The armory building had three levels, though only two were visible from the outside. The basement held the blue-light crossbow in its southeast corner.
The basement entrance was in the center of the first floor. To reach it, one had to bypass the first floor’s traps.
An Jiu circled to the southeast corner and used her razor-sharp dagger to cut a small window in the wall, collecting the fallen stones in a pouch. The wall wasn’t as thick as she expected, suggesting only the basement was truly secure.
She put away her dagger and tossed stones through the window, triggering volleys of arrows.
As the sound faded, she threw in more stones.
The armory wasn’t large; even with thousands of arrows, they would eventually run out at this rate.
An Jiu continued throwing stones until there was no response.
She fired her grappling crossbow, climbed to the corridor beams, and carefully opened a ventilation window. Stepping aside, she threw stones of varying sizes inside.
No arrows came, but An Jiu didn’t rush in. Soon, thick smoke poured from the window.
An Jiu quickly jumped down and took an antidote pill, waiting for the smoke to clear. She didn’t dare rush in, knowing the “universal antidote” only worked against a limited number of poisons.
Once the smoke dissipated, An Jiu returned and threw more stones inside.
After waiting and hearing no response, she slowly entered. It was pitch black inside.
Relieved no more traps were triggered, An Jiu thought, “The ancients were wise to test waters with stones.”
As she moved further in, something felt off. The space was narrow, about ten feet long, barely fitting one person. It seemed more like a tunnel than a window. When most of her body was inside, she heard a sudden clicking behind her. Realizing she couldn’t retreat in time, her spiritual energy surged. Without looking back, she “saw” the entrance rapidly closing, a guillotine blade descending!
An Jiu gritted her teeth and quickly pulled her feet in.
To her surprise, the space was funnel-shaped, narrowing until not even her head could fit. An Jiu lay still, taking deep breaths to accept being trapped in this “cage.” “Can’t blame the ancients. Learn from mistakes. Next time, use bigger stones…”
She retreated slightly until her upper body had some room to move. Drawing her dagger, she planned to dig forward.
The dagger struck sparks as it hit the wall. An Jiu tapped on the handle and realized all four walls were metal!
Alarmed, she wondered if she was about to be crushed.
Just as the thought crossed her mind, she heard faint clicking. The walls began to move slowly.
She braced herself against the walls, quickly retreating until she could move freely. She then placed her Subduing Dragon Bow horizontally, wedging it between the walls.
Relieved the bow could hold, An Jiu was thankful it was the side walls moving. If it were the top and bottom, the bow wouldn’t have been long enough to brace vertically.
As this thought passed, she heard more clicking. The ceiling began to shake.
She gripped the bow tightly, twisting it to brace diagonally across the opening.
All four walls paused briefly, but only for a moment. The ceiling showed signs of descending, its weight seemingly immense. Then, to her horror, the side walls automatically retracted, causing the bow to slip and lose its bracing effect!
This would allow the ceiling to descend unimpeded.
An Jiu realized the mechanism, once triggered, would alternate pressure from all sides until two walls met at the narrow end.
She quickly reasoned that when the sides compressed, the ceiling couldn’t descend. For vertical compression, the side walls had to retract enough for the ceiling to come down.
But the Subduing Dragon Bow was too long to stand vertically!
“Damn it!” An Jiu’s temper flared. The ancient wisdom was truly formidable!
Sweat beaded on her forehead as she struggled for a solution. Suddenly, an idea struck her – if the Subduing Dragon Bow worked, what about the Shattering Feather Arrows?
An Jiu thought she must be mad to pin her hopes on two thin arrows, but with no other options, she placed them between the walls.
Amazingly, the walls stopped upon touching the arrows. However, true to their legendary status, the arrowheads began slowly penetrating the metal walls!
The penetration was slow, perhaps because the top and bottom walls continued moving while the side walls remained still.
Seeing a gap open ahead, An Jiu grabbed her bow and slid forward. She frantically cut at the side walls with her dagger, sparks flying and stinging her skin, though she felt no pain.
Wei Yuzhi! Wei Yuzhi! Wei Yuzhi! Wei Yuzhi!
An Jiu imagined the walls as Wei Yuzhi, her attacks growing more vicious.
Soon, she cut open an exit.
An Jiu threw out her bow first, then rolled out herself.
The room was quiet.
An Jiu tried to calm herself, cautiously surveying her surroundings. As she took in the room, she was startled – it was empty, with no weapons in sight. This didn’t look like an armory at all!
Had Sang Nu tricked them? An Jiu wondered, her gaze sweeping the room.
Something was off. One zhang, two zhang, three zhang, four zhang, five zhang…
How could it be only five zhang wide? An Jiu had seen the building’s exterior and was certain the interior space should be larger. Thinking back to the tunnel, she suddenly understood – if they could make a one-zhang-deep window, the walls must be at least that thick. The real storage space was inside the walls.
Did this mean her first cut into the wall led directly to the first floor of the armory?
Realizing this, An Jiu felt uneasy about her current location. This room was too open, with no visible basement entrance.
She slowly crouched to pick up her Subduing Dragon Bow and place it in her bag. As she prepared to cut open the wall behind her, a hoarse voice suddenly came from above, “It’s been a long time since anyone entered here.”
Strangely, hearing a human voice rather than more cunning traps made An Jiu feel relieved.
Given the choice, she’d prefer to fight a person, even a boundary realm expert, over more mechanisms.
“Child, come here,” the voice trembled, sounding both excited and sad. “Don’t be afraid, child. Come closer…”
An Jiu didn’t move. She looked up towards the voice, her eyes widening slightly.