Chapter 78: Chapter 61: The Birth of the Sophora Tree

The Witch Temple before her left Sang Que somewhat astonished.

She had just come from the Deserted Forest; all the way, there was not a hint of vitality, the earth cracked, the trees withered, ashes scattered freely, and there were always whispers around, unnerving her.

But this Witch Temple seemed to be a dreamlike Taoyuan, untouched by decay, with green bricks and white walls, small windows looking outward.

Grass was lush beneath the walls, peach blossoms filled the trees in the courtyard, fragrance pervaded the air.

The entire Witch Temple was cloaked in a layer of soft light, like the imagined abode of immortals, starkly contrasting the deathly silence outside, delivering a strong impact to Sang Que.

She had been outside for fifteen minutes and now could only go in to evade the eerie mist.

Sang Que pushed open the door and walked in, passing through the outer small courtyard, reaching the temple hall inside where the Divine Statue was worshipped.

The statue was not toppled or broken, standing on the pedestal, colorfully painted, yet it still lacked a head.

It could be seen to be a woman veiled in white and dressed in a green skirt, sitting sideways on a black panther, holding a wildcat, matching the description of the Mountain Ghost that Sang Que had found online in the modern world.

Sang Que felt her right palm heat up slightly, driven by instinct she moved to the side of the statue, pressing her palm against it.

The moment she touched it, a cracking sound emanated from the statue, and Sang Que quickly backed away.

The cracks quickly expanded, and the statue collapsed with a rumble, leaving only a base, with a rectangular bronze token inserted upright in the center of the base.

Sang Que pulled out a machete from her waist, cleared away the fragments on the base, and touched the token, finding no mechanisms or traps, she cautiously took the token with her left hand.

The token was simple, without intricate patterns, with two characters on each side.

Nine Songs, Mountain Ghost.

Sang Que pondered, “Could it be that the Mountain Ghost of this Mysterious World is, indeed, connected to the historical Mountain Ghost? The full name of that sacrificial poem for the Mountain Ghost is ’Nine Songs·Mountain Ghost.’”

There were also words on the base, Sang Que brushed away the dust, not daring to read them aloud, just scanning with her eyes.

If there were people on the mountain slope, girdled with hibiscus and draped with maidenhair.

Both glancing and smiling, a son desires me for my graceful beauty.

Riding the Red Leopard following the Wen Li, with magnolia cart and osmanthus flag.

…

It’s unexpectedly the poem ’Nine Songs·Mountain Ghost,’ is there really some connection between modern times and this Mysterious World?

Such a topic is too vast, lacking intelligence, Sang Que finds it wholly unthinkable, she puts the token away temporarily, planning to tell her mother once she returns.

“Earlier Yan Daozi and Wan Xiangtou mentioned ’Nine Songs Remnants,’ Nine Songs is related to the Mountain Ghost, the Mountain Ghost is related to the Witch Temple, and the Witch Temple is related to my biological mother, which means…”

Sang Que pondered for a moment.

“Nine Songs is a force behind the Witch Temple, very likely to be the most devout batch of followers, or just like the temple priest of the Witch Temple, Divine Favored ones. Because the Witch Temple was abolished, these Divine Favored naturally became wanted criminals.”

Yan Daozi also mentioned a storyteller in Dongyang County as a Nine Songs Remnant, if she couldn’t get much about her biological mother here at Kou Yushan’s place, Dongyang County might just be her next stop.

With this token, she could make contact, and then she could smoothly join Nine Songs, become the Witch Lady’s Divine Favored, considered to be following in her mother’s footsteps?

Sang Que stepped down from the base, looking deeply at the scattered statue fragments all over the ground.

Now it seems, her entrapment here wasn’t a chance event, but a predetermined arrangement.

Now that the arrangement is complete, the key item acquired, shouldn’t the storyline trigger her way out?

Nothing else was discovered in the Witch Temple, Sang Que stored the bronze token, took out a pocket watch to check the time, and left after ensuring fifteen minutes had passed.

Returning to the village, passing by Skinny’s house, Sang Que no longer heard the child’s rhyme, nor saw the pair of embroidered shoes.

Glancing at the pocket watch, two minutes would be enough for fifteen minutes, Sang Que quickened her pace back to the Liu Family Courtyard.

She had just stepped into the courtyard when she saw Liu Tianyou and Xuan Yu standing under the completely dead old locust tree, covered in spider webs.

“It appeared, here!”

Liu Tianyou pointed to a location, and Sang Que also saw the ’distortion’ in the space there.

Meow~

Xuan Yu retreated two steps, jumped and passed through the ’distortion,’ making Sang Que’s heart skip a beat, worried for any mishap.

