Chapter 184: The Trap in Front of the Dragon-patterned Gate
Long Qi carefully explored the secret room, sword in hand. As he had expected, something strange was going on inside. A living person, still talking, suddenly disappeared. He couldn't understand how such a large, living person could suddenly vanish.
Just as he was walking cautiously, feeling very confused, he saw a magic circle under his feet glowing red and slowly opening up. It kept expanding in the endless darkness, and then gradually disappeared.
Seeing this, Long Qi was so frightened that he dared not move, fearing that something might happen. He held his breath for a long time.
However, there was no movement at all, and the magic circle seemed to have dissipated into the darkness...
After a long moment of intense concentration, Long Qi finally relaxed after confirming that nothing was amiss. But as soon as he lifted his foot, the previously dissipated magic circle suddenly expanded again. A chorus of mechanical sounds rang out all around him, and oil lamps lit up one after another before him. Immediately, a staircase curved downwards, its flames flickering in the air, creating a strange, eerie scene.
This time, it was as if he was being invited to go deeper. It was so strange. It seemed that the road ahead was definitely not good! But now, apart from continuing forward, there seemed to be no better way...
Long Qi frowned and pursed his lips, his face solemn as he walked along the stairs. After a while, he stepped onto a flat ground, but the front was dark and there was no oil lamp burning like the stone steps just now.
Just as Long Qi was concentrating on looking at it, a bright fire suddenly appeared in front of him. It turned out that there was a long corridor paved with square bricks in front of him, and at the end of the corridor were two stone doors with faintly visible dragon patterns engraved on them. There were also two stone pillars with coiled dragons on each side of the door.
My ancestors were really interesting! A good secret room was made to look like a tomb. It's really weird.
However, this corridor was square, and both the floor and the left and right walls were made of square bricks, completely different from the previous tunnel.
It looks extremely strange, there must be something fishy going on!
However, his current situation did not allow him to retreat. He had no choice but to move forward.
Long Qi gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as he stepped into the corridor, holding his breath and gazing intently, keeping an eye on the surroundings. However, even halfway down the corridor, it was unusually quiet, with only a few small sounds, like the crackling of candlelight, to be heard.
Just when he thought the corridor was clear, he felt his feet sink, and then heard a mechanical sound. Looking down, Long Qi saw that a brick had sunk under his feet.
This really made him panic. According to the story, this must be a trap. There might be hidden arrows or flying knives popping out from all directions!
Long Qi paid close attention to the movements around him, but still nothing happened.
This is strange. Could it be that this secret room has been left unattended for years, so the bricks and stones are just loose?
He stretched his neck, pricked up his ears, and took a thief's pace. At this moment, he heard a noise above his head. Looking up, he saw a candlelight flickering overhead. It was strange that the corridor was as bright as day. However, for some reason, the candlelight kept sinking.
Looking more closely, Long Qi was immediately shocked. The things that were sinking down were not candles, but rockets! And those rockets were pouring down like a torrential rain, and they were about to fall down!
Long Qi quickly drew his Dragon Abyss Sword, dodging and slicing off the rockets he couldn't avoid. But just as he was dodging, his feet suddenly sank. It turned out to be another brick mechanism!
There were only "click" sounds coming from the wall. The wall, which was originally made of square bricks, had many small holes like a hornet's nest, and thin needles shot out from the holes.
Long Qi used his magic, and spiritual energy burst out from his body. Although he deflected the rockets, the needles were able to pierce the spiritual energy. Seeing this, he quickly turned around, maintaining the spiritual energy shield while swinging his sword to deflect the needles. However, the needles were too dense, and he was injured in a short while.
But no matter how painful his wound was, Long Qi didn't dare to stop, because the flying needles in the wall seemed endless and showed no sign of stopping. Just when he landed, the bricks under his feet sank deeper - there was actually a trap!
Unable to stop, Long Qi immediately bounced off the brick, as needles continued to shoot out from the small hole in the wall. At this moment, the eyes of the dragon sculpture on the stone pillar at the end of the corridor suddenly lit up, and daggers and sharp blades continued to fly out of its open mouth.
Those sharp blades seemed to have eyes and flew towards Long Qi. It was already extremely difficult for Long Qi to deal with the rocket needles, and now with the addition of flying blades, he had no strength to resist.
Daggers with sharp blades flashing with cold light flew towards Long Qi. Long Qi was also anxious, but he really couldn't spare the energy to deal with it. He was about to be stabbed like a hedgehog.
