Chapter 14 Exploring the East Courtyard

Candles, sculptures, corpses, and antique lattice doors. Outside the door is a courtyard with rolling grass, an overturned bronze incense burner, a bluestone road and the bright moonlight.

The dead silence is desolate and strange.

"It seems like it's always dark here."

Zhang Yuanqing raised his palm to his mouth and spit out the small blue pill in his mouth.

The method worked, how clever I am... He happily put the pills in his pocket, feeling a little more confident about his "future".

With them, there is hope of saving one's life when faced with red dancing shoes.

Then, he walked straight to the tribute table, thought for a moment, and reached out to hold the candlestick. .

Suddenly, a message appeared in front of my eyes:

[Name: The candle that never goes out]

[Type: Fuel]

[Function: Suppress evil and purify]

[Introduction: The props left by the Empress of Sandao Mountain are said to be refined from the oil of Changming Beast, which has the effect of suppressing evil and purifying. 】

[Note: Sometimes, purifying fear may not be a good thing. In addition, it cannot be moved. 】

Sure enough, information can only be obtained by touching the props with your own hands. I had never dared to touch a candle before, so I never knew it was a prop until I read the information...

"Purifying fear is not necessarily a good thing. According to Guan Ya's classification, candles are a price category, and the price of using them is the loss of fear. But I am very scared now, and have no thoughts of committing suicide. I will stay in the main hall for now."

He sat cross-legged at the tribute table, thinking about his next move.

"The next action goal is to explore the east courtyard, find out the dangers and patterns hidden there, and then find ways to restrain and overcome them. The exploration time cannot exceed 15 minutes, otherwise the resentful spirit will lie on its shoulders and will die."

"The blue pill is my trump card against the red shoes, but it may not work. Once faced with the red shoes, it's life or death... Let's explore the east courtyard first and make a preliminary assessment of the environment there. Understand and then think about countermeasures.”

When things came to a close, he was still a little afraid and withdrawn, and didn't want to go out. It was a fluke that he survived last time, but whether he will survive this time is still unknown.

The situation in the east courtyard is unknown, and it is impossible to judge the degree of danger. It is easy to die if you try.

However, things in this world never mean that you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.

Although the task of exploring the ancient temple has no time limit, theoretically he can stay in the main hall all the time, but the lack of time limit means that if he does not complete the task, he will probably never be able to get out.

If you procrastinate for a long time, your body will decline due to hunger, sleepiness, thirst, etc.

If we go out to explore at that time, it will be a dead end.

"Extending your head or shrinking your head is just the same thing, so we have to fight!"

Zhang Yuanqing gritted his teeth and strode towards the outside world.

Wait, I should think about it again, it's very dangerous outside... With one foot out of the threshold, he suddenly retreated and couldn't help but look back at the palace, nostalgic for the glory of this place.

The warmth of candlelight dispels haze, purifies dirt, and brings unparalleled inner courage and confidence.

It's not a big problem... Zhang Yuanqing went out confidently.

........

The moonlight was as bright as frost. Zhang Yuanqing walked along the left side of the main hall, walking on the soft stone path, and returned to the desolate and dilapidated courtyard.

At night without the chirping of insects and birds, the silence is terrifying.

But the silence is also reassuring. He is most afraid of hearing the "ta-da" footsteps when he goes out.

"Fifteen minutes, I only have fifteen minutes to finish exploring the east courtyard before the evil spirit haunts me..."

He entered the easternmost room of the courtyard, fumbled for the bronze mirror from the corpse leaning under the window, and hid it in his pocket.

Then carefully pass through the arched door and enter the east courtyard.

The east courtyard is much larger than the courtyard. What comes into view is a deserted garden, with rockeries, pavilions, small pools, and a large banyan tree with a thick trunk, gnarled branches, and bright green leaves reflecting the bright moonlight.

There is an ancient well under the banyan tree.

Looking past the rockery pavilion, you can see the straight roof ridge exposed in the depths of the garden.

Zhang Yuanqing did not go straight to the building deep in the garden, but carefully walked around the big banyan tree. The information said that this tree was very dangerous, but after he walked around, no accident happened.

"Looking at the big banyan tree should also increase the exploration speed..."

Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself and glanced at the dark ancient well. After much hesitation, he still didn't have the courage to rush over and take a look.

He has a strong psychological shadow on the ancient well in this kind of horror story.

Zhang Yuanqing bypassed the ancient well, rustling among the grass, and headed towards the buildings deep in the garden.

"Crack!"

Suddenly, there was a crunching sound under his feet, making him jump up in fright.

Looking closely, it turned out to be a corpse buried in weeds and wrapped in oxidized labor protection clothing. Zhang Yuanqing leaned over to check and found that the bones of the corpse were well preserved.

It fell to the ground, but its head was facing behind it, which meant that something had twisted its head 180 degrees before it died.

What is it made of?

Zhang Yuanqing quietly became vigilant, stood up, and was about to continue exploring.

