Chapter 10: The Maze Temple

  After a few people had lunch and took a short rest, they set off in a hurry towards the Qinge Temple on top of Shifeng.

  As Du Ying said, the temple is not big, from the bottom of the cliff to the top, it's simply an untouchable mid-air pavilion. Although it seems only 50-60 meters away from where they stand, the vertical height and flat ground are two different things, especially when the stone slope is almost vertical.

  "It's really high..." Jiang Siqi said, feeling a bit discouraged. No kidding, the temple is over ten stories high, and the wooden beams below look like they're about to collapse... "Is it too late for me to say I'm afraid of heights now?"

  "Don't be ridiculous, we've come this far and you're still talking like that!" Su You pressed one hand on his shoulder. "Du Ying goes up first, secures the rope, then Jing Sheng, then you. I'll watch from below, guaranteed to be completely safe, huh?"

  Du Ying had already put a climbing rope around his waist. "I'm fine. When Jing Sheng climbs up, Mu Lian and Mu He should also be here, then the four of us can pull one," he glanced at Jiang Siqi, "are you still afraid?"

  It's not that the Mu sisters are bad, but mentioning them makes it seem like men can't compare to women. Jiang Siqi curled his lips in distaste, "Oh." He was now certain that the biggest disaster of this trip was having two sisters as a comparison!

  This little temper of hers was something Su You had gotten used to, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

  Apart from this little episode, the only unexpected event in the following process was that Jiang Siqi accidentally chose the wrong landing spot and stepped on a small piece of gravel. Fortunately, Su You had quick eyes and hands and dodged it, while Mu Lian, who was climbing, was several meters away, so it was a narrow escape. By the time everyone finally climbed up, more than an hour had passed.

  Although it looks like an overdue dangerous house from the bottom, when your feet really touch the wooden floor of the piano temple, you will know that it is an illusion of the eyes.

  "Wow, it's so amazing!" Mu He exclaimed in admiration, curiously looking down, "There are only stone walls around, how did people build this before?"

  Su proposed several possible designs from the aspects of physics and architectural engineering. He thought the most likely way was to climb up to the top of the stone peak from the south slope, then set up a pulley on the top, and use ropes to lift down the wood.

  This time even Du Ying looked at Su You in surprise. "The south side is indeed easier to climb," he said, looking up towards the top, "and there are also a few old pine trees on top that we can use for support!"

  A few people chatted for a while and then prepared to enter the door.

  Because it was built on the side of a mountain, the gate faces sideways. The long wall has one side made of rock and the other facing the northern slope where they climbed up. Above the gate is a wooden signboard, but the painted characters have already peeled off, revealing the mottled wood beneath. The gate itself also has several exposed round-headed wooden nails remaining on it, along with two half-weathered stone guardian statues, one on each side, showing off its former grandeur.

  "This wood is even more solid than stone!" Jiang Siqi suddenly discovered a new continent. "The stone carvings can't be seen clearly, but the wooden temple is still here!"

  "Yes, we guessed that the people who built this temple back then must have done some special treatment to the wood." Du Ying said, taking the lead and walking forward. The gate was originally just ajar, and now it was pushed open by him with a slight push, making only an extremely faint sound.

  This time, even Jing Sheng found it strange. "It doesn't make sense, it's impossible!" He followed Du Ying in and the first thing he did was to study the door hinge. "Friction? Has Newton taken it all back?"

  "Cough cough, sorry about that. This is an occupational disease." Seeing Mu Lian and Mu He both had a "this person's focus is all wrong" expression, Su You dryly explained, then also entered the door.

  From the outside, the temple doesn't look very big, but inside there's nothing much to see, so it feels quite empty. It was precisely because of this that Su You spotted the stone statue and stone zither that Du Ying had mentioned at a glance.

  Like the stone carving in front of the gate, the surface of the statue's head is weathered and its facial features are completely invisible. The texture of the clothing barely remains, but it can be guessed that the previous carving was a long gown fluttering in the wind.

  Su You circled around the two things in the center a few times, her heart skipping a beat. This robe... seemed to be the white robe from his dreams!

  "How can there be so little?" Jiang Siqi walked in after Su You, and at this time, he had already looked around the surrounding area, confirming that there was nothing else in the temple except for the statue in the middle and the stone piano. "There isn't even a symbol left on the stone wall, nor is there an altar for incense and candles. What's the point of building this temple? Just to look good?"

  "If you want to burn incense, it wouldn't be repaired in such a place, would it?" Mulian walked forward and stood beside Shi Qin.

  "There should be a reason for that too?" Jiang Siqi continued to wonder.

  Du Ying originally studied with Jing Sheng about the door hinge, and now he also walked over. "There is incense," he said, then pushed open the window facing outward, "right below."

  Su You was originally standing on the ground between the stone statue and the window, and at this time he took a step forward to see what Du Ying said - when they came up, the pit left by the green oak tree was on the right side; but from this position, it's just opposite! He turned his head again to look at the stone statue, only to find that the front face of the stone statue should be facing the window and sideways to the door.

