Chapter 1456: Entering the Underground Palace

Chapter 1456: Chapter 1456: Entering the Underground Palace

Due to the effects of the previous Illusion Array, every step Lin Tian took was cautious, putting in all his energy. He even slowed down his pace.

Fortunately, the pavilion in the middle of the lake wasn’t far, and soon the three of them reached the center of the pavilion.

This pavilion has been constructed for nearly several hundred years, yet it doesn’t show much sign of aging, clearly well-maintained by the Wang Family. The only flaw is that they are now wearing night vision goggles, making everything look green and creating an eerie feeling.

A cool breeze swept across the water and hit them, almost causing goosebumps to rise.

The pavilion’s area is only about ten square meters, surrounded by water on seven sides. From afar, the faux mountain and the Octagonal Pavilion appear as one, only when standing inside the pavilion can they see that the faux mountain is nearly ten meters away from them.

Chen Moxiang said, "I learned about the entrance in the faux mountain from a servant of the Wang Family, but there are so many caves within this faux mountain that I don’t know which one to enter."

This time she didn’t suggest using Lightweight Skill, as she also sensed it would be unreliable. The mountain is so large that even with Lightweight Skill, finding the entrance would be challenging. Plus, who knows what bizarre traps await on the mountain?

"Since the faux mountain is an entrance, there must be a way through. Not only is Lightweight Skill ineffective, but the water can’t be waded through either. God knows what’s lurking underneath." Lin Tian said.

Suddenly, Xv Jiazhi started walking in circles around the Octagonal Pavilion. After three full circles, Lin Tian felt the entire Pavilion lightly tremble, making a ’buzzing’ sound. Even in this quiet night, it was a faint sound.

Next, from the faux mountain side, smooth stone blocks began emerging from the water with a ’thumping’ sound.

The stone blocks were only two meters square, and five blocks rose to piece together a flat path.

Most importantly, after the path formed, the middle of the faux mountain suddenly cracked open like an automatic door, revealing a small hole, just large enough for one person to pass through.

Lin Tian gave Xv Jiazhi a startled glance. He saw a slightly proud expression as Jiazhi said with a smile, "This wasn’t told by my uncle; I just thought the Pavilion and faux mountain must have mechanisms. The shape of the Octagonal Pavilion coincides with the Eight Trigrams. After walking two circles, I discovered a mechanism on the column, and on the third circle, it triggered by coincidence, causing the mechanism to open naturally."

"You understand Eight Trigrams?"

Xv Jiazhi gave a humble smile, "Just a little, just a little."

Lin Tian then realized this guy was from the Xv Family. Having much contact with books, and all the families needing to use Yin Yang Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, it wasn’t surprising that he knew it.

"Well done." Chen Moxiang praised without reservation. After speaking, she lifted her leg and stepped toward the stone path. Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm, and Lin Tian said, "I’ll go first."

"Male chauvinism! I’m your captain!" Chen Moxiang gritted her teeth.

Lin Tian ignored her and was the first to walk into the faux mountain entrance. Chen Moxiang and Xv Jiazhi followed closely behind.

After entering the entrance, they first saw stairs, around forty steps. However, this stairway was wider than the entrance, about one and a half meters wide.

The three entered in single file; Chen Moxiang said, "Remove the night vision goggles and use headlamps instead."

Now they had entered the entrance to the underground palace, using headlamps wouldn’t shine outside and arouse the Wang Family’s suspicion. Lin Tian wanted to switch them as the green vision was really unpleasant.

With headlamps on, the white light illuminated the stairway, making everything appear extraordinarily clear, and much more pleasant for the eyes!

"The mechanism to close the entrance door should be at the stairway end, so let’s go down first." Xv Jiazhi said.

"Hmm."

Forty stair steps, roughly equivalent to two floors high, Lin Tian walked in front but didn’t fasten his pace, prioritizing being cautious. Even if there was something amiss, his current abilities were adequate to cope.

After hardly five steps, suddenly a ’boom’ sound echoed in his ears, not from a mechanism but rather an old-style lamp on the wall suddenly lighting up, casting an orange-red glow.

Lin Tian wasn’t frightened at all, just thinking the Wang Family’s ancestor might be overly brilliant; building a voice-activated switch several hundred years ago?

Upon examining closely, the lamp’s wires were exposed to the air and showed signs of aging, possibly thirty years old.

"How did these lamps light up?" Chen Moxiang curiously queried, given the ’age’ of these lamps and wires, voice control seemed overly advanced.

Lin Tian looked at the stone slab under his feet, realized stepping on it triggered the lights, and said, "Probably the stone slab beneath has the lamp mechanism. These bulbs and wires are from decades ago, and they haven’t been replaced possibly because the underground palace has many such lamps, making changing the wiring troublesome, and so they settled with this."

"Yes, quite possible." Chen Moxiang lowered her head, using the headlamp to notice a distinct breakage in the stone step beneath Lin Tian’s foot, unlike other steps. She said, "Everyone watch the stone steps underfoot, avoid stepping on the ones with breakage, regardless if there’s a switch for the lamp later, we don’t need it. The headlamp light is enough."

Recognizing Chen Moxiang’s intent for cautiousness, Lin Tian and Xv Jiazhi didn’t oppose.

They completed forty steps without incident. In front of Lin Tian and the others was a long tunnel, square-shaped, bathed in the headlamp’s beam reaching its end against a wall about eighty meters away.

At this time, Xv Jiazhi found the switch to close the entrance door. It was relatively easy for him.

Lin Tian and Chen Moxiang remembered Xv Jiazhi had mentioned previously that about fifty meters into the tunnel was a web made of poisonous silk, only by walking through the tunnel in a patterned manner would they remain unharmed.

Xv Jiazhi took three pairs of glasses from his pocket, handing them to Lin Tian and Chen Moxiang.

Lin Tian took one incredulously, his mouth slightly agape. What on earth are these? Half blue, half red, 3D glasses?

Chen Moxiang’s expression was similar to Lin Tian’s, but Xv Jiazhi suggested, "Try wearing them."

After putting them on, the tunnel appeared changed!

Under the glasses’ influence, the tunnel floor resembled tofu blocks, extraordinarily orderly, fashioned in red and blue colors, yet the arrangement was irregular; this was likely the hidden mechanism.

Xv Jiazhi said, "Remember, only the red blocks can be stepped on."