Hidden Shadow – CH 180

Chapter One-Hundred-Eighty: A Close Call (2)

The armory had three floors, but from the ground, only two appeared to be above ground. There was a cellar below, and the blue-light crossbow An Jiu and her companions needed was in the southeast corner of that cellar.

The cellar entrance was in the center of the first floor. To enter, one had to overcome the mechanisms on the first floor.

An Jiu went around to the southeast corner and used her razor-sharp dagger to carve a small window in the wall. Then she took out a small bag and collected the scattered stones. The walls of this building were not as thick as she had imagined. An Jiu thought to herself, “It seems the cellar is the key location.”

She put away her dagger, picked up a handful of stones, and threw them through the small window. The sound of arrows tearing through the air filled the air.

As the sound subsided, she threw in another handful.

The armory was not large; even tens of thousands of arrows would eventually run out, let alone at this rate of fire.

An Jiu kept throwing stones in until there was no more sound.

She raised her crossbow, climbed the rope to the beam of the corridor, gently pried open the ventilation window above, and, stepping aside, tossed a few pebbles inside with varying force.

There were no arrows, but An Jiu did not rush in. Soon, thick smoke billowed from the ventilation window.

An Jiu immediately jumped down, swallowed a “Hundred Poisons Antidote,” and waited for the smoke to dissipate. She dared not rely on the antidote to rush into the unknown smoke; this “Hundred Poisons Antidote” only cured a hundred poisons, at most nine hundred and ninety-nine, but the world’s poisons were far more numerous.

Only when all the smoke had disappeared did An Jiu return and toss stones inside again.

After waiting a while, seeing no movement, she slowly peered inside. It was pitch black, without a single ray of light.

Fortunately, no more hidden weapons emerged. An Jiu thought, “The ancients’ saying ‘testing the waters with stones’ is indeed great wisdom.”

An Jiu leaned into the window. The further she went, the more something seemed amiss. The passageway was narrow and a full ten chi long, barely wide enough for one person, unlike a window. After most of her body was inside, a cracking sound came from behind! Retreating was clearly too late. In desperation, her mental energy surged, and without turning around, she clearly “saw” the entrance rapidly closing, the falling object resembling a guillotine!

An Jiu gritted her teeth. She immediately pulled her feet in.

But the passage was funnel-shaped, narrowing further as she went, until finally, not even her head could fit! An Jiu lay motionless, taking a few deep breaths before accepting the fact that she was completely trapped in this “cage.”

“I cannot blame the ancients,” she thought, “once bitten, twice shy. Next time, I will throw a bigger rock…”

She retreated a few inches. Once her upper body could move a little more, she drew her dagger, intending to dig open the passage.

The dagger cut through the wall, sending sparks flying. An Jiu tapped the walls with the hilt—they were impenetrable! “Oh no! Is this going to turn me into mincemeat?!”

Just as An Jiu finished thinking this, she heard a series of slight clicking sounds around her, and the walls began to slowly move.

She braced herself against the walls with both hands, jerking back slightly. Once she could move fully, she immediately grabbed the Dragon-Subduing Bow and held it horizontally, using it to brace against the two walls.

Seeing that the Dragon-Subduing Bow could hold up, An Jiu secretly rejoiced. Thankfully, it was only the two walls moving horizontally; if the two walls above and below had been closer together, the Dragon-Subduing Bow would not have been able to stand upright.

Just as this thought flashed through her mind, she heard another clicking sound, and the wall above began to tremble.

She pulled hard on the Dragon-Subduing Bow, forcing it to rotate and tilt, supporting it diagonally in the opening.

This time, all four walls paused for a moment, but only for a split second. The wall above seemed to be about to collapse again, as if its gravity was extremely strong. Then, something even more astonishing happened!

—The two walls on the left and right suddenly receded automatically, and the Dragon-Subduing Bow was about to slide to the ground, losing its support against the four walls!

This allowed the upper wall to press down without resistance.

It turned out that once the mechanism was activated, when all four sides encountered resistance, it would repeatedly push and pull, up and down, left and right, until two walls at the small exit end successfully closed.

An Jiu quickly thought of a moment: when pushing left and right, the upper wall could not fall; if it wanted to push up and down, the two walls on the left and right had to recede enough to allow the upper wall to fall.

But the Dragon-Subduing Bow was too long to stand upright!

“Damn it!” An Jiu’s violent side was instantly aroused; the wisdom of the ancients was truly not to be underestimated!

Sweat beaded on her forehead. Just as she was at her wits’ end, a flash of inspiration struck her: if the Dragon-Subduing Bow worked, what about the Killing Feather Arrow?

An Jiu felt she would be crazy to pin her hopes on two thin arrows, but even if she were not crazy, she had no other choice. She simply drew the Killing Feather Arrow and used it to prop the two walls together. The wall, upon contact with the Killing Feather Arrows, was indeed stopped. However, those two ancient divine arrows truly lived up to their reputation; the arrowheads were slowly piercing through the iron wall!

The penetration was not fast, perhaps because the walls above and below were still moving, while the walls to the left and right remained stationary.

An Jiu saw a gap open ahead, immediately grabbed the Dragon-Slaying Bow, slid forward, and frantically slashed at the walls with her dagger. Sparks flew, hitting her skin, but she felt no pain.

Wei Yuzhi! Wei Yuzhi! Wei Yuzhi! Wei Yuzhi!

An Jiu treated the two walls as Wei Yuzhi, her attacks becoming increasingly ruthless.

Shortly afterward, the opening was cut open.

An Jiu threw the Dragon-Slaying Bow aside, then flipped out.

The room was silent.

An Jiu tried to calm herself, cautiously guarding her surroundings. When she finally saw the room clearly, she was slightly taken aback—it was surprisingly empty, devoid of any bows or swords, unlike any armory!

Had she been tricked by that Sang Nu? An Jiu wondered, her gaze sweeping across the room.

Wait! One zhang, two zhang, three zhang, four zhang, five zhang…

How could it only be five zhang! An Jiu had examined the exterior of the building and estimated that the interior space was definitely much larger. Then, recalling the hole she had just seen, she suddenly understood. If a window could be made one zhang deep, the walls must be at least one zhang deep; the real storage space must be inside the walls.

So, the wall she first cut through led directly to an armory on the first floor?

Thinking this, An Jiu felt a sense of unease about being in this place. It was all laid out before her; there did not seem to be any entrance to a cellar.

She slowly crouched down, picked up the Dragon-Subduing Bow, and placed it in her satchel. Just as she was about to use her dagger to cut open the wall behind her, a hoarse voice suddenly came from above, “No one has come in here for a long time.”

For some reason, hearing that there were people here, rather than those seemingly intelligent traps, An Jiu felt a sense of relief.

Compared to that, An Jiu would rather fight someone, even if the opponent was a master.

“Child, come here.” The voice trembled, seemingly excited yet sorrowful. “Do not be afraid, child, come closer…” An Jiu did not move but looked up in the direction of the voice, her eyes widening slightly.