Chapter 123: Has that indescribable entity made a move? (Second update)

Seeing that what came out was a person, not some random mess, Li Minghai and the others silently breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said:

"Hello, we accidentally got lost in the mountains; we don't know if we can rest here."

The woman didn't speak, she nodded, indicating they should come in.

The crowd entered the temple interior, but the mist behind them slowly dissipated; more accurately, it all gathered above the temple.

The whole temple was wrapped in thick fog, almost solidifying; huge black-gray tentacles stretched out from the ground, entwining the temple's exterior, as if some colossal thing had been startled awake.

If one were to look at Shangqing Temple now, they would find the whole temple shrouded in an indescribable mist, even the signboard outside becoming somewhat blurred.

The large characters of Shangqing Temple kept twisting until they dissipated in the mist.

……

The other project members went up to the villagers and bluntly said:

The offering table was laden with exquisite pastries and a few incense sticks, apparently just lit.

Everyone was puzzled; besides them, the vast temple seemed to have no other living beings.

What the hell are these things?!

Li Minghai covered his ears, trying not to hear those sounds; at this moment he could no longer care about others, stumbling out.

The woman might have just been here.

"Did you guys secretly cause trouble? Otherwise, by this time, our people should have come down."

That voice was cold and mechanical, exuding endless chill, exactly the same as the voice that just suggested lifting the red cloth.

"Just waiting here idly isn't a solution; let's go up the mountain to look, in case something really happened to them."

For some reason, Li Minghai inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

The person before them was the team's engineer, with honest features, but now his pupils were vertical slits.

Li Minghai's face twitched slightly; he coughed heavily, then snapped: "I think you're just scaring yourselves; with so many of us, what could be wrong?"

"The last contact was around 2 p. m.; they said they'd continue surveying to the southeast."

Yet no one listened to him; everyone stared at the idol, eyes entranced, expressions even fervent, like devout believers.

The idol here remained covered with red cloth.

The villagers' expressions instantly turned indignant: "Really, it's pretty funny; we haven't done anything here, and we're not getting in your way?"

"Could it have been blown down by the wind?"

"When friends come from afar, we feast and serve them in the hall."

Li Minghai staggered back, his expression full of despair; a strong sense of being watched came from above, and he slowly lifted his head.

The villagers also trusted Sun Zhenbang's character, knowing he wouldn't favor a side just because of the other's status; the village chief took a deep breath, his previously hurried breathing gradually easing.

"They were clearly here just a moment ago; how did they disappear in a moment?"

The surroundings seemed normal, yet everywhere hinted at abnormality, giving a vague sense of unease.

Li Minghai's face turned deathly pale; was he mistaken, or had the snake's head moved along?

"Manager Li, why aren't you leaving? You look unwell."

After a while, no one responded.

It's also strange that such a grand hall houses only a single statue, still covered with red cloth, making it unclear what deity it is.

The statue, over half a person tall, is just like those enshrined in an ordinary temple, nothing special; its expression is compassionate, gazing upon all beings.

The person beside them seemed puzzled, "Leave?"

"So the situation is that the engineering team entered the mountains and lost contact?"

Li Minghai had a bad feeling; he slowly turned around, and indeed saw the red cloth slipping down, and what was being offered beneath it.

"Could it be the Five Immortal Families?"

He and the other police rushed forward, pulling apart the two agitated groups.

There was a house at the corner; the woman had previously disappeared there.

Incense smoke curled around everyone, emitting a pleasant sandalwood scent; Li Minghai found it irritating and couldn't help coughing a few times.

Both sides' emotions calmed considerably.

"Why not look up at these statues?"

Just as they were chatting, upon looking up, they discovered the woman who had been leading the way had vanished.

Li Minghai horrifiedly found that the people beside him were motionless, instead continually urging him to look at the statue; under immense terror, his voice trembled.

Once the gold lacquer completely peeled off, revealing the grim interior, Li Minghai's pupils shrank sharply—this wasn't any statue, but a grim white bone!

The sinister white bone sat on the platform, incense swirling before it, enjoying the people's offerings—what irony!

The white bone's hollow eye sockets stared at him; two clusters of ghostly green fire slowly rose, its mouth opening and closing as if speaking,

Li Minghai heard countless noises in his ears, but he couldn't understand their meaning; it seemed like a language from a higher dimension, almost driving him mad.

The other team members had already been assimilated; they could no longer be called human.

Someone beside him sneered, "Manager Li, you're not superstitious, are you?"

"Maybe they turned into the temple?"

