Another dangerous situation
Yan Dan squatted on the ground, secretly using her magic to heal her minor wounds.
Tang Zhou showed her no sympathy whatsoever. Instead, he thought she was deliberately using the skull to scare people, and he repeated the same old threat of putting her into a magical artifact.
How unfair Heaven has been to her!
Tang Zhou stood three steps away from her, his tone indifferent: "Have you rested enough?"
Yan Dan ignored him.
Tang Zhou's tone softened: "We should go."
Yan Dan remained motionless.
Tang Zhou actually walked behind her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her forward. Yan Dan struggled for a moment, but seeing that she couldn't break free, she turned around and hugged his neck, speaking softly, "Senior brother, we were childhood sweethearts when we were learning martial arts in the mountains, innocent and carefree. Now that you have someone else by your side, are you really going to break the vows you made to each other?"
Tang Zhou looked at her without speaking, and Yan Dan sighed, her expression a mixture of reproach and resentment.
Tang Zhou released her, threw her to the ground, and turned to leave.
Yan Dan quickly stood up. This time she learned her lesson and kept four steps away from the two people in front of her, so that if anything happened again, she would have a step left as a backup.
She was thrown to the ground by Tang Zhou, and her body was still a little sore. She couldn't help but mutter to herself, "He reacts so strongly to my jokes. Why is he so rude when he jokes with me?" She thought to herself that one day when she had unlimited demonic powers, she would chop Tang Zhou into pieces, soak him in salt water, and finally bury him alive. After thinking about this for a while, the resentment in her heart lessened a little.
The three walked through a long tunnel, and then the path split into two identical ones. While they discussed whether to go left or right, Yan Dan carefully surveyed her surroundings. Slowly looking up, she saw a section of broken stone above her. If the mechanism was triggered and the stone fell, anyone trapped inside would likely be unable to escape.
She took a few steps forward and saw that there were also dragon-severing stones at the top of the two roads.
Tang Zhou glanced at her and asked, "Which path will you choose?"
Yan Dan looked up and said, "I'm not choosing any path; I'll just sit here."
Tang Zhou said, "Alright, let's go to the right. Maybe these two roads are actually connected."
"Hello……"
Without any backing and with meager abilities, she could only bow down to evil people. Yan Dan sighed, thinking about how glorious she used to be, and how she was now being bullied by a mere mortal. All her past glory was like yesterday's death; her glory had already been half buried, and in her twilight years, she would probably be laid to rest soon.
The stone path on the right wasn't very deep; it only took a hundred steps to reach the end, which led to another tomb chamber. Yan Dan already felt a sense of awe; she wondered how much manpower and money it must have taken to build a tomb like this. When she saw the scene inside the stone chamber, she couldn't help but exclaim, "Truly elegant!"
Compared to the previous room with its floor covered in azure glazed tiles and walls inlaid with luminous pearls, this stone chamber was practically rudimentary. Yet, it was fully furnished: bamboo tables and chairs, blue-and-white porcelain tea sets, white pottery vases, a seven-stringed zither—everything one could imagine was there. A chessboard sat on the table, black and white pieces locked in a fierce battle, halfway through the game.
Tao Ziqi walked to the zither table, raised his wrist and plucked the strings. The zither music was melodious, like pearls falling on a jade plate. "This zither is made of paulownia and catalpa wood. The tone is pleasant. It seems that the owner of this zither must be a master who is proficient in this art."
Tang Zhou stood by the wall, gazing at the ink painting on it. Mist swirled over the river, and the distant, undulating green mountains were faintly visible. Every stroke of the brush exuded a refined and elegant spirit. Yan Dan stared intently at the painting: "The Field of Life and Death, the River of Oblivion, the Path to the Underworld."
Upon hearing this, Tao Ziqi looked at her in confusion: "What did you just say?"
Yan Dan smiled, revealing her teeth: "Miss Tao, do you believe I've been to the Netherworld?"
Tao Ziqi slumped down on the bamboo chair, her face, which had just begun to glow red, turning deathly pale again.
Tang Zhou spoke in an unfriendly tone, carefully choosing his words: "Junior sister, it's too early to be dreaming now."
Yan Dan shrugged, "Alright, alright, just kidding, everyone, don't take it so seriously." She turned and walked to the tea table, where a sandalwood incense burner sat on a cushion, its interior lined with copper and tin. Upon closer inspection, the incense burner resembled a lotus flower. She reached out and slowly stroked it, from the delicately carved lotus leaves on the edges to the lifelike lotus blossoms on the burner's surface. She felt a slight sense of disorientation, as if she were in a quiet, empty courtyard, her bare feet stepping on the cool stone bricks, the sound echoing slowly through the long courtyard.
Suddenly, she felt a chill on her forehead. She immediately snapped back to reality, reaching up to touch her forehead and feeling a piece of paper. She tore it off and saw it was indeed a talisman, with crooked exorcism incantations drawn on it. She quickly crumpled it up and threw it at Tang Zhou, exclaiming, "You...you...you..."
Tang Zhou said seriously, "Your expression just now was off; you might be possessed."
Yan Dan remained silent, turning her head away to sulk.
Tao Ziqi smiled and said, "Young Master Tang, your junior sister is so cute."
Tang Zhou smiled reservedly: "They're all spoiled and have terrible tempers."
Yan Dan continued to pretend to be deaf and dumb, but in her heart she was afraid that if this pampering continued, she would go crazy with anger.
Tang Zhou then said, "It seems there's no way out here. Let's turn back and take another look."
The three retraced their steps, and when they reached the fork in the road, Tao Ziqi ran her hand through her hair for a long time, her expression panicked: "Oh no!" She bit her lip and stammered, "My hairpin is gone. It's probably in that stone chamber... It's the only thing my mother left me. I... I think I should go back and look for it..."
