Chapter 24 Two Four Hundred Zhangs Ladder

After a long time, everyone felt that the water level did not continue to rise, but dropped a little.He Lanjing was the first to discover this, and wondered: "Why hasn't it submerged us for a long time, is it because the hot spring water above has stopped flowing?" Mrs. Earth Mother said: "I don't think so. If the warm water no longer flows into it, it will never be so hot. Now I feel that it is getting hotter and hotter instead." Li Xuan was suddenly overjoyed: "Since there is still water flowing in, but the water level is no longer rising, then there must be another outlet to discharge the water?" He swam around and said in a more excited voice, "This There is a huge whirlpool in the center of the cave, and it seems that the water flows from here."

He Lanjing suddenly realized, and shouted: "I understand, the channel for the water must be in the cold pool of Yutai. At first, there was residual ice in it, and it was impossible to see the secret channel, and it was impossible to flow out the stagnant water. Now the residual Once the ice melts away, water can naturally flow out from the secret passage.” When everyone heard this, the reasoning was really good, and their confidence immediately increased. They swam to the center, put their feet on the necks of the headless statues on the railing of the jade platform, and took out the night pearl to take a picture. Sure enough, they found a huge vortex circling in the middle , as if a huge monster underwater sucked the water in, it looked very strange.

He Lanjing said: "It can be seen that there must be a secret passage in this cold pool, and since it can allow the iron coffin to pass through, it must be very generous. I am the best at water, so go down and explore first." Li Xuan grabbed her arm and said, "Let me go. When I was locked in the cave by you, I explored the way underwater." He Lanjing shook off his hand and said with a smile, "In this whirlpool It's the most dangerous thing, but with your little ability, forget it, don't argue, I'll go find the way." Li Xuan took out a long rope from Er Zhutuo's rucksack, tied it around He Lanjing's waist, and said: "Look at the situation first, no matter what, I will silently count the number and read the eighteenth o'clock. Just pull you out."

He Lanjing tied the long rope, adjusted his clothes, and then dived into the water nimbly like a swimming fish.Li Xuan counted nervously: "One, two, three..." When the count reached twelve, Li Xuan tightened the rope and pulled He Lanjing up. He Lanjing looked coquettish, and said: "I was just about to dive to the side of the leaking tunnel, but you dragged me up. Isn't this a waste of effort? If I go down this time, I must count to thirty!" Li Xuan had no choice but to obey, and saw He Lanjing going down with the rapid water again, and disappeared after a while, Li Xuan only felt that this bundle of long ropes had been put in quite a lot, and couldn't help feeling very worried.Bai Bailing counted aloud on the side, and at twenty-three, Li Xuan seemed to feel the long rope trembling in his hand. He was afraid that something might be wrong, so he didn't care too much. Out, everyone exclaimed.

Fortunately, when the long rope was pulled, it was still very powerful, which proved that it did not fall off He Lanjing's body.Everyone helped Li Xuan to tighten the rope, only to see that He Lanjing's face was pale, and there were several wounds on his arms, shoulders, and ribs, and blood gushed out. Li Xuan hurriedly tore off the front of her skirt, and bandaged her wound in a hurry.Mrs. Dimu was also very concerned, and carefully checked her injuries. Although these wounds did not hurt the internal organs, they were bleeding profusely for a while, and the blood loss was extremely high. In addition, there was water everywhere. Once the water was soaked, it all dispersed, and everyone was as anxious as if their hearts and lungs were being fried.

He Lanjing's face showed a gleam of joy, and she said with all her strength: "There is indeed a secret passage under the water, but there are many sharp things like swords inserted horizontally beside it. I rushed over with the rapid current, accidentally I got hurt..." Hearing this, Erzhutuo was furious. He picked up a big rock, tied a long rope around his waist, and rushed down.Li Xuan hurriedly asked Bai Bailing and Mrs. Dimu to support He Lanjing's body, and he tightly grasped the long rope tied to Er Zhutuo's body. Er Zhutuo embraced the boulder, and fell even more rapidly. He held the boulder in front of him, and with the force of the rushing water, he smashed the sharp swords blocking the entrance of the dark passage into pieces one after another.After walking along with the water for a while, he suddenly saw two golden dragons coming down straight down beside him. Er Zhutuo hurriedly grabbed them, but he felt cool, neither gold nor iron nor stone, and he didn't know what it was. What is it made of? If you look closely between the two dragons, there are actually wide stone steps to climb.

