Huanzhu Time Travel: Yan Luo's Unbreakable Love in the Yong Dynasty

Holding her sword, Little Swallow glared fearlessly at the group of men in black before her, shouting, "You bunch of rats, so what if you set a trap? Today we will find that energy source!"

The leader of the men in black sneered, his face full of disdain: "You? You're dreaming!"

Liu Qing clenched his fists in anger and shouted, "Enough with the nonsense! If you've got the guts, let's have a real fight!"

Despite her injured shoulder, Liu Hong remained spirited: "That's right, don't think we're afraid of you!"

The leader of the men in black waved his hand and shouted fiercely, "Go!" The group of men in black pounced on Xiao Yanzi and her companions like wolves.

Little Swallow moved with agility, her sword flashing and twirling. "Fall down, all of you!" she roared, the blade slicing through the air as a man in black screamed and fell to the ground.

The Imperial Guards, not to be outdone, fought back fiercely, cooperating closely with each other. "Protect Her Majesty the Empress!" the Imperial Guard commander shouted, his voice echoing through the cave as he led his soldiers in a desperate resistance.

The battle intensified, and the shouts of fighting echoed deafeningly through the cave. "These people are even more difficult to deal with than the previous ones!" Liu Qing shouted as he struggled to fend off the attacks of the men in black.

"Everyone must not let their guard down!" Little Swallow responded, her sword never stopping, her clothes already soaked with sweat.

Liu Hong exerted all her strength, but her movements gradually slowed due to her injuries. A man in black seized this opportunity and suddenly lunged at Liu Hong. "Liu Hong!" Xiao Yanzi cried out anxiously, trying to fly to her rescue, but she was tightly bound by several men in black and unable to break free.

At that critical moment, the Imperial Guard commander reacted swiftly, rushing forward and using his long sword to block the fatal blow. "Miss Liu Hong, are you alright?" the Imperial Guard commander shouted.

"I...I can still hold on!" Liu Hong said through gritted teeth, enduring the pain.

Taking advantage of the brief chaos caused by the men in black, Xiao Yanzi spotted an opening in the leader's defenses and thrust her sword forward. "Take this!" The man in black dodged to the side, but Xiao Yanzi's sword still managed to slash his arm.

"Damn it!" The leader of the men in black, clutching his wound, roared with a fierce glint in his eyes, "Attack! Make sure they're all captured!"

The men in black intensified their attack, and Xiao Yanzi and the others gradually found themselves in a predicament. "This can't go on, we have to think of a way to break through!" Liu Qing shouted anxiously.

While fighting, Little Swallow quickly surveyed her surroundings. Suddenly, she noticed an inconspicuous passage on one side of the stone gate. "Everyone, look over there! That passage might be the way to break through!" Little Swallow shouted.

"But what about these men in black?" Liu Hong asked.

"I'll distract them, you guys take the chance and run to the passage!" Little Swallow said, turning around and rushing towards the densest group of men in black without hesitation, shouting loudly, "Come on, you bunch of cowards!"

As expected, the men in black were drawn to Xiao Yanzi and surrounded her. "Liu Qing, Liu Hong, quickly take the Imperial Guards away!" Xiao Yanzi shouted as she fought.

Liu Qing and Liu Hong exchanged a glance and shouted in unison, "Your Majesty, be careful!" Then they led the Imperial Guards and ran towards the passage.

Little Swallow fought the men in black alone. Although her swordsmanship was fierce, there were simply too many of them, and she gradually became overwhelmed. "Am I really going to lose here today?" Little Swallow thought anxiously.

Just then, a figure rushed out of the passage like lightning—it was the commander of the Imperial Guards. "Your Majesty, I'm here to help you!" He brandished his long sword and slashed at the man in black.

"Alright! Let's fight our way out together!" Little Swallow perked up and fought alongside the Imperial Guard Commander.

The two worked together seamlessly, and for a moment the men in black were finding it difficult to hold on. "Retreat!" the leader of the men in black shouted, seeing the situation was dire.

The men in black retreated, and Xiao Yanzi and the Imperial Guard Commander took the opportunity to run towards the passage.

In the passageway, they met up with Liu Qing, Liu Hong, and the others. "Princess, it's so good to hear that you're alright!" Liu Hong said.

"I'm fine, everyone keep going, we must find the energy source," Little Swallow said.

The group proceeded cautiously along the narrow and dimly lit passage, which could only accommodate two people walking side by side.

"This passage feels eerie; I wonder what dangers we might encounter," Liu Qing said.

"No matter what we encounter, we must not back down," Little Swallow said firmly.

As they walked, a glimmer of light appeared ahead. "There seems to be something ahead," Liu Hong said.

The group quickened their pace and, after exiting the passage, found themselves in a huge cave. In the center of the cave, an object emitting a strange light floated in the air; it was the energy source of the "Spirit Gathering Eight Trigrams Formation" they were looking for.

