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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
Kong Xuan smiled lightly and gestured towards An Ran, "She has a connection to this Ice Gate. After you were chased in by the wild boar, we regrouped, and under her guidance, we made our way straight here. We've been waiting for you for quite some time."
Three words flashed in my mind: Motherfucker!
I was scared out of my wits, and you all just strolled in like it was nothing. Just as I was about to vent my frustrations, Lin Tao interrupted me from the side, "There's not much time left. Here’s the Book of Life and Death for you; prepare to open the Land of Eternal Sleep."
Although the sound transmission in this place was poor, everyone was standing so close that speaking a bit louder didn’t hinder communication. I took the box, opened it, and a page from the Book of Life and Death floated in the air.
Grabbing this Jade Record Volume in my palm, I stepped forward to the door and looked up at it. The door was a traditional double door that opened outward, with a large gap in the middle that could almost fit a finger through. Peering through the gap, I saw nothing but a vast expanse of green; it was completely obscured.
The door resembled two massive blocks of ice, smooth and shiny like mirrors, with no visible keyholes. I turned to Lin Tao and asked, "What’s going on? Where’s the keyhole?"
Lin Tao nodded towards An Ran, "This isn’t the Door of Eternal Sleep; this is the Gate of the Dark Moon. Moon Attendant, you open this door first!"
After some effort, it turned out this wasn’t even the Door of Eternal Sleep. Feeling disheartened, I prepared to step back but casually pushed against the door first; it seemed to budge slightly.
Oh? This door feels surprisingly light. Just as I was about to push again, An Ran's sharp voice rang out behind me: "Stop!"
That shout sent my hair standing on end and made my ears buzz. Given how sound dissipates in this place, it showed just how much force An Ran used in that shout. Before I could turn around, An Ran appeared before me like a specter, blocking my path to the door.
"Step back!" An Ran commanded again.
My anger flared up instantly; Motherfucker! I hadn’t even settled accounts with you over Guo'er yet, and now you’re shouting at me.
"Step back! Zheng Nan!" Lin Tao's voice came from behind me.
I couldn't help but take a few steps back; I hated Thunder Demon Sound!
Looking at Lin Tao, his face seemed a bit pale. "I forgot to tell you, this door must not be pushed open!"
I was even more astonished. This door can't be pushed open? What kind of joke is that? I clearly just pushed it! Turning to Kong Xuan, he nodded as well. "At the beginning, An Ran warned us, but I just forgot to mention it to you."
Lin Tao chuckled awkwardly. "If you push open this door, then this frozen formation will collapse and turn into a lake. By then, don’t even think about finding the entrance; whether you can survive is another question."
Hearing Lin Tao say this, my anger flared up quickly but subsided just as fast. If this thing concerns everyone's lives and fortunes, it’s understandable that An Ran spoke so sternly. I awkwardly stepped back while doubts arose in my mind. Not hiding it anymore, I asked, "Since An Ran can open this Gate of the Dark Moon, why did you all wait for me here for so long?"
"The Moon Attendant needs to expend one-third of their energy to open the Gate of the Dark Moon, and there’s also a time limit for opening it. Once opened, it will automatically close after one minute," Lin Tao explained with a slight smile.
I wanted to continue asking why, but seeing An Ran was already preparing to open the door, I held back and remained silent.
There were no incantations or preliminary actions; An Ran simply placed her hands on the ice door and remained still for a long time without any movement.
"Look at how simple her Spell is; unlike you all who have to exert every ounce of strength shouting when using your big moves, as if afraid others wouldn’t know you’re showing off," I laughed beside Kong Xuan. "The gap in realms is just too vast; you'll never catch up in this lifetime."
Kong Xuan rolled his eyes. "You can't talk about ice with summer insects; I'm too lazy to argue with you!"
Just as I was about to continue teasing him, the ice door suddenly rippled, startling me into instinctively taking a step back. Not just me; everyone else also took a step back. The situation just now was indeed a bit strange; it felt like the door was about to collapse.
Focusing my gaze, I saw the ice door trembling like jelly, and its color changed from white to transparent, faintly revealing green mist swirling inside.
An Ran withdrew her hands and turned to look at Lin Tao, who nodded slightly. An Ran then turned forward and directly walked into the door.
Yes, she walked through this door, which seemed like a giant bubble, and An Ran stepped inside. We stared in amazement as An Ran walked about ten steps into the doorway until she passed through the 'jelly' and disappeared into the green mist, making it impossible to see her movements. The green mist began to dissipate rapidly, and within a few seconds, it completely vanished, revealing what was inside.
Inside was also a large hall, although it was much bigger than the outside hall, still about the size of a basketball court, and it was empty, giving off an air of desolation.
Lin Tao nodded towards us and said, "Go in!"
Damn it, it was Thunder Demon Sound again. Neither Kong Xuan nor I had any room to resist; we could only lift our legs and step inside.
The door felt like a standing pool of water; stepping through gave the sensation of walking into water, even feeling the flow of it. Holding my breath, I walked through, and at the moment I stepped out of the door, it felt like emerging from underwater.
This feeling was so strange. I looked down at my clothes; they were dry with no traces of water. Kong Xuan beside me also wore a look of astonishment as Aijia Yu, Lin Tao, and others followed through.
