“Haha, it’s a game to you, but to others, it might still be a deadly trap,” Shen Langhun said. “This place is now empty, but if you and I can find it, others certainly can too. When Wind and Flow House departed en masse, would they not leave behind some gifts? Poisons, illusions, formations—these are all Wind and Flow House specialties.” Tang Lici smiled slightly. “Those are also Seven Flowers Cloud Walker’s specialties. Don’t you think it might not be a coincidence?” Shen Langhun said flatly, “You can think about such things. I only want to think about how to kill people.”
“What now? Leave, or continue deeper?” Chi Yun asked impatiently. Tang Lici raised his hand with a sharp sound—Chi Yun’s Moon-Crossing Ring embedded in the eastern gate. “Do you think I would leave?” He carried a faint smile as he walked toward that eastern door again.
The four entered the corridor together. This corridor was completely different from the one Tang Lici and Shen Langhun had walked earlier—pitch black, with a damp, moldy smell assaulting their nostrils. Zhong Chunji said quietly, “It seems no one has walked here for a very long time.” Tang Lici used golden thread as a line to retrieve his “Azure Smile” and lit a flame. “Chi Yun.”
Chi Yun snorted and hung the golden thread on the tip of his Moon-Crossing Ring blade, taking the lead. Under the firelight, they saw the corridor walls covered with moss, constantly dripping water, clearly having had no traffic for a long time. After walking a short distance, Chi Yun grunted. Shen Langhun focused his gaze and saw something black on the ground not far ahead. Chi Yun raised his silver blade high. Zhong Chunji let out a low cry. Under the firelight, it was a corpse with only bones remaining. The clothes hadn’t completely rotted—it was clearly a man in purple robes with black trim. Beside the corpse lay a strangely shaped blade formed like a fish, with fish scale patterns carved on the blade.
“Eh? Fish Leaping Dragon Gate?” Chi Yun looked at the blade in surprise. “Could this person be Long Qianyu Fei, one of the Seven Flowers Cloud Walkers?” Shen Langhun picked up the fish-shaped blade and shook it slightly. “Long Qianyu Fei hasn’t been seen in the martial world for years. To think he died here—strange. With his martial arts, how could he die in this place?” Tang Lici pulled at the purple robe on the ground with two fingers, and the cloth tore easily. “This corpse has been here for a long time—probably not from these past two years. Though Wind and Flow House only became active in the martial world these past few years through the Scarlet Ghost Nine Heart Pills, Wandering Eyebrow Garden must have been built before that. Long Qianyu Fei’s death should be related to the original owner of Wandering Eyebrow Garden.”
“This place wasn’t built by that madman from Wind and Flow House?” Chi Yun was somewhat surprised. “You mean this eerie maze already existed?” Tang Lici stood up and smiled slightly. “A house that can rotate due to different weights using underground water power, eight corridors leading to different destinations—could this be built in just a few years? This place was built at least ten years ago. Only those table and chair furnishings were newly replaced in recent years.” He continued deeper into the corridor. “Besides… I’m speculating about something… Let’s go. This path is so damp, we should already be underground. If we continue out, we should reach the back mountain of Wandering Eyebrow Garden.”
“The place you’re looking for?” Shen Langhun said. “If this path leads to the back mountain and is an escape route, then all the ambushes and traps must be on this path. You’ve really chosen a fine route.” The firelight swayed before Tang Lici. “I merely chose the most direct path…”
Under the firelight, at the end of this corridor were two doors. Wind and Flow House seemed particularly fond of doors—in all directions, doors could be seen everywhere, and each door was almost identical, creating confusing illusions. Shen Langhun examined these two doors carefully. “Left? Right?” Tang Lici stared intently at those two doors and said slowly, “I want to tear down the wall between them.”
Both Chi Yun and Shen Langhun were stunned. They had never heard of anyone choosing to tear down the middle wall when faced with two doors. Did he want to go both left and right simultaneously? “Tear down the wall?” Chi Yun’s face showed complete disbelief. Tang Lici’s eyelids closed slightly then opened again. “Step aside.” He stepped forward, extended his right palm, pressed it against the brick wall between the two doors, and channeled his internal energy.
“Are you mad? This brick wall is completely different from the false wall in that room earlier. Do you think you’re made of iron and gold, that you can really collapse this brick wall with one palm?” Chi Yun exclaimed. “It’s completely impossible to tear down the wall between them with human strength!” Shen Langhun frowned tightly. Tearing down a wall was truly an extremely mad idea. Tang Lici’s palm shook, and the three heard a crisp “crack” as a deep fissure split the brick wall between the two doors. Chi Yun suddenly fell silent, rushed forward with both hands, and with one pull tore down a large piece of brick and stone from between the doors.
