My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 707 The Second Tombstone

After exploring the map of Xiaotianlao, it was already dawn. Apart from the corpses of those Taoist masters, Jiang Xinghuo only found some things left by the old master.

Apart from this, no other valuable props were found.

He originally wanted to study the bodies of those Taoist masters.

But after wandering there for a long time, no subsequent options were triggered. The function of Risui's projection was also greatly restricted there. It was impossible to activate the relevant abilities and transmit its own consciousness projection.

Jiang Xinghuo felt somewhat unwilling, because according to the game text, the Small Sky Prison would only be open to him this time. Even if he mastered the method of entering here, he could not enter the Small Sky Prison to explore again.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo planned to take this opportunity to explore the map thoroughly, but unfortunately the game text placed too many restrictions on him, and many unknown plots could not be triggered.

Even if Jiang Xinghuo was reluctant in his heart, he had no choice but to leave the Small Sky Prison and the Criminal Officer Hall and return to the lobby of the Ministry of Justice outside, as he could not trigger the subsequent plot.

"You have left, the Palace of the Judge."

"The Punishment Hall has sealed off your entry. You cannot enter the Small Prison again without the permission of the Lord of the Secular World."

"Where are you planning to go next?"

"The sun is rising, and the secular world has welcomed another beautiful and absurd day. It just so happens that today is the day of the temple fair in Beiping City, which is held in front of the Dongyue Temple outside the front gate. On this day every year, Beiping City will become unusually lively. Opera troupes and acrobatic clubs from all over the country will come here to entertain the crowd with their own special skills, adding another touch of good luck to the temple fair."

"Will you choose to go to the Dongyue Temple Fair outside Qianmen? Or will you choose to leave Beiping City and go somewhere else?"

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the two options given by the game, thought for a while, and finally chose to go to the Dongyue Temple Fair to take a look. In lively places like these, the plot triggering rate is definitely higher than normal places.

"You chose to go to Dongyue Temple."

"On the way, please wait..."

"You can see many citizens of Peking along the way, dragging their families to the Dongyue Temple. There are also vendors on both sides of the street calling out for goods. There is no sign of turmoil in the secular world. It seems that it is just like when the Lord of the Secular World ruled, the world was peaceful, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment."

"You mixed into the crowd on the street and learned from the conversations of several sedan chair bearers at weddings and funerals that the reason why Beiping City can still maintain superficial harmony and peace in the current chaotic world is all due to the master of life and death who occupies Beiping City."

"That master of life and death forcefully seized the ownership of Beiping City after the night of dawn. Although his power only covers Beiping City, the fact that he was able to occupy Beiping, which was once the center of worldly power, is enough to prove everything, both symbolically and practically."

"At the same time, you also learned from the words of these wedding and funeral bearers that the master of life and death has ten guardians under his seat, corresponding to the ten kinds of fate, 'good and bad fortune, prosperity and decline, suffering, plague, evil, disease, and disaster'. Every time the Dongyue Temple Fair is held, a guardian is offered with incense. The guardian offered this time is the eighth-ranked sick guardian."

"At that time, as long as you prayed sincerely in front of the statue, you could get the blessing of the sick guardian and eliminate the disease in your body. Because the ten guardians each possessed different blessing abilities, there were many believers in Beiping City."

Jiang Xinghuo narrowed his eyes slightly, remembering that when he was exploring in Peking, he discovered the identity of the Master of Life and Death from the corpse of the Nine Gates Supervisor. The other party was not an ordinary monster in the secular world, but the eldest son of the Lord of the Secular World, a true descendant of the Dragon, and perhaps the next Lord of the Secular World.

But the dragon son, who possessed such a prominent status, colluded with others and killed the Lord of the World at Dawn Night.

If Jiang Xinghuo had not explored the Small Sky Prison, he might have believed it firmly, thinking that the other party might have betrayed the Lord of the Secular World and killed him for some reason.

But now that he has discovered the corpses of those Dao masters in the Small Sky Prison, and he has inferred that the Lord of the Secular World is not dead, this matter is very questionable.

