Acai's Sky

The bamboo forest in the morning mist seemed to be covered with a layer of gauze. Ah Cai squatted on the bluestone, and her fingers deftly tied a knot on the bell around Feiyue's neck.

"If you dare to run away again," she threatened with narrowed eyes, "I will have Brahma burn the hair on your tail until it is completely bald."

The Tengu whined twice in grievance, its ears drooping, but suddenly stood up alertly.

In the fog ahead, a mottled stone tablet was faintly visible, with two large blood-red characters "Stop" on it, crooked and twisted, as if they were scratched out by someone's fingernails.

"Is this the mechanical array?"

Tong Shishan rubbed her hands excitedly, the various tools hanging from her waist jingling. "Watch me!" She rushed forward, and as soon as her boots stepped on the first bluestone slab—

"Crack!"

The ground collapsed instantly, and dozens of bamboo arrows shot out from all directions.

The golden raccoon turned into a golden light and rushed out with a "swish", its sharp claws deeply inserted into the rock wall, and the other claw tightly grabbed the back of Tong Shishan's collar.

"My new boots!"

Tong Shishan wailed as she hung in mid-air. Her gold-embroidered deerskin boots had been pierced like hedgehogs by bamboo arrows, the arrowheads inscribed with the words "This side faces the enemy"—unfortunately, they were all inscribed backwards.

Ah Er waved the folding fan that he never let go of and walked forward slowly: "Let me show you what it means to break the formation gracefully..."

"Crack!"

The mechanism panel disguised as fallen leaves suddenly flipped over.

Ah Er reacted very quickly. He did a beautiful somersault and flew into the air, his clothes fluttering like a banished immortal.

Just as he was about to land perfectly, a bamboo branch stretched out horizontally and accurately hooked his belt.

"This... this is a new move..." Ah Er hung upside down on the bamboo shoot and explained with forced calmness.

His folding fan was still in the open position, but the four characters "Unparalleled in the World" on the fan were now turned upside down, becoming "Shuang Wu Xia Tian".

Ah Cai held his forehead and sighed, "Brahma, burn a path out."

Bifang lazily poked his head out from her sleeve, yawned, and a thin flame came out.

The moment the flame touched the bamboo arrow, it exploded with a "boom" and the entire mechanical bamboo arrow instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

"My beard!" Ah Er screamed, a piece of his carefully trimmed fake goatee was singed.

In the firelight, a line of strange words appeared on the rock wall: [Three steps to the left, immortals cannot save you]

"What do you mean?"

Tong Shishan had just finished asking when she suddenly felt something empty beneath her feet. Looking down, she saw the stone slab she was standing on was slowly sinking.

"Glutinous rice dumplings!" Acai shouted.

The tomb guardian beast, which had been silent as a mountain, suddenly moved. Its round body rushed forward at an incredible speed and sat down on the sunken stone slab.

"crunch-"

The stone slab groaned under its heavy weight, but miraculously stopped.

"call......"

Tong Shishan had just breathed a sigh of relief when she suddenly heard a whooshing sound coming from above her head.

Dozens of bamboo tubes shot out from the treetops, exploded in mid-air, and scattered powder all over the sky.

"Hold your breath!"

A Cai pulled her sleeves over her mouth and nose.

Jin Yuanbao cleverly crawled into her collar, and Tuantuan quickly rolled himself into a ball of fur.

"Ah! Ahh!"

Brahma, who was closest to the place, was not so lucky. He sneezed more than ten times in a row, and his face was covered with tears and snot.

The powder fell on his clothes and gradually showed color - it was rouge powder, which added an ugly pink color to his fur.

"Love incense?" Xiao Xiao asked while pinching his nose.

Ah Cai shook her head, "No, it's..." Before she could finish her words, Tiangou's eyes suddenly blurred, and he struck a seductive pose: "Is this dog...beautiful?"

"It's narcissism powder!"

Ah Cai suddenly realized, "Quickly find the antidote!"

Just as everyone was in a panic, the words on the rock wall suddenly changed: [Seven steps to the right, the gate of life opens]

"Wait," Ah Cai narrowed her eyes, "Can this mechanism read minds?"

