Three days later, the heavy snow arrived as expected.

Goose feather-like snowflakes drifted silently from the lead-gray sky, painting the entire Qingshi County in pristine white overnight.

Su Ming trudged along the official road leading out of the city, a bulging pack on his back, his steps sinking unevenly into the deep snow.

He had requested leave from the County School, citing a visit to a distant relative outside the city and a desire to find a quiet place to study. The steward believed him completely. This top scorer Su’s diligence was well-known; the fact that he wanted to study even on such a snowy day was truly admirable.

Inside the pack, the black dog blood stored in a wine jar, the aged glutinous rice disguised as travel rations, and the wood struck by lightning nails hidden in the brush pouch all swayed gently with his steps. That jar of soul-shakingly pungent virgin boy’s urine was wrapped in oilcloth seven or eight layers thick and stuffed at the very bottom, praying it wouldn’t leak.

“Master, this snow… seems a bit off.”

After walking ten li outside the city, Su Ming stopped. The white breath he exhaled instantly condensed into frost.

Lin Yu’s voice sounded in his mind, its usual laziness replaced by a touch of gravity. “What’s off about it?”

“It’s too quiet.” Su Ming surveyed his surroundings.

In the woods beside the official road, one could usually hear a few bird calls or spot traces of rabbits or squirrels. But now, aside from snow, there was nothing. Even the chirping of insects had vanished. The entire world was as silent as a lifeless painting.

“Keep walking.” Lin Yu offered no further explanation. “Focus your mind, circulate the Aura Concealment Art, don’t let a single trace of your aura leak out.”

Su Ming nodded, pulled his bamboo hat lower, and continued onward.

The closer he got to the direction of the dilapidated temple from his memory, the more bizarre the surrounding environment became.

The wind and snow seemed to consciously avoid that area. While everything around was covered in a blanket of white snow, the color of the mountain forest ahead appeared unusually deep and gloomy, as if splashed with dirty water.

Lin Yu fell completely silent.

This silence made Su Ming’s heart palpitate more than any warning. He could feel his master’s soul contracting to its limit, like a startled hedgehog entering its highest state of alert.

A cold, formless sense of being watched enveloped him from all directions.

It didn’t come from any specific direction; it simply permeated the air, like countless invisible icy tentacles gently brushing against his skin, trying to worm their way into his mind.

Cold sweat instantly soaked Su Ming’s back, but his steps didn’t falter, his face maintaining that same placid, wooden expression.

Finally, the familiar outline of the dilapidated temple appeared deep within the mountain forest.

Unlike his panicked nighttime flight last time, the temple looked even more decrepit in daylight. The collapsed courtyard wall, the tilted main hall, resembled a dying giant beast crouching in the snow.

Strangely, despite the heavy snowfall, only a thin layer of snow covered the temple’s roof. Most snowflakes melted the moment they touched the tiles, merging into dark streaks of water that dripped from the eaves.

It was as if the temple itself was constantly emitting some kind of ominous heat.

“Stop.” Lin Yu’s voice finally rang out, short and forceful.

Su Ming obeyed, halting about fifty paces from the temple’s courtyard wall.

“Walk a circle around it, don’t get close. Extend your perception to its maximum, tell me what you see and hear.”

“Yes.”

Su Ming took a deep breath, slightly closed his eyes, and pushed the Aura Concealment Art to its limit. His soul spread out towards the temple like quicksilver, soundless.

He began walking slowly around the temple, each step crunching loudly on the thick snow. In this deathly silent environment, the sound was especially jarring.

Soon, he noticed anomalies.

From the corner of his eye, he kept catching glimpses of a pale white hem of clothing flashing past a temple corner or behind a broken window lattice, or a blurry black shadow. But when he snapped his head around to look intently, there was nothing there, only mottled walls and the howling wind rushing through the hallways.

On the snowy ground appeared some chaotic, disorderly footprints.

The footprints were shallow, resembling neither human nor beast, twisted and bizarre, as if something had dragged its fingertips across the snow. These footprints circled the temple, eventually disappearing at the base of the wall, their destination unknown.

Within the wind’s howl, mixed an extremely faint, high-pitched shriek.

