Chapter 125: Chapter 43: Talking with Yu Sheng
Yu Sheng first pointed to his blind left eye:
"You can probably tell that my time is short. In a little while, I’ll turn completely into a malevolent ghost and become a part of the supernatural domain of Longshu Temple.
"But don’t worry, I’ll have no problem making it through tonight. Before I died in Longshu Temple, I used a special Secret Technique to seal my own soul. That’s why I was able to maintain my human mind for a long time after becoming a ghost."
Gao Tian was shaken to his core.
Yu Sheng was already dead.
What he was seeing in this supernatural domain was the ghost of Yu Sheng.
There were many ways in this world to maintain one’s sanity after becoming a ghost. For example, Xu Yuan’s Divine Tree, or the Buddhist Secret Technique that Yu Sheng had mastered, which allowed him to maintain a mostly human appearance and wait for Gao Tian’s group to arrive.
However, all these methods had fatal flaws; they weren’t permanent. They could only be considered stopgap measures.
Before Gao Tian could speak, Yu Sheng pointed to the sky and continued:
"Because I failed my mission in Longshu Temple, the Living Persons Apartment had to send a new batch of tenants to clean up this mess. Your arrival here is no accident; you have an important mission.
"For that, I apologize. If it weren’t for my incompetence, the Longshu Temple incident would have been over by now.
"Making you mortals handle a seven-part mission is truly asking a lot. So before I left, I placed seven Time Crows in Longshu Temple. Every time everyone in Longshu Temple dies, you will all be resurrected during the next reset, but you will also lose all your memories.
"Normally, if you die once in Longshu Temple, you can’t be reborn even if time resets. You can only turn into a malevolent ghost, endlessly repeating the obsessions you had in life."
’So the seven crows in Longshu Temple were left by Yu Sheng.’
He and Jiang Yang had initially speculated that the monks in the Great Buddha turned into starving ghosts because their bodies had gradually broken down after thousands, even tens of thousands, of cycles in Longshu Temple.
He never would have guessed that the monks had transformed into malevolent ghosts after dying just once, on the very first night, even after time had reset.
The ability to be reborn seven times was a privilege Yu Sheng had left for the Living Persons Apartment.
Although their memories would be erased after rebirth, when combined with Gao Tian’s Ghost Card, it exploited a bug with the Time Crows, allowing him to retain his complete memories and enter the next cycle. This drastically reduced the difficulty of the seven-part mission in Longshu Temple.
The Time Crows and the Ghost Card were a combo that Yu Sheng and Gao Tian had pulled off across time and space.
The third piece of information Yu Sheng revealed was even stranger than the first two combined:
"Jiang Yang, Wang Wenbo—they don’t matter. Their only purpose in coming here is to ensure you leave alive.
"Your only mission here is to take the ’Time Coffin’ and leave Longshu Temple, returning to the real world.
"You’ve already broken through Longshu Temple’s time loop, which is good. Next, I’ll tell you how to find the bus station near Longshu Temple.
"Once you get on the bus with the Time Coffin, it will all be over. All the tragedies that happen here afterward will have nothing to do with you. Whether I completely degenerate into a ghost, or Jiang Yang and the others get trapped in infinite time and become part of this supernatural domain—none of that is as important as your safety."
’So this man-eating Transparent Coffin is called the "Time Coffin."’
’Why did Yu Sheng go to such great lengths, stressing over and over again, that I absolutely must bring back the Time Coffin?’
Gao Tian was filled with countless questions, but he chose to ask this one first:
"Is the Time Coffin a very important Supernatural Artifact?
"What does it do?"
Yu Sheng:
"Extremely important.
"Once you master it, it has only one effect, and you must remember it well. No one will be around to remind you of this again.
"This is a Supernatural Artifact related to time.
"It can turn its owner’s time back five minutes.
"However, it only affects the owner themselves.
"Furthermore, to activate the Time Coffin’s effect, you must activate it five minutes in advance."
The words sounded a bit convoluted. Gao Tian thought for a moment and understood what he meant.
For example, say it’s 12:00, and the Time Coffin’s effect is activated.
Then, five minutes later, at 12:05, the coffin owner’s physical state is reset to what it was at 12:00.
After hearing the first sentence, Gao Tian’s eyes had already lit up.
If the Time Coffin could turn back the entire world’s timeline by five minutes, it would indeed be an incredibly overpowered artifact.
But knowing its limitations... made it seem rather absurd.
’Activate it, wait five minutes for it to take effect, and then it resets your state to five minutes ago.’
’What’s the point of that?’
Of course, no time-related artifact was ever weak. Gao Tian could imagine that the Time Coffin might be able to create some unexpected effects by forming a combo with other Supernatural Artifacts.
But right now, he really couldn’t see what made this artifact worth the immense price Yu Sheng and so many others had paid.
The Wind Attendant Buddha looked up and asked:
"This artifact’s use on its own is quite limited, isn’t it?
