Transmigrating to win the heart of a beautiful snake

Chapter 474 Exploring the Ruins in Search of the Three Spirits: Perilous Yet Exciting Situations

Exploring the ruins in search of the three spirits, a perilous yet exciting adventure.

Filled with excitement at finding the ancient texts and with questions about the "Three Spirits," the group began a meticulous search of the ruins. The walls of the hall were covered with various mysterious patterns, as if telling ancient stories.

Pigsy strode over to a wall, his head almost touching it. He squinted at it for a long time, then scratched his bald head, muttering in confusion, "These drawings look like my childhood scribbles, all messy and haphazard. I can't understand a thing. What are they even trying to say?"

Xiaoqing walked over with light steps, gave him a disdainful look, put her hands on her hips and said, "You think you're so smart? This is a clue to an ancient ruin, we definitely have to study it carefully. You, don't cause trouble here, you're just making things worse."

Liu Yu and Ling Yue were intently studying the patterns on the wall, trying to find information related to the "Three Spirits." Suddenly, Liu Yu's eyes lit up, and she pointed to a painting depicting a towering mountain peak that seemed to pierce the sky. At the summit was a sparkling gem, surrounded by a strange, soft light that shimmered with iridescent colors, as beautiful as a dream.

“Look at this painting, could this gemstone be related to the ‘Three Spirits’?” Liu Yu frowned slightly, his eyes revealing a thoughtful look.

Lingyue nodded slightly, her gaze lingering on the painting for a moment before she said, "Very likely. Judging from the arrangement and style of these patterns, perhaps we need to go to this mountain to look for clues. But there should be other clues in this ruin. Let's search again and not miss any details."

Just then, Fahai discovered a hidden passage entrance in another corner of the hall. The entrance was partially blocked by a huge stone, revealing only a narrow gap through which a faint light shone.

"Everyone come quickly, there's a passage here!" Fahai shouted, his hands clasped together.

The crowd immediately gathered around, staring at the narrow passage with expressions of doubt and curiosity. Er Gou looked at his small frame and volunteered, "I'm small but agile. I'll go scout ahead and see what's inside."

Er Gou cautiously squeezed into the passage. The passage was narrow, forcing him to stoop as he moved. The rough, uneven walls occasionally brushed against his clothes. Outside, the others waited anxiously, their eyes fixed on the entrance, barely daring to breathe.

After a while, Er Gou's slightly excited voice came from the passage: "Everyone, come in quickly, there's a whole new world inside."

The group entered the passage one by one. The passage meandered and twisted, like a sleeping dragon. Some glowing stones were embedded in the walls, emitting a faint light that barely illuminated the path ahead. The light cast long shadows on the walls, which swayed eerily as they moved.

As they walked, a huge cave appeared ahead. The cave was filled with all sorts of treasure chests, each engraved with exquisite patterns, delicate and intricate, seemingly containing some mysterious meaning. But strangely, in the center of the cave was a huge hourglass, with sand flowing continuously down, making a "shush-shush" sound, as if counting down, adding a sense of tension to the entire cave.

"So many treasure chests, they must be full of treasures." Pigsy's eyes lit up, as if he had seen a Manchu Han Imperial Feast. He rubbed his hands excitedly, eager to rush over and open the treasure chests.

Liu Yu reacted quickly, extending her arm to stop him. She said seriously, "Bajie, don't rush. This place is strange. There must be something wrong with this hourglass. We need to be careful and not act rashly."

Just then, numerous hidden arrow holes suddenly appeared on the cave walls, densely packed like a honeycomb. Immediately afterward, arrows shot out with lightning speed. Everyone's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and they hurriedly scattered to avoid the arrows. Fahai swiftly raised his protective shield, its surface shimmering with a soft light, blocking many of the arrows. The arrows struck the shield with clanging sounds and sparks.

"What's going on?" Xiaoqing shouted as she dodged the arrows, her voice tinged with panic.

Lingyue quickly surveyed her surroundings and calmly said, "It seems we've triggered some kind of mechanism. These treasure chests are probably bait, deliberately luring us in. Everyone, find somewhere to hide first, and be careful not to get hit by arrows or get injured."

The group searched for shelter in the cave. As Pigsy dodged arrows in a disheveled manner, he muttered, "These traps are so despicable! I didn't even get to touch my treasure, and I almost got shot into a pincushion. When I find the person who set these traps, I'll definitely teach him a lesson."

Just as the rain of arrows finally stopped and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to discuss their next move, the cave floor suddenly began to shake violently. With a muffled thud, a gigantic spider crawled out from the depths of the cave. This spider was enormous, as large as a house, its body covered in sharp spines, each gleaming with a cold light like a razor-sharp blade. Its eight eyes glowed with an eerie red light, as if burning with two flames, staring menacingly at the group.

"Oh my god, such a big spider!" Pigsy was so frightened that his face turned pale and he almost fell to the ground.

The enormous spider, waving its thick, long legs, charged menacingly towards the group. Although terrified, Pigsy gritted his teeth and brandished his nine-toothed rake to bolster his courage, shouting, "I, Old Pig, will fight you to the death!" With that, the rake slammed into the spider's leg with a loud clang, but only sparks flew, seemingly causing little damage. The spider appeared enraged, letting out a sharp hiss that echoed through the cave, making everyone's ears ring.

Seeing this, Liu Yu immediately unleashed the power of his sword. The sword shone brightly, and a powerful sword aura shot out like a golden lightning bolt, striking the spider's body. However, the spider's exoskeleton was extremely hard, and the sword aura only left a shallow mark on it, like drawing a thin line on a hard rock.

Xiaoqing quickly shook the bell, and a crisp sound rang out instantly, emitting a sharp sound wave in an attempt to disrupt the spider's movements. The spider seemed somewhat wary of the sound wave; its movements became sluggish, and its previously rapidly waving long legs slowed down.

Fahai closed his eyes tightly, chanting incantations, and unleashed Buddhist light. The golden light, like warm sunlight, enveloped the spider, which struggled painfully within it, emitting piercing cries. Yet, it stubbornly continued its attack on the group, showing no sign of retreat.

Er Gou nimbly darted around, searching for the spider's weak point. He discovered that the spider's abdomen was relatively soft, so, taking advantage of a moment when the spider was attacking Zhu Bajie, he swiftly moved like a nimble little mouse to the spider's underside and, with all his might, plunged his dagger deep into it. The spider, in pain, let out an even sharper cry, and suddenly raised its abdomen, flinging Er Gou away. Er Gou crashed heavily to the ground like a kite with a broken string.

"Er Gou!" everyone exclaimed, their eyes filled with worry.

Liu Yu was extremely anxious. He put on the Crown of Wisdom again and, with its power, focused his attention on observing the spider's body structure. Soon, he discovered that although the spider's eyes were hard, there was a tiny slit below them, which seemed to be its weakest point in defense.

"Listen up, everyone! Attack the gap below its eyes! That's its weak point!" Liu Yu shouted, his voice firm and powerful, echoing through the cave like a resounding bell.

Upon hearing this, Pigsy's eyes flashed with determination. Seizing the opportunity, he leaped onto the spider's back. He slid swiftly down the spider's body to its head, then gripped his nine-toothed rake tightly with both hands and, with all his might, stabbed it fiercely into the slit below the spider's eyes. The spider let out a deafening scream, its body trembling violently. Its eight long legs flailed wildly, carving deep grooves into the cave floor.

Seizing the opportunity, everyone attacked the spider's weak point together. Liu Yu's sword emitted an even more dazzling sword aura, like a sharp blade, stabbing towards the spider's weak spot; Xiao Qing increased the sonic output of the large bell, the sharp sound waves causing the spider to writhe in pain; Fahai unleashed his full power of Buddhist light, which became even brighter, enveloping the spider in a golden glow; Er Gou, ignoring his own pain, got up and rejoined the battle, fiercely stabbing at the spider's weak point with his dagger.

Under the combined attack of everyone, the spider finally couldn't hold on any longer, let out a desperate cry, collapsed to the ground, turned into a pile of fragments, scattered all over the ground, and gradually disappeared.

"Phew, finally we've taken care of this big guy." Pigsy wiped the large beads of sweat from his forehead, let out a long sigh, and said.

Suddenly, the hourglass in the center of the cave stopped flowing, and all the treasure chests vanished instantly, as if they had never existed.

"Oh dear, my treasure is gone!" Pigsy said regretfully, a look of disappointment on his face.

Lingyue said, "These treasure chests are probably just a distraction; we still need to find the real clues. Let's check if there's anything special about this hourglass."

The crowd gathered around the hourglass, examining it closely. Liu Yu crouched down and discovered some small characters engraved on the bottom of the hourglass, the script ancient and mysterious. He leaned closer to look and read: "The path to seeking the spirit, water rises and mountains sink. Peaks conceal the source of the spirit, the hourglass guides."

“This should be telling us that the search for the ‘Three Spirits’ should start with places related to water and mountains, and is closely related to this mountain peak. Perhaps the hourglass can even guide us in the right direction,” Liu Yu said, lost in thought.

"But how does this hourglass indicate direction?" Er Gou scratched his head, looking puzzled.

Lingyue gently picked up the hourglass and examined it closely. She noticed a small pointer at one end of the hourglass, which was trembling slightly and pointing in one direction of the cave.

"It seems this is the direction. Let's follow the pointer," Lingyue said, a hint of confidence in her eyes.

The group continued forward in the direction indicated by the pointer. The passage grew narrower and the surrounding temperature dropped. As they walked, an ice wall appeared ahead. The ice wall was crystal clear, yet it exuded a chilling aura that made them shiver. Mysterious runes shimmered faintly on the ice wall, appearing and disappearing in the dim light.

"This ice wall is blocking our way, what should we do?" Xiaoqing asked, pulling her clothes tighter around herself, her teeth chattering.

Pigsy reached out and touched the ice wall, then immediately pulled back as if he'd been electrocuted, repeatedly exclaiming, "Ouch! This ice wall is freezing cold! My hands are about to freeze off! What am I going to do?"

Lingyue carefully observed the ice wall and discovered that the runes on its surface seemed to be conveying some kind of message. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and tried to decipher the runes using her magical knowledge. After a while, Lingyue slowly opened her eyes and said, "These symbols seem to be hinting that we need to find three keys to open this ice wall. And the keys might be nearby."

So, everyone began to carefully search the surrounding area for the key. Pigsy spotted something glittering in a corner. His eyes lit up, and he excitedly ran over, picked it up, and saw that it was a key made of ice. The key was crystal clear, with delicate patterns engraved on it. The patterns seemed to flow, radiating a mysterious aura.

"We've found a key!" Pigsy shouted excitedly, his face beaming with joy.

Next, Xiaoqing found the second key under a rock. Its shape was peculiar, as if forged from some mysterious metal, its surface shimmering with a faint blue light. Fahai discovered the third key in a crack in the passage. This key looked ancient and heavy, covered with ancient characters, seemingly telling a long story.