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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
"How could a divine beast possibly die?" Youdi pouted. "Anyway, we found the entrance to the Ancient Prison and went in several times. We discovered that our divine beast is trapped by a remnant of Liu An's soul, which is why we came up with this Nine Yin Soul Capture method to break the seal. Next, I’m going in to bring our divine beast out. Are you all coming with me?" Youdi said with a smile.
"Does your divine beast even recognize you? It’s been locked away for over two thousand years; it might just eat us when we meet!" I said half-jokingly, but I was genuinely concerned about that.
"Don't worry, Bixi is very gentle. Besides, I have my family heirloom, the Black Iron Dust Whisk, which has its own scent. You can rest assured about that," Youdi said, her big eyes looking at us again.
"That sounds good; let's go!" Xiao Qingcheng laughed. "Please lead the way, Youdi!"
In my imagination, a Taoist family would surely be impressive. As soon as Youdi waved the Dust Whisk, I expected the water in the Swimming Pool to fly up or for the surface to part and create a path. I had conjured all sorts of fantastical tricks in my mind, eagerly waiting for Youdi to satisfy my curiosity.
To my disappointment, Youdi led us to the changing room of the pool and pressed a switch. A dark tunnel emerged from beneath the changing room floor, which was quite disappointing.
Youdi pulled out a large flashlight from her belongings and stepped into the tunnel first. How does she have a Spatial Bag too? I thought to myself; after all, even a poor fellow like Kong Xuan had various treasures.
Xiao Qingcheng and I followed behind. To prevent any mishaps, I took out two flashlights and handed one to Xiao Qingcheng. Youdi glanced at me but said nothing.
The tunnel wound downward continuously. It was evident that the first thirty meters were likely constructed by the Gao Family; at least, I didn't think Liu An's era had cement. After thirty meters, we finally entered the Ancient Prison's territory.
Before us appeared a passage three meters high and about two meters wide, entirely built from large green stones measuring one meter wide and forty centimeters high. The winding passage seemed unfathomably deep, showcasing the wisdom and strength of ancient people.
Xiao Qingcheng and I carefully observed the structure on both sides of the passage because it was likely similar to what we would find inside the Peach Garden Ancient Tomb.
After walking for a while, I casually asked, "Youdi, did anyone else come here before you?"
I asked this because I suddenly recalled Brother Five's brothers, Xu Wuji and that Lan He; they must have perished here.
Youdi responded from ahead with an "mm": "When we came in, we also noticed signs of outsiders having been here. However, their remains were lying in the outer passage and hadn’t entered the Ancient Prison itself; it seems there was an internal conflict. I've already disposed of that corpse; judging by their equipment, they were likely tomb raiders."
"Is this not the entrance?" I asked in surprise. We had been following you for several minutes, and the passage twisted left and right for several hundred meters. Is this still just the exterior?
"We're almost there!" Youdi stopped, shining the flashlight ahead. A corner appeared, almost at a ninety-degree angle. The passage on the other side of the corner was still dark and endless, but on the outer side of the corner was an additional Copper Door. The Copper Door was as tall as the passage, with ancient patterns carved on top.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed something strange about this Copper Door; it looked more like a giant Copper Door embedded in the corner.
"Open the door," I said after standing in front of it for about ten seconds. "Did you forget the incantation? Need a hint? Alibaba opened his door with forty sesame seeds."
Xiao Qingcheng nudged me with her elbow and whispered, "They're trying to summon luck."
I shone my flashlight on Youdi without hesitation, and saw a faint red glow surrounding him. Just as I was wondering what kind of opening technique this was, Xiao Qingcheng suddenly shouted, "Not good!"
With that shout, Xiao Qingcheng moved like lightning, reaching for Youdi. I saw Youdi's figure flicker for a moment, and all the light in the passage was suddenly absorbed, plunging us into darkness. A Thunderous Roar echoed beneath our feet, accompanied by a slight Tremble. This situation lasted for about three seconds before returning to normal, but Xiao Qingcheng's lightning-fast move naturally grasped nothing.
Youdi's figure seemed like a phantom rippling through the air, yet this phantom could still speak: "I didn't intend to deceive you two, but welcoming the divine beast is of great importance. I truly cannot trust you two; I'm afraid you might interfere with our plans. Therefore, I have no choice but to take this approach. You two should stay outside obediently. After we welcome the divine beast, I will come back to release you both and apologize then."
