Star Trace Gate

"Old man, wait a moment."

Ren Ye saw that Mr. Jiang was reaching for the lid of the box, so he immediately reached out to stop him: "Be careful, there's a trap."

Jiang Lao's cheeks were covered with sweat. He turned his head to look at Ren Ye and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes... This is the last step. We have to be careful and don't capsize in the ditch."

"Yeah." Ren also responded and turned around and called out, "A Pu, come here."

Outside the small secret room, after hearing the shouting, A Pu first gave Lao Liu a look that said "stay here", and then stepped into the room.

He walked slowly forward and accidentally saw that there were also a large number of treasures hidden in this small secret room. Suddenly, his eyes could not hide the burning look.

For a craftsman, all the finely crafted treasures in the world have a fatal temptation to them, and he suddenly has a strong desire to take these things for himself.

Soon, beads of sweat appeared on A Pu's forehead. He tried not to look at the shelves around him and walked to the stone platform without looking around.

Ren Ye looked at him and said, "You come and test it to see if there is any mechanism."

After A Pu nodded, he raised his arm and summoned the Thousand Machine Fluid, making it fall on the wooden box like flowing mercury.

In a moment, the Qianji Fluid slowly spread out, wrapping the wooden box like liquid flow, and seeping into every gap, every hole and keyhole of the wooden box.

Beside him, Jiang Lao's face turned purple, and his eyes were fixed on the wooden box, with an anxious expression on his face. Ren Ye stood on the right side, looking at the box containing the treasure, his expression was also a little hot, but still rational.

Dozens of meters away, at the door.

At this moment, Lao Liu, Lao Qu, Xu Qingzhao and Xu Bangzi were also waiting quietly.

They stayed here for two main reasons. First, they were afraid that the iron gate would suddenly close, thus trapping Ren Ye and the others inside. Second, the treasure was right in front of them, and no one knew what other people were thinking. If someone was secretly doing something bad, it would be safer to stay here. To put it bluntly, they were guarding against villains instead of gentlemen.

In the hall, Yu Weifeng and Mad Dog were attracting fifty little iron men, who were running around.

It was also difficult for them, and they also discovered a detail: if they ran too far, the group of little iron men would return on their own and would not follow them to the side of the stone slab mechanism.

Therefore, the two could only run back and forth, seducing each other, and the technique was quite high. Because although the corridor they came from was quite wide, there were too many little iron men, and when they returned, they needed to use the space to hide, otherwise they would be blocked and beaten up.

In the secret room, A Pu was controlling the Thousand Machine Fluid and checking the wooden box.

Outside, Xu Qingzhao stood at the door. His face suddenly became solemn, and a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes.

She heard a man's voice, which sounded like he was calling for help. It was very weak and old, and this voice... should only be heard by her.

"Female Immortal Master...save...save me...please save me...!"

Sure enough, she was not mistaken. The man's voice became clearer and his tone was full of pleading.

Xu Qingzhao frowned, and after a brief thought, he secretly sent a message to Lao Liu: "Just stand here, don't leave, I'll go and take a look."

"What's wrong?" Lao Liu asked back.

"Something is calling me."

"Be careful, this place is very evil." Lao Liu warned seriously.

"Don't worry." Xu Qingzhao replied and walked towards the wide hall.

She came to a position close to the center, carefully identified the direction of the sound, and then turned to the right.

“Yes... yes... it’s here, save me...!” That voice appeared in my ears again.

Xu Qingzhao did not respond, but walked to a wooden cabinet, quickly scanned the cabinet, and finally saw an old and dilapidated jar on the wooden shelf in the middle of the cabinet.

The jar is yellow, very short, and has a smooth surface. Judging from its shape, it looks like a ceramic wine jar that can hold five kilograms of wine.

The jar has no lid, but is wrapped in yellow paper and tied with a red string. On the yellow paper are various Taoist ghostly characters, which are difficult for non-professionals to read.

Xu Qingzhao recognized it at a glance. It should be a sinister secret method used only by evil people in the Yin-Yang school.

This altar is called the Soul Sealing Altar, and its function is to seal the ghosts and gradually refine them to become soul puppets. However, this secret method is unethical in that it must extract the ghosts of people who died unjustly, so most of the evil ways, to do this, first kill people and then extract the souls, which is a very cruel method.

Xu Qingzhao looked at the jar and said in a cold tone: "Why should I save you? Why did you call me?"

A faint voice came from the jar: "I can feel that you have righteousness, not evil. Please, save me... It's been almost twenty years... I really want to be free."

If the Qingliangfu team were to select the most stable person, it would definitely be Xu Qingzhao. Whether it was her experience as a Taoist monk or her nearly twenty years as the daughter of the Prime Minister, she had developed a calm and clear-headed personality.

She didn't want to cause more trouble because this place was too strange and any action she took could very likely implicate her teammates.

However, taking into account the special nature of this place, she felt that giving it a try might provide unexpected help to the team.