As dusk fell, those who went up the mountain hadn't come down yet,

As the fog thickened, visibility was affected; in the haze, countless statues could be seen walking out of the enshrinement hall.

"It's not that these villagers said Manager Li's group offended the Mountain God, muttering about it, so we think this matter is related to the villagers."

Li Minghai only felt it was strange, but didn't notice the people around him gradually showing odd expressions.

These deities' faces all became twisted and blurred; their originally kind eyes were replaced by hollow sockets, grim-faced as they watched them walk toward the side hall.

Only see the red cloth slowly drifting down; Li Minghai's face twitched instantly, "Who pulled it!"

Someone lowered their voice: "Manager Li, don't you find the surroundings too quiet?"

He stared wide-eyed, his complexion suddenly turned deathly pale, his heart felt as if gripped tightly by two invisible giant hands, almost making him unable to breathe.

An indescribable mist had long occupied the top of their heads, merging with the entire Daoist temple, watching their every move; it turned out that from the beginning until now, they had never left.

Only a startled cry was heard; Li Minghai looked in that direction, and indeed there was no trace of the woman ahead, as if she had suddenly vanished.

The deity statue that had originally been facing forward slowly lowered its head, just meeting Li Minghai's gaze.

The two sides erupted in argument again; fortunately someone saw the situation turning bad and quickly dialed the police.

Moreover, that group of villagers never left, occasionally glancing at the big mountain and then at them, as if secretly observing something.

But suddenly a low voice sounded from within the team: "Why don't we lift the red cloth and see what is enshrined here?"

In a daze, Li Minghai had the illusion that this Daoist temple was alive, and these gray mists were alive as well.

This possibility is quite high, after all the villagers initially stood opposed to them, disagreeing with the scenic development; seeing that they couldn't stop it openly, they resorted to sneaky tricks behind the scenes.

Looking at the people around him, Li Minghai's strange feeling grew stronger; he raised his voice again, and this time the others snapped to attention, their tones sounding somewhat sluggish.

The deity statue was almost face‑to‑face with him, face to face!

The commotion here attracted the attention of others.

The project engineering team glared fiercely at the villagers, "Officer, your timing is perfect—I want to charge these people; they're secretly causing trouble, hurry up and arrest these troublemakers!"

The other people in the project looked at the distant mountains and couldn't help but feel worried.

"Could it be that these villagers are secretly sabotaging us? Earlier they kept blocking our way up the mountain; perhaps they did something up there to affect our development."

The villagers couldn't just let them smear mud on them, and they were too lazy to keep arguing with this group; they immediately tried to leave, but were stopped by the engineering team.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it."

Li Minghai was about to speak about the statue's strangeness, but upon seeing the appearance of the person beside him, his words cut off abruptly.

For a moment, the air fell into utter silence.

Li Minghai felt something was off inside, and quickly said, "After all, we're inside a Daoist temple; we shouldn't touch things randomly—covering it with red cloth surely has its reason."

Before the snake statue, the white incense smoke unknowingly turned gray, slowly drifting toward the inner ceiling of the hall, where the carved murals all depict mythological legends.

Li Minghai opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a word.

After all, the villagers have consistently opposed the development and kept loitering around, making it hard not to suspect their motives.

Li Minghai pondered for a moment, "Silence is normal, after all this place is remote; besides us, I'd estimate there's no one else in the whole Daoist temple."

It turned out that as soon as they stepped into the Daoist temple, these people had already undergone an anomaly; it's just that nobody noticed at the time.

"Let's go look elsewhere again."

"Yeah, take another look and you'll see how great this place is."

The clay figurine gave a faint smile, like a divine manifestation descending—except that smile, combined with the tentacles continually extending from its face, looks utterly sinister no matter how you view it.

"What if it's something else frightening and strange? I really worry I won't be able to bear it."

Clearly just a moment ago everyone was still quite normal, but upon entering this strange Daoist temple, it seems everything has changed.

"When was the last contact? Do you know their approximate direction?"

The people in the team silently gazed at him; it seemed nobody had spoken just then, and afterward they unanimously lifted their heads, their looks somewhat focused, as if they were looking at something.

Given the current situation, although the woman is a bit odd, she hasn't done anything outrageous; they also hope that once the mist clears, she can help guide them.

Li Minghai shivered, turned to leave, but before his front foot could step out, his body suddenly froze, as if he had realized something!

"Just a moment ago the snake's head wasn't facing this direction…"

The others nodded, "At first there would still be messages coming through, but later the signal might have gone bad, so we lost contact."

"This area is your home, aren't we even allowed to stand here? You're being quite overbearing."

"Let's look around, just in case something really happened."