Seeing her anxiety, Tang Zhou said calmly, "Miss Tao, rest here for a while, I'll help you look." Even though Yan Dan was unwilling, she insisted on being led along as he left. She looked up at the broken dragon stones hanging every ten steps from the top of the stone path, her eyes sparkling, and asked with a smile, "Senior brother, have you ever considered that what Miss Tao said about being abducted here by the Divine Firmament Palace Master wasn't the truth? Perhaps she's actually a drought demon in human form, or perhaps she's one of us."
Tang Zhou glanced at her sideways: "Miss Tao has no demonic aura."
Yan Dan stretched out her wrist: "Smell it, I don't have any demonic aura on me." She was just joking, but Tang Zhou actually grabbed her wrist and smelled it. He frowned slightly: "There's no demonic aura, but there's a lotus scent. Is your true form a lotus flower?" As they spoke, the two returned to the stone chamber and found a crudely made hairpin on the bamboo chair.
Yan Dan pointed to the ceiling and said leisurely, "Look up there, there's a thousand-pound Dragon-Slaying Stone, and inside it's the most solid black iron. Once it's down, no matter how powerful you are, you won't be able to escape. Guess when it will fall?" As soon as she finished speaking, a rumbling sound came from the wall indicating that a mechanism was about to activate.
Tang Zhou grabbed her wrist and strode forward. Behind him, a deafening rumble echoed, and the tremors beneath his feet grew stronger, shaking the earth and sending pebbles crashing down. He quickened his pace, as pieces of the broken dragon stone behind him fell one by one, while the giant rock at the exit slowly clung to the ground.
They were getting closer and closer to the exit, no more than ten steps away. The broken stone at the exit was still knee-high above the ground. Tang Zhouyi pushed Yan Dan: "Quick, you go first!" Suddenly, he felt a sharp gust of wind overhead, and another broken stone came crashing down. He had no choice but to duck and roll backward. With a loud bang, the boulder landed, plunging the surroundings into darkness.
He sat up and tapped the Dragon-Slaying Stone with his sword sheath. A faint metallic sound could be heard, which suggested that, as Yan Dan had said, the boulder contained black iron.
"The most wicked creatures in this world are not demons or monsters, but humans. Now you should believe that, right?" Yan Dan's voice rang out in the darkness.
Tang Zhou was quite surprised: "What are you doing here?"
Yan Dan smiled slightly: "Let me explain things to you." She moved closer and said slowly: "I wonder if Miss Tao has also encountered any danger outside."
"You mean, she didn't put the Dragon-Slaying Stone here? And she didn't deliberately trick us into coming in to retrieve the hairpin?"
Yan Dan replied bluntly, "How would I know? Does it matter?"
"Isn't that a big difference?" Tang Zhou closed his eyes and remained silent. In this cemetery, everything he encountered was so unpredictable, and he couldn't trust the people he traveled with. Were they friends or enemies? It was all a mix of truth and falsehood, impossible to discern.
Yan Dan leaned against the broken stone and said slowly, "It will get more and more stuffy here. Soon we will be able to experience being buried alive, just like the goddess in this tomb. I heard that when people are buried alive, they can't even breathe and can only scratch and bite wildly. It's a pity that there are stones all around here."
He slowly opened his eyes, but it was still pitch black and he couldn't see clearly: "I'm the one who dragged you into this. You could have gotten away with it."
Yan Dan said softly, "Are you confused? You set up a five-step restriction; even if I wanted to escape, I couldn't. If you feel bad about it, just let me go."
Tang Zhou gripped her shoulders, his voice calm: "You almost fooled me. Once I remove the restrictions on you, you'll probably be able to leave here, right?"
Yan Dan pouted, "Men and women shouldn't be so close, why are you standing so close?" She sighed, "How about we talk about terms?"
Tang Zhou sneered: "Why should I listen to you?"
"There's nothing I can do if you don't want to. Anyway, I can survive for twenty days without a drop of water or rice, so let's see who can last longer. Once the person who placed the restriction is gone, the restriction will be useless."
"Before I can't hold on any longer, I can drag you down with me. Don't forget that."
Yan Dan was reminded of this matter only after he mentioned it. However, whoever showed weakness first would lose in terms of momentum. This concerned her escape plan, so she certainly couldn't admit defeat: "In that case, let's give it a try." Unfortunately, it was too dark to see Tang Zhou's expression, which was truly regrettable.
After a long pause, Tang Zhou slowly said, "What are your conditions? Tell me, but don't make it too long."
Finally, the moment had arrived when she had the upper hand. Yan Dan savored the feeling of having the upper hand for a moment, then smiled and said, "Is my companion safe and sound? Tell me the truth, and I'll take you out immediately."
Tang Zhou was taken aback, not expecting her to make such a condition: "I didn't even go to collect him."
Yan Dan was very skeptical: "You would be so kind?"
Tang Zhou coughed lightly: "If that fish spirit escapes into the river, would I jump in to chase after it?"
Yan Dan immediately regretted it. If she had known this would happen, she shouldn't have taken the mountain path in the first place. She muttered to herself, "Yu Mo is really lucky..." But she finally felt relieved and slowly stood up, leaning on the Broken Dragon Stone. "Huh, it seems someone is coming."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a deafening rumble was heard, as if the Dragon-Slaying Stone had been pulled up by a mechanism.
Before long, the boulder in front of them began to shake. The stone slowly rose up, revealing a face as beautiful as spring flowers: "The bird said that someone is trapped inside, and that the person trapped inside is not a bad person. It asked me to come and rescue them."
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