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墨書 Inktalez
"What should we do now?"
"Narrow Path Encounter, we have no choice but to fight!" Cong Yue gritted his teeth.
The group fell silent.
It seemed that this mission was doomed from the start. One was dead, another was a traitor, and the rest were trapped in a siege.
"Let's keep looking; there might be other ways out," Anriyan suggested.
Despite the words, no one felt motivated. The enemy had entered before them, clearly familiar with the terrain, and with Shijieyu acting as an Inside Man, eliminating them would be a piece of cake.
Moreover, in such a narrow cave, they could easily be blocked from both ends. What other escape routes could there be?
Suddenly, Mei Shuang had a moment of inspiration and pointed up at the others who were searching for an exit. "Look up there! What is that?"
The group looked up and, after concentrating the light from the Night Pearl, realized that there was actually a parallel path above them. At first glance, it appeared to be just part of the cave ceiling.
This was the advantage of karst topography; caves often held hidden mechanisms. Just like how the Laoshan Taoist seemed to disappear into the wall, it was actually two identical walls at parallel positions with a slight offset, creating an illusion of a single wall.
The current situation was similar; it would be difficult for an ordinary person to notice.
The discovery excited everyone. The Coach Brothers quickly formed a human tower to reach the upper path. Cong Fei went up first, took a quick look around, and soon returned to pull Mei Shuang up. The remaining two followed suit without much effort.
Although the space in the parallel area was narrow, there was enough room to move, and the path continued forward.
Compared to the dampness below, this route was noticeably drier, perhaps because water from the rock walls dripped down through the cracks below.
Several people could feel that the road was rugged and uneven, but it seemed to be an upward path.
As they moved forward, a faint light became visible, gradually getting lower. It appeared that the path continued upward, and when they climbed up to take a look, Cong Fei silently cursed.
He gently stepped back and gestured to the others, indicating that there was an ambush ahead.
The group quickly stowed away the Night Pearls, leaving only one for minimal illumination.
Anriyan went over to peek at the cave entrance and called Mei Shuang over.
The two crouched there, estimating they were about twenty feet off the ground. It was an irregularly shaped cave with faint light on the walls. In the center of the floor stood a creature about the height of a person, resembling a wolf with dragon horns, its two horns pressed tightly against its back, glaring fiercely.
Mei Shuang let out a soft breath, "This is the second of the Dragon's Nine Sons, Grudge, which means bloodthirsty and fond of fighting. It is carved on knife rings and sword hilts. It seems this creature stands in the middle of the cave entrance but is not in darkness; it must have some significance."
Along with the earlier mention of Suan Ni, everyone was intrigued when Mei Shuang spoke about one of the Dragon's Nine Sons.
Seeing that there was no movement below, Mei Shuang decided to educate them a bit.
In addition to the second son Grudge and the fifth son Suan Ni, the first son is Qiu Niu, who loves music and squats on the head of a lute; the third son is Chao Feng, who enjoys danger; the fourth son is Pulao, who roars loudly when struck and serves as a beastly knob for bells; the sixth son is Baxia, also known as Bixi, resembling a turtle with teeth and fond of carrying heavy loads; the seventh son is Bianhan, resembling a tiger and known for litigation; the eighth son is Bixi again, dragon-like and cultured, coiling around the top of stone tablets; and the ninth son is Chimera, also known as Chihwei or Chihwen, with a moist mouth and coarse voice that swallows fire and disasters.
After hearing this, Cong Yue asked, "Could it be that we have to confront each of these nine sons one by one to get through?"
"Not necessarily," Mei Shuang shook her head. "At least if we follow their order, we won't encounter Suan Ni first. Moreover, what lies below is Yazhi Beast. Each beast has its own mechanism; they must have set up traps according to their meanings combined with geographical locations. This means each type of beast corresponds to different mechanisms; it's also possible these beasts serve as guides or reminders for their own kind regarding where these mechanisms are..."
The group nodded in agreement. The pressing question now was what to do next.
Mei Shuang gazed at the Yazhi Beast for a while before softly saying, "According to my understanding, this Grudge must be something that can move. If its mechanism is triggered, it could definitely eliminate intruders."
She turned to Coach Brothers and asked, "Did you see any ambush? Is it the Yazhi Beast?"
"No," Cong Yue shook his head. "Someone is walking next to the Yazhi Beast."
"Now that Shijieyu has escaped, it's just us left. The other side will surely use every means to deal with us. The situation will only become more dangerous, and with just the four of us, it's really hard to say if we can reach our destination smoothly," Mei Shuang sighed.
"But where is the destination?"
After all the adventures so far, although they had fortuitously entered the passage to the treasure, they still felt like headless flies. Dealing with the immediate dangers was already tormenting enough; who knew how far they were from the treasure?
