Ding Yanping glanced at Yun Ye, who was almost at the academy, then turned back to He Tianshang and said, “This old man has urgent business today and no time to take your life. Another day I’ll take your life to pay respects to this old man’s servants.” Having said that, he hurriedly resumed chasing Yun Ye.

He Tianshang rubbed his shoulders and back, inwardly alarmed. His martial skills were already considered expert level, yet who would have thought that today he would encounter such a character? He couldn’t even last ten rounds against him. Who was this old fellow?

He had just dragged all the corpses to the roadside when he heard heavy, thudding footsteps by his ear again. A burly man carrying a mo dao weighing over a hundred catties came running from the foot of the mountain. Seeing He Tianshang moving corpses, the burly man gave a thumbs up and praised, “Good fellow! Highway robbery should be done like this—one against eight and still able to take them all down. Now that’s how you do business!” Having said that, he continued with large strides chasing after Ding Yanping.

He Tianshang was furious. What kind of people were these? The one on horseback in front had attacked with a crossbow without a word—if not for his decent skills, he would have been shot dead already. That old fellow who came after said these villains were all his servants, which made him the bandit chief. That burly monk behind obviously wasn’t any good person either—what “doing business,” and praising him too! He must also be a major criminal with countless crimes. Seeing that all these people had excellent skills, perhaps the bloody case at Yushan would fall on their heads. Thinking of this, he abandoned the corpses by the roadside and also chased after the monk toward the academy.

Due to the grand ceremony period, the academy had been on holiday. Occasionally a few bored nobles came to the academy library to borrow a few books to pass the time. Now the academy’s main gate was cold and deserted, with only the guard leaning listlessly against the wall dozing off.

Hearing urgent hoofbeats, he opened his eyes to see Wang Cai panting heavily standing before him. The marquis was in full armor with a crossbow on his back—he didn’t know what it was for.

“Don’t ask. Quickly open all the mechanisms of the maze. Big trouble. Hurry! After opening the mechanisms, take Wang Cai and run far away. Don’t show your face.” Before the guard could react, Yun Ye had issued a long string of commands. He turned and entered the academy gate. Just before entering, he glanced back—Ding Yanping was only about one li away from him. From the Yun residence to the academy was a full ten li, yet the old fellow had run almost as fast as a horse.

As soon as he entered, he heard the clicking sounds of mechanisms. The maze was now activated. He couldn’t step casually on pressure points—whatever force you applied to the mechanisms, they would trigger corresponding traps. This was Gongshu Mu’s proudest achievement—the maze could operate on its own without external force.

Yun Ye didn’t have the ability to make his two feet evenly bear his body weight, so he could only lie down and crawl forward like a maggot. With a larger contact area, it was also more stable. No matter what, he had to crawl past this flat passageway before Ding Yanping appeared.

Just as he was about to turn the corner, Yun Ye couldn’t help but be overjoyed and quickened his crawling. But then he heard the main gate behind him crash open with a clang. Ding Yanping saw Yun Ye lying on the ground and laughed wildly as he was about to give chase.

He had only taken one step when he felt the floor tile beneath his foot sinking slightly. His heart alarmed, he hastily leaped up. A sharp iron spike silently drilled out from underfoot. Any slower, and his foot would definitely have been pierced by the iron spike.

Only now did he understand why Yun Ye had come to the academy and why he was crawling on the ground. Watching Yun Ye turn a corner and disappear around the bend, he flicked his wrist and a flying locust stone whistled out, striking the opposite wall. After rebounding, there was a clang, mixed with Yun Ye’s cry—it had hit armor. Ding Yanping prepared to turn back in frustration, only to discover the academy gate had somehow closed and couldn’t be opened no matter how hard he tried.

He didn’t know that when the academy gate’s mechanisms weren’t activated, at most it would just make you lose your way—enter from the left and it would send you out from the right. But once the mechanisms were activated, this place became a killing machine. Unless pushed open from outside, people inside had no way to open the gate. Li Tai believed that once you entered the maze, you should forge straight ahead until you found the final path. Otherwise, dying inside was acceptable—those who couldn’t get out were worthless, and their deaths would waste less grain.

Ding Yanping pulled out another short spear from behind his back. Using both short spears as crutches, his body actually became airborne. The spear tips touched the floor tiles as he moved rapidly, wanting to pass through this passage at the fastest speed. He believed mechanism arts were merely used to confuse people and couldn’t be considered any clever method. In the past several decades, he had encountered them before—hadn’t he broken through them all?

After three steps, he had to abandon this idea, because the small holes on both sides of the walls kept shooting out crossbow bolts. No matter how excellent his skills were, his calf still took an arrow. The arrow shaft was very short, but covered with barbed wolf teeth. To pull out the arrow, he would have to tear out flesh with it. Worthy of being a well-traveled character, he slapped the tail of the short arrow, and it pierced through his calf. Pulling out that arrow from the other end, enduring the intense pain, he roared, “Yun Ye, this old man will definitely dismember you into ten thousand pieces!”

“Old turtle, if you’ve got the guts, come on. See if grandpa is afraid of you!” Yun Ye’s voice came from afar.

