There was a flash of silver. Nothing was covering Mengman’s body except for the whip made of vine, which could not bear one attack. Surprisingly, a spearhead made of dark iron saved their life.
Appearing like a ghost, Leng Changxi held a long spear in his hand, with the spearhead against the long spear in the bronze soldier’s hand. Powered by some mysterious machine, the bronze soldier had such great strength that even Leng Changxi, who was born with amazing strength, had a cold sweat.
“Leave! Be quick!” Leng Changxi lowered his head and excoriated Mengman.
It was at that time when Mengman came back to earth. He quickly rose from the ground. Glancing at the slave behind him, Mengman kicked him into the warrior-horse array suddenly. Soon, the intrusion of such a big man triggered the trap. Several bronze soldiers around him reacted fast. Using their swords and long spears, they stabbed the slave into a sifter with a few attacks.
Leng Changxi had no intention to stop Mengman. He tried his best to remove the long spear from the bronze soldier. However, it seemed that every part of the bronze array was strictly connected as a whole. The bronze soldier at the other side of Leng Changxi immediately began to wave his sword. Although its attack was not as quick and accurate as the one of a real person, its strength was surprisingly great.
Resisting two at one time, Leng Changxi couldn’t get away from the fight within a short time. Wincing slightly, Wanyan Su lifted the short sword he brought with him and rushed to help.
“Why are you coming here?” It seemed that Leng Changxi didn’t like others to help him.
“I simply don’t want you to die so easily. You should be killed by me. Leng Changxi, do you hear that?” Wanyan Su resisted an attack for Leng Changxi, which came from a bronze soldier using a meteor hammer in the direction of 12 o’clock. The groups of bronze soldiers all seemed to be activated, reacting one after another. They waved their weapons toward the two people. While they moved, there were soft cracks from their joint. It seemed that they hadn’t moved for a long time. It was a rather fierce warm-up competition.
The “King” was sitting high at his wheelchair, appreciating it with great interest. He was also observing the reaction of those bronze soldiers, which were built carefully by them in the past. Now it seemed that their effort was paid.
Seeing the two people fighting hard in the bronze color, Qin Yunuan looked more and more worried. She always believed in Leng Changxi’s ability. However, a man’s physical strength was limited after all. How could he compare to those statues, which didn’t need eating or drinking? What’s worse, it seemed that once the trap was triggered, the machines would never stop. More and more bronze soldiers began to attack Leng Changxi and Wanyan Su. Although their lower limbs were fixed on the horse backs and couldn’t move, the flying arrows and meteor hammers could kill Leng Changxi at any time.
“Don’t you do something to help them?” Yasu couldn’t stand it anymore. Crying, she begged the “King”, “They’ll die if they keep fighting like this! They will either be killed or be exhausted to death.”
The “King” disliked Yasu’s character very much, crying and howling so easily, “So what? It’s not me who ask them to fight. But it’s good that they come to fight. They can help me find out the way and the rule of the bronze array. Nanny Yu, take out the rule I recorded before. I’ll make a comparison carefully.”
Qin Yunuan was quite clear that the rule “King” mentioned was also recorded at the price of human lives. If those bronze soldiers could not be stopped from awaking one by one, Leng Changxi and Wanyan Su would be stabbed into a sifter by those non-human soldiers, just like those slaves used to explore in the past.
The most important thing was to find out the principle of operating those bronze soldiers.
All of a sudden, Qin Yunuan went forward and seized the thickly-written so-called record firmly from the “King”, “There’s no need to read it. It’s not helping at all. If there is any rule, you won’t fail to walk out of the bronze array after so many years.”
Compared to Yasu’s crying and howling, Qin Yunuan’s reaction made the “King” amazed. He squinted slightly and looked at Qin Yunuan as if she were an angry kitten, “How do you know that I have never gone out of the bronze array?”
“Just once,” Qin Yunuan looked sidelong at the “King”, “at the cost of countless lives. It’s nothing to show off.”
“How dare you to be impolite to the god of our tribe?” The woman called nanny Yu used her crutch with a dragon head carving to hit the ground angrily. She stooped. It looked like she was over 100. Her voice was hoarse and low. The way she spoke was like an old bellow being blown by the fierce wind.
“I’m just telling the truth,” Qin Yunuan stared at the eyes of the “King”, “Do you always focus on nothing else but the warrior-horse array?”
The “King” sneered, “Madam, I need to remind you that it was us who built the whole array. Every bronze statue here was the result of our pouring and beating. I know them better than you do.”
