Acai's Sky

Dark River of the Netherworld: Falling Stars

The damp and rotten smell mixed with the aroma of aged wine blew towards me, and the round claws of the gold ingot slapped "clack" on the mossy stone wall.

This wine-loving fortune-attracting beast exudes a strong aroma of aged osmanthus wine. Its drunken appearance makes it completely unaware of the abnormality under its claws - suddenly there is a "clicking" sound of gears turning on the stone wall, and the mechanism that has been dormant for a thousand years wakes up at this moment.

"Boom——"

The huge roar was like the roar of an ancient beast, shaking the entire cave.

The blind fish lurking in the dark river were frightened and scattered, their slippery bodies causing ripples on the water surface.

The lucky golden rat burped, and the wine that leaked from its cheek pouch dripped into the water, forming circles of golden ripples on the surface of the dark river.

The most shocking thing was that the star map on the Xuantian tortoise shell suddenly burst out with green light, and the dazzling light illuminated everyone's astonished faces.

"pay close attention!"

Acai's scream broke the silence of the cave.

The golden raccoon dog reacted extremely quickly, and the tip of its furry tail quickly wrapped around half a piece of mung bean cake - its favorite snack.

But before it could breathe a sigh of relief, the entire team fell into the underground river like a kite with a broken string.

The freezing cold river water instantly swallowed everyone up, and the stench of rotting aquatic plants filled their nostrils, making people almost nauseous.

As the only fire-attributed spirit beast in the team, Brahma showed great power at this moment.

Its fire feathers exploded into several golden lotuses underwater. The light dispelled the darkness, but also reflected the ferocious faces of the three stone statues of tomb-guarding beasts at the bottom of the river.

The stone statues had empty eyes and strange curves at the corners of their mouths, as if mocking the intruders' presumptuousness.

[System prompt] Trigger the hidden scene: Dark River of the Underworld

(Oxygen value remaining 300 seconds, please find a breathing point as soon as possible)

Cold numbers appeared before everyone's eyes, and a sense of urgency instantly enveloped their entire body.

At this moment, a group of fluorescent jellyfish spread out like stardust, and the bubbles of snot they spit out wrapped everyone in them and slowly floated to the surface of the water.

Ah Cai wiped the water stains off her face and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw sticky blood oozing from the stone statue's eyes, slowly weaving a blood-red puzzle on the water surface: "Where Xuanwu bears the sky, in which spring does his tears fall?"

"We're still testing arithmetic at this time!"

The girl stepped on Brahma's back and jumped out of the water, the silver bells in her hair jingling with her movements.

Suddenly, Feiyue let out a low roar, swung out his sharp claws, and shattered the incoming arrows - which were actually solidified blood beads, and the sharp sound of them breaking through the air echoed in the cave.

Xuantian slowly exhaled a string of bubbles, and the star map on his carapace projected the shadows of the Twenty-Eight Mansions on the water surface.

When the pattern of Kui Su overlapped with the base of the stone statue, the entire underground river suddenly boiled.

Twelve drowned corpses holding shovels broke out of the water, and the fluorescent water plants wrapped around their bodies swayed in the water, just like the poisonous bean sprouts soaked in the kitchen of Zuixianfang, emitting a disgusting smell.

"Kanwei!"

Ah Cai threw out the silk ribbon soaked in realgar wine, her voice firm and calm.

The golden raccoon transformed into a stream of golden light, moving nimbly among the drowned corpses and taking out the bronze key from their waists.

The moment the key was inserted into the navel of the stone statue, a nine-square platform rose from the bottom of the river, each square engraved with the name of a different spring.

【[QTE puzzle]

In fifteen seconds, please:

1. Step through the grid according to the Luoshu steps

2. Using Xuantian Carapace to Create a Star Map

3. Make Jin Yuanbao spit out the wine to activate the array's center.

The countdown numbers jumped in front of her eyes. Ah Cai took a deep breath and walked across the water with the Yu step.

The silver bells in her hair shattered the relentless onslaught of blood, her movements graceful and swift. When her final step landed on the "Four Springs of the Earth" grid, the drowned corpse suddenly let out a piercing scream, transforming into blood and merging into the riverbed.

A jade box slowly rose in the center of the platform, and the fragments of the "River Map" in the box were being held up by fluorescent jellyfish, emitting a mysterious light.

