Am I the only cultivator in this cultivation group?

The heavy door was slowly pushed open.

A chilling wind swept through the hall, causing the candlelight on both sides to flicker and glow, casting an eerie atmosphere over the entire main hall.

Despite the eeriness, the scene inside the hall was completely different from that outside.

Rows of monks knelt neatly on prayer cushions, their eyes closed and hands clasped together. A faint Buddhist light emanated from them, casting a shimmering glow over the entire hall. Almost all the prayer cushions were occupied by kneeling monks, except for one empty seat at the very front left.

As the four people, including the fox, stepped into the hall, they all paused slightly.

The interplay of Buddhist light and candlelight fell upon several faces. The hall was silent, peaceful yet tinged with death, a stark contrast to the eerie and menacing scene outside.

"Is this the main hall of the ancient Fojue Temple?"

Bai Xiaoyu, controlling Jade Cauldron Immortal, looked around and couldn't help but say, "I didn't expect it to be so different inside. The outside is like a ghost town, but this place is actually quite authentic."

"These monks are strange too." Huang Yaoying frowned, staring at the monks kneeling in the hall. "They're completely different from those outside."

From the moment they entered the hall, the monks remained completely still.

Without raising her head, without opening her eyes, and without even breathing, she remained kneeling there quietly with her hands clasped together, as if she had no idea that someone had intruded.

"But what are they worshipping?"

Guang Chengzi looked up and followed the direction in which the monks were worshipping, and was immediately stunned.

The place where the Buddha statue should have been enshrined was now completely empty.

The altar and incense table are still there, but the large Buddha statue that should have been placed in the center is nowhere to be seen.

"Did this Buddha statue... run away on its own?"

Bai Xiaoyu looked surprised.

"Master, something's not right."

Li Hu suddenly spoke, his brows furrowing slightly, and his nose twitching twice.

"There's a strange smell here, like kerosene mixed with a bit of rottenness."

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon the monks. He took two steps forward, sniffed carefully, and the fox's expression became even more serious.

"These monks are already dead."

"Dead?" Bai Xiaoyu was stunned.

"Hmm." Li Hu nodded. "There's not a trace of human presence on them. The corpse smell is faint, but it can't escape my nose. However, they're also covered in the smell of incense and lamp oil, which makes it smell very strange."

"Dude, is your nose that sensitive that you can smell it even through the screen?"

Guang Chengzi couldn't help but smile: "Master Yuding, your disciple is quite immersed in his role."

"What do you know? This is called an immersive game."

Bai Xiaoyu retorted.

"Okay, okay, let's call it an immersive game. We fought our way in from the outside, and of all the monsters we've encountered, which one was actually alive?"

Guang Chengzi's words are not wrong.

The worshippers and fierce monks outside were all resentful spirits.

"But they look just like living people," Li Hu said, still somewhat puzzled. "They even emit a Buddha-like glow. It's strange enough for dead people to worship Buddha, but for them to emit a glow while they're worshipping—is that even possible?"

"That is indeed a problem." Bai Xiaoyu stroked her chin. "But it's also possible that the planner did it on purpose. The game Taixu has no shortage of planners who know how to pull off some tricks."

As they spoke, she and Huang Yaoying had already explored the entire main hall.

There is no organization.

No monsters are respawning.

There was no indication of triggering a boss battle.

"This empty prayer mat isn't responding either."

Guang Chengzi simply stepped onto the futon and jumped up and down a couple of times, saying, "I'm almost breaking my spacebar."

Guang Chengzi tapped the space bar on his keyboard, but there was still no response.

"Let's go and look around somewhere else."

Finally, the Taoist Ran Deng spoke, his tone as indifferent as ever, and pointed to the side doors on both sides.

"Let's split up and act separately."

"Even though this is a game, splitting up usually doesn't end well," Hiroko kept talking. "That's basically how the main characters in horror movies all end up."

Despite saying that, the Taoist Ran Deng had already picked up his lantern and walked towards the left side door without looking back.

"Hey, wait for me."

Seeing this, Guang Chengzi quickly followed.

