Chapter 28 - The Mechanical Copper Door
"Malevolent fish?" The old fortune teller exclaimed, and everyone immediately became alert.
As the dark shapes in the water multiplied, they continued to emerge from the surface, attacking the group. Chaos ensued.
"Run! Don't stop!" Gu Mingyu decisively shouted.
The group had already started running without her command, but they were not heading in one direction. Some were running deeper into the cave, while others were fleeing outside.
Zhang Kai didn't pay attention to the others; he ran towards the depths of the cave on his own. He was the fastest runner among them, and the darkness had no effect on him. He quickly distanced himself from the rest.
In no time, Zhang Kai arrived at a massive door. It was a huge copper door, somewhat tarnished, resembling brass.
The copper door was surrounded by stone walls, and the area around it was an expanded space in the cave, with no other paths.
Zhang Kai reached out and pushed the door, but it didn't budge. It seemed like the copper door was locked from the inside.
Gathering more than a century's worth of internal energy in his palm, Zhang Kai delivered a forceful strike to the copper door.
Boom!
The door trembled slightly, emitting a dull sound, but it remained firmly closed.
"Damn it! Someone probably sealed it with a Dragon-Defying Stone from the inside," Zhang Kai muttered.
Trouble was brewing.
As he contemplated whether to use his phone to gather equipment and attempt to break the door, Zhang Kai suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps. His eyes shifted, and he moved to the side, panting heavily.
Soon, several figures appeared: the old fortune teller, the young man, Daoist Chongming, and the girl with twin ponytails.
They were surprised to see Zhang Kai, who had evidently outpaced them all.
"You finally made it! You scared me to death. I swear, I've never run this fast in my life," Zhang Kai was the first to speak, his face still pale from the ordeal.
"Zhang Daochang, are you injured? Those Malevolent Fish are poisonous," Daoist Chongming asked with concern.
Zhang Kai shook his head and replied, "I got lucky. I ran forward without looking back, so I wasn't injured. But what exactly are those Malevolent Fish?"
"Malevolent Fish are created when the souls of sentient fish combine with malevolent and evil energies after death. They are abhorrent creatures, lacking consciousness, driven solely by the instinct to attack living beings. They are also poisonous, and dealing with them can be troublesome," explained Daoist Chongming.
He glanced at the old fortune teller, who raised his darkened right hand with a wry smile and said, "My right hand was hit, but I sealed the bloodline temporarily, so it's not a major issue. However, I'm now poisoned, and there's not much I can do going forward."
Daoist Chongming looked at the old fortune teller wordlessly, seemingly unimpressed.
He really knows how to act.
Malevolent Fish, despite being malevolent creatures, were among the lowest-tier of evil entities. Even if there was no longer any spiritual energy in the world, as long as there was Yin, evil, and impure energy, these creatures could still exist.
But not all malevolent entities were powerful. Malevolent Fish, although poisonous, could be easily dealt with by ordinary people with some preparation. Zhang Kai was a practitioner of Wudang's unique martial arts, and he possessed detailed information about this forbidden area, so he should have been well-prepared. At the very least, he should have had a protective talisman to shield against the first attack of malevolent entities. Why was he acting like this now?
However, it was too late to argue about it at this point.
"By the way, where's Miss Gu? Why hasn't she shown up?" Zhang Kai asked curiously.
"My cousin got separated from us, but she has a protective talisman, so she should be fine. Let's focus on figuring out how to enter from here. This big door is not the real entrance," the girl with twin ponytails, now named Shuangmawei, calmly said, while sucking on a lollipop.
Zhang Kai was speechless. They were in this situation, and she was casually eating a lollipop, testing the flexibility of her tongue?
"Well, this should be the resting place's entrance. Once we go inside, we'll be in the forbidden area. But something feels strange. Should we investigate, Zhang Daochang?" Daoist Chongming looked at the door and voiced his concern.
Zhang Kai glanced at him, thinking, "Your disciple isn't here yet, aren't you worried at all?"
"Daochang, this should be a mechanism door. It can't be forced open with violence, and attempting to do so might even trigger a collapse. We need to activate the mechanism to open the copper door," the old fortune teller replied weakly. Beside him, the young man was busy tending to his injuries, making him look like a disabled person.
"A mechanism? Let's search for it then. Mechanism doors usually incorporate elements of the Great Changes in their design, leaving room for survival. It's unlikely to be a dead-end," Daoist Chongming said and began to look around.
Zhang Kai also started to search. He couldn't even move the door with more than a century's worth of internal energy, so this mechanism must be quite formidable.
The cave's walls were all solid, with no conspicuous areas. They couldn't find any obvious switch or lever.
"Not right. This copper door is too conspicuous, as if deliberately meant to be seen. Moreover, if you look closely, you'll notice that the gap where the copper door opens and closes is not prominent or deep. It's difficult to open from here. However, it's designed to attract people to try and open it. I suspect that if we use excessive force to break it open, there may be even more deadly traps and mechanisms inside," Shuangmawei spoke confidently.
Zhang Kai was stunned. He had thought of using brute force to break the door, and now he was relieved that the others had arrived; otherwise, he might have fallen victim to hidden traps.
"Since this isn't the real entrance, aren't we heading into a dead end?" Daoist Chongming frowned.
"Not necessarily. Although this copper door is not the actual entrance, the surrounding cave walls seem peculiarly smooth, as if they were deliberately modified. If we search the walls, we might discover something," Shuangmawei said, then walked over to the wall and began knocking and tapping.
After a series of knocks, a sound from one spot seemed different, indicating hollowness.
This piqued the curiosity of everyone.
"The real door is here," Shuangmawei declared confidently, knocking a few more times to determine the approximate location.
Zhang Kai was flabbergasted. He had thought he was the low-profile expert in this group, but it seemed that Shuangmawei was no ordinary person. She had been quiet all along but now displayed the instincts of a seasoned detective, leading them to the hidden entrance.
"Since this isn't the real entrance, how do we open it?" Daoist Chongming inquired.
"I believe this door is rigged with traps, even more dangerous ones than the big copper door. To get through here, we'll need to use the correct method, and I suspect it involves this rotating disc on the left side of the small copper door. The disc has a pointer in a groove, which corresponds to the eight trigrams around it. On the right side, there's an inscription," Shuangmawei explained.
"Intruders, kneel three times and kowtow nine times," Zhang Kai read aloud.
The group was now faced with a puzzle, and a sense of mystery surrounded the small copper door.