It is said that after a few days of peace in the capital, the palace and the prime minister's mansion and the prison cells of the criminal department have not moved.

During this period, King Dingnan invited the emperor to interrogate two guards, and to King Dingnan's surprise, these two guards turned out to be really the guards of the Three Emperors - because the two guards had seen the emperor, they immediately recognized them as people in the palace of the Three Emperors. Although the emperor was surprised, he also interrogated carefully with reason, but both of them admitted that many matters were done by the three princes.

After the arraignment, the emperor said to the king of Dingnan that he would investigate the matter after the reorganization of Ouchi was over. King Dingnan felt that things would not be so simple, there were too many intrigues in the palace, and this matter may not only involve the prince, but even the harem may involve people, even if the guards are really under the three princes, it is enough to judge everything for the three princes at the moment.

It is only said that on this day, a large number of people from the rivers and lakes and some people in the palace gathered outside the palace gate. Outside the Xuanwu Gate, the guards guarding the gate are guarding, and they have never seen such a large formation: the people in the rivers and lakes of various sects, as well as some individual guests in the rivers and lakes, in addition to some small leaders in the army and some guards in the armory room and the palace.

The sound outside the Xuanwu Gate was a little noisy, and it was not until after a drum that the front of the Xuanwu Gate was quiet.

I saw an official walk out in front of the door, the official was the chief attendant of the palace, Pan Gonggong, and Pan Gonggong said fairly: "Everyone listen to the order-" After that, he took down the holy decree from the tray held by the eunuch next to him.

All knelt down to listen to the decree, only to see Pan Gonggong open the decree and read: "Fengtian carrier, the emperor's edict said: Today, all the heroes gather in the imperial city to compete for the position of the Great Interior, which is really a grand event of our dynasty." The re-election of Ouchi will be carried out in three days, assessed day by day, selected for merit, and awarded according to performance. ”

After that, everyone returned the favor and thanked them. At this time, Pan Gong said fairly: "All the heroes are good hands in the rivers and lakes and the imperial court, but this time, regardless of the source, as long as they are located in the rivers and lakes without bad deeds, and have no bad reputation in the imperial court, they can participate." On the first day of today, please enter the Xuanwu Gate in turn——"

Everyone entered the Xuanwu Gate in an orderly manner, and after the Xuanwu Gate, there was still a mile away from the inner gate, and this place had been arranged as a school field. I saw that there were five platforms on the school ground, and there were five elements on the platform, which was called gold, wood, water, fire and earth.

I saw a person coming out of the inner door at this time, and walked to the center of the school field, only to see that the person was wearing a pair of armor, holding a command flag in his left hand, and said in a full voice: "I am Xiao Zan, the captain of the forbidden army, and the chief officer of this assessment." ”

Everyone saluted Captain Xiao and said, "Participate in Captain Xiao—"

"You don't have to be intimidated. Today is the first day of the assessment, although everyone has the heart to serve the imperial court, but if you want to re-elect people, there will definitely be people who are defeated. Here, I hope that all of you can use your means to let the court see your abilities. Today's exam questions are right in front of you - when you see these five platforms, the captain of the school will give you half an hour, you can choose these five platforms by yourself, and go up after choosing. Captain Xiao said.

At this time, everyone was whispering, and Pu Mu and Weifeng in the crowd couldn't figure it out for a while, and Weifeng said: "The Way of the Five Elements, this assessment is still a test of Taoism? ”

Pu Mu said: "Yes, so many people are on the same platform, how do you compare the law?"

"I guess it's going to make us fight to the death directly, isn't it too cruel—" Pu Mu said to a man beside him.

Pu Mu saw that there was a pair of short hooks around this person's waist, one of the short hooks was a claw hook, and the other was a double pentent. Pu Mu said: "Looking at my brother's weapon, I think my brother is Gu Qian, who is called 'Yaksha' by the people of the rivers and lakes?"

"Hahaha, I haven't consulted the two brothers," Gu Gan said.

