Chapter 676: Mechanism Puzzle
Just as everyone was moving forward cautiously, the ground suddenly cracked open, and a group of skeleton warriors emitting dim light emerged from the ground, waving their weapons and attacking them.
Lin Ze's eyes widened with anger, and he roared like thunder, resounding throughout the battlefield. His figure rushed out like lightning, rushing towards the group of hideous skeleton warriors.
At the same time, the other warriors did not show weakness either. They jumped up like hungry tigers and joined the life-and-death struggle. For a moment, the shouts of killing and the sounds of metal colliding intertwined, deafening, as if they were going to tear the space apart.
In this fierce battle, Lin Ze led the way, his sword slashing cold rays in the air, each sword accurately hitting the vital parts of the skeleton warriors. However, these skeleton warriors seemed tireless, they kept coming from all directions, their numbers increasing, making it difficult to cope.
In a corner of the battlefield, the old man did not directly participate in the battle. He stared at the surrounding mechanisms with sharp eyes, carefully observing their operating rules, trying to find a way to crack them.
Suddenly, the old man's eyes lit up, and he found an extremely hidden rune. This rune was hidden in the crack of a huge rock, and it was difficult to find its existence without careful observation.
The old man did not dare to delay for even a second. He quickly stretched out his hands and formed seals as fast as the wind. As he muttered something, a powerful force surged in his body.
Under his control, the rune suddenly burst into a dazzling light. The light was as hot as the sun, instantly illuminating the entire space.
What was surprising was that under the illumination of this light, some of the mechanisms suddenly stopped working as if they were under a spell.
Seeing this, Lin Ze and the others were overjoyed, and they took the opportunity to speed up the cleaning of the skeleton warriors. Swords flashed, the remains of the skeleton warriors splattered everywhere, and the bloody smell filled the air.
Finally, when the last skeleton warrior fell to the ground, the road ahead suddenly became clear. A huge stone gate appeared in front of everyone, towering into the sky, like an insurmountable mountain.
The stone gate is engraved with densely packed mysterious symbols. These symbols emit powerful energy fluctuations, which make people feel palpitations just by looking at them.
The old man walked forward slowly, his eyes fixed on the symbols on the stone door, and his expression became increasingly solemn.
"This is an ancient seal, and it is extremely difficult to break." The old man's voice was low and serious, as if this stone door was an insurmountable chasm.
However, Lin Ze's eyes were extremely firm. He clenched his fists tightly and said, "Senior, no matter how difficult it is, we must give it a try!"
Hearing this, everyone gathered around, their faces filled with determination and courage. At this moment, they decided to face this final challenge together, and they would never back down even if there was an abyss ahead.
The old man took a deep breath and began to carefully study the symbols on the stone door. Lin Ze and others stood guard vigilantly.
Suddenly, the symbols on the stone door began to flash, and a powerful suction force came from inside the door, and everyone was almost sucked in.
Seeing this, Lin Ze was startled and quickly used all his strength to resist the strong suction. However, the suction was like a mountain pressing down on an egg, making it difficult for him to breathe.
Just as Lin Ze was struggling to hold on, suddenly, a faint light appeared on the stone gate, and then an illusory image appeared on the stone gate. This image looked like an ancient strong man with a stern face, and he exuded an awe-inspiring aura.
"If you want to pass through this door, you need to solve the puzzle I left behind." The image said coldly, and the voice seemed to come from the underworld, making people shudder.
Lin Ze took a deep breath, calmed himself, and then stared at the image closely, waiting for him to tell the riddle. Sure enough, the image continued: "Between heaven and earth, there are five elements that generate and restrain each other. Metal generates water, water generates wood, wood generates fire, fire generates earth, and earth generates metal; metal restrains wood, wood restrains earth, earth restrains water, water restrains fire, and fire restrains metal. Now there is a riddle. If you can solve it, you can open this door. The riddle is as follows: Among the five elements, wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood. If you arrange the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water in sequence, and the adjacent elements must satisfy the relationship of mutual generation, how many ways are there to arrange them?"
After hearing this, Lin Ze frowned. This puzzle seemed simple, but it actually contained a lot of mysteries. It required a deep understanding and application of the principles of the five elements. He pondered over it, but couldn't find a clue to solve it for a while.
The old man beside him saw that Lin Ze was in trouble and also helped to analyze it. The two of them talked back and forth, constantly discussing various possible arrangements.
Suddenly, Lin Ze had an idea, and he remembered the operating rules of the mechanisms he had encountered in the previous battles, which seemed to be related to this puzzle. He immediately followed this line of thought, and finally, after some hard thinking, he found the answer to the puzzle.
"There are 120 ways of arrangement!" Lin Ze said loudly, with a hint of excitement in his voice.
After hearing Lin Ze's answer, the image on the stone door's originally calm face suddenly showed a trace of surprise. It was as if Lin Ze's answer was completely beyond its expectations, catching it off guard.
However, this surprise only lasted for a moment, and disappeared quickly like ripples on the water. The image's expression quickly returned to calm, then began to slowly become blurred, and finally completely dissipated into the air.
At the same time, as the image disappeared, the stone door that was originally tightly closed began to emit a slight humming sound, as if it was driven by some force. Then, the stone door slowly opened, and a dazzling light shone through the crack of the door, like the dawn, making it impossible to look directly at it.
This light was extremely strong, as if it contained endless energy and mysteries. Lin Ze and others stood in front of the door, their hearts filled with tension and expectation. They didn't know what kind of unknown world was hidden behind this stone door, was it a treasure, a trap, or something more mysterious?
After a brief hesitation, Lin Ze took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind, and stepped out resolutely, stepping into the world behind the stone gate. His figure seemed a little blurry under the light, but he revealed a kind of firmness and courage.
Seeing this, the others, although a little nervous, still followed closely and walked into the mysterious stone door together.