My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 678: Riddle Lantern and the Three-Five Hell Kings

"Where are you planning to go next?"

"Will you choose to excavate the ruins of the old world that the Three Ancestors discovered outside the pass? Or will you choose to explore the ruins left by the Beast Tamer Immortal? Or will you leave Guandong immediately and return to the Huaiyin Water Palace in the Jiangnan area?"

"Of course, you can also choose to stay in Guandong City and start a new adventure. Guandong City has unlocked many new maps. They are places you have never set foot on, and there may be many treasures hidden there."

"In addition, you can also go to Jiangnan City where Tai Sui God is located to complete the instructions and requests of Tai Sui Tianguan."

Jiang Xinghuo found the little Tai Sui and obtained something left by Tai Sui Tianguan from him, but a lot of interactive options popped up afterwards, giving him five answers to choose from, corresponding to different plot developments.

Go to the ruins of the old world deep in the mountains of Guandong, go to the ruins left by the beast-taming immortal, return to Huaiyin Water Palace, stay in Guandong City to explore the new map, and go to Jiangnan City to find the Tai Sui God.

These five options cover Jiang Xinghuo's future journey. No matter which answer he chooses first, he will not miss the remaining ones. It is just a matter of time. He first ruled out the option of staying in Kanto to explore the new map.

The map of Huaiyin Water Palace has not been fully explored, and I don’t have the energy to explore a new map. If I open a new map, it will just be left there.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo planned to wait until the maps and tasks in Jiangnan were completed before returning to Guandong to explore those new sub-maps.

As for the remaining four options, Jiang Xinghuo thought about them carefully.

He planned to first excavate the ruins left by the Beast Tamer Immortal, then return to Huaiyin Water Palace to explore the map in hand, and then go to Jiangnan to send Little Tai Sui over.

After finishing all these, the map of Jiangnan will probably be almost complete, and he will come back to explore the old secular ruins and the newly unlocked map of Guandong.

It will take at least two or three months to fully explore these maps. We’ll talk about where to go later.

After making up his mind, Jiang Xinghuo did not hesitate and chose to go directly to the ruins of the Beast Taming Immortal.

"You chose to explore the remains of the Beast Tamer Immortal."

"On the way, please wait..."

"You followed the map given to you by the deputy commander of the sticking rod department, crossed mountains and ridges, and came to the foot of a mountain with rugged trees. Looking up at the mountain, you saw only evil spirit rising to the sky. Even the clouds in the sky were dispersed by this invisible evil spirit, forming a sharp contrast with the surrounding sky."

"In this kind of evil-filled environment, there must be some extremely ferocious creatures living there. Maybe they are monsters left behind by the Beast Tamer Immortal, or maybe there are monsters like these in this mountain itself."

"What are you going to do next? Are you going to enter the ruins of the Beast Tamer Immortal in this mountain?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without hesitation. He had already come here, so how could he back down? He wanted to see what the Beast Tamer Immortal had left behind to see if there was anything he could use.

He remembered that the deputy commander of the Sticking Rod Department had said that within the ruins of the Beast Taming Immortal, there were monsters and treasures bred by the Beast Taming Immortal, but anyone who entered could only choose one monster.

If you are greedy and want to take more, not only will you fail to take those treasures, but you will lose your life and other treasures you find.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo secretly warned himself that when encountering the monsters trained by the Beast Taming Immortal, he should not make a hasty choice. It would not be too late to make a choice after finding out all the circumstances.

"You chose to enter this mountain that is filled with evil spirits."

"Although it is noon now, you feel cold all over after entering the mountain. Your body, mind and spirit have been greatly affected. Your reaction ability has also become relatively slow and hesitant. When facing a sudden attack, your reaction speed will be greatly reduced."

"You feel that in the shadows that the sun cannot reach, there seem to be many pairs of eyes staring at you, some of which are greedy and vicious, as if they want to skin you alive and stuff you into their stomachs for a feast."

"A grave-digging dog with red eyes finally couldn't help it and jumped out from a dry grave and bit your neck."