Since the Lord of the Secular World could put on a show with the old Grand Tutor and deceive those with ulterior motives, then it seems not impossible for him to put on a show with his own son and deceive the people of the secular world.

Especially after the night of dawn, the city of Beiping was occupied by this true dragon son. If his guess was correct, then the actual control of the city of Beiping should still be in the hands of the Lord of the Secular World.

“Is it all a show?”

Jiang Xinghuo couldn't help but mutter to himself, since it is a play, there must be an audience, but who are the audience?

Other masters?
Six heavenly ghosts and gods?

The people like Shanhejishizhenjun and Huangtianniangniang? ?
Or the ancient god in the starry sky?

Or some other creature?
Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a long time, and felt his mind was in chaos. In the end, he simply stopped thinking about those things. As long as he continued to play this game, he would naturally know all the truth.

"You have arrived at Dongyue Temple."

"The open square outside the temple is already crowded with people. Various opera troupes and acrobatic clubs are showing off their skills. However, in the middle of the square, there is an altar with a statue of Bing Taibao on it. A large amount of incense is lingering around the statue of Bing Taibao, and many believers are kneeling in front of it, bowing sincerely."

"You noticed that as these believers kowtowed, the disease in their bodies began to be gradually drawn out, and some of their chronic illnesses were cured. But at the same time, a force that was somewhat similar to incense, but completely different, also escaped from the bodies of these believers and flowed into the statue of the sick guardian."

"You have discovered the power of faith."

"This is the power of faith derived from the believers. It can be transformed into mana to enhance the cultivation of the gods the believers believe in. Do you want to try to secretly plunder some of the power of faith?"

With the idea of ​​giving it a try, Jiang Xinghuo chose yes, controlled the game character to snatch food from the tiger's mouth, and secretly stole some power of faith.

"You mixed the power of incense into the front of the altar and secretly stole a trace of faith. The statue of Bing Taibao suddenly opened its eyes and looked towards you keenly. However, due to the large number of people at the temple fair, Bing Taibao did not discover you, the culprit behind the scenes, and only dispersed the incense you mixed in around the altar."

"Do you want to keep trying?"

Jiang Xinghuo still chose yes, but the result was as expected. Bing Taibao discovered his behavior and hit him from a distance.

"You were attacked by a sicko."

"Although Bing Taibao has not found your location or trace, he can still attack you through the power of incense."

"Fortunately, your body has been transformed by the Lord of the Five Grains Reincarnation, and has long since evolved into a pure Five Grains Reincarnation body, so you were not harmed by the Five Blights Qi of the Sickness Guardian. On the contrary, you have developed a weak antibody against the Five Blights Qi."

"Your Five Grain Samsara Body's level has been increased by +1."

"The Five Disease Qi is the unique skill of Bing Taibao. It can inject the five disease qi of wind, heat, dampness, dryness and cold into the human body, thereby affecting the functions of the five internal organs of the human body." "You have now developed weak antibodies to the Five Disease Qi, which can slightly resist the damage caused by the Five Disease Qi."

"You have obtained the power of faith of Bing Taibao."

"The power of faith is generated automatically by believers. Not everyone can use it. Only the masters of the power of faith can perfectly absorb its essence. Even if others steal the power of faith, they cannot absorb it and turn it into their own magic power. It can only be used as material for certain rituals or formations."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't feel it was a pity, as it was free after all. He was just curious about what the power of faith was. According to the game text, no one except Bing Taibao could absorb it as magic power.

For the next whole day, Jiang Xinghuo spent all his time at the temple fair, and his game was half-idle. During the day, he was still busy with his own things. Until dusk, a sudden WeChat message interrupted Jiang Xinghuo's peace of mind.

The WeChat message was sent by Zhou Hui, the Tushan Fox who has been practicing Taoism for nearly three hundred years and is now the secretary of Chen Yuanchao, director of the Public Opinion Research Bureau.

There is also a photo attached.

Jiang Xinghuo opened WeChat, enlarged the photo and took a look, his eyes immediately fixed on it.

The photo shows a stone tablet.

