Chapter 100 Heading Straight to the Lair (Part 3)
“So,” Bai Qianfan continued, “that’s why we need to find a lucky person to try out the first gate.”
Meng Yufeng stiffened his neck and took half a step back, only to find that everyone's eyes were already on him.
Why are you all looking at me?!
He was indignant and shouted, "Why should I go first?!"
"Didn't you say that yourself?" Bai Qianfan brought up his previous words: "You said you wanted to go down in history and become a great hero. Now that the opportunity has come, we won't compete with you for it!"
Dong Qi nodded slightly in agreement and whispered to him, "You did say that."
Meng Yufeng turned to look at him with an incredulous expression: "Aqi, you...?"
"But..." He was still unwilling to give up and wanted to drag someone down with him: "If we're talking about cultivation levels, it should be Immortal Venerable Chu who goes first!"
“Him?” Bai Qianfan pointed at Chu Jianshan and chuckled bitterly. “He’s notoriously unlucky. He’s not only stepped into the gates of death, but I’m afraid he might trigger some device and wipe us all out.”
"Master," Cheng Yuan called softly, "I'll go."
Before Chu Jianshan could reply, Lin Mumu couldn't stand it any longer and walked straight to a door next to her without hesitation: "Stop dawdling, I'll go!"
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Meng Yufeng suddenly called out to her.
Lin Mumu stopped in front of the door, turned her head and raised an eyebrow at him: "What, are you having second thoughts again?"
Meng Yufeng clenched his fists. He hadn't planned to go, but seeing that the girls were all more principled than him, his last remaining pride was stirred up. After all, he was someone who wanted to make a name for himself in history, and he needed some experience to convince others.
"I..." After hesitating for a moment, he made up his mind: "I'll go first!"
"But let's make this clear first! This time, the credit is mine!"
"Calculate it, calculate it!" Bai Qianfan pushed him towards the door Lin Mumu had chosen: "Whatever you want is yours."
Meng Yufeng kept his eyes tightly shut, not daring to look at the door in front of him. Just as his fingers touched the door, he was hit by a series of falling stones. The huge stone door slowly opened, and the accumulated dust made him cough repeatedly.
After a gap large enough for a person to pass through was opened, the stone gate stopped moving.
Meng Yufeng walked in with a death-defying air. As soon as his right foot was pulled in, the door slammed shut, leaving no time for hesitation.
...This doesn't look like a proper door at all.
Pressing his wildly beating heart, Meng Yufeng took small steps forward. Before leaving, Bai Qianfan had given him a lot of talismans, and Li Xi and Lin Mumu had also given him a lot of pills.
Although they were well-equipped, Meng Yufeng unfortunately didn't recognize most of the talismans, nor could he distinguish the specific effects of the pills. Before entering, they talked a lot, but once inside, they were so nervous that they forgot everything.
He tentatively took out a talisman, cast a spell, and then waited.
With a loud thud, he vanished from the spot where he had just been, his head slamming hard against the wall a few steps away.
"..."
Confirmed, it's a hyphen.
"Hiss..." He rubbed his forehead, which had been bumped, and felt that it was still a little swollen.
Although I was hit, at least I learned how to use the talisman and that I couldn't pass through the wall.
...Another piece of bad news.
There's an even worse one; it seems like he stepped on some kind of mechanism.
He looked over and saw countless arrows and crossbows turning to aim at him. Before he could prepare, a hail of arrows rained down on him.
Meng Yufeng couldn't dodge in time and could only bend backward to barely avoid the arrow from above. Then, using his sword as a shield, he took a few steps back and blocked the oncoming arrow.
His movements were fluid, graceful, and clean.
With a "crack," the sword hilt struck the mechanism embedded in the wall again.
"..."
If God gave him another chance, he would never come back.
After a series of crackling sounds, many circular cutouts appeared on the wall, and pillars of fire shot out, accompanied by a burning sensation, which Meng Yufeng dodged to the side. This time, he did not hesitate and quickly ran forward.
Unfortunately, wherever he ran, the pillar of fire followed.
At first, he was able to dodge using his speed advantage, but later the fire pillars blocked his way, forcing him to stop, while the fire pillars behind him burned closer and closer.
"There's no other way..."
Meng Yufeng closed his eyes, grabbed a handful of teleportation talismans, and scattered them into the air. The moment the talismans fell, he quickly cast a spell.
The pillar of fire swept over, but the people who had been there were no longer there.
In the dark tunnel, only one figure could be seen moving at an extremely fast speed, shuttling back and forth among the enraged, constantly erupting pillars of fire, before landing steadily at the other end of the mechanism.
Meng Yufeng stood there, panting heavily. He was still shocked by his own actions after surviving the ordeal. He never expected that he could use these talismans so skillfully.
After this experience, he roughly understood that this was a place full of traps and mechanisms. Although it was not easy to get through, it was not a dead end and no one would die. His luck was still reliable.
Outside the door, everyone sat in a circle. The effects of the pills Lin Mumu had given them were starting to take hold, and the hallucinations before their eyes were beginning to disappear.
"Why isn't he out yet..." Bai Qianfan rested her chin on her right hand, her left fingers tapping her knee repeatedly, a hint of worry in her heart: "Could he really be that unlucky, the first one to..."
He didn't say the rest of his sentence because he noticed that Dong Qi's expression wasn't good.
"Don't worry too much," Chu Jianshan said to Dong Qi. "It should just be a little delayed, we'll be out soon."
Dong Qi nodded slightly, but before she could speak, a noise came from the other side of the door.
