"Try your best to walk in the middle, don't touch the stone walls." Cui Buqu repeated once more.
"What is that?" On the stone walls where mosses were fully grown over, there were silver spots shining beautifully yet they looked uncanny. Feng Xiao used the torch held by the Zuoyue guard to inspect it closely for a moment, "It's quite the strange beauty."
Cui Buqu said, "Left behind by caterpillars of Silver-powder Butterflies. This breed of butterfly can be found in dark places where the silver-powder on their bodies will glow. They are harmless on their own, but the silver-powder contains poison."
Feng Xiao, "Can they also be found in damp caves?"
Cui Buqu understood what he meant; originally, he was shaking his head, but he realized that he was walking behind and after shaking his head the other was gone. Still, he said in a low voice, "This breed of Silver-powdered butterfly would usually only appear in Xinan; it's scarcely found in the north. However, their lifespan is incredibly short, and they enjoy gathering in groups. After passing this section, they should be gone."
This was only the first mechanism imposed upon them. They know that compared to what dangers lay ahead, poisonous silver-powder would be nothing compared to them.
A damp, rotting smell erupted; he couldn't help coughing twice, and a voice came from afar in an echo. Yet the contours of the lay of the land beneath his feet gradually became flatter, no longer were they slippery wet. Cui Buqu's walking bamboo stick fell on the ground, resounding in a deep and dull voice, just like an old monk knocking on a wooden fish bit by bit, knocking on everyone's hearts.
Leaving the paved path, the area broadened. Vines hung down from up above, dangling closely from atop their heads. The dampness and slippery scent unique to the cave rode along with a gentle breeze that came from nowhere, brushing across their faces.
Cui Buqu could smell a hint of danger.
He lowered his head.
Lending the light of the fire, the stone terrain wasn't covered in green moss. Other than some sands and dust, the surface of the stone terrain could still be seen clearly.
Aristocratically beautiful peonies wrapping themselves complicatedly around a stalk of lotuses.
Usually, treasure stoves were simply backdoors built by Emperors for their descendants and later dynasties. It was unnecessary for them to go through so much trouble to pave a stone path and engrave patterns of flowers. It could be seen that the Emperor of the Wei Dynasty not only intended to turn this place into his treasure stove, but he had even anticipated that there would come a day when his descendants, should they be on the run, could temporarily—
His gaze suddenly froze, and turned around as he shouted—
"Halt your steps and retreat!"
Feng Xiao's reflexes were the quickest. Before he retreated, he conveniently held onto Cui Buqu's arm and pulled him back as well.
Both of the Zuoyue guards were not quick enough and were a step too late.
One of them felt cold wind hammering down his head, there was a sharp pain to his nose. They were knives emerging from the ground upwards, cutting a piece of flesh off the tip of his nose and causing blood to trickle!
Feng Xiao immediately tapped the guard's meridians to quickly stop the bleeding, using the torch to take a closer look, "No poison."
A bloody wound like that was truly hideous. Thankfully all of them had brought medicine for knife wounds. The other Zuoyue guard rushed forward to bandage his companion but, unfortunately, even if the wound fully healed, there would be a part of his nose missing.
Cui Buqu said, "You can descend the mountain for the time being, wait for us outside."
The wounded Zuoyue guard was unwilling, "Commander! This little exterior wound will not affect my performance!"
Feng Xiao did not join in their conversation. He knelt half-way and looked at the razor-sharp knife that was half-an-inch thrust into the stone ground and said curiously:
"The sharp edge of this knife should be cast from ancient methods. On our way out, remind me to bring this back and have them forge a new one, I guarantee that it would be even more efficient than the one Fo Er has. However, how did you know this was a trap?"
"These bricks do not look much different from the others, but in truth, there's a difference in their unevenness. In fact, there is a regular pattern that's reoccurring." Cui Buqu also walked over there, reaching out with a hand to press on top of a brick with twinning lotus patterns, before slowly pressing it down and drawing it to starboard. "Look. Starting from this piece and all the way here, it gradually flattens. When it reaches here, the height reverts to its previous one. Touch it."
