Inside the base of the metal machine, the roar of high-speed gears and connecting rod transmissions echoed, causing the entire metal machine to vibrate violently, like an engine with an overloaded power.

Immediately afterwards, yellow arcs shot out from both ends of the crescent moon cast in brass, crackling and connecting to the brass sphere.

The brass sphere then "clicked" and sounded, and tightly structured metal blocks scattered, rotating rapidly like a Rubik's Cube.

Then it froze, and a metal block moved to the center of the brass sphere, with a crooked inscription on it in ancient bronze script.

It was exactly the character "Dog" that Zhao Chenghuang had written by the pool earlier!

The brass sphere shot out a dense, twisted arc of electricity, hitting the flying Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Red Riding Hood immediately fell, and the hat lit up with crackling arcs of electricity.

Ichikawa Mei tried to manipulate Little Red Riding Hood, but her telekinetic ability didn't work.

"Unable to control." Ichikawa Mei knelt down, sticking her buttocks high in the air, her voice filled with expectation: "Ichikawa Mei has failed in her duties, please whip me hard, Master, and show no mercy!"

Seeing this scene, Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang's expressions became strange.

Especially Sun Miaomiao, who looked at Yuan Shi Tian Zun with a complicated expression.

She didn't expect him to be this kind of person.

"What nonsense are you talking about in public? I shouldn't have let you out..." Zhang Yuanqing's face twitched, "I'll deal with you later."

He opened his mouth and swallowed Ichikawa Mei back into his stomach.

"What's wrong with you two?" Guan Ya observed the expressions of the two Star Officials from the Taiyi Sect and noticed something was amiss.

Although she could sense spirits, she couldn't see them, let alone hear the spirit servant's voice.

"Ichikawa Mei's mental illness is acting up, requesting me to abuse her." Zhang Yuanqing took the initiative to confess, with a righteous look on his face, and said:

"Am I that kind of person? I am filled with righteousness, known as the Little Devil Eye, and I sternly refuse."

Tianxia Guihuo said in a deep voice, "Stop saying these irrelevant things, what should we do next?"

Guan Ya didn't dwell on the matter and said, "The attack was indeed launched by a mechanical weapon. If nothing goes wrong, the Yin corpse inside Little Red Riding Hood has been hit, but the item can't be retrieved, so we can't determine what kind of attack the Yin corpse suffered."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Yuan picked up the thread and said, "In any case, it wasn't beheading, which means there's another type of attack that hasn't been triggered. There might be two types of danger in the cave."

The two were still secretly competing.

"My Yin corpses are all in the hat, don't let anything happen..." Zhang Yuanqing worried secretly, turning his gaze to Xiahou Aotian, and said, "At this time, we need our protagonist to strategize."

Xiahou Aotian immediately raised his chin proudly, then pretended to think, "Let me think, let me think."

He communicated with the old man in the ring in his mind: "Master, what is this thing?"

"Don't know," replied the lazy alchemist from the Qin Dynasty.

…

"How can you not know?" Xiahou Aotian questioned, "You are also an old antique from the Qin Dynasty, and an alchemist, you must have dealt with the Mohists... Are you jealous of my brilliant talent and handsome appearance and want to kill me?"

The alchemist from the Qin Dynasty sighed: "Every time I hear you speak, I want to jump out of the ring and beat you to death. What good would it do me to kill you? I don't want to stay in the The Way of the Extraordinary. I don't know, I just forgot."

"Forgot? How could you forget?"

"I just forgot, do you remember things from before you were ten years old?"

"No..."

"Then why do you expect me to remember things from thousands of years ago?"

Xiahou Aotian was speechless, but it wasn't because he was truly at a loss for words, but because he had discovered a problem with the old man – incomplete memory.

Photographic memory is the most basic ability of a scholar, how could he forget?

Therefore, there must be something wrong with the soul of the Qin Dynasty alchemist, possibly involving the old man's privacy, so he chose to remain silent.

"Even as the protagonist, I am not omnipotent." Xiahou Aotian sighed.

The group, who had gradually become familiar with this person, immediately understood what he meant – I don't understand either!

Huh, even the old antique from the Qin Dynasty doesn't know? Zhang Yuanqing frowned, pondered for a long time, and said, "Then we can only try boldly and defend carefully. I'll lead the team forward, and you follow behind. Asano Ryo and Zhao Chenghuang, you two are responsible for guarding against the dangers above, I'll be responsible for resisting the machine's attacks, and everyone else improvises."