"It must be used in combination with another Supernatural Artifact to produce a powerful effect. Otherwise, you wouldn’t place so much importance on it."
Yu Sheng neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply didn’t answer.
’This bald bastard. Even now, he’s still playing the riddler.’
Gao Tian really felt like he couldn’t take it anymore. His fists were itching for a fight.
Seeing the change in the Wind Attendant Buddha’s expression and knowing Gao Tian was growing angry, Yu Sheng put his palms together and apologized sincerely:
"Gao Tian, it’s not that I’m being deliberately mysterious or trying to mess with you by withholding the answer.
"Every word I say to you will become a part of time. In the future, some filthy thing that can travel back through time might dig them up and search through our conversation.
"As long as something has existed on the timeline, they can view it as easily as replaying a video, including this conversation we’re having today.
"I can’t be too specific. You have to think about it and make the connections yourself.
"Those filthy things, as terrifying as they are, have relatively low intelligence. As long as I don’t say or write it directly, they won’t know the meaning of what I’m giving you.
"When the final day comes, you will understand the meaning of everything that has been placed in your hands."
So that was why Yu Sheng loved being so cryptic.
It wasn’t that he had a strange personality or enjoyed deliberately annoying people.
Malevolent ghosts that toyed with time did indeed exist in this world. It was just like how little Xu Yuan had seen Blue Star fifty years in the future through his future-seeing eye, which also led to the smiley-faced man contaminating the past by following the timeline back.
In his heart, Gao Tian already had a faint guess about what the Time Coffin was for.
But if that were true... the idea was too wild, so wild he didn’t dare to even consider trying it.
Gao Tian:
"What are these things you mentioned that covet us?
"A certain malevolent ghost from the future?
"Or... the Jialan Society?"
Yu Sheng had no reaction to the words "Jialan Society":
"What Jialan Society? I’ve never heard of it."
With that, he pointed at the ground:
"It’s time to say goodbye. For my last question, Gao Tian, take a guess. Where am I from?"
Gao Tian pondered for a moment before giving his answer:
"You’re from a thousand years ago... from the Northern Song Dynasty."
This was from the information Jiang Yang and Wang Wenbo had looked up before the Living Persons Apartment group departed.
"A thousand years ago, during the Northern Song Dynasty, local folklore records state that a red meteor fell from the sky, streaking over Longshu Temple.
"The next day, when pilgrims arrived at Longshu Temple, they found the main gate locked tight. After forcing it open, they discovered that all the monks and the abbot inside had vanished overnight."
Gao Tian recalled Jiang Yang’s words as he looked at Yu Sheng and said slowly:
"From that day on, your Longshu Temple didn’t vanish. Instead, it was trapped in a time loop. You lived the same day for a full thousand years.
"A thousand years later, for some unknown reason, you broke free from the Longshu Temple’s cycle and escaped the supernatural domain. You joined the Living Persons Apartment and adapted to the modern world with incredible speed.
"But, during your seventh green-character mission, you were forced to return to Longshu Temple."
Yu Sheng put his palms together again, signaling that Gao Tian was correct.
’This monk... he really is an ancient man, transported from a thousand years ago by supernatural forces.’
Having confirmed this, Gao Tian’s feelings were indescribable.
In terms of age, Yu Sheng was more than fifty times older than him. Calling him a great-grandfather would be an understatement.
At this point, he could only suppress his shock:
"Is it my turn to ask questions now?
"What exactly happened at Longshu Temple back then?
"The other monks all became ghosts, so why were you the only one who could escape the thousand-year loop?
"And what was your purpose for coming to the modern era and joining the Living Persons Apartment?"
Yu Sheng:
"It all started with a wish."
Gao Tian repeated:
"A wish?"
Yu Sheng nodded:
"I was born exactly one thousand years ago. The emperor at that time was Emperor Tian Sheng, who later generations would call Emperor Ren of Song.
"Although our era was called the ’Prosperous Reign of Renzong’ and was relatively stable, it certainly couldn’t compare to the modern nations of later ages.
"Localized rebellions and mountain bandits carving out their own territories were still common occurrences.
"Entire villages were often massacred overnight by bandits descending from the mountains, leaving behind only empty houses. Without modern transportation, by the time the local Government Office arrived, the criminals were long gone.
"When I was eight or nine, my village was pillaged by bandits. When I opened my eyes, everyone in the village was dead. The specific details are tedious, and since a thousand years have passed, I won’t go into them.
"A mother’s love makes her strong. It was my mother, a simple village woman, who carried me—still half-asleep—on her back and rushed through the mountains for three days and three nights. She managed to bring me to the gate of a temple and begged the monks inside to take me in.
"I don’t know why the bandits on horseback never caught up to my mother. She didn’t have a drop of water for three whole days, yet she crossed such a great distance. Thinking back on it now, it was probably fate."
Yu Sheng’s tone remained perfectly calm, as if he were talking about someone else’s life.
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