Earlier, Lin Tao mentioned that this door would only be open for one minute. What would happen after one minute? I couldn't help but turn back to stare at the door. Sure enough, before long, the door began to change from transparent to white, returning to its previous smooth and shiny ice block appearance. I gently touched it with my finger; it was hard—indeed transformed back into an ice block.
“Zheng Nan, look!” Kong Xuan nudged me with her elbow.
Huh? The voices inside returned to normal.
I turned around to see about ten Cellars on the ground. One of the Cellar lids had been pried open by a dark green figure, revealing rows of gold bars inside. This Cellar measured two meters in length and width; I had no idea how deep it was. If all these Cellars were filled with gold, wow, it was simply unimaginable.
The ground inside differed from that outside; although both were made of ice blocks, the ones here were more translucent and faintly shimmered with a sapphire glow. The stone slabs covering the Cellars were quite ordinary. The dark green figure opened each Cellar, totaling eighteen in number. One Cellar had already had some gold taken from it, standing out among the otherwise full eighteen.
Old Li! A name popped into my mind. If someone could take gold from here, that person could only be Old Li. No wonder Nong Zihao wanted him; during the revolution, the gold he donated solved the urgent economic crisis of the government at that time. Looking at the empty space in the Cellar, I speculated how much gold Old Li must have taken—wow, so much gold! Forget about urgent needs; even if all his hair got burned off, it wouldn't matter.
“Aren't there supposed to be eighteen jars in these eighteen Cellars? Where are the jars?” I muttered several times under my breath before asking Lin Tao.
"Folk songs are just meant to sound good!" Lin Tao nodded and smiled at me.
"This Cellar arrangement follows the pattern of the Eight Trigrams!" Kong Xuan whispered beside me.
"How is this useful to me? I can't understand it!" My shameless response earned me an eye roll from Kong Xuan.
Lin Tao led us to the center formed by these eighteen Cellars and cleared his throat: "The Gate of Slumber belongs to the Wood element. According to the cycle of the Five Elements, Water nourishes Wood, so wherever the Gate of Slumber appears, there must be water. Our ancestors set up the Golden Formation based on the principle that Metal overcomes Wood."
"But in the Five Elements, Metal doesn't refer to gold alone, right? It seems to include all metals, so why didn't your ancestors use other metals?" I asked, surprised.
"Because at that time, our family only had the most gold!" Lin Tao replied nonchalantly.
I was left speechless, rolling my eyes in response.
Kong Xuan laughed beside me: "The world of the rich and handsome is something you common folks can’t understand! Haha!"
"What about the door? Where is The Gate of Slumber?" I could only wave my Jewel Scroll to change the subject.
"The door is right beneath our feet, in the very center of the Golden Formation!" Lin Tao's cheerful expression vanished, replaced by a serious look: "Moon Attendant, you can activate it now."
An Ran signaled Aijia Yu and Mo Green to step aside slightly, clearing a three-meter square space. Then they silently squatted down and pressed their palms against the ground. A buzzing sound emerged, as if a large bee was trapped underground.
The buzzing grew louder, and the cleared area began to churn like boiling water. Finally, with a pop, a platform rose from beneath the ground.
The platform was small and made entirely of Yin-Yang Material, with a groove on top that perfectly fit a page of the Jewel Scroll. It seemed that this was the mechanism for opening the Portal; all I had to do was place my Jewel Scroll on it. If it were that simple, why did Lin Tao and An Ran go through so much trouble to bring me here? Couldn't they just use chopsticks to place the Jewel Scroll on it?
I looked up at An Ran, who gestured for me to place the Jewel Scroll on it.
Holding the Jewel Scroll in my hand, I was about to put it down when a sudden thought struck me: what if Lin Tao immediately killed us to silence us once I opened this door? He wouldn't even need to do it himself; he could just make us commit suicide.
After hesitating for a moment, I ultimately placed the Jewel Scroll on the stone platform.
As soon as I set it down, the groove in the stone platform emitted a blinding silver light. Fortunately, the light was fleeting, so it didn't blind me... I blinked a couple of times and noticed that the Jewel Scroll had vanished from the surface, and a fist-sized hole had appeared in the spot where the groove was.
"Hey, where's the Jewel Scroll?" I asked in surprise.
"It's inside the hole. Reach in and flip the Jewel Scroll over," An Ran said, her eyes shining with an intense fervor.
I followed her instructions and reached inside. It was then that I understood why only I could do this. As soon as my hand went in, the opening shrank tightly against my skin. It didn't trap my arm so I couldn't move; rather... it felt like my hand was stirring in a large block of jelly. As I moved my hand, the Yin-Yang Material inside the stone platform also shifted along with it.
The door was like jelly, and so was the stone platform. I swear, from now on, I will never eat jelly again.
I fumbled around until I found the Jewel Scroll and flipped it over. A beam of white light shot out again, this time exceptionally blinding. Instinctively, I closed my eyes. Even with my eyes shut, I could feel a burning sensation on my eyelids; everyone else must be closing their eyes too.
The burning sensation continued as the white light kept shining. I sensed that the stone platform had disappeared, but the Jewel Scroll was still in my hand. With a thought, I casually stored the Jewel Scroll back into my Spatial Bag.
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