Tang riddles

Shen Sui and Hu Tuo carried four unconscious people, Zhang Ruohan followed, and the three of them ran up to the second floor of the pavilion.When they went up the stairs, they had already heard the sound of knocking on the door from downstairs.That door is a door that is contracted by a noose. There is a spring-bending component on the hinge. It is an alloy made of refined iron mixed with other metals that increase toughness and forged many times. After the door is opened, it reaches a certain level. , the squeezed member will spring the door back, so that the door will close at an alarming speed after it is fully opened.

In desperation, Shen Sui stuck the scabbard of his snow knife directly into the hinge of the door, preventing the door from closing by itself.Therefore, there was only a slender gap left in the door, and there was no way to allow a person to pass through, and it was not so easy to push the door open again.Without the pulling force of the winch when the astrolabe mechanism lock is opened, it will be ten times more difficult to push only by manpower.

But Shen Sui still hopes to give Annayi a chance to enter the pavilion. Party A waiting for Shen Sui ahead is too mysterious and powerful. Shen Sui hopes that she can use the conflict between Annayi and Party A to let them Fighting, she was able to find an opportunity to rescue Huang'er and others.

It is extremely difficult to move with four people who cannot move.However, Shen Sui couldn't abandon them at all.There are dangers here and there, and she doesn't worry about putting them anywhere, so she can only bring them by her side.

However, the difficult situation seems to be getting better.Just when the three of Shen Sui were about to reach the second floor, in the middle of the stairwell, she suddenly heard a weak groan/groan from her right shoulder.

"Qin slave? You're awake." Shen Sui said pleasantly.

"Hiss..." Shen Jin gasped because of the pain.

Shen Sui hurriedly stopped, and put Qianhe on her shoulders together with Shen Jin. She didn't expect her sister to wake up so soon. Seeing Shen Jin clutching her forehead in pain, she touched it with distress. Touch the swollen wound.

"I'm sorry Qin Nu, my sister came late and made you suffer."

Shen Jin shook his head, opened his eyes in a daze, looked around, and asked:

【Where is this place? 】

"In the middle of the stairs from the first floor to the second floor of the nine-storey pavilion, the main altar of the cult."

【maze……】

"The maze has been solved..." Shen Sui briefly explained the current situation to Shen Jin.

【Sister, just put me and Qianhe here, you go up. 】

"Impossible." Shen Sui immediately vetoed it.

【Sister, you can’t take me away anymore, Qianhe, I, and Wu Ya, we are all burdens and will drag you down. 】

"Annayi and his gang are breaking down the door at the back, and they will come in soon. How could I leave you here? Isn't this sending a sheep to a tiger's mouth?" Shen Sui frowned.

[Well then, when you get to the top, look for a place where you can hide people, and hide us. 】 Shen Jin took a step back.

"Let's talk about it later, come on, let's not waste time, let's go quickly."

Shen Sui picked up Shen Jin and Qianhe again, and because her attention was all on Shen Jin, she didn't notice that Qianhe's eyebrows were slightly frowned, and her eyelids began to tremble.

A group of people cautiously went up to the second floor. Before they had fully stepped on the floor, they could already smell an extremely strong smell of blood.But the scene that came into view shocked Shen Sui very much.The six missing Qianyumen brothers, including the twelve Qianyumen brothers who set off with Sima Chengzhen before, are all on the second floor now.Each of them is sitting cross-legged in meditation, their faces are as pale as paper, their skin is shriveled, and their appearance is haggard.Shen Sui hurriedly stepped forward to check, but found that they were all dead. The most strange thing was that each of them had a tiny red dot-shaped wound on the back of their neck, and all the blood in their bodies had been drained.The six brothers who followed Shen Suilai obviously died not long ago, while the others had been dead for more than three days.

Eighteen people, eighteen corpses, sat cross-legged, and each of them occupied a key position according to the strange formation drawn on the floor.In the center of the formation, there is a not very large blood pool, which is bubbling and bubbling. The blood in it is thick, but for some reason it has not solidified.It seems to be the blood in the body of these eighteen people.And a pitch-black copper pipe protruded from the center of the blood pool, the bottom end was buried in the blood, and the upper end went straight to the upper layer.I don't know whether this pipe draws the blood away or flows it down.There is a portrait of a human being engraved on the copper pipe, which is exactly the same as the giant statue of human sacrifice among the six giant statues on the large square outside the pavilion. Presumably, this floor should represent human sacrifice.

