"Help me put this bead on the notch above the crane's head...... It's too tall for me to reach. ”

Lu Tao took the beads handed over by Peony, and could only nod: "...... All right. ”

He put the golden bead on the top of the crane's head, and with a slight "click", the golden bead was tightly inlaid on the notch above the crane's head, and then a golden light spread out from the golden bead, almost obscuring the light of the divine light technique in Lu Tao's hand.

The light lasted for just over ten seconds before the ground began to tremble, and with a "click" sound, the sculpture of the crane began to move slowly until it left a gap for people to pass through.

"It's exactly like the legend!" Peony stared excitedly at the gap in the ground, and before the sculpture moving above had completely stopped, she went down the stone steps from the entrance to the underground.

The underground is still a forward passage, the passage is not long, from this end you can see the stone gate at the other end, on both sides of the wall, as the peony stepped in, a line of fire was ignited, and the flames spread from this side to that side, illuminating everything in the passage.

The divine light technique in Lu Tao's extinguished hand, together with Peony, arrived at the stone gate at the end.

There was a keyhole in the middle of the stone door, and Lu Tao looked at Peony: "Where is the key?"

Peony spread his hands: "There is no key." ”

"You can open the mechanism outside, but you don't have the key to the next layer?" Lu Tao was a little puzzled.

"What's this. Peony replied while carefully observing the surroundings of the stone gate: "The key may be in the hands of the second prince, and the second prince also has a bead on the top, not only the second prince has it, but the fourth prince should also have it, and it is not a particularly precious thing." ”

Lu Tao: "......"

I always felt that Peony didn't care at all whether he could open this stone door, and seeing Peony's gaze, Lu Tao couldn't help but be a little puzzled, he followed Peony's gaze and looked back: "Why are you looking at me?"

"It's up to you to open this stone door! You have so much strength that we might be able to open it without a key. ”

Lu Tao: "......"

Shaking his head, Lu Tao reached out and clasped the side of the stone door, there was a shallow gap, the gap was only enough for Lu Tao to insert the first half of his fingers in, it was difficult to make a strong effort, Lu Tao buckled the gap and pulled the stone door to the side.

"Click!

Under Lu Tao's far different from ordinary people's strength, the stone gate made a "squeak" sound, but it did not move a bit, and in the end, even if Lu Tao added an extra hand and used the object control technique, the stone gate could not be opened by Lu Tao's power.

In the end, Lu Tao could only let go of his hand and shook his head at Peony: "No, this stone door is too heavy, I can't open it at all." ”

"Alas......" Peony sighed a little frustratedly: "Sure enough, if you don't get the key to this door, you can't do it, I have to find a way to meet the second prince, since that's the case, let's go up first." ”

Lu Tao didn't have any other methods, he knew some special techniques, but it was related to strength, only his own strength that he had gradually increased due to cultivation, and he couldn't use illusions on the stone gate, so he could only go back and find the key first.

Thinking like this, the stone gate suddenly moved, and with the sound of "click", the stone door slowly slid open to one side, revealing the space behind it that was also illuminated by the firelight.

Lu Tao: "???"

What's going on? Is the delay so severe?

Peony didn't care so much, she stepped into the stone door, and looked left and right at the contents of the secret room.

Lu Tao followed, although he didn't know why the stone gate suddenly opened, but it didn't prevent Lu Tao's plan at all, if he could find the crown that Fang Tianhua said here, his mission to the palace would be successfully completed.

It's a pity that there doesn't seem to be anything extra in the secret room, it's not big here, just a stone pillar more than one meter high stands in the middle position, the top of the stone pillar is about the position of Lu Tao's chest, on it, there is a small box, the red box is shining with some crimson color under the light of the surrounding firelight, but it is also very conspicuous.

In other places, there is nothing superfluous except for the neatly polished stone walls, so the contents of this secret room are probably only in this chest.

Peony couldn't wait to come to the side of the stone pillar in the middle, and reached out to take down the box on it, but Lu Tao heard a different voice.

From the position above his head, there was a subtle "knock" sound, Lu Tao looked up, although he couldn't really see what was on the ceiling, he could hear the subtle "knock" sound getting louder and louder, and at the same time, there were also subtle stone chips falling from the top of his head.

"Be careful!" Lu Tao was startled, the place where the stone chips fell was just where the peony was standing now, he rushed forward, grabbed the peony who still wanted to take the box down, and pulled her aside.

"Boom!"

