My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 440: The Queen of Heaven
"You have obtained the Jade Cicada's remains."

"This relic is a rare and miraculous medicine in the secular world. It can speed up your cultivation of the Nine Deaths Cicada. So, do you want to swallow this relic?"

When Jiang Xinghuo saw this description, his eyes suddenly lit up. Thinking that there were many ways to do it, he chose to swallow it without hesitation to see what the effect was.

"You ate the remains of the Jade Cicada, and the vitality contained in the Jade Cicada gradually dissolved into your flesh and blood, contaminating your Nine Deaths Cicada Secret Technique."

"The cicada sheds its body from the filth and floats above the dust, untainted by the world's dirt. Your Nine-Death Cicada has been polluted, and your true energy has begun to circulate rapidly, saving you three years of hard training."

"Your Nine Deaths Cicada Secret Technique has been successfully upgraded, +1."

"Nine Deaths Cicada (Introduction), a mythical martial arts technique passed down by the Martial Lord. However, it is influenced by the power of the Jade Cicada's remains and has become slightly different from the Martial Lord's Nine Deaths Cicada. It has transformed into a secret technique that belongs only to you."

Although the game text said so, Jiang Xinghuo couldn't feel any difference when he tried it. He didn't find anything special about this upgraded Nine Dead Cicada. Could it be that it was just a simple introduction?

Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a while but couldn't get any clue, so he simply stopped paying attention to it and continued to check the game text.

"Where are you planning to go next?"

"Do you choose to leave this dead silent Fox Ridge Coffin Village, or choose to wander around the village?"

At this point, everything found in the dark room of the Lingshen Temple had been counted, and there was nothing left to explore here, so Jiang Xinghuo turned his attention to the village.

"You choose to wander around the village."

"You walked out of the Lingshen Temple and returned to the village. In front of you was a three-way intersection, leading to three different places in the village."

"You stand at the fork in the road and look up to the path on the left. All you can see are shadows and all the buildings are shrouded in darkness. You can't see clearly what is at the end of the road."

"Then, you looked to the path on the right. It was also shadowy, but you could vaguely see some light, which seemed to be the light of a weak candle."

"And the path in the middle is the one you just walked on. Along the way, there are many houses with half-closed doors. Coffins placed inside the houses can be vaguely seen, and there seems to be foul air in the air."

"O one who has been cursed and exiled by the secular world, which path will you choose to continue your unfinished adventure?"

"Choose the path on the left that is shrouded in darkness, or the path on the right that has unknown candlelight, or the path you took when you came here."

The game gives three options, left or right, and in the middle.

Jiang Xinghuo took a quick look and found that the game did not have any specific description, so naturally he could not tell any difference. It was such a small place anyway, so he just had to go through them one by one in order.

"You chose the path on the right. This village has been deserted for many years. In addition, there are all kinds of evil spirits wandering around, so it is impossible for anyone to stay and live here."

"The reason you chose this road is that you wanted to go and see what was causing the trouble."

"You walked onto the path on the right, and there was complete silence all around, as if there was no life at all."

"But when you reach the end of the road, you will see a golden toad with a copper coin in its mouth and a wedding candle hanging from its head inside a stone pavilion."

"You have triggered the Tathagata's talent."

"You have learned the identity of the golden toad in front of you."

"You have discovered it, the Great Happy Toad God."

"The Great Happy Toad God (rare), born from the folk customs of the market, is mainly in charge of marriages in the market, and is also the God of Happiness under the seat of the Emperor of Heaven."

"You walked forward and found that the toad god was fast asleep, with a golden light gleaming on its body. The light was emitted by the wedding candle."

"According to folk legend, if someone can obtain the wedding candle hanging from the Toad God's head, they will receive the protection and blessing of the Goddess of Heaven and thus obtain a perfect marriage."

"Do you want to take down the wedding candle hanging above the Toad God's head while he is sleeping?"

Jiang Xinghuo thought to himself that there was such a good thing. Although he didn't know who the Queen Mother of Heaven was, he couldn't just let go of such a good thing that was right in front of him.

"You tiptoed into the pavilion, trying to reach out and take down the wedding candle on the Toad God's head, but the moment you touched the candle, the originally weak flame suddenly swelled up, like a circling fire dragon, and in the blink of an eye, it completely engulfed your body."

