Chapter 126: A Conversation with Yusheng

Yusheng pointed to his blind left eye first. "You can probably tell my time is running short. Soon, I will completely transform into a Fierce Ghost and become part of the Longshu Temple Supernatural Zone.

"But rest assured, surviving through tonight won't be a problem. Before dying here in Longshu Temple, I sealed my soul using a special secret art. Because of this, even long after becoming a ghost, I can maintain my human mind."

Gao Tian's mind reeled.

Yusheng was already dead.

What he saw in the Supernatural Zone was Yusheng after death.

There were many ways in this world to maintain one's sanity after becoming a ghost. Examples included Xu Yuan's Divine Tree or the Buddhist secret art Yusheng had mastered, which allowed him to maintain a mostly normal human appearance and wait for the arrival of Gao Tian and his group.

However, all these methods had fatal flaws. None of them were permanent; they were only stopgap measures.

Before Gao Tian could speak, Yusheng pointed at the sky and continued. "Because I failed my mission at Longshu Temple, the Living Apartment had to send a new batch of residents to clean up the mess. Your arrival here is no accident. You carry a crucial mission.

"For this, I apologize. If not for my incompetence, the Longshu Temple incident should have ended by now.

"Making mortals like you handle seven missions is truly asking too much. That is why, before I departed, I left behind seven Time Wheel Crows in Longshu Temple. Every time everyone dies here, everyone will resurrect together during the next reset, but you will also lose all your memories.

"Under normal circumstances, dying once in Longshu Temple—even if time resets—means the dead cannot be reborn. They can only transform into Fierce Ghosts and repeat the obsessions they held in life."

So the seven crows in Longshu Temple were left by Yusheng.

He and Jiang Yang had initially speculated that the monks inside the giant Buddha had become starved ghosts because they had endured thousands upon thousands of cycles in Longshu Temple, causing their physical bodies to gradually collapse.

He hadn't expected that after dying on the very first night, even with the time reset, those monks had directly transformed into Fierce Ghosts.

The ability to resurrect seven times was a privilege Yusheng had left for the Living Apartment.

Although their memories would be wiped after rebirth, pairing that with Gao Tian's Ghost Card had exploited a bug in the Time Wheel Crows, allowing them to carry their complete memories into the next cycle. This drastically reduced the difficulty of Longshu Temple's seven-mission run.

The Time Wheel Crows and the Ghost Card were a combo Yusheng and Gao Tian had pulled off across time and space.

The third piece of information Yusheng revealed was more bizarre than the first two combined. "Jiang Yang, Wang Wenbo—they don't matter. Their sole purpose for being here is to ensure you make it out alive.

"Your only mission here is to take the Time Coffin and leave Longshu Temple, returning to reality.

"You've already broken through Longshu Temple's time loop, which is excellent. Next, I will tell you how to find the Bus stop near Longshu Temple.

"As long as you get on the Bus with the Time Coffin, it's all over. Whatever tragedies happen here next will have nothing to do with you. Whether I completely fall and turn into a ghost, or Jiang Yang and the others get trapped in infinite time and become part of the Supernatural Zone, none of it matters compared to your safety."

So this man-eating Transparent Coffin was called the Time Coffin.

Why had Yusheng paid such a steep price and repeatedly emphasized that Gao Tian absolutely had to bring back the Time Coffin?

Countless questions filled Gao Tian's mind, but he chose to ask this one first. "Is the Time Coffin a very important Supernatural Item?

"What effect does it have?"

Yusheng replied, "Very important.

"Once you master it, it has only one effect. You must commit this to memory. No one will be around to remind you again.

"It is a Supernatural Item related to time.

"It can turn its wielder's time back to five minutes ago.

"But it only works on its master.

"Furthermore, if you want to trigger the Time Coffin's effect, you must activate it five minutes in advance."

The explanation sounded a bit convoluted. Gao Tian thought for a moment before understanding the implication.

For example, if the Time Coffin's effect was activated right now at 12:00.

Then five minutes later, at exactly 12:05, the coffin master's physical condition would revert to their state from 12:00.

After hearing the first sentence, Gao Tian's eyes had lit up.

If the Time Coffin could dial the entire world's timeline back by five minutes, it would indeed be an absurdly overpowered item.

But after learning its restrictions, it just seemed somewhat ridiculous.

It took five minutes to take effect after activation, only to rewind the user's state to five minutes prior.

What was the point?

Of course, no item related to time was ever weak. Gao Tian figured the Time Coffin could probably combo with other Supernatural Items to produce unexpected effects.

But right now, he really couldn't see how this item was worth Yusheng and so many others paying such a massive price.

The Wind Attendant Buddha looked up and asked, "The utility of this item on its own is very limited, isn't it?

"It must be used in conjunction with a specific Supernatural Item to unleash its full potential. Otherwise, you wouldn't attach so much importance to it."

Yusheng neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply refused to answer.