This was the Mountain-Shaking Force technique. If Tang Lici hadn’t possessed Fang Zhou’s Power Exchange Great Method, an ordinary person could never apply palm force to this degree. Shen Langhun helped, also tearing down a large piece of brick and stone from the crack. Tang Lici pressed his hand again. “I only need to open a gap in the wall to know whether his corpse is in the passage opposite.” Zhong Chunji couldn’t help but say in a trembling voice, “But… this will exhaust you to death. Why… why torment yourself so for someone who has already passed away?” “He is not dead,” Tang Lici said gently. “Everyone obsesses over different things. I want my good friend’s life. Miss Zhong, if you say those words again, I’ll throw you out of here. Do you believe it or not?”
His tone was very calm, his voice very gentle. Chi Yun and Shen Langhun remained silent. Zhong Chunji actually began to tremble. Of course she believed—how dare she not believe Tang Lici’s words? How many people in the world would dare say they didn’t believe? As she trembled, she heard the wall bricks crack again with a crisp sound, new fissures appearing in the wall. This time Chi Yun and Shen Langhun both acted together, pulling out the broken bricks from the wall. Now they could see behind both doors—nothing but empty, damp corridors. Everyone turned into the right corridor, following behind Tang Lici, slowly opening a gap in the brick wall between the two corridors through which they could observe the situation in the adjacent corridor.
Actually, to observe both corridors, they could have split into two groups, but doing so would mean the two groups would walk further and further apart, making mutual rescue impossible if they encountered danger. Tang Lici’s palm strikes to open the bricks showed his unwillingness to let the four separate, yet he didn’t want to abandon the hope that existed in the adjacent corridor. This intention was naturally understood by everyone.
The four walked about ten zhang in the corridor behind the double doors. Tang Lici had delivered eight palm strikes. Under the force of the eighth strike, with a crackling sound, a gap split between the two passages. Shen Langhun made a sound of surprise. “Hidden crossbows?” Between the walls, clusters of black short arrows pointed from the brick cracks toward both corridors. Chi Yun lightly flicked with his short blade, and with a sharp whooshing sound, a black short arrow shot out and embedded in the opposite brick wall, penetrating three inches deep!
“Oh, if this entire wall from here is filled with these black short arrows, then both these paths are completely dead ends.” Chi Yun frowned. He raised his hand and shot a Moon-Crossing Ring forward into the dark passage. They heard an extremely distant “thud” sound, but no movement from either corridor. Zhong Chunji looked at the endless darkness ahead and the unpredictable terror within it, involuntarily feeling the urge to retreat. She had experienced many martial world battles, but what lay before her was undoubtedly what she feared most. Shen Langhun crouched low and swept into the darkness like a ghost. Suddenly explosive crackling sounds erupted, both corridors seeming to experience a torrential downpour. Shen Langhun arched back in rapid retreat. Chi Yun’s Moon-Crossing Ring struck out just in time. Amid clanging sounds, the Moon-Crossing Ring was continuously struck by black short arrows and embedded in the opposite wall!
If anyone other than Shen Langhun had entered the corridor, they would surely have been pinned to the opposite brick wall. Shen Langhun escaped death, his expression unchanged as he picked up a black short arrow from the ground. “This is ‘Iron Armor Million Soldiers,’ the signature move of the City-Breaking Eccentric. Could the City-Breaking Eccentric who disappeared years ago also be one of the Seven Flowers Cloud Walkers?” Chi Yun stared at the Moon-Crossing Ring embedded in the wall. He only had two throwing knives left at his waist. In all his life’s endeavors, having only two throwing knives remaining before even seeing the enemy was truly rare. “I’ve heard Iron Armor Million Soldiers can pierce anything, sealing throats upon contact with blood, and each volley numbers in the hundreds. People killed by it look like hedgehogs. These are two dead-end paths.”
With a light “tap,” Tang Lici gently rolled something from his sleeve onto the ground. It glowed brilliantly—a thumb-sized, evenly colored night pearl. After it rolled past, the pearl’s light revealed another door in the distant depths of the corridor. A white door with gold trim, identical to all the doors in Wandering Eyebrow Garden—newly renovated. Chi Yun’s Moon-Crossing Ring was embedded in the door. The silver blade was wide and heavy, creating a slight gap when it penetrated the door. Everyone focused their gaze and could vaguely see firelight flickering at the doorway.