With that, Youdi gave us an apologetic smile, and his phantom instantly vanished.
"What does that mean?" I asked in confusion.
"We're trapped here!" Xiao Qingcheng said angrily.
"How is that possible? Can't we just walk back?" I felt like I had heard the funniest joke; it was a straight passage with no forks—one could walk back even with their eyes closed.
"It might not be that simple!" Xiao Qingcheng sighed. "The passage we came from must have been tampered with."
I naturally didn't believe it and turned to walk back while Xiao Qingcheng silently followed behind me.
After walking for just over a minute, I began to feel something was off. Although the passage before had twisted left and right, we had been moving downward all along. Even without stairs, we could still feel the slope going downwards. Now that we had walked back over a hundred meters, this path felt unusually flat; there was no sense of ascending slope at all. Moreover, at a glance, it appeared to be almost a straight passage with no left or right turns like before.
I turned on the flashlight and scanned the area. There was indeed only one passage, with no second one in sight.
Without hesitation, we continued forward. After about ten minutes, it felt like this passage had no end. On both sides were large green stones, and ahead lay an endless darkness.
The further we walked, the more anxious I became. After another ten minutes, the ground remained flat beneath our feet, with no ups or downs, as if the downward path we had taken earlier no longer existed.
"What’s going on?" I stopped and asked Xiao Qingcheng. "Do you feel like something is affecting our minds?"
If that Youdi had secretly released some kind of intoxicating fragrance along the way, inhaling it could cause our cerebral cortex to create various illusions. Although we were standing still, our brains might mistakenly conclude that we had traveled great distances.
Xiao Qingcheng furrowed her brows and closed her eyes to concentrate. After about ten seconds, she slowly opened her eyes and shook her head. "No, I haven't been affected by any drugs or illusions."
"Then let’s try moving forward a bit more," I suggested, and Xiao Qingcheng nodded in agreement.
This time, we had only walked for two or three minutes when we made a discovery. A right-angle turn appeared before us, and on the outer side of the corner was a copper door that looked very similar to the one where Youdi had previously led us to stop. Had we returned to where we started? Or were there many identical copper doors within this passage?
"Is this the same door as before?" I leaned closer to the door and waved my flashlight around.
"I'm not sure," Xiao Qingcheng also stepped forward to observe closely and shook her head after a moment.
"Then let’s mark it!" I took out a dagger and scratched several lines on the door. This copper door was definitely an artifact, at least over two thousand years old. But right now, I couldn’t care less about that—an artifact? An artifact isn’t worth my life!
After making a few marks, I signaled for Xiao Qingcheng to continue moving forward. This time, we quickened our pace and nearly ran ahead. A sense of fear crept into my heart; could it be that we were going in circles? Was this passage circular?
About fifteen minutes later, we saw that right-angle turn again and also spotted the copper door. I shone my flashlight directly at the marks I had just made; those scratches were glaringly visible. Unable to hold back, I cursed under my breath—so we really were going in circles.
What was going on? Where had the passage we entered earlier gone?
I lit a cigarette and took a puff to calm myself down. As I settled my mind, a possibility flashed through my mind, and I hurriedly called out, "Qingcheng."
"En?" Qingcheng tilted her head in response.
"I thought of a possibility."
"En?"
"There might be another Portal hidden somewhere in these walls, but this Portal is obscured by an illusion, a kind of mirage that you should understand, right? On the surface, it looks like a wall made of green stones, but in reality, it conceals a passage leading to the entrance we came through."
Xiao Qingcheng nodded, "What you said is very likely. According to your reasoning, this hidden Portal should be near this Copper Door; otherwise, we have been going down the previous path, and only when we reached the Copper Door did we find a flat route."
"En!" I took a deep puff of smoke. "Let's each touch one side of the wall as we move forward; we'll know if there's an illusion as soon as we touch it."
Xiao Qingcheng proposed another method: "Or we could use the flashlight. We can walk while shining the flashlight on the wall; if it's an illusion, the light will pass through."
In the end, we decided to use both methods. I touched the left wall while shining my flashlight on the right wall, and Xiao Qingcheng did the opposite, touching the right wall and shining her flashlight on my side.
This time, we moved a bit slower. After about half an hour, we returned to the Copper Door. I waved my flashlight around; yes, it was still that same door, and there was even my discarded cigarette butt on the ground.
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