Chapter 453: I Still Have My Feet

The door is carved from a single block of deep‑blue dark stone, and on its panel a complete Twenty‑Eight Star Constellations Map is engraved.

Each star constellation is a tiny shallow pit.

The door has no hinges; on each side sits a fan‑sized dragon head—left a pepper‑patterned one, right a horned dragon mouth—lifelike as if about to spring to life.

Tuan Tuan looked at the two dragon heads: "They look different!"

"Yeah, they're two of the dragon's sons; the dragon has nine offspring, each distinct."

Xiao Ningyuan pulled Tuan Tuan close, braced both hands against the cold stone door and pushed hard: "Tuan Tuan, didn't you say today the door must be pushed…"

Before the words finished, the ground beneath them suddenly trembled.

Boom!

Turning around, they saw a whole stone slab plummet down just two steps behind them!

Dust rose and slowly cleared, revealing a dark, deep pit below.

The pit's bottom glimmered coldly, densely packed with sharp iron spikes of varying lengths, each emitting a dim blue glow.

Tuan Tuan was still craning her little head into the pit, while Xiao Ningyuan's cold sweat instantly soaked his inner shirt.

He scooped his sister up and quickly retreated to the stone wall beside the door.

What a close call! The push must have triggered the mechanism; luckily it wasn't the slab beneath his feet, or he'd already be dead.

"Don't be scared, don't be scared," Xiao Ningyuan gently patted Tuan Tuan's back, his voice trembling a bit, "Looks like this door can't be pushed; we'll have to think of another way."

"Hmm," Tuan Tuan replied, "If we can't push, can we kick? Daddy kicked it open, Second Brother kicked it open too!"

Xiao Ningyuan: "..."

"It probably won't work either."

He lifted his gaze to the door, his eyes suddenly fixed.

He hadn't noticed earlier—no, it was impossible to see—that a line of faint seal script was also carved on the door's edge:

"Stars Not Aligned, Unauthorized Opening Punished."

Xiao Ningyuan whispered it, feeling another layer of cold sweat seep onto his back.

He looked down at his sister's small face, gave a wry smile and rubbed her crown: "Looks like we have to follow its rules, or our lives won't be spared."

Tuan Tuan blinked: "Big brother, what does 'the stars must be aligned' mean?"

"I don't know either." Xiao Ningyuan set her down, took her small hand and returned to the door, carefully studying the Twenty‑Eight Star Constellations Map.

He muttered to himself: "Twenty‑Eight Star Constellations? Could this mechanism have twenty‑eight layers? Who could open it!"

"Twenty‑eight? Stars?" Tuan Tuan's eyes lit up, "Big brother, Taoist Priest grandpa gave me Star Constellation Flow Pearls—twenty‑eight of them!"

Xiao Ningyuan rejoiced: "Take them out and try!"

"Alright!" Tuan Tuan untied her little Sachet, pulled out a pearl, glanced at the tiny hole on the door, rose onto tiptoe, and slipped it into the nearest shallow pit.

Xiao Ningyuan continued examining the star chart, "Tuan Tuan, each shallow pit is labeled with a constellation name—Jiao Xiu, Yuan Xiu… Does your pearl have a name?"

"It must correspond when placed…"

"Click." A light sound.

The pearl fell into the pit.

Xiao Ningyuan was startled; looking down, he saw Tuan Tuan had already inserted one.

Then a "gulu" rolling sound came from within the door, as if the pearl rolled along a hidden passage.

Immediately, the pit's bottom glowed with a soft milky halo, like a lit star.

Tuan Tuan looked up, grinned at her brother: "Big brother, look! This star lit up!"

Xiao Ningyuan was speechless—shouldn't it have matched the name?

Before he could figure it out, Tuan Tuan grabbed the second, third… and without looking, jammed them into other shallow pits.

Click, click.

Gulu, gulu.

One shallow pit after another lit up, the milky halos merging into a sheet that made the door appear as a river of stars.

"Tuan Tuan, placing them randomly isn't right; each constellation has its own name, you must match the positions…" Xiao Ningyuan tried to protest.

"But they all look the same!" Tuan Tuan declared boldly, shoving another pearl in, "I can't tell them apart!"

Xiao Ningyuan watched his sister's "whatever, just shove them in first!" stance, then glanced at the obediently lit constellations on the door, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Why is such a delicate mechanism so meticulous, yet so careless in front of Tuan Tuan?

He sighed, gave up, and took a few pearls from Tuan Tuan's Sachet, inserting them into the shallow pits she couldn't reach.

The siblings each filled pits—one below haphazardly, the other above coordinating.

Click, click, click…

The gulu rolling continued unabated; soon all the Flow Pearls were all back in place.

On the door, twenty‑eight constellations—twenty‑one of them now glowed softly, outlining most of the star map.

Then Tuan Tuan turned her little Sachet inside out, still finding none left.

She held up the empty Sachet: "Big brother, there are no more pearls!"

Xiao Ningyuan's heart sank.

He counted the still‑dim pits on the door—seven were missing.

His gaze returned to the eight seal characters: "Stars Not Aligned, Unauthorized Opening Punished."

Tuan Tuan tugged his sleeve, eyes pleading at the dark pits: "Big brother, if they don't light, the door won't open, right?"

"It looks that way. Tuan Tuan, where are the remaining pearls?"

Tuan Tuan thought, counting with tiny fingers: "Third Brother, Second Uncle, Ji Uncle, and… I gave them away!"

Given away? What do we do now?

Xiao Ningyuan was in the midst of anxiety when a small hand suddenly reached out before his eyes.

"Big brother," Tuan Tuan spread her palm, fingers splayed then curled, eyes sparkling, "The beads are gone, but I have hands!"

Xiao Ningyuan startled, hand?

Tuan Tuan tiptoed, carefully probing her right index finger into a dim little pit.

As her fingertip entered, a soft white glow flowed from her tip, and that little pit suddenly lit up!

"Big brother, look! It's lit! My finger works too!" Tuan Tuan smiled, eyes crinkling: "It's warm inside!"

Xiao Ningyuan was stunned, watching his sister extend another little finger, plug it into another pit, and it lit up again.

Tuan Tuan grew excited, both little hands reaching into every pit she could reach.

She lifted her head to look upward: "Big brother, I can't reach that high!"

Why do these pits recognize my sister's finger? How strange and marvelous!

Could it be? As long as it's a finger, it works?

Xiao Ningyuan's mind stirred, he extended a finger into a pit, but there was absolutely no response!

It seems they recognize Tuan Tuan!

He took a deep breath, suppressed the shock in his heart, stopped thinking: "Come, let big brother help you."

He glanced at the door: "Tuan Tuan, first take your hand out, see if they're still lit."

"Okay!" Tuan Tuan pulled out her little hand, and those pits quickly dimmed.

She wrinkled her little nose: "No good, big brother, once you take it out they don't glow."

Xiao Ningyuan lifted her up: "Then like this, first put your hand into those few above, see if they work too."

"Mm." Tuan Tuan responded, slipped her hand in, the pits lit, she withdrew her hand, as expected, they all dimmed again.

Xiao Ningyuan furrowed his brows: "No good, your hand can't leave, but these seven spots are so scattered, two hands aren't enough."

Not enough?

Tuan Tuan tilted her little head, looking at the seven pits, grinned: "Big brother, I still have my feet!"