Pu Mu said: "In the next Pu Mu." The treacherous wind said: "Under the treacherous wind." ”

"It was originally a ranger in Luoyang, and Brother Weifeng's light skills are good. "Gu Gandao.

While everyone was still talking, a gong sounded, and Captain Xiao said: "Everyone, half a quarter of an hour has arrived, please choose for yourself——"

Everyone chose their own platform, and when they saw that the people on the platform were evenly distributed. Among them, some of them have carefully calculated and chosen the platform, and of course, a large number of people choose it intuitively.

"Okay, you've all made your choice?" said Lieutenant Xiao.

Everyone echoed, and the atmosphere in the school field was a bit noisy.

"Good luck to you—" With that, Captain Xiao turned his gaze to the eunuch on the inner door, who nodded, and did not know where to fiddle with the pillars in the attic of the inner door, and as soon as the wooden planks on the platform were removed, the people on the five platforms all fell.

The five groups of people all fell underground, and the underground was dark, with only a few crevices revealing some subtle light, and the places where the five platforms fell were all separated, and the underground was divided into five secret rooms.

Everyone panicked, and someone scolded directly: "What kind of assessment is this, and I was thrown off directly." ”

"Ouch, I didn't pay attention for a while, I didn't do the light work, and my ankle was broken, how can I compete?"

"Where is this pitch black? Is this still a palace? How can this palace still have such a ghostly place?"

"What the hell is going on—"

While there was a lot of noise underground, every secret room seemed to move. The walls of the chamber under the wooden level seem to be shrinking, the chamber under the water level is flooded with water, the floor tiles of the chamber under the earth level are gradually loosening and sinking, the floor tiles of the chamber under the gold level seem to be rotating, and the chamber under the fire level is gradually heating up.

Many people became panicked at this moment, shouting and screaming, and some people scolded: "Is this a choice or a killing-"

At this moment, someone in the water-locked room spoke up and shouted: "Shut up, if you don't calm down at this moment, there is only a dead end - if you want to get out, you should be quiet at this moment." "The person who screamed was Long Xiangtian, who had just returned to Beijing, although Long Xiangtian was on an errand in the armament, he didn't know that there was such a secret room under the Xuanwu Gate, and he thought it was built by the emperor for the re-election of the secret messenger of Ouchi. Although no one answered at this time, there was only one person lying in front of him groping in the water above his ankles, and said, "There seems to be no mechanism to be found underground, brothers, please look around-"

Long Xiangtian stood up, listened to this person's words, and groped around the wall. The person who spoke was the head who helped Chen Renhai save Yan Yu that day. But there was no obvious mechanism in the search, "The whole wall is made of hard tiles, and there is no trace of it—" said someone.

Hearing this, Long Xiangtian turned around and lay on the floor tiles on the roof of the secret room, and a gecko-like figure groped step by step, and said, "There is no roof——"

At the same time, Pu Mu and Wei Feng under the fire position were using the cold power in their bodies to ward off the heat, and the rest of the people were the same, Wei Feng took out a few packets of medicinal powder from his coat pocket, and said, "Can you trust me?"

Pu Mu said: "Brothers, Mr. Weifeng is good at pharmacology, and at this time, I want to dispense medicine to save everyone." ”

"We listen to you—" Someone responded, and everyone fell silent.

At this time, Pu Mu saw that Wei Feng was spreading out the packets of medicinal powder, took out a spoon in his hand, and divided the medicinal powder into a small portion, and suddenly slapped his head and said: "This brother, I saw you use a heavy hammer, please disperse, brother, you use ten percent of your strength to smash this floor tile——"

"Okay—" With that, the man picked up the sledgehammer and smashed it directly into the ground, and a large hole was directly smashed on the ground, and the floor tiles were dented, but they were not damaged.

"Everyone, go forward, sit down around this big pit—" Pu Mu and the others did so, "You will all spread your hair and let the sweat drip down this pit." Pu Mu said. The trick wind smiled with him, and Pu Mu also understood the solution that the trick wind thought of.

"Remove the internal force to resist the heat, so that the sweat drip faster. "Treacherous Wind.

