Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Messenger of Confusion
As soon as Xu Ke got up from the ground, a kind and kind smile immediately appeared in front of him.
"Are you coming down again?" The person who spoke had a childish face and fluttering clothes, Xu Ke didn't need to look closely to know that he was naturally the old man of Shuiyue. This time, he stumbled and fell, and returned to the first floor of the pavilion.
Xu Ke sighed and said, "Old Man Shuiyue, I was trapped in the ninth layer pavilion again this time, how can I solve the puzzle in that layer of pavilion?"
The old man of Shui Yue said with a smile: "The ninth floor pavilion is the 'Lost Floor'...... Only you can solve the mystery there!"
There was no way, Xu Ke touched his head, so he had to go upstairs again, layer by layer.
He walked through the eight-story pavilion he had already walked through before, and when he passed through the fourth-story pavilion, he still couldn't help but look at the cloud shadow bead floating in the air.
It's just that the cloud shadow bead floats quietly on the top of the pavilion, motionless. Xu Ke sighed and continued to go up.
When he walked into the eighth floor pavilion, the "Delusional Messenger" took the initiative to wave his hand to him, pointed to the top and asked with a smile: "Little brother, can't you get past the upper floor?"
Xu Ke scratched his forehead, and said: "That floor, except for a messenger, a staircase, and nothing else, I turned around for a long time, and I really don't know how to go up......"
The messenger said, "So, you just went up the stairs?"
Xu Ke nodded.
The messenger asked, "What is unusual in the stairs?"
Xu Ke pondered for a moment and replied: "That section of the wooden ladder is no different! Could it be that that section of the staircase is the same as the 'Corruption Suppression Building', but it is transformed by the 'Beast'?"
The messenger shook his head and said: "Since it is the means of 'quitting greed and brother', how can 'get rid of the old man' be used again?
"......" Xu Ke lowered his head and thought.
The messenger of delusion also said: "Those who are 'lost' are chaotic, mortals look at things, they are depressed in their inherent views, they cannot recognize them, they cannot understand them, they cannot understand them, they cannot understand them, if they know what they do not know, if they do not know it, they will be lost from their hearts...... People in the world are often confused by appearances, and they don't know what is going on, but they are dazed and confused, and they are intoxicated and unable to take their own initiative, which is called confusion and ......"
Xu Ke interrupted: "Brother Po Delusion, can you tell me something real?"
The messenger laughed and said, "Didn't you just say it? There is nothing else in the 'Except for the Maze Building', only a messenger and a wooden ladder ......."
Xu Ke thought for a while, and then asked: "Could it be that in this ninth-floor pavilion, the wooden ladder is real, but the messenger is fake, and the so-called 'emissary envoy' is actually dressed as a 'bewitched beast'?"
The truth in his heart, since in the anti-corruption building, the greedy beast has become a wooden ladder, so when he arrives at this maze building, perhaps, the beast will turn into a messenger.
Unexpectedly, the messenger of delusion vetoed: "You think too much, right?"
"What ......?" Xu Ke was speechless for a moment.
Seeing that Xu Ke was speechless for a long time, the messenger shook his head, and had to enlighten him again:
"Little brother, think about it again, where did you meet the 'Elimination of Confusion'?"
Xu Ke replied: "I met the Messenger at the top of the stairs, and at that time, I originally thought that I had reached the ninth floor of the pavilion......"
The messenger said: "Think about it again, starting from the anti-corruption building, every time you go upstairs, what is the difference between what you see in the Elimination of Confusion Building?"
Xu Ke hurriedly said: "I went from the anti-corruption building, to the hatred building, to the absolute stupid building to the delusion building of the brother Ren, every time I entered the pavilion, I looked up and saw that I was the one who guarded the pavilion. It's just that in the ninth floor of the pavilion, I found the top of the stairs until I saw the messenger of the eradication!"
Seeing that Xu Ke had already understood, the messenger smiled and said nothing.
"Mortals look at things, they are depressed in their inherent views, they can't recognize it, they can't understand it, they can't understand it, they can't understand it, if they don't know it, they don't know it, they will be lost in their hearts......" Xu Ke chewed on the words of the previous messenger again, and suddenly said excitedly: "I know! I should have seen the 'Messenger of Confusion' when I entered the building, but I didn't see him appear until I was about to go upstairs." The exit that could have gone up to the next level made me fall straight to the bottom of the pavilion...... It seems that in the Elimination of the Labyrinth, the original end point has become the starting point, and everything seems to be reversed in that layer of pavilions. Then, if I get rid of all my preconceived notions and reverse my thinking, I may be able to find a way out!"
