Mo Chuan slowly approached the statue, contemplating the narrator's words.
The first thought was to follow the only certainty: "This haunted house has a problem." This would mean treating all information provided by the other party as false, and thus the new information just given was also mistaken.
But this clearly wasn't quite right.
Because, judging from other known information, the clues from King Wuguan had indeed been reflected with a degree of truth within the haunted house. For instance, the village outside was clearly the former Huaihua Town, and the pair of dragon horns on the statue were likely connected to the dragon bones from the dragon-falling incident or the "Deer Fairy."
So, he would adopt the second approach: the narrator's recent information was useful.
Should he destroy this statue now?
Or should he genuinely try to listen to the statue's whispers?
Explore the truth? Obtain a hint?
In reality, the answer was already obvious—smashing the statue was likely the way to obtain reliable information.
Mo Chuan gripped the statue with both hands, about to lift and smash it, when a red light flashed from the statue, stinging Mo Chuan's hand.
A familiar pain… Before Mo Chuan could react, the statue slipped from his grasp and fell straight to the ground, shattering into pieces.
Amidst a cloud of blood-red smoke, Mo Chuan instinctively tried to hold his breath, but it was too late—his vision went black, and he collapsed onto the ground.
As if sensing the disturbance in the temple, Guo Dahai emerged from a hidden door after a long while, his expression blank. With a wave of his hand, he directed two expressionless men to carry Mo Chuan's body away. The scholar with a pale face and Old Huang, who had been chatting, suddenly stood up from their chairs as if under a spell, their expressions vacant. The owner of the haunted house, equally expressionless, hung a "Temporarily Closed" sign on the door and then turned to enter the haunted house.
…
"Hiss… My head hurts… Where… where is this?"
Mo Chuan slowly opened his eyes. After adjusting to the rather strong illumination, he tried to sit up, but then he discovered an awkward truth—he could basically move nothing.
"No… What if this is King Wuguan's lair or the gathering place of that cult? I have to figure out my location first…"
Mo Chuan's voice grew quieter because he noticed his perspective was starting to uncontrollably flip, as if the owner of this viewpoint was twisting their head by several dozen degrees.
"Wait a minute… Could it be…" Mo Chuan frowned as he examined the surroundings presented by the current perspective, speaking with disbelief, "This isn't my body… Am I just watching someone's memory?"
The surroundings were walls built of piled stones, with moss and some weeds mixed in. The dim environment and dampness suggested it was not far from flowing water or a pool.
Suddenly, a sound of something falling into the water reached his ears. The owner of the perspective raised their head and seemed to start walking outwards.
When the owner opened the stone chamber with claws, Mo Chuan had basically guessed the identity of the memory's owner—most likely the one-horned or two-horned dragon from the Yingkou dragon-falling incident.
But did this have anything to do with King Wuguan?
Was he truly the Dragon King?
As the owner's perspective gradually shifted, Mo Chuan finally roughly determined his location: a nameless river, and the water level was likely not low.
Moreover, Mo Chuan also vaguely saw what had fallen into the water earlier—a man whose clothes were somewhat disheveled. From his silhouette alone, his features were unclear.
The owner's perspective moved upstream, eventually nudging the fallen person to the shore with its dragon snout, while its upper body also emerged from the water.
Outside, a bright moon hung in the night sky. Under the moonlight's reflection, Mo Chuan finally saw the appearance of the perspective's owner: a small dragon with a white beard and silver scales, its pale blue eyes as clear as lake water, and two white dragon horns like deer antlers growing on its head.
Seeing that the fallen person seemed to be alright, the little white dragon let out a gentle dragon roar and slowly retreated back into the river.
After entering the water, before the little white dragon could swim back to its cave, its path was blocked by a small black dragon with a single horn.
The two dragons let out dragon roars, seemingly communicating, but Mo Chuan could understand: "You went to save those humans again? What did Mother teach you?"
"But he fell into the water," the white dragon said nonchalantly. "He was in danger and needed to be rescued."
"Humans are the most adept at deceiving us! Their intricate and cunning disguises can easily lead you into their traps. When the other party nets you, you'll have nowhere to cry!"
The little black dragon clearly wasn't facing the little white dragon's perfunctory replies for the first time. He angrily coiled his body around the giant rock outside the little white dragon's cave, trying to block the little white dragon's disregard and perfunctory attitude.
"You are very dangerous like this! I'm going to tell Mother!"
"You take care of yourself!"
"You'll be captured by humans!"
"I will not ignore the disappearance of life. I am the river god of this river, and this is my responsibility."
In the end, the little black dragon couldn't win against the rational yet stubborn little white dragon. He sighed helplessly and turned to leave.
Time seemed to pass.
After a while (or so Mo Chuan thought), there was another splash in the water.
The little white dragon still stretched out its body to try and save someone, only to find that what had fallen in was a stone.
Just as the little white dragon was about to leave in confusion, a man's shout came from the bank: "Lord Dragon God, please come out. Thank you for saving my life. I, Guo Dahai, have come specifically to express my gratitude."
The little white dragon was stunned by the remark. After a brief hesitation and Guo Dahai's urging, it finally extended its upper body out of the water's surface.
From Mo Chuan's perspective, Guo Dahai saw the little white dragon as if he were seeing a true deity. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed, mumbling, "Thank you, Lord Dragon God, for your help. Without you, this humble life would have ended here!"
As if feeling it wasn't pious enough, Guo Dahai offered some small fish and shrimp, along with some freshly picked corn and fruits.
The little white dragon symbolically ate the small fish and shrimp, then nodded at Guo Dahai and turned to leave.
In the shadows, the little black dragon, who had witnessed everything, left the water without a word.
…
Over the next month, the man named Guo Dahai visited several times. Each time he brought fruits and vegetables from his farm and told the little white dragon about the outside world.
Each time, the little white dragon only ate a little. She was more interested in understanding the world Guo Dahai described—as the river god, she could not leave this river freely.
Meanwhile, the little black dragon increasingly couldn't stand Guo Dahai's deception of the little white dragon. She had personally witnessed Guo Dahai hiding a fishing spear where the little white dragon couldn't see it, but for reasons of distance or perhaps Guo Dahai's own volition, it was never used.
The little black dragon told the little white dragon, who was half-believing. She only paid more attention to her distance from Guo Dahai but did not sever ties with him.
Until one day…