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"I once had doubts about Your Highness the Envoy, and of course, I also doubted Shijieyu. It is only now that I realize the true traitor is Shijieyu. Just moments ago, it was she who subtly led us to discover these caves... She was right; it is dangerous here, and she has known it all along."
In the darkness, Mei Shuang's voice sounded somewhat hollow.
Cong Yue did not have a good impression of Anriyan, but after witnessing Kato's brutal death, he did not want to provoke Anriyan. Hearing Mei Shuang's suspicions about Shijieyu, he asked, "Wasn't she the one who warned us about the dangers here before?"
Detecting Cong Yue's resentment in his words, Mei Shuang let out a faint cold laugh. "That was because her conscience had not yet completely faded; otherwise, you and I would have already been on Underworld Road... Moreover, it was she who first suggested the caves and tunnels; we all know her intentions..."
With that said, everyone fell silent.
In such a short time, a person could vanish without a trace before you; it was indeed suspicious. If one did not understand this place, how could they disappear so quickly? If it were not for being harmed, how could one vanish on their own?
In reality, Shijieyu had not gone far. After turning over a section above, she found a recess to hide in; the stone wall below concealed her from view.
She heard Mei Shuang's words clearly. Although she had heard of Mei Shuang's intelligence before, she felt admiration for this seemingly simple girl when Mei Shuang revealed her true nature right after she left. Especially when Mei Shuang mentioned her "conscience not yet faded," she couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the situation and realized that this already weak team had suffered losses and their morale had plummeted; there would likely be no major upheaval now.
Thus, the concealed weapon in her hand spun for a long time in her palm before she gritted her teeth and withdrew it into a very inconspicuous cave above.
The cave was interconnected. Shijieyu lit the Firestarter inside and searched according to the previous instructions. Then she discreetly took out a marker from an unobtrusive spot and quickly ran along the indicated path while silently urging herself, "Hurry up, faster."
Cong Fei pressed against the cave wall and saw a white light shoot out like an arrow from within. He couldn't warn Kato, who was looking down at his feet in time; he could only watch helplessly as the white light struck Kato directly, igniting intense flames that resulted in an exceptionally gruesome death.
The torch immediately fell to the ground and extinguished.
He remained pressed against the wall without moving. They had just entered and did not know what triggered the mechanism inside. It was hard to say whether someone accidentally stepped on or touched it or if their conversation caused vibrations.
He had never seen such flames before, but one thing was clear: these flames came fiercely like a sharp sword with no room for retreat.
He heard anguished voices from outside but dared not respond for fear that any careless move would bring disaster upon those outside.
At the same time, he noticed that when Anriyan supported Kato, that white light did not appear again.
After racking his brain for a while, the torches outside suddenly went out, plunging everything into darkness.
He leaned against the wall for a long time, his hands and feet numb. He was only a few yards from the cave entrance, yet it felt like a thousand miles away.
He tried to move his stiff fingers, his heart racing violently. After barely moving them, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
He attempted to move his feet again, but there was still no response.
No longer hesitating, he used both hands and feet to quickly retreat in the direction he had come from.
As he approached the cave entrance, he finally relaxed his tense heart, as if he had walked through the gates of hell. When he reached the entrance, he softly said, "It's me."
A few people in the darkness held their breath, as if facing a great enemy. Upon hearing the familiar voice, they couldn't help but feel both surprised and delighted.
The two who had entered at the same time had one in a tragic state and the other unharmed, which struck everyone as strange. Anriyan's iron fan was pressed directly against Cong Fei's neck, and with a cold voice asked, "Can you explain?"
Although Cong Yue was extremely dissatisfied with Anriyan's behavior, the scene before him was also baffling. He hesitated and asked, "Brother, what exactly happened?"
Cong Fei briefly recounted the events. Mei Shuang suddenly said, "Wait, you mentioned a white light?"
Cong Fei nodded.
Mei Shuang continued, "I understand now. Kato has remarkable eyesight; he must have suddenly noticed something unusual ahead and was ambushed."
"But then the torch went out, and I couldn't see anything..." Cong Fei said dejectedly.
After a moment of silence, Mei Shuang said, "I see it now; it must have been the torch. The temperature from the torch caused a sudden change in the air inside the cave, raising the temperature and triggering the mechanisms inside."
"What should we do now?" Cong Yue asked.
"Shijieyu must know the way. Now that she has already fled, the remaining four of us will surely be thought of as too afraid to go back in and will seek another path. They might have already set up an ambush on another route. We only have one option: to take risks and move forward," Mei Shuang replied.
After pondering for a moment, everyone agreed; after all, the most dangerous places are often the safest.
"It’s very dark inside, and we can’t see the path at all. We can’t use torches; what should we do?"
"Since bright light won’t work, let’s use cold light."
