23. The Golden Maze: The Golden Toad 4
What appeared before the three of them was a huge spinning wheel.
The light here is dim and hazy. The cave is high and spacious. The spinning wheel turns slowly, making a regular "click" sound that echoes endlessly, one after another, making one inexplicably sleepy. The spinning wheel rotates, but there is no silk thread or cloth on it. It is empty, yet countless snow-white fluffs seep out of thin air, like clouds or cotton, drifting in the cave that faintly emits golden light. The light and floating white fluffs fill the entire spacious cave and drift towards the four walls at a very slow, almost still speed. There is no clear boundary between the fluffs and the walls. The walls seem to be covered with a large white veil, making it look like a dream.
Before even stepping into the cave, the three of them were tickled by the fine, dense, fluffy substances, making their noses itch and making them want to sneeze. They quickly covered their mouths and noses.
Tang Xi whispered, "So it was this spinning wheel that wove the wishing cocoon?"
"Weaving through the air, yet producing so much cotton?" Gui Fang spat several times in disgust, raising his robe to cover his mouth and nose. "That stinky frog is playing us for fools; it already knew about the wishing cocoon."
Beichen retorted, "It's a toad! Besides, the Golden Toad might not even know about the spinning wheel."
"Are you sleepwalking? How many years has the Golden Toad lived in that labyrinthine cave? Does it know it better than us?"
Gui Fang raised his hand and took a clump of fluffy material floating in mid-air. He crushed it in his hand, and the fluffy material was twisted into a thin thread.
These white fluffs were so soft they felt unreal. Gui Fang rubbed them between his fingertips as if he were kneading air. The fluffs in his hand were like condensed moonlight. He blew a breath, and the fluffs at his fingertips floated toward the mountain wall. The white fluffs touched the rock surface and melted like ice and snow, seeping into the cracks in the stone.
Tangxi and Nannan said, "The wishing cocoon is pale gold, and these fluffy things are snow-white..."
Beichen slapped the mountain wall with his palm, tightened his fingers, and plucked off a handful of white fluff.
"Gold is mixed into the mountain wall. Could it be that the silk fibers mutated within the wall?"
Soft white fluff that can freely move through hard mountain walls...
Gui Fang had a flash of inspiration and walked around the spinning wheel with Tang Xi a few times.
Gui Fang extended a finger and gently poked the spinning wheel. The spinning wheel immediately developed a noticeable dent from the fingertip, and the corrosion occurred rapidly.
Gui Fang was startled and quickly let go, pretending nothing had happened as he walked away. "Then what should this thing be called? A loom?"
"A cocoon spinning machine?" Tang Xi gently picked up a handful of white fluff and suddenly noticed that the sound of the spinning wheel was getting slower and slower.
"...Is it going to stop?"
Tang Xi hesitated and asked, "My imagination?"
"Stopped?" Gui Fang was astonished. He was about to say that he really hadn't done anything when Bei Chen suddenly spoke up.
"Is it because Pipi is about to wake up, so the spinning wheel is about to stop?"
Tang Xihe: "..."
Oh, and Pipi too.
The sound of flapping wings echoed from the narrow corridor outside the cave entrance. The three of them looked towards the entrance and, sure enough, saw a dark shadow dart across it. Pipi fluttered over, and out of the corner of their eyes, their eyes met, before Pipi flew back.
"I was terrified! I opened my eyes and there was only one demon here!" Pipi complained, rushing to Tangxi and her head. "What are you two thinking about?"
Tang Xi shamelessly comforted him, "I just wanted you to get some rest, didn't I?"
"What's this?"
Pipi's attention was immediately drawn to the automatically spinning wheel. She easily flew onto the wheel, creating a gentle breeze in her wake, and many fluffy things followed her.
Pipi turned around in surprise, "So much cotton wool! And it's following me!"
The white fluff, which had been moving slowly and still, suddenly seemed to be propelled by something as it followed Pipi's flight direction, quickly catching up with Pipi and staining its originally glossy black wings with a lot of white fluff, and the more it was stained, the more fluff it stained.
