Chapter Forty-Four: The Mountain Cave

  Karamay patted Fuma's head: "Are you okay? You were dazed just now when you looked in the mirror, and you forgot what you said." Karamay squeezed out a very fake smile at me.

  Scratching his head with a somewhat embarrassed expression, he said: "Maybe it's because I just recovered and forgot, forgot!"

  If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have found it hard to believe that the normally honest and simple Paima could make such an expression. Men are usually more rough and careless, rarely having the delicate sixth sense of women. Although the person in front of me was undoubtedly Paima, I couldn't help but feel that something was off. I smiled, thinking maybe I was just being paranoid.

  Nine insects suddenly flew around me, making a "squeaky" sound with their mouths, and gestured up and down at me as if there was something urgent. I didn't understand what they wanted to say, but they seemed to know my mind. After gesturing for half a day, seeing that I still didn't understand, one of the insects flew back into my ear in anger, leaving me bewildered.

  "Never mind the nonsense, hurry up and find the mother mirror, smash it, we can get out of the formation quickly." Karamay said somewhat impatiently.

  "Is it really okay if I break the mother mirror?" I asked again, still feeling uneasy.

  "The old man said that if nothing's wrong, then nothing's wrong. If something is wrong, I'll take care of it." Xiao Lao's tone was filled with strong disgust, and I didn't dare say anything more.

  Fu Ma asked Xiao Lao: "What does Mother Mirror look like?"

  "Mother mirror and child mirror must be different, but what's the difference I really don't know. For now, I can only search for them one by one, like searching for a needle in the ocean. Fortunately, there aren't many mirrors here."

  "It's such a hassle, might as well just break all these mirrors at once." Fu Ma said with a frown, impatiently.

  "What you can think of, can't the person who designed this big formation think of it? If more than five mirrors are broken, the formation will be locked and even Da Luo Tian Xian cannot get out. Hurry up, stop talking nonsense, search one by one, there must be a piece that is different from the others." Xiao Lao said in a commanding tone.

  I looked at the familiar Xiao Lao, his face was still so lewd, but why did I feel so strange? He had never spoken to us in a commanding tone before, thinking of this, I quickly patted my own head, how did my suspicious mind get triggered again.

  "Aren't you afraid of breaking the mirror this time?" I asked.

  Xiao Lao threw his head back and laughed loudly for a few moments, then said with emphasis: "From now on, I'm not afraid of anything."

  "Why?"

  "What's with all the whys? Hurry up and find the mother mirror!" Xiao Lao's usual proud expression was gone, replaced by a few more ruthless and murderous looks on his face.

  We started searching for the mother mirror separately, and there were at least a few thousand mirrors in this array. Each one was roughly the same length, and they would move around too. We searched for half a day, and I was already dizzy from looking. I sat down on the ground to take a break. Fu Ma and Kalamayi were chatting and laughing with each other, while Lao San and Yang Cangcang, who usually loved to joke around, were unusually quiet. They hadn't said a word in half a day.

  "I've found it!" Karamay shouted loudly.

  A few of us quickly gathered around, I carefully examined it for half a day, "This is the same as the mirrors around, what's the difference?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows.

  Karamay was stunned: "Can you see yourself in the mirror?"

  "Ah..." As Karamay reminded me, I realized that there was indeed a difference. I could only see myself in the mirror, and there were no other people around.

  "You can only see yourself." I looked at everyone, they all stunned for a few seconds, Karamay suddenly nodded with a smile and said yes, and the crowd immediately followed.

  "This is the mother mirror, Brother Junyang, quickly smash it, and we can get out." Karamay said with a flying brow and a dancing color, as if his mind was still imagining the beautiful life outside.

  "Why was I hit?"

  Karamay cleared his throat and said: "We've all been tricked just now, so we can't break this mirror. Only you can shatter it."

  "Isn't it good enough?"

  "Stop talking nonsense and hurry up!" Old Xiao yelled in anger, I could even see the veins on his forehead bulging, everyone behind me was also urging and pressing me to speed up.

  I let out an "oh" and awkwardly approached the mother mirror, Karamay handed me a baton. Under everyone's expectant gaze, I had just raised the baton to swing at the mirror when Jiuzhong suddenly emerged, blocking my way in front of the mirror, staring at me motionlessly. "You don't want me to shatter the mirror?" Jiuzhong nodded at me.

  I hesitated for a moment, "Jiuzhong didn't let me break it, is there still some secret inside?"

  Xiao Lao burst into anger: "What are you doing with this foolish thing, he doesn't even know the Mirror Array's invitation, what does he know? Quickly smash it!" I paused for a moment, and raised my stick again. Jiuzhong still firmly blocked in front of me. Xiao Lao saw the situation and came over to prepare to drive him away. Jiuzhong suddenly turned into a golden color that I had never seen before. Xiao Lao's whole body shook violently, and everyone retreated several steps back.

  "Xiao Lao, didn't you say he was an ancient spirit creature? I think we should trust his choice. What's going on with him turning gold? Before this, I've only seen them turn white or red." I said hesitantly.