Asano Ryo is a water ghost and can physically withstand physical attacks, while Zhao Chenghuang's terracotta soldiers are cannon fodder that can be repeatedly repaired, making them the most suitable to deal with the dangers above.

In this way, with Zhang Yuanqing as the leader, the team moved towards the metal machine in an orderly and cautious manner.

To reach the exit on the other side of the cave, there was no way to avoid this mechanical creation in the center.

"Buzz…"

As the group approached the metal machine, the sound of high-speed gears and connecting rod collisions came from inside its base again.

Zhang Yuanqing calmly took out the Zijin Shield, pointed the shield face towards the metal machine, and warned in a deep voice:

"Attention!"

The scene from earlier happened again. Yellow arcs shot out from both ends of the crescent moon and connected with the suspended brass sphere. The tightly arranged small metal blocks loosened and rotated like a Rubik's Cube.

Under the tense and solemn gaze of the crowd, the metal block in the center of the brass sphere switched from "Dog" to an unfamiliar character.

"It's Pig!" Xiahou Aotian said loudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the brass sphere ejected dense arcs of electricity, shooting towards the crowd.

Zhang Yuanqing stepped forward without hesitation, raised the shield face, and blocked all the incoming arcs of electricity.

"Crackling…"

The Zijin Shield, under attack, also bounced out purple-gold arcs of electricity, the two different colored arcs reflecting each other.

This process lasted for more than ten seconds, and finally subsided.

Zhang Yuanqing shook his numb arm and looked back at his teammates, puzzled: "That's it?"

Guan Ya and the others were also a little surprised, but more than that, they were delighted.

Xiao Yuan suddenly realized, "It seems the real killer move is above our heads."

Guan Ya snorted, but she could only yield to reality, raised her head to look at the top of the cave, and said in a deep voice, "Guard against the top, protect your backs and heads."

The group bypassed the metal machine and continued forward. Zhang Yuanqing took a few steps, shook his sore arm, and said, "My arm is a little sore."

"Are you okay?" Hongjige beside him asked.

"I'm fine, it might be numb from the electricity."

Zhang Yuanqing looked at the Fire Master beside him, and said irritably, "Why did you run to my side? Why are you running so fast? We agreed to keep formation."

Hongjige said impatiently, "You're too slow, we're all walking on four legs, you're carrying a shield and walking on three legs, I passed you a long time ago."

Zhang Yuanqing was stunned, "What do you mean walking on four legs?"

He turned his head to look behind him, his teammates were tilting their heads, guarding the top, while wiggling their hips and walking quickly, their bent short tails wagging happily behind their butts.

"Oh, right, everyone is walking on four legs, I'm the one who's slow..." Zhang Yuanqing turned his head back, quickly moved his three legs, and led the team towards the exit.

Wait!

He suddenly stopped his three legs, realizing something was wrong.

Zhang Yuanqing's expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "What's going on, why have you all turned into pigs?"

The ones following behind him weren't people, but a group of fat white pigs, with fan-like ears and slender backs. Looking down, he saw his short forelimbs and hooves, his right hoof raised, fitted into the metal handle of the round shield.

Because his hoof was in the shield, he was walking on three legs.

In addition, he caught a glimpse of his long mouth and nose.

He had also turned into a pig.

"What do you mean we turned into pigs," Sun Miaomiao said grumpily, "We were pigs to begin with, stop talking nonsense, hurry up."

After speaking, she trotted a few steps and gave Zhang Yuanqing's butt a sow charge.

Zhang Yuanqing staggered, but his heart sank to the bottom, we were pigs to begin with?

When did we become pigs?

He anxiously stopped everyone, no, every pig.

"Tianxia Guihuo, are you a human or a pig?" he shouted.

Tianxia Guihuo calmly replied, "If I remember correctly, humans walk on two legs, what do you think?"

Hongjige ran around the team anxiously, his pig tail wagging happily, and said, "I'm so hungry, why hasn't anyone come to feed us yet, I want to eat bran, fresh bran…"

This person has turned into a pig, and is still thinking about eating fresh bran? Zhang Yuanqing felt increasingly terrified, and vigorously nudged Guan Ya, and shouted, "Sister Guan Ya, are you a human or a pig?"

