Chapter 90: Light

The scorching sun slanted slightly.

Xiong Lihui climbed the stone steps, one by one.

Directly ahead was the magnificent "Guangming Baodian".

Yet, as he stepped onto the stairs, Xiong Lihui looked back toward the bottom of the steps from time to time.

Below, two trees with strange shapes had sprouted from beneath inexplicably cracked stone slabs, faintly seeming to watch Xiong Lihui on the steps.

However, neither of them had any intention of touching the stone steps.

Xiong Lihui breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head back.

Before long, he finished the steps and arrived at the temple gate.

"Can this place... save my life?"

What surprised him, however, was that a one-eyed old man was standing by the door, as if waiting for something.

Xiong Lihui looked closely in surprise and discovered that the old man was none other than the "Abbot"!

"Master?"

Seeing Xiong Lihui walk up, the Abbot looked at him. To the former's surprise, the Abbot's right eye, which had always been closed, actually opened halfway at this moment,

just staring at him like that.

The two looked at each other, and after a long while, the Abbot suddenly closed his right eye again, pressed his palms together to say "Amitabha," and then suddenly lowered his brows and shouted:

"Lihui,

"Turn back and be saved!"

The four words landed on Xiong Lihui's heart like a heavy hammer! He had never expected that after finally arriving here, the Abbot would actually want him to leave?!

"W-why?" Xiong Lihui asked urgently.

Could it be that the "Guangming Baodian" had no power to provide shelter?

Then why were disciples who experienced abnormalities required to come here to await judgment?

"It cannot be said." The Abbot closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.

Seeing this, Xiong Lihui looked back down the steps.

Below, two more strange trees had appeared! They had almost completely covered the entire path!

This anomaly made cold sweat break out on Xiong Lihui's back.

"Master... this disciple has no other choice!" He no longer paid attention to the 'Abbot', and as if fleeing, he rushed past him to the door,

then pushed open the heavy vermilion gate with a ferocious expression.

It was pitch black inside, so dark he couldn't see his own fingers.

As he stepped inside, the last thing Xiong Lihui heard

was a sigh from the Abbot, followed by bursts of familiar chanting—he remembered, this seemed to be the scripture they chanted during their daily evening lessons, called the "Soul-Crossing Curse"!

Upon realizing this, Xiong Lihui froze in place.

But when he turned back to look.

The gate had already closed automatically with a "bang"!

At the same time, Xiong Lihui instantly felt unable to move, as if he were being pressed down by a thousand-jin sandbag!

What is going on!!

He wanted to open his mouth to shout, but as soon as he did, a thick, fishy stench surged into his mouth and nasal passages like a tide.

"Mmph, mmph, mmph...!"

"What's wrong?" In the Quiet Room, Zhu Dechang and the others listened to the strange noises coming from that side, their ears filled with the terrified, muffled groans emitted by Xiong Lihui, as well as a strange 'rustling' sound.

"Mmph... mmph... covered... save..." The distorted, fearful tone made everyone react quickly.

"What... did you say?"

The Abbot pressed his palms together, continuously chanting the scripture.

And if Ding Mo and the others were here, they would discover that this was not the "Guangming Baodian" at all.

On the plaque hanging above the gate, three large characters were written: Cidu Temple!

This was actually the mountain gate of the entire Temple!

Outside the mountain gate, about twenty meters ahead, was a dense forest. In the soil of the forest, a small area of about one square meter had a surface that seemed to be wriggling slightly.

If someone could crouch down here and listen closely, they would find human voices faintly coming from beneath the wriggling soil!

The Abbot stood inside the mountain gate, continuously chanting the scripture.

Before long, the surface of the soil stopped wriggling, and this patch of land returned to tranquility.

All movement completely vanished.

The Abbot inside the mountain gate also disappeared, leaving behind only a pool of blood seeping out from the already dark brown soil...

In the Quiet Room, Zhu Dechang ended the "call"—they could no longer hear any sound.

Everyone vaguely gasped in cold air.

It was clear that Xiong Lihui was dead!

"How could this be..." There was a trace of self-reproach in Jiang Liuxue's voice, and at the same time, she seemed to be at a loss.

Xiong Lihui's failure once again proved that her dream was an "unsolvable Curse"!

No matter when or where, no matter what one did, no matter how much effort was put in, there was no escaping it!

Ding Mo's expression was also very grave.

According to the feedback from the audio, they now knew: after Xiong Lihui discovered the anomaly of the trees, he had come to the Guangming Baodian and even met the Abbot.

Yet the Abbot actually advised him to "turn back"?

That would be one thing, but when Xiong Lihui notified the Abbot earlier, the latter's attitude was already very strange.

Yet after Xiong Lihui ignored the warnings and entered the hall, he actually died!

And just as Jiang Liuxue described in her dream, he was "buried alive"!

This was like telling everyone that everything they did, all their struggles, were completely meaningless, and in the end, it all amounted to "suicide"!

"Why is the 'Guangming Baodian' in the rules not working... The Abbot must know something; we have to find a way to find out," Ding Mo said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Dechang sighed and shook his head:

"Xiong Lihui was about to die, and we didn't see the Abbot say anything; I think getting him to speak is harder than ascending to heaven."

These words caused everyone to fall into a silence.

"Damn it!" Qin Yifei seemed unable to hold back at this moment, erupting in a rage:

"If he won't talk, won't the others? I'm going outside right now to grab a bald donkey and beat him until he confesses!"

Saying this, he stood up and walked toward the outside.

Seeming not to have expected him to be so proactive, Zhu Dechang was stunned for a moment before stopping him:

"Are you crazy? If you do that, the 'Threshold' will probably drop to zero all at once!

"Don't be so hasty; let's review the process of Xiong Lihui experiencing the Curse, perhaps there are still clues we haven't discovered!"

"..." After a round of persuasion, Qin Yifei sat back down, albeit reluctantly.

He was still muttering things like "Hasty, I'm worried to death, maybe it'll be my turn tomorrow."

Although he was just spouting nonsense, it made the rest of the group feel heavy once again.

That's right, no one knows if it will be their turn tomorrow.

Jiang Liuxue was gripping her fists so hard her knuckles turned white, and she almost bit through her red lips.

Although everyone except Zhou Lan did not blame her, knowing this was caused by the bizarre power within the Task,

her heart still could not stop feeling extremely tormented.

When it came down to it, the Curse still originated from her dreams!

"Why me..."

It was time for evening lessons once again.

Everyone sat down with their own thoughts, chanting absentmindedly.

The still-majestic Buddhist hall and temple had now become something everyone did not want to see under any circumstances.

—As long as they stayed here for one more day, the terror would never cease!

"Aba aba..." After chanting like a broken record for a while, Ding Mo suddenly noticed that Jiang Liuxue, who was sitting beside him, suddenly made a move.

She stood up and looked straight ahead.

What was she going to do? A trace of doubt rose in Ding Mo's heart.