Placid Chang'an

As soon as they entered the bottom, a gust of cold air rushed towards their faces. The two of them watched a faint candle lamp in front of them, and it took them a while to see the whole picture clearly.

A stone road stretched out to both sides, all in pitch black, baring its teeth and claws unscrupulously in places where the light could not shine.

"There is indeed a secret passage below." Qu Ling'er's voice bounced off the stone wall and echoed back and forth in the hollow stone passage.

"Be careful." Su Cen instructed, and slowly walked in with a candle lamp.

After ten steps, the way forward was blocked by a stone wall, Su Cen frowned: "There is no way?"

Qu Ling'er tested the other side, then nodded: "There is no more here."

Walking back, he said to Su Cen, "Is it that big? Is this a secret passage or a cellar?"

Su Cen picked up a lamp to illuminate the stone wall, and saw that it was a mural carved on the stone wall, in which two people dancing around a square chessboard, and the shape on the chessboard was exactly the Liu Bo drawn by Su Cen on the drawing paper. Chess board.

"Are they dancing?" Qu Ling'er frowned, "The door will open if two people dance?"

"It's not dancing," Su Cen said, "it's finger-guessing, which determines the number of moves and moves."

"Then I'll play boxing game with you?"

Su Cen shook his head, "Since the two of us are in the same position, we are on the same side, and we should be guessing with the other side."

Qu Ling'er looked around, "But there's no one else here."

Su Cen looked at the mural and pondered for a while, then said, "Wait a little longer."

After a while, there was only a soft sound of "Gada" coming from somewhere, and the stone wall on one side suddenly rose slowly, and a stone path really appeared.

The two looked at each other. Su Cen walked over slowly holding a candle.

"Didn't you say you want to guess punches?" Qu Ling'er followed Su Cen closely, and said as she walked, "I don't see anyone guessing with us?"

Su Cen shook his head, "Since the stone road is separated, it is impossible for the two parties to face-to-face guessing, so there may be some special activation mechanism, first come first, or something else, let's play by ear and be careful."

Qu Ling'er nodded and followed Su Cen carefully, step by step.

After walking for an indeterminate amount of time, the road ahead was blocked again. Qu Ling'er had a good memory this time, so she immediately looked for the mural, and as expected, she found another inscribed mural on the wall on one side.

"These are chopsticks?" Qu Ling'er tilted her head and looked for a while, she really didn't understand, so she turned her head to ask Su Cen, only to see that Su Cen was standing in front of the stone gate. Chopsticks.

Although they are chopsticks, they look like a piece of bamboo split into several sections, and the grooves on the curved surface are coated with gold powder.

"This is called 'Chopsticks', 'Chess hides chess, there are six games', which means that Liubo chess is composed of three parts, chess, game, and chopsticks. If the person who comes in is 'chess', the entire Lujiazhuang is a huge If there is a 'game', then this is the 'chop', which determines the number of moves." Su Cen took out six chopsticks, "There are nine chess positions in Liubo chess, which are 'Zhang', 'Dao', and 'Jie'. ','Pan','Fang','Ju','Qu','Xuan','Gao', we just entered the game from Lu Xiaojiu's house. 'The starting chess position, we have walked all the way from the position just now, it should be the 'Zhang' position, and the chess game should start from here."

Su Cen tossed the six chopsticks in his hand lightly, three yin and three yang, the stone door slowly opened, and a deep stone path behind the door meandered to the depths, disappearing where the firelight could not reach.

The two of them went around and around for an unknown amount of time before they were blocked by a stone gate again.

At first Qu Ling'er was a little apprehensive, but in the end she was relieved. There were no traps or ambushes along the way. Apart from black spots, there were really no other threats.

"Shall we just go on like this?" Qu Ling'er wondered, "What's the point?"

Su Cen's face was not so relaxed, "If this is really a game of chess, we are only on the periphery now, and the opponent should be playing chess directly opposite us, and we may not meet together for a while. But a few more moves After this time, we will definitely meet again.”

Qu Linger was startled: "You mean we might meet someone else?"

"It's not just about meeting other people," Su Cen looked at Qu Ling'er, "Do you know why it's called Liuboqi?"

Qu Linger shook her head.

Su Cen pointed to the murals on the stone wall and explained: "The so-called 'six games' means that one side has six chess pieces, five scattered and one owl. When we are together, we can count as one scattered chess piece at most, but the other side does not necessarily only one person."

Qu Ling'er turned pale, "You mean we might be flanked by others?!"

Su Cen nodded heavily.

Qu Ling'er felt cold, "Then what should we do? Are we just waiting to die?"

Su Cen smiled slightly, and comforted Qu Linger: "The chess game enters from the 'Zhang' position, and naturally the 'Zhang' position also exits. There are a total of four 'Zhang' positions on the chessboard. Fortunately, they are all on the periphery. As long as you don't go into the inner circle, you can go out when you reach the next 'Zhang' position before confronting them."

Qu Ling'er said nervously, "Then where are we now?"