The woman seemed a bit shy, never speaking, merely lowering her head silently to lead the way; her pace was neither fast nor slow, consistently keeping a certain distance from the group.

A bystander was suddenly shoved to the ground by him.

As the red cloth fell, the covered statue was revealed before everyone's eyes—turns out it was a snake statue!

The statue is lifelike, as if a real giant snake were coiled here, its head facing the crowd, the bright red tongue almost within reach, looking extremely ferocious.

Sun Zhenbang knows the villagers' nature and knows they wouldn't do such a thing, but seeing the indignant engineering team, he temporarily finds it hard to say anything.

Black‑gray mist envelops them; their lower halves are entirely writhing tentacles, faintly visible within the mist, looking utterly disgusting and terrifying.

What's the difference between this and enshrining a monster?

Do monsters even have their own Daoist temples?

"What's going on?"

"And you say we're sneaky and ill‑intentioned—I think it's you who have ghosts in your hearts; when something goes wrong you don't look for the cause in yourselves but instead blame others."

Human pupils simply cannot reach that extent; they look like those of some cold‑blooded reptile, and the originally honest features all turn ferocious and terrifying.

And behind the deity statue follow all the former team members; now their faces are ashen, their pupils without exception all turned into vertical slits, as if they too have been assimilated.

In the depths of the mist, the strange woman in Daoist robes slowly beckoned; her black long hair covered most of her face, revealing only her vermilion lips, as if soaked in blood, and she gave Li Minghai a smile.

But soon, her flesh and blood all sloughed off, revealing a face of stark white bone, the wide Daoist robe looking especially empty.

Compared to the pain in the body, the greater terror comes from fear of the unknown.

Sun Zhenbang spoke up to soothe them: "Don't get agitated for now; I'll investigate the matter thoroughly."

The others also found it strange; if something had really happened on the mountain, at least someone should have been sent down to report, but now there's no word at all, leaving them puzzled.

Someone nearby stepped forward, showing concern and asked.

"Let's give them a call."

Their hollow eye sockets all fixed on Li Minghai.

The project engineering team eyed them suspiciously: "What are you sneaking around here for? Just looking at you makes one feel ill‑intentioned."

The engineer's eyes returned to normal, the pupils clearly black and white, only slightly blurred; it seemed that the vertical line just now was Li Minghai's illusion.

This smell is pleasant, but after a while it gets a bit cloying.

「Although that's what was said, the woman who just opened the door—we never got a clear look at her from head to toe, and she never spoke, giving us a weird feeling. 」

「The person in charge of our project, Mr. Li Minghai, led dozens of engineers up the mountain during the day, and they still haven't returned; their phones are unreachable—I suspect these villagers tampered with things。」

「You can't reason with this bunch, thinking a few stinking bucks makes you something special. 」

The village chief almost had his blood pressure spike from anger at those words, shouting, "You're just spitting blood!"

Li Minghai rubbed his eyes and quickly apologized, "Sorry, I was just a bit too tired."

The pond we had seen earlier had long since dried up; spiderwebs covered the artificial hill, and gray tendrils wrapped around the pillars, looking sinister and evil.

I don't know if it's their imagination, but they all felt the temperature seem to drop a few degrees; even though they were inside, it felt colder than outside, and several people were shivering and sneezing from the cold.

Just as the words fell, a flash of red caught the corner of his eye.

Li Minghai had been a little curious at first, but after seeing the snake statue earlier, he now kept his distance from these things.

The project engineering team's emotions grew increasingly agitated.

However, as the gray mist was poured in, the buildings of the Overseas Immortal Palace depicted in the painting also began to decay, as if shedding their disguise.

In the distance, the majestic mountains, bathed in the sunset's glow, were draped in a thin layer of golden light; the sun slanted west, leaving only a soft halo hanging from the treetops, rippling outward in wave after wave.

"There's a main hall here; could she be in there?"

Countless noises flooded Li Minghai's ears again; for a moment he couldn't tell whether these people were talking about a god statue or a snake statue.

The project engineering team calmed down and also understood this, but their faces remained grim, and they couldn't help muttering.

"This Daoist temple is so special, Manager Li—why don't you take another look? And this statue, you should examine it more closely."

But these words from the villagers caused the project engineering team to misunderstand, and their expressions changed slightly in an instant.

So, is the one who pulled off the red cloth really a person?

"Monsters, all of them are monsters."

Those people all turned to look at Li Minghai, still waving at him continuously, "Manager Li, come over—let's worship the god statue together; look how pure that White Bone god statue is."

The engineer quickly shook his head, "No problem, no problem."