Zhang Ruohan was dizzy and nauseous for a while from the stimulation of the blood, she couldn't help but turn pale, and covered her mouth and nose.

"This..." Hutuo was already speechless.

"Let's...leave here as soon as possible and continue to go up." Shen Sui gritted his teeth with grief in his eyes.

She didn't want to stay here for a long time. Firstly, it was obviously set up by the enemy deliberately to destroy the bloody scene in their hearts. There would be no special clues; secondly, the death of eighteen thousand feathermen elite members, It also declares a terrible fact that other people may also be murdered in this way. In order to confirm this as soon as possible and save everyone, their time is really running out.

The third floor, it seems that the layout is not much different from the first and second floors.The pavilion is empty, without any decorations.The difference is that the third floor does not have the formation like the second floor, and there are no dead bodies or blood pools. In the center of the floor, a tree suddenly appears, a Populus euphratica tree that is commonly seen in the desert.The roots of the tree are stuck in a huge clay pot filled with sand, which looks abrupt and lonely.On the body of the tree, the exact same pattern as that of the wooden sacrificial statue was engraved, which represented that this layer was the layer of wood.

Legend has it that Populus euphratica lives for a thousand years and never dies, and dies for a thousand years to be immortal.The tree in front of Shen Sui did not know whether it was dead or alive, but its growth might have stopped due to the limitation of its roots. After careful observation, the gaps between the branches showed a strange blood red color, and the bark turned purple.Shen Sui carefully observed the soil in the pottery basin, the blood-red and black sandy soil was hardened into lumps.

"Is it watered with blood? Or is it that the brass pipe communicates with the clay basin?" She murmured softly.

After a while, they continued upstairs.On the fourth floor, Shen Sui once again saw what he didn't want to see.Senior brother Chen and his four disciples—Xuan He, Xuan Shun, Xuan Gong, and Xuan Sheng—appeared here.Besides, Xuanweizi and Huyan Zhuoma are also here.Shen Sui hurriedly stepped forward to check. What was gratifying was that they did not lose their lives, but they were already dying.They were respectively bound on seven beds with backrests.This kind of bed, or armchair, was introduced from the Western Regions. It is made of all iron. There are seven kinds of animals floated on the back of the chair. The back of Huyan Zhuoma's chair is an eagle, Senior Brother Chen is a wolf, and Xuan Weizi It is a fox, and the four disciples of the Xuanzi generation are sand scorpions, red-tailed lizards, snakes, and gerbils.Above each animal is a statue of the priest of the beast, in different shapes, as if domesticating these animals.

"This layer seems to be the layer of beasts." Zhang Ruohan said.

"These seven kinds of beasts seem to be worshiped and domesticated by people in the cult." Hu Tuo continued, "They are also the beasts most familiar to people in the deserts of the Western Regions."

Shen Sui picked Xuan Weizi who was closest to him, cut his pulse briefly, and said:

"The pulse is very weak, and the heartbeat is especially slow. It seems to be infected by some kind of paralytic toxin, and it needs to be treated as soon as possible."

On the fifth floor, as soon as Shen Sui came up, he immediately put down Qianhe and Shen Jin, and rushed out.In the center of this floor, there is a huge and transparent glazed water tank, which is almost exactly the same as the water tank Shen Sui built himself.And the height of this water tank is about six and a half feet, which is almost equal to the height of ordinary men.The water tank was more than half filled with water, only a small section was not completely filled, and a thick iron cover was sealed on the top.

At this moment, Tiao Niang was placed in this water tank, her hands were tied behind her back, and her feet were handcuffed by the ankles at the bottom of the tank, leaving only a very limited chain for her to move.Since she was less than six and a half feet tall, her entire body was submerged under the water, up to her mouth and nose.She could only stand on tiptoe desperately and raise her head to barely breathe the air above.But with the continuous loss of physical strength, there will always be a moment when she will be completely unable to continue on tiptoe. After that, all that awaits her is a futile and weakening struggle, and the horrible end of drowning that is constantly approaching.

Fortunately, Tiao Niang is still alive, struggling to breathe the air on tiptoe.When Shen Sui rushed over, he shouted:

"Tween girl!"

