What is that? Lou Yushu was startled and suspicious, her nostrils fluttering. She did not dare to inhale too much, but the thought of finding out what it was arose. Holding a fluorescent stone for light, she continued forward.
After walking for a while, with stone walls all around, she still did not know where the fragrance was coming from.
As she walked, the fragrance suddenly disappeared again, but her nostrils were still fluttering. The light in her hand occasionally illuminated her face. It was not just her nostrils moving, her entire facial expression changed. She seemed to be smiling, but the smile was somewhat strange.
As she smiled, drool began to flow from the corners of her mouth, and her face turned into a foolish grin.
Holding the glowing fluorescent stone, her beautiful and charming appearance turned into a foolish look as she walked alone in the dark.
Not far ahead, hanging strips appeared, with palm-sized black wooden boards dangling from them. As Lou Yushu walked through them, the hanging objects bumped into each other, making a “clack clack” sound.
Soon, a patch of white shadows appeared in the darkness ahead, spreading from all around the cave walls. It was actually a group of white ants shaped like spiders, deathly pale and only the size of mung beans. The countless ants also brought a faint mist, which quickly rushed to Lou Yushu’s feet, crawling under her skirt and covering her entire body. In a short while, they wrapped her into a wriggling cocoon.
Tottering, when the cocoon fell to the ground, the wrapping ants broke apart a bit, revealing Lou Yushu’s head. The flesh was already gone, turning into a bloody skull in the blink of an eye. She was quickly wrapped by the ants again, and her whole body moved slowly on the ground, actually being carried away by the swarm of ants.
After the swarm of ants passed, the fluorescent stone left on the ground was still glowing.
The “clack clack” sound of the bumping also disappeared.
A moment later, the wrapped swarm of ants crawled to a funnel-like pit. Losing control on the slope, the group of ants slid down together with the wrapped object, falling into the pitch-black deep pit cave below…
The group split up.
Yu Qing and the others were not fools. They noticed that one person was missing from that group, and they were going in circles. They could not foolishly follow them in circles any longer. Since their paths were different, they took the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the terrain.
The group that had been going in circles walked round and round, until someone finally called for them to stop. It was Lu Xingyun from the Three Flowers who called them to a halt.
“Something is a bit off. It has been almost half a shichen, why is there still no reaction?”
Lu Xingyun asked the crowd. Shen Qingcheng, leaning against Ning Chaoyi, also showed a look of worry.
The few of them were still thinking when Lu Xingyun could not wait any longer. “We cannot wait any longer, we must go and have a look.”
The Thief Yuanyang couple and Ning Chaoyi looked at each other. If they really did that, with the whole group heading straight for the forbidden area of Rift Valley Manor, it would be too obvious. It would clearly show they had ulterior motives, meaning they would not even bother with any cover.
In the end, it was Ning Chaoyi who spoke. “It is abnormal. One cannot walk on a single path for this long. Let us all go and have a look.”
Since even he agreed, it gave them some confidence. The Thief Yuanyang couple had no objections either, and the group quickly rushed towards the target location.
In the core area inside the mountain, there was a large indoor garden with pavilions and terraces, everything one could imagine, planted with plants that could grow in the dark. Yu Qing and the others, who had stumbled upon it by chance, strolled around for a bit before leaving to continue exploring. Who knew that not far away, they would see a group of people hurrying past them.
The three martial brothers looked at each other, all somewhat surprised. This place was no longer on the previous circling route, and they did not know what these people were in such a hurry for.
“It seems something is up,” Nan Zhu reminded them.
“Let us go and have a look.”
Yu Qing called for everyone to follow. Since there might be something going on, they naturally had to see what it was.
Along the way, they occasionally met people from Rift Valley Manor who stopped and stepped aside to salute the guests.
The group quickly arrived at the entrance of the target location, only to see two words carved on the stone wall beside it: Forbidden Area!
Ning Chaoyi and the others ignored the warning and barged right in.
Yu Qing and the others, who were following behind, hesitated. Since it was their forbidden area, how could they blatantly trespass?
At the same time, they were very surprised. These people obviously knew where the forbidden area of Rift Valley Manor was. What did it mean to barge in so directly, and what exactly were they trying to do?
After hesitating for a moment, they still could not resist their curiosity. The four of them followed inside, quickening their pace to keep up, afraid of being left behind.
Before long, they all discovered the abnormality of this place. There were no lighting fixtures in the passage, and there were not even any signs of lamps ever being set up on the walls.
The group ahead had already taken out their lighting sources and was descending along the spiralling downward steps. They had long noticed the four of them behind, but ignored them.
It was getting deeper and deeper, seemingly bottomless. The power of the darkness made the two groups subconsciously draw closer, merging into one group.
After reaching dozens of zhang underground and feeling the chill of the depths, they finally saw a straight passage again, and the group continued forward.
