He felt a little relieved—Zhang Yuanqing's mind eased. In fact, once the mountain deity's temple was explored and the zombies were dealt with, the entrance to the cavern would naturally open. However, the construction team elders had already taken the Fumagong Staff before that. If he couldn't notice this detail and return the staff, he would likely remain stuck at this stage forever. Zhang Yuanqing patiently waited, tensing his nerves and concentrating his energy, never letting his guard down, because there might be the very source of the decline of the mountain deity's temple deep beneath the cavern. After a while, seeing no unusual signs at the collapsed entrance, he summoned the Red Slippers once more, activating their second form and replacing his running shoes with them, now securely encasing his feet. Then he stepped forward to the dark, deep cavern and leaped lightly. *Plip.* His feet soon touched the ground, and the Red Slippers smoothly absorbed the force of the fall. Among the scattered stones, Zhang Yuanqing found the Fumagong Staff, bent down to pick it up, and regained control of this powerful artifact. With both the Red Slippers and the Fumagong Staff, he felt confident to face the dangers within Candlelight filtered down from above, illuminating only a limited area. Ahead lay a dark, silent corridor, brimming with unknown fear. In such conditions, moving blindly in the dark would be profoundly unwise. Zhang Yuanqing paused, then turned his gaze to the object in his hands. The item description stated that this was a vessel imbued with the power of the Sun God, and by offering blood as a sacrifice, one could gain its divine strength. Surely, genuine power from the Sun God should dispel darkness and bring light. Worth a try—though the "notes" accompanying the attribute description did send a chill through him. Zhang Yuanqing exhaled silently, driving the sharp, three-pointed spike into his thigh. A sharp pain surged, and blood gushed forth, not flowing down his pants but instead forming streaks that flowed into the bronze object. A warm, radiant force surged from the伏魔杵, rising up his arms and into his body. His pupils glowed with a soft golden light, transforming into brilliant golden eyes. The Immortal Magic Staff did not dispel the darkness, but granted him the ability to see through it. At the same time, the negative conditions—dizziness, shortness of breath, chest and lung pain—vanished entirely, leaving only the weakness from excessive blood loss. The corpse toxins within him had been cleared. Indeed, he was trading his life for strength, yet he could still bear it. With focused vision, he looked ahead and saw a broad passageway stretching deep into the darkness. The walls bore clear signs of human excavation, not naturally formed. Zhang Yuanqing walked steadily through the passage, his footsteps echoing in the quiet space. After several seconds, roots of plants began to emerge from the walls, densely covering them. "Help! Help!" Suddenly, a haunting, plaintive cry rose from the darkness ahead. Walking for a while following the sound, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a vast stone cavern. At the very center of the cavern, a thick tree trunk pierced through the roof and grew upward into the open air. At the base of this trunk, intertwined root systems wound around a stone sarcophagus. Most terrifying of all, several pale arms emerged from within the trunk, revealing pale faces that unconsciously cried out for help. The arms, densely packed and wildly grasping, seemed to be searching for lifelines. My claustrophobia was triggered... The candlelight and the magic staff gave Zhang Yuanqing courage; he felt only a mild tingling sensation in his scalp, without being overly frightened. Then, a hoarse, weathered voice spoke: "It's been so many years—this is the first time a living being has reached this place." With these words, the cries ceased, and the arms, swaying like sea grass, gradually retracted back into the trunk, the faces now pale and startled, fading into the tree. "Who?" Zhang Yuanqing was startled, scanning left and right with cautious alertness. "Me? I'm just a tree..." A somewhat unattractive human face emerged from the trunk, its skin resembling bark—unlike the ghostly faces around it, which seemed to embody the very essence of the tree. Was this the ancient banyan tree in the courtyard, now a spirit? Zhang Yuanqing hadn't expected to encounter a being capable of communication in such a haunted place, even if that being was a tree. He hesitated to approach, cautiously asking, "Did you kill the temple's disciples?" "Not me. Her." The tree spirit's gaze lowered, as if gazing at the stone coffin beneath, though it could not see it. "Who is she?" "She is the Goddess of San Dao Mountain." Zhang Yuanqing felt as though a heavy blow had struck him straight in the head, his mind momentarily blank. The stone coffin held the Goddess of San Dao Mountain—the powerful night-wandering deity who was supposed to have ascended to immortality during the early Ming dynasty? Was it she, after all, who had killed the temple's disciples? Zhang Yuanqing exclaimed, "Then why would she do that?" "Due to the arrival of the Latter Day of the Dharma, practitioners now find it increasingly difficult to transcend their limitations. To achieve immortality, the Lady of San Mountain descended into the realm of demons. She sealed