After careful consideration, Xu Qingzhao raised his arms and said softly, "You stay dormant for a while, I will break the Taoist talisman that seals the altar."

After saying that, she used the Yin-Yang technique to help the ghosts escape.

……

in the secret room.

After waiting for a while, Mr. Jiang looked at A Pu with sweat on his face: "Does it take so long?"

"Don't make noise...!" A Pu was still sensing carefully through the Thousand Machine Fluid.

At the door not far away, Lao Qu loosened his collar anxiously, his clothes were soaked with sweat, and he looked inexplicably irritable.

He walked frequently in the short corridor, his eyes fixed on a cabinet that was close at hand, intentionally or unintentionally.

In the cabinet, there was a treasure bowl inlaid with countless jewels. Even a mortal who did not understand the magical powers would know at a glance that it was a treasure that could not be measured by money.

The treasure bowl emitted a faint glow. As Lao Qu looked at it, the greed in his eyes became more and more obvious.

He didn't even notice that his mental health was soaring, and all he could see was the glittering treasure bowl.

The strange thing was that the Star Gate did not give him any reminder, and he himself was completely unaware of the increase in the numbers.

"Gudong!"

Old Qu swallowed his saliva, leaned towards the cabinet unconsciously, and looked around.

indoor.

A Pu finally took back the Thousand Machine Fluid and said gloomily, "We can't open this box tonight."

"Why?" Jiang Qin asked immediately.

"The box is embedded in the stone platform, and there is a mechanism underneath, so it cannot be taken away." A Pu frowned and said, "And the method of opening the box...we can't do it."

"How come it can't be done?" Ren Ye immediately asked, "Does it have a self-destruct function?"

"It's not self-destructive." A Pu shook his head: "It needs a drop of blood to activate the seal stone in the box, and then generate energy and open it. Obviously, this drop of blood is not yours or mine, it should be Wang Shoucai's."

Everyone was stunned, and a feeling of disappointment instantly surged in their hearts, especially Old Man Jiang, who couldn't help but curse: "The mechanism setting of the groove is really annoying."

Ren Ye thought carefully for a while: "If it is Wang Shoucai's blood, then it will be troublesome. After he comes back tomorrow, he will be very busy entertaining guests. How can we have the chance to draw a drop of blood from him?"

"This is not difficult, but the problem is troublesome." Old man Jiang cursed.

"Mr. Jiang, don't be anxious." Ren Ye immediately persuaded him, "It is normal for an SS-level mission to be difficult. After we entered the underground passage, the only fatal mechanism at the door was... The rest of the journey was relatively smooth. I think... Star Gate will not let us get the treasure so easily."

The huge disappointment actually calmed down Old Man Jiang. He loosened his collar and frowned, "Why do I feel like I've lost my composure?"

Ren Ye immediately asked: "You said that drawing blood is not difficult, is there any way?"

"Among Yu Weifeng's men, there are summoners." Old man Jiang looked at him and said, "It's not difficult to summon or control a mosquito, fly, microorganism, or something like that. Taking blood is also relatively easy as long as the plan is proper. However, we definitely can't take the wooden box with us today."

Ren Ye's eyes brightened: "Brother Yu's subordinates are indeed full of capable people. First there was a mad dog that attracted an iron man, and then there was a summoning of a great god to deal with a mosquito."

"It can't be opened. Let's leave first. This place is very weird." A Bodhi said after waking up.

After a few people pondered for a while, Ren agreed, "I think so too. Let's leave first and discuss it later."

"Well, we have to go first." Jiang Qin looked at them and suddenly asked, "Are you still calm? I feel like we've been affected."

"Crack!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lao Qu outside the door suddenly used his own magical powers and reached into the cabinet, trying to grab the treasure bowl: "Great treasure, great treasure!"

An extremely greedy look appeared on his face, and he was extremely happy: "It's mine, mine...!"

Next to him, Xu Bangzi, who had been paying attention to the situation in the secret room, heard the sound and suddenly turned back to look at Lao Qu with an extremely surprised look in his eyes: "Don't touch it!"

He shouted quickly, but it was too late.

"Snapped!"

Lao Qu grabbed the treasure bowl and took it off the cabinet.

"Depend on!"

Xu Bangzi's original expression was normal, and he didn't behave in any strange way, but when he saw Lao Qu taking down the treasure bowl, his expression changed drastically.

His movements were extremely smooth and decisive. He almost subconsciously stepped into a groove in the wall, with his hands firmly placed on the sides of his legs. His muscles were tense as if he was completely fitting into the wall.

"Oh!"

Old Liu dodged and kicked Old Qu, who had a greedy look on his face, away.

"Whoosh whoosh...!"

The walls on both sides of the short corridor cracked and countless crossbow arrows shot out. Lao Liu used the Stone of Life to block them. Lao Qu was hit by two arrows and fell on his back, but it was not fatal.

Only Xu Bangzi, who was hiding in the groove of the wall, stood still, watching the rain of arrows shooting past him with a horrified expression.