The messenger pointed to the stairs and said with a smile, "Go!"
Xu Ke was full of spirits again, strode upstairs, and only heard the delusional messenger say behind him: "Little brother, what you and I said today, if anyone asks, don't say it!"
When he went up to the ninth floor pavilion again, Xu Ke couldn't help but be slightly stunned. I saw that the tall, ugly-looking, yellow-striped "Mystery Removal Messenger" was neither in the center of the pavilion nor at the top of the stairs at this time, but like the previous "Cloud Shadow Real Man", he was lying on his back on the red pillar in the middle of the floor, sleeping and snoring like thunder.
Xu Ke didn't pay attention to the sleeping messenger, he went upstairs first, and stopped when he reached the exit at the top of the stairs. He thought of the method of "changing the preconceived notion and looking at everything backwards", so he simply stood upside down with his feet upside down, with his hands on the stairs, step by step, from the top of the stairs, down in turn......
Just after walking through the first wooden ladder at the top, Xu Ke saw the word "Zi" engraved on the longitudinal steps of the wooden ladder. The word block is not very engraved, and every time Xu Ke goes upstairs before, he doesn't pay attention to his feet at all. At this time, he was on his head and feet, and his eyes were facing the longitudinal surface of the wooden steps, so he could naturally see clearly, and he saw that there were ten circular holes on the right side of the word "Zi".
Xu Ke stretched out his hand and touched the word "Zi", only to feel that the word was very loose. With a slight force on his right hand, the wooden block engraved with the word "Zi" suddenly sank into it slightly. With the sinking of the word block, ten slender circular wooden strips immediately popped out of the ten circular holes next to it.
Xu Ke casually touched the round wooden strip and found that the wooden strip could also be pressed into the hole by him. He randomly pressed down the three wooden sticks, and then looked down the wooden steps, and sure enough
The longitudinal surface of that layer of wooden steps is engraved with the word "ugly", and there are also ten circular holes next to the ugly word.
Xu Ke pressed the wooden block with the word "ugly" into it again, and like the wooden steps on the top floor, ten slender circular wooden strips immediately popped out of the ten circular holes next to it. Xu Ke randomly pressed down five wooden strips, and after the five wooden strips were pressed into by his right hand, the outer end was level with the wooden steps.
Xu Ke had just pressed down the circular wooden strip of the second layer of wooden steps when he heard a sound. He heard the sound coming from above, so he looked at the wooden steps above again, only to see that the word "Zi" that had been sunken popped up again, but the three round wooden strips that were pressed into by Xu Ke next to him still did not move.
Xu Ke walked upside down the wooden ladder in turn, only to see a character block engraved on the longitudinal surface of each wooden step. The character blocks are arranged according to the ground branches, and the order is "Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai", and this wooden ladder is exactly 12 steps.
After looking at the entire wooden ladder, he had a rough idea in his mind. Each of these wooden steps has a character representing the earth's branches. At the same time, there are ten circular holes in each wooden step. If you press the block down, nine round strips of wood will pop out of the hole. Xu Ke thought in his heart, the wooden strip naturally represents a number, if he presses down a few wooden strips, it must be a number that echoes with the ground branch next to it. The entire wooden staircase looks like a mechanism......
So, what is the relationship between the character block of this earth branch and the wooden strip representing the number next to it? Xu Ke thought for a long time, and he had no clue in his heart.
He came up with great energy, and pressed down all the characters on each layer of wooden steps, and then randomly selected a number from the wooden strip next to him and pressed it in. When he reached the third layer of "Yin", he pressed down six wooden sticks, and when he reached the fourth layer of "Mao", he pressed down eight wooden sticks at random...... Every time he pressed down the circular wooden bar of a certain wooden step, he would hear the sound of "Kuang Tangtang" coming from the upper wooden step, as if there was a mechanism secretly twisting inside.
Until, Xu Ke walked to the bottom of the wooden steps with the word "Hai", he was a little nervous in his heart, and he didn't know what kind of changes would occur in the stairs after pressing down the words and wooden strips. However, no matter how it changes, it is better than staying the same. Thinking of this, Xu Ke immediately pressed down the eight wooden strips......
I only heard the sound of "rumbling" in the whole staircase, and at the end, there was no change at all. Xu Ke waited for a long time, only to see that the stairs were still stairs, the pavilions were still pavilions, except for the messenger who was still asleep, there were no new things in the entire floor.
