My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 493 The Dead Taoist

"Do you want to stop the paper man outside from doing this?"

Two options appeared in front of Jiang Xinghuo. After thinking for a while, Jiang Xinghuo chose to go over and open the door.

If he still chooses to pretend to be deaf and dumb, the paper man outside the door will probably continue to hit him, and there is no telling when it will stop. So, instead of wasting time with it, it is better to just wait and see what it wants to do.

"Are you sure you want to open the door to the Grain Wheel House?"

"This House of Five Grains Samsara is the painstaking construction of the Lord of Five Grains Samsara. The materials used and the construction techniques are all well thought out. Not only can it be guaranteed not to be disturbed by external rules, but the overall construction is also as solid as a rock. With just the paper man outside, even if it hits for three days and three nights, it cannot shake this house at all. You can hide in the house and ignore the movement outside. Do you still insist on opening the door of the House of Five Grains Samsara?"

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the content of the text and felt a little surprised. This was the first time in the history of the world that the game copywriter did not trick him. Instead, he advised him not to leave the House of the Five Grains Reincarnation. Did he change his personality?
Eh! That's not right!!
Jiang Xinghuo quickly realized that something was wrong.

According to the historical background setting of the game, the Exiles are a race that is spurned and cursed by the secular world. The world's attitude towards players is even worse, and they wish that everyone would suddenly die. How could they be so kind as to think about him?

unless……

The benefits of walking out of the Grain Reincarnation House far outweigh the benefits of hiding in this house, so the game copywriter kept tempting him to stay here. It was a close call! He almost fell into the trap of this green tea bag! !
Jiang Xinghuo was not sure if he was overthinking, but with the attitude of "better to be wronged than to let off the hook", he chose to open the door without hesitation and walked outside the Five Grains Samsara House.

As for what kind of plot will be triggered later, it is no longer within his consideration now.

"You opened the door of the Five Grains Samsara House, and the paper figures outside stopped ramming around frantically. Instead, they stood there motionless, with a white paper lantern in their hands, motioning for you to take it. Do you want to take the lantern from the paper figures?"

Two options, yes or no.

Jiang Xinghuo directly chose yes. He had already left the House of the Five Grains Reincarnation, so why was he still being so pretentious? The worst that could happen was that he would just die.

"You took the white paper lantern from the paper man's hand, and the dim phosphorescent light shone out, dimly illuminating the surrounding environment."

"You have obtained the White Lantern."

"White Happy Lantern (common item). According to the Folk Customs Magazine, there are many funeral customs among the people. Those who die over the age of 90 are all buried with a happy ceremony, and the funeral supplies used are slightly different. The White Happy Lantern is one of them. It has the effect of slightly soothing the emotions of the dead soul. At the same time, the phosphorescent light released by the White Happy Lantern can also reveal some traces that are difficult to detect with the naked eye."

"You looked around carefully with the white lantern in your hand, and found a lot of messy footprints on the ground. It seems that the traces spread from the backyard. What are you going to do next?"

"Would you like to go to the front yard to investigate? Or would you like to go to the ancestral temple in the backyard to find out what's going on? Or would you like to go back to the Five Grains Samsara House and temporarily hide for tonight?"

This time, the game gives three options: the patio in the front yard, the ancestral temple in the backyard, and the Grain Reincarnation House.

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a while, read the description in the text again, and finally chose to go to the patio outside.

If nothing goes wrong, there should be something there, waiting for me to discover and explore.

"You chose to go to the main hall outside."

"You held the white lantern to dispel the darkness ahead, and soon arrived at the main hall outside. In the empty main hall, you saw two benches that had been set up at some point, with an uncovered coffin resting steadily on them."

Jiang Xinghuo narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking that this plot had finally been triggered. The person lying in the coffin should be the owner of this ancient house, right? ?

But it’s hard to say. According to what the Lord of the Five Grains Reincarnation left in his notes, if one wants to uncover the secrets hidden in this ancient house, they can only find the owner of this ancient house.