Su Cen thought for a while, "We just took three steps from the 'Zhang' position, and we should be in the 'Xuan' position. We only need to take another five steps to return to the 'Zhang' position. Walk in one direction, so we are still safe for at least two steps in the next step, and it is impossible to meet the other person."

Feeling relieved, Qu Ling'er took out six chopsticks from the groove of the stone gate, "Brother Su, here it is."

Su Cen smiled, "When I went to the Caotang Temple before, the host Huikong said that my luck was low, so you come."

"Me, me?" Qu Ling'er held the chopsticks and pursed her lips, "Alright then."

Qu Ling'er flung her hands in the hollow, the gold powder on all sides turned upwards, the stone door slowly opened, revealing a longer and secluded stone path.

"I just said I'm lucky," Qu Ling'er smiled triumphantly, she tossed a four in one throw, and even if it's just a one in the next throw, they can reach the 'zhang' position, and they can go out without any risk.

When they arrived at the next stone gate, Qu Ling'er didn't care anymore, she casually picked up the chopsticks and tossed them, and the two golds faced upwards, Qu Ling'er turned her head and smiled at Su Cen, "I don't know if it's dawn up there."

Su Cen smiled back and waited quietly for the stone door to open.

But after a while, Qu Ling'er frowned, "Why don't you move?"

I saw that the stone gate in front of me didn't open like the previous two times, it just stood there quietly without any movement.

"Is it broken?" Qu Ling'er wondered, and turned to look at Su Cen, "Brother Su, what's going on?"

I saw Su Cen's previously stretched brows gradually gather together, and after a while, he pursed his lips and said, "Another person has entered the game."

In the big house inside the high wall, a man in white was guarding a chessboard in front of him. There was one black stone on it, but two white stones appeared, closely behind the white stone that had just moved.

The man in white curled his lips into a smile, "It's not that easy to leave."

Seeing Su Cen's face getting more and more ugly, Qu Ling'er couldn't help feeling nervous, "Brother Su, what do you mean 'someone has entered the game again'?"

Su Cen frowned, "I just said that in Liubo chess, one side has six pieces. If one side enters the game with another piece, the piece that entered the game before will stay where it is."

Qu Ling'er was surprised: "But there are only two of us, where did we get another chess piece?!"

Su Cen narrowed his eyes slowly: "I have to ask the chess player."

Qu Ling'er tossed the chopsticks a few more times, but the stone gate didn't move at all, so anxious Qu Ling'er could only pace back and forth, "If he puts the six chess pieces one by one, wouldn't we be trapped here to death? How about going back? Can you go back to the previous 'Zhang' position?"

Su Cen shook his head, "We're not sure where the other party's person has gone, and if we meet him later, it will be a dead end."

"Then what should we do?" Qu Ling'er was about to cry, "Could it be that we can only wait here to die?"

Although Su Cen was not as anxious as Qu Linger was pacing back and forth, but she also frowned.Without the right to play chess, this stone gate will not open, and he will be useless in any way.

When they were anxious, there was a rustling sound behind them. The two looked back together, and saw a human figure slowly appearing in the deep darkness. Only when they approached the front did they see clearly that the man was dressed in black. Yi, holding two meteor hammers in his hands, he smiled sinisterly at the two of them.

A stone wall crashed down, blocking the two waves of people.

Su Cen frowned and said, "They're catching up."

Throw the chopsticks again, and when the last stone door opens, the two sides will have to meet each other without stopping.

"Brother Su and me," Qu Ling'er put her hands on the belt behind her waist, ready to make a move at any time.

"It stands to reason that we still have a chance to throw chopsticks." Su Cen picked up the six chopsticks and squeezed them hard. It's a matter of success or failure. If it's their turn, the stone door will open and they can go out. if not...

Can only fight to the death.

Su Cen paused, and was about to throw the chopsticks when the stone door slowly opened with a bang.

The two of them stared blankly at the stone gate, the chopsticks in Su Cen's hand were still there, why did the stone gate open?

When the stone gate opened wide, I saw an old man standing with his hands behind his back, glaring at the two of them angrily, "Why are you standing there? Why don't you come out quickly!"

Qu Ling'er was startled and almost threw the butterfly dart in her hand.

Su Cen was overjoyed: "Senior!"

The old man didn't bother to talk to these two people any more, so he turned around and walked out.

Su Cen pulled Qu Linger and hurriedly followed.

It wasn't until they followed the old man out of the stone road and saw that the east was white and there were still a few scattered stars in the sky, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief as if they had just woken up from a dream.

When I entered the stone road, I was in the southeast of the village, but when I came out, I came to the west of the village.

The old man walked ahead on his own, in the direction of Lu Xiaojiu's house.

Su Cen thought that Lu Xiaojiu must have found it, so she felt relieved, and followed her to the front of Lu Xiaojiu's house, and unexpectedly heard whimpering from inside.

Su Cen pushed the door violently, and saw Lu Xiaojiu lying under the sycamore tree where he picked up fruit during the day, already out of breath.