At times it sounded like a woman’s sobbing, weeping mournfully by his ear; at other times it sounded like someone was whispering something right against the back of his neck. The sound was intermittent, yet it hooked into his mind, constantly agitating his spirit.

In the air, that faint odor of rot and stale blood was even stronger than last time.

“Master, there are many things,” Su Ming whispered in his mind. “They’re watching us, but don’t dare approach.”

“Condensed filth, breeding mere ‘wandering souls’,” Lin Yu’s voice held a trace of disdain, but Su Ming could hear the underlying tension. “A bunch of mindless, lonely ghosts drawn here by the Yin energy, becoming earthbound spirits. Not truly fearsome, but troublesome.”

Su Ming didn’t stop walking. As he moved, he inconspicuously pinched a bit of powder from his sleeve and quietly sprinkled it on the snow behind him.

It was a mixture of rooster’s throat bone powder and aged glutinous rice.

As he walked, a not-very-obvious circle composed of white powder roughly encircled the temple.

The moment the circle closed, the prickling sense of being watched and the faint, almost-inaudible sobbing by his ear indeed weakened considerably.

Lin Yu nodded approvingly inside the ring. Not bad, this kid was becoming more and more like his former self, steady and composed!

“Enough,” Lin Yu said. “Enter the temple.”

Su Ming walked to the long-collapsed courtyard gate and looked at the pitch-black darkness of the temple’s main hall, which resembled a giant maw waiting to devour anyone who entered.

Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped inside.

The moment he crossed the threshold, Su Ming felt as if he had passed through a layer of cold, viscous water.

The light before his eyes abruptly dimmed. A wave of bone-chilling, Yin-cold energy assaulted him, making him shiver uncontrollably. The temperature inside and outside the temple were like two different worlds.

There was almost no snow inside the temple. The ground was covered in a layer of black, sticky mud mixed with rotten fragments of prayer mats and wood.

The main hall’s deity statue had long since collapsed, leaving only a lotus throne base crawling with filth. The altar table was empty, covered in thick dust. Several unknown black beetles lay dead upon it, frozen in their death throes.

The most eye-catching thing was the dark brown stain on the floor in the center of the hall.

The stain was twisted into a human shape. Its deepest parts even gleamed with a black light, as if it had seeped deep into the floor tiles. This was precisely the spot where the Wailing Woman Lantern had once entrenched itself, nearly costing him his life.

Even though the Wailing Woman Lantern had been eliminated, this stain still emitted an unbearably thick aura of resentment and ill omen.

Su Ming felt a stabbing pain in his soul just from glancing at it, as if countless needles were pricking him.

“The entrance is behind the deity statue,” Lin Yu’s voice sounded in his mind, carrying urgency. “Judging from the memory fragments of the resentful soul, the mechanism should be on the lotus throne base. Hurry, don’t linger here.”

Just as Su Ming prepared to approach the lotus throne, that bizarre interference suddenly intensified!

“Ming’er… Second Brother is in so much pain… come help Second Brother…”

It was Second Brother Su Yang’s voice! So clear, so full of agony, as if he were moaning right by Su Ming’s ear.

“My son… why won’t you listen to your mother… you insist on taking this risk…”

His mother’s weeping voice, filled with despair and sorrow.

“Junior Brother Su, you’ve disappointed me so much. Forsaking a bright future to dabble in those mystical, superstitious things… your life is ruined!”

Zhou Yulin’s mocking voice, laced with undisguised contempt and pity.

Various voices, real and fake, exploded directly in the depths of his mind, like a pot of boiling water churning his spirit into turmoil.

Simultaneously, from the corner of his eye, he saw the blurry black shadows in the dark corners of the hall begin to squirm and gather, becoming clearer and clearer.

A cold, slimy finger lightly touched the back of his neck without any warning!

Su Ming’s hair stood on end. A chill shot up from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head!

He bit the tip of his tongue fiercely. The sharp pain instantly cleared his mind.

“Evil illusions, disturbing my spirit!”

Su Ming roared inwardly. He ignored the auditory hallucinations, and his mind instantly regained clarity. He strode purposefully to the lotus throne base and reached down to feel underneath it.

Soon, his fingers found a circle of unusually smooth grooves.

This was it!

He took a deep breath, grabbed the grooves with both hands, and with all his might, gave a sharp twist!

The lotus throne didn’t budge.