Mei Shuang closed her eyes and thought for a moment before softly saying, "I have a vague feeling that the treasure isn't too far from here. The closer we get, I always have this inexplicable sensation, as if I have been there before..."
Upon hearing this, Coach Brothers believed her without a doubt.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from below. Peering out of the cave entrance, they saw two men in black approaching from the shadows, reaching the side of the Yazhi Beast. One of them asked, "We clearly saw someone inside just now; how could they suddenly disappear?"
The other one also found it unbelievable. "This is clearly a straight path; could they have vanished into thin air?"
"Not necessarily. Superior Seal said that woman is cunning and unpredictable; we must not underestimate her. She must have found another way to escape. We need to pursue her further."
The group exchanged glances, knowing full well who the "woman" referred to by the men in black was. Mei Shuang found it amusing; when did she become a high-risk individual in someone else's eyes?
"As long as this divine beast is guarding everything here, we can rest easy."
One of the men in black approached the Yazhi Beast and gently twisted its abdomen. Then, both of them quickly retreated.
Before they could comprehend what was happening, they saw the Yazhi Beast truly begin to move as Mei Shuang had said. With several loud sounds, it came to life, roaring and displaying its claws in the confined space.
This surprised a few people.
Mei Shuang was not convinced; in her view, this technology was no different from the "Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse" from the Three Kingdoms period. However, at present, the attack power of the Yazhi Beast was hard to determine. Of course, it was fine to just wander around in the cave, but one had to be careful of an unexpected ambush.
Seeing that the Yazhi Beast was merely wandering around in the cave, Cong Fei and Cong Yue realized that it did not pose much of a threat. Just as they were about to jump down, Mei Shuang stopped them. She picked up a few sizable stones from the side and handed them to Cong Fei. "Throw these at the Yazhi Beast—hit it on the waist, abdomen, head, and rear."
Cong Fei followed her instructions. The stone struck the Yazhi Beast's head precisely, causing its originally wide-open eyes to suddenly widen. Several small hidden arrows shot out rapidly and embedded themselves into the walls nearby.
After a few stones were thrown, various hidden weapons emerged from different parts of the Yazhi Beast. The positions were indeed all around; if there had been someone in the cave, they would have been shot full of arrows.
The onlookers above gasped in shock. Fortunately, they were above; otherwise, recklessly touching the Yazhi Beast would surely result in getting hit by arrows.
Seeing how malicious this beast was designed, they all threw stones down with determination. Hidden weapons fired in unison until after throwing dozens of stones, the Yazhi Beast finally released its last hidden arrow and ceased moving.
They descended to inspect the terrain and found four passages in total within the cave. Ultimately, they chose the path that the cloaked figures had not taken.
They ran along the path again and turned through several caves when they heard voices around a corner ahead. "What are you worried about? The net has already been laid; I fear they may have already been shot full of arrows by that divine beast."
The voice belonged to one of the cloaked figures they had heard earlier. "The Superior Seal means no return for them; except for that woman, none shall be spared. You need to be careful. If anything goes wrong again this time, your head will be on the line."
Upon hearing this, they wondered how they had encountered them again. Moreover, they had clearly taken a different path earlier; it seemed that this place was interconnected and they might have circled back.
Once the voices faded away, they emerged from within and looked around to confirm it was not the same place as before. The next step became a problem since they could not keep wandering aimlessly through the caves.
Finding a secluded spot, they nibbled on some Mantis before Anriyan asked Mei Shuang, "Do you need help?"
After that small pill was crushed into powder and Mei Shuang inhaled it lightly, she soon fell into a dream. This time, however, the dream did not present terrifying images but rather a spiraling stone staircase leading upward, step by step, until reaching the clouds...
When Anriyan woke Mei Shuang, she was surprisingly drenched in sweat. She exclaimed, "Yes, I saw it, right there..."
No one had any recollection of the rotating stone steps.
Mei Shuang said, "Do you remember those dragon offspring divine beasts I mentioned? That treasure must have its guardian. As long as we find the Bixie Beast, we can locate the treasure. The Bianhan resembles a tiger, upholding justice and is specifically used to stand guard on both sides of a gate. Therefore, where there is a Bixie Beast, that must be the place guarding the treasure. In front of it, there will surely be a Bixi to guide us."
"But this cave is chaotic, and those divine beasts seem to have no discernible path. How can we find it?"
"Think about it; even if they walk on their own, there must be a route to follow. We just haven't found the pattern yet. Let me think carefully, and besides, we need to keep moving forward."
Currently, there were no shortcuts available. Encouraged by Mei Shuang and with Mantis quenching their thirst, the group set off again.
After walking along the upward path for quite some time, they finally spotted some faint light in the distance.
Cong Fei, with sharp eyes, noticed what seemed to be a square stone tablet floating in mid-air.
Turning back to Mei Shuang, he said, and she replied, "Alright, that must be it."
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