A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 116 Why Not Move Forward Again?

Guan Luoyang didn't touch the white bronze again and quietly stepped back a little.

Lu Chunhua was carried by the flying carpet and flew into the stone chamber through the passage.

The spiritual power binding the flying carpet momentarily loosened, causing it to tremble from its pyramid-like shape, peel away, and return to its flat state.

Seeing the state of Bai Tong's side, Lu Chunhua opened her mouth as if to say something, but did not utter a sound. Instead, she gave Guan Luoyang a questioning look.

Guan Luoyang raised an index finger to his lips, signaling for silence.

Lu Chunhua nodded, sat on the flying carpet, and looked around the stone chamber.

A trembling squirrel in the corner, driven by instinct, leaped toward Lu Chunhua, who was not in any real danger.

A blur of motion flashed inside the room, and Guan Luoyang suddenly appeared beside the flying carpet, grabbing the little squirrel by the scruff of its neck first.

The little squirrel was all tense, its fluffy tail stretched out like a feather duster, making a silent scream as if it had been frightened into silence.

Lu Chunhua looked over in surprise, examined it carefully, and whispered, "This looks like a treasure-hunting rat, a harmless auspicious beast."

Guan Luoyang recognized the squirrel; it was mentioned in the information about Lang Shiqi, which only stated: "His master's motives are strange. The information clearly describes him as a treasure hunter with an excellent reputation who only loves money, but he suddenly turned against him, stole Luo Bense's sword, and left. Oh, that sword was the one Luo Bense stole from Tongbai's family before."

Lu Chunhua stepped off the flying carpet, her voice low: "But this kind of auspicious beast is very rare. It is timid by nature and is said to be able to understand human speech. The secret records contain many examples of people abandoning darkness and turning to the light."

The little squirrel nodded repeatedly.

Guan Luoyang turned it around to face him and said coldly, "So you're just a fence-sitter, without any principles?"

The little squirrel stuck its big tail up, its paws clutching its tail, looking rather aggrieved.

Lu Chunhua thought for a moment, then turned around and took out a small dumpling from the backpack on the flying carpet, and handed it to the little squirrel with a smile.

"If it's a little darling, then from now on you'll only be allowed to eat the food I feed you."

The little balls looked like dark chocolate balls, but they smelled of resin.

The little squirrel stretched out its two paws, cleaved the food in two with a crunching sound, and swallowed it.

A moment later, its tail suddenly loosened, its little paws drooped down at the same time, its head tilted to one side, and its eyes rolled back.

"Alright, if I don't give it the antidote, it won't wake up for three days and three nights. Even if it has to confront its former owner later, there's no need to worry."

Lu Chunhua clasped her hands together and earnestly said to Guan Luoyang, "Let me keep it."

Guan Luoyang handed it to her helplessly: "Then you'll have to take responsibility for it yourself."

"Thank you so much!"

Lu Chunhua took the squirrel, found the lamp she had used before, removed the light bulb, put the squirrel in the lampshade with ventilation holes, and then stuffed it into her backpack.

woo-

She zipped up the backpack, put it on, and began to move carefully through the stone chamber.

The glow sticks were still lit, but the light was gradually dimming. However, some of the corpses still had lights on their bodies.

In the stone chamber where the battle had just taken place and dust had been stirred up, the lights were highlighted by the dust, beams of light crisscrossing and intertwining.

Lu Chunhua disliked the disorderly lighting, so when she moved around, she would sometimes flip the lamps so that all the light would shine on the top of the stone chamber.

She showed no fear towards these corpses, and sometimes, if she saw a body with its eyes open, she would even close them for it.

Guan Luoyang followed beside her, his voice barely audible: "Is this the place you're looking for?"

"It's hard to say."

Lu Chunhua shook her head, stopped beside a ditch, lowered her gaze, looked at the blue liquid, and said, "Logically speaking, this should indeed be the most auspicious place in the underground palace, but it seems that the treasure is not placed here."

Guan Luoyang: "Perhaps there's some hidden mechanism?"

Lu Chunhua pointed to the rotating stone doors and said, "With all eight openings, there are no other traps or mechanisms set up here. To store that treasure, a special bronze altar is needed, which is quite large and should be very conspicuous."

Guan Luoyang: "Didn't you say you didn't need that treasure?"

Lu Chunhua paused for a moment, then turned to Guan Luoyang and smiled, "Actually, besides the feng shui here, I need to make use of that bronze altar even more."

She raised her hand and swore, "This is the complete and utter truth. I don't crave the immortal fruit of eternal life; I only wish to use the Star-Turning Fate Plate to change my own destiny."

