My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 703 Conspiracy
"What are you going to do now?"

"Do you want to collect the remains of Cheshan Gong so that he will no longer suffer humiliation from the Hunting King God?"

Jiang Xinghuo was about to choose yes, but unexpectedly, just as he was about to press the option, a new game text suddenly popped up.

"You have triggered the Qilin Blessing."

"Your luck talent and event triggering rate are temporarily improved."

"You found that there seemed to be some ancient gold inscriptions engraved on the statue of the Hunting God. Do you want to decipher it and see what is written on it?"

"You have activated the effect of the Longtan Inkstone."

"You have deciphered the gold inscriptions on the statue of the Hunting God."

"Those bronze inscriptions also record events that happened in the past, but the difference is that the content recorded on the statue of the Hunting King God and the content recorded on the skeleton by Che Shangong are actually two completely different stories."

"According to the information left by the Hunter King God, in ancient times, it and Che Shangong were both disciples of Zongbu God. Together, they fought against those ancient gods from outer space who attempted to occupy the earth. But when the war was in full swing, Che Shangong suddenly betrayed Zongbu God and defected to those ancient gods from outer space, stabbing Zongbu God and his other comrades in the back. As a result, Zongbu God's body was destroyed and his soul was exiled to the land of nothingness, where he could never leave."

"Later, the Hunting King God found Che Shangong and abolished his Taoism. He chained him in front of the Zongbu Temple to punish Che Shangong for his betrayal. The Hunting King God's statue was also used for punishment. As long as the statue is still there, Che Shangong will not be able to break free of it until the day his life comes to an end."

Ok?
When Jiang Xinghuo saw this text, he immediately raised his eyebrows and thought it was really interesting.

The Hunting King God and Che Shangong accused each other of being traitors. Che Shangong said that he was framed and imprisoned here. The Hunting King God said that Che Shangong was a traitor, so he trapped him here to atone for his sins.

So which of these two people is telling the truth?
Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with any clue, so he had to put this question aside for the time being and planned to enter the Zongbu Temple to find out what was going on.

As for who is the traitor between Cheshan Gong and Liewang God, it is easy to identify. As long as we pass the altar of Zongbu God and go to the resting place of Zongbu God's soul, the result will be self-evident.

"You go around the statue of the Hunting King God and head straight to the Zongbu Temple in front of you. This ancient temple has been silent here for countless years. Your arrival has awakened the temple again. The door slowly opens a gap, just enough for you to pass through. Do you want to explore the darkness behind the door?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without hesitation and directly controlled the character to enter the Zongbu Temple.

"When you walk into the Zongbu Temple, the ancient wild atmosphere immediately fills your surroundings. In the dim hall, there are countless stone tablets standing. Each stone tablet is engraved with the legend of Zongbu God in the past, and also symbolizes the inheritance of each Zongbu God."

"But at this moment, the stone tablet closest to you suddenly flashed with dazzling light, and a colorful tiger suddenly jumped out of the stone tablet and pounced on your body. It came to you in the blink of an eye, and bit your head with its bloody mouth, leaving you no chance to resist."

"You came to your senses from your trance and found yourself still standing there, unharmed, as if what just happened was just a dream. However, the pain of your head being bitten off still left you with lingering fears. You subconsciously looked at the stone tablet, which was engraved with a picture of the hunting god subduing a tiger."

"This is also a legend about the Zongbu God. The tiger was not an ordinary wild beast in the mountains, but a mountain king bred by the dragon veins and earth energy. It can be said to be the mountain god of the entire Guandong Mountains. However, it has an extremely cruel personality and enjoys devouring the flesh and blood of innocent creatures. In the end, it was killed by Zongbu God himself, and the mountain king's body was buried underground to nourish the dragon veins of the Guandong Mountains."

"And the method that Zongbu God used to subdue and kill the mountain king is also called the Tiger Subduing Technique. It is specifically used to deal with tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves in the mountains. It can often kill those powerful monsters with the smallest of weapons."

