"The structure and mechanisms of the Dragon Palace may be the same as those of some tombs. They essentially prevent external invasion."
Lord Shuangyue said in their minds. A few people stopped and thought for a while, and felt that it did make sense. Compared to those mysterious tomb mechanisms on the ground, there are not many places where they can be used underwater, especially those traps that rely on gravity will lose their effect. But they don't know what wisdom and magic the sharks have that are different from humans.
There was another cold feeling of being watched.
They were both extremely perceptive people, looking in all directions almost simultaneously. This time, they didn't know where they felt the sight, but they felt extremely cold, and the silk clothes couldn't block it. But what it is and where it comes from, few people know. Perhaps it's the structure of the crystal that can reflect and diffuse that kind of gaze from everywhere. The only thing that was certain was that they were being targeted.
"Someone - something is watching us." Qi Huan "thought".
Liu Shenghan said heartily: "Is it Yaksha?"
Bai Ya responded: "I don't know, it could be something more terrifying."
"Why didn't they do anything?"
"Probably just to see what we are going to do..."
"Maybe the Dragon Clan is kinder than we think?"
"Don't think so simply."
Several people got closer and continued to swim forward. Bai Ya touched the smooth crystal wall and felt that it was polished smooth, like a mirror. He didn't know what kind of craftsmanship the sharks used back then. If you observe it through the blue amber, all these crystal clear scenes can be called magnificent. The interior of the Dragon Palace is divided into several corridors and spaces by crystal walls. Each space is very large, and each space is connected to more than two corridors. Sometimes, the room is not completely enclosed. The wall above the dome is divided into several windows, and even the window lattice is carefully carved. However, due to the restrictions at the top, they could not overlook the entire palace.
The four of them came to a long and narrow corridor, but there was still no upward staircase. The Dragon Palace can only go up from the inside, and there is no way to find it from the outside except the main palace gate. It may be that they failed to find it. And according to the overall size, taking the first floor as a reference, the Dragon Palace is at least three stories high.
Not all crystals are clear, and not all rooms are empty. Regardless of the room or corridor, in addition to the counter, there are some irregular furnishings that they do not recognize. Most of them are ornaments, and there are many colorful crystal flowers, which look very beautiful, but no one dares to touch them. Some rooms were laid out exactly the same as others, while others were so different that they were unsure whether they had been there before. Bai Ya seemed to understand what the sharks meant when they said "transparent walls can be used for hiding", because even though he knew the crystal was so clear, he still couldn't see what was on the other side of the wall.
"Like a maze."
"How can we get there... They didn't even give us a map."
"Stop trying to beat the wall, right?"
"Where did the ghost come from?"
"Water, water ghost? Or the ghosts of the Yakshas back then..."
"What a mess."
Liu Shenghan took out the compass, which was the one rewarded by the God of Fragrance. She had tried this thing before and it wouldn't break underwater. But when a few people arrived inside the Dragon Palace, the gadget started spinning around aimlessly, as if it was broken again. Compared to the time in Shiyue Mountain, this time it was even more confusing. At that time, the compass was still pointing in some direction, but now it looked like a broken windmill, making people confused.
Suddenly, Mr. Shuangyue, who was swimming at the front, stopped. He stood by the corridor without entering the next room. Outside this doorless room, on the transparent walls on both sides, there is a handful of finely carved crystal flowers on each side. On the left is a flower made of citrine, wrapped in green crystal clusters; on the right is a combination of black quartz and rutile. In the amber light, their color looks a bit weird. Their shapes are somewhat similar to plants on land, but they cannot exactly correspond to any species. Perhaps the craftsmen who built this place had a glimpse of the beautiful scenery of the land world and restored it based on their thin impressions.
"Is there any problem?" Liu Shenghan asked. She felt that Mr. Shuangyue must have discovered something.
"Don't be really lost." Qi Huan raised his eyebrows, "You said it's just like going home."
Lord Shuangyue had no distracting thoughts, and they could not hear any voice from him. He just stopped, stretched out his hand, and tried to pull one out of the crystal bouquet, but found that it was firmly fixed on the wall. He looked at it for a long time and then crushed it. The residue slowly dispersed with the waves.
"Don't touch it randomly." Bai Yaxin said, "You are not afraid of triggering any mechanism."
"Some tombs will use smoke or special structures to put intruders into a situation where ghosts are beating against the wall." Lord Shuangyue suddenly said, "It's the same here."
"But...we didn't inhale the poisonous gas, right?" Qi Huan reached out and touched the remaining crystal fragments in the water, "Didn't the shark say that the silk clothes can filter it out?"
"No. A magnetic field is used here."
"magnetic field……?"
"To put it simply -" Lord Shuangyue raised his head and thought for a moment, "...forget it, just destroy them all."
"Can you explain it a little bit?" Qi Huan suddenly swam in front of him, "The sharks in the past also used this method to... destroy them? There must be other methods, right?"
"The sharks will not be affected by this kind of magnetic field." Shuoyue Jun looked like he was too lazy to explain, "Besides, the crystal flowers grow directly from the wall. Even if they are destroyed by us, they will grow back. Do you have any questions? ?”
