Chapter 23 Scales, Scales, Too Cold

Three days later, Huanzhu Pavilion.

When Xu Ren'er stepped into the Huanzhu Pavilion, for a moment, he mistakenly thought that he had entered an ancient Colosseum.

Looking down from above, Huanzhuang Pavilion appears to be a huge circle. Inside the circle is another circle, layer after layer, and each layer has a different color. The outermost two layers are white, the next two layers are pink, the next two layers are blue, and the next two layers are red. These circles continue to move downwards, layer by layer, toward the center of the yellow circle, and continue to move closer and closer.

If Xu Ren'er had to describe it accurately, its overall image is like a target for archery.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew, and the mud and sand on the ground flew with the wind. Xu Ren'er squinted his eyes to prevent the sand from entering his eyes.

The position occupied by the contestants is the yellow area in the center of the circle.

The red areas on both sides are the seats for the organizers, and standing on the outside in red are circles of strictly trained guards.

In addition to the guards, there are eight men dressed like scholars, sitting in front of the guards and scattered in various positions in the circle. They look weak, but give people the illusion that they are full of energy and very powerful.

Xu Ren'er thought, "These scholars must also be martial artists."

This group of scholars, each holding a brush in his hand, with a dozen piles of thick rice paper in front of them. If I'm not mistaken, they should be responsible for recording the various situations that occurred in the second round of the competition.

There were only three people sitting in the red inner seats, namely Ai Wanle, Ai Xiangshou, and Ai Fengdou.

The positions behind Ai Wanle and others, except for the two blue layers, require extra money to compete for, and other areas are open to the public for free. Whoever arrives earlier will get the position.

Of course, the outermost white circle still belongs to the tall and mighty guards.

The strong wind died down, Xu Ren'er calmed down, opened his eyes wide, looked up, and found that the audience seats were very far away from the contestants' area, dozens of meters away.

In addition to being far away, it is also very high. The red area closest to the contestants' area is exactly level with the highest floor of the attic next to her.

Thinking of the attic, Xu Ren'er retracted his gaze and looked up at the tall building in front of them. This was the very center of the circle and also where the contestants would enter later.

The attic was blocked on all sides. Xu Ren'er estimated that the height of each floor was about three to four meters, and there were seventeen floors in total.

Xu Ren'er was a little curious: "This attic is so closed, how can people outside see our actions through the walls?"

Mo Youli shook his head: "I'm afraid we can only wait until it's over and let Shuangyan and Jieshu tell us."

Speaking of Mu Shuangyan and Shangguan Jieshu, they were sitting in the same row at this time.

Both of them were masters of the game, so they naturally spent money without hesitation and chose the innermost position in the blue zone so that they could watch their game more closely.

The competition lasted for seven days. Except for the red zone and the outermost white zone, the other positions were not fixed and were calculated on a daily basis. The two men were wealthy enough to rent the space, so they paid all the money they needed for the blue zone in one go.

"It's almost time to start."

Tang Beiju suddenly spoke.

Sure enough, a group of beautiful palace maids, led by an older palace maid, walked out of a small door in an orderly manner. Each of them held a plate covered with a red cloth.

"Thank you for your hard work, warriors. Here are the Illusion Pills that each of you needs to take."

The older palace maid in the lead stepped forward and spoke slowly.

As she spoke, the other palace maids quickly lifted the red cloth, and the pink and white pills immediately appeared in front of everyone.

Next to the pills, there was a piece of black cloth, which must be the tool used to blindfold them later.

"After you take the Illusion Pill, we palace maids will cover you with these black strips of cloth."

The older maid continued softly, "After we cover our eyes, we will lead the way for you. We hope you won't attack us due to the anxiety caused by not being able to see."

-

Without vision, hearing becomes extremely sensitive.

Xu Ren'er heard a palace maid whisper her question to the older one: "If we were carrying a person, we could pull their sleeves. But look...how are we supposed to carry them?"

During the brief lull in the conversation, Xu Ren'er guessed that the pink-green chicken, and the colorful python were pointed at her with their eyes.

Xu Ren'er thought about it and simply stood up, shaking her left paw in front of her, indicating that she could walk upright. The palace maid in charge of leading her only had to pull the edge of her white boots.

At the same time, the pink-green chicken and the five-colored python also solved the troubles for the palace maids.

The pink-green chicken can manipulate its own feathers. It enlarges the feathers, bites one end, and signals the palace maid to take it away by holding the other end.

The five-colored python's tail was facing forward, and then one of its scales enlarged, indicating that the palace maid could pull its scale to carry her.

Now that things have been settled, everything is ready.

"ah--"

Before everyone left, the palace maid's scream instantly pierced everyone's eardrums.

All the masked contestants thought to themselves:

What happened?

"Scales, scales, they are so cold. My hands got frostbitten as soon as I touched them." The palace maid trembled as she stated the reason why she screamed subconsciously.