Xu Ke put his head down and on his feet, his hands supported the ground, and walked around in the pavilion. However, he still didn't see anything out of the ordinary......
Xu Ke couldn't help but feel bitter in his heart, he sighed, and sat down on the ground again, he really didn't know how to crack this layer of "Removing the Maze Building".
Xu Ke knows very little about the innate Yili and the five elements of the technique. He remembered that when he and Murong Yan were at Yulu in Yushan before, Yan'er talked to him from time to time about the mystical and easy learning of the ancients.
"It is said that in ancient times, the river produced a map, Luo produced a book, and the saint did it. He suddenly remembered the number of Heluo that Yan'er had said. Now, isn't there a number in each of these wooden steps, waiting for you to press down?
Regarding the number of this river map, Yan'er once repeatedly recited a mantra, Xu Ke still remembers: "Heaven is born of water, the earth is sixty percent, the earth is two fire, the sky is seventy percent, the sky is three is wood, the earth is eighty percent, the earth is four is gold, the sky is ninety percent, the sky is five is earth, and the earth is ten percent." ”
"No matter, then give it a try!" Xu Ke struggled to get up, this time, he no longer walked upside down, walked to the top of the stairs, and pushed the wooden block with the word "Zi" in, and then, ten slender round wooden strips popped up next to him again. Xu Ke pressed down six wooden sticks.
When he reached the second layer of wooden steps, Xu Ke pushed the wooden block with the word "ugly" again, and then pressed down the air root from the ten wooden strips that popped up next to him. I only heard the next step up, and another sound came out. However, this time the sound was quite different from the last time he pressed the wooden bar indiscriminately, and the sound was clearer, as if the mechanism inside had really twisted. Xu Ke was overjoyed when he heard this, and then walked to the third layer of wooden steps, and this time, he pressed down eight wooden strips......
When he reached the wooden steps of the eleventh layer of the word "戌", Xu Ke didn't know how many wooden strips to press, just because the number of the river map was only ten corresponding numbers. He first pushed the wooden block with the character "戌" into the dark grid, and saw that after all ten slender circular wooden strips popped out, they all automatically replied, and the end was already level with the wooden steps. At the same time, an even more intense roar was heard throughout the staircase.
Before Xu Ke could think about it, he walked to the twelfth wooden staircase at the bottom. After he pushed the wooden block with the word "Hai", not a single wooden bar popped out of the round hole next to it.
At this time, there was a thunderous roar from the entire staircase, and suddenly, Xu Ke only felt that the heaven and earth were reversed, the original staircase collapsed, and the original ground suddenly rose. He saw that the surrounding pavilions continued to collapse and rise, rise and collapse, and later, a strong external force pushed him to the ground, and after a whirlwind, Xu Ke actually fainted......
I don't know how many hours passed, Xu Ke woke up leisurely. As soon as he opened his eyes, he couldn't help but be stunned. I saw that I was surrounded by walls at the moment, as if I was trapped in a huge labyrinth.
Xu Ke hurriedly jumped up, he saw that the wall was less than a zhang high, so he secretly raised his true qi, and suddenly jumped into the air, but he never thought that as his long body rose from the ground, the wall that was originally less than a zhang high had also been raised in an instant. No matter how lucky Xu Ke was, the wall was always higher than him.
Xu Ke sighed secretly and had to fall on the spot. He said in his heart, it seems that if he wants to get out with light skills, it is almost impossible here. Right now, the "Removal of the Labyrinth" is full of impassable walls, and this has really become a layer of "Labyrinth Building"!
Xu Ke walked forward, looking for an exit. He saw that the walls that enclosed him were always three feet apart, and every time he took a dozen steps, an exit appeared. Outside the exit, there are two more walls surrounding him, and after walking a few dozen steps, there is another exit...... And so on and so forth, as if endless.
Xu Ke looked up at the top of his head, only to see that he was still in the ninth floor of the pavilion, the red giant pillar of the sky was still towering in the middle, and the beams on the top of the building were exactly the same as before, and even, there was a person lying horizontally at the top of the floor, that person was tall and ugly, and it was the person who guarded the pavilion of this building - the messenger of the confusion. At this time, the emissary was already facing him, floating in the air on the roof of the building, just like the previous Cloud Shadow Zhenren, closing his eyes and sleeping soundly......
Except for the fact that he was besieged by the walls that suddenly rose from the ground, the others were no different from what he had seen before.
Moreover, those "walls" that suddenly appeared seemed to have spirituality, and they could rise and rise as his body jumped, and he could never cross them, so he could only walk on foot with his feet, struggling to find the exit.