Feng Xiao, "I am not going to touch it. The ground is filthy. I'm fine listening to you speak."
Cui Buqu: "…"
He silently smoothened a green vein that was popping from his forehead and calmly concluded, "I have seen these sorts of occult arts before. As for the pattern, it was to warn their own people to avoid it, however, were they infiltrators, they would have fallen for it."
Feng Xiao waved his fan and said, "The configurations of the engraving on these bricks are incredibly complex. Was it also to misdirect infiltrators?"
"That's right!" Cui Buqu said impatiently, "The place here is very cold, can you not wave your fan?"
Feng Xiao watched his face that was pale like snow and shook his head as he said, "There's still time for you to be on your way out now!"
Even though he said these words, he still kept his fan away.
There was a sound of water droplets splatting above their heads, drizzle falling down through the mist.
Once the mist got near to Feng Xiao, it was repelled by a shapeless form of energy. His clothes didn't even catch a bit of dampness.
"Would it rain in the cave?" He nudged through the mist with his fan, "Is there no poison?"
Cui Buqu shook his head, "I took a look before we came in. The dark clouds are thick outside the mountain, there should be another layer above it, in fact, it's linked to the exit facing outside. So, it would absorb the clouds outside and turn it into a mist. If I am not wrong, this is the layer of traps, and the layer above should be the one where the treasure stove is hidden. The entrance should be just in front."
The Zuoyue guard's nose had stopped bleeding. He insisted on remaining. Cui Buqu no longer tried to make him leave. He walked forward alone.
Cui Buqu turned into the leading party. He walked extremely slowly, examining each step taken.
Of course, to fly to the opposite side using qinggong would be the quickest, but no one would know whether the moment they landed they would land onto a trap. However, if one were to be like Cui Buqu, although this way was slower, it was definitely safe.
The Zuoyue guard who was wounded took the rear. His companion was in front of him.
The vines above their heads got longer and longer, blocking their view. The Zuoyue guard who walked in front couldn't help but had to use his hand to push them away.
Other than these vines, there were stone pillars all around, reaching up from the ground in various diameters. Judging by the looks of it, they were formed by nature inside the cavern.
In a spacious cavern like this, infinite possibilities could be hidden within. Let alone a few people settling in, it could even contain an entire army of royal guards; there was no doubt why the Emperor of the Wei Dynasty had chosen this place to be their backdoor.
Even the sound of the faintest rustling of leaves would make one extremely nervous in a dead-silent cavern such as this one. Yet, while accompanied by Cui Buqu's coughing sounds, it made one feel rather peaceful instead.
It was not their first day being in the Zuoyue Bureau; those Zuoyue guards had been on many escapades before and could be considered to have plenty of experience, thus they hadn't worn their feelings on their sleeves as both of them followed behind Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao, taking a detour around the stone pillar in front of them.
In front, there was a turning, a ray of light hiding behind.
Could it be an exit?
The guard couldn't help feeling happy in his heart.
Yet at this moment, a groan sounded behind him.
It was slow and brief.
He turned his head around abruptly and realized that everyone behind him was gone!
"Commander, Jiang Song is missing!"
There was no response.
Because both Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao in front of him were gone as well.
The Zuoyue guard was shocked.
Behind the turning, there was not a single soul. The light he saw just now seemed as if it came from his own imagination, the road before his eyes was obviously still deep, its end unable to be determined. It was unknown where the path was leading to, the only source of light coming from the torch in his hand.
However, after walking for so long, the torch had almost finished burning, its light wavering, like an old man who is crippling from age barely struggling to breathe, yet could do nothing as he was engulfed by the darkness.
Suddenly, darkness claimed his vision!
He reached into his bosom with a hand, hoping to take out another torch, but before his hand could touch his chest he felt his body spinning around as if both his legs had sunk into deep sand, his entire person being pulled down!
Cui Buqu stood where he was, unmoving.
He wasn't falling and he hadn't gone far.
In reality, he noticed something was wrong the moment he took a detour around the first stone pillar.
