Don't be afraid, fairy, I'm blind

Chapter 391 The Gate of Life and Death

You Su, Bai Ze and their cat huddled together in this cold palace of ice and snow, leaning on each other for warmth.

The palace was empty and silent, with only the sound of their breathing and heartbeats echoing.

Bai Ze's fur is soft and warm. Its small body is looking for the most comfortable position in You Su's arms, while You Su uses his broad chest to block the biting cold wind for Bai Ze.

They had searched around but still couldn't find any exit. The cold wind came from the gaps in the ice. You Su tried to find it, but found that those places were not much thicker than a hair. You Su tried to poke with his sword, but the ice wall was much thicker than he imagined, and it was extremely hard. Even with great strength, he could only scrape off a layer of ice chips. It was obviously unrealistic to want to break through the wall and escape in a short time.

This palace is like a sealed ice coffin, isolating them from the world, and those air holes exist to prevent the people in the coffin from suffocating to death.

Bai Ze raised his head and looked at You Su with his clear cat eyes, his eyes full of confusion and helplessness.

"Ding Zhen, will we be trapped and die here?"

There was a hint of tremor in Bai Ze's voice.

"No. There must be a way out."

You Su gently stroked Bai Ze's head to comfort him, then asked, "How did you get in?"

Bai Ze shook his head, indicating that he knew nothing either: "She said she would take me to see you, and then suddenly there was a flash of light, and she appeared here inexplicably, hanging above the oil pan."

You Su nodded when he heard this, and then asked, "What about the Master Ao Shu? Did you see any trace of the Master Ao Shu when she took you away?"

Bai Ze still shook his head.

Seeing that Bai Ze didn't know the answer to any of the questions, You Su didn't waste any more words and fell into his own thoughts.

In this way, the man and the cat cuddled together for an unknown amount of time. Bai Ze even felt that the Dragon Palace Master had forgotten about them. Or perhaps freezing and starving to death in this ice prison was one of her methods of torture.

Just when they felt their brains were a little frozen, something unexpected finally happened in the ice and snow palace - the oil pan where Bai Ze was originally hanging suddenly tipped over, and the hot oil flowed all over the floor.

As You Su expected, this oil pan that was boiling without fire was quite strange.

Bai Ze looked at this scene curiously. He just felt strange that why the oil pan that was set up well would fall over by itself?

But it didn't care. It just complained that the hot oil was all over the floor and didn't make the cold palace any warmer. It was a pity that it was scared by it just now.

However, You Su discovered something strange.

He stood up, walked to the oil pan, and carefully observed the oil flowing on the ground.

The oil was frozen and solidified, but the path of its flow could still be seen. You Su's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and he found that the path of the oil flow actually outlined the shape of a map.

He looked at it carefully and found that the shape of this map coincided with the map of the five continents!

A strong premonition surged in his heart. This was definitely not a coincidence!

He squatted down and gently touched the solidified oil stains with his fingers, feeling their temperature and texture.

"What's wrong?" Bai Ze squeezed his head out from You Su's arms and asked curiously.

"There's something strange about this pool of oil. This is a map of the five continents." You Su pointed at the oil stains on the ground and said to Bai Ze.

Bai Ze jumped down and walked to You Su. He tilted his head and looked at the oil stains carefully, with a look of surprise in his eyes:
"Map of the Five Continents?!"

You Su did not answer, but his mind was thinking rapidly.

Does the oil stain on the map of the five continents hide clues to leaving this palace?
You Su's eyes were fixed on the map of the five continents outlined by the oil stains, and his mind was filled with thoughts. He knew that this must be a puzzle carefully set by the Lord of the Dragon Palace. Every drop of oil seemed to hide a deep meaning, waiting for him to interpret.

"There must be something strange about this map. She wouldn't leave it behind for no reason." You Su murmured to himself, with determination in his eyes.

Bai Ze looked at You Su curiously from the side. Although he didn't quite understand the deep meaning, he knew that this was the key for them to escape from here, so he stayed aside obediently and didn't make any noise to disturb him.

