"Cough, cough... I'm fine, not dead yet. This old bastard actually didn't get electrocuted to death," Zhang Dabiao pushed away my hand, which was checking if he was still breathing, and coughed.
Compared to Zhang Dabiao's severe injuries, Xu Yi's paper tiger disintegrated mid-air. A faint green light flashed and entered the backpack at his waist. Xu Zhi grinned in pain. If it weren't for Li Zuoquan's overwhelming strength, he would have jumped up and cursed.
Looking towards the mountain pass, Li Zuoquan's face was dark, part of his body had become somewhat charred, and wisps of smoke were rising. Two mountain spirits stood in front of him, their scarlet eyes fixed on us.
Fearing the mountain spirits would charge at any moment, I drew my Yin Iron Wood Ruler and stood in front of Zhang Dabiao. Although I knew it was useless, I didn't want these beasts to harm anyone.
"Li Zuoquan, if you want to make a move, do it quickly. But you'll never open this door in your life."
In fact, I had no way to open the stone door behind me either, but I had to say it now, otherwise Zhang Dabiao would surely be killed by Li Zuoquan.
Li Zuoquan's sinister gaze fell upon me, sending a chill from the bottom of my heart upwards. Were these human eyes?
At this moment, Li Zuoquan's eyes had turned red. If it were only this, I wouldn't be afraid, but I don't know if he was under some evil spell, but a second pupil had appeared on the bloody whites of his eyes, as if he had grown an extra pair of eyes.
The strangest thing was that one pair of pupils was looking at me, while the other pair was split in two directions. Without looking back, I knew he was looking at Xu Yi and Zhang Dabiao.
Then, he withdrew his gaze, and the red in his eyes slowly receded, but his eyes never left me.
"Song Qingyun, I really underestimated you. You actually set a trap for me on the stone door," Li Zuoquan said with certainty.
Hearing this, I was stunned and secretly thought, if I had the ability, I would have set the intensity even higher and electrocuted you to death. How could you have the chance to act so arrogant here?
Taking a deep breath, I said softly, "I just found out there's a mechanism on this door. Perhaps it's like the barrier outside, maybe it only affects Yin spirits. If you don't believe me, you can let the two mountain spirits behind you try?"
Screech—
The two mountain spirits barked at Li Zuoquan while gesturing in front of him, occasionally pointing at me, as if they were saying something to Li Zuoquan.
"I know, I won't use you for experiments."
Li Zuoquan's words quieted the two mountain spirits. Their slightly scarlet eyes stared intently. If Li Zuoquan hadn't ordered them not to harm us earlier, these two hairy beasts would have killed us.
"There's no need to try. I don't think you have the ability. I was careless earlier, which led to the death of two mountain spirits, but I don't want this to be the first and last time. If I find you trying to escape or having any other thoughts, I will directly kill all three of you and make you my puppets forever."
Hearing this, Zhang Dabiao was about to get up, but I pressed him down and quickly said, "It definitely won't happen. It's just that there's a lock on this stone door, and we can't open it without a key!"
Li Zuoquan sneered, "Song Qingyun, don't try to play mind games with me. The fact that you can enter the barrier set by the True Dragon Tomb means you have something to break it. I advise you to open the door honestly. Say one more word, and I'll kill Zhang Dabiao directly."
Hearing this, my mind raced, and I mentally cursed Li Zuoquan's ancestors for eighteen generations. Seeing him looking at me with a half-smile, I felt guilty and quickly lowered my head, pretending to search my backpack.
I knew exactly what was in my bag. It only contained commonly used paper talismans and some simple daily necessities, nothing special. Why did Li Zuoquan assume I had something to break the stone door?
Reaching into my bag and fumbling around, I touched a cold, hard object. I instinctively took it out of my bag. Under the flashlight, it was the iron lump I had found when I was chased into the cave by the mountain spirits.
"When did I put this thing in my bag?"
The iron lump was about the size of a mooncake, shaped like an equilateral hexagon. It didn't reflect light under the flashlight. The dark material looked the same as the stone door behind me. Even the flashlight's beam was absorbed by it.
"Is this the key you're talking about?"
I weighed the hexagonal key in my hand and then threw it to Li Zuoquan.
Having experienced the electric shock earlier, Li Zuoquan did not reach out to catch it, letting the hexagonal key fall to the ground. He then gestured for the mountain spirits beside him to pick it up.
The mountain spirit sniffed it first, then pawed at it. Seeing that no electric light flashed, it picked it up and handed it to Li Zuoquan.
Seeing that the mountain spirit was fine, I sighed inwardly. Why didn't this thing emit an electric arc? It would have been great if it had killed them all.
Li Zuoquan, seeing that the mountain spirit was unharmed, breathed a sigh of relief. He took the hexagonal key from the mountain spirit and examined it carefully.
After looking around, he didn't find anything special and then threw it back at my feet.
"I don't know if this is the key to open the door. You can take it and try to open it to find out."
I picked up the iron lump from the ground and looked at Li Zuoquan with some concern, "Will there be blue electric arcs again? I don't want to become roasted duck."
Li Zuoquan's face darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "That depends on your luck."
His words made me inwardly complain. Old geezer, one day you'll fall into my hands. I'll imprison you in paper talismans and bury you in a latrine for a thousand years.
"Xu Yi, give me a hand and help me move Brother Zhang to the side."
The power of the blue electric arcs on the stone door was evident. Li Zuoquan was electrocuted, smoking all over, and almost died. If it hit us, we would turn into roasted ducks.
After settling Zhang Dabiao, I got up to open the door, but Zhang Dabiao pulled me back.
"Be careful!"
I nodded, acknowledging him.
In fact, I wasn't very confident. But judging from Li Zuoquan's reaction when he approached the stone door earlier, this stone door should only be effective against evil spirits. Otherwise, I would have been injured by the blue electric arcs the first time I touched it.
Approaching the stone door, I took a deep breath, my hand holding the key trembling as I reached towards the Jiaotu on the left side of the door. I prayed to all the gods and Buddhas, hoping they would protect me like my ancestors. I didn't want to become roasted duck here.
As the key approached, a great suction force came from the mouth of the Jiaotu, scaring me and making me want to retreat. But my hand was as if being pulled, and no matter how hard I tried, my arm was still being pushed into the Jiaotu's mouth inch by inch.
Click—
As the hexagonal key was inserted into the lock, the pulling force seemed to ease. I quickly moved away from the stone door.
The stone door, which had been black just moments ago, began to shake violently. Then, the entire cave also trembled, and large chunks of mud fell from the ceiling.
"Not good, the cave is collapsing."