A few people said their goodbyes to Kato and prayed for his rest before re-entering the cave.
To avoid generating heat, they only used one Night Pearl.
Although the illumination from the Night Pearl was limited, it was still enough to see a few yards ahead.
The cave was dark and damp, with water pooling on the ground through gaps in the ceiling. Previously, Kato's torch had fallen into a deeper pit.
After walking for a while, they did not find any footprints or signs of anything passing through the cave. It wasn’t until they had walked a bit further that they vaguely saw what appeared to be a lion-shaped creature standing in the middle of the path.
From a distance, they could only make out its outline in the glow of the Night Pearl, completely still.
Mei Shuang focused for a moment and softly said, "That’s a Suan Ni. It is often used on incense burners because it likes smoke and fire."
As they approached to take a closer look, it indeed resembled what Mei Shuang had described: a lotus-shaped incense burner with a lotus flower on top, where the seed pod in the center served as the lid, and atop it sat the lion-shaped creature known as Suan Ni.
It faced them with an imposing presence.
"According to legend, dragons have nine offspring; Suan Ni is said to be the fifth or even the ninth. It is believed to have been introduced from India."
The group circled around the incense burner several times. Anriyan pointed at Suan Ni's mouth and said, "This must be the mechanism we encountered earlier. It seems this incense beast serves as a reminder that this place is associated with smoke and fire. Anyone entering this cave would inevitably light a torch, so those who enter are likely to have no return. If Cong Fei hadn’t managed to escape by sticking to the wall earlier, he might have turned into a wisp of smoke by now."
Thinking about how Kato had died beneath this beast made them feel somber.
Suddenly, Anriyan ignited a Firestarter at Suan Ni's mouth. The Firestarter flickered near its mouth before quickly extinguishing.
The others were bewildered and stunned, unable to stop Anriyan in time. They heard Suan Ni's mouth creak open slowly.
In an instant, the darkness startled the other three into breaking out in cold sweat.
In the midst of the chaos, a blinding white light shot forward, followed by a muffled groan from the darkness, and a fireball flared up only to extinguish immediately.
In the brief moment when the fireball illuminated the surroundings, everyone could see that it was a human face.
"Oh no! We are being followed!"
A few people couldn't help but admire Anriyan's quick decision-making and speed as they hurried forward.
The Night Pearl emitted a faint glow in the darkness, flickering up and down as everyone ran.
As they continued running, Mei Shuang noticed that the Night Pearl seemed to have dimmed significantly. Suddenly, she slipped, and when she looked up again, the light from the Night Pearl had vanished.
Instantly, everything was engulfed in darkness. Mei Shuang felt a surge of fear rising within her.
This Night Pearl was utterly unreliable; could it be that it consumed power so quickly? How could it run out of energy so soon?
With the light gone, those in front must have stopped. "Cong Fei, why isn't the Night Pearl glowing anymore?" she whispered.
After waiting for a moment with no response, she cautiously called out, "Cong Yue?"
Nothing.
Mei Shuang was startled; being in complete darkness was undeniably frightening.
It was clearly a straight path—how could everyone just vanish like that?
Shivering slightly, she pulled out another Night Pearl from her belongings when a familiar voice whispered in her ear, "Don't move."
She let out a breath and couldn't help but complain, "Why didn't you say anything? You scared me to death!"
Anriyan had been following closely behind Mei Shuang. He had also noticed that Cong Fei and Cong Yue had suddenly disappeared from sight while running ahead. Hearing Mei Shuang call their names without mentioning his made him feel slighted, prompting him to speak up.
"You didn't call me earlier, so why should I agree?"
Hearing the underlying meaning in Anriyan's words, Mei Shuang was taken aback. It seemed that Kato's death had a significant impact on Anriyan. She sighed, "I hadn't had the chance to call you yet, and you just appeared."
Although Mei Shuang's explanation was somewhat forced, Anriyan accepted it, feeling a bit more at ease.
"What about the two of them?"
Anriyan replied, "I don't know. It looks like a straight path, but it's actually an optical illusion. We saw them run into what appeared to be a straight path, but they must have entered at an angle."
Raising the Night Pearl in his hand and looking around, he found that Anriyan was correct. The straight path indeed looked straight but was actually a slanting incline. Clearly, when the two people ahead ran in, those outside did not follow.
Sure enough, after a while, the light that had disappeared earlier returned. Cong Fei and Cong Yue hurried over and whispered, "Not good, there are ambushes ahead."
Mei Shuang immediately tensed up, recalling how Anriyan decisively used Suan Ni to shoot that person. She asked, "Could it be that Kato or one of us fell into their trap? Did he see someone here?"
"Kato signaled for us to leave back then, but now it's too late to say anything," Cong Fei said, clearly unsettled.
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