Qian Wangsun furrowed his brows, "What is this all about? Was the one who set up this Array trying to show us his memories?"
As they continued to explore, the trio slowly realized that the voice seemed to be just a voice, and there wasn’t actually anyone in the room, so they were no longer as cautious as they had been initially.
Jian Xing shook his head upon hearing Qian Wangsun’s words and vigorously scratched the back of his scalp, "The key seems to be this scripture, but what scripture is this? What does it mean? Why have I never heard of it?" He then leaned his hand against the wall.
The wall in front of them didn’t seem as new or solid as it appeared, and as Jian Xing leaned on it, a series of crisp cracking sounds followed. The wall split open with cracks, and the muffled sounds of it opening spread through the room and extended into the hallway, before finally coming to a slow stop.
Looking at the wall that had stopped cracking, the trio subconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
But they suddenly discovered that as the sound of the wall splitting began, the voice of the child chanting the scripture had also abruptly stopped.
In the stifling silence that followed, the walls around them gradually took on a blood-red hue.
The Array had changed, and Zhou Bai and his companions hid in the room for a few minutes. Feeling no response from outside, they carefully stepped out.
Looking at the empty hallway, which had transformed from being pristine and bright to being shrouded in red light, a sense of dread settled in their hearts.
Jian Xing looked towards Qian Wangsun, "What do you think? Do you feel any danger?"
Qian Wangsun let out a wry smile, "Damn, it feels like there are crises both ahead and behind. But it seems clear that the person who set up the Array wants us to keep moving forward, as if he has something to tell us."
After some thought, the trio continued to move onward, the red glow growing ever more intense.
At the same time, the voices chanting the scripture started emanating continuously from the surrounding rooms.
As the chanting became more urgent, the child’s voice grew more hoarse and increasingly distorted.
"… neighboring countries watch each other, the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard, yet the people, until their deaths, don’t communicate with each other."
"… the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard, yet the people, until their deaths, don’t communicate with each other."
"People do not interact until death!"
"Do not interact!!"
As the last line of the scripture was repeated, the voice gradually became distorted and untrue, finally turning into a painful scream.
"I don’t remember!"
"I can’t recall!"
And as the trio reached the third floor, all the voices ceased.
The entire hallway of the third floor was pitch-dark, and they could only see the dark doorways of the rooms on either side. Zhou Bai squinted hard but could still only see darkness, completely unable to discern anything inside the rooms.
They could only see at the end of the hallway, where it seemed a beam of light was falling, casting illumination on a small desk.
The trio proceeded with their Lighting Stone in hand and immediately found that even under the illumination of the Lighting Stone, they could not clearly see inside the pitch-dark rooms.
And on the walls around them, there were sentences written in bright red, skewed, inverted, and jumbled characters.
"The supreme good is like water, water benefits all things and does not contend..."
"The five colors blind the eyes, the five tones deafen the ears, the five flavors dull the taste..."
Seeing these distorted, blood-red characters, the Primordial Spirits of the three individuals present felt a vague restlessness. Though it was much less intense than the agitation they experienced upon seeing the pages of text, it was undeniable that there was an anomaly in their Primordial Spirits.
Qian Wangsun was the first to react, quickly directing the Lighting Stone to illuminate to one side, "Don’t look! There’s something wrong with these words!"
Jian Xing quickly turned his head and, looking at the small stool under the distant light, said, "It looks like the person who set the Array wants us to go there. Damn it, why do I feel itchier and itchier."
Within Zhou Bai’s mind, Christina screamed, "Don’t go! Haven’t you had enough? Can’t you just stay put and wait for rescue? Why must you move forward?!"
Zhou Bai also felt that following the plan step-by-step, acting according to the other party’s intentions, was somewhat problematic.
At that moment, Qian Wangsun looked downstairs and said gravely, "Something else is coming."
The three of them poked their heads out over the stairwell, looking toward the second floor, only to see the ghastly pale figure of Xing Jun reappear, slowly drifting toward their location on the third floor.
Qian Wangsun’s expression turned sour, "This is blocking our escape!" He looked around at the rooms completely engulfed in darkness, feeling a sharp pain between his brows, and let out a cold laugh, "They’re forcing us to take this middle path."
Jian Xing instinctively said, "Let’s assess the situation first. Unless absolutely necessary, it’s best not to confront this Array head-on."
Seeing Jian Xing incessantly scratching the back of his head, Zhou Bai couldn’t help but look at his scalp and saw streaks of red, even some blood seeping out, and couldn’t help but say, "Jian Xing, are you alright?"
"Me? What could be wrong with me," Jian Xing paused, patted the back of his head and said, "This place is too bizarre. My scalp itches whenever I’m nervous."
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On the other side, Qian Wangsun’s face fluctuated between expressions of gloom and clarity. He looked at Xing Jun, who was drifting closer from below and cursed, "Zhou Bai, it was me who got you involved in this, I led you into this mess. This time, I’ll lead the way and block any trouble for you."
Jian Xing nodded, realizing the peril that lay ahead. He said directly, "Zhou Bai, both Qian Wangsun and I have successfully entered the path. Next, we two will take the lead, and you bring up the rear, keeping an eye on that spectral thing behind us."
Cautiously, the three of them moved forward along the corridor and, without incident, reached the little desk under the light.
The light of the Lighting Stone seemed even weaker under the thick darkness surrounding them, to the extent that the three of them could barely see the walls enveloped in darkness.
Qian Wangsun stood at the forefront, observing the objects on the small desk, and found a book with many pages torn out.
Suddenly, they sensed a surge around them, and the 40 pages of the Tao Te Ching they had gathered flew out from their bodies and inserted into the book, seemingly returning to their original place.
Then, the pages of the book rapidly flipped, quickly going from chapter 1 to chapter 80 of the Tao Te Ching.
Looking at the last page showing 81, the space after it blank, and a pen beside it, the three exchanged glances.
Zhou Bai turned his head and looked at the still-approaching ’Xing Jun’: "What does this mean? Are we supposed to write out what’s on page 81?"
Qian Wangsun replied, "We only collected 40 pages, how could we possibly know what’s on page 81?"
Jian Xing commented, "What do we do then? From the first floor to this third floor, the implication has been clear."
Zhou Bai remarked, "This bastard must have been starved for love as a kid, forced by his father to memorize the scripture, and then he forgets the last page. What does it have to do with us?"
In Zhou Bai’s mind, Christina yelled, "Zhou Bai! You’ve copied this book before, right?! What’s on the last page, don’t you remember?!"
Zhou Bai, with an annoyed expression, said, "Who would remember that! If I did remember, I would have written from chapter one to eighty-one during my entry test, giving them the whole thing."