My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 480 Ancient House (12)

"You have discovered the Heavenly Secret Puppet."

"The Heavenly Secret Puppet (Legend) is a puppet that combines ancient puppetry with modern biotechnology. It not only has an indestructible body, but also has its own intelligence and can think independently. It combines all the advantages while minimizing its own shortcomings."

"Long, long ago, a young and promising puppeteer emerged in Yanshi Town. Before he was twenty years old, he had mastered the art of puppetry and became the youngest Yanshi in the history of Yanshi Town."

"And this young Yanshi is not satisfied with the present, and he has absorbed the biotechnology of the times, integrated puppets with biotechnology, created this Tianji puppet, and also innovated the puppetry and developed it to a new level."

"In addition, this Heavenly Secret Puppet has a feature that other puppets do not have, which is that it can integrate some anomalies, including but not limited to monsters, paradise, and natural and man-made disasters."

When seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyebrows, not quite understanding what this meant. Did it mean that this Tianji Puppet could be integrated with the things mentioned above?
When Jiang Xinghuo was thinking about this in his mind, he saw new game text pop up again.

"You have discovered the secret hidden under this puppet through the unique vision of Tathagata. This seemingly ordinary bronze puppet has integrated an extremely special monster."

"And the origin of this matter can be traced back to a very long time ago."

"At that time, Yanshi Town was in its most prosperous period, but a strange legend was circulating in the town."

"Every night when the moon is covered by clouds, a bluestone path will appear in the town at midnight. The path has no end, but as long as you keep walking, you will find a dilapidated old house at some point in the future."

"But anyone who enters that ancient house will disappear from the world, and any trace of their existence will be erased from the memories of those around them, as if they had never appeared. Only certain people will not be affected."

"After the young Master Yanshi learned about this, he found the path and walked up it at midnight when the clouds obscured the moon."

"I don't know what means he used to cut off the path and integrate it into the Heavenly Secret Puppet, making the Heavenly Secret Puppet also possess some of the characteristics of the path. Anyone followed by the Heavenly Secret Puppet will be led into the path and permanently lost in it, unable to find a way out."

Tsk, Jiang Xinghuo thought to himself that such a small town of Yanshi actually hid such a bizarre and strange story. If he did not have the talent of Tathagata, he would not be able to learn these things from the copy even if he found the Tianji Puppet.

"You used a secret technique to isolate the space within a radius of ten meters in the ancient mirror, but you found that the figure of the Heavenly Secret Puppet was becoming illusory."

"Then, the ancient mirror space that you constructed with your magic power also collapsed in an instant, and the figure of the Tianji Puppet disappeared. You were trapped on that mysterious path."

"What are you going to do next?"

This time, the game text did not provide him with any optional answers, and seemed to let Jiang Xinghuo make the subsequent decision himself.

After pondering for a while, Jiang Xinghuo clicked on the skill bar below and found the Six-Day Ghost Eye.

"You have opened the Six Heavenly Ghost Eyes."

"A dim and turbid eye quietly opened between your brows. You scanned the surroundings with this eye of the six-day ghost god and found the boundary between this path and the outside world. What are you going to do next?"

"Will you follow the principle of a gentleman not standing under a dangerous wall and leave this strange path in time, or will you walk towards the deep and dark unknown direction ahead?"

There are two options: continue forward or turn around and leave.

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a moment. Since he had already found a way out, there seemed no need to leave in such a hurry.

Since this path won't trap me, why not explore it in depth?

Jiang Xinghuo's mind became active. He read the game text and noticed the ancient house mentioned in the text.

As long as you walk along this path, you will have the chance to discover the ancient house. It would be a pity if you don’t give it a try.

Jiang Xinghuo is not a person who procrastinates. After making up his mind, he did not idle his hands and directly chose to continue moving forward to explore.

"You chose to continue exploring further."

"In this forgotten relic of the old world, anything can happen here. Since you want to find out the truth of those strange things, I can only wish you good luck."