“What you know about is the bronze statue,” Qin Yunuan said with much confidence, “but not the whole array. You only see the detail, but you have never observed the whole effect of the warrior-horse array.”
The “King” didn’t care much about the young woman, “Well, do you know about that?”
Qin Yunuan smiled. In fact, Qin Yunuan didn’t have any ingenious research on it. It was only because she and Baochuan didn’t have many books to read in the past, so they had to read whatever they saw. She only remembered that she had read some strange knowledge in a book without cover among them, which was close to the Fengshui theory or essays of mountains and rivers.
“On my way here, I’ve been observing the trend and the shape of the mountain,” Qin Yunuan raised her head and gazed at the thick forest finally, “The mountain is in the shape of a pocket. The valley is exactly the place nurturing Qi with its moist weather. According to the Fengshui theory, it is called a treasure basin, a place bringing luck. Therefore, the factory here will definitely be successful. However, such a large factory met a mysterious disaster after producing so many products, causing so many great thoughts and machines buried in the forest. This implies that the Fengshui of this place has changed.”
Qin Yunuan spoke with fervor and assurance. The old man who had divined previously couldn’t help turning around to listen. He studied divination and astrology and learned a little about Fengshui and the Eight Diagrams. However, he had never come up with the idea of using the Fengshui theory to explain the mystery of the bronze array.
“There’re many ways to change Fengshui,” Qin Yunuan continued to guess, “Since it has been merely 20-30 years, the structure and shape of the mountain here won’t have changed a lot, which indicates that a huge magnet is buried under the weapon factory. I’ve checked that there’re traces of landslide and mud-rock flow in the west and the south of the mountain. Although the trend of the whole mountain hasn’t changed, changes of terrains will cause the direction of the magnet buried under the mountain to change. If I don’t get it wrong, those bronze soldiers are controlled by a huge magnet.”
The old man doubted the conclusion, “Has a magnet got such great power?”
“This is the secret of wisdom,” Qin Yunuan tried her best to recall what was on the book she read long ago. She remembered that the book was worn-out and written by hand. The writing on it was standard, and the writing style was brief, which was rare to see. It was a pity, however, that the author’s name was lost and hard to find. “I’ve read it on a book,” Qin Yunuan said while recalling, “As long as a magnet exists, there will be a special magnetic field around it. Once the magnetic field is broken by something, reactions will be caused. I think that perhaps when those animals and we pass the warrior-horse array, we’ve broken its original magnetic field. That leads to the bronze soldiers in the magnetic field to move.”
“Nonsense,” Nanny Yu shouted at Qin Yunuan with a stern air, “Those bronze soldiers are obviously the ghost armies guarding the weapon factory. They’re the evilest thing, sent by the god to protect the treasure. You use nonsense to explain them. That’s an insult to their sacred meanings.”
“Humph,” Qin Yunuan said while looking at the old woman with white hair, “Nurse, if you really believe that those bronze soldiers are sacred, why are you following your master to challenge the authority of the sacred ghost soldiers?”
Her master referred to the “King”.
Nanny Yu looked at the “King” and said with extreme loyalty, “Master, I’ve tried to persuade you for countless times. The bronze array was unbreakable. You see, even the two young men good at martial arts are unable to continue the fight now. Master, please stop looking for the so-called treasure.”
Nanny Yu’s words were earnest and kind, but it led to more dislike from the “King”. He waved, asking nanny Yu to leave. He stared at Qin Yunuan for a long time without saying a word. Then he slowly asked a question which surprised Qin Yunuan, “Do you remember the author of the book? Does it have any feature?”
Qin Yunuan was dumb to the question. She shook her head, “I don’t know. The book was very old. But I remember that there is one Chinese redbud on the corner of every page of the book.”
“Oh,” The “King” sighed suddenly, “That is her. In the end, she chose to leave everything she had learned for him as expected.”
“Who?” Qin Yunuan was a little surprised.
The “King” turned his head and slowly said a name, “Chen Wan.”
It was the third time for Qin Yunuan to hear the name of this miraculous woman. A woman’s instinct told her that there must be some connection between the “King” in front of her and the legend figure.
“Who are you, then?” Qin Yunuan squinted slightly and asked carefully, “I mean, what’s your name?”
The “King” sighed suddenly as if he had gone through half a century, “Chen Jingrui.”
Qin Yunuan remembered the name. However, before she could react to it, a shrilling cry came from the two people fighting with the bronze soldiers. Qin Yunuan looked back, only to find that Wanyan Su’s right arm holding the short sword had been cut off. He was bleeding heavily and looking horrible. They could wait no more.
