At the end of the hall, there is a row of stone steps going down.
The stone steps are engraved with exquisite reliefs that make people reluctant to step down. There is a vermilion gate at the end, and the three characters "Xiaoyao Palace" on the plaque are written softly, adding a touch of affection.
Wu Xuepo sniffed the door panel, tapped it with her crutch, and the door slowly opened.
"There is no mechanism on the door. As for the inside..."
She didn't say any more and stepped through the door first.
The team that originally had less than a hundred people now only has about forty people left. The Taiheng faction suffered the least loss, while the Lone Ranger was completely wiped out. After entering the door, everyone paused—
The scene in front of me really didn't feel right.
They seemed to have entered a certain mansion, and the swaying tree shadows and soft starlight could be seen outside the window. The lights in the house were dimly lit, and the smell of incense was burning. There wasn't a speck of dust around, and there was a pleasant warmth in the air.
There were half-eaten snacks and tea on the table. The snacks were fresh and crispy, and the tea was still steaming. The fruits in the fruit plate were dripping with water, and the green plants on the side were lush, and some even had beautiful flowers.
The atmosphere of life here is extremely strong, as if the owner of the mansion has just left and will come back soon.
Even if Yan Budu still lives here, Yin Ci can believe him for a moment.
For a moment, Yin Ci even had some meager hope - could it be that Yan Budu was like him, unable to die, so he lived in seclusion at the bottom of the tomb
However, this thought only lasted for a moment.
Yin Ci has been to too many graves, and he knows it better than anyone else. No matter how powerful the magic is, it cannot create things out of thin air, and it is impossible to provide fresh water at the bottom of the tomb.
It's just an illusion.
Before Shi Jingzhi could tremble, Yin Ci took the lead and grabbed his hand. The candlelight flickered, and no one dared to move for a while, for fear of disturbing something.
"Master, should we look for Yan Qing? Senior Shi said he is not in the main hall, he should be here." Yin Ci whispered, grabbing Shi Jingzhi's attention.
"Well, look for it." Shi Jingzhi's voice was dry.
At the same time, perhaps because he was too nervous, a Yueshui Pavilion disciple dropped the pen in his hand. The pen fell on the thick and soft carpet. After hesitating for a while, he decided to reach out and pick it up.
Shen Zhu sighed softly and dusted off his clothes: "Idiot."
The room was very quiet, and the man obviously heard this sentence. He straightened up and muttered dissatisfiedly: "What a fuss. It's not like I've never been to the tomb before. I was careful enough just now and didn't activate anything..."
Before he finished speaking, there was a burst of gasping sounds in the room.
The man's face changed.
He didn't become another person - his features slowly slid across his face, like paper drawings floating on water. One eye slid to the position of the mouth, and the mouth slowly slid toward the left ear. His eyes, nose, and mouth were all misaligned, and the man seemed unaware of it, still blinking his misaligned eyes.
As if he noticed the horror in everyone's eyes, he stretched out a hand and touched his face. The touch didn't matter, his fingers stuck to his face and blended into his cheek.
The mouth that slid to the side of his face finally opened and let out a scream of fear.
"Help me!" He stumbled towards the crowd, "Help—"
For some reason, every time he took a step, his body curled up and became smaller. After taking a few steps out, his whole body was already distorted to the point of being unbelievable, and he couldn't move at all.
He didn't make any more sound. I don't know if his throat was deformed or if he died of twisting. The brightly colored clothing was stuck into the flesh, making it particularly eye-catching. The man's body was like a piece of colored wax, slowly melting into the ground, and his clothes seeped into the ground, and gradually disappeared.
Shi Jingzhi: "..."
Shi Jingzhi: "Aci, be careful, don't move around."
Yin Ci sighed: "I understand... Master, get off of me first."
Shi Jingzhi's fear overshadowed his dignity as a master - he was like a monkey hugging a tree, his hands and feet were wrapped around Yin Ci, and he did not dare to express his anger.
Yin Ci even missed the crazy Shi Jingzhi. Even if he smoothed out the madness at that time by one-tenth to normal, it wouldn't be so... sticky.
He patiently tore off Shi Jingzhi bit by bit: "Yan has cleared it up, the Taiheng sect's auspicious stars are shining brightly on this trip, we just need to follow them closely."
No one laughed at Shi Jingzhi, including Wu Xue Po, and everyone looked unhappy. Shi Zhongyu opened his sleeves, revealing a string of blood and bone beads, which were still white. Monk Juehui knocked on the iron bowl several times, but the environment in front of him did not change at all.
There are no monsters here, no ordinary illusions.
The snack aroma is mixed with incense, and the delicate sweetness lingers. The air was warm and flowing softly. This is supposed to be a soothing environment.
From this position, everyone could see the entrance to the study not far away, filled with classics. On the weapon rack, the sword flashed with cold light, and you could tell at a glance that it was not an ordinary sword.
Yin Ci clicked his tongue inwardly - he recognized this situation, but he was probably the only one who could recognize what it was at the moment.
This technique is called "Dream Bubble" and is known as the most dangerous incense illusion technique. It uses human brain as its main raw material, plus thousands of monster materials for flavoring. If you choose a good incense burner, you can ensure that the fragrance will last for hundreds of years.
"Dream Bubble" has only two functions.
First, it allows people to dream while they are awake and mix dreams with reality. Secondly, if people touch the objects in the dream, they will be directly affected by the dream.
The man just now did not die from the mechanism, but from everyone's nightmare.
When people come to such a strange place, they are more or less afraid - fear breeds imagination, and imagination merges into dreams. The disciple of Yueshui Pavilion acted as the leader and attracted everyone's attention, but also happened to touch the dream object, becoming an object that "can be twisted".
