Jiang Man's words clearly touched the villagers in front of him, but after a moment of hesitation, his eyes became firm again: "You are all enemies of Ping'an Village, and you should all die in the Hall of the Ferocious God. If I cannot live, you will also be buried with me, along with the secrets of this place."
"You're only half right about that. We can't get out, and we'll indeed become your victims, but the secrets here won't be buried. Those who clashed with you before are far more capable than you imagine."
Following Jiang Man's train of thought, I continued, "I know a bit about Ping'an Village and that you are from the city branch, so your knowledge far surpasses that of those reclusive tribes in other branches! Compared to them, you are both lucky and unlucky!"
Your good fortune lies in being able to see a wider world and understand society better than they do. But your misfortune lies in the fact that, despite your greater understanding, you cannot escape the shackles of fate. You still have to give up everything to protect a place you've never been before, based on a decision you weren't involved in.
The adrenaline had suppressed the pain in the villager, and he scoffed at my words: "Guarding the Temple of the Evil God is a mission that our village has carried for generations! It is because of the unity and perseverance of our thousands of villagers that the Temple of the Evil God has not been opened by those with ulterior motives. Do you think you can shake my lifelong belief with just a few words?"
"Of course I'm not that naive. I just think that you are better able to understand what I'm trying to say compared to people from other branches of the village."
I looked into the eyes of the villager and asked, slowly and deliberately, "Do you know what exactly the Temple of the Fierce God is guarding?"
Seeing the hint of doubt in his eyes, I knew he didn't know much about this place, so I continued, "The so-called Temple of the Ferocious God suppressed the leader of a primitive tribe from the Xia Dynasty. They used a divine artifact to slaughter countless lives, and were thus suppressed in this Temple of the Ferocious God by the ancestors of the tribe! And that so-called divine artifact is actually a meteorite with strong radiation!"
Once the third gate opens, everyone here will die a violent death, and it will unleash some indescribable catastrophe. I know you are not afraid of death, but you should at least die a worthy death! Once the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is truly opened, not only will your death be meaningless, but the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace's centuries-long defense will also be in vain!
Upon hearing my response, the villagers wore expressions of pain.
Seeing that my words had struck a chord with him, I continued, "We are different from you. We don't have any death-defying beliefs, and we didn't come here to make money. We're just here to hunt down Duan Jinyan, the Wind Beast we just mentioned. So, if you answer a few questions for us, you might be able to avoid any regrets!"
The villager thought for a moment, then looked at me with distrust: "You came here not to open the Temple of the Evil God?"
I shook my head: "At least not now."
The villager stared at us for a moment, then said after a moment of silence, “Before we came in, I heard the leader say that the twelve underground gates here all connect to the same passage, but the passage that opens at different times of the day is different. If you take the wrong passage, you will face countless dangers! The person who brought us here knows the incantation, but the people we were chasing entered this passage, so we followed them in.”
I heard that the people from Ping'an Village and Duan Jinyan's people were here, so I asked quickly, "Did you follow those people in, or did you get lost and get trapped here?"
Upon hearing my question, the other person replied, "During our search here, someone was attacked by a monster and dragged into a passage on one side. Everyone chased after them and fought off the beasts..."
It then dawned on me that these people weren't trapped here with me, because they hadn't triggered any mechanisms when they came in, so they weren't trapped. This meant there must be other passages here.
While I was thinking, the man continued, "When we drove away those beasts, we also lost track of the people in front! The leader opened the passage behind us so that everyone could go through there. Just as we were about to leave, those beasts reappeared. In order to ensure the safety of the others, I took the initiative to attract those beasts and lured them to another place. I thought I had shaken them off, but I didn't expect to miss this monster!"
Upon hearing the man's response, I shone my flashlight around and, sure enough, found a rectangular secret passage in the corner. A wind tunnel was slowly descending from above. I pressed him for an answer, asking, "How long did it take for the previous person to leave?"
About half an hour.
The other person glanced at me and urged, "When the team leader opened the secret passage, he said that the passage here is powered by an underground river. Once it is closed, it cannot be opened again. You should go now."
I heard that the people before us had been gone for half an hour, and the gate had only descended a third of the way. Knowing that it wouldn't close anytime soon, I looked at the young man from the village and asked, "If you see your people, is there anything you want me to tell them?"
"I'm just a worthless life anyway, with nothing to hold me back, so there's nothing to say."
As the effects of the adrenaline wore off, the young man from the village's expression became somewhat distorted: "Honestly, sometimes I really hope this Temple of the Evil God is opened. No matter what kind of disaster it brings to the world, at least it would free people like us..."
Jiang Man saw his pupils dilate and said, "This person is not doing well. We need to hurry on our way."
Let's go!
Upon hearing Jiang Man's words, I quickly walked to the secret passage and marked it with a knife.
Seeing my actions, Jiang Man asked from the side, "Didn't you say before that the mechanism we triggered was difficult to open? Then why leave a mark?"
"There are two passages in the corridor we came from. We took the right one. We don't know if the other passage also leads to this place. The monkeys are following our trail. We don't know if they will be caught outside. We left marks along the way so that at least they know where we went."
I paused for a moment, then continued, "But the young man from the village just said that the secret passage here opens at different times of day. I don't know if Monkey and the others will still have a chance to enter this passage when they arrive."
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