Countless flecks of gold lacquer fell down like rain, making the statue's mottled appearance even more sinister and evil, as if it had completely abandoned its disguise.

Everyone was somewhat surprised, but none dared to think deeply about it.

Seeing both sides had calmed down, Sun Zhenbang finally spoke: "What on earth happened?"

"This statue—"

However, when he stepped out and looked, he was instantly dumbfounded—the previously exquisite and elegant Daoist temple had undergone a complete transformation in an instant.

"Quiet!"

But just as he relaxed, he saw a chip of gold lacquer fall from the statue's face, revealing the mottled clay figure beneath.

Sun Zhenbang asked in great detail, which also facilitated the subsequent search operation.

Everyone stared at the snake statue before them, and no one spoke.

Amid the curling incense smoke, the smell seemed to grow stronger, as if accompanied by a hint of decay.

He couldn't help turning his head for a glance, only to find the snake head still facing him directly; those deep, beastly eyes emitted an endless chill.

After leaving the main hall, that chilling feeling clung to them like a shadow, constantly surrounding Li Minghai.

In a daze, he saw countless black-gray tendrils churning inside, as if trying to break free from the clay's bonds.

"Manager Li's team went out for a whole day—why haven't they come down the mountain yet? Could something have happened?"

Squeak—bang!

When the door was opened at that time, the woman also had her head lowered, her black hair shielding most of her face.

Li Minghai gave a violent shiver, and he incredulously lifted his head.

"Well, then let's go somewhere else to have a look."

Someone asked curiously, "What is being enshrined here?"

Li Minghai instinctively pushed the person away, his expression somewhat frightened.

No wonder he looked so frail—it turned out to be a skeleton dressed in a Daoist robe.

In the end, only a bottomless pit remained, capable of swallowing everything.

It turned out they had been deceived from the very beginning!

This is absolutely not a Daoist temple!

But rather, it is a ghost temple!

Li Minghai rubbed his eyes; a huge fear washed over him, almost rendering him speechless, as he scanned his surroundings, looking for an escape route.

The engineer felt a bit wronged, "I don't know either—seeing Manager Li's complexion not looking good, I went to ask him, but he suddenly shoved me away."

"And what about that woman?!"

After all, who knows whether what's enshrined in this wild temple is a god or a ghost?

No, it can no longer be called a god statue.

The gray-black mist kept surging, as if it had gained life, continually assimilating and devouring the surrounding environment, extending huge tendrils that covered the Daoist temple.

The Overseas Immortal Mountain is actually a ten-thousand-zhang abyss; those unfathomable waters are like countless pairs of giant tentacles, constantly churning and stirring.

They wanted to escape the thick fog, but unknowingly walked into a haze.

However, Li Minghai continually felt his whole body unnatural; he subconsciously glanced at the snake head, wondering if it was his imagination, but he always felt as if something were watching him, and the chill over his body would not go away.

Sun Zhenbang nodded, "Rest assured, we'll immediately go up the mountain to search, but I hope you can also be reasonable—villagers couldn't possibly have done these things."

After saying that, everyone walked out of the main hall; their behavior looked no different than usual, yet for some reason Li Minghai always felt they were somewhat off.

Not long after Li Minghai and the others entered the door, although there was no wind at all, the vermilion gate slowly closed, as if a pair of invisible hands were pushing everything.

Gazing at the woman's slender back, everyone's eyes were filled with doubtful uncertainty, "She couldn't really have a problem, could she?"

The once splendid hall had long become a series of deep black holes; he faintly heard low murmurs, like Buddhist chants, and noisy sounds came from all directions, almost enough to drive a person mad.

A faint sound came, and everyone, including Li Minghai, followed behind the White Bone Daoist, walking stiffly into the darkness.

The entire hall, aside from this one snake, had nothing else enshrined.

Although there are no signs of large beasts around, spending the night on the mountain is still somewhat unsafe, after all this area is entirely undeveloped forest.

But the scene just now was truly too real and terrifying; those black-gray tentacles were almost touching his face.

Li Minghai still thought he was just overly frightened, his temperature had dropped, and he didn't think much of it.

But now, here, he is the only living person left.

The villagers were already feeling resentful and depressed, and now being wronged by them, they had no good expression.

But they never expected to be misunderstood by the project engineering team.

The furnishings in this hall were no different from those just now enshrining the snake statue; delicate pastries were placed on the cutting board, and a few sticks of incense curled upward, as if they had just been lit.

However, the path they had taken earlier had already been swallowed and buried by the gray tentacles, which kept rolling, looking extremely ferocious.

