The Chiyou Ancient Cave Trial is the most serious and solemn test in the Twelve Cave inheritance.
There are twelve Gu arrays in the cave, hosted by twelve cave masters respectively, to test the tester's ability in all aspects. If he can pass the test, it is equivalent to being recognized by all the cave masters and he is qualified.
Become the new cave owner.
When Chi Yao followed the footsteps of the Great Cave Master and came to the entrance of the cave again, the other cave masters had long since disappeared.
"Okay, go in, I will wait for you in the last moment."
The master of Dadong patted his shoulder and flew away immediately.
"Hey, does this cave have a back door?"
Looking at the direction he was leaving, Chi Yao muttered, then stepped into the cave.
This Chiyou Ancient Cave doesn't seem big from the outside, but after entering, Chi Yao discovered that this so-called cave was probably built by hollowing out the entire mountain under its feet.
Because the first stone room alone is almost as big as the entire cave when viewed from the outside.
Here, Chi Yao met an acquaintance, the owner of the Twelfth Cave.
I don’t know why, but all the twelve cave masters like to wrap themselves tightly in black cloaks, so except for the second, third, twelve and big cave masters who have had close contact with each other,
In addition, although other cave owners have also appeared in front of Chi Yao, he has never seen their faces.
When he saw an acquaintance, Chi Yao naturally raised his hand to say hello, but unfortunately, the other person's face was not as happy as expected, and there was a sense of resentment in his eyes.
"Ahem, I will be in charge of this first Gu formation. Please enter the formation first."
The owner of the twelfth cave pointed to the stone platform opposite him.
Chi Yao followed the words and sat down, and then listened to the other party continue to speak: "Let me introduce to you the rules of this game first. Ahem, as you can see, there is a chessboard below, which we call Dou Gu chess. Listen.
The Lord of the Great Cave said that you came from it, so you must know how to play chess, right? In this set of Gu fighting chess, each chess piece is a kind of Gu, and it must be your own Gu. Think about how to match it, and you can defeat it.
I will pass. But if my poison successfully reaches your feet, it will be considered a failure."
After listening to his introduction, Chi Yao glanced down and saw the so-called chessboard below, which was crisscrossed with twists and turns. In addition, there was a condition that he had to protect himself. After thinking about it for a while, he roughly understood this.
What is the test?
"A competition for the ability to control Gu creatures in multiple ways?"
A smile appeared on Chi Yao's face, and the twelfth cave owner was inexplicably panicked when he saw this, and quickly added, "You can only control your own chess pieces, not mine."
He is also one of the victims of the heart poison, no, it should be said to be the biggest victim. The feeling of depression when thousands of poisons outside the Painting Valley suddenly escaped from his control is still in his heart, if not for the request of the Great Cave Master
, He really doesn’t want to fight Chi Yao anymore.
"oh?"
After hearing this, Chi Yao raised his head and looked at the opponent carefully, "Isn't this rule a temporary addition by you? Being able to seize the enemy's power to control the poison is also proof of the skill of controlling poison.
, why not?”
"..."
The owner of the Eleventh Cave was speechless. He couldn't say it was because he didn't want to lose too badly, right?
That's right, he never thought he could win from the beginning, so he had that resentful expression when he first met him. Now it seems that even begging for light abuse is no longer an option, so he simply chose to show off: "You're right.
, all is fine, let’s get started.”
There was no suspense in the result. He had no chance to display his gorgeous Gu control skills in front of Chi Yao, and was easily taken away from all the control rights over Gu objects.
"I knew it would be like this..."
The owner of the twelfth cave had a dull look in his eyes, with an expression of "I'm tired, let's destroy it." "Okay, hurry up and go to the next one."
Seeing him looking like he had been spoiled, a flash of guilt flashed through Chi Yao's heart, and he was ready to reflect on himself whether he had gone too far.
However, the top priority is to clear the customs, leaving the introspection for next time.
Leaving the stone chamber and continuing downward, you enter the eleventh formation.
Chi Yao, the owner of the Eleventh Cave, has never been seen before, so there is nothing to chat with. Just come in and do it.
However, the method of doing this was very different from the previous ones. The master of the Eleventh Cave did not release any poison at all, but said: "Let's talk?"
"What to talk about?"
"Yeah...anything is fine,"
The owner of the Eleventh Cave said nonchalantly, "I heard that you came from the Central Plains. Then you can tell me the story of the Central Plains, or you can tell me about yourself. To be honest, you can cause such a big phenomenon in the Blood Maple Forest.
