Chapter 322 : The Survivor
Perhaps due to Zhu Baiyi's concealment formation, or simply because of good fortune, the four returned to their quarters without incident. They encountered no one and nothing unusual along the way, and only after closing the door did they finally shut out the temple's eerie atmosphere.
Once the door closed, the four exchanged glances.
Though Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue clearly had many questions, Zhu Baiyi showed no intention of explaining immediately. Before either could inquire, she spoke first: "Let's rest for now and see what happens in the morning."
Her tone was resolute, and Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue knew further questions would be pointless, so they didn't waste their breath.
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The remainder of the night passed quickly, and a faint light filtered through the window lattice into the room.
The occupants almost simultaneously awakened from their meditation, opening their eyes to see the dim glow.
Jiang Mo was the first to walk to the window. Upon pushing it open, she confirmed that the night stars had faded and the horizon had begun to show the first pale glow of dawn. At the normal pace of daybreak, full light would arrive in about a quarter-hour.
She turned back and announced to the others: "Dawn is breaking." After a pause, she added: "Will the temple change again once daylight comes?"
Everyone present had witnessed how the temple had transformed from ruins to splendor the previous day. The current neat and intact temple was real, just as the broken walls and ruins they had seen earlier were real. If this transformation was time-dependent, what would happen to the pristine nighttime temple in daylight? Would it revert back? And if it did, what would become of those inside?
Jiang Mo felt something deeply unsettling about this temple, and after what they had witnessed in the Great Buddha Hall the previous night, she instinctively didn't want to linger. Having never experienced such strange occurrences, she feared becoming trapped with no means of escape.
The others approached the window to look, and just then, a door opened across the way.
Jiang Mo and her companions all turned toward the sound, instinctively becoming wary. This section of quarters served as guest rooms for the temple, and none of the monks resided here. Last night, only the Nine Abyss Sect group had stayed in these rooms. But these people had been summoned out in the middle of the night, and whether they had found anything was uncertain—the companions hadn't seen anyone on their way back.
Due to the temple's strange nature, Jiang Mo had already mentally equated those people with death, and Zhu Baiyi and the others harbored similar thoughts. Yet there were still living people in these quarters?
Under the uniform gaze of four pairs of eyes, a figure emerged from the quarters, momentarily startled by their attention.
Jiang Mo examined the person carefully, finding his appearance quite ordinary—a face that would blend into any crowd. She found him vaguely familiar but couldn't be certain if he had arrived with their group. Fortunately, Yun Qingyue had a better memory for faces and had specifically observed their traveling companions. She nodded slightly in response to Jiang Mo's questioning look, confirming that he had indeed come with them.
The man's demeanor was relatively friendly. After his initial surprise, he nodded slightly to them, showing no intention of conversing before turning to leave.
Seeing this, Jiang Mo called out to him: "Hey, wait, where are you going?"
The man stopped and pointed toward the Great Buddha Hall, telling them: "They've begun their morning chanting. I want to go watch."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mo and the others concentrated, only then noticing that the chanting had indeed begun again. The Buddhist chants added a sense of peace and tranquility to the temple, but Jiang Mo couldn't help recalling the old monk from the previous night and the strange Buddha statue she had seen in the hall... She shuddered involuntarily, her expression darkening: "It's just monks performing morning rituals. What's there to see?"
The man remained silent, seemingly uninterested in explaining himself to Jiang Mo, and turned to leave again. Just as he lifted his foot, another window opening sound came from behind him, making him instinctively look back. He saw that the window of another room had been opened.
This time, the room's occupant wasn't as bold as Jiang Mo and her companions, but rather timidly hid inside, opening the window just a crack.
This activity naturally attracted not just one person's attention; Jiang Mo and the others also looked toward the sound. In that brief glimpse through the narrow window opening, they saw a pair of bloodshot eyes filled with terror. The owner of those eyes apparently hadn't expected this small action to draw so much attention and, panicking, quickly closed the window with a clear "bang" that, while not loud, was distinctly audible.
Jiang Mo turned back to exchange glances with Yun Qingyue, both coming to a realization: judging by the appearances of the two outside, the person heading to watch the morning chanting seemed clean and at ease. If there was nothing unusual, it suggested he hadn't left his room last night. As for the person hiding behind the window, he had most likely gone out last night and encountered something that had left him in his current state.
What, then, had happened outside the hall last night?
Their curiosity intensified, but the man who had first emerged showed no interest in investigating further. After standing in place briefly, he departed.
This time, Jiang Mo and the others didn't stop him. They watched his silhouette disappear into the dim light before Jiang Mo turned back and said: "It's dawn, and we can go out now. Shouldn't we check next door?"