The immense fear continually crushed Li Minghai's fragile nerves; his psychological defenses finally collapsed completely at this moment, abandoning all resistance.

"You, what's wrong with you guys?"

The villagers' faces gradually turned cold: "I'll tell you again, we didn't do anything; even if those people really encountered something, it's because they offended the Mountain God and brought it upon themselves."

Just now, while they were chatting, they zoned out, and no one noticed where the woman had actually gone.

He rubbed his eyes; the statue showed no change, no gold lacquer fell off, and there were no black-gray tentacles—it seemed just his hallucination.

Fresh blood slowly seeped from his ear.

"Manager Li, are you alright?"

Or perhaps the lighting of the incense was originally meant to mask that smell.

Li Minghai's face slightly changed; he hurriedly turned toward the sound, asking, "Who's speaking?"

The immense fear surged like a tide, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on Li Minghai's forehead.

The more they thought about it, the more likely this possibility seemed.

Only then did they belatedly realize that no one in the team had such a voice, and both times the red cloth was lifted, they never saw clearly who did it.

The others looked at each other, all shaking their heads: "We didn't pull it."

When Sun Zhenbang hurried over, the two groups were about to clash.

"You're guilty and want to run? I'm telling you, this matter must be settled with us; it's definitely you who did something, otherwise Manager Li and the others wouldn't still be stuck on the mountain."

"You're basically incriminating yourselves; it's definitely you who did it. You look honest and simple, but I never expected your hearts to be so vicious."

Sun Zhenbang spoke sternly: "What matter can't be discussed properly? Do you all want to end up in the police station by fighting here?"

Inside the Daoist temple, everything began to rot at a visible speed, with signs of decay and antiquity everywhere.

Immortal qi floated, mist swirled; it looked like a fairyland, with pavilions, towers, jade palaces, hidden above the clouds.

Fortunately, someone nearby supported him, but those hands were ice-cold to the extreme, making one shiver involuntarily.

In a normal Daoist temple, the enshrined figures should be the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Old Lord, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning, etc.; who would enshrine such a huge snake!

There were not few people entering the mountains, about dozens; the villagers couldn't possibly have such capability.

Li Minghai shoved the person beside him aside and shouted loudly: "Go! Hurry up and leave, this place is not right."

Although it's a bit strange, perhaps there is some special meaning; after all, in the Northeast, the snake is one of the household guardian immortals and still has some lineage.

"What do you mean by that? Their not coming down the mountain has nothing to do with us."

The villagers here also have no other meaning: one is to worship the Mountain God to atone for sins; two is to worry that these people might really offend the Mountain God, so any movement would be known to them immediately.

Not speaking would be fine, but once spoken, it really feels a bit off; many feel uncomfortable all over, with goosebumps rising.

The speaker meant nothing, but the listener took it to heart; Sun Zhenbang's face slightly changed.

His pupils gradually turned vertical, tracking the murmuring sound in his ears, and he uncontrollably walked deeper into the mist.

"I've made several calls, but they've always been out of service; I suppose they're in a place with no signal."

"Fortunately, it's just an ordinary statue."

"Could they have gone to the restroom?"

In contrast, the people around seemed to notice nothing.

After saying all that, it still had some effect.

Even now, thinking back, Li Minghai feels an urge to vomit.

"Let's hurry and leave; this place is not right, don't bother looking for that woman—let's get out first and talk later."

"What Mountain God? I think you're secretly up to something, trying to scare us with the Mountain God—come clean, what exactly did you do?"

Everyone was looking at the snake statue, as if something there was attracting them, their gazes fixed straight.

Logically, as evening approached, they should have come down the mountain.

That smile kept enlarging, drawing ever closer; Li Minghai could even feel a foul, deathly stench.

Having said that, he just wanted to pull it down to see what it really was.

Everyone surveyed the surroundings, which were exceptionally tranquil and elegant; to build such a Daoist temple deep in the old forest must have required considerable effort.

Everyone entered; the hall's decorations were even more exquisite, with carved beams and painted pillars, edged in gold lacquer—truly solemn and reverent.

"I've told you before: there's a Mountain God on the mountain, don't disturb him lightly; you didn't listen, so those people likely offended the Mountain God and deserve not being able to come down."

"Leave? Why would we leave? This Daoist temple is great—Manager Li, take a few more looks."

Looking at the distant mountains, as the sky darkened, the gentle, harmless green hills of daytime began to reveal another aspect.

He inexplicably felt a premonition, fearing that this matter might truly be inseparable from that mysterious, profound existence!

So, those people probably won't really come to harm, right?