At this moment, Long Qi's body moved involuntarily for some reason, completely out of his control. With a few twists and turns, he not only avoided the flying blade, but also jumped to the dragon-patterned stone door at the end.
He was very puzzled. As soon as he stood still, he looked up hurriedly. He saw Lingxiang sitting at the entrance of the corridor, twirling her fingers. In front of her stood a paper man with a red talisman on it.
Long Qi understood immediately. He reached behind him and grabbed a yellow talisman, which was a puppet talisman!
It turned out that it was Lingxiang who saved him just now!
Fortunately, Lingxiang appeared in time, otherwise I would have died!
Lingxiang was sweating profusely. If she had not arrived in time, Long Qi would have had to meet all the ancestors of their Long family!
"It's obvious that this is a place with many traps. Why are you so stupid as to go in?" Lingxiang said as she picked up the talisman on the ground.
Hearing this, Long Qi scratched his head and chuckled. He knew there was a trap, but besides moving forward, what other solution was there? He just couldn't understand why Lingxiang was so safe and sound when Xinyi and the others must have been under the spell in the secret room?
Looking at the mechanism that was still working, Long Qi was full of questions, but Lingxiang was not in a hurry. She kept groping at the entrance of the corridor. After a while, she touched a loose stone and immediately twisted it hard.
As soon as the stone was turned, the mechanism of the corridor stopped immediately. Long Qi was surprised to see this. At this moment, the square bricks on the ground suddenly retracted to both sides, leaking all the mess into the ground.
Only then did Long Qi see that the ground was full of gears and chains. It seemed that the entire cave was full of mechanisms.
Just as Long Qi was marveling at the sight, the separated bricks came together again as the gears in the ground rolled, and Lingxiang was now leisurely walking towards him.
Seeing that Lingxiang was about to step on the trap he had just stepped on, Long Qi shouted loudly, but as soon as he said "be careful", he saw Lingxiang stepping safely over the square brick, and the square brick did not move at all.
Lingxiang was already close to him, but Long Qi was still dumbfounded. Lingxiang exerted force and pulled out the two fine needles from his body. He regained his composure, but instead of crying out in pain, he asked, "Why doesn't this formation work on you?"
Lingxiang rolled her eyes at him and said, "I clearly turned off the mechanism just now. Didn't you see it? As for the formation, I think it's because of the Ming Dynasty bell on me that it doesn't work on me. The old man with the bamboo stick once said that this bell is a treasure!" Then she pulled out two thin needles from Long Qi's body.
Long Qi only then felt the pain, hissing and wailing, and hurriedly asked Ling Xiang to be lighter. Thinking of the old man with the bamboo stick, Long Qi felt a headache, and even the wounds on his body seemed to hurt more.
That old man is really difficult to deal with!
With Lingxiang's skillful techniques, she finally treated Long Qi's injuries, but the two of them were in trouble in front of the stone door - this stone door was different from the dragon-patterned nail door at the beginning. Apart from the two dragon patterns on the door, there were no other objects similar to mechanisms anywhere. How could they open it?
The two looked at each other, not knowing what to do...
…
Xinyi smiled as she walked to the front yard. The servant behind her had a blank expression on his face, as if he was used to it. When Madam Lu saw him, her face was filled with curiosity.
"What good thing happened to you? Why are you so happy?"
Upon hearing this, Xinyi's smile faded, returning to her usual serious demeanor. Seeing this, Madam Lu glanced at the servant behind him, her eyes questioning. The servant, expressionless, simply stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Just now, Miss Guining blamed the young master for not taking her to town with him, and she had a huge tantrum with him."
Mrs. Lu immediately understood that the reason her son was so happy must be his return home. Xinyi blushed after hearing the servant's reply and turned her head away, pretending to scold him, "Don't talk too much," to hide her embarrassment.
After all, he was still a young boy, how could he be embarrassed by such things? Mrs. Lu understood this and, with a teasing look on her face, ordered him to go out quickly and rescue Xinyi. Seeing Mrs. Lu like this, Xinyi's face turned even redder.
As the three of them were leaving the house, they happened to meet the Patriarch of the Lu family who had just returned from outside. The Patriarch was a talkative person, and after exchanging greetings, he gave Madam Lu a lot of instructions, as if he was afraid that she would encounter some danger on this trip.
