One By One

Finally, after taking all the pictures, she started looking for some mechanism.

"These fire torches here, do they have something to do with the exit?" Li Ming Hao sat down and looked at the base of the torches. The torches themselves had more intricate designs to them, but the main these were the sea serpents again. Was that going to be a theme here all around?

Su Xin Yu had completely calmed down by now. She sat down at the opposite torch and looked at the design. There was a clean line at the base, it seemed like these could be moved too.

"I think these four torches represent directions. Let me check," she took out compass from her back pocket. Unfortunately, it was broken for the needle started pointing in all directions.

"Hey, can you check your compass? Mine seems to be broken," she asked Li Ming Hao who had already taken his out from the bag.

"Mine's behaving the same way," he once again appeared behind her, raising the hair on her skin. This guy did not leave even one opportunity to flirt. He had no idea of personal space at all. Despite all these complaints in her heart, it still raced whenever he was close.

"I-I guess it must be some form of magnetism interfering with it. Let it be," she sighed and sat down again.

"Found anything?" Li Ming Hao leaned towards the pillars, his face close to hers. The picture looked very harmonious. Rocky, behind under the roots approved of his master's actions and growled at Chen Chen to make him cower and cover his face. She did not want this guy to see the couple together.

"I think this can be moved. But if all of them are like this, I am not sure which one we should move. Three of them should be traps. I can't think of anything to base my decision on," she shrugged. They were really at a loss right now.

She dearly wished that there were any notes on something, anything about these dungeons. Or some team had already explored the caves. Unfortunately, whoever had come here without a guide from her tribe had perished.

But the people who really knew about the caves were all gone. So now she had to do everything from scratch.

"Why not try them all? We can just activate the traps and fight them. You still have 25 percent chance of getting the right one in first try," he said.

"No, but I still don't know the directions. I could go with the one pointing to North or East because they are the directions considered good in both Feng Shui from China and Vaastushastra from India. But I don't know which one is East and which one is North," Su Xin Yu shook her head. If only, they had a hint.

Those diaries in Li Ming Hao's bag could have a clue but they could not open them in front of Chen Chen. She now wished that he had not arrived here just yet.

"There should be some kind of hint. Let's look for the differences in the engravings on the torches," Li Ming Hao tried to be optimistic. Given how he now knew the kind of traps, he could handle them unlike the incident when Su Xin Yu had gotten injured.

"I don't see anything, the pattern is exactly the same," Su Xin Yu grumbled. What kind of ancestors do this cruel thing to their successors? She was not even sure at this point if they were some other people who made this chamber. She had never read any cruel stories of them like this pillar. She was about to go nuts, was the last retort to go through them one by one and wait to hit the jackpot?

"Okay then, let's do one by one. I don't think we have another choice. We will do it logically," Li Ming Hao encouraged her.

"Then you go hide beneath the roots. I think it is safer than you being stuck with me. I don't know if there will be some poisonous gas or some flame arrows again," Su Xin Yu requested him. She was really concerned. Last time they had wall to take shelter against. Today it was an open space. She could not guarantee her own safety, much less his.

"Don't worry, I won't be startled this time. That day was my first time encountering them," Li Ming Hao explained. He wanted to show her that he was actually strong and could handle those puny weapons.

"I…," Su Xin Yu wanted to oppose him once again but Li Ming Hao put his finger on her lips asking her to keep quiet and obey him.

"Fine, if you die, don't blame me for it," she warned caustically. Now if a person wanted to put their head inside a tiger's mouth themselves, what could she do about it? Sometimes, this guy became really sweet but sometimes he was so annoying that she really wanted to slap him hard. She was asking him to hide for his own good.

"Stay near the tower as much as you can. If they took so much care to make it, in any of the traps, they would not point the weapons towards it," Su Xin Yu gave one last tip and then tried to move the burning torch.

Now the torches were big and heavy, the base was made of stone and it was taller than her. She did not know what direction to move them, so she pushed it towards all directions. It was pretty immovable until Li Ming Hao came to help her out. The force from two humans did move it in the end.

"Oh, it moved to the right?" Li Ming Hao was astonished. They had thought it would outwards or inwards but it moved to their right side.

"I think this will also follow the spiral pattern, each one of them should…," before she completed the sentence, the earth shook and a dozen of holes opened up in the wall.

"Careful," Su Xin Yu yelled, to both Li Ming Hao and Rocky who was guarding the traitor. Rocky retreated further inside with Chen Chen in a smart move while Li Ming Hao took a stance to fight in the split second.

This time metal rods with their pointed ends soaked in some kind of purple liquid, most probably poison, came out. And then a beautiful display of martial arts started, the two people kicking and avoiding the rods, as if dancing together.

Su Xin Yu had taken out her knives to cut the path of the rods short. Noticing that Li Ming Hao was doing great too, she handed over two knives to him as well. She had no idea that the guy she had thought a rookie was such an expert in martial arts, he was able to keep with her, even providing support behind her back.

She had been observing him from the corner of her eyes.

"Don't keep looking at me, you'll be attacked at your blind spot," Li Ming Hao smirked when he saw her staring at him deeply. Now she knew a bit about him finally. And Chen Chen did not get to see it for he was deep under the roots, so he would not report this to his dad.

Actually, it was his master who had left another notebook with him, which was written in their language and was easy to read. It had laid out a few of the basic positions in an easy to learn way. These were combat techniques developed by Su Xin Yu's tribes.

While Su Xin Yu might have had the formal training by her elders in the tribe, he only had that notebook to guide him. But he worked very hard to practice them secretly every day. His dad was more focused on Su Xin Yu anyway, so he was free to do whatever he wanted.

If only he could meet his mentor here and show him how he had mastered whatever he had left for him.