[Obtain] River Map Fragment·Earth Section

(Unlocks the position of Xuanwu's true form, and increases the team's water resistance by 20%)

An undercurrent, accompanied by a fishy wind, swept past his ears. The golden raccoon dog suddenly twitched its nose, its eyes alert: "There's a smell of rust! Three hundred steps northwest!"

The raft they were riding on suddenly crashed into the rock wall, making a loud noise - it turned out to be a half-sunken bronze chariot. The chains wrapped around the shaft were still dripping with fresh blood, and the dark red bloodstains spread in the water, which was extremely weird.

The golden rat suddenly twitched all over, its drunken whiskers drawing mysterious paths in the air: "Four dimensions overlap... The answer lies between the third layer of water and the eighth layer of fog..."

Before he could finish his words, the entire body of water suddenly collapsed into a huge whirlpool, and the powerful suction force pulled everyone downwards.

[Oxygen value remaining 127 seconds]

At the critical moment of life and death, Tuan Tuan instantly expanded to twice its size, and the fluorescent light bursting out from between the hairs illuminated the dome.

Brahma flapped his wings and ignited the moss on the rock wall. The phosphorescent fire deposited for thousands of years outlined a strange mural: armored warriors were sacrificing living people to the giant turtle. In the last picture, stars fell from the turtle's eyes and turned into a flood that submerged the royal city.

The bloody scene seems to be telling a story from the past, which makes people shudder.

"Ventilation hole!"

Ah Cai's sharp eyes spotted a stalactite. She pierced the stalactite with her dagger, and a foul yet breathable air gushed out of the hollow stone column.

The crowd was dangling like grasshoppers on a branch. Before they could recover, a swarm of human-faced insects suddenly surged in the underground river beneath their feet.

Those toothy corpse beetles used their bodies to piece together new puzzles on the water surface, and the dense swarms of insects made one's scalp tingle.

The golden raccoon was quick-witted and swift-handed. He waved his claws and said, "The name of the Third Spring has changed!"

The stone slab that was originally engraved with "Tianqiquan" now showed the three words "Yileyuan".

Xuantian's tortoise shell began to rotate on its own, the star map resonated with the meteorite hanging upside down on the top of the rock, and a dangerous atmosphere filled the air.

The dome cracked with a loud bang, and meteorite fragments frozen with starlight fell into the dark river like raindrops.

Every meteorite froze into an ice path when it touched the water surface. At this critical moment, Jin Yuanbao opened his mouth and vomited at an inopportune time - the torrent of peach blossom wine was like a sharp blade, shattering the outer shell of the meteorite.

"Golden Jade Clothes?"

Feiyue sniffed the remaining warmth on the jade piece, her eyes full of doubt.

Ah Cai put her ear to the surface of the largest meteorite and faintly heard the sound of Western Han Dynasty music mixed with mourning wails: "This is a star burial coffin!"

【System prompt】Activate Star Burial Guard

The jade pieces automatically pieced together to form a humanoid battle armor, and lightning flashed at the tip of the spear.

Brahma's flames reflected a thousand phantoms on the jade mask. The golden raccoon dog gnawed at the joints of the jade mask in disbelief, but with a "crack" its front teeth broke. The pain made it grimace, "Why does this jade mask taste like mutton?"

"Qin-made Cloud Thunder Armor," Ah Cai calmly analyzed as she dodged the guard's sweeping halberd blade, "Find the stopcock behind the heartguard!"

She decisively inserted the hairpin into the gap in the armor, and instantly, mercury vapor gushed out.

With a loud bang, the guards collapsed and the dark river returned to silence at this moment.

Moonlight—real moonlight—seeped in through the newly cracked rock, casting a soft glow upon the group.

In front of them floated a salted fishing boat, its cabin filled with bronze mirrors covered in green rust.

Each bronze mirror reflected the same scene: the priest stabbed the dagger into the turtle's eye, and the tears of the stars turned into a huge wave, destroying everything.

Xuantian let out a low whine, and blood oozed from the star map on his carapace.

When the first drop of turtle blood fell into the underground river, all the bronze mirrors suddenly turned around - the face of the priest in the mirror was the wandering Taoist who had divined for Acai three months ago!

This discovery made everyone shudder, as if everything was predetermined, and they had already been involved in a huge conspiracy...