If the person lying in the coffin was the owner of the ancient house, this eerie ancient house would have been unlocked long ago, and he would not have come here to make trouble.

At this time, new game interactions also popped up on the screen.

"Do you want to go over to that coffin and take a closer look?"

"You walked to the coffin and looked inside. You saw a shriveled corpse lying inside. Its grayish-white skin was covered with corpse spots. It looked like it had been dead for many years."

"You opened the Tathagatagarbha in your right eye, hoping to use the Tathagatagarbha's innate ability to analyze all things to further identify the identity and origin of this corpse."

"But to your disappointment, Tathagata Zang did not see any information, only a vague piece of writing..."

"You feel your vision getting blurrier and your head getting a little dizzy. A wave of drowsiness hits you like a tide, and you pass out completely."

"When you woke up again, you were awakened by suffocation. Yellow straw paper soaked in water was being pasted on your face. Your nostrils were completely blocked by the yellow paper. You felt that it was difficult to breathe. You gasped and wanted to tear off the yellow paper on your face, but a cold hand held you down. In a trance, an old voice of comfort seemed to ring in your ears, saying, "Hush, relax, it will be fine in a while. When all the paper is pasted, you will feel comfortable and no longer uncomfortable."

"After a cup of tea, your face was completely covered with yellow paper. There was no movement at all. Only a pile of damp yellow paper with a faint imprint of your face was left."

"You are dead."

It’s so numb!

Jiang Xinghuo cursed in his heart that this pervert would not let him die in peace and had to use this method of getting promoted. He would get revenge later.

Then, Jiang Xinghuo found the scapegoat in the inventory, clicked on it and selected it to use. It came to life outside the patio of the ancient house. In this way, he became a living hero again.

"You were resurrected in the courtyard of the old house. Looking at the scarecrow with a dead face covered with yellow paper on the ground, you couldn't help but feel a little scared..."

"This torture method originated from the inner court of the palace. It uses rough yellow paper soaked in water to stick on people's faces. After sticking layer by layer, it will suffocate people to death in a short time. The pain and torture during death are unbearable for ordinary people. But the advantage is that it does not leave any damage on the surface of the body. As the saying goes: no punishment for scholars and officials. This method is one of the punishments for dealing with scholars and officials."

"You just experienced this kind of death. It's really not that pleasant. What are you going to do next?"

"Are you going to burn the coffin with the body inside? Or are you going to go over and study the body carefully?"

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the text of the game, frowned slightly, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He didn't even know how he died just now. If he went there again, he might still be doomed. But if he just destroyed the corpse and the coffin, he would be a little unwilling in his heart.

After some thought.

Jiang Xinghuo decided to go over and do some more research to see if he could find any clues or details to help him break the impasse.

"You walked to the side of the coffin again. Although the corpse inside did not change, you keenly noticed that the hands of the corpse were slightly wet, and there were yellow straw paper scraps on the fingertips. It seemed that the person who just killed you was the deceased lying in the coffin."

"At the same time, that familiar feeling of dizziness came again. Fortunately, you were prepared this time and used the Medicine Fairy Gourd to recover your strength in time, avoiding fainting on the spot. I also found a row of footprints extending to the backyard among the messy footprints left on the ground. Do you want to go and take a look?"

Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't expect that after escaping a disaster, he would actually trigger a new interactive option.

"Carrying a white lantern, you followed the footprints and came to the east wall of the ancestral hall in the backyard. You found that a brick in the corner of the wall was alive and seemed to be able to be taken out. Do you want to give it a try?"

"You moved the brick in the corner and found a yellowed ancient book hidden inside. Do you want to take it out?"

"You have obtained the fragments of the complete book of Eight Characters Yin Yang Secret Art and Feng Shui."

"The fragment of the complete book of the Eight Characters Yin Yang Feng Shui Secret Art (common item), a book of metaphysical books that records the Yin Yang Feng Shui Secret Art. It records many common funeral customs among the people. Whether it is academic history or practical application, this secret art is of great help."

"Do you want to use this item?"

