I thought that the worst ending would be to starve to death in the secret room, leaving only a few corpses for future generations to admire. I never thought that if the ground was squeezed from all directions, not even a whole corpse would be able to fall down.
"Think of a solution quickly!"
"You can't find any way, just can't find it?"
Just when they were arguing, Liu Shenghan suddenly spoke.
"...Maybe it's not for us to find the missing petal."
"What could that be?"
The three of them returned to Liu Shenghan and looked around the crystal flower at the tip of the cone. Indeed, the columnar space seems much cramped compared to before. The passage of time is also stressful.
"This petal is not lost."
Liu Shenghan said again. Then, she reached out her hand and pinched the missing part out of thin air.
"Is it still there?"
"It's still there, but it can't be observed. It's polished with crystal like the other petals - clear crystal."
Is that true?
Why can't I see it... is it because it is the same color as water? What color is the water?
What color is the water?
At this moment, Bai Ya suddenly thought of something and pulled out a knife.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Qi Huan immediately became alert, "Don't chop this flower too, leaving no way out."
"Shut up."
Bai Ya glared at him. Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt that Qi Huan's mind was noisier than when he spoke. Then, he turned the knife sideways and slowly touched it on the petals. He didn't exert any force, just letting the blade surface come into contact with the petals.
Then, he moved the knife away, and another petal of the crystal-carved wax flower was missing. Only three colors were presented to them.
Red, white, green.
"What did you do?" Qi Huan asked, "How did you do it? Could it be..."
Bai Ya didn't need to explain, he seemed to have figured it out. According to legend, the Wajinhua was the molten stone used by Nuwa to mend the sky. It fell with the fire from the sky and fell to the earth, igniting a prairie fire. It rained heavily and the fire from the sky was about to extinguish, so flowers bloomed, revealing the veins underground. It is a sacred flower that gathers the power of the five elements. Each petal symbolizes a kind of power.
The sea is water, and Bai Ya's sword is gold. In this way, there is a way. Liu Shenghan then took out a pen... No, it should be said to be half a pen, the half that was cut off by Lu Wu. She gently brushed the remaining three petals with the pen made of bamboo, and the green petals also lost their color.
Qi Huan carefully stretched out his hand and touched the bare spot, and indeed felt the invisible resistance - it was still there. Ever since, he began to explore all over his body, and finally focused on his hands. Out of habit, his arms were still wrapped in those white, now somewhat dirty, gauze strips. He put his finger into the crack and scraped it, and found a few very fine grains of sand. If they weren't forced by the situation, I'm afraid they could hide comfortably inside for a long time.
He put two or three grains of sand on each of the remaining two petals. Under the gaze of everyone, the white crystal petals also lost their color. Now, only the dazzling red color remains on the originally beautiful artificial flowers.
...where to light a fire?
Several people stood there dumbly, you looked at me, I looked at you.
"Do sharks also need to face this kind of puzzle...?" Qi Huan was very curious about this.
"Back off."
Lord Shuangyue suddenly raised his hand, and when the others heard his instructions, they subconsciously moved back. At this time, their backs had touched the cylindrical wall. They were all a little anxious - time passed so quickly.
Before he could express any more emotions, his vision was suddenly enveloped in a pale white color, and everything in front of him was shrouded in the white smoke. Is it white smoke? Or blisters, or something else? A strong cold current came towards them, and among the dense and wild foam, several people could vaguely see the light of blue fire. Does it burn under water, boiling the water? But what a few people could feel was not the warmth of the fire, but the biting coldness, and even silk clothes could not stop this coldness.
Bai Ya raised his hand and found that the areas covered with thin cloth were covered with a thin layer of frost.
"What are you doing?!" Qi Huan exclaimed.
Gray and white colors instantly spread to every corner of the cylindrical room, and even the air they inhaled into their lungs had a strange burnt smell. Several people squinted their eyes and raised their arms to shield themselves, in order to reduce their uneasiness after being deprived of their sight. But the anomaly disappeared sooner than they thought. When they felt that everything in front of them was calm again, they lowered their arms and found that their field of vision was much emptier than before. It's probably back to how it was before.
The crystal cone and Wajinhua in front of them disappeared, leaving nothing in front of the four of them. If there were any other differences, it would probably be the extra spiral staircase behind them. It is true that in their current situation, there is no need to "walk". But the stairs are a symbol, a guide, perhaps imitating the architectural style of humans on land.
"What did you do?" Bai Ya asked Lord Shuangyue.
"A kind of... cold fire, internal fire, which can burn under water... Even if I explain it, you won't understand, and you are too lazy to think about it."
This kind of arrogance is always unpleasant, but arrogance is matched by ability. This kind of behavior that is borderline offensive but unreasonable is really irritating. Nuancai Literature Network
The staircase spirals up around the wall, making it easy to tempt people to follow it. And they did.
The stairs were not long, and they quickly reached the second floor. There is extra light here compared to the first floor. Not the lights above, but the ground below. The ground is like a silver mirror, smooth and dazzling.
"Don't leave yet." Liu Shenghan stopped Qi Huan who was about to move forward, "Something's not right."
