Death Game: Starting as a fraudster, pretending to be a god

#657 - Maps, temples, signs

The Fire Hell wasn't devoid of plants; it's just that the plants here had long since transformed into unique forms to adapt to the extremely high temperatures.

Most of the plants here have a texture as hard as metal, and their colors are deep green, almost black. They often have sparse, broad leaves and well-developed root systems.

However, the plants in front of them were all low-lying shrubs with lush foliage, radiating a shimmering green hue, appearing like delicate and petite plants typically found in humid and warm water towns.

Li Nian also poked her head out of the carriage.

"Whoa, this place can practically be called a blessed land! I feel like if we go in, we'll definitely find some good stuff!"

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Sanyang drove the armored carriage closer, and as they stepped into a certain distance around the Taoist temple, it was as if they suddenly passed through an invisible barrier!

A wave of genuine coolness, needing no comparison, rushed towards them.

"This place… is truly mystical. I've been escorting goods for many years, but I've never heard of such a place."

Yue Zhenqiao couldn't help but murmur.

Chen Yuanjie shook his head: "This place isn't on the main road, and very few people pass through here. Moreover, there used to be maze formations and trapping formations… it's just that they've become ineffective in recent years."

"If my family hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known there was such a good place."

The group got off the armored carriage and slowly approached the Taoist temple.

The bluestone slabs in front of the Taoist temple were spotless, with only a few withered branches scattered on them, making slight rustling sounds when stepped on.

Lin Yu raised his head and saw that the walls of the Taoist temple showed almost no traces of time, with only moss covering the base of the walls, and only a few collapsed gaps revealing that this place had been abandoned.

The words on the plaque above the gate were blurred and illegible, only vaguely discernible as "Hermit's Retreat," but the prefix of "Hermit" was unclear.

Although Chen Yuanjie had been here before, Lin Yu couldn't help but still be cautious.

Lin Yu raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"That's not right, isn't that Taoist temple outside of Double Saw Mountain? That's how it's drawn on the map!"

Li Nian stepped aside, and Little Fire Dragon said with certainty: "But the Taoist temple we entered at the beginning is indeed exactly the same as this one… either that Taoist temple moved, or there are two completely identical Taoist temples."

"Of course, because we got lost in the middle, it's indeed possible that there were errors on our part… but just like you said… that's how it's drawn on the map!"

Hearing what Little Fire Dragon said, Lin Yu frowned slightly.

"Let's take another look at the map."

He unfolded the map again and took a look. The location of the Taoist temple marked on the tattered map was indeed supposed to be some distance outside of Double Saw Mountain.

And the place they were currently in was not marked on the map.

Lin Yu sighed.

"That's really strange… according to Chen Yuanjie, this Taoist temple should have been here for some years—but you saw another identical Taoist temple on a journey of half a day."

"There must be something strange about this!"

Deadshot, who had come over, also spoke, expressing his opinion.

"Then are we still going in?"

Flying Knife asked cautiously.

"Of course, we have to go in. This strangeness has already set its sights on us. If we don't take the initiative to solve it, do you expect it to just let us leave and go to Willow Town?" Lin Yu said calmly, "I'm not used to leaving my back to an unknown enemy."

"Since the three over there said they've seen this Taoist temple, then we should go in and see… if the structure inside is also the same."

Saying that, Lin Yu pushed open the creaking wooden door and stepped inside.

After all… his mental perception hadn't sensed anything wrong.

The courtyard of this Taoist temple was even more overgrown with weeds and full of vitality, and even a few white flowers were growing in the soil in the cracks of the bluestone slabs.

The roof tiles of the main hall were incomplete, and the sunlight, which was obviously much softer than outside, shone down from the gaps, casting mottled light and shadows on the ground.

The incense burner in front of the hall was overturned, with incense ash scattered all over the ground. Only the dilapidated statue of the deity in the hall still stood, but it, like the beams and bricks in the hall, was covered with dense, old cobwebs.

Chen Yuanjie and the group of escorts walked in, resting and catching their breath in this Taoist temple with a normal climate.

Although the crisis had not been resolved, this place with a suitable temperature was indeed a good place to relax and rest.

Lin Yu looked at Deadshot, Little Fire Dragon, and Jenny the Turtle.

"How is it? Is this place the same as the place you saw?"

Deadshot nodded: "Yes… all the furnishings are basically the same."

"If you go to the backyard now, you can still find a skeleton wearing a tattered Taoist robe."

As he said that, Lin Yu nodded and went directly through the back door of the main hall to the backyard of the Taoist temple.

And as Deadshot said, in the backyard of the Taoist temple, there sat a dried-up skeleton.

Other than that, there was nothing else special about the backyard.

Lin Yu retreated and fell into thought.

"Hmm… it's indeed strange. To be so identical, it can't be two identical Taoist temples; it should be the same one."

"Then the question is… why would it teleport hundreds of miles in a few hours?"

Lin Yu didn't dwell on how the Taoist temple did it. Anyway, in this Prison Mountain Realm, it wasn't impossible for a building to be suddenly moved a distance by some alchemist using some kind of technique or supernatural power.

Moreover, this building originally had many formations, so it might be able to run around on its own—anyway, its style itself seemed like it was suddenly inserted here.

So, the key question isn't how it happened, but why it happened this way.

Lin Yu carefully thought about this newly emerged strangeness.

There have been too many inexplicable strangeness encountered since entering the Prison Mountain Realm…

This couldn't help but remind Lin Yu of Senior Sister's intelligence—logically speaking, most of the instances within the Prison Mountain Realm should be [confrontation] and [slaughter], and there shouldn't be too much infighting.

After all, although the demons here are cunning and treacherous, their methods are definitely not as bizarre as those in Mist Island and Night Valley.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu looked at the map he had taken from Little Fire Dragon.

"Speaking of this… Senior Brother Chen, is this the demon you were ordered to come and exterminate that day?"

Lin Yu pointed to the mark on the map and asked.

Chen Yuanjie replied casually: "The demon I was going to clear out was rumored to be a vampire bat demon. This map of yours… huh?"

Chen Yuanjie was a little surprised: "Is it marking demons with skulls? This is a marking method that the Taoist sect hasn't used for a long time, but my master taught me that one skull is six strings… two are twelve strings, because this classification is too rough, so later the Taoist sect and alchemists also unified with us martial artists and called them all strings."

"It's just, what's going on with these three skulls? Was it drawn wrong?"