However, these types of instinctive feelings didn't come from real threats, but from feelings that were practically imaginary. These sort of senses weren't distinct, so he hoped to seek out more clues by just moving forward.
Stone pillars were like forests within the cavern. Torches were unable to brighten up the entire scene. As far as the eye could see, there would be at least a few of them.
Was it because something was off with these stone pillars?
He raised his eyebrows slightly, divulging a rarely seen look of curiosity, yet it was a pity that Feng Xiao who was walking behind did not have the chance to see it.
"I feel that something might be amiss with these stone pillars." He said.
At this moment, he has already reached the side of the fourth stone pillar, so these words were naturally meant for Feng Xiao to hear.
However, no response came from Feng Xiao.
He turned around and discovered that all three of them were missing.
Cui Buqu sighed. The uncanny feeling he felt really was effective.
With a hand on the stone pillar, he stood there for a while, recalling the scenery on the way since they first entered.
"I was wrong." Cui Buqu mumbled.
At first, he thought that the traps here were arranged one after the other and each one maintained some distance from the last. The Silver-powdered Butterflies and the stone terrain traps from before had affirmed his estimation, but in truth, from the moment they entered the cavern, they have already stepped into a massive trap made out of an array.
The Twin Jade Compass Array.
Just as its name implied, the array referenced the arrangements of the constellation the Big Dipper. Seven traps were engineered outside the array and once they interacted with one of those traps, they would enter the territory of another subarray of the Big Dipper.
Just now, when they were placing all their focus onto avoiding the traps in the stone terrain, in reality, they have already stepped into a small 'Big Dipper array' made from these stone pillars.
At this moment of being in the array, even if the distance wasn't far, it would still feel like one was at the horizon of the sky and at the edge of the sea as if the light of the Tianshu star was completely beyond reach.
As for this sub 'Big Dipper' array, it referenced the final phase of the strategy in Chinese chess when all the seven stars aligned. Even normal people would be able to see that this array was unique. If one cannot find its principle, they could only be sitting ducks walled-off within a city of grief.
Those who were caught in the array would lose track of time while struggling to live, but even so, they still wouldn't be able to survive.
Cui Buqu had no idea how to rescue the others, so he could only save himself first.
He closed his eyes and silently recalled the solution to this array.
From vague memories in the past, hoping to uncover a single corner.
If one corner could be lifted, then what else would be waiting for him beyond it?
Cui Buqu discarded his torch, tightened his grip on the bamboo stick, helping himself using the stones pillars, and step by step he moved forward fumbling for clues.
After going back and forth a few steps, he took a detour around the stone pillar next to him and walked all over again.
If there were onlookers, they would think that he was blindly taking detours, but Cui Buqu snaked his way through the dark and really did walk himself out of that place.
Once he opened his eyes, there was a glint of light in front of him. The light of candles flickered, melting the ice-cold chill in the cavern.
Cui Buqu turned around. Behind him, there was still a curtain of darkness.
Feng Xiao and the Zuoyue guards—they were still in the array.
Should he move forward, or turn back to look for them?
Cui Buqu turned around to go back into the array.
Yet behind him sounded the voice of a person.
It should be impossible to have someone else here other than the four of them.
However, the voice of that person was incredibly familiar—
"Since you found your way out, why return? The Cui Buqu I knew was not someone who is soft-hearted and hesitant."
Cui Buqu violently turned his head around!
The other was standing at the entrance where the light was coming from. His figure was blurry, not even his face could be identified.
However, it was impossible for Cui Buqu not to recognize that voice.
Because it hadn't been long since the last time they spoke to each other.
"Yuan Sansi, it was you." Cui Buqu said lightly.
====
Wooden fish: An old Chinese instrument. Image below.
Big Dipper: Because beidou (北斗) can mean either the 'Big Dipper' or a compass (as the Big Dipper is also used to point to the North Star), I've taken liberties with both translations so the name of the array isn't too much of a mouthful.
Tianshu star: Alpha Ursae Majoris, formally named Dubhe, is, despite being designated "α", the second-brightest object in the constellation of Ursa Major.