"It smells like metal." Shuoyuejun said.
Shenghan took out half a pen again and threw it towards the flat ground in front of him. It was not a cylinder, and of course it would not roll. This half of the pen just fell to the ground, motionless in front of them.
Then, a depression occurred in the ground.
It was swallowed up - it was weird. Countless small, silver-white tentacles stretched out from the ground. They picked up the half of the pen, pulled it hard, and dragged it under the floor. Under their surprised gazes, half of the pen completely disappeared from sight, and the ground quickly became as smooth as new.
Then, Liu Shenghan threw the other half of the pen hard. It was obvious that she wanted to throw it as far away as she could. But soon there were silver-white tentacles again - they were thicker and more disordered. They flew up hungrily and grabbed the other half of the pen in a very weird posture. Then the tentacles pulled it into the floor again. After this abnormality, which was more intense than the last time, the ground returned to its original appearance without any change.
"The ground, the floor is alive?"
"mercury."
"How can it be?!"
Qi Huan is not stupid, of course he knows what mercury is. But mercury should be very heavy, and everything should float on it. More importantly, how could mercury be alive? Just like just now, it seemed... like there was life? Of course he had heard about the use of mercury in various tombs to make mechanisms or preserve things, but would it actively "prey"? Like a living, unknown life?
This is so creepy.
"It's just mercury." Lord Shuangyue was very sure, "It's just that some kind of spell has been cast on it."
"Just?!"
There's no point in being surprised, you have to find a way to get over it. But apart from the road in front of them, they certainly had no choice. Swim directly there? They will definitely be dragged in by this crazy mercury and held tightly until their lungs are completely filled with this liquid metal, and every bit of air will be squeezed out, and Xiaoyi can't save them.
"Why don't you try... using fire to overcome gold?"
Qi Huan tentatively made a suggestion, and Lord Shuangyue actually did it. His hand did not touch the mercury surface, but hovered about less than an inch away from it. Suddenly, intense fire ignited from under his palm, spreading to every corner of the mercury surface in an instant. At the same time, blue-white frost marks slowly grew and spread on the mercury surface.
The translucent mercury completely reflects the strange sea fire, doubling the size of this chaotic vision. The flames burned and twisted, and the fine blue and white smoke or bubbles struggled and twisted, making the picture fragmented and confusing, and they felt varying degrees of discomfort.
As the blue-white frost marks spread, the fire faded, and the entire field of vision darkened again and became quiet. A thin shell covered the surface of the mercury, like a snowfall.
"Can you leave now?"
"you try?"
"No, why don't Lao Bai explore the way first?"
"Why don't you leave?"
Several people were pushing and shoving, but no one dared to take a step. At this moment, a sharp sound suddenly came from the front, like something drilling into wood or metal, which was very harsh. The ground in front of me suddenly cracked. Although there was no obvious earthquake, the cracks were still unstoppable, as if seeds buried deep in the ground broke out of the ground, ready to turn into towering trees in an instant.
They took a few steps back again. Qi Huan turned around and found that the stairs leading up were gone, and there was no passage to the next level. Behind him, only the circular, flat ground that originally belonged to the spiral staircase was left. The ground here is also made of transparent crystal, and it is the only place to stay except for mercury. Through the transparent floor, they can't see what's going on downstairs.
Several huge shadows fell on him. Qi Huan turned around and found many rocks rising from the ground. They are arranged in a very orderly manner, obviously on purpose. And the level of that mercury has dropped. Bai Ya ventured his head out and found that the mercury had retreated to an almost invisible position on the upper level, and he could only catch a glimpse of reflection. The numerous reef pillars are like plum blossom piles. Do they grow directly from one layer, or do they come from deeper?
"The mercury has a great reaction to the penholder, maybe because it is made of wood. As for these rocks... I think it is still based on the principle of the Five Elements." Liu Shenghan continued to speculate.
"How to say?"
"Fire overcomes metal, and earth is born from fire."
"Ah, I understand." Bai Ya reacted quickly, "The rocks are made of soil, so we have to use wood to overcome them."
"Then... it will lead to fire." Qi Huan deduced from this, "It seems that the Wajinhua is just a reminder. But, if fire follows wood. In other words, if we use wood to deal with it, the Crystal Palace will burn again? "
"Is there any other way?" Qi Huan said, "Are we going to jump on the plum blossom pile now? Will it collapse as soon as I step on it? I always feel that there are traps everywhere, and there is no loophole to exploit. "
"Do you still have the talisman?" Bai Ya asked him.
"It's been soaked for a long time." Qi Huan rolled his eyes at him, "It's useless if it's not dried in the sun."
There is no way to go through crooked ways, so we can only solve the problem honestly. The four of them looked at each other, and no one spoke for a while.
There was an eerie silence, more disturbing than any previous silence. Although there seems to be no time limit now, they also know very well that they have no way out. Even if the shark friends are still waiting above, they cannot escape intact. Seeing that the situation was not good, but unable to run away, he could only bite the bullet and move forward. This feeling is like an invisible knife on the neck. If you are not careful, you will never see the light of day again.
What kind of thing is this?