  Xing Tian San Shen Bu Ba

  Xiao Lao seemed to have been greatly shocked and his attitude was no longer as tough as before: "Th...then he...does he have a way out?"

  Karamay sighed: "Forget it, let this little thing freeze the mother mirror, and this mirror array will stop for a moment. Let's hurry up and find a way out."

  I nodded, "Let's do it then." Jiǔ Chóng first turned golden and then white, circling around the mother mirror in a halo-like manner.

  Karamay led the way in front, taking us around and around, turning eighteen corners and bumping along for half a day, and we really made it out. "Karamay, you're amazing! How did you know the way? You were able to find all these twists and turns, just like you'd been here before."

  He hurriedly explained: "Just now when I was looking for the mother mirror, I made out the terrain of the entire Mirror Palace. Born guide, haha..." He dryly laughed a few times.

  We didn't return to the desert, the exit of the Mirror Palace was connected to a cave, which was pitch black inside, couldn't see five fingers when stretching out one's hand, and it was especially cold, the kind of chill that made people feel uncomfortable, sending shivers down their spines, vaguely feeling that there must be danger inside.

  "Why is it so cold in this cave?" I stood at the entrance and shivered.

  "Is it cold or not? Is there another way to choose?" Yang Cangcang's face was expressionless, just like Wu Zihan. She went straight in, and Lao San followed without saying a word.

  Are these two people quarreling or something? Why haven't they said a word for half the day? I had misgivings in my heart, turned on the flashlight and followed everyone into the cave.

  The cave is abnormally humid, and occasionally you can hear the sound of dripping water. It's very narrow inside, only barely allowing one person to walk through. Except for the sound of dripping water by your ear and the sound of footsteps, it's eerily quiet. We walked for a long time, and all along the way, the cave seemed to stretch on without end.

  "When will this end?" Fuma said irritably.

  "What's the hurry? We've only been walking for ten minutes." Old Three said calmly.

  "Only ten minutes?" I said incredulously, "I could have sworn it felt like several hours had passed?"

  Lao San turned his head and looked at me with an expressionless face: "I specifically checked the time, it won't be wrong."

  Is it really that staying in the dark for a long time can cause hallucinations? My feet have already started to ache slightly, if I had only walked for 10 minutes it wouldn't be like this, my heart is full of doubts, and I continue to walk forward.

  Xiao Lao suddenly stopped in front of me and I bumped into his back. "What's going on?" I asked, covering my nose.

  "Shh! Something's going on!" Karamay whispered.

  Following the flashlight's beam, I saw that the cave in front of me had reached its end, and there were no other forks. Against the wall, it seemed like a black shadow was sitting there. When I took another look, I couldn't help but gasp in shock.

  That black shadow looked like the mummy in the sand sculpture, with skin and flesh that had dried up and stuck to the bones. Unlike those mummies, his skin was yellowish and emitted a faint golden light in the darkness. He sat on a large stone, bowing his head as if thinking about something.

  "This can't be zongzi." Fu Ma's voice was tinged with a hint of horror.

  "It's all messed up like this, can it still be made into zongzi? Don't you have any common sense?" Lao San cursed.

  "It seems like there are words behind him." Karamay frowned and walked closer to take a clear look, "It's the ancient script of the Five Nations!" He carefully examined it for half a day before turning to us and saying: "A couplet is written here. The top line says 'to discern the yin-yang of heaven and earth', and the bottom line says 'to probe into the numbers of life and death'."

  "Where's the horizontal scroll?" Fu Ma said with a half-joking tone.

  Xiao Lao snorted: "This kid was originally a fortune teller, with an attitude that's not small at all. He can discern the yin and yang of heaven and earth, and even peek into the numbers of life and death. Before he died, didn't he calculate his own fate to die here?"

  I stared at Karamay in confusion, "When did you learn ancient Wu State language, why didn't I know before?"

  Karamay Dun's face turned red, and he didn't speak for a long time. Fu Ma followed up by saying: "Ah, yeah, what did you study in the old five countries' language? How come I don't know?"

  Karamay exchanged a glance with Yang Cui, and Yang Cui gave me a sideways glance: "What's wrong with the way I taught? If you want to learn, I can teach you too."

  I hastily shook my head, laughing and saying: "I couldn't learn this." But in my heart, I was still full of doubts. Yang Cangcang had been with us all along, what did he teach Karamay?

  Xiao Lao hastily mediated: "Don't mind these details, we've reached a dead end here and need to think of a way out. Let's search around to see if there are any mechanisms."

  We searched around in this small cave, and this little place can be seen at a glance. What mechanism is there? I patted the wall behind the dry corpse with force, and a thick wall sound came out. It seems that this is not empty either. It looks like this is really a dead end.

  The old three cursed and said, "Damn it, I finally came out, it's a dead end." He retreated a few steps, accidentally bumped into me, I dodged in time, but accidentally touched the mummy.

  The corpse suddenly emitted a golden light all over its body, and a thick, old voice echoed in the mountain cave: "Who is disturbing my quiet dream?"