The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

"Lü Wenjun!!" Mingxiao jumped up and down.

"Senior, where is your bravery? All I see is a super coward who's scared and wants to go home as soon as she stands at the entrance of the haunted house!"

Old Master Hades was speechless: "You, a disciple of the Jade Immortal, are actually afraid of ghosts..."

"I'm not afraid of spirits, I just get creeped out by those inexplicable, insidious, and harmful things!"

“We ordinary people call this being afraid of ghosts,” said Lü Wenjun.

Mingxiao covered her ears: "I don't care! I'm not going, I'm not going!!"

"This person is starting to throw a tantrum! How old are you anyway? Stop acting like a little elementary school girl going to a haunted house for the first time, okay?"

Hades looked at Lü Wenjun with a kind gaze: "Young man, you seem like a brave magician. If you can successfully pass through this haunted house, I will reward you handsomely..."

“I’ve come this far, there’s no reason for me to go back…” Lu Wenjun scratched his head. “But is this thing really that scary? There are so many ghosts in the Myriad Spirits Palace, and not a single one of them has made it through?”

“The fear of the dead is different from that of the living!” Hades said solemnly. “It has seized upon the common weakness of all souls; the deceased are destined to fail to pass through it.”

Lu Wenjun became even more curious: "And what about you? Of course, I'm just asking out of curiosity and have no intention of offending you. Does someone like you, the King of the Underworld, also have fears?"

Hades' face turned ashen, and even the three heads carved beside him seemed to show pity. He sighed and said, "That's what I thought at first too, but when I entered the haunted house, I realized I was completely wrong. Deep inside that house, I actually saw..."

He closed his eyes tightly, his brows furrowed, and groaned:

"My wife is having an affair, my child is rebelling, my mother-in-law is causing trouble again, I'm suddenly sick with a minor illness worth hundreds of thousands of magic coins, some shady characters have stolen treasures from the underworld, heinous souls have escaped to the earth, Zeus is bragging about his affair at a family gathering, Typhon, the Titans, and Heracles are attacking Mount Olympus, and I wake up back two thousand years in the past where everyone lives by faith except me, who has no believers..."

"How terrifying! Seriously, how terrifying!!"

"I tried three times but still couldn't make it." Hades clutched his chest, watching as the test neared its end. "This isn't a facility for middle-aged or elderly gods... You young people, try harder..."

Keke whimpered twice with sympathy, then pushed the stuffy Hades aside to sit quietly, occasionally casting expectant glances at him. Lu Wenjun felt rather embarrassed by the dog's stare, so he steeled himself and said, "Then, senior, why don't you wait at the door for a while? I'll go in and try."

"Huh?" Mingxiao exclaimed in shock, "You...you're really going?"

"You think everyone's as cowardly as you?" Hisamitsu scoffed. "Come on, nerd. Forget that loser, let's go to the haunted house!"

Lu Wenjun had only taken two steps when his arm was grabbed again. Mingxiao pulled him in front of her, looking anxious: "How can you fight alone in a place like this? You should come with your senior."

"Senior, I'm really touched. But in this position, I feel like I'm your human shield."

"Just kidding, what can your delicate skin do for me... By the way, you must have brought some exorcism spells with you today, right?" Mingxiao asked expectantly.

"The spring-legged pumpkin lantern, the giant killer, is the same old three tricks."

Mingxiao screamed, "Why is it always the same old routine?! Aren't you a descendant of immortals? Why don't you exorcise the ghosts?!"

"Immortals and Taoist priests are different, unlike Taoist priests."

Lu Wenjun pushed open the door of the haunted house, only to find himself standing at the end of a narrow corridor. The corridor resembled a hotel passageway, with tightly closed doors on both sides. A notice sat on a small wooden table to his right:

Visitor Guidelines

As he looked at the notice, dry laughter automatically echoed in the corridor.

"Welcome to Stiller Cooper's Infinite Fear Horror House. This facility features an infinite number of frights, designed to provide players with a tailor-made scare experience through an infinite combination of possibilities. Please enjoy..."

"It sounds like a super cheap street stall..." Hisamitsu said.