Her eyes were keener than Liu Tianyou’s, as she saw Xuan Yu land smoothly on the other side of the Liu Family Courtyard, at once threw off the covering from its head, then started rolling and scratching to let loose the pages stuck all over its body.

The ’distortion’ quickly vanished, Sang Que breathed a sigh of relief.

Hoping Kou Yushan reads her note, rather than thinking of clashing head-on with Yan Daozi, finding a way to lead the villagers out of the Black Mountain Village range would be the best option.

Fifteen minutes had passed, Sang Que felt a chill throughout, those mists constantly drilled into her body, her hand already showed signs of turning transparent.

Sang Que hurriedly went indoors, paused by the old locust tree, gave a surprised glance at the root of the tree, then rushed into the house.

Closing the door to shut out the outside mist, Sang Que asked Liu Tianyou, “Did you not see the new sprout under the old locust tree?”

Liu Tianyou shook his head, “There’s no shelter outside, no grass or trees can survive.”

Sang Que looked toward the book box on the main room table by Liu Tianyou, she walked over quickly to check, found a painting on the other side of the box.

The painting showed Black Mountain Village at the foot of Da Heishan, all the houses and courtyards in the village vividly depicted, especially the old locust tree in the Liu Family Courtyard, given particular emphasis.

Earlier she thought only the book was problematic, now she realizes it is indeed the book box, holding great problems!

“What’s with this painting?”

Liu Tianyou, always looking timid, held Sang Que in awe, came over honestly saying, “This I painted during my homesick moments, though Tangyuan County from Black Mountain Village by ox cart is only half a day, but it costs a lot to travel once, so I rarely come back.”

“Your book box is made from the wood of the old locust tree in your courtyard, isn’t it?” Sang Que asked again.

Liu Tianyou was surprised, “How did you know?”

“Why plant locust trees in the courtyard?”

Last time she came to Black Mountain Village, she hadn’t thought of this question, now Sang Que carefully remembers, many households in Black Mountain Village plant locust trees, but the Liu Family’s tree was the oldest and largest.

Liu Tianyou looked at Sang Que puzzledly, “In our dynasty, some people believe locust is the Wood Ghost, useful for guarding homes, and the locust flower in March is edible, so many households plant locust trees.”

Sang Que nodded slightly, this belongs to cultural background causing recognition differences.

In the modern world, people believe locust trees attract ghosts, thus do not plant locust trees at home.

But in the Deceit Dynasty, ghosts are more formidable than Evil Spirits, locust trees are regarded as Wood Ghost, and they embody the hope of warding off Evil Spirits.

“My family’s locust tree is older than the Witch Temple itself, I heard from my mother, it was originally planted at the location of the Witch Temple, then to build the Witch Temple, it was replanted in my family’s courtyard.”

“This location was determined by the temple priest selecting the site at the time. Then to transplant the tree, many branches of the old locust tree were chopped off, and when our family renovated the house, the beams and my book box were made from the wood chopped at that time.”

Sang Que looked up at the beams, noticing small tender green sprouts emerging too.

“When you studied, you often thought of home, wishing you could stay there forever, didn’t you?”

Sang Que looked at Liu Tianyou, his pupils trembled, evidently being accurately spoken.

Liu Tianyou was actually about the same age as her and Xu Yichao, sent to boarding school in the county for studies since childhood, longing for home is natural, and then he entrusted his yearning for home to the book box his father made, but little did he expect…

“Your wish has somewhat come true.”

Liu Tianyou didn’t understand what Sang Que meant, but he didn’t ask, just clung to his hands pondering alone.

Though Sang Que couldn’t grasp the principle, she roughly figured out how to leave.

Originally, she thought, if truly desperate, she would use the pig-killing knife to cleave a strike, see if she can split open this space.

Now it seems, her neck doesn’t need to risk a blade.

But it still will require a timing, waiting for the ’distortion’ to appear again under the old locust tree.

*

At that moment, the Sang Family study.

The Little General, having eaten and drank to his fill, cuddled his tennis ball, snoring away at Sang Wan’s feet.

After a whole night of conjuring and organizing, Sang Wan’s mind already formed the outline of a story.

She opened the website, created a new work, filled in the title naturally with the words ’Mysterious Mountains and Rivers.’

Her hand paused on the keyboard, Sang Wan picked up her phone, browsed through various reading app leaderboard lists.

Finally, Sang Wan sighed, pressed the delete key repeatedly, and typed out a new title.

’I have a Mysterious Dynasty’

Chapter 1, Story Relay

“Sang Que, my dad has locked me in the house again, he just went out…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep