Chapter 38: The Wooden Box

(Wait… I was fooled by my own hallucination and walked out of the hiding spot myself.)

The feeling just now was like having a dream.

In a dream, one cannot tell what is real and what is illusion.

And he, caught in the hallucination, naturally could not distinguish between reality and fantasy.

This hallucination deliberately lured him out, making him leave the hidden “protective circle” of the hiding spot.

“But… I’m still inside the Defiled Temple, which means safety can still be guaranteed.”

Just as he was about to comfort himself with that thought, he heard some noise from outside the Defiled Temple, and then the entire floor of the Defiled Temple shook.

What!?

He poked his head out and peeked through a crack in the wooden boards inside the Defiled Temple. At that very moment, he caught sight of something massive moving step by step through the vast, dark space of the cave.

That thing in the depths of the darkness was originally a shadowy mass. As it came closer, it appeared larger and larger, and with each step it took, it made a dull “thumping” sound, like something heavy being accidentally knocked against the ground.

Fang Jing swallowed, his throat making a gurgling noise. He felt a bit nervous, his palms sweaty as he clenched his fists tightly.

“The Nio Statue… this… this can’t be. Why can the Nio Statue move on its own…”

Peering through the crack, he finally saw what it was—indeed, it was the same Nio Statue he had encountered earlier.

Trouble. It seemed like this thing intended to enter the Defiled Temple. For some reason, though, it didn’t choose to come straight in but instead kept circling around the outside of the Defiled Temple.

“It seems I’ve been discovered.”

That strange stone Nio Statue moved its tall body, making a full circle around the outside of the Defiled Temple.

“I can barely make it out, but…”

The outline of the Nio Statue was easy to recognize. He felt sure he was caught in an abnormal situation—at the very least, it was an unexpected circumstance not recorded in Uncle Yuasa’s diary.

“Uncle Yuasa’s diary never mentioned anything like this happening. According to him, as long as I held out until morning, everything would be fine…”

He retreated back into the hiding spot and took out Uncle Yuasa’s diary again, quickly flipping through it from the beginning.

In fact, the last few pages of the diary had extremely messy handwriting, to the point of being almost impossible to read.

In the past, Fang Jing had tried to decipher it a few times but felt the content wasn’t particularly valuable, only containing some minor details, so he hadn’t looked into it further.

However, in this dangerous environment, Fang Jing, by the faint light of his phone, managed to see several short lines of hidden text—messages Uncle Yuasa had concealed on the diary’s last page.

It was a message written from top to bottom, only a few words long—It·s·ar·e·be·co·ming·strong·er.

Only a few words, but they gave him a chilling feeling.

“…They are becoming stronger.”

What does that mean?

That was the literal meaning of the words, but Fang Jing’s mind was in turmoil. He felt he had overlooked something before, such as the cause of the landlord’s death.

“Uncle Yuasa, what exactly did you know? Did your death… have something to do with the information you knew?”

Bang!

Something heavy struck the Defiled Temple, creating a huge commotion. It smashed through the fragile wooden boards, sending splinters and debris flying everywhere.

Only when the thing landed on the floor did he realize it was clearly a stone the size of a fist.

Fang Jing was startled. Just as he lifted his eyes again, another loud bang echoed—a stone had been thrown in, smashing through the already dilapidated wooden wall. This time, however, the stone was even larger, about the size of a human head.

“Damn it, is this guy trying to tear the place down?”

If this continued, it would be a dead end. The stone monster outside probably didn’t dare come closer because of the Defiled Temple itself. But if the monster kept throwing stones and eventually destroyed the Defiled Temple, he would be done for.

Feeling extremely tense, Fang Jing knew there were only two options left.

First, escape from here and avoid being caught by the monster. The best way would be to go down the mountain.

Second, find a way to hold out, on the condition that he didn’t get hit by a stone or crushed by the collapsing Defiled Temple.

Boom!

This time, the impact on the wall was even louder. After the shocking noise, Fang Jing saw that most of the wooden wall of the Defiled Temple had been smashed apart. A stone the size of a washbasin crashed through the floor.

It’s over!

At this rate, the Defiled Temple probably couldn’t be saved.

Suddenly, Fang Jing’s gaze shifted toward the floor. He noticed a long box that had abruptly appeared from under the floorboards.

Weird! Why was there something like this under the floor?

He bent down and quickly grabbed the long wooden box. It was a bit heavy, probably due to the wood itself. The box was tied with a rope, and its surface was carved with numerous symbols that looked like writing.

“Sanskrit… no, this isn’t Buddhist Sanskrit. It looks more like ancient sacred script or something…”

He held the white wooden box of unknown material in his hand… Whatever it was, since it came from the Defiled Temple, it probably wasn’t an ordinary object.

Moreover, he vaguely sensed something inside the box that drew him in, so he quickly stashed it away.

Fang Jing then made an extremely bold move. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, forcefully broke through the wooden door, and rolled on the ground. Suddenly pushing off with his feet, as if something exploded beneath him, he sprinted straight toward the cave entrance.

Meanwhile, the stone monster was still on the other side of the Defiled Temple, lifting a huge rock with both hands.

“Just keep throwing stones over there!”

Indeed, rushing out of the Defiled Temple into the night on Sagirimiyama was a taboo, but Fang Jing had another suspicion: he felt that the information left by Yuasa might not be entirely accurate. After all, if it were, Yuasa wouldn’t have died.

I’m going for it!

Staying inside the Defiled Temple meant he could still be attacked by the “Nio Statue.” Now, the only option was to find a way to escape.

He sprinted at full speed, his legs stretching forward with all his might. He moved as fast as an arrow shot from a bow, and in the blink of an eye, he was out of the cave entrance.

But in that split second, a dark shadow came rushing from the side and slammed into his waist.

In this critical moment, Fang Jing used a break-fall technique to avoid a direct hit. Even so, his waist was struck, and he was sent flying backward. As he landed, he tucked his head and rolled, narrowly avoiding serious injury.

By the time he lifted his head and scrambled up, a shadow was already falling toward him. Fang Jing barely had time to react; all he could hear was the whistling wind.

Fortunately, his body reacted faster than his mind. Leaning back against the ground, he gathered strength in his waist, bent his knees, and channeled all his power into his legs. With a powerful kick, he managed to shove the dark shadow away.

“What the hell is this thing?”

He propped himself up with his hands and raised his head, finally getting a clear look at what had lunged at him.

“A sp-spider… no… why… is this a person, or something else?”

Fang Jing’s jaw nearly dropped. He wasn’t sure if the thing before him could even be called a “person.” In his eyes, it was a lump of flesh, but this lump looked as though two humans had been twisted together like wires.

The most bizarre part was that the flesh lump had eight slender legs. They clearly looked like human limbs, but all the joints were twisted in the wrong direction… This thing couldn’t possibly be a living person—it could only be described as a monster.

Thump! Thump!

With heavy footsteps, the tall Nio Statue moved along the ground near the cave entrance.

At that moment, Fang Jing’s face was full of astonishment. Under the moonlight outside, he could finally see what the stone-throwing Nio Statue really looked like.

Originally, he had seen this Nio Statue outside the cave. That statue was weathered and damaged, with only half of its body intact—the other half was missing a large portion.

But now… he was shocked to see that the other half of the Nio Statue was embedded with a human face—the face of an unfamiliar man.

It was the face of a man with a snarling expression, preserved from the moment of his death. A large amount of blood flowed from where the face met the stone, and he could faintly make out damaged brain tissue.