"To enhance the spooky atmosphere, minor physical or psychological injuries may occur during the ride. If you are concerned about this, please leave in advance..."

Lu Wenjun couldn't help but exclaim, "Physical injuries?! This is the first time I've ever heard of getting injured while playing in a haunted house!"

"Furthermore, the difficulty of this facility is dynamically adjusted based on the player's skill level. We sincerely recommend that magicians using the doll form accept the organizer's spell restrictions, otherwise the haunted house will automatically adjust to the legendary difficulty, which is extremely dangerous for players of the alternate legend level."

Mingxiao pouted: "I accept!"

Three crimson halos enveloped her before disappearing. Cooper's voice continued, "Thank you for your understanding. Now, please provide the pseudonym you used in the game..."

The paper floated up, and Mingxiao wrote "Ji Chuanjun" in annoyance. Lü Wenjun followed suit and wrote "Pex Bill".

Cooper chuckled softly.

"Thank you. Well then..."

"Mr. Lü Wenjun, Ms. Mingxiao, and Ms. Jingyue Jiuguang, I hope you three enjoy yourselves to the fullest!"

The paper instantly turned black, the previously written pseudonym twisted and became the blood-red handwriting of the real name. Then, blood-red handprints reappeared like a stamp, densely covering the entire paper!

"Alas-!"

Mingxiao was so frightened that she slapped the paper to ashes. Lü Wenjun said expressionlessly, "Senior, to be honest, you're much scarier than this haunted house itself..."

"What the hell?! How does this thing know my name?!"

“Just add some eavesdropping devices around, it’s a simple trick.” Lu Wenjun casually picked a door and opened it. “Anyway, don’t panic. The worst thing about playing in a haunted house is losing your composure. It’s just some small mechanisms, staff dressed as ghosts, and a few targeted illusions. How scary can it really be…”

“But how did he know my name?” Hisamitsu muttered.

Lu Wenjun didn't answer the question; he also found the matter rather strange. He cautiously looked around to make sure there were no small zombies, giant spiders, or any jumping ghosts lurking nearby before walking behind the door.

Behind the door was a Victorian-era drawing room, with blue flames burning in the fireplace, small black insects crawling behind the tattered wallpaper, and a strange doll with a princess-style hairstyle sitting on the sofa. Mingxiao glanced at it and began to mutter uneasily, clinging tightly to Lü Wenjun's arm.

"Sister, the real show hasn't even started yet and you're already scaring yourself to death," Hisamitsu said.

"You, you, you're just talking without understanding the situation. This kind of place is really scary... Wenjun, where do you want to go? Hold my hand and don't wander off..."

Lu Wenjun tried very hard to hold back his laughter. He now understood why books recommended going to haunted houses for dates—it felt so good to be relied on by a terrified girl…and even better when that girl was someone who usually protected you!

Mr. Cooper, you've built a wonderful haunted house! You've done a truly meritorious deed!

To divert Mingxiao's attention, he spoke up: "What effect did the restraint he just gave you have?"

“There’s no limit to the amount of effort I can exert, but there’s a limit to the number of uses. I can only use the spell three times in total…” Mingxiao pursed his lips. “I think we should retreat first. Once my main body comes down, I’ll unleash a powerful attack and turn this hellhole upside down…”

The sofa suddenly moved.

"what--!!!"

"Senior, calm down! It's just a regular scary trap. Don't waste your spell opportunities here!!"

Lu Wenjun managed to stop Mingxiao from throwing a fireball, and saw the doll on the sofa roll off, revealing a line of small characters where it had been:

Are you captivated by it?

"What kind of nonsense is this?" Hisamitsu commented. "It's scary but doesn't even have a meaningful sentence. It would be better to just write 'redrum'."

"You're talking about The Shining, thank you..."

Lu Wenjun looked at the small print and felt something was off. The crooked, childish handwriting looked like a child's. Writing something insignificant in such a place wasn't like Cooper's style. If it wasn't a slap in the face, then it must be a hint at what was to come.

But what was he trying to express? And whose scare box was this aimed at? He couldn't figure it out, and only felt a strange sense of unease.

