Chapter 97: We Meet Again

    Jin Jiuchi thought that the path in front of him would be enveloped in pitch-black darkness, though it would pose no problem as he was confident with his excellent eyesight.

    However, as the stone door sealed shut behind him, he was taken aback by the luminous glow from the murals adorning the walls. In stark contrast to the temple hall’s murals that depicted legendary tales and triumphant battles, the paintings on both sides of the walls portrayed a chilling spectacle of countless humans undergoing unimaginable tortures – tongue pulling, skinning, boiling...

    Their twisted and agonizing features casted an eerie and haunting light in the otherwise dim environment. The longer Jin Jiuchi stared at them, the more he felt like he could hear their despairing screams echoing all around the pathway like a bone-chilling orchestra from Hell.

    [Current SAN value: 43]

    "Wow..." Jin Jiuchi’s eyes shone in astonishment. "This is so cool. Are you the one who painted this?"

    "I’m afraid that I must disappoint you, O’ revered one," Anna replied, her expression filled with regret. "These ancient murals have existed long before my birth, as my family has been entrusted to guard this temple for generations. If you may," she gestured for him to follow, but Jin Jiuchi remained rooted in place, his gaze fixed on the stone door behind him.

    Oh no, he had just realized something crucial. The door could only be opened through a mechanism, and even if Jin Jiuchi had witnessed how Anna did it, he had no way to relay it to Shen Nianzu! What to do? Could Shen Nianzu follow him here?

    "This," he pointed at the door with a sheepish look. "Can’t you keep it open, Miss?"

    To his surprise, he received no response from Anna. The woman kept staring at him without even blinking, and were it not for the sound of her breath and heartbeat, he would have taken her as some kind of hyper-realistic statue.

    Confused, Jin Jiuchi waved his hand in front of her face, "Hello? Earth to Miss Anna~" His effort turned out to be futile, however, as she remained unresponsive as ever.

    Jin Jiuchi furrowed his brows. What was going on? Was this the so-called ’limitation’ Shen Nianzu had told him about?

    NPCs were characters generated by the Nightmare as the overseer of the Cycle. Their primary role was to provide players with their assigned tasks and grant them the return tickets. And if the players were to inquire about matters beyond their comprehension, the NPCs would freeze, their responses coming to a halt.

    Take the first Cycle for example, if Jin Jiuchi were to ask Madam Liu, the landlady, where she had bought her black colored lipstick, she would remain passive, as the question had fallen outside the bounds of her designated tasks. Of course, such a thing only happened to low-level Cycles. In mid or high level Cycles, the NPCs would grow to resemble humans more and more, to the point where they would acquire complex thoughts and emotions of their own.

    Had the same thing happened to Anna here? Wait a moment... did this mean asking her to open the stone door exceeded her authority? She could open it from outside, but not from within?!

    Jin Jiuchi’s scalp turned numb as that thought crossed his mind. "How do we get back later?" he asked in growing suspicion.

    Anna blinked, and her smile widened in response. "Please lay your worries to rest, my beloved deity. The door shall yield and grant us passage as the sun ascends on the morrow."

    "Tomorrow?!" Jin Jiuchi gasped in shock, his jaws hanging open. "I still need to wait until tomorrow?!" He had the urge to scream on top of his lungs so that Shen Nianzu could come here and join him as quickly as possible, but recalling the thing Anna had promised to return to him, he forced himself to curb the urge and took a deep breath to calm his hysteria.

    It’s okay, Jin Jiuchi. Nian’er would come. He... He could just blow open the door like he did in the last Cycle. That’s right, Nian’er had that little explosive item on him!

    Remembering the jade doll’s aloof expression as he nonchalantly detonated the iron door, Jin Jiuchi could not help but laugh, the tension in his shoulders loosening. "Okay," he said, then once again to himself. "Okay, let’s do this."

    He raised his head and told Anna resolutely, "Lead the way."