"Although your reaction ability has been greatly reduced, it is still more than enough to deal with this grave-digging dog. The innate ability of the Eight Diagrams was triggered, and the grave-digging dog just jumped up from the ground when it was engulfed by a ball of flame and turned into a pile of ashes in an instant."

"You have killed the gravedigger."

"You gained incense +100."

"You found an oval stone in the ashes of the gravedigger's body. It seems to be a product of the gravedigger's body. Do you want to pick it up and take a look?"

"You walked over and picked up the rock."

"You have earned it, the dog gem."

"Dog Gemstone (common material). Grave digging dogs have formed a crystal in their stomachs because they eat corpses all year round. It is powdery and not sandy. It is mainly used to treat chest and rib distension, gastric nausea, furuncles and other symptoms. After grinding it and taking it with wine, it can also induce vomiting in the user. It is listed as one of the three treasures of doctors along with Niuhuang Mabao."

Is this Goubao?
After reading the description of the game text, Jiang Xinghuo took the thing out and took a look at it.

He had only heard that dog treasure might form in the stomachs of some old dogs and could be used as a medicinal herb to treat stomach problems, but he had never seen it.

It looks about the same size as a goose egg, but its surface is full of loose pores and has a texture similar to that of volcanic rock.

Jiang Xinghuo took a look at it and threw it into his magic bag, thinking it might be useful in the future.

"You continue on your way..."

"The grave digging dog's fate of being burned to ashes frightened some evil spirits, but there are still many filthy creatures that are watching you from the shadows. I don't know why, but they didn't attack you immediately. Instead, they let out a gentle roar, forcing some of the possessed evil spirits to retreat, as if they were deliberately letting you into the mountains."

Seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo figured it out in his mind and roughly understood what was going on. These dirty things were probably not trying to pick peaches. Since they lived on this mountain, they must have some knowledge of the remains of the Beast Tamer Immortal, but due to some circumstances, they could not enter, so they set their sights on other people.

As long as someone can enter the ruins of the Beast Taming Immortal, they can wait and see, and when the other party comes out, they will snatch the things in his hands. It is nothing more than waiting for the rabbit to come to them.

Jiang Xinghuo was also happy about this. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it. But who is the mantis, who is the oriole, and who is the hunter depends on their abilities.

He had previously given out a lot of incense in order to deal with the ancestor Shou Chi, so he just took this opportunity to make some money back. No matter how small a mosquito leg is, it is still meat, and together they can amount to a considerable income.

"You followed the instructions on the map and came to the outside of the ruins. The map indicated the way to enter the ruins. You need to dig 36 pits of varying depths on the ground according to the directions of the 36 constellations of the Celestial Being, then dig water into them. You can then use the buoyancy of the water to open the gate."

"You followed the instructions on the map and dug thirty-six pits on the ground, then drew the water veins in the magic bag and injected them into them. You heard a mechanical sound, and suddenly an entrance appeared on the plain mountain wall. Do you want to enter?"

"You walked into the entrance, and the door behind you closed instantly. The earth pit outside returned to its original state, and even the weeds you dug returned to their original positions. Everything was as if nothing had ever happened."

"And just as you entered the mountain, the dim and dark mountain wall quietly lit up with fluorescence, illuminating the road ahead. You walked along the road under your feet and came to a fork in the road ahead. Looking at the two forks on the left and right, you fell into hesitation. Which fork do you plan to explore first?"

Another fork in the road.

Jiang Xinghuo frowned and thought for a while, then released the Bone-Eroding Dragon and the Drought Demon in the acupoints, then found two Taste-Sharing Taste Talismans and clicked to use them.

"You did not go to explore in person, but drove the Bone Dragon and the Drought Demon to explore the two forks. At the same time, you used the ability of sharing the same taste to share the same vision with the Drought Demon and the Bone Dragon."

In this way, Jiang Xinghuo will know where the two forks in the road lead to, and he doesn't have to take the risk himself. With the abilities of the Bone-Evolving Dragon and the Hanba, he can escape unscathed even if he encounters any danger. He can also put them directly back into the acupoints as long as the distance does not exceed a certain range.

"Hanba took the fork on the right, and Huagulong took the fork on the left. While you were sharing the vision, you were also thinking about the dangers that might be hidden on each road."