“Huh?” Su Ming was stunned.

And at the very moment he exerted force, a sudden change occurred!

The human-shaped stain on the floor suddenly “came to life”!

Like a pool of viscous black oil, it silently rose from the ground, rapidly coalescing into a pitch-black humanoid figure with no facial features and twisted limbs. A wave of Yin-cold and resentment ten times stronger than before erupted violently!

The monster made no sound and showed no signs of physical attack. It merely lifted its “head,” its hollow “face” aimed at Su Ming, then transformed into a black shadow and silently pounced!

This wasn’t an attack on the physical body; this was a direct assault of Yin-evil erosion aimed at the soul!

If it hit him, Su Ming’s soul would be instantly polluted and torn apart!

“Dammit! Triggered a trap!” Lin Yu almost jumped inside the ring. “Disciple! Quick! Use your Italian cannon… no, use your black dog blood!”

Su Ming, though startled, remained composed.

He was prepared!

Facing the oncoming black shadow, he didn’t retreat. Instead, he stepped forward, his right hand moving like lightning. He tore off the leather pouch disguised as a wine skin hanging from his waist and, without a second thought, hurled the pungent-smelling liquid inside!

“Hiss—!”

The black dog blood traced a dark red arc through the air, splattering precisely onto the pitch-black humanoid figure.

It was like pouring a ladle of cold water into a pot of boiling oil!

A violent sizzling sound erupted. Thick plumes of black smoke, accompanied by a pungent, scorched stench, billowed from the monster’s body!

“Aooo—!”

A soundless shriek that could vibrate the soul echoed throughout the main hall.

The pitch-black humanoid figure twisted and struggled violently. Under the onslaught of the black dog blood, its form rapidly melted and disintegrated like a wax statue corroded by strong acid. With a final “splat,” it reverted to a pool of stain on the ground, though its color was noticeably duller than before.

“Nicely done!” Lin Yu praised loudly, then urgently reminded, “Don’t just stand there! Yang-attributed items can only hurt it, not destroy it! This thing is born from the earth vein’s Yin energy and the resentment of the dead. As long as this damned temple exists, it can’t be killed! Use the wood struck by lightning nails, pin it down!”

Su Ming understood perfectly.

He pulled the seven charred wooden nails from his brush pouch, his figure darting forward to the side of the stain.

Without the slightest hesitation, he raised a nail and drove it down, forcefully embedding the first wood struck by lightning nail into the approximate location of the stain’s “head”!

“Thud!”

The nail sank half an inch into the ground, and the earth actually emitted a dull thud, as if he’d struck a leather drum. The pool of stain squirmed violently, seemingly trying to coalesce again, but was firmly suppressed by the thunderous power contained within the nail.

Su Ming’s hands didn’t stop. Following his master’s instructions, he drove the remaining six nails into the approximate locations of the stain’s shoulders, heart, knees, and feet.

“Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Six consecutive dull thuds. With each nail that fell, the stain’s squirming weakened a fraction, and the resentment it emitted dissipated a trace.

The moment the seventh nail was driven in, a light “hum” resonated. An invisible barrier seemed to form between the seven nails, firmly sealing the stain within.

The suffocating Yin-cold atmosphere within the main hall cleared noticeably.

Success!

Not daring to delay, Su Ming returned to the lotus throne base, grabbed the grooves with both hands, and exerted force once more.

“Click.”

A crisp mechanical turning sound rang out.

This time, the lotus throne moved as he turned it.

As the throne rotated half a circle, a floor tile behind the deity statue silently sank downward, revealing a dark staircase just wide enough for one person, leading underground.

A wave of spiritual energy, older, purer, but even colder than that inside the main hall, mixed with a long-sealed scent of decay, rushed out from the opening.

“Below is the true lair,” Lin Yu’s tone became extremely grave. “Disciple, remember, no matter what you see or hear, keep your mind guarded! Hold that precious little jar in your hand; it might be our lifesaver at the final moment!”

Su Ming nodded silently. From the very bottom of his pack, he pulled out the small pottery jar tightly wrapped in oilcloth.

Holding the jar in one hand and a spare wood struck by lightning nail in the other, he took a deep breath and stepped onto the staircase leading into the unknown.

The staircase wasn’t long, about twenty or thirty steps.

