Siheyuan: The Temptation of the Mountains

As soon as they stepped out of the secret room, they found themselves in a garden, full of flowers but with a hint of something strange. Suddenly, the sky became dark and the surrounding scenery became distorted.

Su Yao grabbed Lin Ze's arm in horror, "What's going on?" Lin Ze frowned and looked around vigilantly.

At this moment, a figure in a black robe appeared silently and slowly in front of everyone like a ghost. The black robe completely covered his figure, making it difficult to see his face, but one could feel a cold and strange aura emanating from him.

All I heard was the man in black robe saying in an extremely gloomy tone: "You bunch of ignorant people, do you really think you can leave this place so easily? Hahahaha... This is just the beginning of the next round of more severe tests!"

Facing the threats and provocations from the man in black robes, Lin Ze showed no fear. He just snorted coldly and responded with a firm look in his eyes: "Humph! No matter what kind of difficulties and obstacles are waiting for us next, we will definitely move forward bravely and successfully pass them!"

Before he finished speaking, the man in black robe gently raised his arm, and in an instant, countless black shadows rushed out from the surrounding flowers like a tide. These black shadows quickly changed their forms in the air, turning into terrifying monsters with hideous faces and bared fangs and claws, and ferociously pounced towards Lin Ze and others.

Seeing this, Lin Ze and Su Yao stood back to back without hesitation, swinging their swords at the same time, trying to resist the attacks of these fierce monsters. However, those shadows seemed endless and emerged continuously. Although the two fought hard, their physical strength was gradually exhausted as time went by, and their movements became slower and slower.

Just as the situation became more critical, Lin Ze suddenly had an idea in his mind, and recalled the powerful power fluctuations emitted by the crystal ball that he had sensed in the secret room before. Perhaps, he could use a similar principle to break the current predicament! Thinking of this, he hurriedly asked Su Yao beside him.

He quickly shouted to Su Yao beside him: "Su Yao, do you remember the crystal ball in the secret room? We need to find something like an energy source here."

Su Yao's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she immediately understood. While they were fending off the black shadow monster, they carefully observed their surroundings.

Suddenly, Su Yao's beautiful eyes caught a glimpse of a very faint light flashing in the corner of the garden. This light was looming, as if it was a mysterious thing deliberately hidden, which made people curious and yearning.

"Lin Ze, look over there!" Su Yao shouted excitedly, her voice clear and loud, breaking the originally quiet night sky. Hearing her shout, Lin Ze immediately looked in the direction she pointed, only to see the faint light flickering. The two looked at each other, and as if they had telepathy, they simultaneously exerted all their strength and ran towards the place where the light was like an arrow from a bow.

As they got closer, they finally saw the true face of the mysterious light - it turned out to be a gem emitting a faint blue light. The gem was like the brightest star in the night sky, lying there quietly, but it was tightly wrapped by layers of dense vines, like a naturally formed protective shield.

Lin Ze didn't hesitate at all. He swung the sword in his hand fiercely. With the flash of the sword, the tough vines broke. Then, he quickly stretched out his right hand and firmly grasped the gem emitting a faint blue light in his palm. At the moment he grasped the gem, a powerful and shocking force suddenly surged into his body like a surging torrent.

Feeling the infusion of this powerful force, Lin Ze felt that his whole body was filled with endless energy. He raised the gemstone shining with a faint blue light high up, and then swung it vigorously towards the flying black shadow monsters. In an instant, a dazzling blue light shot out from the gemstone, like a giant dragon with bared fangs and claws, roaring towards the group of black shadow monsters.

As soon as the black shadow monsters came into contact with the blue light, they melted and disintegrated in an instant, just like ice and snow encountering the blazing warm sun in the hot summer, turning into wisps of black smoke and dissipating in the air. Seeing this, the black-robed man who had been hiding in the dark and controlling these black shadow monsters could no longer suppress his anger and roared in extreme anger: "You damn guys, how dare you destroy my careful layout!" However, before he could take further action, Lin Ze had already rushed towards him like a storm with the powerful power given by the gem. Facing the aggressive Lin Ze, the black-robed man knew that he could not resist and had to turn around and flee in panic.

With the escape of the black-robed man, this thrilling crisis was finally temporarily resolved. Su Yao's delicate body slowly leaned against Lin Ze, and she let out a long breath that had been pent up for a long time. At this moment, her beautiful face was slightly pale due to tension and fatigue, but her eyes revealed a feeling of relief and joy for surviving the disaster.

Lin Ze looked down at Su Yao and comforted her softly, "It's okay, we have to find a way to leave here as soon as possible." Su Yao nodded obediently.

At this moment, the ground suddenly shook violently, and a huge stone door appeared not far ahead. The door was engraved with ancient and mysterious runes, and it was faintly glowing.

"It seems that there is a way out behind this stone door!" Lin Ze said excitedly, holding Su Yao's hand tightly, and walked carefully towards the seemingly ancient and mysterious stone door in front.

As they gradually approached the stone door, an amazing scene occurred - the runes on the door, which were originally faintly visible, now flickered even more fiercely, as if they could sense someone approaching. Those runes flashing with strange light were like the bright stars in the night sky, which made people fascinated.

Lin Ze took a deep breath, then stretched out his right hand and gently touched the stone door.

The moment his fingertips touched the stone door, a powerful force instantly spread throughout his body like an electric current.

This sudden force made Lin Ze tremble all over, but he did not retreat. Instead, he concentrated all his energy and tried to decipher the information conveyed by these runes.

Time passed by, Lin Ze concentrated on studying the runes, and beads of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead. Finally, hard work paid off, and after a lot of arduous efforts, he showed an ecstatic expression on his face: "I understand! It turns out that these runes are instructing us how to open this stone door!"