As a result, everyone's various fears and assumptions were mixed together and materialized on that person, erasing him from the world.
After the "Dream Bubble" spell was completed, everyone became an unconscious caster.
The solution is also very simple. Do not touch the objects in the dream, just destroy the incense burner.
Unfortunately, among all the things in the room, it is difficult to tell which things only exist in dreams, except for those that are obviously illogical. The most troublesome thing is that Yin Ci doesn't want to be exposed at all. He needs an outsider—anyone—to discover a way to crack it.
"Is it the problem with the carpet?" Yin Ci deliberately raised his voice, "Master, I just felt something was wrong. The carpet had no pattern at all. It was dark and did not match this house at all."
Shi Jingzhi: "Aci, what are you talking about? Isn't there a golden dragon and phoenix pattern on the carpet?"
Shi Zhongyu frowned when he heard this: "What I saw was a red carpet and Western patterns. Jin Lan?"
Jin Lan: "I, what I saw was an ordinary blue carpet with blessing and longevity patterns on it... "
Monk Juehui pondered for a moment: "What kind of snacks are on the table?"
"Mung bean cake." "Lotus cake." "Pea yellow." "..."
Everyone replied in a hurry, and then looked at each other in confusion.
As everyone focused their attention, the blankets and snacks all twisted, turned into different shapes, and finally twisted and disappeared. All that remained was the rotting remains of a blanket and a plate of dark debris.
"That's it." Monk Juehui sighed, "...that's it."
Yin Ci was not surprised.
The things in dreams are generally like this - "dream bubbles" have limited power, and most of the details are filled in by the personal subconscious mind. But if everyone focuses their attention on one place at the same time, it will be crushed by the contradictory imagination just like the person just now.
However, this alone cannot break the "dream bubble". Without him, dreams would never have more than one level.
"Master, the snack just now has completely disappeared. It must be an illusion, right?"
Shi Jingzhi frowned, as if he had some realization: "What I see are rotten snack residues. Wait, Aci, let me think about it..."
He took a few deep breaths and turned to Monk Juehui: "Master, I have read about it in a book. The Xile Buddhist Sect seems to have a similar technique. What is it called?"
"The little benefactor is knowledgeable and knowledgeable. Yes, Xile Buddha Sect does have similar spells. That spell has been lost long ago, and only incomplete records are left."
Monk Juehui closed his eyes: "This technique is produced by incense. All illusions are ominous. If you touch them at will, they can easily be counterattacked by the dreams of all living beings."
Shi Jingzhi gritted his teeth: "Aci, hold my hand."
"No problem, why did Master suddenly say this?"
Shi Jingzhi did not answer immediately. He took out the stuffed silver bell, cleared away the paper scraps, and flicked the bell. The clear ringtone rang immediately, echoing in the room like ripples.
"This technique works on consciousness. It can deceive the eyes, but it cannot deceive the sound."
Shi Jingzhi closed his eyes tightly.
"The sound of the ringing sound expands and turns back when encountering objects. I can know where the obstacles are. The objects in the dream have no entity and will be penetrated by the sound."
"If I don't even look at the dream and don't know its existence, I shouldn't be affected by consciousness-based spells. Master Juehui said that this thing works by incense. We can just find the place with the strongest fragrance and destroy the incense burner."
His voice was confident and loud enough for everyone present to hear.
… This kid is really a fox.
Yin Ci raised the corners of his mouth.
Shi Jingzhi just talked nonsense and came up with a visual version to deceive others. He was not sure at all whether "Dream Bubble" would count as "not encountering" him.
It's natural to consider it "not encountered". Even if he was "encountered", he gave everyone a subconscious sense of security - everyone firmly believed that nothing would happen to him, and that he would not be affected by everyone's nightmares and die tragically like the man just now.
All the previous events were not his own hallucinations, Shi Jingzhi indeed had a little bit of madness hidden in his bones.
Wu Xuepo said in a serious tone: "Boy, can you really do such a thing?"
Shi Jingzhi was wearing a Nuo mask, and the silver bell in his hand jingled: "It's just a small skill, born with sensitive five senses."
His voice was steady, but his palms were covered in sweat. Yin Ci squeezed his hand and motioned for him to relax.
"Aci, follow me and don't touch me."
"yes."
No one dared to search for treasures, so the group followed Shi Jingzhi's footsteps step by step.
The house was very big, and everyone walked quietly for more than an hour before Shi Jingzhi stopped—to be precise, he almost tripped.
Yan Qing was lying at the end of the corridor, his body stretched straight and his arms close to his sides. The luggage of the Kushan faction was piled neatly aside, with a suicide note stamped on it.
The man's chest was rising and falling gently, and he was actually asleep.
Yin Ci: "...Brother Yan, wake up."
Shi Jingzhi made nonsense on the spot: "Everyone, this is my new subordinate. He has been missing for a while. He cannot see. He is afraid that he is born to be able to break this spell, so he was thrown here alone."
There was a noise in his ears, and Yan Qing woke up in a daze: "Hmm."
Yin Ci whispered: "You didn't touch anything?"
Yan Qing's face was full of confusion, and it took him a long time to show some joy of surviving the disaster: "This place is extremely dangerous, I know it in my heart. Rather than triggering any mechanism, it is better to wait for death... ahem, wait for the two of you to come to save me."
Yin Ci: "..." It doesn't have to be so realistic.
Shi Jingzhi coughed twice and changed the subject: "Have you found any clues?"
Yan Qing's expression became serious. He exhaled and pointed to the bedroom not far away.
"… there was the sound of someone breathing inside."