    As they ventured further into the passage, the dim light from the ancient murals cast an eerie blue glow to guide their path. Seconds turned to minutes, yet Jin Jiuchi was still unable to guess where this path would lead him to. One thing for sure, the slant beneath his feet told him that they were heading straight underground.

    With each step, the murals grew brighter, and the more vivid their despairing and agonizing expression was. It felt like they were surrounded by countless evil spirits with outstretched hands, ready to catch them off guard and pull them inside the wall. Had it been another person aside from Jin Jiuchi, perhaps they would have lost their mind out of fear by now. The temperature dipped lower and lower to the point where someone like Jin Jiuchi even shuddered from the cold, as if he had entered a large freezer with no way out.

    Soon, Jin Jiuchi was unable to enjoy the spectacular murals around him any longer, for an intermittent ache kept pressing on the back of his skull, reminding him of his SAN Value that dropped at a steady rate.

    [Current SAN Value: 41]

    [Current SAN Value: 38]

    [Current SAN Value: 35]

    A few minutes later, the dark passage gave way to an expansive space, revealing a cave that captivated Jin Jiuchi like no other. It was the most peculiar yet beautiful cave he had ever seen.

    Stalactites loomed like daggered teeth on the ceiling above his head. Droplets of water hung on their jagged tips to drop to the rocky ground, creating a faint echo that resonated through the air. And laying on the heart of the cave was a luminescent pond that glowed with a soft blue light. They reflected off the stalactites and danced upon the walls, revealing twisted shadows that seemed to writhe in the gloom.

    As Jin Jiuchi stared at the pond with his jaws agape, only one thing came to mind.

    — Oasis.

    Was this not the oasis she wanted?!

    "Behold, my revered deity," she exclaimed, a thrill of anticipation lingering in her voice. "The ethereal lake of the afterlife. At last, I can return the rightful possession unto you."

    Jin Jiuchi slowly turned his neck to her, his eyes wide in confusion and disbelief. He even dug into his ear to make sure that he had not heard wrong. "The lake of... what?"

    ***

    Shen Nianzu dashed across the barren desert, white mists floating out of his mouth with every breath he took. As soon as he heard the loud rumble from the temple, he immediately sensed that something was off and chased after Jin Jiuchi as quickly as he could, leaving Wind behind to fend for herself.

    He halted on the temple grounds and looked around, trying to recall where he had heard the rumble come from.

    There! He swiftly veered to the left, his purple eyes scanning the surroundings. A surge of relief washed over him as he discovered a concealed narrow staircase nestled behind the wall. Exhaling deeply, he wasted no time and sprinted up the steps, his mind swirling with questions.

    Why had Anna brought him here? What important item could she possibly wish to return to him? Did it really have something to do with the missing half of his soul?

    Alas, all of his thoughts abruptly screeched to a halt once his gaze fell upon a figure slumped against the colossal stone door, unconscious and seemingly lifeless.

    It was none other than Jin Jiuchi!

    Shen Nianzu swore his heart missed a few beats when he saw the man like this. No... it couldn’t be, right? There was no way he could die so easily just like that! Heart pounding in his throat, he hurried toward Jin Jiuchi, all the while scanning the surroundings for any lurking dangers. Where was Anna? Why had she left him alone here? Most importantly, why was he unconscious?!

    Shen Nianzu knew how powerful and keen Jin Jiuchi’s senses were, and if someone did a sneak attack on him, he should have been able to fight back at the very least! Bending down, he anxiously assessed Jin Jiuchi’s condition and a breath of relief escaped his lips when he noticed that the man was unharmed.

    Had he just fallen asleep then?!

    He shook the man’s shoulders and said in a hushed voice, "Wake up, Jin— no, Da Shen! You can’t sleep here!"

    Jin Jiuchi’s eyelids gradually fluttered open, revealing eyes that no longer bore their once-silver hue but instead glimmered ominously in pitch black. A wicked smile curled upon the corner of his lips, and with a sudden surge of aggression, he lunged forward and seized Shen Nianzu by the hair, eliciting a sharp gasp of surprise from the other.

    "We meet again," he drawled in a voice tinged with dark humor.