I believe you are a man of considerable taste."
"What about this period of trials?"
"Hey, trials and such are just for us, the cave masters, to recognize your abilities. For us Gu Masters, what better way to understand a person quickly than by fighting Gu?"
The twelfth cave master shook his head, "But you are different. I have already recognized your taste, so it doesn't matter whether you fight Gu or not, but I can't let you go so quickly, so I might as well kill the time by chatting.
.”
"Original, that's how it is..."
Chi Yao nodded suddenly, "Let's talk about it then. It's hard to say anything else, but I will definitely take care of enough stories here."
…
…
Chi Yao passed the first two levels with ease, but starting from the tenth formation, the attitude of the cave masters guarding the levels was obviously more serious. Maybe it was because they were older?
While Chi Yao was cursing in his heart, he tried his best to activate the Spirit Snake Gu and the Wind Centipede Gu, whizzing out a series of afterimages that looked both real and illusory in the stone chamber, which was not a big space.
Whoosh!
"I won."
Chi Yao stopped, holding a faint green bullet between the index and middle fingers of his left hand, while the incense stick used for timing not far away had just been burned.
Upon seeing this, the Master of the Tenth Cave touched his empty chest. The poison-avoiding beads that were originally hanging there had long disappeared, so he sighed and said: "The vision of the Master of the Big Cave is indeed not wrong. You have passed this time."
.”
"Concession."
Chi Yao bowed his hands.
The competition this time was about speed. The Lord of the Tenth Cave seemed to have a special Gu technique that allowed him to combine with the blood bat Gu he had cultivated, which greatly improved his speed and perception. The content of the competition was that the two of them each had a hand on their neck.
Wear a necklace of poison-proof beads, and whoever can take the other's necklace first wins.
Strictly speaking, Chi Yao's victory this time was not easy. If he hadn't slightly affected the blood bat Gu at the critical moment and exposed the flaw in the opponent's movement, the competition would probably have continued to be a stalemate.
But no matter what, even making it to three formations can be considered a good start.
Chi Yao continued to move forward.
The next trial will be equally difficult and easy.
The abilities of these cave masters really opened Chi Yao's eyes. None of them were as versatile as Chi Yao, but they were not much inferior in attainments in a single field.
For example, the Lord of the Ninth Cave specializes in healing voodoo. Chi Yao, who did not bring the ice silkworm voodoo, almost failed her. Fortunately, the green butterfly voodoo was also good enough.
There is also the Sixth Cave Master who is good at planting, the Fourth Cave Master who is good at cultivating hybrid Gu creatures, etc... They all caused a lot of trouble for Chi Yao, and of course they also broadened his thinking.
Of course, there are also simple things that are troublesome. For example, the Lord of the Eighth Dong who is good at using poison was restrained by Chi Yao and was as depressed as the Lord of the Twelfth Dong that he met first.
There was also the Lord of the Fifth Cave who claimed to be unparalleled in strength. He wanted to compete with Chi Yao in arm wrestling, but he was easily defeated by Chi Yao with both hands. The strong men around him who seemed to weigh two to three hundred kilograms were a little doubtful about life.
Do you think everything on your body is just empty fat?
Just like this, Chi Yao quickly arrived at the third formation.
The owner of the cave in charge of this period was actually an acquaintance, but she and Chi Yao had no intention of talking about friendship. Instead, they were a bit cold-blooded.
"Just go to the next one, there's no need to compete."
"Um?"
Judging from her expression, Chi Yao thought he would be in trouble, but he didn't expect that she was the one who let him go the most happily.
"Well what? Although I don't like you, I also admit your abilities. If I can't stop you now, why bother humiliating yourself again."
The owner of the third cave gave a few simple explanations, then turned around and refused to speak any more.
"Okay then, thank you very much."
Chi Yao clasped his fists, then turned and left.
The gatekeeper of the second formation, Li Xiang, had no intention of taking action against Chi Yao, but he did have something to say.
"Little brother, you also came from the Central Plains. What do you think of the current situation in the Central Plains?"
"Central Plains form?"
Chi Yao was stunned and suddenly remembered that this person seemed to be Li Xingyun's biological uncle and the biological eldest brother of Emperor Zhaozong Li Ye.
From this point of view, the so-called plan to revive the Tang Dynasty with the Longquan treasures had been planned a long time ago, and a prince was even sent to escape into the Twelve Cave for decades. The plan was far-reaching and the cost was huge.