Guan Ya snorted twice, "I'm not a human, that despicable and shameless species, don't talk to me, go find your old sow."

Xiao Yuan said coldly, "What's wrong with old sows, your man just likes old sows, he told me that himself."

Zhang Yuanqing broke out in a cold sweat, not because of the old sow thing, but because the situation was too bizarre and absurd.

They were like they had been hit by a transformation curse from a fairy tale, turning from humans into pigs. What was even more terrifying was that everyone's thinking and logic were clear, but no one realized there was a problem.

Everyone firmly believed that they were a pig.

"Zhao Chenghuang, are you a human?" Zhang Yuanqing shouted.

Zhao Chenghuang said coldly, "Why are you scolding a pig for no reason?"

Zhang Yuanqing was also anxiously running around in circles, arching back and forth restlessly.

Princess Yinyao quickly squatted down, a small horn in her pig mouth, and reminded, "Everyone be careful, protect your butts, Yuan Shi Tian Zun has gone crazy, prevent him from forcing mating."

Tianxia Guihuo calmly analyzed, "Don't worry, Yuan Shi Tian Zun shouldn't be in heat yet."

Zhang Yuanqing was so angry that he howled.

"Huh, you can actually maintain human cognition." A voice entered Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

Zhang Yuanqing was shocked and looked "towards" a handsome white pig – Xiahou Aotian. This white pig had a black iron ring on its hoof.

"You are…"

Zhang Yuanqing asked using the Night Wanderer's communication method.

"We've met, in the First Emperor's underground palace." The voice was old and grave, "Now is not the time for reminiscing, your situation is very bad, everyone's cognition has been changed."

"Yes, they think they are pigs." Zhang Yuanqing said anxiously, "What to do, what to do, Senior, please think of a way."

"It seems you've been affected too, you've become less clever." The Qin Dynasty alchemist sighed, "I can't help you, but I can roughly guess what's going on."

"What's going on?" Zhang Yuanqing asked subconsciously.

He had indeed become less clever, like the Fire Master, asking questions when he didn't understand, giving up thinking.

"This is a powerful curse, a curse that can turn people into animals. The Mohists integrated curse magic into mechanism art. People who are cursed will have a wrong perception and firmly believe that they are a pig." The Qin Dynasty alchemist said, "Even if you tell them a hundred times that they are actually human, no one will believe you, because I've already tried it, that silly boy actually said to me, how can humans, that stupid animal, be compared with pigs, a pig's head is the smartest head in the world, and he is the smartest pig."

The old alchemist sighed, "Fortunately, this kind of curse has a time limit and won't last too long."

Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good, that's good."

"Good?" The Qin Dynasty alchemist chuckled, "What's good about turning into a pig in this dangerous place? Try to see if you can still open your inventory, or release skills."

Zhang Yuanqing tried, and his pig face turned pale instantly, "Ca, can't open it…"

"Can skills still be used?"

"Skills are gone too…"

The sense of crisis in Zhang Yuanqing's heart exploded instantly. Turning into a pig in a dungeon and losing his skills was almost a dead end.

Also, he always felt that this kind of experience was familiar, as if he had suffered similar hardships before, but his pig brain couldn't remember.

"The restriction should come from 'Against Music', but the real core of this level is 'Against Fate'. Remember what 'Against Fate' means?" The Qin Dynasty alchemist said, "My fate is up to me, not heaven. Only by not believing in fate can you resist fate. Only by not believing that you are a pig can you resist the fate of being slaughtered. This is the Mohist's test. I forgot a lot of things, so I couldn't warn you in advance."

"You can maintain your ego, which means you are a person who doesn't believe in fate, the most biased and rebellious in the team. Tsk tsk, born rebellious, a body of rebellious bones, it turns out it's not a slogan, it's the truth." As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of buzzing gears came from above.

The next second, a puppet holding a steel knife descended from the hole above Hongjige, and with a flash of the knife, it slashed towards Hongjige's head.

Zhang Yuanqing was shocked and ran on his three hooves, slamming into the puppet from the side.

Bang!

The puppet's knife skewed, and the blade struck Hongjige's back, cutting through flesh like a red-hot knife cutting through cheese, instantly splitting the skin and flesh, and even severing the spine, blood gushing out like a fountain.

Hongjige fell to the ground, his four hooves twitching violently, making a dying scream.