Mingxiao tugged at him: "I said Wenjun, let's go first, this place feels creepy."

"Alright, let me open the door and check first..."

He looked away, strode across the living room, and pushed open the door to the room on the opposite side.

The door won't open.

He turned his head and found that the doll that had fallen earlier had sat up. The little doll with the princess's head was smiling strangely, and the mechanism in its mouth was opening and closing.

"Are you captivated by it?" it asked.

The hall suddenly went dark, into an utterly profound gloom devoid of any light. Then the floor slid, the ceiling twisted, and the space they were in spun around like a giant Rubik's Cube. The frantic movements made Lü Wenjun lose his sense of direction, and he couldn't even tell whether the movements were affecting his surroundings or himself.

Suddenly, light streamed in, creating square windows in the gloomy darkness, like those used for visiting prisoners. Behind each window was a deathly pale face, devoid of eyes, ears, nose, and hair, except for a bloody mouth with a twisted, maniacal grin.

He frantically pounded on the small window, and then another small window opened, revealing another faceless figure with a different appearance pounding on it. Then beams of light fell down, plunging the previously dark areas into a ghastly white.

Above, below, in front, behind, left, and right, closely fitted viewing windows reassembled into cold walls and floors. Urgent smiles and pounding sounds were everywhere. Those incomprehensible, monotonous sounds converged in one place, as if a heavy hammer were striking their hearts.

"Give it to me!" "Give it to me!" "Give it to me..." "Give it to me! Give it to me!!"

The faceless men's hands slammed until blood flowed, staining the pale light with crimson and turning the square cage an ominous color. The scene was more bizarre than terrifying, leaving Lü Wenjun momentarily bewildered, when he heard terrified screams beside him.

"Stop!! Don't continue! Make them leave!!!"

That was Jiuguang's voice, hoarse and fragile, completely unlike that spoiled, ill-tempered girl. Lü Wenjun forcefully tugged at Mingxiao's wrist, and the latter reacted instantly, unleashing a blinding burst of Mingwang Fire!

The ominous space vanished in the scorching flames, but they did not leave. They fell into the darkness, fell, and came to another white corridor.

There were no windows in the corridor. No doors were visible either. At the end of the corridor was a right-angled corner. Another doll dressed in a hospital gown sat at the corner, asking them questions.

Are you captivated by it?

“Shut up,” Lü Wenjun said.

Almost instantly, he understood Hisamitsu's earlier reaction. He too began to feel irritated, with an unconscious anxiety. This monotonous and boring environment stirred up distant memories. He heard distant footsteps and smelled the faint scent of disinfectant in the air.

The familiarity made him want to vomit.

Chapter 99 Unexpected Disaster

At the same time, in a Greater Rift.

On the small table were piles of gray fruit, translucent meat, and cloudy wine. Pershka lit two incense sticks and sat down at the opposite table with the other students.

In their spiritual studies class, they learned how to offer food and drink to the deceased. The deceased cannot directly consume food from the earth; instead, the "essence" of the food must be offered as a sacrifice. Grandpa Lü inhaled the incense with satisfaction, then reached out and "hooked" another transparent wine glass from the first one.

He gazed at the wine in his glass, reminiscing about distant memories.

“Wenjun was born prematurely, weighing less than a pound,” he said.

“The nurses in the hospital were terrified. You know, when a baby is born, the nurses spank him to make him cry. But when Wenjun was born, not a single nurse dared to touch him. He was too small, and the nurses were worried that too much pain would cause him to die prematurely. They couldn’t even be sure if the child was still alive.”

"So, with no other choice, we were called into the delivery room. I was truly stunned; I had never seen such a tiny baby before. A blood-red, wrinkled outline, with limbs hanging like withered branches, it didn't look like a human child, but more like... the cub of a skinny little beast."

The old man placed his palm on the table and gestured to the crowd.

“He wasn’t even as big as my palm,” he said. “His mother was almost too shocked. My first impression was that it was stillborn. Because he didn’t make a sound, he wasn’t breathing, and I couldn’t sense any life in him.”