Erjutuo was overjoyed, stepped on it, and then repeatedly shook the rope tied around his waist to signal.Li Xuan mistakenly thought that he was in danger, so he yanked him outward.Er Zhutuo was impatient, but fortunately he was extremely strong and was not pulled.Li Xuan tugged desperately for several times but couldn't move, feeling hopeless in his heart, thinking that Er Zhutuo must also be caught by some mechanism, and after a long time, there would be no hope of surviving. Thinking of this, Li Xuan wanted to go into the water to check immediately, but Mrs. Dimu said: "Wait a minute, you can see that the rope shakes very regularly. It shakes three times and then stops for a while, then shakes three times and stops for a while. If it is you Zhu Tuo encountered danger underwater and was struggling in danger, how could he grasp the rhythm so calmly and accurately?"

As the saying goes, "Concern leads to chaos", Li Xuan calmed down and thought about it, it was indeed true, he turned his worries into joy and said: "As expected, as expected, Er Zhutuo must have found a safe place to escape in the water." So, everyone followed the rope, swam through the secret underwater passage, and came under the divine ladder of the double dragon guardrail.Seeing that the water is still moving forward, I don't know where it is going.But at this time, how can everyone have the leisure to explore?Everyone hurriedly climbed up the stairs, and as soon as they left the water, Li Xuan hurriedly applied the wound medicine to He Lanjing again.Seeing that He Lanjing's face was as white as paper and shivering all over, Li Xuan couldn't help feeling worried again.

The wound on Er Zhutuo's body was soaked in water, and he also felt very uncomfortable, but he was always brave, so he re-wrapped the wound, and took the Mo Dao to lead the way and climb up. The staircase was straight and steep, almost straight up and down. Li Xuan put He Lanjing on his back, supported the two carved dragons with both hands, and climbed up with all his strength.Although He Lanjing was seriously injured, he said relievedly: "This ladder goes straight up, this, this is right, we have come down so deep, and we can walk out of this cave when we go up." Li Xuan was also very excited in his heart, and said softly at the moment: "Yes, this is about to be out of danger. If you are tired, just close your eyes and sleep for a while."

But He Lanjing said: "No, I'm afraid that if I close my eyes, I won't be able to wake up and see you again." Li Xuan felt sore in his heart, but he restrained himself and whispered in He Lanjing's ear: "Don't say that , I want you to carry on the family line for our Li family." If this was on a normal day, He Lanjing would definitely be coquettish and angry, and she would punch her past, but now the situation is so bad, after hearing this, she felt sweet in her heart, although she said not to close her eyes, she leaned on Li Xuan's back, unconsciously He fell asleep and fell asleep.