In the deep underground of the abandoned Wind and Flow House, how could there be flames?
“Iron Armor Million Soldiers are heavy hidden weapons. Look at the mechanisms buried in this wall—steel bones extending to the underground. Neither pearls nor hidden weapons passing through will trigger the mechanism. The trigger point must be underground and… requires considerable weight.” Tang Lici examined the mechanisms in the wall carefully. “This is like that room—probably from the same hand, either the City-Breaking Eccentric himself or someone who learned his mechanism techniques and stole his methods. To break Iron Armor Million Soldiers requires a divine weapon.”
“A divine weapon?” Shen Langhun didn’t use weapons. Though Chi Yun’s silver blade was formidable, it wasn’t known for sharpness. Zhong Chunji flipped her wrist, gripping a dagger with a pink blade. “How about Little Peach Red?” Tang Lici smiled slightly. “Very good…” He took Little Peach Red and used the blade tip to lightly hook the spring of the first black short arrow in the wall. The steel mechanisms in the wall held countless layers of black short arrows. “This kind of mechanism creates a balance between the wall interior and underground. If either side loses balance, arrows will shoot out, so people passing through the corridor triggers the arrows. If we cut the mechanism like this,” he used Little Peach Red to lightly cut an iron wire beneath the first black short arrow. With a sharp “zing,” that arrow still shot out, but the second arrow didn’t advance in sequence. “This still doesn’t solve the problem, so…” He gently crouched down. “We need to cut here…” Little Peach Red’s blade slowly followed the arrow’s position downward to the wall corner. Tang Lici inserted the dagger into the corner crevice and drew it with force. With a light “crack,” the second and third arrows remained ready but didn’t fire.
“I understand. The force holding the arrows—whether too light or too heavy—will trigger them. Cutting at the wall corner leaves part of the mechanism’s weight to hold the arrows.” Shen Langhun suddenly said, “To sever all mechanisms on this path requires the lightness skill of Treading Snow Without Traces and stable striking speed.” Tang Lici held the dagger horizontally with a smile. “Are you saying… that person should be you?” Shen Langhun didn’t answer. After a while, he said flatly, “You said—we each have one life, but you have two.”
With a light “pat,” Tang Lici’s hand fell on Shen Langhun’s shoulder. “You already tried once and proved you can’t tread snow without traces, didn’t you?” Shen Langhun said flatly, “If I go, at most I’ll be severely injured, but I won’t die.” When others said such words, they carried no weight, but coming from him was naturally different. Chi Yun’s mouth moved—he wasn’t known for lightness skills, but—before he could speak, Tang Lici smiled gently. “Then I’ll have to trouble Brother Shen.” Before Shen Langhun could answer, suddenly a gray shadow flashed with the force of thunder and lightning, instantly sweeping into the passage. Zhong Chunji cried out in alarm. Shen Langhun and Chi Yun’s expressions changed drastically. Tang Lici said one thing but meant another—his mouth had just finished saying to ask Shen Langhun to act, but before the words ended, he had already rushed out, catching everyone off guard! In that moment of pause and shock, under the night pearl’s illumination, Tang Lici’s figure glided like a gray swan, crossing water without raising ripples. Accompanied by a series of metal clashing sounds, he reached that great door in an instant.
“Young Master Tang!” Zhong Chunji called out in caring concern, rushing after him. The brick walls on both sides remained motionless—indeed, Iron Armor Million Soldiers had been broken. Shen Langhun and Chi Yun followed. Chi Yun couldn’t help cursing, “His grandmother’s, Treading Snow Without Traces, Riding Duckweed Across Water—if we encounter rivers, lakes, or seas in the future, we won’t need boats.” Shen Langhun said flatly, “Excellent skills!”
Tang Lici looked at that great door. “I said my martial arts are supreme, number one under heaven.” Chi Yun pulled his Moon-Crossing Ring from the door. “Are you serious when you say that?” Shen Langhun suddenly interjected, “Because you want Fang Zhou to exchange his power with you, and he’s dead, so—you must be number one under heaven?” Tang Lici smiled slightly without answering and reached out to open that door.
Dust covered the snow-white door panel. When the white door with gold trim opened, dust scattered down from above. Though this door had been renovated, it was at least three or four years ago. The four looked inside together. Beyond the great door was a huge pit. Fire leaped in the depths below—anyone falling in would surely suffer burning. Through the flames, a chain bridge burned red-hot by the fire led directly to the opposite shore.
On the far side of the pit was another white door with gold trim.