Wei WuXian inquired again, “Which deity is the temple built for?”
The round-faced girl spoke, “I, I think it’s a natural stone statue of a goddess.”
Wei WuXian nodded, “Thank you.”
After the conversation, he immediately ran toward the direction of Goddess Temple.
The sluggard’s marriage, lightning that destroyed coffins, the fiance eaten by wolves, the father and daughter losing their souls, the extravagant burial clothes… It was as if a string was being pulled through all of the beads, tying everything into one perfect strand. No wonder the compasses of evil didn’t pick up anything, and the spirit-attraction flags didn’t work either. Everyone had underestimated the creature in Dafan Mountain.
It wasn’t at all what they thought it was!
Chapter 9 – Arrogance Part Four
On the other hand, Lan SiZhui and the other disciples did not find anything in the area of the ancient tombs, and had moved on to search for clues in Goddess Temple.
In Dafan Mountain, aside from the tombs of the Buddha’s Feet ancestors, there was also the Goddess Temple. The being of worship was neither Buddha nor GuanYin, but the statue of a “dancing goddess.”
A few hundred years ago, a hunter from Buddha’s Feet ventured into the mountains, and found an extraordinary stone in a cave. It was around three meters in height, formed naturally, and appeared strangely like a human, with four limbs making a dancing pose. The more peculiar thing was that human features could vaguely be seen on the statue, appearing to be that of a smiling lady.
The townspeople of Buddha’s Feet were all astonished, and thought that it was a magical stone formed by gathering the energy of Heaven and Earth, making up a series of legends about it. Some told the story of an immortal falling in love with the Goddess of the Nine Heavens, and carved a stone statue from the goddess’s appearance to convey the hardships of being lovesick. After discovering this, the goddess was furious, so the unfinished statue had to be left alone. Others told the story of the Jade Emperor and his beloved daughter who died young. The emperor’s longing for his daughter had, supposedly, turned into this statue.
Anyhow, there were all sorts of myths, able to make anyone gawk. In the end, the townspeople themselves also started to believe in these legends which came out of their own mouths. Hence, someone turned the stone cave into a temple, and the stone platform into a holy seat. The statue was named “Dancing Goddess,” and there were worshippers all year round.
The inside of the cave was spacious, similar to the size of an erjin temple, with the statue of the goddess set in the center. At first sight, it did indeed look like a human—the maiden’s waist could even be considered lithe and graceful. However, after taking a closer look at it, it would seem rougher. Then again, a naturally-formed statue being so similar to an actual human was enough to make most people gasp in awe.
Lan JingYi lifted and lowered the compass of evil, but its pointer still didn’t move. A thick layer of incense ashes covered the table for offerings, and disordered candles lay on there as well. A sickly sweet scent came from the plates for holding fruits. Most of the people from the GusuLan Sect had some degree of minor mysophobia. He fanned at the air in front of his nose and spoke, “The locals said that it is quite effective to pray at Goddess Temple, but how can it be this ruined? They should at least come and clean once in awhile.”
Lan SiZhui spoke, “There has already been seven people who lost their souls. Everyone is saying that lightning has let out a fierce creature from the ancient graves of Buddha’s Feet, so would anybody dare to come up the mountain? There is no attendance at the temple and so, naturally, there is nobody to clean the place.”
A disdainful voice came from outside of the cave, “It’s only a stupid rock, given the title of a goddess by who-knows who, and people dare to put it here, accepting incense and worship!”
Jin Ling came inside, with his hands crossed behind his back. The time limit for the silence spell was not long, so his mouth could already open. However, nothing nice came out of that mouth of his, as he looked at the goddess statue and humphed, “These rural villagers don’t work hard when they face difficulties, but instead pray to the Buddha and other things every day. There are thousands and millions of people in the world, but gods and Buddhas are already hands-full with their own matters, so who would care about them? Let alone a powerless goddess without status, like this one. If it’s really that effective, then I’m gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain to appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?”
A few cultivators from smaller clans came in behind him, and everyone laughed right after hearing him, agreeing with his words. The originally quiet temple became bustling with noise, after the group of people had rushed forth, and the space also seemed more cramped. Lan SiZhui silently shook his head, turning around and glancing without any aim. His gaze landed on the head of the goddess statue; the features of a compassionately smiling face could vaguely be seen.
Yet, he felt a strange sense of familiarity toward the smile, as if he had seen it somewhere before this.
Where on Earth had he seen it before?
Lan SiZhui thought that it must be a very important matter, and couldn’t help but to approach the statue, wanting to examine the goddess’s features carefully. At the same time, someone bumped into him.
A cultivator who was originally standing behind him had fallen down without any noise. The others were alert with surprise. Jin Ling spoke in a vigilant tone, “What happened to him?”
Lan SiZhui held his sword and bent down to examine it. There was nothing wrong with the cultivator’s breathing, like he had just suddenly fallen asleep. Yet, no matter how hard he was pushed or called, he would not wake up. Lan SiZhui stood up, “He seems as if…”
Before he finished his sentence, the dark cave abruptly lit up. The cave was suddenly covered in a red light, as if a waterfall of blood was rolling off its walls. The candles on the platform for offerings and in the corners of the cave had ignited on their own.
With a few shings, everyone in the cave had either drawn their swords or taken out their talismans. At the same time, a person suddenly burst in from outside the temple, holding a gourd of medicinal alcohol. He threw it toward the stone statue, and raging flames sprouted from it, illuminating the stone cave so that it could even pass for daytime.
Wei WuXian used up all of the items he had found in the qiankun bag. He threw it away and shouted, “Everyone, go back outside! Be cautious of the soul-consuming goddess on the inside!”
Someone yelled in surprise, “The goddess’s pose had changed!”
Before, the statute clearly had one foot lifted and both of its arms raised upward, of which one was pointing directly at the sky, its form graceful. However, amid the crimson and yellow flames, it had lowered both its arms and its foot. There was no doubt—it definitely wasn’t a mistake of the eye!
The next moment, the statue lifted one foot again, and stepped out of the fire!
Wei WuXian shouted, “Run, run, run! Stop slashing around! It won’t work!”
Most of the cultivators ignored him. The soul-consuming monster that they had tried so hard to find had finally appeared, so why would they miss out on the chance? However, even with so many swords chopping and stabbing, and so many talismans and magical tools being thrown at it, the statue’s advance didn’t stop at all. It was around three meters tall, resembling a titan as it moved, giving off a strong sense of oppression. It picked up two cultivators and lifted them in front of its face. The stone mouth seemed like it opened and closed, and the swords in the cultivators’ hands dropped to the ground with two clanks. Their heads drooped. Their souls were sucked away.