Pipi flew around like a snowball rolling into the snow: "What's going on? Why are you following me?"
wrong.
Tang Xi's eyebrows twitched. "Come here! These white fluffs are alive. The more panicked you are, the more they will chase after you!"
Gui Fang and Bei Chen were taken aback upon hearing this, and retreated outwards into the corridor at an extremely slow pace.
Pipi panicked and threw herself at Tang Xihe, "What should I do! Tang Xihe! It feels so bad! All these things have made me look ugly and white!"
"Relax."
Tangxi gently brushed off the white fluff from Pipi's body, comforting her, "What's the rush? The more you rush, the more likely you are to make a mistake. Look, it's off now, isn't it?"
Pipi woke up with a start, finding no one beside her. Still shaken, she was startled again and curled up into a quail. Feeling embarrassed to be entangled by such a tiny, furry ball, she asked somewhat awkwardly, "Why did you come here?"
"The research materials, and I'm also investigating something."
Tang Xi rubbed off the last clump of fluff from Pi Pi's body and headed towards the cave entrance. "We were deliberately tricked by the Golden Toad from the very beginning."
Pipi didn't believe it: "How could this be! No way! I feel like it's a good demon."
Gui Fang, who was crouching in the aisle with his knees drawn up, snorted coldly upon hearing this.
"Yes, what a devil! He deliberately led us through the maze in a winding and confusing way, and even arranged a guest room that was only separated from the cocoon machine by a wall."
Gui Fang paused, then beckoned to Pi Pi, "Come here, let me analyze this for you."
Seeing his sly grin, Pipi couldn't help but bristle: "You're not my boss!"
Bei Chen suddenly realized, "Yes, speaking of which, when the Golden Toad took us to see the Wishing Cocoon, its attitude was so strange... as if it was urging us to make a wish."
What would happen if I actually made a wish?
Tang Xihe pondered for a moment, then turned to the others, "How about we test the Golden Toad Elder?"
Bei Chen asked instinctively, "How do we test it?"
Tang Xi glanced quickly at Bei Chen, and an idea came to her mind.
"Beichen, do you remember the title of the paper I suggested not long ago?"
Bei Chen was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously replied, "The relationship between the strength of the spiritual energy impact and the diameter of the spiritual energy wave, in the practical report of the blessed land—taking the Golden Maze as an example?"
·
"boom--"
A deafening roar echoed through the maze's passageway. A round hole was blasted into the narrow passageway by Bei Chen's palm strike, causing several mountain walls to collapse in succession, with smoke and dust rising and golden ash filling the air.
The passageways in the maze were blown to pieces. The Golden Toad Elder hurriedly jumped over the ruins and asked, "What's wrong, esteemed immortals?"
As the smoke cleared, the Golden Toad Elder saw the tall, sullen-faced man and the burly, burly man snarling at each other, while the short, immortal elder, holding the evil crow, was caught in the middle, looking caught in a dilemma.
The Golden Toad was overjoyed and approached with a concerned expression, "What's wrong, immortals? Are you arguing?"
Tangxi and Sanliang stepped in front of Jinchanlao and said, "Jinchanlao, I'm sorry, those two are arguing again and they've ruined the guest room you carefully arranged."
The Golden Toad was still his spineless, easygoing self, chuckling as he rubbed his hands together. "It's nothing, nothing. We have some toad brothers here who are good at digging tunnels. What happened to those two immortals? Why are they so angry?"
“Hey, those two have never gotten along, and they even scared my pet,” Tang Xihe said, holding Pipi up to the Golden Toad. “Look, my Pipi looks listless.”
Awakened by Gui Fang's warning, Pipi blinked its tiny eyes and looked at the smiling, concerned Jin Chan Lao. Suddenly, it didn't know how to face him, so it simply turned its head away and struggled to bury itself in Tang Xi and its arms without making a sound.
He really does look "listless".
Tang Xi pressed on, "Look, could you help us arrange separate guest rooms?"
"Well?"