She took seven tentative steps to the right, and sure enough, the ground didn't move at all.

When the seventh step was taken, the bamboo forest in front of him parted with a "rustle", revealing a path paved with bluestone slabs.

"Let's go!" Ah Cai was about to take a step when Feiyue suddenly bit the hem of her skirt. Tengu stared warily at an unremarkable stone slab in the middle of the path, muttering a low "look over there" in his throat.

Acai picked up a stone and threw it over.

With a "dong" sound, the stone slab flipped over, revealing the densely packed -

"Clips?"

Tong Shishan's eyes widened. "A trap?"

"No, that's not right." Ah Cai squatted down to take a closer look. "Is it... a crab claw?"

Sure enough, those metal clamps were carved with crab patterns, and the clamp mouths were painted red, just like a bunch of hairy crabs with their claws and fangs bared.

"This is so insulting!"

Ah Er said angrily, "Using crab claws against us?"

The golden raccoon snorted disdainfully and jumped directly into the trap.

It jumped nimbly between the clamps, and with each step it took, it used its claws to accurately step on the trigger mechanism of the clamp.

In a short while, the entire array of clamps was triggered by it, turning into a pile of scrap metal with its mouth wide open.

"Great!"

Tong Shishan clapped her hands, but forgot that she was still standing on the sinking stone slab.

Her body swayed and she almost fell down, but fortunately the glutinous rice dumpling wrapped its tail around her waist.

Continue forward and you will see a stone statue at the end of the path.

It was a Maitreya Buddha holding his belly, with his mouth open and a sparkling bead in his mouth.

"Mingyuepei?"

Tong Shishan's eyes lit up and she reached out to take it.

"Wait!" Ah Cai grabbed her and said, "Look at the statue's hands."

Maitreya Buddha raised his right index finger slightly and pointed at his bloated belly.

Ah Cai carefully pressed the belly of the stone statue——

"Boom!"

The statue's belly suddenly opened, revealing the complex gear mechanism inside.

Dozens of silver threads as thin as hair crisscrossed each other, with an exquisite copper key hanging in the center.

"Snake mechanism," Ah Cai gasped, "It will be triggered if it touches any of the strings."

Tuan Tuan suddenly meowed and lightly jumped onto the statue's shoulder. He gently brushed the silver threads with the tip of his furry tail, but they remained motionless.

Then, it carefully put its tail into the center of the mechanism and wrapped around the key.

"Click."

The key was safely removed and the mechanism was intact.

"Well done!" Ah Cai rubbed Tuantuan's head and took the key. At that moment, the entire bamboo forest suddenly shook violently, and the ground began to crack.

"No!" Ah Cai yelled, "Run!"

Everyone rushed forward desperately.

Behind him, the bamboo forest twisted and tangled like a living thing, and the ground collapsed piece by piece.

Just when they were about to be caught up, Acai saw the light at the exit of the bamboo forest ahead.

\"Jump!\"

Everyone leaped out of the bamboo forest. A loud "boom" sounded behind them, and the entire bamboo forest collapsed into a bottomless pit.

Ah Cai climbed up panting and found a note in her hand: [Congratulations on cracking the first level. The key can open the side door of Lan Ruo Xuan - left by Jia Fugui]

"This damn fat guy!"

Ah Cai gritted her teeth, "He should have known it was so dangerous!"

Tong Shishan suddenly pointed at A'er and burst into laughter.

It turned out that in the chaos, his hair had been caught by a mechanism at some point, and now it had become an exaggerated sky-high braid. With his colorful robe, he looked like a clown in an opera.

Ah Er was fixing his hair in anger and embarrassment, but he didn't notice that Feiyue was secretly pulling the jade pendant from his waist into her own pocket.

Upon seeing this, Jin Yuanbao immediately rushed over to help, and the two spirit beasts wrestled with each other for the spoils.

Ah Cai looked at the vague outline of Lan Ruoxuan in the distance and sighed: "I have a feeling that more trouble is yet to come..."