The furious Ding Yanping suddenly also lay on the ground, learning Yun Ye’s method of twisting and crawling forward. Just as he was about to reach the corner, he suddenly let out a muffled groan. His entire body was heavily thrust up by a wooden stake. Having suffered a heavy blow, blood threads slid from the corners of Ding Yanping’s mouth. Ding Yanping believed he hadn’t triggered any mechanism—why had he been attacked? When he looked back, his eyes nearly split with rage. It turned out that monk had pushed open the main gate and triggered the mechanism.

That giant monk grinned viciously as he pushed open the academy gate. His gleaming bald head reflected the sunlight as he stepped through the doorway in one stride. Seeing Ding Yanping thrust up by the wooden stake, he laughed wildly.

How interesting! An expert actually learning to crawl like a dog, then getting thrust up like a big shrimp by a wooden stake—this was a rare spectacle. Ding Yanping grinned viciously, ignoring the monk, came down from the wooden stake, and continued crawling forward.

Qiu Ran Ke laughed for a while, but also found it boring. However, his feet seemed nailed to the ground, completely motionless. If he still couldn’t tell the passage was strange at this point, his years of roaming the world would have been in vain.

He pulled out a silver ingot from his bosom and heavily smashed it on the ground. Good—no movement. He immediately picked up the bouncing silver and stepped in one stride onto the white mark made by the silver. Seeing the monk explore the path this way, Ding Yanping couldn’t help but blush, and also stood up, using flying locust stones to test the path.

As he turned the corner, a flying locust stone shot out from under his ribs toward Qiu Ran Ke’s bald head. Qiu Ran Ke had just prepared to step when he heard the sound of something cutting through air. He pulled the mo dao from his back and held it horizontally before his face. With a crack, the flying locust stone struck the mo dao, scattering fragments everywhere.

Feeling something soft underfoot, he immediately knew something was wrong. The mo dao swept down toward his feet with a whistling sound. After a series of harsh metallic clanging, Qiu Ran Ke only felt cold sweat streaming down. The floor tile beneath his feet had already flipped over, an iron spear broken into two pieces, the spearhead fallen at his feet. If not for his quick reaction, he would have already been skewered like a meat kebab by the iron spear.

Hearing the sound of the door opening again behind him, Qiu Ran Ke quickly pressed his back against the wall and stood firm, afraid of repeating that old man’s mistake. He glared furiously at the person about to enter.

He Tianshang had chased for quite a while before catching up to the academy gate. He knew the academy gate was strange, having long been spread as something like a dragon’s pool or tiger’s den. After deliberating for a long time, he pushed open the gate. As soon as he entered, he saw a huge boulder about to fall from the top of the wall, with the monk standing right below. He couldn’t help but shout, “Monk, watch out above!”

Qiu Ran Ke, hearing the warning, quickly retreated. A huge boulder crashed down, smashing less than a foot from where he stood. Seeing this scene, Qiu Ran Ke developed thoughts of retreat, but helplessly watched as that door slowly closed. He could only continue forward. Before walking, he didn’t forget to remind He Tianshang, “Brother, walk along the floor tiles with white marks. This place is extremely strange—one wrong step and you’ll lose your life.”

He Tianshang naturally accepted the good advice. The two of them struggled greatly before turning the wall corner. Looking up, they saw Ding Yanping scurrying about like a mouse—it looked like he’d been at it for quite a while.

Seeing his enemy, Qiu Ran Ke immediately swung his blade and charged forward. He Tianshang, upon seeing Ding Yanping, was also filled with anger—that kick from earlier had really depressed him.

Ding Yanping didn’t tangle with the two. He had injured one leg—tangling with these two men would do him no good whatsoever. He ran along a side path and in an instant disappeared from sight.

Yun Ye came before the spirit wall and in a few moves opened the door on the wall, dove inside, then closed the door. Only then did he sit down heavily on the ground. The small trees behind the spirit wall had grown much larger over these years. Though stripped of their leaves by the cold wind of deep autumn, they still stood upright. Without tree crowns, the short, thick tree trunks pressed densely together, forming two solid tree walls.

Some very large ants busily carried leaves in lines toward their burrows. A few even dragged a mouse as they walked back. With a rare opportunity to come out, the ants were all busy storing food.

These giant red ants, when passing by Yun Ye’s feet, all made a wide detour around him. They seemed to have no interest in Yun Ye whatsoever. Yun Ye’s appearance didn’t disrupt their normal life. Watching the ants drag a mouse past him, then watching ants drag a crow past him—this scene was very familiar to Yun Ye. The large ants were very strong. A hundred or so large ants could lift a chicken. Yun Ye had seen it very clearly when Li Tai fed the ants.

Outside the spirit wall came the sound of metal striking. The sound seemed to be getting louder. Ding Yanping had actually been able to find this place. This fellow was truly fierce. Trapdoors and quicksand couldn’t deal with him. It seemed he could only use the trump card.

On the wall was a red lever with words written beside it saying “Do not use lightly.” If not now, then when? Yun Ye heavily pressed down the lever. A sound like muffled thunder came from outside the spirit wall. He heard Ding Yanping let out a desperate cry. Yun Ye breathed a long sigh of relief. Ignoring the earth-shaking outside, he quickly replaced the flour on the winch with quicklime from beside it. Fearing it wasn’t enough, he added two more shovelfuls to the bag before stopping.