She heard it, and cried out almost instantly:

"Chishi... Chishi! Help me!" Her voice came from the water tank, muffled.

"Hold on! I'll rescue you right away!" While speaking, Shen Sui turned over and jumped onto the water tank, trying to open the iron cover that sealed the water tank.However, the iron cover was locked with a big hard lock, and she really couldn't open it for a while.She hacked at the lock with the snow knife desperately, and it seemed that it was about to split.

Hu Tuo and Zhang Ruohan also rushed over, and Hu Tuo kept hitting the glazed water tank with the handle of his scimitar.Although colored glaze is fragile and fragile, it cannot be broken for a while because of its thickness.Zhang Ruohan kept patting the glazed water tank, calling out the name of the bride, telling her to persevere.

Finally, Shen Sui was the first to break open the lock, and she tried her best to remove the iron cover, and with a loud bang, she completely overturned the iron cover to the ground.Shen Sui was not in a hurry to go in to save people, she desperately scooped out the water in the water tank with both hands, because of her big movements, after a while, the water level really dropped to the position where she could stand and breathe normally.Tiao Niang finally relaxed, her legs were sore and numb at that time, and she was panting heavily, the feeling of the rest of her life made her feel a little lighter in her soul.

"Tiaoniang, take a breath, maidservant lotus, give me your hairpin." Shen Sui said.

Zhang Ruohan immediately pulled out the hairpin from her bun and handed it to Shen Sui above.Shen Sui took it over, and said to Xie Niang:

"Recover your strength first. I'll jump into the water tank later. The water may surface again. You need to hold your breath. I'm going to get under and release your shackles."

Tiao Niang nodded to show that she understood, her long drenched hair hung on her face, her pale complexion showed a strange rosy color, which was probably brought about by almost suffocation.

When Yingniang was ready, Shen Sui said:

"Listen to my command, breathe in!"

Xiongniang immediately opened her mouth and took a long breath to hold it, the next moment Shen Sui jumped into the water tank, the water surface immediately floated up and submerged Yingniang's mouth and nose again.Shen Sui plunged all the way to the end, and directly touched the shackles of the girl. Her lockpicking skill was learned by the way when she was learning how to make mechanisms, which was very simple for her.What's more, the shackles on Tiao Niang's feet were not complicated locks, and she just flipped them a few times with Zhang Ruohan's hairpin, and the shackles were completely opened.

Xiongniang finally released her bondage, Shen Sui brought her to the surface of the water, both of them let out a sigh of relief.Immediately, Shen Sui took the lead to prop up his body, stood on the edge of the water tank, pulled up the girl, and Hu Tuo responded from below, and the two people who were completely soaked collapsed by the side of the water tank.

Zhang Ruohan rushed up, regardless of the wetness of the two, hugged them into his arms.Her body was shaking, and they both felt it.

At this moment, Xiongniang actually smiled, and said weakly: "A moment ago, I thought I would never see you again. I pray to God, don't let you see me. Hahaha, it seems that my life If it is too hard, the sky will not accept it.”

Shen Sui, who had lingering fears in her heart, was speechless at the moment, she couldn't imagine what would happen to her if her mother died.She just felt a wave of fear and a chill down her spine.If she lingered a little longer in the maze... she dared not think any further.

They rested on the fifth floor for a short period of time, Shen Sui didn't want to delay any longer, and while wringing the water off his clothes, he called everyone to continue to set off.Time is too tight, after witnessing so many deaths and crises, she has not yet seen Huang'er, and her whole heart is hanging.

Zhang Ruohan helped her to stand up, while Shen Sui and Hu Tuo continued to carry the four disabled people.Lienniang who was following behind Hutuo suddenly saw the face of the black-robed man that Hutuo was about to carry on his shoulders, and immediately froze.After a while, she grabbed Hutuo by the back of his clothes and said:

"Wait a minute, where did you meet this person?"

Both Shen Sui and Hutuo were stunned for a moment, Shen Sui didn't speak, and Hutuo simply answered the origin of the man in black.

The face of Ying Niang became very ugly, but at this moment Shen Sui and Zhang Ruohan already felt a faint sense of ominousness in their hearts.Just listen to the girl's deep voice:

"This person is my missing elder brother..."

The author has something to say: the bug has been caught.

The next chapter should be on Tuesday.