Siheyuan: The Temptation of the Mountains

Lin Ze and Su Yao stood at the entrance of the cave, looking at the figure of the black-robed magician fleeing in the distance, and breathed a sigh of relief. Su Yao turned to look at Lin Ze, her eyes full of determination: "Next we have to be more careful, all forces are eyeing this gem."

Lin Ze nodded slightly to show his agreement, "That's true! But fortunately we have the help of the tree spirit, which adds some security." Before he finished speaking, he saw the tree spirit walking towards them slowly as if strolling in the garden.

The tree spirit came closer and said solemnly: "Although you have just successfully repelled the invading enemies, you must not be lazy or relax your vigilance. You must know that the powerful power contained in this gem is too tempting. I am afraid that in the coming days, there will be more powerful people coming one after another." Hearing this, Lin Ze couldn't help but frowned and asked hurriedly: "Then in your opinion, how should we deal with it now?"

The tree spirit hesitated for a moment, then replied, "As far as I know, there is a mysterious spiritual spring in this forest. If we can find a way to draw water from that spring and pour it on this gem, perhaps we can effectively cover up the unique scent emitted by the gem."

After hearing this, Lin Ze and his companions looked at each other and followed the tree spirit without hesitation towards the direction of the spiritual spring. After a difficult journey, the three finally arrived at their destination - the spiritual spring. Looking out, they saw that the spring was as calm as a mirror, so clear that they could almost see the bottom at a glance, and it also emitted a soft and charming halo.

Lin Ze carefully took out the extremely precious gem from his arms, and then, according to the tree spirit's previous instructions, gently placed the gem into the spiritual spring. At the moment the gem touched the spring water, a magical thing happened - the originally dazzling gem's light suddenly weakened a lot.

At this moment, a faint fish belly white color gradually appeared in the distant sky, indicating that a new day was about to begin.

However, for Lin Ze and others, their long journey to protect the gems is still ongoing.

Although the road ahead is filled with countless unknown difficulties, obstacles and severe tests, they always hold full of hope and firm determination in their hearts, and take resolute steps to bravely meet the upcoming challenges...

The three of them just breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to leave the spiritual spring, but the air around them suddenly became bone-chillingly cold. A sinister laugh echoed in the air, "Do you think you can hide from others like this?" A guy shrouded in darkness slowly appeared.

The tree spirit was horrified: "Shadow Assassin, how could it be you?" The Shadow Assassin sneered: "The news of this gem has spread throughout the dark world, so I will not miss it."

Lin Ze clenched his fist tightly, and because of too much force, the joints turned slightly white, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged. Su Yao, who was standing beside him, also had a serious expression on her face. She quickly drew her weapon from her waist and was ready to fight at any time.

At this moment, Lin Ze lowered his voice and said, "It seems that we can only give it a try today!" However, before they could take any action, the tree spirit who had been silent all the time suddenly shouted, "I'll hold him back first, you guys hurry up and run with the gem!" Before he finished speaking, the tree spirit flashed and rushed towards the shadow assassin like an arrow.

Although Lin Ze was very reluctant to abandon the tree spirit and escape alone, he also knew that the situation was urgent. If he delayed any further, everyone would be in dire straits. So, he gritted his teeth, reached out to grab Su Yao beside him, turned around and ran away.

However, before they had run far, they were surprised to find a huge magic barrier in front of them. This barrier flashed with strange light, completely blocking their way forward. At the same time, they heard fierce fighting sounds behind them, and it was obvious that the tree spirit was gradually losing the upper hand.

Just when the two were feeling desperate, Lin Ze suddenly had an idea in his mind. He remembered that he had read about the method of breaking this magic barrier in an ancient book. Without any hesitation, Lin Ze immediately stopped and quickly formed a series of complicated hand seals with his hands, while muttering something. As he moved, a dazzling golden light suddenly shot out from his hands and hit the huge magic barrier directly.

Surprisingly, the magic barrier hit by the golden light began to show tiny cracks, and these cracks continued to spread and expand. Seeing this, Lin Ze and Su Yao looked at each other, understood each other, and then jumped towards the magic barrier that was about to break without hesitation.

Finally, with the joint efforts of the two, they successfully broke through the seemingly indestructible magic barrier. However, when they turned around to look for the tree spirit, they found that the tree spirit had disappeared. Fortunately, the shadow assassin who was chasing them was also firmly trapped on the other side.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Lin Ze gritted his teeth and turned to Su Yao and said, "We can't stay here for long. We must leave here as soon as possible. There are more unknown dangers waiting for us ahead!" After that, he took Su Yao's hand and continued to gallop towards the next destination...

Lin Ze and Su Yao ran all the way, and after an unknown amount of time, they came to the edge of a misty forest. The forest was filled with a faint purple mist, which gave off a mysterious aura.

"This fog looks weird. Is it dangerous?" Su Yao said worriedly.

"But we have no other way to go but to go through it." Lin Ze held Su Yao's hand tightly.

After entering the forest, they found that the surrounding scene became illusory, and phantoms flashed from time to time. Suddenly, a huge phantom beast pounced, and Lin Ze pulled Su Yao sideways to avoid it.

"These are all illusions, don't be fooled." Lin Ze shouted.

At this moment, they found a ray of light in front of them. They ran towards the light and found that it was a stone emitting strange energy.

"This stone may be able to fight against the pursuers behind us." Lin Ze picked up the stone.

As soon as he walked out of the forest, the shadow assassin caught up with him. Lin Ze took out the stone, and a powerful force rushed towards the assassin, forcing the assassin to retreat temporarily.

"Hurry up, this stone can't hold for long." Lin Ze shouted.

The two continued running, and an ancient castle came into view in the distance, which might contain the secret to completely escape pursuit.