The Di people in that primitive society would never have had such a thing, so the only possibility left for using lanterns is: Wang Yueyi Mu!
In order not to startle the snake, everyone was quietly hiding in place, even their breathing was adjusted to the lowest frequency, afraid of exposing their position. Fortunately, after a while, the light disappeared. But Zhen Wenbin still held down Zhuo Xiong and let him wait for five more minutes.
After a while, seeing no movement, the team only allowed Zhuo Xiong to open the flashlight, and everyone else carefully followed in order. The stone steps were not very well-maintained, with many places missing or broken, some wide and some narrow, it seemed that they had been neglected for years. With an angle of almost 60 degrees, climbing was not easy at all. If one person in the team lost their footing and fell, it would trigger a chain reaction.
It's not clear if it was because Old Wang was getting older, but he had almost made this mistake several times before, which left Cha Wenbin, who was following behind, breaking out in cold sweats. In recent days, apart from Leng Yiran, everyone else's physical strength had been severely depleted. Mountain climbing, a physically demanding activity, was now testing their mental endurance. Zhuo Xiong had something on his mind and naturally quickened his pace, but as the scout leading the way with his athletic build, this made things even more difficult for those behind him. Heng Roulian's face was already flushed red, panting heavily, while Old Wang could only hear himself exhaling, unable to catch a breath.
This flight of stairs had already taken them half an hour, and when they finally climbed to the top, everyone sat on the ground panting heavily. It seemed that Wang Yue had also rested here earlier. Cha Wenbin looked back and thought that if he rolled down from here, he would probably be smashed to pieces.
Behind them was a low cave, and in their haste to catch up, they rested for five minutes. Zhuo Xiong was the first to crawl inside, but soon came out again, making a silencing gesture with his hand, and whispered: "There are many fires ahead, if things really don't go well, we'll retreat."
"What's with the flames?" Zhang Wenbin asked in confusion.
Zhuo Xiong pointed behind him, gesturing as he said: "Through this hole, below seems to be a huge pit. I see countless flames jumping about, and there's also the sound of clamor. We're probably at the lair of the Di people."
Since he came, Cha Wenbin had also made all kinds of preparations. If he didn't go and take a look, those knots in his heart would probably never be untied: "Let's go in first and see, but you guys must be quiet."
Several people hunched over, entering in a line, and as soon as they entered the cave, a gust of cold wind blew towards them, making them all shiver. Cha Wenbin was the first to see the panoramic view below, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "This is really a huge pit!" It's not like a pit, it's more like the mountain body here is a huge hollow, as if it had been scooped out from the inside. With one glance, they saw that down below, there were countless dots of firelight scattered about, and even with these lights, they could see that the stone houses were neatly arranged in rows.
Among them, three particularly bright flames stood upright in the middle, burning fiercely. However, it was not easy to see clearly in this darkness. Cha Wenbin always felt that this village was very familiar. No matter how he looked at it, it was similar to the village at the foot of the mountain outside, except for the material being different, the layout of the two was exactly the same. As for the brightest flame in the middle, wasn't it the location of the ancient well? Someone had completely copied a copy here according to that village!
"They must have gone down already," said Chaozi in a low voice. "Brother Wenbin, do you think we should go down too?"
"Needless to say, this place looks thrilling! If we can make all of this public, it might just be the biggest archaeological discovery of the century, haha!"
Zha Wenbin was a bit annoyed with this girl, thinking to himself why the Gu insect didn't stay on her body for a while longer, why did it wake her up so early?! Looking at Zhuo Xiong who had furrowed his brow, Zha Wenbin decided to go down and take a look: "Don't make any noise, turn off the lights, feel your way down in the dark, don't let the team get scattered, there are dangers everywhere inside."
The road down the mountain has steps, but compared to the previous climb, this is much more tiring. It's pitch black and we can only move slowly in a line, holding hands, while also being careful not to make any noise and avoiding being discovered by the guards. It took us over an hour to barely make it halfway down the mountain.
Along the way, except for the distant fire burning and making a "rumbling" sound, there was nothing else, as quiet as walking in that village outside. Zha Wenbin understood that this absolutely didn't count as a good omen, so he decided to just squat here and observe the situation first.
At this time, a loud laughter suddenly came from not far away, it was a kind of crazy laughter that exhausted all the madness, and several people's nerves immediately tightened up, raised their heads to take a look, under the three big torches, there were vague human shadows swaying!