"On the move..."

"Please wait……"

Jiang Xinghuo controlled the game character and began to move forward. The copy said that as long as he continued along this road, he would find a dilapidated old house at some point in the future.

However, the exact time was not mentioned in the text, and Jiang Xinghuo didn't have any particularly good solution. He could only leave the game idle for the time being and wait quietly for the subsequent plot to be triggered.

Jiang Xinghuo also took advantage of this free time to go to the kitchen and make himself some food. He had been busy all day since morning and had only drunk a glass of ice water. His stomach really felt a little empty.

Time passed by minute by minute.

Jiang Xinghuo watched the night fall, but there was still no prompt message in the game. He was not in a hurry and just waited slowly, eating melon seeds and watching TV.

It was not until around nine o'clock in the evening that a new message alert sounded in the game. Jiang Xinghuo threw away the melon seed shells in his hand, patted the crumbs on his hands, and raised his hand to pick up the mobile phone beside him.

"You have been walking on the path for several hours and still haven't seen the end of the path, but you continue to move forward without any thought of giving up."

"At this moment, you find that the space in front of you suddenly distorts, and the surrounding environment has also changed, as if you have come from a town to the wilderness. The path in front of you has also changed from bluestone to loess. A dilapidated old house is located at the end of the loess path, just a stone's throw away from you. Do you want to walk over and take a closer look?"

Looking at the game text on the screen, Jiang Xinghuo thought that he had finally triggered the subsequent plot. If there was no response, he would have to consider whether he should leave.

"You looked at the dilapidated old house in front of you and chose to go over and investigate."

"At the same time, the two red lanterns hanging at the door of the ancient house seemed to know that a distinguished guest was about to arrive. They began to sway slightly, and then illuminated the stone steps at the door, as if someone had lit a candle inside."

"Do you want to explore inside the ancient house?"

Two options, yes or no.

Jiang Xinghuo did not hesitate and chose the former and entered the ancient house.

He has already come here. If he just turns around and leaves, wouldn’t these few hours of effort be wasted?

"You walked up the stone steps, pushed the door and entered the old house. The dark courtyard quickly came into your sight. The corridors on both sides extended into the darkness. It was unknown where they led to."

"If you choose to leave now, there may still be time, because you haven't really stepped into this ancient house yet. Once you really step into this ancient house, it may be too late to leave. Do you want to continue exploring in depth?" The game copywriter was still the same as usual, openly and secretly persuading himself to give up exploring. Jiang Xinghuo naturally ignored the copywriter's nonsense and broke into the ancient house according to his heart.

"You have entered the ancient house. Please choose where you want to explore first. Do you want to explore the main hall first, or go along the corridors on both sides to the back of the house?"

Jiang Xinghuo took a look at the text prompt and chose to go to the main hall first and then explore the back.

"You walked around the courtyard of the ancient house and came to the empty main hall. There was no redundant furnishings in the huge house, only an eight-person table and two armchairs."

"You have triggered the Tathagata's talent."

"Your Tathagata has discovered something unusual. The materials of this Eight Immortals Table and the two armchairs seem to be somewhat different from those of ordinary tables and chairs."

"You have discovered the Yinthorn Wood Armchair, +2."

"You have discovered the Pure Yang Wood Eight Immortals Table, +1."

"The Yin-Ji Wood Armchair (special item). The Yin-Ji Wood is a tree that grows under the Yellow Springs in the underworld. It contains a large amount of evil spirits from the Yellow Springs. It is said that it can block the Qi and magic power in the bodies of evil spirits, making it difficult for even the most powerful magic to exert any power."

"Pure Yang Wood Eight Immortals Table (special prop). Pure Yang wood is jujube and peach wood that have been struck by lightning. It contains the pure Yang energy of heavenly thunder, which can suppress evil spirits and prevent demons and ghosts from causing trouble."