This bald monk was still speaking in riddles at a time like this.

Gao Tian really felt like he couldn't hold back anymore. His fists were itching to strike.

Seeing the shift in the Wind Attendant Buddha's expression, Yusheng knew Gao Tian's anger had been roused. He brought his hands together in prayer and offered a sincere apology. "Gao Tian, I'm truly not trying to be mysterious, nor am I withholding the answers just to mess with you.

"Every word I say to you becomes part of time. In the future, it might be dug up by filthy things capable of swimming upstream through time and space to search through our conversation.

"As long as it's something that existed on the timeline, they can review it at will, like replaying a video. That includes our talk today.

"I cannot speak too specifically. You have to figure it out and make the connections yourself.

"Those filthy things might be terrifying, but their intelligence is relatively low. As long as I don't state it outright or write it down, they won't know the true meaning of what I've entrusted to you.

"When that final day arrives, you will understand the purpose of everything that has been placed in your hands."

So that was it.

This was why Yusheng loved speaking in riddles so much.

It wasn't because he had an eccentric personality or enjoyed deliberately frustrating people.

Fierce Ghosts that toyed with time truly did exist in this world. It was just like how the young Xu Yuan had used the Future Eye to glimpse the Blue Planet fifty years into the future, which subsequently allowed the Smiling Man to trace the timeline back and corrupt the past.

In his heart, Gao Tian actually already had a faint guess as to what this Time Coffin was used for.

But if it really was like that—the idea was simply too insane, so massive that he wouldn't dare test it lightly.

Gao Tian asked, "What are these things you say are coveting us?

"Some male Fierce Ghost from the future?

"Or is it... the Galan Society?"

Yusheng didn't show any reaction to the words 'Galan Society'. "What Galan Society? Never heard of it."

He pointed at the ground. "It is almost time to say goodbye. But finally, Gao Tian, why don't you guess where I come from?"

Gao Tian pondered for a moment before giving his answer. "You are from a thousand years ago—a person of the Northern Song Dynasty."

He thought back to the data Jiang Yang and Wang Wenbo had looked up before the Living Apartment set out.

"A thousand years ago, during the Northern Song Dynasty, local folklore recorded a crimson meteor falling from the heavens and streaking over Longshu Temple. The next day, when pilgrims came to Longshu Temple, they found the main gates tightly locked. After forcing their way inside, they discovered that the abbot and every monk had vanished overnight."

Recalling Jiang Yang's words, Gao Tian looked at Yusheng and slowly said, "Since that day, your Longshu Temple didn't vanish—it was trapped in a time loop. You spent an entire millennium repeating the exact same day.

"A thousand years later, for some unknown reason, you broke free of Longshu Temple's cycle and walked out of the Supernatural Zone. You joined the Living Apartment and adapted to the modern environment at an incredible speed.

"But during your seventh Green Text Mission, you were forced to return to Longshu Temple."

Yusheng brought his palms together once more, signaling that Gao Tian was entirely correct.

This monk truly was an ancient man, transported here from a thousand years ago by supernatural forces.

Having confirmed this point, the emotions welling up in Gao Tian's heart were indescribable.

In terms of age, Yusheng was nearly fifty times older than him. Calling him a great-grandfather would be a massive understatement.

As things stood, he could only suppress his shock. "Is it my turn to ask questions?

"What exactly happened at Longshu Temple back then?

"All the other monks became ghosts. Why were you the only one able to escape that thousand-year cycle?

"And what is your purpose in coming to the modern era and joining the Living Apartment?"

Yusheng replied, "All of this stems from a single wish."

"A wish?" Gao Tian repeated.

Yusheng nodded. "I was born exactly one thousand years ago. The reigning majesty at the time was the Tiansheng Emperor, whom later generations know as Emperor Renzong of Song.

"Although our era was called the 'Prosperous Age of Renzong' and the political landscape was relatively stable, it certainly could not compare to modern nations.

"Localized rebellions and bandits claiming territories as their own domains were still common occurrences.

"It often happened that an entire village of civilians would be slaughtered overnight by bandits descending from the mountains, leaving nothing but an empty ghost town behind. Without modern transportation, by the time the local authorities arrived, the culprits would have long since vanished.

"When I was eight or nine years old, my village became the target of a bandit raid. By the time I opened my eyes, everyone in the village was dead. The exact details are rather boring. Over a thousand years have passed, so I will spare you the story.

"They say a mother becomes strong. It was my mother—a rural village woman—who carried my sleeping self on her back and trekked through the mountains for three days and three nights, forcing her way to the gates of a temple. She begged the monks inside to take pity on me and take me in.

"I do not know why the horse-riding bandits never caught up to my mother. She went three whole days without a drop of water, yet managed to cross such a vast distance. Looking back on it now, perhaps it was all the will of heaven."

Yusheng's tone remained perfectly calm, as if he were recounting someone else's affairs.