"We finally found it!" Little Swallow exclaimed excitedly.

However, before they could get close, numerous traps suddenly appeared all around the cave. Arrows shot from all directions, and the group quickly took cover.

"Watch out!" Little Swallow shouted, "Everyone, spread out!"

The Imperial Guards were well-trained and quickly dodged the arrows. Liu Qing and Liu Hong also used their agility to avoid wave after wave of attacks.

"Why are there so many traps here!" Liu Hong complained.

"Don't panic, let's find the flaws in the mechanism!" Little Swallow dodged the arrows while observing her surroundings.

Suddenly, she noticed several protruding stones on the cave wall, which seemed to be related to a mechanism. "Look, those stones might be the key!" Little Swallow exclaimed.

"Gege, I'll give it a try!" Liu Qing said, running towards the wall.

Just as Liu Qing approached the rock, a sharp arrow shot towards him. "Liu Qing!" Little Swallow exclaimed.

In the nick of time, Liu Hong leaped towards Liu Qing, pushing him aside, but was struck in the shoulder by an arrow. "Liu Hong!" Liu Qing cried out in anguish.

"I'm fine, quickly look at those stones!" Liu Hong said, enduring the pain.

Liu Qing quickly examined the stone and discovered some strange symbols engraved on it. Following the clues he had seen in the book, he tried to move the stone.

"Boom!" As the stones moved, the mechanism gradually stopped working.

"We succeeded!" Liu Qing shouted.

The group walked towards the energy source, and just as they were about to touch it, a sinister laugh came from inside the cave.

"Hahaha, do you think you can get an energy source so easily?" a voice came from the darkness.

"Who is it? Come out!" Little Swallow shouted.

A figure dressed in a black robe slowly emerged from the shadows, his face obscured by a strange mask.

"You think you can take the energy source just because you've passed the traps? How naive!" the man in black robes said.

"Who are you? Why are you stopping us?" Little Swallow asked.

"Who I am is not important. What is important is that you cannot take this energy source away!" the black-robed man said, waving his hands. A group of phantom soldiers appeared in the cave and rushed towards Xiao Yanzi and the others.

“These phantom soldiers look tough to deal with!” said the commander of the Imperial Guard.

"Don't be afraid, everyone, let's attack together!" Little Swallow shouted, leading the charge towards the phantom soldiers.

Although the phantom soldiers had no physical form, their attack power was formidable. Little Swallow's sword struck them, leaving only streaks of light and shadow.

"This can't go on, we have to find a way to deal with them!" Liu Qing shouted.

Just as everyone was fiercely fighting the phantom soldiers, Xiao Yanzi suddenly realized that the phantom soldiers' movements seemed to be controlled by the man in black robes. "Everyone, hold off these phantom soldiers for now, I'll deal with the man in black robes!" Xiao Yanzi shouted.

With that, Little Swallow flashed forward and charged towards the man in black robes. Seeing this, the man in black robes sneered, "Overestimating yourself!"

He quickly formed hand seals, and beams of black light shot towards Little Swallow. Little Swallow nimbly dodged, while searching for the black-robed man's weakness.

"Watch this!" Little Swallow seized the opportunity and thrust her sword towards the black-robed man's chest. The black-robed man hadn't expected Little Swallow to be so powerful and couldn't dodge in time, so he was stabbed by the sword.

"Ah!" The man in black robes screamed, and the phantom soldiers immediately lost control and vanished.

"We did it!" Little Swallow shouted.

Everyone hurried towards the energy source, and this time, they encountered no obstacles. Little Swallow carefully picked up the energy source, her heart filled with joy.

"We've finally found it!" Little Swallow exclaimed.

"Princess, what should we do next?" Liu Qing asked.

"Let's leave here first, bring the energy source back, and then figure out how to break the Shadow Pavilion's conspiracy," Little Swallow said.

The group returned along the same route and successfully exited Youyue Ridge.

Upon returning to the palace, Xiao Yanzi immediately handed the energy source to Hongli. "Your Majesty, this is the energy source of the 'Gathering Spirit Eight Trigrams Formation'," Xiao Yanzi said.

Hongli looked at the energy source, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes: "My dear consort, you've worked hard! With this, we're one step closer to cracking the Shadow Pavilion's conspiracy."

"But the Shadow Pavilion will definitely not let this go, we still need to be careful," Xiao Yanzi said worriedly.

“That’s right, we need to be fully prepared,” Hongli said. “You’ve been working hard lately, so take a good rest.”

"Yes, Your Majesty should also be careful," Xiao Yanzi said.

However, what they didn't know was that the Shadow Pavilion's conspiracy went far beyond that, and an even greater crisis was quietly approaching...

This chapter concludes here. Stay tuned for the next chapter.