Lu Chunhua explained her so-called illness—her destiny was determined by the Nine Emperors of the Big Dipper.

This should have been a supreme and noble destiny, but destiny and fortune complement each other. Although Lu Chunhua's background has some special aspects, it is completely insufficient to provide a fortune that matches the Nine Emperors of the Big Dipper. The gap is more exaggerated than heaven and earth.

Thus, a noble destiny can actually be oppressive.

As she grew older, those around her were affected by her fate. Their talents were hard to utilize, their ambitions were thwarted, their brilliance faded, and they became depressed and restless. They had to reduce their contact with her or even cut off all contact with her in order to get a little breathing room.

She herself was increasingly burdened by this fate, developing a painful feeling of weakness and inability to bear the weight.

The illness is not in the body, but in the void. If he cannot save himself, Lu Chunhua estimates that he doesn't have many months left to live.

"Destiny?" Guan Luoyang nodded slightly. "This thing can actually have such a significant impact on a person?"

Lu Chunhua said, "Fate doesn't determine everything. A person's actions in life are only partly determined by fate."

Guan Luoyang chuckled: "The remaining seven points depend on personality, perseverance, and opportunity?"

"No. It's 97% left, and it all depends on me."

Lu Chunhua took a deep breath and said, "I will definitely survive."

From the time she was old enough to understand, she had resented and despaired about this, feeling that her fate was like a terminal illness. But later she learned to be grateful for her life.

Swimming in the shallows of the beach at dawn in winter, until the sun shines on your back, warming the water droplets and softening the sunlight, bathing you in the seawater.

For that moment of joy, Lu Chunhua was determined to save her own life.

"But why not put it here?"

Lu Chunhua pressed his finger to his left temple, puzzled. "All arrangements with special powers must follow the laws of nature. If energy can be transformed into malevolent energy and arranged into a formation, then according to the balance of heaven and earth, there must also be some places where auspicious energy gathers in an exceptional way."

"Therefore, every formation in the world has its testimonies; there has never been a truly invincible formation. But the core of the formation is right here, while the Longevity Fruit and the bronze plate, which should also serve as the core and stabilizing elements of the entire formation, are not here..."

Guan Luoyang walked to the fallen stone tablet, looked at the four characters on the front, then used his toes to tilt the tablet to the side to look at the four characters on the back.

"If you see the feng shui, you can turn back. The bearded stranger is truly kind-hearted."

After a moment's thought, Guan Luoyang smiled with a hint of fighting spirit in his eyes, "Miss Lu, you guided us all the way here, didn't you choose the safest route?"

Lu Chunhua said confidently, "You could say that I avoided at least 70% of the dangerous changes in the traps and formations when I chose those alternative paths."

Guan Luoyang revealed an expression of certainty: "They have treasure-hunting rats, which should help them avoid danger and take fewer detours. But you also said that this isn't a tomb."

"This underground palace can be considered a test left behind by the Bearded Stranger. If you flee from danger and cower towards the auspicious place, how can you be considered to have passed his test?"

Snapped!

Guan Luoyang clasped his hands together and said, "Why don't you try to deduce where the most dangerous place might be?"

After saying this, he paused slightly, suddenly realizing that his clapping might have disturbed Bai Tong.

When he turned around, Bai Tong was already walking towards him with a normal expression.

Yes, "as usual," as indifferent as ever.

Lu Chunhua didn't notice this, but suddenly realized that he had taken out paper and pen from his backpack, spread out his notebook, placed it on the side of the stone tablet, and started writing and drawing.

She had concisely recorded all the forks in the road, the mechanisms, and the changes in the formations they had encountered. Now, following this record, it was as if more branches were extending from the main trunk, allowing them to deduce from all directions.

To calculate the specific effects of formations in other places based on this would be asking too much.

However, if we simply mark the most dangerous locations in the overall situation, it becomes much simpler.

"I've figured it out."

Lu Chunhua looked up, weighing her options, and said, "I never imagined that despite all my efforts to avoid danger, I would still have to venture into perilous territory. You two, I..."

"I'd be happy to try out a question posed by a legendary figure like Qiu Ran Ke."

Guan Luoyang laughed and said, "Let's at least try it out first. If things don't look good, then we'll figure out how to escape."

Bai Tong's face was cold, but when he spoke, his tone revealed a slight softening compared to usual.

"Let's go."

He said, "I also have a sword to retrieve."

Happy Lunar New Year's Eve to everyone!

Whether you're working or a student, whether you're at your hometown or unable to go back, I hope everyone can have a relaxed and enjoyable Lunar New Year's Eve.

Wishing us a better year and a brighter future starting tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)