At this time, Long Xiangtian at the water-tight room lay on the ceiling and seemed to think of something, and immediately fell to the ground, Ah Tou was leading the others to explore the secret of this water gushing place, "There are all around the water gushing place, but there is no place to release the water? How does this drain the water? Is it related to the five elements?" Ah Tou looked at the water that submerged his knees and asked.

"Yes, it has something to do with the five elements-" Long Xiangtian also walked into the crowd, "The five elements are mutually reinforcing, gold is born of water, water is born of wood, earth is born of water, and water is overcome of fire." The remaining four elements related to the water must be the mouth of this siege. "Long Xiang Heavenly Dao.

Ah Tou felt some movement on the floor, and said, "You guys use a thousand catties to make your internal strength—" Long Xiangtian and the rest of the people also did the same.

At this time, in the golden secret room, Chen Renhai performed light skills with the rotating secret room, spinning in circles, and some of them were already dizzy, foaming at the mouth and falling to the ground. One of them, who was close to Chen Renhai, also made light power rotation, Chen Renhai felt a little strange at this time, and felt that there was some heat in the ceiling. For a while, he said to the man next to him: "Brother, if I keep going around like this, it must not be a way to break the game, and there are traces of the way to solve it here——"

The man: "Yes, in order to stop it, you need to lead it to the fire, so that the fire is in harmony—"

"I'll go underground first—" Chen Renhai said.

Everyone fell to the ground, at this time the secret room rotated very slowly, and there were still some sober people gathered together, Chen Renhai found that the closer he got to the center of the secret room, the secret room turned faster and faster, "Brother Tai, grab my legs-" After that, the man left the center and grabbed Chen Renhai's feet, Chen Renhai used his hands to make internal force, fixed on the ground, listened to it, and felt that there seemed to be a sound on the floor tiles.

"Everyone listen to my orders, use their internal strength, and hammer this land with hard qigong—" Chen Renhai said.

At this time, at the wooden secret room, Zhao Zicheng visited around, with some hard kung fu skills, the speed of squeezing was somewhat limited, and Wang Yu probed around, but did not find any clues. Wang Yu fell, lit the acupoints of those tough guys who were against the wall, and said: "Brothers, I have ordered your three big holes, and now that your body shape has been determined, but there is no loss of internal strength, you can resist it first, and my friend will definitely come up with a way for you." ”

"There seems to be the sound of water next door, and there is also a sound underground, but it's not the sound of water—" Zhao Zicheng said.

Zhao Zicheng slapped his thigh and said, "Wang Yu, let everyone run counterclockwise-" After saying that, Wang Yu relieved his acupoint, and everyone listened to the order and ran counterclockwise.

The floor tiles in the earthen secret room have been sinking at this time, it seems that the breath breathed in the secret room is becoming less and less at this time, and it is difficult for everyone to calm down, after looking for a way out just now, some people even sat down, and some of them gave up, and the ocarina sounded in the crowd, and a swordsman approached the man: "Are you still interested in playing the ocarina at this time?"

That person was Li Qinshi on the bank of the Qingshui River that night, and the qinist said: "At this time, there is an opportunity, but there is no good weapon——"

The swordsman said, "How is my sword?"

"No, you still need a weapon with a hook—" Li Qinshi said.

Hearing this, the swordsman broke the head of the sword into a hook. Seeing this, the rest of the people all concocted the same way, and some people who did not have weapons asked Li Qinshi: "Brother Tai, what do we need if we don't have weapons?"

At this time, Li Qinshi got up and said, "It was you who sat down that gave me thoughts, and we went to the crack in the wall to help them——"

It was evening on the ground, the time had passed, Captain Xiao finished eating the dinner sent by the waiter at the table, and was drinking tea and waiting, at this time, as soon as Grandpa Pan arrived, Captain Xiao immediately got up to greet him, and said: "Grandpa Pan is coming, I miss the welcome, and I hope to forgive my sins——"

"Eh, Captain Xiao is joking with our family. Why is it almost dark, and no one has come up?"