“What exactly is Rift Valley Manor using such a place for?” Nan Zhu could not help but mutter.
These words struck the unease in the hearts of Lu Xingyun and Shen Qingcheng. The two were walking at the very front. Having come this far, they could occasionally see the marks Lou Yushu left on the stone walls along the way, but there was still no response from her. The two already suspected that something had happened to Lou Yushu.
Yu Qing suddenly blurted out, “Mr Ning, what are you doing?”
However, no one paid attention to him, at most just turning back to glance at them a few times.
The group occasionally checked their surroundings, finding that the structure of the tunnel should still be very solid and probably would not collapse easily.
After walking further, the three martial brothers gradually felt somewhat uneasy. At the very least, they always shrank at the back of the group, not daring to run to the front.
That terrifying “Sleeper” had been weighing heavily on their minds. It was the true ultimate weapon of Rift Valley Manor, and also the main reason why Yu Qing had been careful and restrained, not daring to use all sorts of tricks. Could it be right here in this forbidden area? If it really was, having people block the way in front would make it a bit easier to hide at the back and escape.
Considering this, the three martial brothers no longer wanted to continue forward. However, after exchanging glances, they felt they might be overthinking it. This group could head straight here with a clear goal, so they must be after something and probably knew the situation to some extent.
As they walked, a fragrant scent suddenly hit their noses. Smelling it as they walked, Yu Qing found the fragrance familiar. More importantly, the feeling at this moment was strangely familiar.
“Where is this osmanthus fragrance coming from?” Nan Zhu muttered again.
Yu Qing looked around. It was a tunnel environment again, coupled with this fragrance. He suddenly remembered something and immediately lowered his voice to shout, “No, something is wrong. We cannot go forward any longer, stop.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie naturally stopped at the first instance.
Nan Zhu even asked, “What is wrong?”
Yu Qing gave a brief reply, “The deadly trap under the storage room.”
These words instantly awakened Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, reminding them of the situation underground at the Wen family. Although the two of them had never gone in, they had both heard Old Fifteen mention it. Indeed, Old Fifteen had talked about the osmanthus fragrance underground at the Wen family.
Was it really the same situation as underground at the Wen family?
The reality greatly shocked the two. Only the two of them obediently stopped. The group ahead seemed to have heard nothing and was actually continuing forward. Qiao Qie’er was also walking forward, turning a deaf ear.
Only then did they notice that the people continuing forward had a stumbling and sluggish gait.
Yu Qing had already flashed out and grabbed Qiao Qie’er’s shoulder to stop her. However, Qiao Qie’er showed a foolish smile on her face, shaking her shoulders and waving her arms to break free. The fluorescent stone in her hand was flung away, falling to the ground with a clatter.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, who had followed up, were shocked. She was fine just a moment ago, and now she was like this without them even realising. It was truly an unpredictable deadly trap.
With no other choice, Yu Qing had to seal Qiao Qie’er’s acupoints to immobilise her. He tilted his head to gesture at the others who had fallen for the trap and called out, “Why are you not saving them quickly?”
Nan Zhu first raised his hand to stop Mu Aotie, who was about to move. “The dispute between them and Rift Valley Manor is none of our business. There is no need to get involved, is there?”
Once in danger, Yu Qing’s reaction ability was extraordinary. He quickly reminded them in a deep voice, “Have you not figured it out yet? We have fallen into Rift Valley Manor’s trap. The reason Rift Valley Manor has no defences is that this is their gaping maw, luring the enemy into the trap! Do you think after we ran in here together and witnessed their deadly trap, they will still let us go out alive to leak the news? Since it is their grudge, how can we bear it all by ourselves!”
With the words spoken to this extent, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie instantly understood his intention. More people meant more power, and more people meant more safety.
The two immediately flashed out and struck repeatedly, immobilising the few people who were stumbling along. They carried and dragged them all back.
“I told you, the behaviour of these guys was too unrestrained, pushing people to the limit. Now it is fine, they have started to kill ruthlessly, and everyone has fallen for the trap, right? Damn it, they dragged us in too.” Nan Zhu, who had carried two people back, cursed and cursed, regretting that he should not have followed. He immediately asked Yu Qing, “How do we wake them up now?”
Yu Qing tilted his head towards the way they came. “This trap will not let the mist spread outwards. Let us go back, back to the spiral steps, and go to a place without the mist first.” He casually hoisted Qiao Qie’er onto his shoulder, then reached out from Mu Aotie’s shoulder and grabbed Zhu Kuanzhen’s belt to carry him away.
In this way, the three of them each assisted two people, quickly retreating along the way they came, and soon returned to the spiral steps.
They did not dare to climb too high on the steps, afraid of being discovered.
