Part 21: Temple Ruins, part 1

Temple Ruins, part 1


On to Wuhan!




Yes, a large and grand temple - with a dry-rot problem. I'd watch my step if I were them.

This is the Nine Courts of Xiyuan, the sanctuary of Wuhan and the apex of Nine Heavens Taoist magic.

Wikipedia tells me that they're just pulling stuff out of their ass now.

Wugui and his cronies aren't here yet?

I don't see the Japanese Army anywhere, either.



Don't things seem a little too quiet?


Gee, Kawashima doesn't seem to want to answer for some reason.


The shrine doesn't look anywhere near as bad on the inside.



Are you really sure this is the place? You didn't get mixed up or anything?

Give me a break. I haven't gone that senile yet. To preceed from here, let's see... Oh, right, I need to chant the unlocking rites.







Not that senile, huh?

Hey, kid. You guys go look around a bit while I try to remember the chant.

Come on, don't REALLY go senile on us!


We have to leave and come back for Zhuzhen to open the door. The only place to go in here is off to the left.


Kawashima and Kato are waiting over here, but the chest is more interesting.


Yes. Luck.



By the way, I bought some items in Shanghai. Let me know when you need them. They're not free, of course.

Once again, Kato is our portable item shop. I bought a couple items off him, then went back to Zhuzhen.







Keep them to yourself, pops.

So the real deal's waiting for us inside, eh?

That's right. Let's go.


A bare rock tunnel. I'm starting to think that Zhuzhen's having a laugh at us.


Oh, I guess there might be something down here after all.



W-what the...?!

Enemies, perhaps?!

I doubt it...


Ah! Cat demon!



.........

And?

What do you mean, "And"?! What kind of a response is that?! I am Meowster Xiaofang! I guard this temple. Nice to meet y'all.

Well, this is...different.

And?

Meeeow! You insult me! I'll kill you!

Hey, there, Master Xiaofang. You're speaking a whole lot more now, I see.



Oh, Zhuzhen. Long time no see, meow!

Heh heh heh. We've come to see Master Xifa. So how is the old man, anyway?

The meowster knew you'd all be here. He told me to welcome you. That's why I'm here, meow.

Great. How about you take us to him right away, then. Using the short cuts, of course.



No way, meow! You gotta follow the rules to get to Nirvana Palace!

Silly Zhuzhen. Why go straight to the goal when we can go through a long and convoluted dungeon filled with monsters first?

Don't be that way, Xiaofang! I'm sorry, but we just don't have time to play the old man's games right now. If we don't hurry, Dehuai's men or the Japanese Army will get here.

Some Japanese soldiers have been here already. They're all dead now, meow! Meow!! I ain't afraid of no soldiers!

As happy-go-lucky as ever, eh? If you keep going like that, I may have to turn you back into a cat.



No! You can't cheat! Follow the rules, meow! You have to go through the Spiritual Trials before you can enter Nirvana Palace, meow.

Spiritual Trials?

They're like little tests of nerve. They CAN get rather tricky, though.

Here in the Nine Courts of Xiyuan, from the Samsara Pavilion further on in...

But - Samsara is Buddhist... (and so is Nirvana, for that matter)

There are three dungeons, called the Dan Tian Court, Jiang Palace, and Ni Wan Palace.

Dan Tian actually seems to have something to do with Taoism, Jiang simply means "river", and I have no idea where Ni Wan is from.

Meowster Xifa's Nirvana Palace is at the end of those dungeaons! Only two people can challenge any given location. For the first dungeon, Dan Tian Court...







You two! You guys go, meow.

Hey now, kiddo! What'd you choose us for?

Why'd I get stuck with the old man instead of one of the hot babes?!

......

I'm the one doing the talking around here, meow!!



All right, meow! Your Trial Begins! Meow-meeeow!!



Your items have been sealed away by Master Xiaofang.

Aw, dammit. I can't use any items during battle, but I can still use them in the field outside of battle.



Huh?! Where'd my gear go?!

Gods, do we really have to do this?

Okay, then!!





Y'know, you could give me a kiss for luck...

Don't push it.


We're doomed.



I'll be watchin', meow! You can't use 'em, but I'll sell you some items.

After this, whenever you run into Xiaofang in the dungeon, he'll sell you things.

I've found that looking at screen-shot after screen-shot of very similar looking sections of dungeon can be a bit confusing and boring, so instead, here's a map:

Click here for the full 700x724 image.


Besides having backgrounds that are reused several times in the dungeon (with empty chests and filled chests in different positions), this one also has several transporters to make things even more confusing.

The two enemies in this section are Pythons, that cast Fire Ball, and Sea Gremlins, that cast a spell we haven't seen before - Lightning.


After taking the tent and going through the green portal, I grabbed the only chest with an item in that section and took the yellow portal out.


After grabbing all the items, I took the red portal to the final area.



A gem embedded in the center of the altar emits a dim light...


No, I want to just stand here doing nothing for ten more minutes.


Neat!


Of course, you didn't think we'd be able to get away with doing something like that without awakening some sort of guardian, did you? Meet Xieshi.


My standard tactic: transform into Inferno and cast Fighting Spirit before pounding the boss into the ground. (Once we have the second-tier fusions, I'll be letting you guys pick which fusions I fight the bosses with.)


Xieshi is Fire attuned, but right now, so are Yuri and Zhuzhen. This helps protect them a little bit from Xieshi's favorite skill, Flaming Arm of Death. Unfortunately, I forgot that Xieshi also has an attack that causes Silence and didn't equip a Bell Bracelet on Zhuzhen to prevent it. This means that once he's tagged with it I have no way to heal.


I still kicked his ass, though.





Whew! I'm glad that's over. I guess it's the ladies' turn next.



Meow, you got through Dan Tian Court so quickly! You really are an Absolute Sage! Then... Just wait right there, meow. The door to Ni Wan Palace won't open just yet, meow.





Your Special Skills have been sealed away by Master Xiaofang.

No magic in battle. This is so unfair.



Wh-what? We can't use magic?!

That's just RUDE!

I love Margarete.

Okay, then!!




Click here for the full 548x1026 image.
This one's a little larger and more complicated than the last, but the pattern is the same. Enemies here are Raging Spirits, which cast Exorcist Arrow, and Puppet Guards, which cast Dark Messenger.


Green portal.


Yellow portal.


Red portal.


And then we end up at the second altar.

A gem embedded in the center of the altar emits a dim light...


Might as well get it over with.




The boss this time is called Baigu. This fight is pretty boring without being able to use magic; basically, it's just hit him until he stops moving.




And with that, we'll take a break. There's only one dungeon left, but there's a whole lot of PLOT after it, so we'll save it for the next update.


Next time on Shadow Hearts: finishing up Wuhan.


Temple Ruins, part 1 on Viddler
Video 1
Video 2 (boss fight)
Video 3 (boss fight)

NPC Scorecard