Bad! Something is going to happen!!
When Jiang Xinghuo saw this line of text, he suddenly felt uneasy, as if his actions had brought disaster upon himself. Thinking of this, he immediately wanted to activate the substitute terracotta figurine, but it was too late. Before he could open his inventory, the new text popped up.

"You were wrapped in a fire dragon. When the flames faded, a charred corpse was found on the ground. The Toad God, who was sleeping with his eyes closed, either intentionally or unintentionally, slightly tilted his body and crushed the charred corpse to pieces, not even leaving a complete body."

"You were burned alive."

"You are dead."

Oh my god, Jiang Xinghuo looked at the screen speechlessly. Are you trying to trap me here?
This was obviously a deliberate attempt to lure him over and then burn him to death. Fortunately, the game was not over yet and the text continued to move forward.

"You were burned to death by the candlelight on the Toad God's head, but before you were engulfed by the flames, you instinctively used the Five Ghosts Moving Technique to take something from the Toad God's body."

"You have obtained half of the coccyx of the Queen Mother of Heaven."

"The coccyx of the Queen Mother of Heaven (legend). The Queen Mother of Heaven was originally a mysterious being in the secular world, often wandering around the streets, but no one had ever seen her true face."

"It is said that the current customs in the secular world, the three religions and nine classes, the four seasons, and farmland farming are all passed down by this goddess of heaven."

"The aura of the Ling God is still lingering on this tailbone. If nothing unexpected happens, the person who broke this tailbone is the Ling God."

"This tailbone has many uses. Although it is only a fragment, it contains the power of the Queen Mother of Heaven."

"If you wear it on your body, it will be easier to trigger events and get some hidden mission clues when you walk around the city."

"Of course, you can also use this tailbone as a material for refining tools or making medicine. It can also greatly improve the quality of the products you produce, and even achieve a qualitative improvement."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the description in the game text, especially after seeing the effect of wearing it on his body, he decided in his mind the purpose of this thing. Compared with improving the level and quality of the props, being able to access more story missions is the best way.

There is also the Empress of Heaven mentioned in the text, who may be the mastermind behind the killing of Lingshen. She should be the same as Shanhejishi Zhenjun, both of whom are ancient powerful beings at the beginning of this world.

Moreover, Jiang Xinghuo also discovered a characteristic that the True Lord of Mountains and Rivers and the Queen of Heaven not only hold different powers, but also have a profound influence on secular culture.

According to the game text,
The True Lord of Mountains and Rivers inherited the way of "conferring gods and commanding immortals". The mountain gods, city gods, land gods, river gods... in the secular world all inherited from him.

The way passed down by the Empress of Heaven is the way of the "market and rivers and lakes", which is closely related to the lives of ordinary people, from all walks of life to weddings and funerals, to farming and the division of the four seasons...

I don't know what authority the remaining ancient masters hold, but I think it can't be compared with the Golden Law, otherwise they wouldn't care so much about the Golden Law. "Do you want to activate the effect of the scapegoat?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes, since he was going to die in vain, he would first see if he could get rid of that big toad.

"You have activated the Fall Guy."

"Please select the location where you want to be resurrected."

But what Jiang Xinghuo didn't expect was that the game actually gave three options this time: the Ridge God Shrine, the Ridge God Temple, and the stone pavilion in the village.

This saved him the trouble of running the map again. Jiang Xinghuo clicked the screen and chose to resurrect in the stone pavilion.

"You opened your eyes outside the stone pavilion, and the Toad God was still lying there motionless, with the wedding candles above his head swaying slightly. Do you still want to go forward and try?"

Jiang Xinghuo thought that the game text was still the same old problem, trying every possible way to encourage him to seek death. However, he had already died once, so he naturally could not send himself to death again.

"Take out two paper figures from the Paradise Spirit House, control them to walk to the Toad God, and grab the flickering wedding candle."

The result... is self-evident.

The two paper figures were instantly burned to ashes by the wedding candles, and they didn't even have the ability to resist.

Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a while. He had expected the result, so he was not too surprised.

After all, he himself was burned to death, let alone two insignificant paper figures.

The reason why he controlled the paper man to go over was to see if such an inanimate object as the paper man could get the wedding candle without alerting the Toad God. It seemed like there was no hope.

