Chapter 333: 192: Light a candle in the dark

“Let’s hear it.”

Mu Hongtao couldn’t help but look over.

Mo Baiye glanced at Su Chen, frowned slightly, then Mu Hongtao and the others heard his voice transmission by their ears, “It should relate to the rules of the Heaven Mandate Domain! If my guess is correct, Zheng Yifeng hadn’t touched the rules before so… he was only unable to circulate his zhenqi for a breath or two, no significant impact, and he didn’t even notice it himself!”

“The cultivator over by Su Chen probably violated the rules for the third time and was directly burnt to death by the inferno!”

“Our second dispatched cultivator must have violated the rules for the second time upon entering the cave, continued to move forward, and the third time… likewise burnt by the inferno!”

“Three people, the first, second, and third times, respectively, that’s why there were three different outcomes!”

“This…”

After hearing his explanation, Mu Hongtao, Ling Yusheng, and the others exchanged glances, realizing suddenly.

If that was the case, it certainly was possible!

“We’ve all violated the rules once!” Mu Hongtao said, “You mean, if we touch them again, we’ll encounter the blade of wind?”

Mo Baiye had violated the rules once when chasing Zhang Xuan because of his yelling, and as for them, after being covered in mud, they also felt the restraint of the rules.

That is to say, if they violate again, it’ll be the second time!

“Yes, very likely!”

Mo Baiye nodded.

“With our strength, we can withstand the blade of wind, but being burnt by the inferno… is a bit difficult!”

Remembering the two who had just been burnt to death, everyone couldn’t help but shrink their necks.

Even with their formidable strength, there was probably no way to deal with this kind of inferno from the inside out.

“Now that we know it’s the rules causing this, it’ll be easy to handle, as long as we find out the pattern, we should be able to enter smoothly without any problems…”

Mo Baiye said.

“Yes!”

Mu Hongtao nodded, “But… what’s the pattern?”

Mo Baiye didn’t answer, but instead looked up at the cave in front of him.

Everyone who entered the cave had violated the rules when passing by the sculpture, indicating that there were already rules in place at that point, and violation would lead to punishment.

“Go in and try…”

While he was pondering, not far away, Su Chen seemed to have come to a realization as well, and he lowered his head to whisper a command to a cultivator.

“Yes!”

The cultivator nodded, took a few steps to the sculpture, took a deep breath, bowed deeply to the ground with a gesture matching the sculpture.

After completing that, he moved forward again and reached the entrance of the cave, shaking his head at Su Chen.

“As expected…”

Su Chen’s eyes lit up.

“Just as I guessed, one must perform the proper gestures to enter; that is to say, whatever gesture the sculpture makes, we must do the same in response…”

He hadn’t taken action yet when Mo Baiye over at another side couldn’t help but call out, “Follow me, everyone!”

Since they already knew the rule, there was no need to hesitate, and Master Mo took the lead, stepping forward to the sculpture.

Seeing his successful attempt but allowing another to snatch the initiative, Su Chen, although displeased, said nothing and quietly stood waiting.

A few steps to the sculpture, they, too, bowed and clenched their fists, and indeed, they smoothly entered the cave without touching any rules.

Mu Hongtao and the others followed suit, bowing in turn.

Soon, everyone reached the entrance of the cave, with Su Chen and the others following.

This time everyone passed the first checkpoint without injuries.

Entering the cave, they indeed saw text on the wall not far away: To enter, one must knock thrice and bow nine times.

Knowing the pattern, Mo Baiye didn’t hesitate, knelt down on the ground, and dutifully followed the rules, similarly passing this so-called second checkpoint.

As they moved forward step by step, a figure emerged from behind a tree outside the cave.

“I didn’t expect them to discover the pattern…”

Zhang Xuan stroked his chin, frowning.

As soon as Zheng Yifeng had entered, he had guessed it was related to the rules, thinking he might kill a few more, but unexpectedly, this Mo Baiye was smarter than he had imagined.

“Let’s follow and see!”

Knowing that not entering would mean the artifacts had nothing to do with him, Zhang Xuan didn’t hesitate for too long, pointed his toe, and followed silently.

Approaching the sculpture, he too bowed and saluted, entering the cave and likewise kneeling and bowing strictly in accordance with the etiquette, quickly arriving inside the cave.

“Huh?”

A few steps forward, he immediately saw two bodies lying across the floor, turned into charred remains, obviously burnt to death by the inferno.

“It looks like there are rules here too…”

Although he couldn’t see Mo Baiye and the others ahead, Zhang Xuan was not in a hurry but looked around instead.

The cave was spacious, exceeding twenty meters in diameter, and since there was no light, it was pitch black and somewhat difficult to see clearly.

Turning on the Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan looked around, no more hints were on the walls, and what rules had killed these two, perhaps only Mo Baiye and the others who had just come in knew.

Of course, it was also possible that they were not aware; they just had fewer violations and had stubbornly endured.

This was just like playing on the basketball court, the first three yellow cards didn’t need to cause worry, but after the fourth, one must be very careful.

It was the same here, the first violation meant only zhenqi stagnation, not significantly dangerous if one didn’t fight, but the second’s Wind Blade Tribulation and the third’s Water and Fire Tribulation were very risky, even if one luckily endured, the fourth’s direct eradication would probably be unstoppable.

Recalling the rules mentioned by Empyrean Kong, Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, wrist turning, a candle appeared in his palm.

One of the rules—[Light a candle in the dark].

That is, in the dark, one must light a candle, or there would be limitations.@@novelbin@@

This rule was quite concealed, hard to pinpoint without knowing.

Of course, whether it was true or not, he must try to know.

Walking forward, he passed the place of the bodies without any punishment.

Zhang Xuan let out a sigh of relief and continued forward, bypassing a corridor, a spacious room came into view.

At this moment, Mo Baiye and the others were standing inside the cave, and several bodies lay haphazardly on the ground.

Almost everyone had open wounds oozing blood, clearly, all had committed the second violation, not even “Brother Du” was an exception.

It seemed that even Galaxy 7-dan Cultivators couldn’t resist the rules here.

“Indeed, they didn’t light candles…”

Seeing these people holding torches without lighting candles, Zhang Xuan smiled.

Light a candle in the dark meant that a candle had to be lit, torches and Night Illumination Pearls wouldn’t suffice, they just felt it was dark, then illuminated it, yet didn’t know why they had touched the rules.

His gaze moved past the crowd and continued forward, under the light of the fire, a not-so-large river appeared in front of him.

The water was shallow, reflecting the light of the fire, like a mirror.