition?”

He walked around the entrance while casually commenting,

“Honestly, if this place gets demolished, it wouldn’t be undeserved. It’s practically a dangerous building already. But would a scenario clue really be hidden here?”

He first glanced at the bronze bell on his wrist.

Only after confirming that it remained silent did he cautiously enter the temple.

Nothing suddenly lunged at his face.

The interior was as dilapidated as the outside.

Everywhere he looked, weeds grew wildly.

Only a single Buddhist statue stood enshrined at the center.

Yet the moment Zhou You looked up, his pupils contracted.

The temple did not enshrine that sinister bodhisattva.

Instead, it contained a statue of a Vajra Protector.

Thanks to a relative who was a devout Buddhist, Zhou You recognized it.

These were guardian gods of Buddhism, famous for expelling demons and protecting the Dharma.

Yet now, the statue had clearly been defiled.

No.

“Damaged” was not the correct word.

The statue itself remained intact.

However, its limbs and body were covered in countless streaks of blood.

Even from a distance, they radiated a sinister chill.

Although the temple had decayed to this extent, the bloodstains had never dried.

Every inch looked as fresh as if it had just been applied.

If one looked carefully enough, the blood even seemed to shift continuously into lines of text.

Despair-filled curses were being carved into the clay statue itself.

Clearly, this statue had been defiled.

And not by anything ordinary.

This was an exceptionally vicious and malevolent corruption.

“Is this the seal the Devout Ghost mentioned?”

Zhou You tore off a strip of cloth from his clothing and attempted to wipe away the blood.

To his surprise, the instant the cloth touched the statue, the bell on his wrist suddenly rang violently.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zhou You threw the cloth away and immediately rolled several metres away (~10 ft)!

When he looked up again, he saw the piece of cloth vanish silently into the statue as though it had been swallowed whole.

“...Seriously? Another instant-death trap?”

“Looks like the seal can’t be removed either. Could there be some other clue or mechanism hidden here?”

Zhou You searched the temple.

Finding no other obvious clues, he was scratching his head when a System notification suddenly appeared.

“Player has discovered hidden location: Skanda Protector Temple of Sanhua Temple. ”

“Trigger conditions for this hidden location: Complete the side quests ‘Playing Games’ and ‘Drinking Soup’ before Day Three, discover clues related to the Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva within the orphanage, and possess at least seven remaining revivals.”

“Scenario completion percentage has greatly increased.”

“Each Sanhua Temple location discovered will greatly increase scenario completion percentage.”

“Player receives 50 Soulstones.”

“Current Soulstone total: 160.”

“So that bodhisattva’s name was Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva?”

“How have I never heard of something like that before?”

Looking at the statue, Zhou You tapped his arm and muttered to himself.

“It looks like each of the three routes corresponds to a temple.”

“And each temple grants a huge amount of scenario completion.”

“But that raises another question.”

“With such a massive blood-seal right in front of me, why does the System only care about me finding the temple?”

“Why doesn’t it say a single word about the corruption covering the statue? It doesn’t even give me a mission related to it.”

After pondering for a while, a thoughtful expression appeared on Zhou You’s face.

Yet he did not continue investigating.

Instead, he immediately headed back the way he had come.

“Forget it.”

“I should finish this patrol mission first.”

“At the very least, I need to secure my own safety. As for everything after that... I’ll deal with it later.”