The stones above his head collapsed suddenly, shattered into several stone slabs "popped" to the ground, and the splashed stones smashed on Lu Tao's body, making people feel as if they were hit by a sudden hail in summer.

As the stone slab above his head fell, a ray of heavenly light shone through the gap, and faint, and noisy human voices came from above, as if the people who had dug through this place were very excited.

"Oh no! this place has been discovered!"

Peony's voice came from Lu Tao's ears, depressed and anxious, she didn't care about observing the reaction of the people above, and reached out to grab the box on the stone pillar.

The person above seemed to see the movement of the peony below, and the noise turned into anxiety, and the next moment, a man in black fell from the sky, and seemed to be holding a crossbow in his hand.

The man in black who fell rolled and unloaded the impact from top to bottom, and then raised the crossbow in his hand, the target was the peony who had already held the box in his hand, Lu Tao dodged and moved sideways to this side, instantly activating the ice mirror technique, an ice mirror formed in the air, and then, it disappeared at a faster speed.

Lu Tao: "???"

What's the situation?!

Before Lu Tao could figure out the situation, the crossbow in the black-clothed man's hand shot arrows, and the crossbow arrows flew towards the peony like a black ghost, and Lu Tao could no longer stop it.

"Humph!"

With a muffled snort, the red box held in Peony's arms fell to the ground, the lid of the box flipped open, and two square objects of the same size rolled out, making a crisp crashing sound on the ground made of stone slabs.

Lu Tao looked at Peony, and an arrow was inserted into Peony's calf, and it was already half gone, revealing the remaining half of the back, and then he breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it didn't hit the vital point.

While the man in black was loading the second crossbow arrow, Lu Tao rushed to Peony's side with an arrow step, stopped her by the waist and hugged her, ready to walk back along the way she came.

"Wait a minute!

Peony didn't seem willing to let go of the harvest at hand, she grabbed Lu Tao's shoulder, and the color in her eyes was full of pleading.

Lu Tao hesitated, stretched out his hand and laid down a layer of ice mirror behind him, this time there was no problem with the spell, and the ice mirror did indeed appear behind Lu Tao, facing the direction of the man in black, Lu Tao squatted down: "Hurry up and lie on my back!"

While speaking, Lu Tao picked up one of the boxy objects from the ground, and was about to pick up the second one, when there was a sound of "grabbing" behind him, and the crossbow arrow of the same length as just now hit the ice mirror blocking Lu Tao's back, although the power was not enough to penetrate the ice mirror, but it also left a shadow that spread out on the smooth mirror surface.

Lu Tao turned around and found that in addition to the black-clothed man who was holding the crossbow at the beginning, two more people fell, one was also a person wearing black-clothed to hide, and the other was indeed the Ouchi guard that Lu Tao had seen, the two did not hold the crossbow, but reached out and pulled out the long knife on their waists, ready to outflank them from the two layers of the ice mirror.

Ignoring the need to pick up another object that fell out of the box, Lu Tao ran out with the peony on his back.

Fortunately, if compared to the speed, no one can outrun Lu Tao, Lu Tao shook off the chase of the three people, jumped into the previous waterhole, before falling into the water, Lu Tao cast a spell, but found that nothing happened, the diaphragm that should have appeared did not appear, replaced by an irresistible flow of water.

Lu Tao was stunned for a moment, and before he could do anything, he was carried by the current and got into a pitch-black waterway.

......

"Ahem...... cough cough cough cough ......"

Lu Tao was washed ashore, knelt on the gravel on the shore, and coughed violently.

The experience just now, he really didn't want to go through it again, the waterway is not long or short, but the turning point is too complicated, Lu Tao is like riding an underwater roller coaster for a while, and he has experienced an unknown number of impacts before coming out of it. Fortunately, the exit of the waterway is not far from the shore, otherwise if the waterway is facing the middle of the lake, Lu Tao estimates that he will not be able to float.

The spiritual power in his body was imprisoned again, and he couldn't drive it at all, let alone use any spells.

Looking back, Peony was also rushed up, but she was lying on the ground motionless, as if she had lost consciousness.

Lu Tao turned her around, and saw that the belly of the peony dressed in a eunuch uniform was bulging, and he didn't know how much water he had drunk.

With a light touch, the river water gushed down Peony's throat, and the next moment, Peony woke up, she flipped over, spit out the water in her stomach, and then turned over and lay on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Are you okay?" Lu Tao asked uneasily as he looked at the peony starry in the sky with blank eyes.

“...... I can't die yet......" said, Peony's eyes lit up: "Where is the jade seal? Is the jade seal still there?!"