Following the direction of his finger, Yan Qing saw two identical tomb entrances. Standing side by side, one to the left and one to the right, the two tomb entrances were indistinguishable from any angle.
"So how should we divide into teams?" Yue Qi glanced at her and asked the question before she could.
"How about we form a group ourselves? Yan Qing, would you be willing—"
"No!" Yue Qi was interrupted by Sun Qiang halfway through his sentence. He gave Yue Qi a meaningful look and said righteously,
"The place Jin is going to next needs to be overseen by a Jin-fire ability user. You and Yan Qing, each of you can choose one—I'm doing this so that we can clear the level more easily."
Yan Qing couldn't help but grumble to herself, "This is the legendary 'protesting too much'! Is it really necessary to make it so complicated just to separate them?"
She and Yue Qi exchanged a glance, and they both tacitly agreed. Yue Qi gestured for her to choose a side path first, and Yan Qing, who didn't care anyway, readily chose the one on the left.
Next came the team division. Sun Qiang led Wen Jiajia and two other disciples of the Sun family to Yue Qi's place, while the rest of the group naturally followed Yan Qing's team.
The two groups regrouped at the entrance to the tomb passage and embarked on two different passages.
This time, Yan Qing was led by Sun Gui, who scouted ahead with two disciples from the Sun family. Behind them were Mu Xiao and the monk Yuan Hui, with Yan Qing, the only girl, placed in the very center.
This new tomb passage looks quite different from Han tombs, and its style has returned to the ancient and grand style of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which is somewhat sinister, making her instinctively more vigilant.
Based on her previous experiences, she knew without a doubt that this was probably just another miniature hell built to resemble the Nine Hells.
The further you go in, the more the style gradually shifts towards the unrestrained and wild style characteristic of small border states. The murals are in the style of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the structure is similar to that of Han tombs, and the gold bamboo patterns are unique to the Yelang Kingdom. The whole thing is a hodgepodge of styles.
The content of the murals also changed to a bizarre style. The first thing Yan Qing saw was a huge bronze pot, the material of which was unknown.
Five or six people were adding fuel to the pot with shovels, and the raging fire made the large copper pot on top glow red-hot.
The most horrifying thing was that there was something cooking in the pot—seven or eight naked people screaming in horrific ways inside.
She could hardly bear to watch that scene.
Such copper pots are everywhere on the murals on both sides of the corridor, only the people inside are different. The only thing that's identical is the look of despair on their faces.
Yan Qing counted them; there were eighteen in total.
The tomb passage came to an end, and in front of us was a huge blue stone door.
Yan Qing felt that she already knew where she was.
"Amitabha!" Abbot Yuanhui called out a Buddhist chant. "This humble monk needs a few minutes, please wait a moment."
Then he sat cross-legged on the ground, where a guiding light made from the bones of a living child was sitting, with the child reaching out and bowing in a gesture of respect.
Yan Qing also fell silent. For a moment, only the chanting of the monk Yuanhui could be heard in the entire tomb passage.
Ten minutes later, the group finally pushed open the door and entered.
The bluestone gate was ajar. It looked heavy, but it wasn't too difficult to push open. Several big men easily pushed it open.
As far as the eye could see, Yan Qing saw a room full of enormous bronze cauldrons. She counted them; there were exactly eighteen, no more, no less.
The bronze tripods are almost identical in appearance, resembling enormous cauldrons. A rough estimate suggests that each tripod is about two to three meters in diameter, enough to hold dozens of people.
What struck her as odd was that the outer wall of the bronze cauldron was bright red, the color of which resembled fresh blood. Under the light, it shone with a vibrant red luster, making it exceptionally alluring.
Sun Gui, along with two disciples of the Sun family, disappeared after wandering around for a while.
Yan Qing released her spiritual rhinoceros to protect herself, and was about to climb onto a bronze cauldron to see what was inside when she heard the voice of the monk Yuanhui behind her.
"Amitabha Buddha, are you planning to climb into this wok, benefactor?"
"Pot and wok?" Is that the name of the bronze cauldron?
Monk Yuanhui smiled and nodded, "Among the nine hells, the northeast is the Boiling Cauldron Hell, which refers to this place. Sinners are boiled in cauldrons and placed inside to punish them for their sins in life. Surely you can guess what that means, benefactor?"
Yan Qing nodded in agreement; she had climbed up to verify this.
"Then I advise you not to go up there. You should know that only sinners need to be thrown into the cauldron, so—"
Yan Qing immediately understood; she had indeed been a bit too eager for quick results. However, this monk Yuanhui truly lived up to his reputation as a highly skilled disciple of Famen Temple; he seemed quite knowledgeable about the Nine Hells!
This would save her a lot of trouble. Since the senior monk also needed to find the Nine Refinements Jade Cloud Tower, they might as well cooperate.
When she parted ways with Yue Qi, he instructed her to try her best to prevent Yun Cao's body parts from falling into the hands of the Sun family. Now that the Sun family members have disappeared, she can take this opportunity to act.
"Lingxi, fly up and take a look. What's inside that big bronze cauldron?" Yan Qing tossed her phone to her. "Record a video for me."
Lingxi obediently agreed, and the next moment, her figure turned into nothingness and disappeared.
Monk Yuanhui clicked his tongue in amazement, "How did Benefactor Yan obtain such a powerful and bizarre ability? This humble monk is even a little envious!"
"Hehe—" Yan Qing started to play dumb.
The senior monk was also quite tactful; since the two were already in a cooperative relationship, he quickly steered the conversation to the main topic.
"Amitabha, there are eighteen pots here, but which one is the real core?" Monk Yuanhui was also troubled. Although he could subdue the magic weapon and remove the curse, he still had to find the real one.
The eighteen large bronze pots in front of them are exactly the same. There is no way to distinguish them.
Yan Qing couldn't think of a solution for the time being, so she began to carefully search the parts of the hall that she had overlooked. To her surprise, she discovered that the Sun family members had actually taken out fuel and were preparing to start a fire!
This is outrageous!
"Sun Gui, are you out of your mind?" Yan Qing quickly stepped forward to stop him. "This place is underground, and there isn't enough air. If you start another fire, are you planning to bury us all here?"
Sun Gui chuckled, "Don't worry about that, there's plenty of air. We're lighting the fire to find out who's really here, aren't we?"
Then he reached out and stopped Yan Qing, giving instructions to the two people behind her.
"Give me some!"
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