Meng Yufeng staggered out the door, then clutched his chest, as if injured and exhausted, and knelt on the ground.
Everyone stood up and rushed towards him.
"Are you alright?" Bai Qianfan quickly helped him up and asked, "Where are you hurt?"
Meng Yufeng simply lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.
"Say something!" Bai Qianfan cried out urgently, "What exactly happened inside?"
He sent Meng Yufeng, and if Meng Yufeng is seriously injured, he will be held responsible even if he dies.
"Pfft..." Meng Yufeng couldn't help but laugh out loud, his shoulders shaking.
Bai Qianfan suddenly understood, speechless, and threw away the hand that was supporting him.
"Meng Yufeng, is it fun to play us like this?"
"Interesting!" Meng Yufeng straightened up and stretched his limbs. "You have no idea how dangerous it was in there, but I came out completely unscathed without breaking a sweat!"
"Oh, really?" Bai Qianfan squinted at him and opened his palm in front of him: "Then give me back the teleportation talisman."
“Uh…” Meng Yufeng pursed his lips and muttered, “It’s all used up.”
"All used up?!" Bai Qianfan exclaimed in surprise, "You used up most of my talisman paper in just one trip?!"
"Oh dear, you don't know!" Meng Yufeng pulled him back, trying to calm his anger: "There are traps everywhere in there. You have to use a card almost every two steps, and before you know it, it's gone."
"I'm already lucky that I managed to get out before I ran out!"
"A mechanism?" Bai Qianfan stroked his chin, the word piquing his interest.
There are many formations involving mechanisms, and in the Bagua formation, there are many doors that can represent mechanisms. Coincidentally, he chose the widest door.
"How is it?" Chu Jianshan walked to his side and asked, "Which door does it resemble most?"
Bai Qianfan pondered before answering, "The most similar one is the Du Gate, located in the southeast Xun Palace, but..."
"What?!" Meng Yufeng exploded, "Don't tell me you can't recognize the door we barely escaped after surviving a near-death experience?!"
"Oh?" Lin Mumu pointed out in time: "Didn't you say it would be effortless?"
Meng Yufeng shut up after being rebuffed.
Bai Qianfan continued, "But the Injury Gate and the Shock Gate are also possibilities. The Injury Gate is located due east, and the Shock Gate is located due west. If these two gates are wrong..."
Chu Jianshan continued, "In other words, the gate of life is the gate of death, and the gate of death is the gate of life; it's either life or death?"
Bai Qianfan nodded: "Such a high probability has suddenly become 50%. We've taken a bit too big a gamble."
“Then let’s not gamble so big,” Chu Jianshan said. “Let’s go with the Du Gate.”
Bai Qianfan understood: "You mean, try it with someone else again?"
Chu Jianshan nodded: "If this gate is truly the Gate of Obstruction, it would be best to find the Gate of Life directly. If it is the Gate of Shock or the Gate of Injury, even if we are wrong, there are only two possibilities."
Bai Qianfan continued, "The Jing Gate or the Xiu Gate are both not very dangerous, so they are definitely worth a try."
"I didn't expect this, Chu Jianshan," Bai Qianfan laughed. "How come I didn't know you knew these things? Tell me, did you learn them from my master?"
“I’ve known Xie Yin for much longer than you have,” Chu Jianshan turned and walked toward the door they had just rehearsed. “I’ll do it this time.”
"Master!" Cheng Yuan caught up with him, grabbing his wrist and pleading, "I'll go with you."
Chu Jianshan smiled and said, "Don't worry, even if my luck is bad, it's just the Jing Gate, it won't kill me. You stay here and take good care of everyone."
Cheng Yuan didn't speak, but his hand stubbornly gripped his, refusing to let go.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Meng Yufeng pointed at the two of them, his brows furrowed. "That's going too far! Why was no one willing to come with me when I went?"
Bai Qianfan couldn't help but chuckle. He found a corner, sat cross-legged, and propped his chin up with one hand: "Just let him go. It's not dangerous anyway. It'll save you from him asking me all sorts of questions outside after you go in."
"Very well," Chu Jianshan finally relented, lowered his head and held Cheng Yuan's hand in his own, and asked Bai Qianfan, "Do you have any more communication talismans? If I confirm that it is the Gate of Life after I go in, I will send a message to you."
Oh, yes!
Bai Qianfan searched through the package for a while before finally pulling out the crumpled talisman and handing it to Chu Jianshan: "This is the last one, so use it sparingly!"
Chu Jianshan took the utterly worthless talisman, pinching it between two fingers, his expression indescribable. He looked at Bai Qianfan, then at the talisman paper, wondering who was failing to appreciate it.
"Alright, let's go."
Chu Jianshan led Cheng Yuan through the door.
As soon as he entered, Chu Jianshan felt Cheng Yuan tighten his grip on his hand. Originally, he was the one holding Cheng Yuan's hand, but somehow it had become Cheng Yuan holding his hand.
Yu Guangzhong and Chu Jianshan caught a glimpse of the corner of his mouth curving upwards.
"What are you laughing at?" Chu Jianshan asked, puzzled.
Cheng Yuan gently rubbed his fingers and replied, "I just feel that it's nice that it's just the two of us here."
"……Yeah?"
Sometimes, Chu Jianshan really didn't understand some of Cheng Yuan's ideas. For example, right now, the two of them were locked inside, facing unknown variables, and he really couldn't see what was so good about it.
However, since Cheng Yuan thinks it's good, then maybe it really is good.
The two walked along the path in front of them, but the further they went, the more eerie it seemed.
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