"But if you want to inherit this Tiger Subduing Technique, you must pass the test of the stone tablet and kill the remaining mountain king's thoughts in the stone tablet. Otherwise, you will not be able to learn the specific content of the Tiger Subduing Technique."

After reading the content of this game text, Jiang Xinghuo finally understood what was going on. It turned out that if he wanted to obtain the inheritance of the God Zongbu, he had to pass the test of these stone tablets.

Jiang Xinghuo was clear about his own abilities and skills. He could handle ordinary monsters and demons, but it was sheer wishful thinking for him to deal with these ghosts and monsters from ancient times. Even if these monsters were just a wisp of remnant and far from being the big monsters in their heyday, it would not be easy for him to pass the test with his own abilities.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xinghuo took out the lucky incense from his magic bag and lit three sticks in a row to improve his luck and event triggering rate.

"You continue to explore the main hall and find that the clay statue of Zongbu God has been broken. It may be because no one has taken care of it for too long. Do you want to try to repair it? Maybe you can get some unexpected gains from it?"

Jiang Xinghuo naturally would not choose to refuse. Ever since he experienced the incident at the Goddess of Childbirth Temple, he has been keeping Guanyin soil, rootless water, cinnabar pigment and other things used to color robes in his magic bag. These things are not worth much anyway, and they do not take up space in the magic bag, saving him the trouble of going back to the map to buy them when he needs them.

"Do you want to use the Guanyin soil and rootless water to repair the damaged Zongbu god clay statue?"

"You walked over and used the materials in your hand to repair the clay statue. Soon the damaged parts were restored to their original state. However, you found that the clay statue had not changed at all. It was still lifeless and without any spiritual energy."

"Moreover, when the soil in the repaired area dries up, it automatically falls off from the gap and cannot be combined with the clay statue at all. This may be because the rootless water has no spiritual energy, so the statue cannot be repaired. Perhaps you can try to use your own blood, which may give the clay some spirituality. Do you want to do this?"

Jiang Xinghuo pondered, he had already performed 108 prostrations, was this last one still necessary?
"You cut your wrist and mixed your blood into the clay. When you used the rootless water to repair the clay statue again, the clay seemed to have really turned into flesh and blood, and it blended perfectly into the cracks of the clay statue, completely repairing the statue of God Zongbu." "With the nourishment of the spiritual energy of your blood, God Zongbu's soul also revived briefly and descended on the statue, but it can't talk to you, and it can't stay in the secular world for a long time. Fortunately, you have the altar it left behind, indicating that you can go to the resting place of its soul through the altar, and then it will naturally show up to talk to you."

"Do you want to use the altar of the Zongbu God?"

"You took out the altar of the Zongbu God, gathered soil to make a furnace, and inserted grass to make incense, thus activating the altar."

"You only feel smoke in front of your eyes, and the surrounding environment becomes dim and soon becomes pitch black, as if you have come to a deserted wilderness. A small path stretches forward in a rugged manner. There are many candles placed on the wilderness on both sides, but most of them have been extinguished. Only a few are still burning. But even those candles that are still burning are like candles in the wind, shaky and may go out at any time."

"Although you don't know what these candles are for, when you see them, an idea flashes through your mind and you understand the purpose and meaning of these candles."

"It turns out that these candles are the symbol of the inheritance of Zongbu God's lineage. Each candle represents a successor. Those candles that are extinguished are dead, and those that are still burning represent that they are still alive. At the same time, these candles are also treasures of Zongbu God's lineage. All disciples of Zongbu God's lineage can transfer damage through the blessing method, but it will also accelerate the burning of the candles. When the candles are completely burned out, it will be the day of death, and the soul will not enter the underworld, but will be attracted to this void by the candles. There may be a chance to revive again in the future."

"This is the only thing that Zongbu God can do in his current state. He cannot bestow more protection and blessings on his disciples. He can only give them a chance to recover. However, whether he can really return to the secular world is still unknown."