.
But it is a pity that Yuan Tiangang, who was supposed to be the biggest supporter of Futang, is gone. Coupled with Li Xingyun's character...
Chi Yao shook his head: "The princes came together and competed with each other, but..."
Thinking of the chaotic situation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Dynasties that lasted for more than half a century between the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the rise of the Song Dynasty, he did not hide his pessimism, "Reviving the Tang Dynasty has become a luxury."
"Why do you say that? Today's major princes still hold the title of Tang Dynasty canonization. If the Li family can have a strong person to come forward to integrate..."
"Do you want to imitate the old deeds of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty?"
Chi Yao saw through his thoughts at a glance. If the Han Dynasty could come back from the dead, why couldn't the Tang Dynasty?
But comparing Li Xingyun with Liu Xiu?
Chi Yao shook his head, unwilling to continue to attack the old man, "My point of view may not be correct, so you don't need to care too much."
In his opinion, after Li Xingyun witnessed the real mountains of corpses and seas of blood and the chaos in the world, he might indeed get angry and raise an army to start fighting for the world in the name of protecting the peace of the people.
With a small half of the Jin Kingdom as the foundation, and the Khitan behind the alliance, it is not impossible to compete.
But in the end, he bet that before the final battle, Li Xingyun felt that the enemy's leader was more suitable to be the emperor than himself, so he led the people to surrender, and then took his companions and friends to hide in the mountains and rivers.
As for those brothers who followed him all the way to conquer the world?
Ahem, I believe that after they surrender, they will not face difficulties in the new dynasty. If that doesn't work, they can just live in seclusion like him. It would be great to express their love for the mountains and rivers, right?
Leaving behind the second cave owner Li Xi who was deep in thought, Chi Yao finally entered the final stage.
The final level is guarded by the Lord of the Great Cave himself.
The layout here is different from before. Chiyou Ancient Cave is actually a tower-shaped structure. From the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain and even deeper, there is nothing else on each floor except the Gu array.
But the last floor was different. A huge statue stood brightly in the center of the stone chamber, and the Lord of the Great Cave sat cross-legged directly under the statue, shrouded in shadow.
After hearing the sound of Chi Yao coming in, he slowly spoke:
"You came."
"I am coming."
Chi Yao took two steps closer and responded.
"Your speed is faster than I thought. It seems that someone in front is lazy."
The Master of the Great Cave sighed and stood up slowly, "Forget it, come closer and come to me."
Chi Yao followed the instructions and came to the foot of the statue.
"This is our ancestor Chi You."
The tone of the Master of Dadong was full of reverence and longing, "You have to remember that we were driven to the Hundred Thousand Mountains. One day, we will return to the Central Plains with the last wishes of our ancestors."
"Ah this..."
Chi Yao was a little hard to understand, "Then why do you want to hide from the world now? The Central Plains are in chaos now. Even if the Miao border is not strong enough to compete alone, it is still an option to find an ally to join forces. At any rate, it will be closer to this goal.
Well."
"Because of the promise."
The voice of the Lord of the Great Cave was as calm as before, and was not shaken by Chi Yao's doubts. "It was because of Li Chunfeng's reminder that our clan escaped annihilation. Living in seclusion is our promise to him."
"Um, but Li Chunfeng has been dead for hundreds of years, and even the Tang Dynasty is almost finished. Does your promise have a time limit?"
Chi Yao asked.
"Of course there is,"
The Lord of Dadong explained, "Li Chunfeng made an agreement with us. After helping the owner of the Longquan Sword once, his kindness in helping us will be repaid, and the Twelve Dongs will have nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty anymore."
"Then you actually choose to continue to hide from the world..."
Chi Yao was a little speechless, "Then what's the use of asking me to remember these things? You didn't take any action when the opportunity came up!"
"Now that wars are raging all over the Central Plains, the people have decided that it is not easy for the Miao people to have a safe place to live. Why bother to start another war and drag everyone into the flames of war?"
The master of Dadong became sentimental, "I just want you to pass on this belief and not forget the last wishes of your ancestors. What if a suitable opportunity arises in the future?"
"Fine,"
Chi Yao spread his hands, "Then I'll remember it, and then what."
"Then it's just between the two of us."
The Lord of the Great Cave turned around, and a sudden burst of momentum blew up a strong wind in the stone chamber. "You have passed the test of the eleven Lords of the Cave, and you are qualified to challenge me for the position of the Lord of the Great Cave. Then, are you ready?"