“I was thinking we should hold a funeral, but suddenly his father started shouting and calling his name. The shout startled him so much that he cried, and that’s how we found out he was still alive.”

"Later we all said that Wenjun was already standing by the Bridge of Helplessness when he was born, and it was his father's shout that brought him back." The old man smiled bitterly. "Every time I think about it, I feel a little regretful. I think I should have stopped his father back then. Because a person's fate is determined by heaven, and one should not turn back when it is time to die."

Faris stammered, "What you're saying... if he hadn't yelled like that, he might really be gone..."

“It’s better to die a good death than to live a miserable life!” The old man chuckled. “His life didn’t start well, so naturally, he didn’t have a good path to follow. For more than a month after he was born, he was too thin to eat, and the doctors had to keep him alive with IV fluids. He stayed in the hospital for more than half a year before they dared to take him out and carefully fed him…”

"We all thought that the hardest part was over and things would get better for him. But little did we know that what followed was the real torment."

The old man dipped his finger in the wine and drew a stiff stick figure on the table.

"He has multiple congenital diseases. Muscle weakness. Fragile bones. Weak immune system... Each one is not a rare disease, but he has almost all of them, as if he has been cursed by God."

“Our Lü family has never had such a fragile offspring before, and his mother has always been healthy. After the doctor’s long examination, he summarized it in just four words: congenitally weak.”

"Very well then! He was born this way, so everyone was prepared. A child like that won't live long, so there's no need to worry about a normal life. He can just lie in the hospital room like a lab rat, living one day at a time. The family isn't short of money, so they can afford to raise such a cursed child. I thought his misfortune should be over by now, but his father is more cruel to him than to his enemies."

The old man smiled bitterly: "His father actually made him go to school!"

Linggong was stunned: "Was your physical condition at that time...enough to go to school normally?"

"How could that be? Let alone compared to the children of his family, even compared to ordinary people, he is an extremely fragile creature. On his first day at school, Lü Wenjun gave a self-introduction, listened to half a class, and then fainted. He was rushed back to the hospital. After several days of recuperation, he went back, and the same thing happened..."

"That was a cruel thing!" the old man sighed. "Fainting on campus and being taken to the hospital wasn't the worst part; what he saw was how others were getting by. That made him realize how special he was! Naturally, he wanted to live like other children, so he insisted on going..."

"Then he would faint, vomit blood, or get injured, and be sent back to the hospital. This cycle repeated itself, and he spent more time in the hospital than at home and in his studies combined. That overly demanding lifestyle even caused him to hallucinate during that period."

“A brief, hazy experience…a dream that lasts longer than reality…” The old man sighed deeply. “I visited him in his hospital room once and saw him staring blankly at the wall by the window.”

He said…

Grandpa, tell me the truth, did I really leave the ward?

Familiar words flashed through Lü Wenjun's mind; it really was a long time ago. Back then, his grandfather was still alive, but his health was poor, and speaking was a difficult task for him. Therefore, his own voice sounded like a groan in his memory.

He steadied himself, undisturbed by the past, and kicked over the doll at the corner. The doll rolled on the ground and fell silent, its head drooping, as if its throat had been accidentally broken.

That vulnerable appearance was unsettling.

"Wenjun?" Mingxiao patted him. "Wenjun, are you alright?"

"I'm fine!"

Lu Wenjun was startled by his own voice. Did he really need to use such a high tone? At this point, why did he need to emphasize something so solemnly? He waved his hand and stopped temporarily before turning the corner.

“It’s okay, senior.” He emphasized again, “I think this haunted house with its quirky humor has some personalized settings, which calculate the corresponding fear environment in real time based on your past experiences.”

Lu Wenjun calmly and logically deduced: "That room was probably aimed at Jiuguang, while this area is aimed at me. I might be a little emotional or impatient later, please don't mind, it's a normal reaction."

“There’s no need,” Hisamitsu’s voice was hoarse. “I think we should leave now.”

“Senior sister has already used the Bright King Fire once, and can only use the spell twice more after that. It’s not worth leaving it here,” Lu Wenjun said. “If my assumption is true, there should be no real danger in this area, so there’s no need to waste the spell opportunity.”