Chapter 175: Illusion

“Cough, cough,” the man coughed heavily, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood. “Our leader had just passed through here not long ago. I thought I was dragging behind and was thrown here by them… Ah!” Before he could finish, a scream erupted from him. With a splash, blood gushed from his chest. Looking closely, one could see a leaf of a carnivorous plant extending directly from his heart. A bloody heart was hanging and swaying.

Thud. Suddenly, a carnivorous plant behind Liu Dashao swallowed the man’s head with a sunflower-sized maw.

Boom.

Another plant beside the man was not to be outdone, sucking both of his legs in.

These two carnivorous plants actually began fighting over this small piece of flesh. More and more carnivorous plants noticed the scent of human flesh and activated all their roots, rushing toward this direction. Soon, the man’s body was entangled by various roots.

Liu Dashao shouted that things were getting bad and urged everyone to escape quickly, find a place, locate the entrance, and leave this place.

With that, Liu Dashao rushed ahead since all the carnivorous plants were now attracted by the blood and flesh of that one person, so not many of them paid attention to their group.

Bang! An explosion occurred, scattering flesh and blood everywhere. Liu Dashao felt as if it were raining from the sky. He tasted it with his tongue and found it salty. In the darkness, he couldn’t see clearly, but he could guess that the man must have been devoured by these carnivorous plants, and the explosion sound moments ago was the sound of his body being torn apart. Liu Dashao felt some guilt inside because, unknowingly, he had sentenced this man to death.

The sound of crunching echoed, as if a giant animal were gnawing on its prey.

Liu Dashao calmed himself and looked at Fan Debiao and Su Yougui. “You two must stay alert. Don’t worry about being attracted; as long as I’m here, we will be fine.”

Actually, he said this just to comfort the two, as he himself had no confidence in what he was saying. He didn’t even know whether he could survive until the end.

But giving them a bit more confidence to get through was also a wise choice, at least making the two less frightened when facing danger.

Thump, thump. Arriving at an area with fewer carnivorous plants, Liu Dashao knocked on the wall. It was hollow inside, so this must be the door. He pried with a shovel for quite a while before finally opening the door.

Instantly, a beam of light shone out, startling Liu Dashao, fearing some kind of trap. He quickly dodged aside, but the light shining out didn’t seem to pose any danger.

Su Yougui and Fan Debiao looked at Liu Dashao with somewhat mocking eyes. “This guy is too cautious, so careful indeed.”

As if reading their thoughts, Liu Dashao said, “Actually, in such a dangerous place, any carelessness could lead to irreversible consequences. Take Hu Beikang and my master’s younger brother for example. If they had been a bit more careful and heard the sound of the gu worm, even a second earlier, they could have saved their lives.”

After saying this, the two fell silent.

Since the light didn’t seem to be a big issue, the three of them removed the roots of the carnivorous plants from their bodies, entered the cave, and then heavily closed the stone door behind them.

“Hey, Master Liu, look at this. How come this space is so small? Could it be that some emperor or general was so stingy, building such a long and perilous corridor, yet his main hall is so tiny?”

Actually, the space they were in now was only large enough for five people, making it quite cramped for the three of them.

Liu Dashao pondered, “This doesn’t feel right. There’s definitely something wrong here. Could it really be such a small space? Besides, there’s no coffin or anything like that in here?”

After saying this, Liu Dashao placed his hand on the stone and gently felt around, checking if the stone was hollow inside.

Pound, pound, pound, pound. After knocking a few times, he received dull sounds each time, indicating that the stone was solid and could not be hollow.

Strange.

Liu Dashao was also puzzled. How could there be no echo? What was going on?

Fan Debiao looked down and exclaimed in surprise, “Master Liu, look, what’s this under our feet? This is actually a layer of glass.” Liu Dashao hurriedly looked down and sure enough, the ground was thin and slightly transparent. Damn it, it really was glass.

Immediately, Liu Dashao told the two not to move.

Crack.

The glass underfoot actually cracked a bit, making a cracking sound.

Crash.

Crash. The sound kept coming, indicating that the floor was about to collapse. The floor simply couldn’t bear their weight.

What was going on? Why was there glass here? What was happening? Liu Dashao was filled with confusion.

In that era, how could there be such a thing as glass?

He was filled with various thoughts.

Crack, crack, crack. Bang.

The floor actually exploded, and the three of them felt the wind rushing past their ears. They finally fell down.

Ah! Ah!

The three of them screamed loudly for help.

Liu Dashao felt his body rapidly sinking, with the howling wind roaring in his ears like a wild beast.

