Chapter 489 [(*^▽^*)]
Xue Qian looked at the withered branches and leaves around him, as well as the yellowed weeds on the ground, and a strange look flashed in his eyes. Of course, he wasn't the only one who noticed this; everyone around him noticed it too.
The further you go, the less vegetation there is. Some trees that are tens of meters tall don't even have a single leaf, and their branches and trunks are all dead.
The gang leader, his face grim, surveyed his surroundings. He felt something was amiss, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Apart from the path beneath his feet being relatively easy to walk on, everything else seemed wrong!
And so, the group gradually walked to the back of the village. The gang leader looked back at this moment. The entire dilapidated village was not far behind them. From this position, they could see the whole village. It was eerily silent, with no living creatures except for them.
Even the poultry and small animals that Lin Leyou and Xue Rui used to see every day have disappeared without a trace, but there are still some small insects nearby, and no one knows how they survive.
Perhaps he had been looking at it for a while, because the deputy leader came over and asked, "Boss, should we go?"
When the gang leader heard this, he was stunned for a moment. For some reason, the thought that we should get going suddenly flashed through his mind.
Bad luck! Extremely bad luck! That place behind the village is definitely extremely bad luck, but what exactly is it... well, it's just that we encountered some vengeful ghosts and spirits. Could there be other ghosts or spirits?
However, speaking of ghosts, the gang leader still wanted to fight the ghost-faced spider he had encountered in the graveyard. He wondered if it had come after him. He hadn't thought much of it at first, but when he thought of the ghost-faced spider, he suddenly wondered if there had been any subtle movements around him.
"Did you hear that? There was a sound just now..."
Neither the deputy leader nor Xue Qian heard it, nor did anyone else. Seeing everyone shaking their heads, the leader was a little surprised. Was he hallucinating?
He carefully observed his surroundings again, and only after confirming that there was no danger did he temporarily abandon his previous idea. "Let's go, let's keep going forward and see what's ahead..."
After leaving the village, they walked forward until they reached a relatively high slope. From there, there was no greenery to be seen. However, this environment had one advantage: from this higher vantage point, they could see the enormous, sinkhole-like structure in the distance behind the mountain.
The deputy gang leader stared at the pit in shock for a long time before trembling as he said, "This is the Pit of Ten Thousand Souls?!"
They had encountered similar pits before when they were tomb raiding, but they were only similar. After all, the largest ones were not even a tenth the size of the one in front of them. Whenever they encountered such pits, they would immediately avoid them and never get close, because once they got close, something bad would happen.
"Boss, let's hurry back, this pit..."
Before he could finish speaking, he realized that in the past, even the smallest pitfall, they would immediately retreat several kilometers away to feel safe. But now…
The pit of ten thousand souls is already right before our eyes!
Xue Qian muttered to himself, "No wonder the yin energy and resentment here are so thick. Even the sky is covered by this resentment. Wraiths are rampant and ghosts are everywhere. I never thought there would be such a huge pit of ten thousand souls in the back mountain of Xiushan Village! We're doomed!"
The vice-leader could no longer contain himself. "You're dead? You're dead, and it's all your fault!"
He pointed at Xue Qian's nose and cursed, "If you hadn't told us about this damn Xiushan Village, would we have known about this place? Would we have come here?"
"Now look what's happened! The entire Kowloon Gang is going to die here! It's all your fault. Since we're going to die anyway, I'm going to torture you before we die, making you wish you were dead!"
As he spoke, the others around him looked at Xue Qian with hostility, but most of them were panicked and confused, their eyes glazed over. Did they really have no way to leave?
That makes sense, they're so close already, if they could walk... no, it's impossible, they can't get away, they absolutely can't...
"Alright, what's the use of saying all this now? Let's hurry back and see if we can still see Xiushan Village. If we can, we'll try to see if we can get through Xiushan Village again and leave this place."
Everyone agreed with the suggestion; everyone wanted to leave. However, the longer they walked back, the more numb they became.
It had already taken them twice as long to get here, and they were walking faster than before, but all they could see were withered branches and rotten leaves, not a trace of green, not even the blackened leaves that had been shrouded in black mist.
They dared not turn around, fearing that if they did, they would still see that enormous pit of ten thousand souls.
They walked tirelessly for over an hour, but the dilapidated Xiushan Village still hadn't appeared before them. At that moment, they finally realized their current situation.