  "I see..." he muttered. Although there were still some unresolved issues, the relationship between Qinggong and Qingsheng had already become apparent!

  Du Ying said, Mu Lian and Mu He walked over curiously. Jing Sheng continued to focus on using the door hinge as an experimental study, while Jiang Siqi was slightly afraid of heights and was still looking at the carving. "This is really strange," he muttered, "the wood is still solid, but the stone ones are almost completely destroyed." He reached out to touch the stone slab that should have been the stone piano, "It doesn't feel cool either..."

  Almost in the next instant, Du Ying, Mu He and Mu Lian turned their heads and stared straight at his hand.

  "What's wrong?" Jiang Siqi was bathed in the six people's gaze, and suddenly felt like he had done something terribly wrong, shrinking back as if electrocuted, "Can't touch?"

  "No," Du Ying replied, struggling to suppress the turmoil in her heart, "Not cool?"

  "Yes, it doesn't feel like stone at all, but rather something else." Jiang Siqi put his mind at ease, "A wooden feeling?"

  Su You heard this and walked back to touch it. "What's going on? It's obviously a stone! Cool and refreshing!"

  "That's probably just a personal feeling." Jiang Siqi didn't mind, turned his head and called out to Jing Sheng. "Hey, Teacher Jing, how long do you plan on staring at that door?"

  Since there was nothing to see in the temple, several people came up and went down the rope within half an hour, almost catching up with dinner time. Shi Nan's cooking skills were also worth praising, and then everyone gathered around the bonfire to discuss the next arrangement.

  The two sisters Mu Jia planned to set off early the next morning from the north slope of Shifeng and then descend from the south slope. As for Su You, only one of them, Jing Sheng, had learned rock climbing, so it was impossible for them to travel together, and they could only reluctantly part ways.

  Because there are tourist huts on the mountain top, night watch is exempt. Du Ying and Shi Nan in one hut, Mu Jia sisters in one hut, Su You three people in one hut.

  Jiang Siqi felt a great sense of relief. "I can finally get a good night's sleep!" As someone who suffered from severe morning sickness, he had every reason to make such an exclamation.

  "Yes." Du Ying echoed. But in fact, he knew that this night was destined to be unpeaceful.

  It is night, and the full moon hangs high in the sky.

  It was probably because he had thought too much during the day that Su You lay in bed for most of the day without falling asleep. The strange feeling in his heart grew heavier and heavier, but he couldn't grasp any definite clue.

  "Hmm..."

  Jing Sheng turned over and started snoring softly.

  Su Yu was speechless. Jing Sheng, this son of a bitch, had stirred up his suspicions and ended up sleeping soundly himself? Well, sleep is indeed the most honest thing!

  Just as Su You was half asleep, he vaguely heard the sound of someone getting up beside him. Judging from the movement, he knew it was Jiang Siqi. He didn't pay much attention and thought that the other person had just gotten up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. But when he woke up a little later, he found that the bed next to him was still empty.

  What kind of water is this? Hopefully nothing has happened.

  Su Yu suddenly woke up. He immediately turned over and got out of bed, wearing slippers and pushed open the door.

  The night wind was icy, blowing straight into people's necks. Su You shivered and took a high-powered flashlight from the door frame, shining it around. As a result, there were no human shadows, not even a ghostly shadow!

  "Xiao Qi? Xiao Qi!"

  Su Yu was startled and didn't care about the quiet of the night, shouting loudly as he rushed down from the wooden ladder in front of the door. Xiao Qi was always careful, how could she possibly be wandering around in the mountains at midnight?

  The first one to respond to his shout was Jing Sheng. "What's wrong?" He also ran out wearing only slippers, "Yu Zi, Xiao Qi is gone?"

  Su simply told what had just happened, and Jing Sheng was stunned. "Did he go to the bathroom?"

  "It's about time you made a sound!" Suyou exclaimed. "He's not in the bathroom, I've also looked around the house!"

  Jing Sheng suddenly felt that something was off. "How could this be? Wait, let me help you look!" He turned back into the house to grab another flashlight and came out with his brow furrowed even more tightly: "I've looked everywhere, Xiao Qi didn't bring anything with him, so where could he have gone?"

  The two of them made such a big commotion that the people in the other two rooms were also startled. And after finding out what had happened, everyone immediately picked up their gear and went to look for someone together. But Jiang Siqi didn't even bring his watch with GPS positioning function, so they could only search in a blanket-like manner.

  Fortunately, the top of Shouyangping offers a broad view, and the six people quickly searched around but found nothing.

  "He won't go down the mountain, will he?" Jing Sheng guessed, his brow furrowed.

  "Could it be that he went up?" Mu He asked.

  "How is it possible to go up, Xiao Qi..." Su You Zheng was about to say that Jiang Si Qi was slightly acrophobic and couldn't possibly climb the cliff himself, but when he shone his flashlight towards the top of the temple, he vaguely saw a black shadow flash by. "There's someone above!" he exclaimed in surprise.