"You walked forward along the path. The candles that were still burning began to sway slightly, as if to welcome you. After walking an unknown distance, you saw a statue. It was the statue of the god Zongbu, sitting on the plain in the wilderness."

"The soul of Zongbu God has revived in the statue, and a vast force has descended upon you, healing the injury on your hand and improving your cultivation."

"The voice of Zongbu God came from the statue. No one has come here for a long time. It originally wanted to rely on the power accumulated from years of sleep to make Zongbu Temple reappear and then attract more disciples. Unexpectedly, you found the temple hidden underground before the temple appeared."

"You have also asked the question in your heart, which is who betrayed the Zongbu God back then, was it Cheshan Gong or the Hunter King God?"

“But the Zongbu God cannot answer your question, because he has no idea who betrayed him. He only knows that someone attacked him from behind, which led to his body being destroyed by the ancient god from outer space, and his soul being exiled to this void. He can only come here through the altar, but he cannot leave here.”

"But one thing is certain, that is, the person who betrayed it must be someone closest to it, otherwise it would not be so defenseless."

"You learned from your conversation with Zongbu God that it was banished here not because those ancient gods were soft-hearted, but because its path sign was not destroyed. Therefore, those ancient gods could not kill it and could only banish it here to minimize its influence in the outside world. At the same time, they killed all the disciples of its lineage."

"The way Zongbu God set up his mark was to teach and spread the legend. His disciples are spread all over the secular world. Even after so many years, his disciples are still alive. This is why he can persist until now."

"After it was exiled here, the Zongbu God lineage in the secular world was hunted down and almost extinct. Fortunately, Lingshen entered this place and obtained its inheritance. He accepted a large number of disciples for it to maintain the Dao. However, after so many years, most of those disciples died or were injured. Although some of them are still alive in the secular world, they are much fewer in comparison. That's why it wants to drive the Zongbu Temple into the world."

"You have learned about the plan of Zongbu God. As long as there are enough people who inherit his unique skills, then no matter what race the other party comes from or what their purpose is, as long as they obtain a legacy, even if they are his disciples, the Dao Mark will become more stable."

“However, in order to prevent those unique skills from being mistakenly passed on to bandits or being snatched away by those six-day ghosts and gods, the inheritance on the stone tablets in the temple was also tampered with by Zongbu God, leaving fatal flaws. As long as the origin mark is activated, those people can be easily killed.”

"The Zongbu God cannot leave here. It wants to give this origin mark to you. Are you willing to accept it?"

Jiang Xinghuo's eyebrows suddenly raised, thinking that this was a bit wrong. He had never met Zong Bu Shen before, and he was not a disciple of their lineage. Why did they want to give him the Mark of Origin when they first met?
He couldn't figure out why the other party did this, and instinctively felt that there was some conspiracy involved.

"You rejected the will of Zongbu God, which means that you are not talented enough to receive the origin mark. You should wait for someone who meets the requirements to come and then give the mark to him."

"The Zongbu God didn't force you to accept this mark. He also said that he has a unique skill and hopes you can pass it on. Otherwise, it will be trapped here and unable to get out, and this unique skill will be lost."

"You have obtained the Secret Book of the Hunter's Nerve."

"An ancient animal skin appeared in front of you, with the words 'Hunter's Nerve' written on it in gold characters, but your Tathagata-garbha saw a problem."

"Although the words 'Hunter's Nerve' are written on this animal skin, the actual content is the Soul Dispersion Technique. Once you practice the content on it, your soul will gradually dissipate, leaving only an empty shell. At that time, any dead soul can occupy your body."

"God Zongbu said that this volume of the Hunter's Nerve is the essence of his practice. It is extremely difficult and obscure to get started, but it is extremely powerful. It can help you get started with practice, guide you to avoid many detours, and allow you to practice here immediately."

"What are your options next?"

"Will you choose to tear off the disguise of Zongbu God, or continue to play along with it?"

(End of this chapter)