Although it was illuminated by the luminous pearl, in the dark, only a small area near the divine ladder could be seen clearly.After walking for an unknown amount of time, a platform suddenly appeared in front of my eyes, on which a majestic temple was built.Er Zhutuo thought he was hallucinating, rubbed his eyes with his hands, and said, "Strange, who built this temple?" Mrs. Dimu also saw it, and reminded in a low voice: "Be careful there is an ambush inside." Er Zhutuo nodded, and approached on tiptoe. The pillars and beams of the couplets are all made of duck-egg blue rock.The gates of the palace are also two very thick and heavy stone gates, but fortunately they are not closed tightly, they are just concealed. Er Zhutuo pressed the Mo Dao with his hand, and casually threw an empty skin bag beside him through the crack of the door, only to hear a "click", the hall echoed with a crisp sound, and it seemed extremely empty. There is no more movement. Everyone glanced at each other, relieved most of their hearts, it seemed that there was no one in the palace.Er Zhutuo tried his best to push open the stone door with his shoulder, and only heard a "squeak", and the stone door was easily pushed open. However, there was a clear and crisp copper bell immediately. Everyone was taken aback, holding weapons in their hands, looking around, vigilantly on guard.Unexpectedly, after a long time, there was no other movement. Walking into the hall, you can see many large and small Buddha statues embedded in the walls, which are quite old. Although you can still vaguely see the solemn shape of the treasures at that time, most of them have been mottled and peeled off, and their faces are blurred.What's more, it seems that they have been beaten and chiseled severely, and their limbs have been mutilated. Mrs. Dimu looked at it and said: "This stone palace is very different from those places before. The Middle Earth has known that there is a Buddha since Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, and the Yutai Hantan seems to have been built by Qin Shihuang." Er Zhutuo said: "Well, it seems that people built this place later. Maybe the people who built this stone palace didn't find the Jade Terrace Cold Pool at all. They just thought that there were all kinds of mysterious and weird things here, so they built Hall sculpture Buddha, and pray for blessings." But Bai Bailing said: "Then why the Buddha statues here seem to be destroyed by someone? Could it be that the monster here is responsible for it?" Mrs. Dimu smiled and said: "That's not true. Maybe some thieves who are not afraid of the sky and the earth came here, thinking that there might be some treasure hidden in the Buddha statue, so they opened it to look for it. When the Buddha statue was made back then, there was indeed a saying of 'pretending to hide' , it’s no wonder some people are greedy.” It turns out that in ancient times when Buddha statues were molded, a hole was often left behind the Buddha statues.When consecrating, the abbot and eminent monk put the scriptures, jewelry, grains and metal lungs and livers into the seal, which is called "package".Therefore, there are indeed rare treasures hidden in many Buddha statues.It is even said that treasures that are hard to find in the world, such as golden leaf scriptures, relics, and reincarnation mantras, were taken out of Buddha statues. Li Xuan looked at it, and said: "Well, I seem to be able to read the characters here. What is written on it: There are Bodhisattvas in the world... There is nothing to see without seeing... There is no life without seeing..." Mrs. Dimu interrupted him and said: "Don't read it, it's all words from Buddhist scriptures. Let's check whether the divine ladder is interrupted here, or whether it can continue to go up. This place seems to be still in the valley. It's still some distance from the ground." Er Zhutuo was about to go to the back of the hall to search, but he heard someone laughing loudly, and then said loudly: "There is no need to look for it, the divine ladder is at the back of the hall, and it is three hundred steps away from the ground, not far away. It's just the exit It is extremely dangerous, we are waiting here to guard, there are strong crossbows, fire and thunder, you cannot escape with your wings." This voice was very familiar, Li Xuan said angrily: "Chuanshanhu! No, Wang Maozhong, you traitor, if you have the ability, come here and beat him upright, don't use ghost tricks to harm people!" Only then did everyone discover that there was a circular hole as thick as a candle in the navel of the Dharma Protector God in the corner of the temple, which went straight to the outside.Li Xuan broke a branch to explore, but he couldn't reach his head at all, but felt a cold wind blowing from it. Only Wang Maozhong's voice came from the stone hole again: "Hehe, the crow landed on the pig, so don't blame anyone. Don't you Yufanmen always rely on this kind of secret tricks to coerce others? Experts fight wits No fighting. But it’s quite remarkable for you to come