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墨書 Inktalez
Finally, the sound of breaking wooden pillars came to a halt. For a moment, the place fell silent again, with only the heavy, labored breathing of everyone filling the air.
"Old Sun, are you okay?" Fat Ma shouted from behind another pillar.
"Just wait a bit longer!"
Time passed for about another quarter of an hour.
I cautiously peeked out, glancing at the Training Ground. Everything had returned to calm; all was quiet as it stood under the light of the pillars.
I took a step forward and then stepped out completely.
After about half a minute, seeing that there were no unusual occurrences, I signaled for the others to come out.
At this point, the Training Ground no longer bore any trace of hostility.
Fat Ma limped out from behind the pillar, clutching his thigh and muttering, "Damn it, that scared me to death."
The clay figure and five followers stood silently.
Zhang Tong remained standing as well, without uttering a word, and I was the same.
After a few more minutes, we finally regained our composure. We had just escaped from a deadly situation and now found ourselves alive again; it felt like a cycle had completed.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and turned to look behind me.
Suddenly, I found myself facing a magnificent sight.
I slowly looked up from the doorframe, where a plaque was mounted, engraved with three large characters. At a glance, I recognized them immediately.
"Ghostly Heavenly Palace" stood out prominently.
In that moment, it felt as if I understood something; perhaps everything that had happened before was unrelated to the "Ghostly Heavenly Palace," and the building before me was the true "Ghostly Heavenly Palace."
I took a deep breath, feeling a bit constricted in my chest.
Zhang Tong asked me, "What does it say up there?" She knew I could read Ghostly Script.
I didn't hold back and directly stated the meaning of the words on the plaque.
Zhang Tong looked somewhat surprised, even taken aback.
Without pausing, I pushed the door open. The tall wooden door slowly revealed a crack. Fat Ma noticed my action of pushing the door.
Even with his injured thigh, he was determined to help me push it open.
With Fat Ma's assistance, the wooden door was soon swung wide.
As the door opened, I felt a slight unease in my heart; it seemed too easy to push open. Was there a trap?
In that moment of contemplation, Fat Ma placed one hand on the doorframe and stepped inside with one foot. His life motto was: seize every opportunity that comes your way.
As the injured foot was about to step inside, suddenly, someone yanked at Fat Ma.
Fat Ma turned around and came face to face with the Mud Man, their distance barely ten centimeters apart, almost eye to eye.
Startled, Fat Ma quickly stepped inside with both feet. He shook his head and shouted, "Dead Mud Man, why are you scaring me?"
His shout pulled me back from my thoughts.
I looked at the spot where the Fat Ma stood, still processing what had just happened. The Mud Man, however, swiftly lunged forward and knocked Fat Ma to the ground, rolling a few times.
This action occurred in the blink of an eye. Just as the Mud Man and Fat Ma rolled aside, suddenly, a black object zipped past my line of sight.
In that moment, I felt as if I had lost consciousness. I watched helplessly as the object landed right at my heels with a loud thud that seemed to shake the ground beneath me.
When I finally reacted, I saw a rectangular piece of black metal lying on the ground before me.
I snapped back to reality and quickly took a step back.
Amidst the echoing noise, Fat Ma was about to curse at the Mud Man. But after the loud crash, his plump face was filled with shock and fear.
"Damn it! If you had been even a moment later, you would have been smashed into meat paste," Fat Ma said, still shaken.
I stood there in a daze, feeling my back drenched in sweat.
The Mud Man and Fat Ma slowly got up from the ground and steadied themselves. We locked eyes, reading astonishment in each other's expressions.
"Let's go in!" I broke the silence after a while.
The two inside did not object.
One by one, we stepped inside, quickly distancing ourselves from the doorway.
Once inside, I glanced up at the door frame. A thick beam of wood had shifted position, and the ground below had caved in.
"Fortunately, nothing happened," Zhang Tong said.
We all collected our emotions and began to shift our gaze elsewhere.
As our eyes wandered, a Black Water Pool came into view.
It was about ten meters wide and three meters long, filled with black water, situated right in the center of the palace. The water's surface was eerily still, creating an unsettling atmosphere.
It didn't take long to grasp the feeling; in that moment, a sense of unease welled up within me.
"How long has it been since this water was changed for it to be this black?" Fat Ma couldn't help but exclaim.
I wondered the same. How much time must have passed for this pool to become so dark? While I was surprised by this, what astonished me even more was why there was a pool built inside this palace.
Under normal circumstances, one might think it was constructed for someone's enjoyment. But given our current situation, thinking that way would surely lead to trouble.
"Let's not worry about it for now," I suggested.
The others agreed with the suggestion, their gazes shifting elsewhere.
The Main Hall of the palace had nothing but the Black Water Pool, with only a dark opening leading to other spaces within the palace.
We no longer hesitated and moved forward, but just a few steps in, the Mud Man called out, "Hold on, there's a sound of water." As soon as he spoke, we all turned our attention to the Black Water Pool.
However, in the next moment, Fat Ma asked, "Mud Man, are you hearing things?" He pointed at the Black Water Pool and said, "The Water Surface is so calm; how could there be any sound?"
Yet the Mud Man's expression remained serious as he listened intently.
After about a minute with no response, I began to doubt him. "Mud Man, did you mishear?"
The Mud Man's expression changed slightly. "Could it really be that I heard wrong?" Just as he finished speaking, he shouted again, "No, there definitely is a sound of water."
Seeing his certainty, we chose not to argue with him.
But after several more minutes, there was still no reaction.
At this point, Fat Ma's patience was wearing thin.
"There's movement!" Zhang Tong suddenly pointed at the Black Water Pool and shouted.
I quickly looked at the Water Surface and saw bubbles rising. Some faint sounds emerged, reminiscent of water just about to boil. If one didn't listen closely, it would be hard to catch the subtle bubbling noise.
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