Below was a small natural stone cavern, roughly the size of a bedroom, showing signs of artificial modification. Faint, twisted runes were carved on the cave walls, long since devoid of their spiritual light.

In the center of the cavern stood a simple stone platform.

There were no imagined skeletons, no ferocious monsters.

On the stone platform, only a few items lay isolated.

A palm-sized, gray cloth bag covered in cracks.

A jade slip, also dull in color and similarly covered in cracks.

And three fist-sized, grayish-white stones with pitted surfaces and no luster whatsoever.

Su Ming didn’t approach immediately. He stood at the staircase entrance, observing carefully for a long while. Only after confirming there were no other traps did he cautiously walk over.

He didn’t touch anything directly with his hands. Instead, he used the wood struck by lightning nail in his hand to gently nudge the gray cloth bag.

“It’s a storage pouch,” Lin Yu’s voice sounded in his mind, carrying a hint of regret. “The lowest grade kind, and its spiritual energy is almost depleted. The pouch body is damaged too. Probably can’t hold much, and forcing its use might even cause spatial collapse.”

Su Ming’s heart sank halfway.

He used the nail to nudge the jade slip next.

“This is…” Lin Yu sensed for a moment, his voice tinged with hesitation and oddness. “It’s a cultivation method jade slip, but the spiritual sense inside is severely fragmented. Seems to be an earth-attribute introductory cultivation method called the ‘Thick Earth Art’.”

An introductory cultivation method!

Su Ming’s breath hitched, his eyes bursting with a gleam of delight!

“But…” Lin Yu’s tone shifted. “This method only has the first three layers, and… its aura feels somewhat obscure, not like something from a reputable orthodox sect. Feels like it was haphazardly modified, or is itself a common, mass-produced item circulated among wandering cultivators. Practicing it could easily lead to problems.”

Su Ming’s joy was instantly doused as if by a bucket of cold water.

Finally, he looked at the three grayish-white stones.

“Depleted spirit stones,” Lin Yu’s tone lost all interest. “The spiritual energy inside has been completely sucked dry. Not even worth using as firewood; they’d just take up space.”

The fruits of their expedition lay before them.

A nearly broken storage pouch, a possibly problematic, incomplete cultivation method, three useless, depleted stones.

This was far from the immortal sect legacy treasures they had envisioned.

But… they finally had a cultivation method! Even if it was incomplete, problematic, it was better than nothing!

Not daring to linger, Su Ming quickly removed his outer garment, carefully wrapped the storage pouch and jade slip, and tucked them into his inner robe. He hesitated for a moment about the three depleted spirit stones, then stuffed them into his pocket as well.

Even a mosquito’s flesh is still meat; he hadn’t forgotten his master’s teachings.

After finishing all this, he swiftly retreated from the cavern and returned to the main hall.

He didn’t forget to retrieve the seven wood struck by lightning nails. When pulling them out, he noticed their color was much duller than before, clearly having consumed a significant amount of their spiritual nature while suppressing the stain.

Without the nails’ suppression, the pool of stain began to slowly squirm again.

Su Ming didn’t dare look back. He turned and ran.

He ran out of the dilapidated temple in one breath, out of that deathly silent mountain forest. Only when he could feel the wind and snow on his face again, only when he could see travelers on the distant official road, did he dare stop. Leaning against a large tree, he gasped for breath, panting heavily.

His entire body felt as if dragged out of water, almost completely drained.

He looked back. The dilapidated temple was already obscured by wind, snow, and the mountain forest, leaving only a faint outline.

Yet that bone-deep chill and fear still left his heart trembling with lingering fear.

The hard-won items tucked inside his robe now felt somewhat scalding to the touch.

“Dammit, this cursed place is even more sinister than I thought!” Lin Yu’s voice, still shaken, sounded in his mind, carrying the relief of a narrow escape. “Thank goodness we were well-prepared, otherwise both of us would have been done for today, turned into fresh nourishment for that stain!”

He paused, his tone turning serious again.

“Hurry and leave! The farther from this place, the better! As for this ‘Thick Earth Art’… I’ll need to study it thoroughly when we get back, scrutinize it word by word! We absolutely must not jump out of the wolf’s den only to fall into the tiger’s mouth, cultivating some kind of problem!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep