Chapter 125: Eighteenth Floor Buddhist Pagoda

“We wandered in the maze for a long time. Eventually, we had no choice but to use detonators, hoping to blast our way out bit by bit. We didn’t expect the path we blew open to be covered in saltpeter. The first blast triggered a chain reaction, causing countless explosions. Almost all our people were lost inside. Only a few of us managed to crawl out.”

We stood in the stone passage listening to Han Jian. I suddenly began to understand the message someone in their team had sent me over the walkie-talkie. Could it be that they weren’t saying “Stone first,” but were instead warning us that “Stone” was extremely dangerous and not to be approached?

I immediately told Han Jian about hearing the voice on the walkie-talkie. Han Jian frowned and thought for a moment after hearing this. He didn’t give me an answer, but instead changed the subject, telling his men to get up and saying they had stayed there for too long.

“There are many Buddhist niches and stone figurines on the road ahead. The main hall should be just up front. We need to pick up the pace.” Han Jian helped his men up one by one.

We all followed the team forward. I slowly leaned toward He Yu and whispered, “I feel like something isn’t right. You heard what I just said, and that guy Han didn’t answer my question.”

“When exactly did you hear that voice?” He Yu asked me.

I estimated the time and said, “After I fell through the trapdoor, no more than half an hour later. Why?”

He Yu clicked his tongue and sighed. “Then that’s not right, Little Yao. Think about it yourself, the timing doesn’t match. When you fell through the trapdoor, the stone cliff hadn’t even sunk yet. Han Jian and the others were still on the opposite cliff face. They hadn’t even seen those Stone Horseshoe Crab Insects yet. Besides, from your position, how could you have possibly connected to Han Jian’s group?”

I felt a chill run through me and rubbed my arms. I wondered what this meant. Had my walkie-talkie connected to outer space? The closest person at that time was Lu A’yao. Could there have been someone else? Did my walkie-talkie connect to a different group?

There was indeed that other group led by Qiao Sangui in this Underground Palace. If what I heard really was them speaking, would they be kind enough to send me intel over the walkie-talkie? I found that hard to believe.

While I was lost in thought, Chen Canghai suddenly walked over and squeezed my shoulder, signaling me to look ahead.

I looked at him and then raised my head. I saw that the team in front had stopped at some point. The stone passage ahead was blocked by a dense arrangement of stone figurines. Lu A’yao and Han Jian were standing side by side at the front of the line.

He Yu patted me. “Go on. Isn’t it time for our Master Gan to show off his skills?”

I shot him a sharp look, thinking to myself that I wasn’t the type who liked to show off. I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him along to the front of the line. Lu A’yao was standing before the figurines with his eyes cast down. He must have been the one who called the halt.

I recognized these figurines at a glance as “smiling standing figurines with clasped hands.” Their meaning was one of welcome.

“What should we do?” Han Jian asked. “Should we blow them up?”

“No, these are welcoming figurines. They aren’t meant to drive us away. They were likely originally standing against the walls on both sides. The Underground Palace must have shifted again, forcing them into their current positions,” I said immediately as I looked at the neatly arranged figurines.

“The stone slabs beneath our feet are very brittle. If we use detonators to force a path, this entire section of the road might collapse,” I added.

He Yu patted Han Jian on the shoulder. “What’s wrong with you, young man? You can’t be so impulsive. You need to stay calm. What kind of hero relies on detonators for everything?”

I glanced sideways at He Yu. Everyone knew he was the poster boy for simple and crude methods, yet here he was lecturing others.

I looked up at the figurines for a while before shifting my gaze to the walls on either side. He Yu followed me like a loyal sidekick, using his flashlight to provide light for me. I immediately spotted a lotus lamp holder about an arm’s length away.

This kind of lamp holder was used to hold torches in ancient times. They hadn’t been present in the previous stone passages. I reached out to feel the area where it connected to the wall. My fingers were quite sensitive, a skill gained from years of picking locks and prying doors.

After feeling around for two minutes, I turned back to Han Jian and said, “The lamp holder has been rotated one hundred and eighty degrees. I need someone else to coordinate with me on the other side. We need to reset the internal axis.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Lu A’yao stepped over to the lamp holder on the opposite side. I immediately tossed my flashlight to He Yu in the middle.

He Yu caught the flashlight instantly. Holding one in each hand to provide light for Lu A’yao and me, he said lazily, “Fine, today Little He will serve you two for once. Make it quick! We can’t let that grandson Qiao Sangui beat us to it!”

I gripped the handle of the lamp holder. Across from me, Lu A’yao gave a slight nod. I began to exert force and shouted, “On my command, pull down first!”

Two thuds echoed as the lamp holders on both sides were pulled down along their grooves.

I let out a breath and relaxed my grip. “Good, now rotate one hundred and eighty degrees counter-clockwise to reset!”

There were two more creaks, followed by a series of mechanical sounds from within the lamp holders. Once we finished the rotation and stopped, a thunderous boom shook the stone passage. Pebbles began to rain down from the ceiling. Following that, the stone figurines began to move, row by row from back to front, clearing the path and returning to their original positions against the walls.

He Yu’s eyes widened. “Holy crap! Little Yao, you’re amazing!”

Han Jian also stared in a daze at the figurines as they cleared a path through the stone passage.

I brushed the dust off my hands and walked from the wall back to He Yu’s side. My sense of achievement surged. I leaned in with a face full of pride, practically having the words “praise me” written on my forehead. “Well? Was I steady or what?”

“Impressive!” He Yu gave me a big thumbs up.

From the other side, Han Jian couldn’t help but agree. “Truly impressive.”

I felt as though the validation I had received in this moment was the peak of my life. Just then, Lu A’yao walked over from the opposite side. I quickly tried to catch his eye, but he ignored all of us and walked straight into the path cleared by the stone figurines.

“Don’t mind him. He’s just like that. Hasn’t being a buzzkill always been his specialty?” He Yu pulled at me, telling me not to take it to heart.

I definitely wouldn’t take it to heart, because I’ve realized Lu A’yao is like the team’s anchor. He always manages to douse me with a bucket of cold water just as my vanity reaches its peak, knocking me flat on my ass.

At that moment, Chen Canghai walked over to me and pointed at Lu A’yao ahead, gesturing, “He’s found something.”

This time, both He Yu and I understood. We hurried past Han Jian and ran forward. After only a few steps, I realized Lu A’yao had indeed found a “real prize.”

The stone path ended at a spacious platform suspended in mid-air. Lu A’yao stood on the platform, drawing the blade from his waist as he stared at a giant pagoda across from us, at least a hundred meters tall. The Buddha’s head almost seemed to burst through the Pagoda Spire. Below the Buddhist Pagoda lay a pool of stagnant water that spanned the entire main hall.

I ran onto the platform. He Yu wanted to light a flare, but Lu A’yao and I stopped him. I motioned for him to look into the pool. When the flashlight beam hit the nearest patch of water, we discovered massive swarms of Stone Horseshoe Crab Insects gathered there. At the same time, we saw that the water was filled with the floating, bloated white corpses of infants.

He Yu swallowed hard. “Compared to the pagoda we saw before, this one is the ancestor! But I’m not even thinking about treasure anymore. The main problem is that our rations are almost gone. How are we supposed to get out of here?”

Lu A’yao didn’t respond. He simply shifted his flashlight beam to the area above the Buddhist Pagoda. The Pagoda Spire was built almost brushing against the ceiling of the cavity. The cavity here was triangular, with both sides consisting of raw, primitive rock walls.

Once everything went quiet, I heard a thunderous rumbling from above. The stone wall on the right was very damp, with water dripping down from time to time.

“If I’m not mistaken, this place is right next to the river. The rock near the top of the pagoda is very thin. We could try to blast a passage through the top,” Lu A’yao said.

I quickly spotted the flaw in that plan. “But haven’t you noticed? The stone quality in this Underground Palace isn’t very good. If we don’t get the explosive dosage exactly right while blasting the passage, it’ll cause a massive collapse. If we don’t get out in time, we’ll be buried alive by falling rocks or drowned by the rushing river water.”

We all fell into silence at the same time.