As soon as Jiang Xinghuo saw the description in the text, he immediately understood that this book was most likely a tool to break the deadlock, so he chose to use it immediately.

"You have used the Complete Book of Eight Characters, Yin Yang, and Feng Shui Secret Techniques (Incomplete)."

"You have mastered some of the contents of the Eight Characters Yin Yang Feng Shui."

"You search your mind for funeral customs and find that the body outside is completely contrary to traditional funeral customs."

"According to folk customs, after a person dies, they should be wrapped in a brocade blanket, with copper coins in their mouths, and dressed in funeral clothes before being placed in the coffin. The posture of the coffin is of utmost importance. Only when the head is inside and the feet are outside can the soul of the deceased leave peacefully."

"But the body in the coffin outside goes against folk customs and can easily cause some bad omens."

"Do you want to go over and make it right?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without much thought. Things had already developed to this point, could there be any worse outcome?
It's over if you act recklessly!!
"You returned to the courtyard again, using the Medicine Fairy Gourd to refresh yourself and put the body in the coffin in the correct position."

"At this time, you found that the corpse in the coffin had also changed. The spots on its body began to fade gradually, and its old face returned to its original appearance. It looked like it was sleeping soundly."

"You have triggered the Tathagata's talent."

"You observe the body again through the vision of Tathagatagarbha, and the identity information of the body quickly appears before your eyes."

"You have found the body of the Taoist master."

"The corpse of a Taoist priest (special). The remains of the corpse left by the Taoist priest after his death. Because a taboo was violated during the burial, the soul of the deceased cannot be freed and can only wander in this ancient house, gradually wasting time over the long years."

Um? ?

When Jiang Xinghuo saw this, he was stunned. What did the game text mean? Could it be that the spirit of the Taoist master was still in the ancient house?
"You opened the Six Heavens Ghost Eyes and looked around, but you didn't find anything unusual in the front yard. Do you want to look somewhere else?"

Jiang Xinghuo opened the Six Heavens Ghost Eye in his heart, wanting to use the power of these eyes to see if the soul of the Taoist priest was still wandering here.

Since there was no result before, Jiang Xinghuo set his sights on the backyard. In the entire ancient house, the most evil place was the ancestral hall, and he planned to take another walk around there.

"You came to the ancestral hall in the backyard. The difference from the previous time is that the ancestral hall that appeared in your eyes this time has completely changed. A proctor covered with yellow talismans appeared in front of you."

"And inside this prison, there is a rotten corpse. It looks like it has been dead for many years."

"Suddenly, you felt footsteps behind you, and saw a figure walking out of the darkness. It was the legendary Taoist who had died many years ago."

"Do you want to talk to him?"

Jiang Xinghuo's heart skipped a beat. It seemed that his guess was correct. The owner of this ancient house was the legendary Taoist priest.

"Through your communication with the Taoist priest, you learned about the past events that happened here."

"He built this ancient house to imprison a powerful enemy. That powerful enemy was the most powerful enemy he had ever encountered in his life, and was also one of the driving forces behind the destruction of the last secular civilization."

"The Taoist priest placed this ancient house in the cracks of time based on his own laws. He also used the power of time controlled by the laws to imprison the powerful enemy in countless time periods in the past and future, hoping to slowly and completely destroy him with the power of time."

"But the price of doing so is that he will be imprisoned in countless time periods. The corpse outside is just one of them. In this way, even if this world lasts forever, as long as the concept of time still exists, he and the powerful enemy will not be able to break free and will be trapped in the cracks of time forever."

"The ancestral hall you see now is just a fragment of countless time periods. You cannot stay here for a long time, otherwise you will be easily caught up in the turbulence of time and get lost in it forever."

“However, the Taoist who passed down the world saw that you possessed the power of the Origin Dao Mark and the Tomb Dao Mark, so he gave you the clues related to these two powers.”

"You are too weak now, and you have no ability to get involved in this matter. Perhaps, only when you successfully build the beacon, you can help him..."

(End of this chapter)