To be more precise, it was a tombstone, full of traces of time. You could vaguely see cracks on it, as if it had been chopped by a knife or an axe. In the middle, there were a few large characters engraved like iron and silver hooks:

This is the tomb of the late father Jiang Gong, the old man Xinghuo.

Born on May 17th, Yi Hai year, died on May 17th, Bing Yin year.

Jiang Xinghuo said nothing, exited WeChat, opened the calendar on his phone, and flipped forward.

The year of Yi Hai, 1995.

May seventeenth.

This is Jiang Xinghuo's date of birth, no big deal.

He flipped back the perpetual calendar and saw the year Bingyin, 2046.

Jiang Xinghuo found the message Zhou Hui sent him a few days ago. The content of the inscription and the date of birth had not changed, but the year of death was different from before, from the Gengwu year in 2050 to the Bingyin year in 2046.

So, my death time has been advanced?

Not only did it not delay the death, but it made the death faster!

He could have lived to 55, but now, if nothing unexpected happens, he can only live to 50, and then he will be killed on May 17th of the lunar calendar, his birthday?

Moreover, looking at the traces of the tombstone on the photo, it seems that even after his death, he did not have a peaceful life. It is likely that someone wanted to dig up his grave and grind his bones to scatter his ashes.

The only thing that comforted him was that the inscription on the stele had not changed much, and it still read "The Tomb of the Late Eminent Father Jiang Gong Xinghuo", which meant that he was not without descendants, and at least there was a descendant to collect his body.

"What the hell is this?"

Jiang Xinghuo was a little depressed and called Zhou Hui, but the phone showed that it was out of service area. He then called Lin Tianshou, but still no one answered.

He looked at his phone, hesitating whether to call Jiang Miaozhen to ask, but finally gave up the idea.

The situation is still unclear now, and we don’t know what exactly happened. It’s not clear where these two tombstones were dug out from. We should go to the Public Opinion Bureau first to see what’s going on, and then decide what to do.

But when he arrived at the headquarters of the Public Opinion Survey Bureau, he learned from the staff that the director and several team leaders were not there. They said they were on a secret mission and took away all the elite members of the bureau, leaving only two to watch over the place. They had been gone for more than half a month.

Jiang Xinghuo returned empty-handed and his trip was in vain, but he also learned a piece of news: the two tombstones engraved with his name were most likely something that the Public Opinion Bureau dug out from somewhere while carrying out this secret mission.

As for where it was dug out, perhaps we will only know the answer after they come back.

Afterwards, Jiang Xinghuo stopped thinking about these trivial things and focused on the game again.

He just didn't believe it. Even if he was destined to die, he had to give it a try. The stronger he became, the lower the chance of death would be.

"When you were wandering around and exploring the Dongyue Temple Fair, you suddenly heard a scream not far away, and saw a wine-making woman shouting that her child was lost. Do you want to go over and see what happened?"

"You walked over to the wine-making woman and learned the whole story. It had just been visiting the temple fair with its child, and an old beggar came over. It gave the old beggar a bowl of wine to fill its stomach, but the old beggar just patted it on the head, and it fainted. When it regained consciousness, the child and the money box were gone. It didn't matter if the money box was lost, but the child was its lifeblood. If it was lost, it would have no hope of living."

"These beggars and human traffickers are not uncommon in the secular world, and the methods they use are similar. Do you want to help this poor winemaker find her child?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without thinking too much.

"You look around and see that the temple fair is packed with people and vendors of all kinds. Finding a lost child is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"You have triggered the great collection of folk stories and strange stories."

"You remember reading in this book that after kidnapping children and women, the beggars would disguise them, usually using illusion or animal creation, because these beggars can't learn advanced techniques. Perhaps you can try to start from this aspect."

"You have triggered the Tathagata's talent."

"You found a mutton soup stall not far away, with fresh mutton slaughtered right on the spot, and several fresh lambs tied in bamboo baskets."

"You discovered through the vision of Tathagata that those lambs that looked like livestock were actually the abducted children. Also, there was something else about that bamboo basket. It seemed to be a specially made magic tool that could make people ignore the lambs inside."

"Do you want to go over and tear off the other person's disguise?"

(End of this chapter)