"Indeed..." Liu Shenghan thought for a moment, "That's why the compass becomes disordered. The magnetic field here is very chaotic, which interferes with the judgment of humans and other creatures."
Qi Huan always felt that something was wrong, and Bai Ya also vaguely felt that something was wrong, but since Liu Shenghan said so, he agreed with Lord Shuangyue. He pulled out his knife and quickly cut off the flower connected to the crystal wall. The flowers slowly sank, leaving a few smooth, blurry patches of color on the wall. That may be the "root" where the crystal flower grows.
"Destroy any lodestone that passes by."
This is their mission to solve the first obstacle. Next, Bai Ya followed Shuangyue Lord's instructions and cut off the blooming crystal flowers. The crystal flower is so hard and yet so fragile, even if you start with it, you can't feel the fragility of life. Everything here is cold, without exception.
There were some flowers that Mr. Shuangyue didn't let him touch.
"What some flowers show is the right way." Kulu Literature
"How did you tell?"
"Feel."
"..."
If something goes wrong, when the artificial flowers grow again, it will be the Year of the Monkey and the Horse.
Liu Shenghan was speaking up for Lord Shuangyue: "Believe him. The eyes of the Six Paths of Impermanence will not make mistakes."
Not all magnets are as obvious as fake flowers on the wall. Some are hidden in vases, placed on tables and cabinets, and others are more hidden, but Shuangyue-kun can always point to that location in an instant. Some flowers are not real, but are made of ordinary colored stones or corals, and some are even just silk flowers.
The space is constantly being reduced, even far below the impression they had when they saw the Dragon Palace outside. In the end, there was only one path left in front of them. The corridor is very long and narrow, which is a bit unsettling. There are no doors on either side, nor any decoration.
But even so, they still felt like they were being watched while walking among them.
Where does this look come from?
Out of curiosity, Bai Ya, who was at the end of the team, suddenly turned around to see what was behind him.
Nothing.
He whipped his head back, feeling slightly dizzy. Then, he immediately caught up with the people in front of him, squeezed in between Qi Huan and Liu Shenghan, who were walking side by side, and pushed their backs with both hands.
"What's wrong?"
"It's okay, let's go."
There is nothing behind me. There were no walls, no floor, no dome, and no darkness. It was a blur of color, as if they had all been smoothed out, mixed together, and merged into an indescribable color and appearance. He didn't know what would happen if he returned to that void, but he never wanted to.
In front of it is a column-shaped space. Although it is not large, it is much wider than the corridor. When I came here and turned back, the road had disappeared. But there was no longer a corridor forward - they were trapped in this place.
Qi Huan hit something while swimming forward. Although it didn't hurt, he was frightened. Bai Ya immediately turned around Lan Bo and shined the light in front of them. They saw the outline of a cone. Two people up there, there is a beautiful flower.
"Wa Jinhua?"
Lord Shuoyue read out its name. They swam up and around it. Indeed, judging from the size and shape, it is exactly the same as the Wa Jinhua, the Wuxia Ying that the God of Fragrance begged for.
"Imitation." Lord Shuangyue said immediately, "Wajinhua cannot live underwater."
"It's also made of crystal." Liu Shenghan observed for a long time, "One petal is missing."
Because Wa Jinhua's appearance is very special, they can recognize her at a glance. But when you look closer, you can immediately see that it only has four petals.
Red, yellow, white, green, but the blue petal is missing.
"It's really weird."
"What's wrong?" they asked Qi Huan, wondering if he saw anything.
"The legend of Nuwa patching up the sky is that she finally found the blue stone. But why is there a lack of blue here?"
"Besides, where are we going to complete this piece of blue?" Bai Ya felt a headache. "We didn't see a single blue crystal along the way. It's useless to see it... Who would have thought that we would bring it to This kind of place.”
"Let's look for it first, otherwise what else can we do."
After saying that, Lord Shuangyue turned around and swam elsewhere. In this small space, there is nothing useful up and down. Bai Ya and Qi Huan also started looking around. Since it is a puzzle in the Crystal Palace, the answer must be in the Crystal Palace, right?
Only Liu Shenghan still stopped where he was, looking at it with some confusion.
It was too small and empty. They quickly searched almost everywhere they could, but found nothing. Qi Huan hugged his shoulders in frustration, and a trace of uneasiness spread among the others.
"No, nothing...where are the blue petals? Oh, Lao Bai, don't touch me, I'm bothered."
Bai Ya raised his eyes directly opposite him and looked at him with a strange look.
Qi Huan felt very bad. He turned his face slightly and found that there was nothing behind him. It turned out that it was just the wall behind him that hit him. It was a false alarm. However, there was no current pushing him in this closed space... maybe he just retreated a little unconsciously.
"Space is shrinking."
Mr. Shuangyue dived up from below and said this unexpectedly.
"W-what?"
"The lower part of this platform used to be some distance from the wall, but now it's integrated."
They panicked.