You Su squatted down and carefully examined every detail on the map. His fingers gently slid along the oil stains, feeling the slight temperature difference.

Suddenly, he noticed that in certain areas of the map, the degree of solidification of the oil stains was slightly different, and seemed to form some vague patterns.

“These patterns…”

You Su's eyes wandered over the oil stains, trying to capture the subtle temperature differences. His fingers slid gently along the solidified oil stains, as if he could sense the subtle information contained in the patterns.

As time went by, his brows gradually relaxed and the light in his eyes became brighter and brighter.

"I understand!" You Su suddenly stood up, excitement flashing in his eyes.

Bai Ze was startled by his sudden action and asked quickly, "What do you understand?"

You Su did not answer directly, but walked to a corner of the palace where the oil stains were most concentrated, forming a complex pattern. He stared at the pattern and said slowly: "These patterns are actually an ancient array diagram."

Bai Ze's eyes widened, and he asked in confusion: "Formation diagram? What is that?"

You Su patiently explained: "The array diagram is an ancient mechanical technique. Through specific patterns and symbols, the opening and closing of the mechanism can be controlled. These oil stains are the clues left by the Lord of the Dragon Palace."

Bai Ze nodded as if he understood, not quite. Although he didn't understand the formation, he was full of confidence in You Su's wisdom.

You Su continued, "These oil stains were obviously splashed onto the ground at the same time, but the oil temperature at each location is different. This is because they solidified at different times, but this is obviously unreasonable and must be controlled by something. I just secretly wrote down the distribution map of these oil temperatures and found that they are actually in the shape of water lines, with the temperature gradually rising towards the center in circles."

"Water-ripple-like?" Bai Ze seemed to understand a little. "Doesn't that mean there is a center, which is the source of heat dissipation?"

You Su smiled calmly, raised his hand and pointed at a brighter oil stain on the map, "Yes, this is the place."

Bai Ze moved closer curiously and probed with his paws with lingering fear. Sure enough, he felt that the oil stain there was warmer than other places.

"Guess where this place is on the map of the Five Continents?" You Su asked suddenly.

Bai Ze looked at it again and shook his head, "I don't know."

It is just a small divine beast. If You Su hadn't told it, it would have no way of knowing that this is the map of the Five Continents. "This hottest spot is the Kongyuan Divine Mountain."

"Kongyuan Divine Mountain?! Isn't this the coldest place?" Bai Ze was puzzled.

You Su also shook his head, "I don't know the deep meaning either, maybe it's the other way around."

"Anyway, we've found it! It's obviously the same oil, how did you associate it with water patterns in your mind!"

After the previous incident, Bai Ze truly agreed with You Su. He no longer deliberately argued with him like before, but praised him sincerely.

You Su smiled and said, "I am blind, so I am more capable of making random thoughts in my mind. Let's find a way out first."

After saying that, You Su took a deep breath, concentrated his mind, and placed his hand on the oil stain.

He could feel a faint air flow beneath the oil stains, a sign that the mechanism was activated.

According to the superficial knowledge of the formation in his memory, he carefully adjusted the position of his palm, trying to find the correct trigger point of the mechanism.

Time passed minute by minute, Bai Ze looked at him nervously, not daring to make any sound, for fear of disturbing You Su's thoughts.

Finally, a glimmer of enlightenment flashed in You Su's eyes. He quickly moved his palm to the center of the oil stain and pressed hard.

With a slight "click" sound, a hidden passage suddenly opened in a corner of the palace.

Bai Ze exclaimed in surprise: "Success! Ding Zhen, you are amazing!"

You Su was not very excited, because he didn't know what was waiting for them at the end of the passage. Perhaps the real challenge had just begun.

They walked into the passage carefully. The ice road was winding like a giant dragon entwined underground. You Su and Bai Ze walked through it carefully.

The ice beads condensed on the ice wall flashed a faint blue light under the weak light, as if it was the entrance to another world. The passage was freezing cold, and every breath could feel the biting cold. Bai Ze unconsciously shrank into You Su's arms, trying to get a little warmth.

"Ding Zhen, I'm a little scared." Bai Ze's voice trembled slightly, and his round eyes looked particularly bright in the dim passage.