Xu Ke had no choice but to move his feet, from this exit to that exit, and from this exit to that exit. Sometimes, there will be exits at both ends of a certain section of the wall at the same time, and Xu Ke just found an exit at random, just insisting on moving forward......
No matter how far he went, he turned around for a long time, but he was still within the walls. Many times, when he saw that the surrounding walls were somewhat familiar, he suspected that he was back where he was, so he made a mark on the wall with the sword on his back. Sure enough, it didn't take long for him to step out of the exit, and immediately he saw the mark he had carved on the wall.
Xu Ke was strong, and he carved different marks on each wall, with the natural intention of trying not to turn back. It's just that he carved too many marks, and after countless back-and-forths, at the end, he can't remember these marks clearly, how many times has he seen them?
The walls seemed endless, and no matter how many marks he carved, he still couldn't tell the intersection ahead.
He couldn't remember how much time he had spent in the building, he just walked and walked and walked and kept walking towards the next exit. But no matter how many exits he walked through, he still stayed in this ninth-floor pavilion.
Finally, Xu Ke was tired and sat down on the ground.
He pondered in his heart, what kind of pavilion was this, and he finally cracked the number of the stairs with great effort, but unexpectedly activated the mechanism, trapping himself in an endless labyrinth......
In the end, how can you get out of the labyrinth?
Where are the so-called 'bewitched beasts' hiding?
The messenger of delusion told me to reverse my thinking, not to be depressed by preconceived notions, am I not already reversed?
Such a huge labyrinth, and you can't use light skills to leap over, God knows, the Year of the Monkey can only pass?!
......
Xu Ke was thinking hard, but he leaned against the wall and fell asleep.
I don't know how many hours have passed, Xu Ke woke up again. When he woke up, he immediately turned over and got up, rubbed his head vigorously, cheered up, and continued to look for an exit.
After thinking about it, he still felt that he needed to make more marks, and no matter how many marks were engraved, he still had to memorize them.
He felt that since this place was a huge labyrinth, there was always an exit to the outside.
Before, he rushed left and right, and he never went outside, and as expected, he must have taken a lot of back.
Walking around, back to square one, if you go on like this, even if you are allowed to walk for 10,000 years, you will not be able to get out!
The only way to avoid going back is to make a mark, and the next time you choose an exit, change the direction, so that if you go through every exit, the only one left will be the only correct exit.
Xu Ke decided this in his heart, so he beat his spirit and continued to walk towards the next exit. Every time he came to a new junction, he took up his sword and carved a new mark. Each time, he accidentally walked back, and when he saw the mark he had carved earlier, he would choose another exit. Strangely, even if he had chosen another exit for the second time, it wasn't long before he returned to the place where he had been marked.
That is to say, no matter what method he uses, he is still going back, constantly going back......
This time, Xu Ke was really stunned. He really didn't know why he had already made a mark, why he had changed his way of walking, why he still walked into a turning back and entering a kind of dead loop.
Xu Ke remembered what the messenger downstairs had said, and suddenly stood upside down with his feet again, supported the ground with his hands, and slowly walked forward. But after walking upside down for a long time, he still returned to the original point again......
"How long is this damn ninth-story pavilion going to trap me!" Xu Ke turned over and fell to the ground, looking up to the sky and sighing.
He couldn't help but feel an endless misery in his heart: "Sister Hu is still waiting for me to find the Bai Lao Pavilion Master as soon as possible, so that I can rescue her 'Ah Ke' as soon as possible!
Xu Ke stared at the top of the pavilion in a daze, as if Hu Yiyi's figure was staring at him in the air:
"Sister Hu, Wuxian has really tried her best! I only blame your 'little Wuxi' for being too stupid, I have tried my best here, but I still can't find a trace of half of the exit. Ahem, if my sister is here, it would be great, with my sister's ice and snow intelligence, she will definitely be able to help you find an exit without disease......"
But there was no figure of Hu Yiyi in front of him, only the strange-looking "anti-mystrosis messenger" was "lying flat" in the air. Xu Ke didn't want to look at him, so he simply closed his eyes and slept by himself.
I don't know how many hours have passed, Xu Ke's eyes suddenly lit up. He suddenly remembered that when he was walking upside down with his feet upside down, he seemed to see some abnormal movements in the "messenger of delusion".
"What kind of abnormal behavior is he on?" he looked at the yellow-faced messenger in the air, slapped his head suddenly, and realized that he said:
"His shoes must have hidden a mystery!"