Yan Qing stroked her chin, somewhat uncertain herself. Looking back at the several people still unconscious on the ground, she made a bold decision.
"Let's go take a look!"
The secret must lie in those eighteen woks; I have to make this trip no matter what.
However, Yan Qing still took precautions. What if any of the unconscious people on the ground were faking it? Wouldn't that harm her?
So she instructed Lingxi to bring rope and tied all five of them up tightly like rice dumplings before she felt safe and bold enough to climb onto the wok.
On the pot closest to her, a hand was faintly visible, its five fingers stretched out towards the sky, as if it were struggling desperately.
Yan Qing climbed up and saw that, as expected, these people had been solidified in the wok with dark red grease. They could only be released by lighting the wok and melting the grease.
She carefully pinched a little oil and brought it to her nose to smell it. It had a very strong bloody smell, and it was obviously made with the blood of living people. Just thinking about it was cruel.
The people at the bottom of the wok were all curled up, with their hands wrapped around their knees, heads down, and eyes wide open—a classic case of dying with their eyes wide open.
"Master, I've searched everywhere, and there's really nothing here." Lingxi reported to her with great disappointment after rummaging through the pile of corpses for a long time with a Luoyang shovel.
Yan Qing comforted her, "It's okay, let's move on to the next one."
As it turned out, they tried seven or eight different fabrics, but still couldn't find a trace of the cloud-patterned cloth.
Undeterred, Yan Qing searched all the middle sections. It seemed unlikely to be here.
Wait, something's not right!
She suddenly remembered that there was a detail she had almost overlooked.
In the first seven or eight large cauldrons, all the corpses appeared to be upside down, but the angle at which their heads were facing down was different.
Some are directly below, some are to the lower left, some are to the lower right, and some are to the side... In short, every pot is facing a different direction, the only thing they have in common is that they are facing downwards.
A thought flashed through Yan Qing's mind, and she quickly took out paper and pen from her ring and started drawing on it.
Using a very simple geometric principle, she drew a line indicating the direction the corpse's head was facing, based on the position of the different pots. Seven or eight lines from different positions converged at a single point.
That's right! It seems this is the place they've been looking for.
And coincidentally, this intersection was located not far from where she was standing. It was an empty, ordinary patch of ground.
The ground was covered with identical stone slabs. Yan Qing poured water around the gaps between the slabs and sure enough, she discovered a secret room.
Lingxi volunteered to take the tools and pry up the bricks.
Beneath the stone bricks, there was a small space, a few feet square, which, though small, was exquisitely crafted.
However, the walls were covered with densely packed talismans. Yan Qing was already familiar with these; they were still the extremely vicious "Nine Deaths Soul Suppression Curse."
The talisman was covered in a dense layer of blood, which someone had deliberately scraped off bit by bit with their fingernails. The bloodstains must have been left by this person's hands.
In the very center, she finally saw the familiar white cloud-grass cloth bundle. The body parts inside looked to be only a small portion, which explained why it was placed in such a cramped space.
Without a word, Yan Qing immediately stored the body parts in her spatial storage, and then she and Lingxi put the bricks back in. Once everything was ready, she went back to check on her string of rice dumplings.
As expected, someone had already woken up.
From afar, she could see Sun Gui staring intently at her, but unfortunately, since they had been keeping their distance from these people, Sun Gui naturally had no idea what she was doing.
Yan Qing touched her nose. "Oh, you're awake! You have no idea how much I suffered to protect you all!"
She deliberately showed the other person her miserable appearance to demonstrate how difficult her life had been.
Sun Gui was very well-mannered; even tied up like that, he wasn't angry. He simply said in a calm tone,
"Yan Qing, can you let me go now?"
"Oh dear," Yan Qing suddenly realized, "How could I forget this! Why did you all faint at the same time, making me go through so much trouble to protect you!"
Sun Gui gritted his teeth, but he remained calm. He was still in their hands!
I'll endure it!
Yan Qing didn't linger. Since the work was done, there was no point in keeping him tied up any longer, so she readily released him and thoughtfully gave him a towel.
"Let's wipe our own faces; appearance is important."
Sun Gui was so angry at Yan Qing that he laughed. He had never seen anyone with such a thick skin.
However, he turned his head and looked around. He remembered that there were quite a few of those menacing blue-faced men, so how come there was only one left now?
Looking at the only "survivor" who was tightly bound by a large die, Sun Gui's eyes darkened, and he did not ask any further questions.
Yan Qing untied everyone in one go, and then began to drag them one by one toward the exit. Lingxi had already scouted the way; there was a fork in the road at the exit, which was perfect for waiting for someone.
She dragged Monk Yuanhui and Mu Xiao over, then sat down to eat and rest. She'd used up a lot of energy this time and needed to replenish herself quickly.
As for Sun Gui and the other two members of the Sun family, they chose to stay where they were, and Yan Qing didn't bother with them.
As a result, they waited for a whole day and night.
When Yue Qi came out, Yan Qing, Monk Yuan Hui, and Mu Xiao were playing cards. The Sun family was resting about eight zhang away from them. A little further away, on the ground, lay a blue-faced, fanged corpse, clearly dead beyond any doubt.
After receiving the fragments of magical artifacts from the corpse she gave him, Monk Yuanhui's attitude towards her improved dramatically. He even took the initiative to teach her a lot about the Nine Hells.
So Yan Qing naturally knew that the place Yue Qi and the others went to was probably the train hell in the northwest.
However, this was no ordinary train; it was a true journey of death. She didn't need to get close to feel the immense temperature difference in the other passageway—it was like being roasted alive!
Compared to this, the illusion of the fiery hell is nothing but child's play.
The Hell of the Fire Chariots has twelve wheels below and ninety-four fire wheels above. Those who deceive and mislead, and those who flatter and commit evil, will all perish here.
According to the monk Yuanhui's explanation, this "train" was actually a long, narrow, mobile fire cage, with only a very narrow passage for people to crawl through.
Everywhere your hands and feet can touch is engulfed in flames. Anyone who manages to get through will be badly injured, if not killed.
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