Captain Xiao said: "If you go back to Pan's father-in-law, there will be a quarter of an hour, and the time will come, and the underground organs will be closed. ”

"The ability of the old master of the weapons room is really not small, although he has opened seven promotions, but the old master's exam questions are really refreshing. "Pan Gong is fair.

As the two spoke, the martial platform shook, and all five platforms rose back.

Pan Gonggong applauded his horse and said with a smile: "If you are really heroic, such a difficult mechanism can be cracked." Heroes, get off the stage and listen to Captain Xiao's words. ”

Everyone dragged their bodies to the ground, some of them were already supporting each other, some were panting, and some were full of helplessness.

Captain Xiao sent someone to distribute the waist card to everyone, and said: "In today's assessment, you must also know that the people in the Five Elements Secret Room cooperate, and the secret rooms also need to cooperate with each other before they can come out." It's a great thing that you can get out before the deadline. None of the teams in the team made the objects in the secret room almost kill you, which is a fortunate thing for you, and it is also a blessing for the imperial court, which proves that the imperial court did not look at the wrong person - however, if anyone understands the method of cracking this secret room today, if so, come to me after dinner to write it. ”

There was no sound in the crowd, and Fang Cai was indeed too tired.

Pan Gong said fairly: "Heroes, I am rewarded by the emperor today, let you live in the palace, and let Captain Xiao send someone to take you to live when you are young." Also, after today, I think some people have begun to retreat, tomorrow's assessment will only be more stringent, if you can't persevere, come to me at this time to receive the emperor's royal gift of one hundred taels of gold, two hundred taels of silver, fold the card and leave——"

At this time, someone in the team really walked out, about ten people came out, and those people took the reward money from the tray of the eunuch and left the palace - the ability of these people may not be able to last until the end, at this time, there is a gold from the emperor, and it is naturally not too ugly to take it back.

"Okay, we know that some of the heroes are ashamed to come up to get this bounty, but after dinner, come to our house to withdraw money and leave the palace, how to come to me and ask the chamberlain at the gate where you live, and they will bring you here. You recuperate tonight, don't drink too much, otherwise you won't be able to play tomorrow - you have a waist card, you can enter and exit the palace, but you can't enter the inner door. But remember to be here tomorrow—" Pan Gong said.

After Pan Gong finished speaking, Xiao Xiaowei asked everyone to have dinner, and everyone was led by a group of eunuchs to a house in the east and north of Xuanwu Gate, which was originally the residence of the palace maid. There were two rows of bungalows on the east side of the house, and a small building on the west side, and the smell of food wafted from the small building at this time, and it was thought to be a place for dinner.

Everyone was led to the house by the eunuch, and saw that the house was full of carriage and horse shops, but the bedding laid out in this row of kang was more exquisite than that of the ordinary carriage and horse shop. Many people were disappointed, and the noise began to fluctuate again from the house to the dining room, as if the exhaustion of these people had been forgotten by the disappointment that had made them disappointed—

"I'm tired of a day, such a ghost place, and some low-grade palace maids' houses also let us live?"

"Who's to say it's not, it's better to go back to the armory room to strike iron, it's all lived there alone-"

"You are all from the weapons room, I heard that this assessment is a unique job left by your old master, and it is too ruthless. ”

"Well, I didn't know he would be like this. Brother, what kind of faction are you?"

"I'm from Qingcheng Mountain, but I'm not a Taoist, just a disciple of a layman. ”

"The Qingcheng faction is good, I will definitely go for a walk when I have a chance in the future-"

"Hey, I think I'd better go, today I see that the people here are beyond my power, so it's better to go and get the reward, go back and let the family talk to the matchmaker, the emperor's reward is enough for me——"

......

In the dining hall, everyone ate happily, and heard that the head of the imperial dining room was ordered by the emperor to do it for the heroes from all walks of life who came to participate in the election, and they ate more happily.

The moon was still rising in the sky today, and even though it was night, the moon was shy at the end of the month, and it did not want to come out to see all the creatures that had spread its light.