Looking at these two things, Jiang Xinghuo seemed to be thinking about something. The eight-immortal table and the armchair placed in the main hall were more of a means to counter evil spirits than home furnishings.

In addition to the location of this ancient house, Jiang Xinghuo had some guesses about it.

The nature of this ancient house is most likely similar to that of a prison or jail, and its purpose is to imprison some unknown ghosts or other beings.

Of course, this is just Jiang Xinghuo's speculation. There is another possibility, that is, this ancient house is just an ordinary house, and everything is just because of his active thinking.

However, Jiang Xinghuo was more inclined to his own guess.

Otherwise, there would be no need to make such a big effort to build an ordinary house, and to almost completely isolate it from the real space.

Jiang Xinghuo put away the eight-immortals table and the armchair and continued to search and explore in the main hall.

But this time he didn't find anything valuable. He looked around but ended up getting nothing.

"Do you want to continue to linger here?"

Jiang Xinghuo stayed in the main hall for more than ten minutes, triggering the subsequent text interaction options.

"You chose to leave the main hall."

"But you will face two corridors next, the left and right corridors. Which corridor do you want to explore first?"

"The corridor on the left is filled with a serene atmosphere. I can vaguely see a few locked houses, and there seem to be some red footsteps in the corner."

"The corridor on the right is also filled with silence, and there are several locked houses like the corridor on the left, but you can hear faint footsteps coming slowly from the other side of the corridor."

"Exile, which path will you choose to continue your adventure? Left or right, or will you take another path and just sit here and wait until dawn?"

The two roads gave three options. Jiang Xinghuo immediately became interested and thought that this was quite interesting. So, driven by curiosity, Jiang Xinghuo chose the third option and took a different approach. He sat in the main hall all night waiting for dawn to see what would happen.

"You chose to sit here and wait until dawn. You feel that you should not follow the rules and obey orders. Only by choosing a different path can you show your excellence."

"You walked to the armchair on the left, sat on it, closed your eyes, and quietly waited for dawn."

The content of the game text stopped abruptly, and no subsequent information popped up.

Jiang Xinghuo put down his phone, stretched, took a hot bath, and then went back to bed and fell asleep.

If there is anything, let’s talk about it after tomorrow morning.

However, Jiang Xinghuo did not sleep well that night. It was almost as if he had a nightmare.

First, he dreamed that the original Maitreya came with his disciples and beat him up in a big way. Then the dream changed and he was taken away by people from the Public Opinion Bureau and imprisoned, where he would live out his life in loneliness.

Then, he returned to the ancient town of Taiping. The old man in the ancestral hall, contrary to his usual behavior, attacked him viciously and wanted to take over his body.

Finally, he dreamed of an old house and himself sitting alone on an armchair.

There was a grand banquet around, with guests everywhere, but all the guests seemed not to be living people, but pale, cold corpses...

One bizarre dream after another made Jiang Xinghuo sleep very uneasy. He was rarely awakened from his sleep before dawn.

"It's really a ghost..."

Jiang Xinghuo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, took out his cell phone and checked the time. It was exactly three fifteen in the morning.

This hour was also called Yinshi in ancient times. It is the time when yin and yang alternate, the yin energy recedes and the yang energy has not yet been born. Therefore, it is also the time when it is easiest to see unclean things in folk legends.

Jiang Xinghuo naturally didn't think too much about those things. He just thought that he had those dreams because things were complicated recently.

But after he put down his phone and turned to look at the bedside table next to him, he suddenly froze there.

A rusty bronze oil lamp was lit beside his pillow at some point, emitting a faint light that enveloped his entire body just right.

"This lamp..."

Jiang Xinghuo's expression gradually became solemn. If it was just an ordinary oil lamp, it would be fine, but this lamp was the heirloom lamp he got from the Toad God.

It is said that it involves the mysterious power of time, and one can use this lamp to travel through time and space in the past and future...

(End of this chapter)