herself within a stone coffin, using the banyan tree to bind and nourish the spirits of the deceased, sustaining both her physical body and her spiritual essence. As a powerful night-wandering deity, she is naturally endowed with the ability to absorb and consume souls, thereby growing stronger." The face etched into the tree trunk sighed, "The banyan tree has absorbed so many souls, gradually receiving their wills and evolving into a sentient being—me. Over the years, people have continuously stumbled upon this place and perished here, eventually becoming her nourishment. I have carried the resentment and unfulfilled longing of the spirits, patiently waiting for someone to come and finally end her." Ah, so this qualifies as triggering an NPC's quest? Zhang Yuanqing's gaze flickered. "Then what should I do?" "Open the stone coffin and pierce her heart with the weapon you hold. That will conclude everything." Ah, the Vamapada杵 seals half of her Yang essence within it. When it pierces her heart, it will capture the remaining Yang essence in her body and seal it into the vessel. Without the protection of Yang essence, her physical form will perish instantly. "The mulberry tree spirit said, slowly, "Then you'll be able to leave." Zhang Yuanqing remained still, silent. The mulberry tree spirit spoke gently, "Young man, what are you still hesitating about?" Zhang Yuanqing suddenly said, "I have a question in mind..." The mulberry tree spirit responded warmly, "What question?" Standing at a distance, Zhang Yuanqing gazed steadily at the face carved into the trunk, speaking word by word, "Are you not simply the temple attendant?" The cave fell suddenly silent. After a few seconds, the mulberry tree spirit said in a low tone, "The temple attendant was the first person bewitched by the Lady of San Mountain. He became her puppet and later, a nourishment for that woman. If you don't believe me, come and open the stone sarcophagus—then you'll know I am not deceiving you." "Then help me open it." "I cannot open it. I am "Is it that the door won't open, or that you're too afraid to open it?" Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have found his answer, lifting a corner of his mouth. "The one lying in the coffin is the temple attendant, and you—either his guardian or his spirit?" After delivering these probing words, he entered a state of alert, waiting for the tree spirit's response. As a tech-savvy person skilled at navigating games, having weathered so many crises, if he still couldn't unravel the hidden secrets of the mountain deity's temple, he would indeed be falling short. First, the Three-Daughter Mountain Goddess attained enlightenment during the early Ming dynasty; it was only after her passing that the local government constructed this temple. The unexplained disappearances of temple monks occurred during the Yongle period, a gap of at least fifty to sixty years—spanning one or two generations. Second, the information displayed in the main hall identifies the Three-Daughter Mountain Goddess as a righteous figure, while the tree spirit's claim of having fallen into darkness is merely its own perspective—Zhang Yuanqing is more inclined to believe the former. Finally, and most crucially, the note in the journal reads: "Don't trust your master In fact, the true enemy has been subtly hinted at throughout these details. Zhang Yuanqing simply hadn't figured out why the temple attendant had killed his disciple. Now he did. If the person who sought immortality and fell into the path of magic were to be replaced by the temple attendant, all the doubts would fall into place. The cave fell silent. The mulberry tree spirit sighed, "Your vigilance has been so strong from beginning to end. I have never harbored ill will toward you, nor intended to harm you." "Was it never meant to harm me, or was it simply impossible to prevent harm?" Zhang Yuanqing slowly stepped back. "Ah, let me guess—your method of killing involves twisting the neck, but your technique must be closely tied to illusion and mental influence. You attempted to kill me not long ago, yet I never turned around." At this, the mulberry tree spirit's face suddenly changed. Zhang Yuanqing saw this and knew his reasoning was entirely correct. The records from Tai Men clearly state two points: first, the mulberry tree spirit is dangerous; second, never turn around. Thus, he found nothing when he explored the ancient well deeply, because the well itself was perfectly fine—what was problematic was the tree. He could accurately identify the "illusion" because the ghost woman called out "Zhang Yuanqing," not "Yuan Shi Tian Zun." Finally, when Zhang Yuanqing first discovered the well, he immediately thought of a renowned Japanese horror film, which triggered psychological anxiety, making him hesitant to gaze into the well's depths. The ghost that emerged from the well—dressed in white, hair flowing wildly, faceless—matched precisely the hazy fear he had in his mind. "You've been pretending to be polite and engaging, because your illusion no longer affects me, since I now possess the Lady's Magic Staff, which renders me immune to illusions," Zhang Yuanqing said calmly, laying out the truth. "So you sent me there to kill me with some other method—once the illusion fails, it must be a physical attack, correct?" He glanced at the roots creeping up the wall and then suddenly drove his staff downward.