"Let's go to the right." Huang Yaoying jumped down from the roof beam. She had already scouted around up there and looked down, but hadn't found any mechanisms or hidden compartments. "Since we can't trigger the BOSS in the main hall, the problem is probably somewhere else."

"Mm." Bai Xiaoyu nodded.

Li Hu naturally dared not be left alone, so he quickly followed his master and seniors and headed to the right.

Just then—

"when."

Another bell rang out, echoing without warning from the depths of the temple.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was terrifyingly deep, like a direct hit to the heart, making one shudder for no reason.

"The atmosphere in this instance is really good," Bai Xiaoyu commented. "The sound of the bell is quite eerie."

"What's the use of being good?" Huang Yaoying complained as she walked forward. "No one has cleared it yet, and there aren't any decent clues or guides online. No matter how atmospheric the dungeon is, it's useless if you can't clear it. If the developers deliberately made it so that only they know about the trigger conditions, then this dungeon is just disgusting."

She said a string of words that Li Hu couldn't quite understand.

What planning, what strategy, what trigger conditions?

Although Li Hu didn't understand what these things meant, he now had a very good impression of the word "copy".

Because he entered the dungeon, he not only picked up a lot of pills, but also found a super, super good master.

Thinking about it that way, dungeons are really a great place.

"strangeness."

Bai Xiaoyu suddenly frowned.

"What's wrong?" Li Hu asked.

"These rooms are so clean." Bai Xiaoyu glanced at the side halls and monks' quarters she had passed. "The tables and chairs are arranged neatly, there's not a speck of dust on the floor, and even the candlesticks are polished to a shine, as if someone cleans them every day."

"It's just too quiet," Huang Yaoying said. "It's supposed to be a boss fight, but this is the first time I've ever encountered a place like this. In the past, when I entered a dungeon, either mobs would swarm me or the boss would be waiting for me. Unlike here, it's so quiet it's like nobody's around."

"Maybe they want to try a different style this time?" Bai Xiaoyu said.

"Maybe."

As the three were talking, Li Hu's voice suddenly came from ahead.

"Master, senior, please come and take a look over here."

Li Hu was standing in front of a door, waving to the two of them.

Wisps of black smoke were billowing out from under the door.

Bai Xiaoyu and Huang Yaoying exchanged a glance and immediately hurried over.

Upon opening the door, I found it was actually a kitchen.

The stove fire was still burning, and the pot was still bubbling away. There were many cooked dishes on the cutting board. The aroma of meat, oil, and sauces mingled together, creating an incredibly rich fragrance, as if someone had just prepared a grand feast here.

"It smells so good."

Li Hu couldn't help but swallow hard when he smelled that aroma.

He has a keen sense of smell, and the aroma of the steaming meat made his stomach rumble. Before Bai Xiaoyu could even speak, he had already grabbed a spoon from the side of the pot, scooped up a spoonful of soup, and downed it in one gulp.

"Hey, wait a minute—"

Bai Xiaoyu tried to stop her, but it was too late.

Li Hu smacked his lips, even savoring the taste.

"Master, this tastes pretty good, there's nothing wrong with it."

As he spoke, he scooped the food into the pot a couple more times, and saw some stewed chunks of meat, bones, and a few oddly shaped scales floating in the pot.

"It's just a hodgepodge."

"A big pot of meat soup in the temple..." Bai Xiaoyu stared at the pot of meat, her expression somewhat strange.

"wrong."

Huang Yaoying suddenly interrupted the two of them in a deep voice.

"What's wrong?" Bai Xiaoyu turned to look at her.

Huang Yaoying frowned, looked at Li Hu, and her tone became somewhat strange.

"Why are you allowed to drink this soup?"

"Huh?" Li Hu was taken aback.

Huang Yaoying had already guided her character to the pot and reached out to try and grab a spoon, but no interaction was triggered at all. She tried touching the pot from a different angle, but it was the same; it was as if the pot of soup was just a decoration, not something they could touch.

"That's right, disciple." Bai Xiaoyu also immediately noticed something was wrong, stepped forward to try, and found that she couldn't reach the things in the pot either.

She turned to look at Li Hu, and her expression changed instantly.

"This soup...we can't possibly drink it."

[PS: Something unexpected happened today, so there will be one more chapter updated later.]