here.” Then he said to Li Shoude beside him: “Now, just the two of us have wiped out the serious trouble of the Jade Fan Gate. Isn’t it a miracle? item?" Li Shoude said: "It's a pity that this matter is a secret, many people don't know about it, according to Feige's secret report, many generals under the King of Linzi even scolded you, Wang Maozhong, for being unfaithful and unrighteous. " Hearing a "bang", Wang Maozhong broke something, and cursed in his mouth: "Damn, these guys, don't they know what kind of person I am, Wang Maozhong? People, how can they abandon the Lord and run away at the most dangerous time?" Li Shoude persuaded: "Drinking, drinking, we have made such a great contribution, the prince naturally knows it well, what do those guys know? But I heard that they have made a great contribution, Empress Wei, Princess Anle, Shangguan Wan'er, Wu Yanxiu, etc. endanger the country All the temptresses and traitors have their heads beheaded, and they are hung in Dongshi for public display." Everyone was shocked. They were trapped in the cave these days without any news. It turned out that earth-shaking changes had already taken place.Mrs. Dimu couldn't help feeling sad when she heard that Shangguan Wan'er was decapitated in this palace change and died unexpectedly. Madam Dimu said loudly to the stone hole: "Then what is your plan to trap us here?" Before Wang Maozhong could answer, Li Shoude asked first, "Yes, Brother Wang, they must be injured and tired, why don't we go down and take these heads and give them to King Linzi, wouldn't it save a lot of trouble?" Wang Maozhong said: "Why bother to go to such lengths? Dogs are in a hurry to jump over the wall and people are in a hurry. We might be injured. What's more, the king of Linzi told us that it is best to capture the leaders of their Yufan Gate alive. I have to ask these people a secret." Li Shoude only agreed, and then Wang Maozhong said: "Of course, if they insist on rushing to the exit of the divine ladder, we can't take care of it, so we have to fire arrows and thunder. Now we arrange it like this: When you sleep, I will listen to you." Listen to their movement, when I sleep, you listen to the movement, as long as they don't make any movement, we will go to the exit of the divine ladder and shoot arrows." Li Shoude seemed very unwilling, and said in a muffled voice, "Why is it so troublesome, let's just guard the exit of the divine ladder, or we'll just have to." Wang Maozhong laughed loudly in a rough voice: "How do you know that not far from the exit of the divine ladder, there is a fire pool on the top of the mountain, where the stones are turned into molten iron. If you stand there for a cup of tea, you It's even more unbearable than the intense heat in the dog days. You go and try to stay there, if you stay there for a day, you will become a roast sheep." Er Zhutuo was furious when he heard this, "Do these two thieves want to make the ground a prison and imprison us here? I just don't believe that, so I have to break out." Li Xuan persuaded: "In dangerous places, one man is in charge of the gate, and ten thousand men are not allowed to open it. We must not be anxious and panic, and throw ourselves into the trap." Er Zhutuo was also furious for a moment, thinking that in the cave, when he was not injured, it was hard to say that he could win against Wang and Li. Now that the opponent is condescending, guarding the dangerous obstacles, and has sharp weapons such as fire, thunder and crossbow, how can he easily rush forward? have to go out? For a while, everyone was silent and helpless. In order to save fire and candles, they all extinguished after choosing a place to sit or lie down.Sitting blankly in the dark, it was like being in a prison, as if a huge stone was pressing on my heart, thinking that someone was bugging me all the time, and even my breathing felt very difficult. Li Xuan hugged He Lanjing on his knees, feeling that she was burning like coals all over her body, he cried out: "No, it must have been caused by soaking in cold water when she was injured. I heard that fever after a knife wound is extremely dangerous. It’s better to take the medicine quickly.” Mrs. Dimu poked her hand, and said anxiously: "Originally, there are many magic medicines hidden in the lungs of Huangquan. This kind of injury can be cured by medicine. Unfortunately, although we also brought some, it is mostly because of my mother-in-law. Later, when the cave was flooded, the medicine sachets were not bothered to take them. Even if they were taken, the medicines were mostly made of rhinoceros powder, and they were washed away when they entered the water." Erzhutuo suddenly struck the flint, lit the candle again, and wrote on the ground with a charred tree stick: "I will rush out first, so that they will consume the fire mines and hard crossbows, so that they may escape." But Mrs. Earth Mother shook her hand and said, "Death is useless." Then she took the candle and blew it out.There was silence in the darkness again, only to hear Mao Zhong, the king of the