"Soon, Hanba came to the end of the fork on the right. It found a few things on the stone at the end of the fork. There was also a stone tablet next to it. Through Hanba's vision, you can see that the content written on the stone tablet is similar to what the deputy commander of the Sticking Rod Department said. It is a warning left by the Beast Tamer Immortal. You can only choose one of them and don't be greedy."

"At the same time, the Bone Dragon also came to the end of the fork on the left. There were also a few things placed on the stone, but you noticed that there seemed to be some scriptures and talismans drawn on the stone that you couldn't quite understand."

"Before you could use the vision of the Bone-Evolving Dragon to see those scriptures clearly, you saw a golden light flash across the scriptures on the stone, and a dozen Five Ding Mountain-Splitting Warriors appeared out of thin air. With just one strike, they severely injured the Bone-Evolving Dragon, and it retreated into your acupoint and fell into a deep sleep."

Ok?
Jiang Xinghuo was stunned. What does this mean? Those things have guardians?
"The Bone Dragon has retreated into your acupoint and fallen asleep. In order to avoid any more accidents, you have called back the Hanba as well. What do you plan to do now?"

"Would you choose to go to the left fork and meet those five mountain-opening warriors? Or would you choose to go to the right fork and see what's there?"

"Of course, if you are worried about the potential risks there, you can leave the ruins. The Beastmaster will not force you to stay here."

Three options, left, right, away.

Leaving is definitely not an option.

Then there are only two forks left.

Jiang Xinghuo thought about it and decided to go to the fork on the right first to see the things there, and then go to the fork near the mouth to study those mountain-opening warriors.

"You took the right fork."

"You followed the traces that Hanba had walked before and came to the end of this fork in the road. You found that there were actually some mechanisms hidden on this road. However, because Hanba's body temperature was too high, those mechanisms were not triggered in time. The key parts were damaged and melted by the high temperature, so you walked through this road safely."

Jiang Xinghuo secretly felt lucky. If he hadn't been careful and let Hanba step on the mines for him first, all the traps would have hit him.

"You come to the end of the road and see the things placed on the stone. Through the vision of Tathagatagarbha, you quickly understand the power and function of these things."

"The Beast Taming Ring (rare item), a taming item left by the Beast Taming Immortal. As long as you put the ring on the monster, you can drive the corresponding monster by pinching your fingers and chanting a spell."

"Willow Whip (rare item), a long whip made by the Beastmaster Immortal using Yellow Spring willow branches. It has a strong ability to restrain ghosts and monsters, but its effect on other monsters is halved."

"The riddle lantern (consumable item) can solve a puzzle for you. Just write the question on a piece of paper, throw it into the lantern and burn it to get the answer. However, sometimes you may not get an accurate answer to the question you ask, because some questions involve the secrets of the secular world, which are beyond the jurisdiction of the riddle lantern."

Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a while and roughly understood the meaning of the text.

It's like if you want to ask about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, you can use an ordinary calculator to figure it out, but if you want to ask a question about calculus, an ordinary calculator is not capable of doing that. Either you change to a more advanced calculation machine, or you change the question.

"Sanwu Yamawang (consumable item). By activating this item, you can summon the projection of Sanwu Yamawang in the underworld. The projection lasts for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the projection disappears automatically, but an anchor point will be left on you. You can also use this anchor point to summon the projection of Sanwu Yamawang again in the future. You just need to pay a price. This price is an unpredictable variable. It may be a stone on the side of the road, or it may be your ten years of life, or you may be able to summon Sanwu Yamawang by singing a song or dancing."

"There are only four items here. Which one do you choose as your reward?"

Tsk, Jiang Xinghuo looked at the four options provided in the text and ruled out the Beast Taming Ring and Willow Whip. The limitations of these two items were too great and there was some overlap with the abilities he possessed. There was no need to waste this opportunity.

As for the remaining two options, Jiang Xinghuo was a little embarrassed.

One is a lantern that can solve some puzzles, and the other is a magical tool that can summon the projection of the King of Hell.

Which one should I choose?

(End of this chapter)