The Unorthodox Tomb Raider

"This is the Suspended Stairway!"

Fang Yun raised the corner of his mouth and slowly said.

"The Suspended Soul Staircase is a mechanism derived from the I Ching. It belongs to the category of mazes. Its core is to rely on objects inside and outside the maze to deceive people's eyes and achieve a cyclical effect."

"You only have one pair of eyes, and you can only look in one place."

"If you look at the road ahead, you won't be able to see where you're standing, and you'll easily fall into an abyss. But if you look at where you're standing, you won't be able to see the road ahead and around you, and you'll just keep walking on the same road."

"It looks like it's moving in a straight line, but it's actually just going in circles."

Fang Yun unfolded the paper and handed it to everyone, pointing to the 'butterfly' on the paper and saying:

“This butterfly represents the path we have taken. Because we were surrounded by darkness, and the stone steps were long and wide with only slight drops, you did not realize that you had taken a detour. After all, you must keep your eyes on your feet.”

Upon hearing this, Partridge Whistle suddenly understood and immediately pointed to a large black dot on the paper, saying:

"Brother Fang's drawing of the hexagram Dui above Kan below is the Kun hexagram, where Yang is below Yin, indicating a state of distress and hardship."

"And this black dot must be one of the six positions in the Kun hexagram, which is where the way out lies, right?"

Partridge Whistle had been traveling the world for over a decade and was very experienced. Although he hadn't discovered the secrets of this place before, he suddenly understood after seeing Fang Yun explore the truth.

According to the pattern drawn by Fang Yun, the Suspended Soul Ladder is a butterfly flying in the Kun hexagram.

If we incorporate this Kun hexagram into the Eight Trigrams, and add the black dots drawn by Fang Yun into the Eight Trigrams...

That would complete the Kun hexagram, transforming it into the Jie hexagram, and changing the Kun hexagram's ninth line in the pre-heaven Bagua into the Li hexagram's ninth line in the post-heaven Bagua, thus creating a harmonious state of Yin and Yang in the pre-heaven and post-heaven Bagua.

Although the positions of the trigrams in the Pre-Heaven Bagua and the Post-Heaven Bagua are different, they look quite similar at this time.

To resolve this "困" hexagram, we must fill in the missing black dots drawn by Fang Yun.

There are no stone steps at that spot... so they'll probably have to block it with people.

Simply escape the trap hexagram!

(This is all made up, don't scold me. That kind of gossip is ridiculous. I spent an entire afternoon researching it and didn't understand a single thing.)

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Giant Black Cobra

After reaching a conclusion, the four of them, led by Fang Yun, headed towards the place where the divination was performed.

"right here!"

Before long, Fang Yun called everyone to stop, walked to the stone steps, and looked down into the abyss.

"Break free from the 'trapped' hexagram, and you will find a way out!"

Seeing this, Partridge Whistle and the other two also looked down.

Everywhere you look, there is a misty fog, and the stone steps below seem to be a bottomless abyss, which is extremely terrifying.

The old foreigner swallowed hard, feeling a chill run down his spine, and asked Fang Yun somewhat guiltily:

"Fang Yun...did you calculate the location correctly?"

"If this calculation is wrong, we won't be able to come back up once we go down."

"Tsk..."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yun rolled her eyes and replied irritably.

"Are you stupid? I didn't tell you to jump down directly. Can't you tie a rope?"

"Why don't we just throw something away and see what happens? Use a little ingenuity!"

!!!

Upon hearing Fang Yun's words, all three of them realized the truth and sighed inwardly that none of them had thought of such a simple principle.

It's truly a case of not recognizing the true face of Mount Lu, simply because one is standing within the mountain itself.

The old foreigner immediately took an arrow from his quiver, nocked it on his bow, and shot it into the darkness.

"Qiang!"

The arrow had barely pierced the darkness when a clanging sound rang out.

Visibility in the darkness was only about two or three meters. The arrow hit the object as soon as it left everyone's sight.

