"That's not right, boss. These stone statues seem to be surrounded by a large space."
"Could this be another dungeon? Second Brother opened the way, and it was clearly going upwards."
Fatty scratched his head and looked back at the passage.
The path behind them clearly led upwards.
"Uncle Fatty, this is a very large space. It seems like something is blocking the brothers and sisters inside, and they can't speak either."
"They are like stones."
Tarou said, his dark eyes seeming to gain some color.
"Stones?"
Zhang Tian looked at the stone statues in front of him. Following the beam of his flashlight, Zhang Tian could even see the expressions on their faces.
"Boss, it seems there's a mechanism inside here."
Hu Bayi walked into the space before them. He repeatedly examined the stone statues, his eyes finally settling on their feet.
At the feet of the statues, there seemed to be some trigger mechanisms, specifically holding the statues in place.
"This should be the star formation island corresponding to the Xuanwu constellation. This tomb chamber should correspond to Xuanwu."
"I suspect the mechanism is hidden within the Xuanwu wood tomb chamber, and we have inadvertently stumbled upon its location."
Zhang Tian had also walked into the center of these stone statues.
He said as he looked around.
"Then, boss, what kind of mechanism is this? Who would be idle enough to use stone statues as a mechanism?"
Fatty asked curiously.
"This mechanism isn't very clear from here. Fatty, Young Master Wu, go to the outer tomb chamber and get some red crystals to light this place up."
"We'll study how to break it first."
Zhang Tian glanced at Wu Tianzhen and the others.
Since they were all manpower, he might as well use them.
"Okay, then Young Master Zhang, be careful."
Wu Tianzhen nodded and pulled Wang Banyue back.
"What? Uncle Fatty has to go too?"
Fatty looked bewildered.
Why was he being called upon for something like this?
"What else? Without you, could they smash open the crystals?"
Zhang Tian said speechlessly.
Fatty scratched his head.
"That's right, Uncle Fatty is also a person of standing, and the core of the team. For such an important matter, who else but me?"
Fatty patted his chest.
"Damn it, Young Master Wu, wait for me! Uncle Fatty is the core!"
Fatty shouted and quickly chased after them.
"Boss, how about we smash open this wall? Maybe we can see the tomb chamber."
Hu Bayi walked up to a wall.
He knocked on the wall with his hand, and a muffled "thud" sound came from it.
Clearly, it was hollow inside.
"It seems, Old Hu, that we are inside the walls."
Zhang Tian looked around.
If Hu Bayi was knocking on the tomb chamber wall, then there was no doubt that they were currently within the walls of the Xuanwu tomb chamber.
"It seems that everything above, below, and in the walls is now buried. What will come next..."
Zhang Tian recalled the layout of the mechanisms in the tomb chambers they had entered before.
"Soaring Dragon in the Sky, Azure Dragon Enters the Sea. Boss, I suspect that in the Azure Dragon tomb chamber, the mechanism is likely on the ceiling."
Hu Bayi suddenly thought of something, and a hint of excitement crept into his hoarse voice.
"Yes, but where does the underground tunnel we found in the elixir chamber lead?"
Zhang Tian nodded slightly.
He remembered the tomb passage beneath the stone slab in the elixir chamber.
That passage was extremely hidden, and it seemed to lead to the very bottom. Zhang Tian guessed it probably didn't lead to the Azure Dragon tomb chamber.
"Boss, could it lead directly to the main tomb chamber?"
"After all, once the original owner awakens, the first thing they would do is recover themselves."
Hu Bayi suddenly spoke.
Zhang Tian's eyes flickered.
"Possibly. So, we just need to rescue these little ones, and then we might be able to strike directly at the enemy's stronghold."
Zhang Tian said after some thought.
"Second Brother, have you found anything?"
Hu Bayi asked, seeing Zhang Qilin constantly looking at the stone statues.
"It's a chess game."
Suddenly, Zhang Qilin's clear voice echoed.
After he spoke, Zhang Tian and Hu Bayi looked at him almost simultaneously.
Their eyes filled with surprise.
Zhang Qilin's observational skills were truly remarkable; he could not only see what they had missed but was also very meticulous.
"Boss, I think Second Brother is the most meticulous."
Hu Bayi said, pinching his cigarette-worn throat.
"Yes, he has always been very meticulous."
Zhang Tian nodded, then looked at the surrounding stone statues.
Because it was too dark, the full picture could not be seen.
"A chess game?"
"I understand, Old Hu, this might be the Myriad Chess Formation!"
Zhang Tian suddenly realized.
"The Myriad Chess Formation, where the entire tomb chamber is transformed into a chessboard, and people are the pieces. When the last piece is captured, one side loses."
"Boss, to break this formation, we need a lot of people. The more people, the more pieces there are. Fortunately, we are not inside the tomb chamber, otherwise, it would be really troublesome."
Hu Bayi breathed a long sigh of relief.
If people were considered pieces, then there were at least a thousand stone statues in the mechanism before them, meaning Xu Fu had a thousand pieces.
There was no way to lose this game, it was a death trap.
"Yes, it would be quite troublesome. Tarou, do you know how to rescue your sisters?"
Zhang Tian's gaze fell on Tarou.
"I don't know."
Tarou shook his head, his eyes filled with worry.
"Boss, here comes your Fatty!"
While Zhang Tian was thinking, Fatty, Wu Tianzhen, and the others ran over carrying the glowing crystals.
Fatty even called out as he ran, as if afraid others wouldn't know the credit was his.
"Light up the surroundings."
Zhang Tian pointed around.
"Okay, boss, just you wait. Uncle Fatty will set it up like a cozy little home for you."
Fatty said confidently, and Zhang Tian twitched his lips.
This guy's words were always so incongruous.
"If this is a chess game, then we just need to find the first or the last piece, right?"
Hu Bayi murmured, and Zhang Tian frowned.
"If we deal with the first piece, then the whole game doesn't need to be played. If we deal with the last piece, then it's equivalent to dealing with all of them."
"This method should be feasible in principle, but with so many stone statues, how do we distinguish the first and the last?"
Zhang Tian's gaze followed the light as he looked around.
He saw that a circular underground tunnel was densely packed with stone statues.
Each statue had a mechanism at its feet, and the faces of the statues all seemed to be in pain.
With the light, Zhang Tian could now see the entire surrounding area clearly.
In the vast mechanism chamber, there was nothing else besides the stone statues. These statues naturally did not have numbers on them; they were almost identical, except for their appearances.
"My goodness, so many. There must be at least a thousand of them."
"The tomb owner was truly ruthless, burying so many people."
Fatty exclaimed as he looked at the stone statues.
"By the way, boss, have you thought of a way to break it?"
Fatty looked at Zhang Tian.
"There is one way. Fatty, go and find the first stone statue and the last stone statue."
Zhang Tian said.
"What? So many?"
Fatty exclaimed, his gaze falling on the illuminated statues, and he felt a surge of dejection. This was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack!