Chapter 55: Strange Gate

"This is a bit over the top!" Feng Yan looked up at the gate, then said somewhat angrily.

"I thought you were something, but it looks like that sword in your hand is just scrap iron!" Seeing Feng Yan suffer, Yang Xin gloated and mocked.

Before them was a gate covered in moss, seemingly made of pure gold; because it had never seen sunlight, it was overgrown with moss, the moss having completely taken over the gate's surface, so it looked like a green door. But how could someone as ostentatious as Li Guo have only green? Feng Yan walked up to the gate and pulled off the moss with his hand, revealing its true appearance. It was, a golden gate!

"Gold? Kind of interesting." Chen Hao watched Feng Yan peel off the moss bit by bit, but the speed was too slow, so eventually he joined in. The moss Feng Yan peeled off still had mud on its roots, looking disgusting; Feng Yan wiped it off on the ground in disdain, then continued lying on the moss.

Yang Xin watched the two working, feeling a secret delight, thinking to himself: "Finally it's your turn to do this dirty work, haha."

But the next sentence made his smile freeze; all he heard was Feng Yan say: "Yang Xin, shouldn't you show some appreciation? Look at that moss on the ground, all wet and damp, while we're still cleaning the stone gate, aren't you...?"

Yang Xin wanted to refuse, but he also knew that if he refused, the Black Sword would surely strike his face, so he could only give in, saying: "Okay, okay, I'll move those things far away, you guys also need to hurry."

After saying that, Yang Xin piled up the moss Feng Yan had pulled off by hand, bit by bit; the moss gave off a moldy smell, and at the same time the smell of mud; Yang Xin turned his head, carrying those things far away, running back and forth; Wang Tingwan stood there, watching Yang Xin busy, she wanted to help him, to clear the moss together, but wondered what trick Feng Yan would pull; thinking that, she dared not lend a hand.

After some work, the gate finally revealed its original appearance; it wasn't actually very tall, just a little over a person's height, but it was made of pure gold; however, over time moss had slowly climbed up the gate, the original gold color long been tightly wrapped by the moss and the dirt on its roots; even after Feng Yan and Chen Hao cleared the moss, it still lacked the luster of gold, perhaps due to lack of sunlight.

Feng Yan looked at the golden gate with disdain and said: "What is this thing? It looks terrible!"

Chen Hao walked to a distance to observe the golden gate, noticing a special pattern on the door; he felt curious, then stepped closer to look, but whether he approached or stepped back, he couldn't make out the full design; he found it intriguing, so he said to Feng Yan: "Feng Yan, look at this pattern on the stone gate."

Upon being reminded, Feng Yan instantly became interested, just like Chen Hao, he moved nearer and farther, but still couldn't discern the details; a chill ran down Feng Yan's neck, and he pulled Chen Hao aside, saying: "Let's have Yang Xin take a look."

"What? You want Yang Xin to look? Are you crazy?" Chen Hao patted Feng Yan's head, asking bewildered.

"You'll find out soon!" Feng Yan flashed a strange smile, then shouted at Yang Xin: "Yang Xin, come try—this gate we can't open!"

"Really?" Upon hearing Feng Yan's shout, Yang Xin felt secretly pleased, somewhat smugly saying: "Well then, I'll give it a try."

Yang Xin first went to a distance from the stone gate to observe carefully, then walked up to it, and after that reached out his hand to touch the gate, feeling the pattern; he threw his whole body onto the gate! Yang Xin kept losing himself in it, then suddenly jerked back, hastily withdrawing from behind the gate, trembling all over, as if he had encountered something terrifying, his whole person frightened silly, shaking like a sifter; Wang Tingwan watched Yang Xin's Yang Xin, also feeling astonished, curious what was inside.

She went inside, but found nothing; returning to Yang Xin, she comforted him: "Don't worry, it's fine."

Seeing Yang Xin's behavior, Chen Hao felt greatly puzzled, asking Feng Yan: "Hey, Feng Yan, what's going on? Look how Yang Xin got scared like that—could there be something unseen inside?"

Feng Yan laughed so hard he could barely breathe, pointing at Yang Xin's state, he roared with laughter: "Hahaha, too funny, how can this be! Hahaha······"

Seeing Feng Yan laugh uncontrollably, Chen Hao's question probably went unheard; he prepared to ask again, but just as he was about to speak, Feng Yan suddenly turned serious and said: "This is actually simple—just think, if we had gone first, we'd probably end up like this."

"Why?" Chen Hao continued to ask.

"Quite simple—basically the first one's luck is usually not good." Feng Yan answered Chen Hao.

"Tch." Chen Hao said with a disappointed face, "I thought you had some better explanation."

Feng Yan turned his head to glance at Xin, who although said he had calmed down, his spirit was probably still unstable; thus he waved them over, indicating they should come; seeing the two approach, he said: "We've all noticed this special pattern—it might be the key to entering the treasure gate, but the key is invisible, meaning we need something to draw it out."

"What is that thing?" Wang Tingwan asked.

"Not sure—it's because the stone gate has been corroded by moss, the golden gate seems to be missing something." Feng Yan answered Wang Tingwan's question, then continued: "This point seems rather important, but where should we start from?"

"Both sides of the gate—there seems to be a mechanism there." Yang Xin said, the fear in his voice not yet fully gone.

"Both sides of the gate?" Feng Yan wondered, but still walked over, feeling the area with both hands, and finally felt a tiny key there; he returned to his companions, produced the key, and said: "This is what we found on the two sides."

The group stared at the tiny key, wide-eyed, as if afraid it might vanish any moment; finally Chen Hao asked: "But what's this thing good for?"

When Chen Hao asked that, Feng Yan felt a bit embarrassed and said: "Um, this... I don't know either."

Wang Tingwan looked at the key in Feng Yan's hand, then walked around the golden gate once, observing carefully; after a while she returned to Feng Yan and the others, saying: "Just slip the key directly into the gate's seam."

"The seam?" Feng Yan and Chen Hao said in unison, not really understanding, but they did it anyway.

After a while, the gate slowly began to move, then it gradually opened from both sides; Feng Yan, Chen Hao, Yang Xin, and Wang Tingwan also entered the treasure place.

"But why is everything here sand?" Feng Yan asked.

As his words fell, the stone gate came crashing down.