To be honest, coming to this kind of place alone in the middle of the night made me extremely nervous. I kept clutching that silver bell tightly in my hand. If something happened later, I'd ring it right away.
I timidly walked towards the dilapidated temple. At this moment, the moon was high in the sky, shining on the dilapidated temple and making it look extra terrifying.
I walked around the temple. Dark clouds were gradually covering half of the moon, and it got much darker outside. I took out my flashlight and shone it into the temple.
This temple clearly hadn't been visited for a long time. It was full of cobwebs, dark and damp. I stood outside the door, hesitating to go in. But then I thought of what Gu Yuan had said.
If I couldn't become his disciple, I might really lose my life. So I summoned up my courage and went in.
I shone the flashlight around the temple. The statue enshrined inside had already fallen.
Through the dim flashlight light, I could still vaguely make out the outline of the statue. It seemed to be an upper celestial being from the heavens.
The statue had been toppled. I guessed it was just a down - and - out fairy now.
I took a few more steps inside and when I walked around to the back of the statue, I couldn't help but gasp.
There was actually a big coffin behind the statue. It was extremely inauspicious for a coffin to be on the ground.
Putting a coffin in a temple, what kind of operation was this? I was a bit scared and didn't dare to get closer.
But the next second, there came a "thud! Thud! Thud..." sound from inside the coffin. The sound was getting more and more urgent, like someone knocking on a door or pounding on my heart.
I was so scared that my scalp went numb and my legs went weak. I wanted to run away immediately.
But then Gu Yuan's cold face appeared in my mind, and his voice said, "Don't run." I didn't dare to move.
I summoned up my courage and shone the flashlight around. Suddenly, I found that the lid of the coffin seemed to be moving. Hearing the sound of the coffin boards rubbing against each other in the silent night would scare anyone to death.
I was in a dilemma now. Running wasn't an option, and not running wasn't either. Was it too early to ring the bell now? After all, I hadn't really encountered danger yet.
My thoughts were in a mess, and I didn't know what to do.
My eyes were wide open, staring straight at the coffin. Then I noticed something strange. The coffin wasn't about to open; it was slowly closing.
This didn't seem right. Was there something shady inside the coffin, or had the vengeful fairy discovered something and was trying to escape?
This wouldn't do. If I couldn't draw out the vengeful fairy, I would surely be in big trouble.
I don't know where I got the courage from. I rushed towards the coffin in three quick steps to check the situation.
I was shocked when I looked inside. Lying in the coffin was actually Gu Yuan.
His eyes were tightly closed, and his face was as cold as ever. I didn't know if he was dead or alive at the moment, but I felt that if the coffin lid closed, he would surely die.
If he died, I would be finished too.
I didn't care about anything else. Saving him was the most important thing. I grabbed the coffin lid with one hand and tried to pull Gu Yuan's body out of the coffin with the other.
Suddenly, Gu Yuan in the coffin suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were all white without any pupils. He let out a shrill scream, and his face gradually transformed into a bloody and mangled one.
This close - range visual shock scared me so much that I quickly withdrew my hands and tried to run away.
That clearly wasn't Gu Yuan. I must have been deceived just now.
Just as I was about to escape, the monster grabbed my collar and tried to pull me into the coffin desperately.
It kept making a hissing sound like the rattle of a rattlesnake.
"Ah..." I was so scared that I burst into tears on the spot. My head was buzzing, and I completely forgot what Gu Yuan had told me.
I struggled desperately. Half of my body was stuck at the coffin opening, unable to get in or out.
Just as those two bloody hands reached for my neck, a silver light flashed behind me. The person in the coffin suddenly withdrew his hands.
My body took a few steps back due to inertia.
Before I could even stand still, the thing crawled out of the coffin.
I couldn't help but gasp. My scalp wasn't just numb; it was throbbing with pain, as if my blood vessels were about to burst.
What crawled out wasn't a human at all. It was a woman with a snake's body. I could tell it was a woman only from the length of her hair.
Her eyes were bloodshot at the moment, looking venomous and vicious.
Half of her rotting face had exposed the white bones. When her mouth opened and closed, the yellowed teeth were covered with flesh and blood, stuck in the gaps between the teeth.
When it crawled out of the coffin, it left behind a large amount of fresh broken bones and remains, a bloody mess that made people tremble with fear.
Just now, I thought it was Gu Yuan who had saved me, thinking that my savior had come.
But after I got out of trouble, I didn't see him. It wasn't until the snake - faced woman wrapped around my body that I realized he really hadn't shown up.
The snake demon raised her hand and hooked my chin with her sharp nails. She said, "It's really a case of searching high and low in vain, and then finding it without any effort. Your naturally extremely yin constitution will help me improve my magic power."
She gently scratched my face and smacked her lips. "Tsk tsk tsk. Look at this beautiful face. It's hundreds of times better than those people before. With this face, I won't have to suffer from the pain of molting anymore. Girl, it's lucky you didn't die back then. Because of you, I was disfigured by that old beggar. It's time to get my revenge."
Although the snake demon's face was hideous, her voice was full of charm.
Her tail tightly wrapped around my body. The cold, sticky, and numb feeling made me break out in goosebumps.
I shook the silver bell on my wrist desperately, but there was no response at all.
I thought I had been tricked by Gu Yuan this time. He must have deliberately sent me into the snake's mouth.
There was no other way. I guessed that begging for mercy would be useless. I decided to take a risk.
I summoned up my courage and said, "I'm warning you. You'd better let me go. My celestial master is nearby. He'll be here soon, and he's notoriously hard to deal with."
"Giggle. Threatening me? You don't have a spiritual shrine on you at all. Do you think I'll believe you?" Her half - skeleton face slowly got closer to mine. Her golden snake eyes stared at me greedily, and she stuck out a forked snake tongue and probed my face.
I was so scared that I was completely drained of strength, and my body was shaking.
She must have felt that I was extremely scared. Her words were full of mockery and arrogance. "Then I'll wait. Let your so - called hard - to - deal - with celestial master come and take revenge on me. Fine..."
She loosened her tail and crawled off my body. Then she turned around and stood in front of me.
Suddenly free, my legs went weak, and I sat on the ground.
At the same time, an old woman who looked eighty or ninety years old walked out of the darkness in the temple.
She had her white hair coiled into a bun. Her face was full of wrinkles, and she had only a few teeth left. Her eyes were lowered, looking half - dead.
This wasn't the scariest part. The scariest thing was that she was holding a white human - skin lantern in her hand. The flame inside the lantern was flickering constantly.
In the darkness, a woman's face appeared inside the lantern, smiling eerily at me.
Then, strange laughter came from the beams of the temple.
The old woman walked closer step by step. I sat on the ground and kept rubbing my feet on the ground, moving backward.
I shook the bell on my wrist and whispered Gu Yuan's name.
When the old woman cornered me, she suddenly showed her true ferocious appearance. A purple - blue nail grew out of her right index finger, surrounded by black threads. Coupled with her wrinkled face, it was extremely terrifying.
This had completely exceeded my tolerance for horror. I stared closely at the old woman's approaching nail, and my heart was pounding wildly.
I was still thinking, "Where are you, Gu Yuan?"
The old woman's nail was as sharp as a razor and had touched my hairline.
It seemed that she wanted the skin on my face.