At this moment, a gust of wind blew over, and the grass in the garden undulated and rustled. The big banyan tree behind him seemed to come alive, shaking its branches and leaves in a twisted way.

"Zhang Yuanqing, Zhang Yuanqing..."

A high-pitched cry came from behind.

This voice drifted over with the wind, as if it was whispering in the ear, bringing waves of hair-raising chills.

Out of instinct, Zhang Yuanqing turned around to be on guard, and the information from the document suddenly flashed in his mind:

Do not look back!

"Zhang Yuanqing, Zhang Yuanqing..."

Seeing that he didn't respond, the voice seemed a little anxious, trying to get him to turn his head quickly.

Of course Zhang Yuanqing would not turn around. He stood still and quietly unzipped the jacket pocket, took out the brass mirror, and slowly raised it to a position above his shoulders.

The brass mirror reflected the scene behind him unclearly.

In the ancient well, a woman in white clothes with disheveled hair emerged. Her face had no facial features, and she was looking at Zhang Yuanqing with her pale fleshy face.

Damn it, uncle... Zhang Yuanqing's face turned pale, and he ran forward with his head down.

"Zhang Yuanqing, Zhang Yuanqing..."

The voice called over and over again, calling urgently, but I could only watch helplessly as he ran further and further away.

Soon, Zhang Yuanqing bypassed the rockery and came to the depths of the garden. There was a large house with a straight roof, a stone foundation, and loess walls.

The houses here are more dilapidated than those in the courtyard. The roof tiles are sparse and have many holes.

"The night wandering god in the information also came here. He only said not to look back, but he didn't say not to go back. The call of the female ghost in the well may only be for people who turn back. In this case, when I return later, I shouldn't be able to go back. In danger..."

He took a deep breath, calming down the surging fear and horror, and focused his attention on the present.

"Explore the house first."

This big house has three doors in total, representing three rooms.

He carefully approached the room on the far left, stretched out his hand and pushed open the broken wooden door.

"Squeak~"

At the sound of the wooden door opening, Zhang Yuanqing quickly retreated and put on a defensive posture.

For a while, nothing happened.

He boldly entered the house. The moonlight shone in from the broken roof. He tried to open his eyes wide and let his pupils absorb as much light as possible.

This is the kitchen and canteen. There are two earthen stoves built with blue bricks, pots, pans, water tanks, cabinets and other items, which have long been decayed and accumulated dust.

There was no danger, and the container was finally found... Zhang Yuanqing grabbed a dusty gourd scoop and couldn't help but think:

"I heard that children's urine can break away evil spirits."

He considered whether to take a scoop of boy urine, but after careful consideration, he reluctantly gave up the idea.

Although he has never dated a girl, Zhang Yuanqing feels that he cannot be considered a boy.

"I indulge you too much and give you opportunities to show off again and again." He looked down at his hands, feeling a little sad.

After some exploration and confirmation that the big house was a combination of a kitchen and a canteen, with nothing special or dangerous, Zhang Yuanqing took a rusty kitchen knife and a wooden stick, walked out of the house, and set his sights on the rectangular building at the end. Big house.

Unlike the kitchen, which doubles as a large dining room, the house has four doors that divide it into four rooms.

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but clenched the wooden stick and kitchen knife in his hand. They may not be useful, but they can bring comfort to people.

He carefully checked the first and second rooms. They were utility rooms and were filled with ancient farm tools, furniture, donation boxes and the like.

It's of no value...Zhang Yuanqing turned to the third room.

This is a weapons warehouse. Swords, bows, daggers and other weapons are hung on the wall. Many of the weapons have fallen to the ground because their lanyards have rotted.

Beside the window were two rows of weapon racks, one of which collapsed, with sticks and spears scattered on the floor.

Next to the overturned weapons rack, two bodies lay.

Zhang Yuanqing was not surprised when he saw these weapons. The disciples in the temple were taught by Empress Sandaoshan and could make corpse-suppressing talismans, so they obviously had the ability to do so.

It’s not surprising that he can dance and perform well.

As usual, he checked the bodies and looked for information from his seniors.

As soon as he approached the corpse, he couldn't help but say "Hey". The two corpses lying on the ground were not skeletons, but two mummies.

The skin is gray, wrinkled and clinging to the bones, and the belly is sunken.

"Why are there mummies?"

Zhang Yuanqing frowned. As a student of Songhai University, he had a rich reserve of knowledge.

There are two reasons for the formation of mummies, one is artificial embalming, and the other is natural formation.

The first type can be eliminated directly, while the second type is mostly formed in dry areas such as deserts.

The conditions in the temple were clearly not up to par.

He carefully inspected the two mummies. There were no fatal injuries on the bodies, and the bones had not been broken by the red shoes. However, there were two obvious holes in the flesh of the necks.

It looked like it was bitten out by the sharp fangs of a beast.

"What were they sucked into and fucked by? Hiss..."

Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and tensed up all over.

At this time, he heard a "dong" coming from the next room, like a knocking on a wooden door.

His scalp exploded in an instant, and Zhang Yuanqing stretched his neck like an alert wild deer to listen.