Suddenly, a gust of wind came through, and their bodies abruptly slowed down.

Feeling puzzled, Liu Dashao looked down, but a strong gust of wind hit his eyes painfully, forcing him to close them.

His body’s descent became slower and slower, as if something below was holding him.

Finally, they seemed to be flying in mid-air, gently floating down like a feather.

“Master Liu, this… this board… are we seeing ghosts… or am I… flying?”

Fan Debiao couldn’t believe it at all.

It wasn’t just Fan Debiao; even Liu Dashao felt as if he had entered heaven, being thrown from the ground to fly to paradise. But he knew this wasn’t going to heaven; everything he experienced was real.

The strong wind below was supporting their bodies, so they descended slowly. The surrounding stones floated around them, giving the feeling of truly flying.

Strange, where was this powerful wind coming from? And what was that glass above? Liu Dashao’s mind was filled with curiosity.

Suddenly, their bodies accelerated again, and finally, with a splash, they fell into a large “cross” shape, face-planting onto the ground.

Liu Dashao quickly looked up and saw that there were round holes the size of thighs on the walls of this cave, continuously shooting out gusts of wind. It was just the wind above that had made them slowly float down.

The three of them swallowed hard, still shaken, looking at their saviors with deep gratitude.

Liu Dashao heard Su Yougui walking, each step making a “crack, crack” sound. He looked down and saw that these stones were all glowing, their silvery light resembling diamonds.

He bit one with his teeth, but couldn’t make a dent. His heart leapt with excitement: “Could these really be diamonds?”

He held one up to the light for a closer look, and it refracted seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple.

At this moment, Fan Debiao burst into laughter, lying on the ground and pulling chunks of the sparkling stones into his arms. “Mom, oh my God, Grandma, thank you, thank you, Grandpa! They’re all diamonds, real diamonds! I’m going to be rich!” Fan Debiao was so excited that tears streamed down his face. He had never seen such a scene before—diamonds sparkling from all directions, a sight he had never even dreamed of.

Meanwhile, Su Yougui almost popped his eyes out. “Oh my God, this is the legendary diamond? Oh my God, I’m going to be rich! I’ve actually seen the legendary diamond!” Su Yougui threw himself onto the ground, as if those diamonds were his long-lost mother.

Liu Dashao was also extremely excited inside.

But his head suddenly felt a bit dizzy. Looking at the dazzling lights in front of him, it was as if little beauties were constantly swaying in front of him, swaying endlessly.

He was enchanted. He stretched out both hands trying to grab those illusions, but no matter how he reached, he couldn’t grasp those intangible things.

Liu Dashao quickly took out a calming talisman from his chest and stuck it on his forehead. After a long while, he gradually regained his senses.

It had just been an illusion—an illusion. He immediately realized that there was some unknown gas in this place that was affecting their nerves, causing hallucinations.

He believed that the glass they had stepped on earlier must have been formed when this unknown gas evaporated into the air and then froze into ice. These vapors likely came from the diamonds themselves. The large object above was probably also a massive diamond.

If there really was such a huge diamond, he probably wouldn’t have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life.

Looking at Fan Debiao and Su Yougui, the two were sitting there, grinning foolishly, their eyes vacant and unfocused, their hands waving aimlessly in the air, mumbling in the end: “Hehe, don’t go, don’t go.”

Liu Dashao naturally knew they were suffering from the effects of the hallucinogenic gas. He picked both of them up and carried them to a nearby door, walking a good hundred meters before finally setting them down.

It took quite a while for the two to gradually recover after moving far away from the mental gas emitted by the diamonds.

Even Liu Dashao himself now felt a throbbing pain in his forehead. Let alone the two of them. Both were now panting heavily, their eyes dazed, looking at Liu Dashao. “Master Liu, Master Liu, just now… I saw a beauty, a real beauty… prettier than any woman I’ve ever seen,” Fan Debiao stammered.

“Alright, alright, you two wake up quickly. Beauties are waiting for you.” Liu Dashao dripped a drop of his own blood into each of their mouths, and their consciousness gradually returned.

The memory of just now seemed to have been emptied; they simply couldn’t remember what had happened.

“Just now? What happened? Why do I feel like my head is aching so badly?” Fan Debiao asked.

“You just bumped into a corner of this tomb chamber and opened a wound on your head. Now you’re fine, no need to worry,” Liu Dashao made up a reason casually.

“Help! Help!” At this moment, a human voice crying for help echoed in this desolate tomb chamber, making Liu Dashao’s hair stand on end and cold sweat pour down his back.