Now it was Mrs. Lu who felt a little embarrassed. Even when they arrived in town, she kept avoiding his gaze. But Xinyi's mind was not on this at the moment. She was constantly thinking about other things.
When he met his father just now, he always felt that something was unusual about his father, just like when he was in the mansion before. But no matter how hard he tried to recall, he couldn't figure out what went wrong.
Xinyi was completely baffled when she heard the shopkeeper, Madam Tonglu, say, "This year, the Nanhuai Long family sent us a pair of precious jade ruyi. Madam, should we take them back to the mountains now, or wait a couple of days to send them off with the other goods?"
The Long family... The Long family!
Xinyi didn't hear much of what was said next. One sentence kept lingering in her mind: "The Lu family was wiped out back then because..."
Why was that? Why did they say the Lu family was wiped out? Wasn't their Lu family doing well now? Who could break the magic array in the Lu family mountain?!
Who said this? Where did he hear it from?!
Xinyi felt a splitting headache and rushed out of the door, covering his head. However, Madam Lu behind him seemed to have noticed nothing and was still talking to the shopkeeper.
He walked aimlessly in panic, perhaps because of his headache, the scenery around him was inexplicably blurry, just like his confused thoughts.
The Long family... The Long family... Why did the mention of the Long family make him so uncomfortable? Who had heard this sentence from...
"The Lu family was wiped out because of Cheng Nuo's betrayal!"
Cheng Nuo...Uncle Cheng!
…
Xin Yi was led out of the house by Long Qi. He frowned, his face stern, "Did you really mean what Senior Long Sheng said just now?"
Long Qi was startled by the question and didn't know how to answer for a moment. After all, this kind of thing was really hard to accept. After hesitating for a moment, he finally said, "Of course I believe it, but this happened too long ago. Maybe Uncle Sheng didn't find out the truth..."
Upon hearing this, Xinyi lowered her head in silence. After a long pause, she spoke in a deep voice, "When I returned to Lujiabao, I clearly saw Uncle Lu's body. If it was because of his betrayal, how could I have ended up like this?"
"Since the person has passed away and it happened so long ago, what can you do by pursuing it? Do you really want to know the truth?" Long Qi said as he looked at Xinyi, his eyes calm.
Long Qi had experienced his family's demise, yet he remained so calm. This reminded Xinyi of the words of the deer horn double-edged sword spirit: "Master Lu, you must remember that the dead are gone, and there is no need to dwell on them. Follow goodness and virtue, be kind and righteous, abide by the clan's rules, and eradicate demons and evil."
Yes, Uncle Cheng was already dead. Even if the Lu family suffered a catastrophic disaster because of him, he had paid the price. Perhaps blessed by the sword spirit, she had now returned home, completely forgotten, and assumed the alias Maidong. He should protect her well. If she was hurt by pursuing this matter, he would never forgive himself in this life.
Ophiopogon japonicus is innocent!
…
Ophiopogon japonicus...
Yes! He is no longer Lu Xingyi, just like Gui Ning is no longer Gui Ning. He is now Xinyi!
Xinyi's mind suddenly became clear, a bright light flashed before her eyes, and the surrounding scene suddenly cracked and shattered, falling to pieces.
…
Lingxiang Longqi was in a dilemma in front of the stone gate. There were no dragon patterns on the door, no door knockers or bolts. There were flat walls around it. How could he get in?
"Come to think of it, I have the Ming Dynasty Bell protecting me, so I won't fall into the psychedelic formation. Then how did you manage to get here safely?" Ling Xiang suddenly remembered this and hurriedly asked Long Qi, "Didn't you encounter any strange things before?"
After hearing this, Long Qi remembered that he had stepped on a magic circle before, but nothing strange happened. If there was something strange, it was that these things suddenly appeared in front of him.
Thinking this, he told Lingxiang about it. Hearing this, Lingxiang frowned and pondered: "I think the reason Xinyi and the others disappeared is that they were taken away by the bewitching magic circle in this secret room. But since Long Qi also stepped on the magic circle, why is he safe and sound?"
"You said that when the magic circle flashed red and Xinyi disappeared, what kind of magic circle's spiritual light did you see?"
"Not really," Long Qi said, gesturing with his hands. "The magic circle I stepped on was open for a long time before dissipating, and Xinyi disappeared all of a sudden. There was no flash of inspiration at all."
Hearing this, Lingxiang lowered her head and thought for a long time, then suddenly looked up at Long Qi.
Could it be...
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