You Su gently stroked Bai Ze's head, trying to give it some comfort, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

You Su just found it funny. It seemed that this mythical beast Bai Ze had really been raised into a cat by him.

Their footsteps echoed in the passage, accompanied by the sound of ice cracking, which made people nervous. You Su's senses were extremely sharp. He could feel that there was a strange power in the surrounding ice wall, as if it could erupt at any time.

"Ding Zhen, what do you think the Dragon Palace Master wants to do? Why did she lock us up here?"

Bai Ze's curiosity overwhelmed his fear, and he began to wonder about the reasons behind all this.

You Su pondered for a moment, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, "Her purpose, perhaps only she herself knows. But we can't just sit there and wait for death. Since she has opened this path for us, there must be a deep meaning behind it."

As they continued forward, the ice path gradually became wider, and finally a huge ice chamber appeared in front of them.

In the center of the ice room, three doors of different styles stand there, and each door exudes a different atmosphere.

There are three big characters engraved on the monument next to the door - Gate of Life and Death.

When Bai Ze saw these three words, he couldn't help but gasp, "Ding Zhen, what does this mean? What will happen if I choose the wrong one?"

You Su did not directly answer Bai Ze's question, but frowned and carefully read the inscription on the monument.

There are three doors in this gate of life and death, only one of which is the correct one, and the other two are death doors. If you enter the wrong one, you will die.

Bai Ze felt the solemnity emanating from You Su and did not dare to disturb him easily.

You Su was very happy about this and observed the three doors carefully.

The first door was carved with intricate patterns, and there seemed to be a faint halo flowing on the door, giving people a mysterious feeling; the second door was plain and without any decoration, but it exuded a heavy sense of oppression; the third door was crystal clear, as if it was carved from the purest ice crystals, and there were tiny cracks on the door, as if it would break at the touch.

You Su's eyes swept back and forth over the three doors, quickly analyzing possible clues in his mind.

He knew that this was by no means an easy choice, as there might be deadly mechanisms hidden behind each door.

"Ding Zhen, let's go back." Bai Ze's voice was tearful, and he was almost overwhelmed by the weird atmosphere here.

You Su shook his head, his eyes flashing with determination, "Then it is obvious that the Lord of the Dragon Palace led us here. However, if we stay in the previous palace, we will also freeze to death. If we want to get out, we must find a way out ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Bai Ze also sighed dejectedly, as if he didn't understand why the woman who claimed to be his friend did all this.

You Su took a deep breath and began to carefully observe every detail of the three doors. He found that the pattern on the first door seemed to be changing slowly, while there were slight scratches on the second door, and the cracks on the third door seemed to be gradually expanding.

But based on this information alone, it is impossible to determine which is the door of life and which is the door of death.

"Ding Zhen, do we really have to choose?" Bai Ze's voice was trembling. He looked up at You Su, his eyes full of help.

You Su suddenly opened his eyes, as if he had thought of a solution. He shook his shoulders, and then his body shook, and a blurry figure separated from his body. That figure was exactly the same as You Su, even the expression was exactly the same.

At this point, even Bai Ze realized what You Su was going to do. He was going to use the shadow he created to put himself in danger!
The shadow immediately moved, and it walked towards the first door. You Su gently opened the door and let it in. Behind the door was pitch black, and nothing could be seen. The shadow walked in without hesitation.

You Su and Bai Ze waited nervously, their hearts seemed to stop beating at this moment. Time passed by, but the shadow did not come back, and no sound came from inside the door.

"Ding Zhen, is it... is it..." Bai Ze's voice trembled slightly. He almost couldn't imagine what the shadow had encountered.

You Su's face also became solemn. He knew that the first door was likely a dead door. He did not hesitate and summoned another shadow to separate from his body, but the continuous consumption made his face pale.

The shadow walked to the second door, pushed it open gently, and walked in.

You Su closed his eyes and waited, only to see him turning his head slightly from time to time, as if he was sensing the presence of the shadow.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes again and said with certainty: "It's the door in the middle!"

(End of this chapter)