After dropping the dazed few onto the steps, Yu Qing quickly gripped the fluorescent stone in his palm, letting only a little light leak out to reduce the light below. At the same time, he tilted his head upwards and signalled, “Old Nine.”
Mu Aotie immediately put away his glowing fluorescent stone and quietly moved upwards. He guarded a certain position above, his hand on the hilt of his sword ready to draw at any time, hiding in the dark and keeping watch.
Nan Zhu also put away his glowing fluorescent stone, while prying the ones from the unconscious people’s hands and putting them away too.
After that, the two martial brothers tried every means to wake the few people up. They circulated their energy to assist, fed them pills, and even slapped them and pricked them with needles, but nothing worked. In short, they were as if possessed. As soon as their acupoints were unsealed, they would immediately start smiling foolishly and walk away.
There was no help for it. None of the martial brothers had suitable mind-awakening medicine.
The situation was urgent, and they were worried that people from Rift Valley Manor would come down at any time. With no other choice, Yu Qing directly reached for Ning Chaoyi’s waist, pulled off the wine gourd from his waist, shook it, and saw there was still quite a bit of wine inside. He handed it to Nan Zhu and said, “Let Big Head boil it.”
Nan Zhu immediately understood the intention. The reason they had not fallen for the trap was that the water boiled by Big Head had the effect of dispelling evil. He immediately took the wine gourd, broke off the mouth of the gourd, took Big Head out from his sleeve, and called out, “Big Head, boil the water.”
Then he directly threw Big Head into the broken wine gourd.
During this time, or rather, ever since Qiao Qie’er joined their team, Yu Qing had handed Big Head over to his two senior martial brothers to raise.
At first, it was because he did not have much of a relationship with Qiao Qie’er and did not want her to discover the secret of raising Big Head. Later, it was to keep the secret by continuing to leave him with his two senior martial brothers.
After experiencing some things, they all knew that Big Head was, to some extent, their protective magical treasure. It was also related to the resolution of the evil energy of those cultivation resources like the immortal peaches. Now it had been listed as one of the most important secrets of the Linglong Temple, so this secret would not be easily leaked.
Even if Yu Qing wanted to tell Qiao Qie’er, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, as his fellow martial brothers, would exercise a certain restraining effect on him. Whether they argued or made a fuss, they firmly opposed letting Qiao Qie’er know this secret, at least not for now.
As one of the most important secrets of the Linglong Temple, nowadays, no one would think of taking him out to sell for money anymore.
As for boiling water, Big Head was already used to it. Just calling out to him was enough.
However, “boiling wine water” was the first time. What was this messy and strange smell?
As soon as Big Head went in, it knew something was wrong. It was very suffocating, and it immediately wanted to flap its wings and fly out. Nan Zhu was guarding against it. He slapped it down, not only slapping it back into the wine gourd, but also covering the mouth of the gourd with his palm.
Big Head was not to be trifled with either. Its teeth were sharp, and it was best at biting hard objects. It immediately started gnawing crunch, crunch inside the wine gourd.
“Huh? I feed you your fill every day, and you still will not give me face, will you?” Nan Zhu cursed, dissatisfied. He held the wine gourd in one hand and blocked the mouth of the gourd with the other, starting to shake it vigorously and continuously with a splashing sound.
Faced with this situation, Big Head had to submit, and the sound of gnawing disappeared.
Nan Zhu then stopped tossing it about. He opened his fingers a bit and peeked inside, only to see that Big Head in the wine had already bloomed with red light, entering the state of boiling water. He felt quite satisfied.
Before long, the wine gourd became hot to the touch, and then it started boiling with a glugging sound.
The fragrance of wine overflowed, making the three martial brothers afraid it would attract the people of Rift Valley Manor.
The wine boiled, and Big Head also crawled out from the mouth of the wine gourd. This time, it gave a bounce and landed back on Yu Qing’s shoulder. It shook its wings, then jumped to Yu Qing’s ponytail, and drilled into his hair, clearly not going back to Nan Zhu’s side, as if it had been wronged.
Nan Zhu also handed the boiling hot wine gourd to Yu Qing. Needless to say, they would definitely save Qiao Qie’er first.
Yu Qing was afraid of scalding Qiao Qie’er, so he quickly circulated his energy to dissipate the heat. Once it was no longer hot, he then propped up Qiao Qie’er’s head.
The wine actually no longer had much of a wine taste. After feeding quite a bit to Qiao Qie’er to drink, Yu Qing returned the wine gourd to Nan Zhu. He then focused on taking care of Qiao Qie’er, circulating his energy to help her assimilate it.
Nan Zhu immediately estimated and divided it equally, feeding it to the others to drink. After feeding them, he also helped by circulating his energy to help them assimilate it.
There was no help for it, they had to hurry. If they really waited for the people of Rift Valley Manor to come down, it would be too late. They might not even be able to protect themselves, let alone take care of so many people.