Chapter 42: The Splendid and Majestic Release of Bi Tian Temple

  Professor Zhou Tao, lost in thought, raised his head, glanced at the crystal passage, stroked his beard and said: "Don't look at crystals as just a piece of stone, but they have memory! The materials used in our computer chips contain silicon dioxide, which is the main component of crystals. A small chip contains a vast amount of information. It's said that the Mayan crystal skull hides the secrets of the origin of the Earth. This crystal passage can actually produce video images, it's indeed a rare thing. I'll definitely come back here to study it carefully when I have time."

  As they spoke, the crowd had already walked to the end of the crystal passage and found a black puddle on the ground, which seemed to be the trace left by the Black Robe Mage's spell that killed the Mutated Holy Beetle.

  As they walked out of the crystal passage, they entered a dark and humid cave that looked like a mine, which seemed to be inside the mountain.

  By the light of their flashlights, they found that the cave was filled with white bones everywhere, as well as the corpses of dead sacred beetles. The stone walls were covered in bullet holes, which should be the remnants of the battle between the poachers, Ma's gang, and the sacred beetles.

  They walked forward along the stone cave with potholes, and within twenty meters, a huge suction force suddenly sucked them in. When everyone felt something was wrong, it was too late. They were instantly lifted into the air and accelerated forward. Ma Liuji, who was the heaviest, was at the back, but when the suction force came, he flew the fastest. He could be heard cursing in mid-air before being sucked into the end of the cave in an instant. Then a loud "boom" sound followed.

  "Pffft!" Malacca suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood: "Damn it, I'm all broken to pieces!"

  No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lu Zonghan rushed up and collided with him, followed by Liu Yi, who reacted quickly in mid-air and flipped over to assume a flying posture with his head facing backwards and feet forwards.

  He was sucked into the hole, and with one foot, he kicked Ru Zonghan's back. Then, he did a flip in mid-air and landed on the ground, quickly grabbing Keke Xi and Professor Zhou Tao who were flying towards him, pulling them to the ground.

  It's strange that after they were sucked into the cave, the huge suction force also disappeared. Only then did Ma Liuyue and Lu Zonghan crash down from the wall, both of them having suffered multiple injuries, badly hurt, with fresh blood flowing from the corners of their mouths.

  Malacca was first knocked against the wall and then hit by Lu Zonghan, and then kicked by Liu Yi. The transmission force pressed down on him for a moment, and at this time he fell to the ground with a sore butt. Suddenly, he scolded incessantly, only to see him scolding and wiping his mouth, standing up, pointing at the wall and scolding a few sentences of turtle son, then "hmm" and walked over. Everyone was curious and surrounded, only to find that this was not a stone wall at all, but a huge black stone gate.

  The stone gate is dark and gloomy, transmitting a stock of ancient atmosphere...

  He shone his flashlight around and found that on the stone gate was carved a strange large circular pattern, with a Tai Chi diagram of two fish in the center, containing the sun and moon inside the Tai Chi fish diagram, and twelve zodiac signs arranged along the outer edge of the Tai Chi diagram. Above this pattern were written four big characters: "Shi Bi Da Dian!"

  Of course, these few words are not ordinary Chinese characters, but a kind of writing similar to oracle bones. If it weren't for Korksi saying before that those little translators had learned in the process of advancing and had been to this grand hall, even if they racked their brains, they wouldn't be able to recognize these few words.

  Korksi couldn't help but exclaim beside him, "They learn as they advance, and advance as they learn. Haha, I'm really looking forward to it! I wonder what kind of earth-shattering and unconventional skills are inside!"

  The stone gate is tightly closed, without a single gap.

  Malacca scout, usually careless and sloppy, but at critical moments, still meticulous, decisively found a stone button in the stone gate pattern, then climbed up the stone gate by grasping the protrusions on it, and stretched out his hand to turn the stone button. The rest of the people were all under the stone gate, looking up with their heads raised.

  "Ka ka ka......" The sound of the stone button being turned.

  As the sound rose, only the sound of gears turning "Ka-chi Ka-chi" came from underground, and then the stone gate slowly opened, with a huge frictional noise that shocked the crowd's ears buzzing loudly.

  The stone gate opened, and the light in the great hall burst out suddenly. Everyone was stunned by the scene before them, and without worrying about whether there were any mechanisms inside, they rushed in screaming.

  In fact, everyone in their heart knows that even if there are regulations, they have been destroyed by those poachers.

  After they entered the grand hall, the stone gate behind them slowly closed...

  ……

  Inside the grand hall, there were twelve jade stone pillars from Kunlun Mountains, one every hundred meters, standing upright in a row on both sides, supporting the entire grand hall. Each pillar was carved with a pattern of one of the twelve zodiac animals using a relief carving technique, looking vivid and lifelike. Especially the giant double-headed snake that coiled around a pillar, its body blood red, two heads holding the pillar in between, one head stretching out on each side, but in different colors, one green and one red, with gemstones embedded in their eyes, shining brightly, almost indistinguishable from real snakes, giving everyone a big scare.

  In the center of the grand hall stood a statue even larger than the golden image of the Sun Mother on Lake Heart Island. She held a sacred vase in her left hand and a strange mirror in her right, standing there with her eyes gazing into the glassy surface as if deep in thought.