stone hole, yelling: "Why is there no movement, Mrs. Dimu, that old witch, is she still there?" Li Xuan was furious, and cursed: "You dog slave, shut your stinking mouth, you are just Li Longji's mangy dog!" Unexpectedly, Wang Maozhong was not stunned or angry, and said with a smile: "Hehe, I have received the great kindness of the King of Linzi. This life is a gift from him. It is my duty to do the work of a dog and a horse for the king." At that moment Li Xuan and Bai Bailing retorted and scolded Wang Maozhong severely.Mrs. Dimu said: "Forget it, don't engage in such unnecessary verbal disputes with him, let's rest for a while." However, He Lanjing seemed to be getting more and more ill, and he kept talking nonsense: "Floating on the white clouds... picking peony flowers..." Then his whole body trembled, and he said, "Get out of here, it's poisonous, it's poisonous!" ..." Li Xuan was anxious, shaking her body and said: "Wake up, wake up, it's okay, I'm here!" Mrs. Dimu took a half-wet scarf, put it on her forehead, and said: "Don't shake Now, she is in a coma with a high fever, the fever must be lowered." Er Zhutuo rubbed his hands anxiously, and said in a low voice: "The longer this time lasts, the worse it will be. Once the situation in Chang'an City stabilizes, Li Longji will naturally raise troops to come here. By then, we will be even more hopeless. No matter what Go for a dash." There was a chirping sound in the darkness, as if Bai Bailing was drawing something with branches.Mrs. Dimu scolded: "Girl Bai, what are you doing? It's so annoying." He only heard that Bai Bailing's movements became lighter, but he was still paddling there. For the current plan, there is no delay, although the enemy's terrain is very favorable, we must find a way to attack him by surprise." After all, Mrs. Dimu leaned her ear to the stone hole and listened, but there was no sound from behind. It must be Wang Maozhong and Li Shoude who heard her words and thought they were going to rush out with all their strength, so they went to the cave entrance to take precautions. . At this time, Bai Bailing suddenly struck the flint again, lighting up the lamp wax.She held a piece of white silk torn from her shirt in her hand, and her face showed a look of determination that she had never seen before, and she saw the words on it: "I will learn how to speak from you, if you trip the enemy, you will surely escape. Li Xuan was stunned, and blurted out: "Then you..." Bai Bailing put his finger to his lips and made a silent gesture. Li Xuan hurriedly wrote on the ground with one end of a scorched wooden branch: "We run away, what will happen to you?" Bai Bailing took out another piece of white silk that had already been written, and wrote on it: "I have made up my mind, otherwise no one will escape." !" Seeing that Li Xuan was still hesitating, Bai Bailing felt anxious, she took out the Hundred Salivary Nine Poison Pill, and swallowed it in one gulp. Everyone exclaimed in unison, Li Xuan gently placed He Lanjing in the arms of Mrs. Dimu, stepped forward to hold Bai Bailing's hand, tears filled his eyes.Bai Bailing clung to his ear, and his voice was as thin as a mosquito: "Brother Xuan, I've been restless these days. Do you know that I also want to be by your side and serve you for the rest of my life..." Speaking of this, Bai Bailing's face was flushed and hot, but fortunately the cave was dark, so she was not afraid of being seen. She continued, "But, I was worried that the goddess would be unhappy, so I was very troubled. It's all right now, I only hope you can be with me." The heavenly girl grows old together, and lives in beauty forever, as long as I can occasionally remember that there was a person like me..." Hearing this, Li Xuan couldn't help crying, he was not good at words, and he didn't know what to say at this time, he just hugged Bai Bailing in his arms and hugged him tightly. Only Wang Maozhong and Li Shoude came from the stone hole, and one of them said: "The old witch must have cheated us just now. Listen, there are still the voices of these people." Another person also said: "Well, I listened carefully. They are still in the Hall of Hundred Buddhas. It's just that even if they are cheating, we'd rather be diligent than let these big fish go by in vain." Bai Bailing suddenly pushed Li Xuan away, gestured for them to leave quickly, then imitated He Lanjing's voice and groaned loudly twice, and then imitated Dimu's wife's tone and said: "Get the Huihun pill quickly." Then he imitated He Lanjing's voice and said The promises of Li Xuan and Er Zhutuo, even the sound of turning over the package, taking the medicine bottle, and uncorking the cork, were all imitated vividly. Bai Bailing couldn't stop talking, while pushing Li Xuan and the others, telling them to leave quickly, everyone had no choice but to walk out of the stone hall slowly.Li Xuan looked back for the last time, and happened to meet Bai Bailing's eyes, but under the light of the fire, her pretty eyes were shining brightly, and her eyes seemed to be full of joy.