The Golden Toad was somewhat surprised.
Could we have been discovered?
"Guest rooms? Guest rooms..."
The Golden Toad stammered, secretly observing the other two immortals.
Bei Chen, who was standing to the side, noticed something and winked at Gui Fang: Begin!
Gui Fang seemed oblivious to Bei Chen's winking and gesturing. "What, are you deaf? If you want to apologize, just say so. I'm a magnanimous person."
Beichen's entourage: ? ? ?
This person starts investigating every argument, huh?
Bei Chen immediately lost his temper: "Why should I apologize first! You're always targeting me! Your words are so awful!"
"I'm not targeting you! I'm targeting the whole world!"
"It's obvious! You never speak harshly to Tang Xi!"
"His lifeless, sullen face is so boring, how could I have the energy to say anything harsh to him!"
Tangxi and: ? ? ?
They won't even spare me?
Tang Xi pointed to herself and weakly retorted, "I'm an honest person."
Bei Chen then pointed to a little demon, "Where's Pipi?"
Gui Fang: "It's only a few years old! Why would I bother with it?"
"..."
Completely absorbed in their perfect acting, Tang Xi picked at her ear and said helplessly to Jin Chan Lao, "You see, that's how it is. These two just don't get along. They can even start arguing when their eyes meet."
The Golden Toad Elder was silent for a few seconds before saying with difficulty, "If you don't get along, why did the immortals gather together to come to this blessed land?"
What a waste of one of my wishing cocoons!
“That’s a good question,” Tang Xihe said with a laugh, “It’s fate, I guess.”
Tang Xi had never really thought about this question.
He was supposed to be observing from the sidelines, watching when the world-ending event would arrive, but somehow he ended up getting involved with the protagonist.
Tang Xi asked, "So, could you prepare three guest rooms for us?"
"Sure, no problem."
The Golden Toad glanced uneasily at the mountain wall. The round holes on the collapsed walls were perfectly regular. Six walls collapsed in succession, and even the gold and jade in the rocks were shattered.
Thankfully, they didn't find the cocoon-weaving machine. The Golden Toad Elder glanced with lingering fear at the intact wall beside him. "Should I arrange something nearby for the immortals?"
Tangxi said apologetically, "Thank you for your trouble."
·
On the golden throne, the Golden Toad was rolling around in anger.
"This is so annoying! Why am I so unlucky to run into some eccentric immortals!"
"Boss, why haven't they made their wishes yet?"
"If they don't make a wish, what will we eat!"
"Those immortals are dragging their feet, the wishing cocoon has run away again!"
How could humans not crave money?
"Boss! What do we do next?!"
The toads below the stage croaked incessantly.
The Golden Toad Lord got a headache from listening to this, and slammed his slam on the throne, "Let's continue to observe!"
All the toads fell silent.
"If they still don't grant their wish, then you should modify the maze!"
The Golden Toad rolled over and stood up, gritting his teeth, "Now that we're here, we're not going anywhere!"
·
The three people who were assigned to the new guest rooms felt like they were in prison. They were separated into different rooms and all picked up the wind-listening rulers.
Tang Xihe: "Later, the Golden Toad Elder might steer the conversation toward the wishing cocoon. Who will make a wish?"
Gui Fang: "Bei Chen, whoever breaks the maze goes."
Bei Chen remained silent for a while before replying: "But there's a problem with the Wishing Cocoon."
Gui Fang: "That's why we're sending you, because there's a problem."
After saying that, Gui Fang didn't forget to flatter him, saying, "You're the strongest, you go."
Bei Chen: "Knowing there was a problem, you still encouraged me to make a wish! What a rip-off!"
Gui Fang Wu Di readily agreed: "Dad, I'm out of money, Dad."
Tang Xi chuckled, "Isn't this to unleash your full potential? You felt that punch you just threw, didn't you?"
"..."
Beichen did not reply. He put away the Wind Listening Ruler, sat cross-legged, and clenched and unclenched his fists.
Am I really that bad at controlling my spiritual energy output?
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