This situation may seem similar to being trapped in a maze, but the two are completely unrelated. Being trapped in a maze simply means going around in circles in the same place, while this situation is...
They were all locked in by the Ten Thousand Souls Pit they had seen before. Those who were locked in could never leave the Ten Thousand Souls Pit. No matter how they ran, struggled, or tried to find a way out, the final result was that their souls would return to the Ten Thousand Souls Pit.
Of course, there was another way, which was to destroy the Ten Thousand Souls Pit, but where would they get the idea? They had nothing and no one who knew how to destroy the Ten Thousand Souls Pit.
Yes, although they knew about places like the Ten Thousand Soul Pit, they didn't know how to deal with such a dangerous place, and even if they did, they didn't have enough materials.
The deputy leader couldn't help but look back, and sure enough, he saw the Ten Thousand Souls Pit. Looking at the distance between the Ten Thousand Souls Pit and them, it hadn't changed at all, as if they had walked for more than an hour in vain.
"Boss, we don't need to go any further, we can't get out of here."
The gang leader stopped, and everyone around him stopped as well. They all looked back and saw that the Ten Thousand Souls Pit really hadn't left.
Xue Qian sighed, "We're already locked onto the Ten Thousand Souls Pit. No matter which way we go, we can't escape. We can only get closer, not further away. We need to find a way to leave quickly..."
The deputy leader sneered, "Trying to leave? You think we don't want to leave? We've never even heard of a Soul Pit this big before, let alone seen one!"
"It's all your fault! Because of you, you bastard, you came and told us about Xiushan Village! Now we haven't found the treasure, and we're trapped here. This is just the beginning. After a while, countless vengeful spirits will fly out of the Ten Thousand Souls Pit to attack us and drag us into the pit!"
While he was unleashing a barrage of attacks on Xue Qian, he also moved closer to him and reached out to push him away. Suddenly, Xue Qian asked, "What if I had a way to escape the lock of the Ten Thousand Souls Pit?"
The vice-leader's hands hadn't even touched him yet; they were frozen a few centimeters in front of him. After a while, he finally found his voice, "Are you serious?"
"If you're serious, and we can really get out of here, once we're outside, I'll consider you a brother! I'm not like those guys who just talk the talk; I always mean what I say!"
After a moment of silence, Xue Qian said, "I only said I'd escaped the lock of the Ten Thousand Souls Pit. I don't know if I can get out alive. Do you believe me? If you do..."
The deputy leader was getting impatient. "Don't worry, I'll say it again, I absolutely keep my word!"
Xue Qian glanced at the gang leader, who noticed his gaze and nodded slightly. "When the time comes, I'll make you the third-in-command of our Nine Dragons Gang. How about it? Are you willing?"
Xue Qian blinked, then nodded, "No problem, of course I'm willing!"
He organized the ideas in his mind and then said, "The instrument we used for detection before is definitely not broken, which means... the treasure in Xiushan Village is definitely in that direction."
There's a Soul Pit in that direction, though. Are they going to dig for treasure inside? No way! Just getting close to the Soul Pit will get them killed.
The deputy leader thought what he said was unreliable, but he didn't rush to refute it. Instead, he waited for him to continue and see what else he could say.
Xue Qian said expressionlessly, "Since we can't escape by going in the opposite direction, let's head towards the Ten Thousand Souls Pit."
When he got to this point, the vice-leader couldn't hold back any longer and pointed his finger at him, cursing, "Are you really brainless, you idiot? Do you even know what the Ten Thousand Souls Pit is?"
“We all tried our best to run away, and now you’re saying you want to go back? Go back where? Back to your hometown?”
Xue Qian ignored his words and continued, "I don't know if you've noticed, but even though we've been moving away, we haven't actually left. In fact, we're a little closer than when we first saw the Ten Thousand Souls Pit. If you look closely, you'll see. Take a look for yourselves."
At this point, the deputy leader suddenly turned around and looked at the Ten Thousand Souls Pit in the distance. Then he looked back at where he was now, estimated the distance, and recalled the situation when he saw the Ten Thousand Souls Pit from the high place.
He didn't want to admit it, but he had to! The truth was exactly as Xue Qian had said!
Even though they kept moving away, they didn't actually get further away; instead, they got a little closer. In other words, no matter what, they would get closer and closer to the Ten Thousand Souls Pit.
With a flicker of help in his eyes, he asked, "Young Master Xue, so what is your plan?"
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