"It's them! It seems they've found it, Wen Bin. We can't delay, we must speed up!" The speaker was Old Wang, the only one among them who had seen Wàng Yuèyī Mù.
"Let's get to the village entrance first, and then you, Old Wang, take Cold Girl and hide on one side, don't expose yourselves. The four of us will think of a way to sneak up. Didn't you say that without this sun wheel in my hand, they would be useless?" Cha Wenbin said, weighing the bronze wheel-shaped object in his hand.
"According to Brother Jiang, the Sun Wheel is the only key. As for how to get it, actually we don't know either."
Chaozi gripped the samurai sword in his hand, already excited. For soldiers, and perhaps for the Japanese nation as a whole, there was an innate hatred that ran deep in their bones, something that could not be changed. A few people crouched down and continued forward, soon arriving at the village entrance according to their memory of the village's terrain. Cha Wenbin quickly mapped out a route, the only difference being that outside the village entrance were stone men and stone horses, while here there was indeed a massive stele, on which three characters were carved in a twisted, crooked manner, but no one could decipher what they meant. Two enormous bronze pillars stood upright on either side of the road, with a bowl-shaped object at the top of each pillar, inside which fierce flames burned fiercely.
Old Wang looked at these pillars and sighed, "It's not easy for the ancients to get fire, they all use some combustible oils as fuel. I've been to many tombs, some of which have opened passages, and there's still a glow inside, I don't know how many years it's been burning."
After sneaking into the village, Cha Wenbin carefully entered a house, checked it out, and confirmed that there was no danger. He then left Old Wang and Leng Yiran there, but the girl initially refused to stay behind. Cha Wenbin had to coax and intimidate her before she finally agreed. Before leaving, he drew a circle on the ground with his Seven Star Sword and told them to wait inside it. Feeling that this was still not enough, he took out the six Soul-Extinguishing Nails from his bag and distributed them between Old Wang and Leng Yiran, instructing them to use these objects to defend themselves if they encountered anything strange.
The symbol engraved on the nail was more powerful than the talismans he had drawn himself, although it was vicious, but it could absolutely calm down those unclean things. This distance from the central fire platform is only a few meters away, and if something happens, it can be rescued in the first time, and after arranging everything properly.
Heng Roulian and Zhuo Xiong formed a small team, Cha Wenbin and Chaozi formed another team. These two scouts had extremely strong tactical awareness and after confirming each other's hand signals, the four of them moved forward with their respective tools in hand.
The winding path and the village were identical, with a vacant space in between. Three massive bronze pillars rose from the ground, and Zhang Wenbin swore that this was the largest torch he had ever seen in his life, at least thirty meters high, and one person might not be able to wrap their arms around it. A huge flame was burning fiercely on top of the pillar, with three pillars lined up in a row. Below, one of the men was holding a weapon against an old man's back, seemingly trying to make him walk behind the pillar, while the old man seemed to be afraid of something and didn't dare go forward.
Although they can't see what's behind the pillar, those old men all recognize him. If it's not Zhuo Yuguang, who is it?
"Damn it, German-made MP5! This group of bastards really spent a lot of money!" Chaozi said gritting his teeth as he looked at the 54 pistol in his hand that he had gotten from Old Wang.
"How many percentage of certainty?" Cha Wenbin was actually quite unsure about this.
Chaozi looked at the terrain and said, "Once we rush out from here, we'll face nearly a hundred meters of open space. We won't have anywhere to hide, and all of us will be exposed within their firing range. The effective range of our Type 54 is only about twenty meters, so they have an overwhelming advantage in firepower. Therefore, we must create some chaos to attract their attention; otherwise, it'll be difficult for me and Zhuo Xiong to get close." As he spoke, Chaozi exchanged gestures with Zhuo Xiong, who was also lying on the ground not far away, and they basically shared the same view.
Cha Wenbin thought for a moment, then pulled out several things from his pocket: a white paper, an incense stick, and a brush pen and inkstone. "I can only give you a minute to attract their attention. This little trick, I reckon they won't see through it at first glance."
Chaozi used his thumb to estimate the distance and nodded "Alright, one minute is just one minute, let's give it a try first!"