  At the top, however, was a pattern of the sun and moon shining together, with the sun radiating golden light and the moon showing silver light. The walls around the grand hall were all carved with dense and intricate divine symbols and divine beast images, which should be the many guardian gods and scriptures around the Sun Goddess.

  These patterns are illuminated by the different glows emitted by various gems inlaid on the stone walls. Looking up at the top of the grand hall, there are numerous star-shaped objects inlaid with a soft yellow glow, making the entire grand hall colorful and magnificent, like a heavenly palace. Although there are many ancient Qiang religious murals on the wall, the mysterious atmosphere of that religion is not felt here, giving people a very comfortable feeling, as if they were leisurely basking in the sun on a sandy beach.

  After everyone entered the grand hall, they were each drawn to their own interests. Liu Yi and Professor Zhou Tao stood before the gilded statue of the Holy Mother, looking up with reverence, trying to sense the ancient information.

  Lu Zonghan stared at the bottle in the Virgin's hand, lost in thought.

  He went to see Korksi, and ran early to the wall in front of the left side of the grand hall, which was carved with strange patterns, and looked carefully. Malacca was holding a dagger and trying to pry several gems off the wall, only to see him prying and looking at a small pit next to him, muttering: "These poachers, they should die, how dare they steal things in such a sacred place!"

  "Bang!" A sound, a sapphire was pried off.

  Malacca held it in the palm of his hand, looking at its radiant light, and couldn't help but praise it. This aquamarine was a deep blue, and one could faintly feel the movement of seawater inside. Legend had it that this gemstone was obtained by the Sun Mother on her birthday while playing at the bottom of the sea, symbolizing happiness and longevity, and also served as the birthstone for March.

  Just as Malacca was about to pry open another one, a gurgling sound of flowing water suddenly came from inside the great hall, as if it were slapping against the stone wall on the other side, and yet it seemed to be rushing forth...

  The great hall suddenly began to shake...

  Liu Yi turned around and shouted: "Where did the water come from? Who triggered some mechanism?"

  Malacca looked at the gemstone wall and found that except for the scratch he saw and the small pit he pried, there was no other scratch. Could it be that these gemstones were connected to some kind of mechanism? Otherwise, with so many gemstones on this wall, wouldn't those thieves have swept them clean long ago?

  He feared Liu Yi would blame him, so he put the sapphire into his pocket and shouted loudly: "No one has touched the mechanism, didn't Korksi say that? We have to go through the five elements of practice, it seems this is the water practice place!"

  Professor Zhou Tuo thought to himself: "How could such a beautiful place be the 'Water Prison', it must be that this little rascal from Malacca has triggered some mechanism!"

  Liu Yi heard Malacca shouting like this, with a somewhat self-inviting tone, and was sure that this guy had tampered with something out of curiosity. He cursed: "Damn it!"

  Only the sound of water flowing and waves crashing against the shore came continuously, as if it was nearby, yet seemed to be far away.

  Suddenly, Liu Yi and his team found that the Kunlun stone pillar carved with the twelve zodiac signs had changed, and it actually started to rotate slowly in place!

  "What's going on here... What's all the commotion about?" Ma Liuji exclaimed.

  Suddenly, the eyes of that double-headed snake lit up, and then a huge column of water shot out from its mouth. The mouths of the other stone carvings also opened wide, spewing out water as well.

  The water gushed out, and the red water flowers were frightening. In an instant, the large hall had accumulated enough water to overflow ankle-deep...

  "Quickly, run to higher ground!"

  Liu Yi let out a loud cry and scrambled up onto the gilded wooden statue of the Sun Goddess, standing high up and glancing over at Lu Zonghan beside him. He saw that he was lying prone on the mouth of the holy water bottle held by the goddess, peering inside as if trying to see if there was any holy water inside.

  Liu Yi smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, thinking: "This guy is really weird!"

  He turned his head to the left side of the grand hall and saw Korksi standing beside the stone wall, staring blankly at the incomplete mural on the wall. The mural had obviously been destroyed by someone, leaving only half of it remaining. Yet, this was enough to make Korksi extremely excited. His facial muscles were stiff, his eyes looked crazy, and they turned bright red!

  At this moment, the water had already submerged to Kork's neck, but he was still unconscious. Liu Yi untied the rope from his waist, made a "lasso", swung it in the air, and threw it at Kork. The rope fell from his head to his waist, and when Liu Yi pulled it back, Kork flew up like a radish being pulled out of the ground.

  At this time, the rest of the people had already climbed onto the Sun Mother statue, and the water flow was getting bigger. Malacca pointed at the fish jumping out of the water surface and exclaimed: "My mother is coming, it's really a big fish, not small at all, someone is going to die!"

  "Is this water flowing in from Lake Heart Island?" Professor Zhou Tao exclaimed.

  Just then, a huge fish, as big as the ancestor of the old fish that had been seen in the underground dark river, suddenly emerged from the water, its sharp teeth and knife-like fins glinting as it swam towards them...

  Next to it, a old goby fish kept jumping up and down excitedly, as if following the big one to conquer the world...

  Everyone, danger is imminent...