"Princess, after entering the cave, you will encounter five forked roads. The one on the far left is for life, and the others are for death."
"Go straight along the path and you will enter an ancient cave. Don't worry about anything else. There is a Bagua array on the innermost side. There are eight gates on it: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui. There is a long sword stuck on the door..."
"There are eight long swords, four life and four death. If you pull out the right sword, you will get a treasure. If you pull out the wrong sword, you will trigger a mechanism and thousands of arrows will pierce your heart."
"Among them, Qian, Li, and Xun are the gates of death, and there is still one hexagram of the gate of death...Young Master didn't say anything..."
The night was as dark as ink, and the mountains and forests were completely silent, with only the rustling of leaves shaking and Zhang San's calm statement.
Ning Yuke glanced at the dark hole that seemed to be able to swallow everything, and confirmed softly:
"That is to say... Kun, Zhen, Kan, Gen, Dui's five hexagrams have four life and one death. As long as I don't choose the only door of death, that's it?"
"yes."
Zhang San nodded: "If the princess chooses right, she should be able to see what the young master wants appear in the world, and she can just take it out when the time comes."
"Okay, I understand..."
Ning Yuke smiled, took the luminous pearl from Zhang San, tied a long rope around her waist, and walked to the entrance of the cave.
The Ye Mingzhu was of course meant to illuminate, but the rope was tied not to save her, but to wait until she died in the cave so that her body could be pulled out.
The pale moonlight fell on everyone through the gaps in the leaves. Compared to the Freemasons, who were all somewhat nervous, Ning Yuke's face showed no sign of shrinking.
Before she came, she was mentally prepared to leave and never come back, so she was not afraid at the moment, but just a little regretful about one thing——
Mr. Wei really didn't come.
He shook his head slightly and walked slowly into the cave entrance.
The light of the night pearl became weaker and weaker, and soon disappeared from everyone's sight.
Not long after she entered, Wei Changtian slowly emerged from the darkness in the forest with a calm expression.
"Son."
Zhang San came over and reported in a low voice: "The people in the palace haven't noticed yet, and our people have been very careful along the way, so there shouldn't be any problems."
"Um."
Wei Changtian calmly ordered: "Send a few more people with quick legs and feet to keep an eye on the movements in the palace. Once they find out that Ning Yuke is missing, they will definitely take action and notify me immediately."
"Understood."
Zhang San nodded and went to arrange the matter, while Wei Changtian looked at the rope extending from the hole and swaying slightly, and sighed softly in his heart.
If possible, he still didn't want Ning Yuke to die in the cave.
But unfortunately I really didn't remember which hexagrams in the last eight trigrams formation were the birth gates.
According to the description of the original work, Xiao Feng made mistakes in drawing four swords in the Bagua array, but he managed to survive through many traps with his extraordinary "strength" and finally obtained the "Ten Thousand Blades Guide" and "Stars". scabbard".
Ning Yuke undoubtedly does not have the ability to survive after triggering the mechanism, so she must choose the living door.
But although Wei Changtian has read the original work several times, it is really difficult to remember such details.
He racked his brains just to eliminate the three wrong answers of "Qian, Li, Xun", but he couldn't remember which hexagram the remaining door of death was.
Alas, it all depends on Ning Yuke's luck...
...
In the cave.
This cave is much larger than Ning Yuke imagined.
Although the entrance of the cave is only half a person high, it feels much wider immediately after entering it. The feet under your feet are not gravel and soil, but tight stone steps.
However, the steps are covered with white bones left by various dead animals, which looks quite scary.
Is this an ancient cave? Why did so many animals die here?
What exactly does Mr. Wei want?
It would be a lie to say that he was not afraid. Ning Yuke could only distract himself with random thoughts, and at the same time, he quickened his pace and continued walking deeper along the stone steps.
The road is getting wider and wider, and there are fewer and fewer bones around it.
She didn't know how long she had been walking, but she finally stopped for the first time, and the night pearl illuminated the five forked roads in front of her.
The five roads were almost identical except that they led in different directions. Ning Yuke remembered what Zhang San said and stepped forward to take the only "road to survive" on the far left.
But at this moment, she suddenly discovered that there seemed to be a line of small words engraved on the stone slab under her feet.
"The union of heaven and earth brings about the birth of all things, and the connection of yin and yang brings about change."
These words...
Ning Yuke was stunned for a moment and subconsciously began to think about the meaning.
She seemed to understand something, and felt that it seemed to make sense, but it didn't make sense.
After a while, Ning Yuke hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward to the second road.
Sure enough, there was also a sentence engraved on the ground——
"When the world changes, things change, and when things change, be prepared for change."
The third way also has——
"All things are one with me."
Article 4——
"If your eyes are open, the flowers will be bright; if your eyes are closed, the flowers will be silent."
The last one——
"Life and death are destiny, wealth and honor are in heaven."
There are five paths in total, and five sentences in total with different meanings.
If Ning Yuke were to choose by herself, she would probably choose the last one, which comes from "The Analects" and represents the objective idealist view of "life and death are determined by destiny, wealth and honor are in heaven."
But if it were Wei Changtian, even if he didn't know the answer in advance, he would most likely take the leftmost "survival path" without hesitation.
The reason is simple, because this sentence is closest to the values of "objective materialism" that he has established through modern education.
"Da da da......"
The sound of slight footsteps sounded again. Ning Yuke did not make any decisions based on her own will, but returned to the leftmost fork in the road and stepped up.
There is nothing unusual, indicating that this road is indeed the only way to survive.
There was no sound everywhere, and the stone wall was as smooth as a mirror.
Holding the luminous pearl, he continued walking along the path for about a stick of incense. When Ning Yuke stopped for the second time, a huge stone cave with a length and width of dozens of feet suddenly appeared in front of him.
The stone cave is shaped like a bowl, and the entire stone walls and ground are all blue-grey, smooth and shiny, without a trace of dust, and it actually looks a bit like it is made of jade.
And in the middle of the cave is what Zhang San calls the Bagua array.
Qiankun shakes Xunda, and Kanligendui.
There is a wooden sword inserted in each of the eight hexagram positions. The appearance and shape are exactly the same. It can be said that there is no difference except for the different positions.
There are still five sentences to remind you of the fork in the road just now, but now...
Ning Yuke took a deep breath and placed the Night Pearl on the ground, then walked around the Bagua Array, remembering what Zhang San said.
Qian, Li, and Xun are the gates of death, and the remaining five gates are four for life and one for death.
Kun, Zhen, Kan, Gen, and Dui represent earth, thunder, water, mountains, and lakes in the Bagua...
Four lives and one death...
In other words, even if you choose randomly, there is only a 20% chance of choosing the door of death...
Ning Yuke didn't think for too long, or it seemed like she didn't think at all.
She just circled the formation, then stood on the "mountain" position, then reached out to hold the hilt of the sword and pulled it out with all her strength.
"Creak...wow!!!"
The sound of the machine's operation suddenly became louder and instantly resounded throughout the cave.