Next to him, Cha Wenbin had already conjured up a small paper doll with white paper, and used a brush dipped in cinnabar to paint on the five senses. On the back, he wrote a string of small words. Alone, he retreated to a hidden place, lit an incense stick, and half a minute later, Cha Wenbin said: "Alright, you're ready!" Just as he was saying this, Chaozi saw a little boy with a bare bottom holding a lantern, smiling and walking towards the pillar. "What is that?" Chaozi asked with wide eyes.
Cha Wenbin smiled slightly: "A small trick, I pinched a fake person, no soul or spirit, only shape, at most one minute will disperse, next it's up to you."
Wang Yue, who was pressing against the pillar under Zhuo Lao Han, heard a "heh heh" laughter, and his heart skipped a beat. He turned around to see a little kid walking towards him!
Ever since arriving at this eerie place, Motsuki Kazuki hadn't seen a single person. This child was running towards him with a lantern in hand and a smile on his face. Looking at him made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The child's face was deathly pale, without a hint of blood color.
That kid suddenly flashed and ran towards the distant darkness, Wang Yue picked up the MP5 and left a sentence: "Take care of him, I'll go take a look!" and chased after.
Chaozi made a gesture to Zhuoxiong, "Up!", the two of them silently and swiftly moved forward, the quality of the scouts was perfectly demonstrated at this moment. In the open area, they took advantage of the range not yet illuminated by the firelight, constantly changing direction and advancing quickly. In less than fifteen seconds, Chaozi had already made preparations for the next attack!
"Who?" Tōi Chiyuki's ears perked up, and she immediately turned around. Sora and Takao instantly separated, each flashing to one side, making a wide-range transfer. "Swish", two divine swords were unsheathed, icy yet beautiful faces immediately fixed on their respective targets, this was tacit understanding!
"Clang!" A flash of firelight, and Chaozi had already exchanged the first blow with Qianshuai. He felt a shock in his wrist and thought to himself, "This woman has quite some strength!" Before he could even retract his sword, a cold light flashed again from the other side, and Guimaru Kokō's blade swept towards Chaozi's chest with a gust of wind. Chaozi didn't have time to retract his sword to defend himself, and could only dodge backwards, "Whoosh" - his chest clothes were slashed open in a huge gash, he could even feel the blade's edge grazing against his skin as it passed by.
"What a formidable woman!" Chaozi spat out a mouthful of phlegm, gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, and with a sudden movement, he unleashed a powerful slash at Qianxue's door. Qianxue raised her giant knife to block it, "Clang!" The sound of metal clashing echoed through the air, followed by Qianxue spitting out a mouthful of blood, likely due to her internal injuries acting up again. It wasn't that Chaozi didn't know how to cherish women, but his time was too limited. With a swift motion, he transformed his fist into a palm and slammed it onto Qianxue's snow-white neck, letting out a cold hum as she fell unconscious.
Where's Zhuo Xiong? Qian Dai's red prayer beads were broken, and although she wielded her sword with great force, the broken beads were a fatal blow to her. When Zhuo Lao saw him coming to rescue, he only shouted out Zhuo Xiong's name, and Zhuo Xiong's heart was filled with thoughts, so his moves became urgent. A high-level exchange of blows requires a calm state of mind, and in terms of martial arts, Qian Dai's skills were far superior to Zhuo Xiong's. After several rounds, Zhuo Xiong was not injured but was in a sorry state. Seeing that his son was about to be defeated, Zhuo Lao suddenly found the courage to rush up from behind and grab Qian Dai's waist. Qian Dai immediately struck down with the hilt of her sword, causing Zhuo Lao's blood to surge and his mouth to bleed slightly.
Sen was trapped, Zhuo Xiong wouldn't let go of this opportunity, raised his knife and chopped down. Sen blocked the blow with his own knife, but his body was again trapped by Old Man Zhuo. Chaozi rushed over immediately, using the same trick, Sen didn't even have time to make a sound before he was knocked unconscious, and together with Old Man Zhuo, they both fell to the ground.
On the other side, Mochizuki Itsuki chased after him for a while, but the little boy was only laughing and running around in the village. Several times he almost caught up, but each time he managed to escape. When he heard the sound of fighting from afar, he realized he had been tricked. He turned his head back, but there was no longer any sign of the little boy. On the ground, all that remained was a piece of white paper that had been burned halfway through. Without stopping to look at it further, he immediately rushed back...
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