Chapter 42: Temple (2)

It was unknown if it was because this group of ancient temples still emitted the glory and authority of their era but there were very few dangers when he got close after exiting the canyon.

The lush jungle seemed to be much gentler in terms of aura.

In fact, the jungle closest to the cluster of temples wasn’t much different from the trees Xu Qing saw in the outside world. It was no longer malevolent or pitch-black.

…

There was also some seven-leaf grass here that was picked up by Xu Qing.

Everything here made Xu Qing feel a little surprised but his vigilance didn’t decrease. He cautiously approached.

Two hours later, when dusk was about to arrive, he walked out of the jungle and arrived in front of the cluster of temples.

There were very few trees here and the sunlight shone down on a large area, causing Xu Qing to feel a little dazed.

What reflected into his eyes were huge domed buildings that were hundreds of feet tall.

Even though it had collapsed, even though it was dilapidated, and even though it was covered in moss, the temple, which was piled up neatly with rocks that were much larger than his body, still felt vast.

Walking inside and stepping on the broken bricks on the ground, Xu Qing felt as though he had arrived in a country of giants.

Broken walls could be seen everywhere and each of them exuded an ancient feeling of age, as though they were telling Xu Qing about their experiences.

Further ahead was a collapsed statue.

The lower half of the statue was gone, turning into countless pieces that were hard to piece together. Its head was still intact but its appearance was already blurry.

Even so, it was still over 300 feet tall. One could imagine that before it collapsed, it was at least 2000 feet tall.

Standing in front of it, Xu Qing’s existence was very insignificant.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew over. It was like the sound of a flute, desolate and echoing. At the same time, it seemed to isolate space and time, causing the former glory to only be left with the gazes of future generations.

Xu Qing quietly stared at the statue and fell silent for a long time.

He thought of the ruins of the city outside the slums. He wondered if the people of the future would be like him, entering the forbidden zone carefully and looking at that city as though it was history.

A long time later, Xu Qing retracted his gaze and searched the temple complex but he didn’t find the special stone that Captain Lei mentioned.

When he arrived at the residence, he had already asked around. This special stone would emit a rainbow-colored glow.

It was as though it grew naturally and the timing of its appearance was irregular.

After failing to find anything, Xu Qing felt some regret. His body agilely leaped up and with a few undulations, he arrived at the top of a temple. He then stood there and gazed at his surroundings.

Behind him was the outer area of the forbidden zone’s jungle. Although he couldn’t see the end, he could still see part of it. Calculating the time, today was the fourth day mentioned by Bone Blade, who had bought insurance from him.

Yesterday, when Xu Qing was in the jungle, he didn’t see any fog. Today, there was still no fog, so he didn’t need to save them.

Hence, he turned his head and looked in another direction from the temple cluster. That place… was the depths of the forbidden zone’s jungle.

After pondering for a while, Xu Qing lifted his head and noticed that it was getting late. He planned to explore a small area in the depths and rush back before the sky turned dark. He would rest here tonight and return tomorrow morning.

With this plan in mind, Xu Qing immediately moved. He jumped down from the temple and headed toward the depths.

The instant he stepped into the depths of the jungle, his nerves tensed up intensely and he became even more vigilant and cautious.

This was because he knew that the degree of danger here was much greater than the outer perimeter.

In reality, that was indeed the case. After an hour, Xu Qing’s figure once again appeared within the range of the temple.

His expression was gloomy and there was still lingering fear in his eyes.

However, his leather pouch bulged as though it was filled to the brim.

Previously, he had only walked for less than a mile when he saw much aged seven-leaf grass. It seemed like it hadn’t been picked for a long time. This surprised Xu Qing because those aged seven-leaf grass were very valuable.

However, when he was picking them, he felt that the density of the anomalous substances had doubled. If it wasn’t for the fact that his shadow could absorb them, it would have been difficult for him or others to take a single step in.

Also, he saw the strange jellyfish he had seen in the forbidden zone from afar again…

There were over ten such jellyfish here but they were much smaller. However, the cold aura on their bodies was still very obvious.

Fortunately, most of these jellyfish were sleeping on trees. After Xu Qing saw them, he carefully avoided them.

However, as he moved forward, he had a very strong feeling. It was as though there were countless gazes in the depths of the jungle. They seemed to be corporeal and were filled with greed as they landed on him from an unknown location.

All of this caused Xu Qing to feel like needles were pricking his back.

This place was only the edge of the depths of this forbidden zone. The area inside was even larger and it was impossible to imagine how many terrifying existences there were.

Xu Qing didn’t dare to continue forward and retreated safely.

It was only when he retreated to the temple’s boundary that the feeling of the needles pricking his back dissipated.

It was as though this temple was a boundary that stopped the malice from the depths of the forbidden zone.

Xu Qing took a deep breath. Taking advantage of the fact that the sun was about to set, he found a temple that was barely intact and stepped into it.

He found a stone crevice and crawled in, preparing to spend the night there.

Captain Lei had said that this place could temporarily avoid danger.

He had also checked the interior of the temple. This place was very spacious and exuded a strong sense of the passage of time. Regardless of whether it was the knife-wielding stone statue enshrined on the main seat or the numerous human statues carved on the surrounding walls, they all became blurry in the quicksand of time.

At the same time, there weren’t many traces of mutated beast feces in the temple.

If there were none of them, or if there were many of them, Xu Qing wouldn’t have chosen the place.

This was because neither was normal. Only when there were only a few traces of their existence would it be relatively safe.

After all, although the temple was in the jungle, there were very few trees there. Therefore, it was reasonable for mutated beasts who were used to living in the jungle to not come here often.

Very soon, night arrived.

As the roars from the outside world rang out, Xu Qing silently cultivated.

Time flowed by and it was in line with his judgment. There were very few mutated beasts in the temple group at night. Although the roars could be heard, they were mostly coming from afar.

However, just like yesterday, when Xu Qing was cultivating in the middle of the night, the strange and chaotic sound of footsteps appeared once again!

This time, it appeared outside the temple.

“Again?”

Xu Qing frowned. He didn’t know why the footsteps would appear at the location he was at twice. He felt a little uneasy. After some thought, he did what he did yesterday and didn’t open his eyes.

However, this time, the footsteps didn’t gradually fade away like yesterday. Instead, there were more and more footsteps.

As they continued to gather, waves of cold intent permeated the air. It was as though countless bizarre existences had gathered outside the temple and were about to invade it.

Xu Qing’s heart sank as he gripped his iron stick tightly. His mind quickly constructed the environment of this temple as well as a way to deal with any dangers.

At that moment, the sounds of footsteps converging outside suddenly disappeared and it became incomparably quiet.

This silence didn’t make Xu Qing heave a sigh of relief. On the contrary, it made him feel as though a storm was coming and all the hairs on his body stood on end. He could faintly sense that the strange aura that had gathered outside the temple seemed to be hesitating about entering.

At the next instant, amidst the silence, the bizarre entity outside ultimately chose to step into the temple. Xu Qing then heard the sound of footsteps on the stone bricks as they entered the temple.

Smack.

This sound was like a huge rock that fell into Xu Qing’s mind, causing his heart to sink. However, at this moment, waves of murmurs suddenly echoed in the temple, containing incomparable holiness.

There were also strands of golden light that suddenly spread out from the walls of the temple, illuminating the entire temple and permeating the air around Xu Qing. This caused the world under his eyelids, which was originally pitch-black, to instantly shine with light.

Under this golden light, Xu Qing felt a piercing pain in his eyes. This was the first time he opened his eyes after encountering such a strange situation.