In the dining hall, Chen Renhai finished eating the last bowl of rice, then got up and left the dining hall, went to the door of the house, and asked the eunuch, the eunuch asked him for directions, Chen Renhai thanked him and left.

In this way, more than a dozen people came out, and they all asked for directions, so they and Chen Renhai came to another courtyard in the northwest of the house, which was where Xiao Xiaowei lived.

I saw that in one room, there were about 20 desks, and the people on 15 of them were writing with pens, and in about half an hour, 15 people handed in the books one after another. Captain Xiao asked the fifteen people to wait and review it for a while by himself - those fifteen people came to write the secrets of the Five Elements Secret Room with Captain Xiao.

When he was young, Captain Xiao took the paper into the room, "You are really smart, the person who set up this question once told me that whoever can solve the secret of the Five Elements Secret Room will be the person who will be the leader of the Great Internal Sect in the future - I read your answer sheets, and most of them have answered the important point." Mo Xibo, Mo Xizhong, your two brothers answered in detail the mystery of the secret room where you and the others were, but the connection between the secret rooms was roughly answered, but it was generally correct. This one...... Who's Tousi?"

Ah Tou got up and gestured, "If you go back to Captain Xiao, you will be below." ”

"The hero has no name?" Lieutenant Xiao asked.

Ah Tou said: "I have been born less than a full moon, and I have no parents. I grew up eating the 100 family meals of Tingjiang in Yueling, and no one ever took my name, and then I did business, and my hometown called it that. ”

"Heroes don't ask where they come from, you answer very well. Captain Xiao said: "Zhao Zicheng, you are worthy of being the talent recommended by General Tiger King, and you have not missed any omissions. ”

Zhao Zicheng got up and thanked Captain Xiao for his compliment.

"The rest of you: Long Xiangtian, Fan Yunbao, Fu Yingju, Chen Renhai, Wang Yu, Guo Yu, Li Defei, Pu Mu, Weifeng, Bai Yang, and Gu Qian all answered eight or nine without leaving ten. Today's hard work, please go back and rest early, of course, if you want to go out of the palace, show the waist card. See you tomorrow, everybody—"

Everyone said goodbye to Captain Xiao and left where Captain Xiao lived.

——The secret of the five elements secret room is very complicated, it is originally based on the place where the five elements are born and restrain each other, and the balanced combination of the five secret rooms is needed to unlock the way out of the secret room-and the water secret room where Long Xiangtian and Ah Tousi and Fu Yingjie and others are located, the people in the secret room press the floor with a jack pendant, so that the rotation of the golden secret room under the floor slows down, and the water enters slowly; Fan Yunbao, Wei Feng, Gu Qian, and others used a small pool of miraculous medicine and sweat to make qi escape from the gap in the ceiling, so that the soft floor of the wooden secret room swelled up, making it incompressible and hot; Zhao Zicheng, Wang Yu, the Mo family brothers, and others in the wooden secret room ran against the clock, so that the wheel that rotated the water to impact the secret room was blocked, and the water could not impact the secret room.

In this way, the people of the Five Elements Secret Room worked hard and did not get out, so they thought that they needed the cooperation of the Five Elements, so they tried many times, and finally tried the order, and finally: the earth secret room fell to the right place, and when it came to the top, the top no longer impacted the golden secret room, the soft roof of the wooden secret room pulled up the earth secret room, and the earth secret room stopped falling, and the golden secret room rotated just right The wooden chamber must not shrink; the heat of the fire chamber is released, and the golden chamber stops rotating, and the water stops flowing; the water chamber is not filled with water, and the water flows backwards, pouring the outer wall of the fire chamber and dissipating the heat; so that the five elements of the chamber are completely dissolved, and the general organ moves, and all the chambers are opened, and people are sent to the ground.

At night, everyone returned to the house to sleep, and only the Mo brothers and Ah Tousi remained outside the door.

When Captain Xiao mentioned Ah Tousi just now, only the Mo family brothers looked at him with a burst of surprise.