As soon as this was said, except for the colorful python and the pink-green chicken, all the contestants thought to themselves: If you encounter it, you must be careful of its scales.

The colorful python was somewhat helpless and sighed:

"You can touch my scales through clothing, why do you need to touch them with your own hands?"

"I..." The palace maid with frostbitten fingers wanted to defend herself, but she noticed the warning look of the older palace maid and quickly swallowed her words.

These contestants have unknown backgrounds but are highly skilled in martial arts. Now is the competition period and they are highly watched by the two most distinguished people in the Jiucai Kingdom. They are just small palace maids and cannot afford to offend them.

"Back off."

The older palace maid did not want to cause trouble in public, so she decided to replace the injured palace maid and personally lead the five-colored python into the Huanzhu Pavilion.

She took out a handkerchief from her sleeve, and just in case, she gave a look to several palace maids nearby. The palace maids understood and handed over their handkerchiefs.

Feeling that the thickness was about right, she made up her mind and pinched the other end of the scale through her handkerchief.

Even through several layers of handkerchiefs, she could still feel the chill from the scales, but fortunately, she did not suffer from rapid frostbite, which was within the acceptable range for humans.

She breathed a sigh of relief without showing it.

"You can keep going," she shouted.

——

Led by the palace maids, the contestants entered the Huanzhu Pavilion one after another.

At the same time, a group of eunuchs carrying baskets passed through the outermost circle of guards in white ties and walked down the stairs one step at a time.

"Illusionary Consciousness Pills, for outsiders, one is five taels, for people from Jiucai, one is one tael. Want to buy it?"

A slightly handsome young eunuch happened to walk up to Mu Shuangyan and asked.

Mu Shuangyan: ...

How do you feel when someone brings you something they made and asks you if you want to buy it?

Mu Shuangyan found it difficult to describe her feelings. She was about to refuse, but Shangguan Jieshu, who was sitting next to her, had already paid and kindly bought one for her.

While buying it, he pointed at Mu Shuangyan and said, "She is from your Jiucai country. I only need to pay six taels."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Mu Shuangyan with a smile and said in his cheerful voice, "No need to return it, consider it a gift from me."

Mu Shuangyan avoided Shangguan Jieshu's gaze, trying hard to suppress the look of idiot she might reveal. She tried to use a gentle voice and said through gritted teeth, "Thank you very much, Master Shangguan."

The young eunuch took the money, glanced at Shangguan Jieshu, then glanced at Mu Shuangyan's appearance, and couldn't help but sigh that the world is so big and full of wonders.

This woman had an ordinary appearance. Compared with the palace maids, she could even be considered a little ugly, and her clothing style was very ordinary.

The man in front of me has a handsome appearance, sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and he is generous. I don’t know why he falls for the woman next to him?

If the woman paid the money, he could still understand that the woman was rich and was supporting the young man.

If Mu Shuangyan and Shangguan Jieshu knew about his psychological activities, they would probably sneer at him.

In this world, there are always some people who, when they see a man and a woman walking together, can't help but wonder if they are a couple?

While daydreaming, you will also "kindly" analyze various things for others, wondering whether they deserve it.

If they are not worthy, they will start to maliciously speculate that the unworthy party must have sacrificed something in order to make others willingly submit to him.

If Xu Ren'er were here, she would definitely give the little eunuch a proverb: Eat salty radishes and worry less.

You may not even be able to handle your own life well, and yet you still have the mind to care about other people's lives.

Mu Shuangyan took the Illusion Pill and sniffed it.

Fish snow scales, love buds, cockroach blood tattoos...

These are all normal materials needed for the Illusion Pill. The heat is a little insufficient, but it does not affect the efficacy. Overall, there is no problem.

Mu Shuangyan was disdainful of this. She immediately guessed the reason: perhaps Mu Renjia deliberately kept something back when he presented the prescription.

That's right, if he doesn't hold back, how can he show the difference between him and other imperial doctors and gain their trust?!

——

After a long time, the palace maids came out of the attic one after another. The oldest palace maid counted the number of people and made sure that no one was missed before she dared to join hands with the other palace maids to close the attic door tightly.

As soon as the door closed, changes quickly took place in the attic.

“Hua——Hua——Hua——”

The lower part of the outer wall of each floor is fixed, but the upper part of the outer wall loses its intersection with the roof and falls outwards, just getting stuck. As a result, the outer wall that falls outwards is completely parallel to the ground of each floor.

The attic, which was originally completely enclosed with not even a crack to enter, is now completely open, leaving only the first floor completely blocked.

People outside can have a clear view of the scenery from the second to the seventeenth floors.

Mu Shuangyan saw Tang Qiuyue standing on the ninth floor at a glance.

The sound of the outer wall flapping seemed to be a reminder to the contestants, telling them that the competition had begun.

Everyone took off the black cloth from their eyes and looked around vigilantly.