That leaves only one last method, which is to just grab your weapons and charge head-on. Jiang Xinghuo doesn't have the patience to waste time.

He didn't know what was going on, but he suddenly felt very uncomfortable tonight. His body was sore and weak, and his bones were creaking. It seemed like he had a cold, but there were no other symptoms.

Was he cursed?

No way.

Jiang Xinghuo is no longer an ordinary person. If someone really curses him secretly, he will be able to feel it immediately. Maybe he can follow the clues to find the whereabouts of the other party and break the curse at the same time.

“Strange…”

Jiang Xinghuo moved his neck uncomfortably. With his current physical condition and the abilities he possessed, the words "immune to all diseases" were not an exaggerated adjective, but a true portrayal of himself.

"Exile, you seem to have lost your patience and do not intend to waste any more time here. You unleashed the Five Thunders Technique, and brilliant purple-white lightning, like a river bursting its banks, poured down from the thunderclouds in the sky, instantly enveloping the Toad God in the stone pavilion."

"But when the lightning dissipated, you found that the Toad God was completely unharmed, and even the pavilion outside was not damaged at all."

"Your Tathagatagarbha talent has uncovered the mystery."

"It turns out that this pavilion has been blessed by the power of the wishes of all living beings of the Emperor of Heaven, so no external force can cause damage to this pavilion."

Seeing this new line of game text pop up, Jiang Xinghuo suddenly realized that he seemed to have overlooked a problem.

According to the description in the game text, the Toad God, that is, the big toad lying in the stone pavilion, should be the God Hongxi under the seat of the Queen of Heaven.

But why would the other party appear here? ?
Logically speaking, it came here with the Queen Mother of Heaven, so after the matter is over, it should also leave with the Queen Mother of Heaven.

How could you stay alone in this desolate and dilapidated village?

unless……

The Queen Mother of Heaven deliberately left the Toad God here.

As for why she did this, Jiang Xinghuo didn't know the reason for the time being.

But he guessed that it might be related to the pavilion. Maybe there was something hidden under the pavilion, or maybe it was due to some other unknown secrets.

However, these are just Jiang Xinghuo's guesses, even if he guessed everything correctly in reality.

As long as he doesn't find enough clues in the game, he won't be able to trigger the subsequent plot, and the game text that pops up next seems to prove what he's thinking.

"You used the thunder from heaven to kill the Toad God, but were blocked by the power of the Queen Mother of Heaven. However, the Toad God in the pavilion did not react at all. It just glanced at you with drooping eyelids and then closed its eyes again."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the game description and certainly didn't think that the Toad God was a good-tempered being. The reason why the other party didn't react was probably because he couldn't leave the pavilion.

This made Jiang Xinghuo even more certain of his guess.

But the key is that this toad is like a copper pea. It cannot be steamed, boiled or fried. It is not easy to force it out of the pavilion or kill it.

Jiang Xinghuo thought about it for a long time but couldn't come up with any clue, so he had to put the matter aside for the time being and deal with it when he had the opportunity.

"Where are you planning to go next?"

Jiang Xinghuo looked up at the time on the wall. It was not yet nine o'clock, and he wanted to continue exploring the game for a while.

But the aches and fatigue in my body were getting worse and worse. Now even my eyes were starting to feel hot, and I was feeling an indescribable discomfort all over my body.

"No, I can't hold on any longer..."

Jiang Xinghuo put his cell phone on the bedside table to charge it, then went to wash his face. He splashed cold water on his face to stimulate his skin, and managed to cheer himself up a little.

Afterwards, Jiang Xinghuo returned to the bedroom, lay down in his pajamas, covered himself with a thick woolen quilt, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

However, Jiang Xinghuo did not notice that after he fell into a deep sleep, a faint white light gradually emanated from his body.

Finally, the entire bed was enveloped in it, like a translucent white cocoon of light, with many complex and intricate cicada wing patterns on it.

I don’t know what happened today. My whole body aches, as if I had a cold, but I don’t have a fever or a cough. I just feel sore and weak, and my eyes are hot. I really can’t muster up the energy to code. I barely managed to code 4,000. I’ll owe a little and go to bed early.

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(End of this chapter)