As soon as I put it on, I met a sickly man

Inside the cave entrance, it was not as deep as imagined, but a square stone chamber.

The air was filled with a faint sweet fragrance, but with a heart-pounding chill.

Yao Lao's voice came from behind, with a barely perceptible teasing: "You can only pass the test if you find three spirit beads within one stick of incense." As soon as the words fell, the entrance to the stone chamber slammed shut, a wisp of green smoke rose, and the incense stick inserted in the incense burner beside it began to burn.

Ding Chen looked around. The walls of the stone chamber were carved with intricate patterns that seemed to have no pattern, but they hinted at some mystery.

Xuanyuan Che was impatient and drew his sword, ready to chop at the wall. "Stop playing tricks! I'll break into this stone chamber!" General Lin, quick-witted, grabbed him and said, "Don't be reckless! Look at the patterns on the wall. If you touch the mechanism, the consequences will be disastrous!"

Censor Su carefully observed the patterns on the wall with a frown, "In my opinion, the triggering method of this mechanism is related to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams." General Lin shook his head, "No, look at the direction of the patterns, it's more like the art of Qimen Dunjia." The two men insisted on their own opinions and argued endlessly. Time passed by minute by minute, and the incense stick had burned by one third.

The sweet fragrance in the air became stronger and stronger. Ding Chen felt dizzy and breathing became difficult.

"Oh no! This is poisonous fog!" He quickly held his breath and warned everyone, "Everyone be careful! Inhaling too much of this poisonous fog can make people lose their ability to move!"

Xuanyuan Che covered his mouth and nose, suppressing the discomfort, "Damn it, this old guy clearly wants to kill us!" General Lin and Censor Su also realized the critical situation, stopped arguing, and began to look for clues about the spirit pearl together.

However, the mechanisms inside the stone chamber are intricate and can easily trigger traps if you are not careful.

As the incense sticks were about to burn out, there was still no trace of the three spirit beads...

At this moment, Yingfeng, who had been silent all the time, suddenly walked to a wall and reached out to gently touch an inconspicuous bulge.

"Found it..." he whispered.

The bulge that Yingfeng pressed with his fingertips sank into the wall silently.

A slight mechanical sound was heard in the stone chamber. Everyone held their breath and watched as one of the walls slowly opened, revealing a narrow passage.

"It's true!" General Lin exclaimed in admiration. Yingfeng said nothing and took the lead in stepping into the passage.

The passage was dimly lit, the walls were damp and cold, and the air was filled with an even stronger sweet fragrance that made people dizzy.

Ding Chen and others followed closely behind, moving forward cautiously, fearing that they would touch any mechanism.

Yingfeng was agile and walked in front. With his keen intuition, he successfully avoided several hidden traps, which gave everyone hope.

After walking along the passage for about an incense stick's time, they came to a spacious stone chamber.

In the center of the stone chamber, a blue bead emitting a soft light was suspended in the air. It was one of the spiritual beads they were looking for.

Xuanyuan Che was overjoyed and was about to step forward to take the pearl, but was stopped by Ding Chen.

"Wait!" Ding Chen pointed to the bottom of the spirit pearl, where a huge python was coiled. Its body was dark green, and its scales shone with a cold luster. It was spitting out its tongue and staring at everyone with a fierce look.

"It seems that this spirit pearl is not easy to get." General Lin looked solemn.

The sweet fragrance in the air grew stronger, and the hissing of the python echoed in the stone chamber, like whispers from hell.

Ding Chen drew his sword and pointed it directly at the python. "I'll deal with it, you go find the other two spirit beads!"

They quickly found the second spirit bead, but there was no sign of the third spirit bead.

The incense sticks were about to burn out, and the concentration of the poisonous fog in the air was getting higher and higher. Everyone was having difficulty breathing and their vision was blurred.

At this moment, Censor Su pointed to a statue on the top of the stone chamber and said, "Look, the eyes of the statue..." Everyone looked up and saw that the eyes of the statue were actually flashing with a faint light.

"Could it be..." General Lin seemed to have thought of something, and immediately jumped up and reached out to touch the eyes of the statue.

With a click, the eyes of the statue actually moved, and the ground of the stone chamber began to shake. A secret compartment slowly opened, revealing the last spirit bead.

However, just when they got the third spirit bead, the python that was originally lurking under the first spirit bead suddenly jumped up, opened its bloody mouth, and pounced towards Ding Chen and others!

"Be careful!" Ding Chen, Xuanyuan Che, and General Lin attacked the python together...

"boom--"

Ding Chen's sword light is as agile as a swimming dragon, Xuanyuan Che's sword force is as powerful as a tiger descending from the mountain, and General Lin's sword skills are open and closed, steady as a mountain.

The three of them worked together, and the sword energy was interwoven into an impenetrable sword net, covering the giant python.

However, the python had thick skin and flesh, and the attacks of the three people only left a few shallow scars on it, which instead aroused its ferocity.

The giant python let out a deafening roar, and its huge body rolled over suddenly, stirring up a fishy wind and sweeping Xuanyuan Che up!

"Xuanyuan!" Ding Chen and General Lin exclaimed at the same time.

The giant python tightened its grip, Xuanyuan Che's face turned red and he had difficulty breathing.

General Lin acted decisively, seized the opportunity, and the long sword in his hand turned into a cold light, piercing the giant python's eyes!

"Ah--" The giant python felt pain, let go of Xuanyuan Che, and twisted its body wildly.

Ding Chen took this opportunity, and with a flash of his sword, he cut off the giant python's tail.

The giant python felt pain and attacked everyone even more frantically.

Yingfeng's figure was ghostly, moving around the giant python, and the dagger in his hand kept stabbing into the giant python's vital points.

Su Yushi and Xiaoxuan also joined the battle. Although their martial arts skills were not as good as others, they tried their best to restrain the giant python.

After a fierce fight, the giant python finally fell to the ground with a bang, and the ground was dyed red with blood.

Everyone was panting and had injuries to varying degrees.

Ding Chen ignored the pain in his body and hurried to Xuanyuan Che to check his injuries.

Xuanyuan Che waved his hands and said, "I'm fine. I won't die."

Ding Chen clenched the glowing spirit beads in his hand, his eyes firm, "We must find the remaining spirit beads as soon as possible, Xiaoxuan is still waiting for us." Thinking of Xiaoxuan's unconscious appearance, a feeling of tenderness and worry surged in his heart.

They soon found the second spirit bead. However, when they came to the location of the third spirit bead, they found that it was covered by a mysterious rune seal.

The runes flashed with a strange light, emitting a powerful force that prevented them from getting closer.

"What is this?" Xuanyuan Che frowned.

General Lin carefully observed the runes and said in a deep voice, "This seems to be an ancient sealing technique that I have never seen before."

Time passed by minute by minute, the incense sticks were almost burned out, the sweet fragrance in the air became stronger and stronger, and everyone's consciousness began to blur.

"What should we do?" Censor Su's voice trembled slightly.

Ding Chen tightly grasped the two spirit beads in his hands, his eyes fixed on the rune seal, beads of sweat oozing from his forehead.

"Are we going to fail?"

Yingfeng suddenly stepped forward, reached out and touched the rune, and whispered: "Maybe... I know how to unlock it."