With all the quarters clustered together, Jiang Mo was referring to the room from which someone had peeked through the window.
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As daylight grew, the morning breeze greeted them when they stepped outside.
The morning sun rose quickly, leaving them little time, so Yun Qingyue and the others didn't hesitate. The moment they stepped outside, everyone perceived the difference between day and night—the strange occurrences they had witnessed last night had taken place in the Great Buddha Hall, but from the moment they left their room, they all simultaneously sensed a bone-chilling aura.
Daylight brought a different atmosphere. As they left their quarters and heard the distant chanting, they felt only peace and tranquility, with none of the previous night's dread. It was as if some restriction activated only at night, with everything returning to normal at daybreak.
Each harboring their own thoughts, they proceeded without delay to knock on the neighboring door.
The temple quarters seemed built of ordinary materials, without even a space-expansion formation inside. The doors were simply wooden boards that barely muffled sound. Because of this, when Jiang Mo knocked, they clearly heard a dull thud from inside, like someone frantically bumping into a wall.
They exchanged glances again, and Jiang Mo knocked once more, calling out: "Is anyone there?"
This was a pointless question, as everyone had seen the window open earlier, and the noises inside were obvious. However, the room's occupant showed no intention of responding or acknowledging Jiang Mo's group.
Seeing this, Jiang Mo didn't stand on ceremony. She reached out to push the door—it was clearly bolted from inside, but such a minor obstacle posed no challenge to a cultivator, especially as there were no protective formations around the room. Jiang Mo released a small amount of spiritual energy, easily displacing the bolt, which fell to the ground with a soft "clack."
Though the sound of the falling bolt was faint, the person inside seemed terribly frightened, suddenly crying out in alarm. The fear and panic in that voice startled Jiang Mo's group even through the door, causing her pushing hand to tremble.
But this reaction only made them more determined not to let the matter drop. They pushed open the door and looked inside to find a single person huddled in the corner. His clothes were tattered, his body covered in wounds, and the room was spattered with his blood. Yet he hadn't bandaged his injuries—instead, he cowered in the corner, arms wrapped tightly around his head, his entire body trembling.
Without a doubt, this was the aftermath of extreme terror, possibly even madness.
Jiang Mo and the others felt an inexplicable heaviness in their hearts. This was no ordinary person but a cultivator of at least the Void Crossing realm. What had he experienced last night to reduce him to such a state?!
With this thought, Jiang Mo quickly approached, restraining him before he could become violent, then pressed a finger to his forehead.
The man's body shuddered. Initially he tried to struggle, but after a few attempts, he gradually calmed—the bloodshot look faded from his eyes, his expression of terror and madness diminished, and he finally regained some semblance of rationality.
He hadn't actually gone mad, or he wouldn't have been able to peek through the window earlier, but his mental state had clearly reached the breaking point.
Seeing him recover, Jiang Mo withdrew her hand and commanded sharply: "Are you awake now?"
The man kept his head lowered but nodded slightly in response.
Jiang Mo sighed in relief. Noting the changing light outside, she had neither time nor inclination for pleasantries and asked directly: "What exactly happened last night? How did you end up like this? And where are the others? Why are you the only one in this room?"
At the mention of the previous night, the man began to tremble involuntarily again. His lips quivered, seeming to mumble something. At first, Jiang Mo and the others couldn't hear anything, but gradually they caught fragments: "Monsters... there were monsters... killing... dead, all dead... escape, escape, ESCAPE!!!"
He repeated the word "escape" three times, each more frantic than the last, practically shouting the final one. But regardless of his verbal intensity, his body remained absolutely still, still huddled in the tiny corner with his arms wrapped around himself, as if only this small space could provide him with any sense of security.
Jiang Mo and the others frowned again, turning to look outside where a ray of sunlight had just broken through the horizon.
The sun was rising, and they weren't sure how long the temple would remain safe.
Between the previous night's strangeness and the uncertainty of the temple in daylight, they had no intention of lingering for safety's sake. They had originally followed Elder Qi of the Nine Abyss Sect to prevent them from getting ahead, but after last night's experience, Elder Qi's situation looked dire. Unlike when they first arrived, they now saw no need to risk themselves further—better to leave temporarily and reconsider their approach later.
This was everyone's general sentiment. Jiang Mo glanced at the sky and said to the others: "This place isn't safe to stay in. We should leave first and decide what to do later." She paused, glancing at the man in the corner: "And we should take him with us."
To their surprise, at these words, the man suddenly raised his head and shouted: "No! We can't go outside! You won't be able to escape!"