Clearly, there was a hard object beneath the stone steps, and it was very close to the group.

"There really is a road?!"

Seeing this, the old foreigner's eyes lit up, and he took out two more arrows and shot them downwards.

Clang... clang...

Both arrows collided with a hard object as soon as they entered the darkness, and judging from the distance of their trajectories, it looked like there was a wide road below.

After testing the waters, the four of them felt relieved, and the old foreigner even volunteered to go down and scout ahead.

So, after tying a safety rope around the old foreigner's waist, Partridge Whistle and Fang Yun used the rope to gradually lower the old foreigner down.

Soon, the old foreigner descended into the darkness, and his figure could no longer be seen from above.

But then, the old foreigner's voice rang out from the darkness.

"Senior brother, there really is a path down here."

"There's a stone staircase below, but it looks like there's a hole behind it!"

"I've lowered the rope, you can just jump down. It's not very high, jump one by one, and don't step on anyone."

Hearing the old foreigner's excited voice, everyone laughed.

The four of them jumped down one after another, all landing on the lower stone steps.

Just as the old foreigner said, these stone steps are exactly the same as the upper stone steps, except that they are only about ten meters long. There is no way forward, and a few meters behind is a cave.

Looking at the cave, Partridge Whistle exclaimed, "A glimmer of hope..."

"I don't know what Li Chunfeng meant by leaving a way out in his own tomb."

Fang Yun glanced at Partridge Whistle and said with a smile.

"The ideas of a feng shui master are not something that ordinary people can understand."

"At least one thing is certain: this place was left behind by Li Chunfeng."

"We don't know what awaits us next, so we must be careful. We've come this far, so we can't afford to capsize in a ditch."

Upon hearing Fang Yun's words, everyone nodded solemnly.

Since entering the Underworld Palace, we have already encountered three traps, and none of them are easy to solve. Without sufficient insight, we would not have made it this far.

After resting for a while, the group of four entered the cave and gradually walked deeper into it.

The cave was a straight line leading downwards, and the passage was very long. It took the group a full ten minutes to reach the end of the passage.

Beyond the passageway lay a pitch-black space.

Seeing this, Fang Yun reached into his pocket, actually secretly taking out several phosphorescent tubes from his system space.

After lighting the phosphorescent tube, it was thrown into the darkness.

Suddenly, light pierced the darkness.

Outside the cave entrance was a vast cavern space, and at the end of the cavern stood a magnificent and solemn palace gate.

By the light of the phosphorescent tube, one could faintly see the dense brackets covering the eaves and the colorful paintings covering the door.

Judging from the scale of the temple gate, this hall is also a temple for the dead!

"The third Underworld Palace?"

"Li Chunfeng's coffin should be inside this underworld palace."

"Judging from the path we've traveled, the mountainside is about this big."

Partridge Whistle took a deep breath, adjusted his state, and prepared to walk out of the cave.

"Wait!"

Just then, Fang Yun suddenly stopped Partridge Whistle, his expression turning somewhat serious.

"Brother Fang?"

Partridge Whistle paused, puzzled, and was about to ask a question.

But before he could ask, he saw Fang Yun with a solemn expression, pointing to the top of the cave ahead.

The three of them looked in the direction Fang Yun was pointing.

In the cave ahead, several dark figures, each larger than a small car, slowly slid down from the sky.

Only after the dark figures entered the range of the phosphorescent tube were the people able to see what they looked like.

That's a black worm, or even a giant black worm!

Those black spiders looked enormous, with bodies over ten meters long, and even a single leg was over a meter long!

These giant black spiders slid down from the cave ceiling using their spider silk and landed directly on the phosphorescent tube that Fang Yun had previously thrown away, curiously poking at the phosphorescent tube with their spider legs.

Upon seeing this, all four of them turned pale, including Fang Yun.

Black worms are indeed much easier to deal with than six-winged centipedes; a bullet can kill them. However, their sheer number creates a significant visual impact.