An Qingyu frowned and looked in the direction they came from.

A faint rustling sound came from behind the deep and dark crack in the ground, as if something was slowly approaching here.

Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes, stretched out his hand to hold An Qingyu's shoulder, and at the same time with his other hand he pulled the [Zhanbai] from his waist half an inch out of the sheath. With a faint light flashing, the two figures instantly disappeared into the void.

In the void world where black and white intertwined, Lin Qiye pulled An Qingyu into the inner side of the mountain rock wall. The two held their breath and stared at the dark road behind them without saying a word.

Rustle, rustle——

A moment later, a dark figure staggered closer.

With the dim red light, they could see that it was a skinny man with his upper body naked. His ribs were clearly protruding from his pale skin, like a skeleton wrapped in skin. His lower body was wearing a pair of tattered black pants. At this moment, he was crawling slowly on all fours like a dog.

His eyes were empty, as if he had no consciousness at all. He crawled on his hands and feet with his dry mouth open, as if he was mumbling something.

In the void, An Qingyu gave Lin Qiye a look and asked in a low voice:

"Is it a vengeful spirit?"

Lin Qiye nodded slightly.

Hell was originally a place used to torture the souls of humans who committed sins during their lifetime. When hell still existed, it held countless resentful human souls. Now that hell is empty and the demons are no longer there, there should be many resentful souls alive after the war of gods, wandering around hell.

The skinny man in front of him did not have an actual body, but was just a soul that had been wandering in hell for who knows how long.

At this moment, the approaching man's empty eyes suddenly focused on a certain place on the mountain wall. His skinny dog-like body shook, and then he jumped up like crazy and ran towards that direction.

The direction he was heading was just near Lin Qiye and the other two who had escaped into the void. Seeing the resentful soul rushing towards him like crazy, Lin Qiye subconsciously clenched the [Zhanbai] in his hand, and his eyes burst into murderous intent!

But before Lin Qiye could leave the void and deal a fatal blow to the resentful spirit, the man suddenly fell to the ground, picked up a pigeon egg-sized stone from the corner of the rock wall with both hands, his face full of excitement and madness.

It was not until this moment, at such a close distance, that Lin Qiye could hear clearly what he said:

"Gold... it's gold! Lots of gold... big pieces of gold!"

At this moment, the man actually raised his head and opened his mouth. He held the huge stone in both hands and stuffed it into his mouth frantically.

The stone was so big that it completely stretched his cracked mouth open. Blood flowed from the corners of his mouth and dripped onto his bony upper body. The sharp edge of the stone cut his lips and tore his flesh into shocking wounds. But even so, the man still stuffed it into his mouth crazily as if he didn't feel any pain.

After witnessing such a weird and bloody scene, An Qingyu and Lin Qiye in the void frowned at the same time, feeling a chill in their hearts.

After the man successfully stuffed the stone into his mouth, he desperately tilted his neck back, as if he wanted to swallow it into his stomach, but the stone just got stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down. A look of pain finally emerged on his ferocious face.

He just knelt there like a dog, his ten fingers frantically scratching bloody marks on the surface of his neck. He struggled for a long time and finally fell to the ground, motionless as if dead.

Just when An Qingyu thought that everything was over and was about to say something, Lin Qiye gave him a look and shook his head.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Suddenly, the "corpse" of the man on the ground crawled up stiffly, still on all fours, looking around with empty eyes. Whether it was the blood at the corner of his mouth or the stone stuck in his throat, they had all disappeared, as if they had never appeared.

"Gold... Where is the gold... I want big gold..."

While muttering to himself, he dragged his skinny body and moved forward along the cracks in the mountain, gradually disappearing from the sight of Lin Qiye and the others.

When he was completely gone, a ripple appeared in the void. Lin Qiye and An Qingyu walked out one after another, looking at the man's departing back and fell into deep thought.

"The vengeful souls in hell are so terrifying..." An Qingyu couldn't help but speak as he recalled the scene just now.

"That should be the punishment and torture inflicted by the demons in hell when his soul was dragged into hell." Lin Qiye said thoughtfully.

"He mistook stones for gold and searched frantically out of greed, but ignored the relatively small 'gold' and always focused on the 'gold' that was too big. So every time he died in agony because his greed exceeded his limit... After death, he would be resurrected and start the next round of searching, sinking into pain forever.

His original sin in life must have been greed."

"So his soul was choked to death by stones over and over again over countless years?" An Qingyu shook his head. "What a vicious method."

"Now is not the time to care about these resentful souls." Lin Qiye glanced at the depths of hell, frowning, "Although I don't know why the exploration ship sailed into the deepest part of hell, but Brother Zhua was trapped there alone and was injured, and Jiang Er also lost contact... The longer time drags on, the more critical the situation will be."

An Qingyu nodded solemnly, and the two of them quickly ran forward along the cracks in the mountain.

…

Hell, the deepest part.

Towering black mountains stretched out under the crimson sky. In the corner of one of the mountains, a blood-covered figure was holding onto the wall, staggering into a hidden cave.

Shen Qingzhu waved his hand to disperse the air barrier around him that was used to block the ashes. He leaned over to the edge of the crevice in the cave and glanced at the dense demon figures circling above the mountain. His face became increasingly uglier.

He put up this air barrier, partly because the flying ashes were too dense, blocking his view of escape.

On the other hand, when he first touched the ashes, he felt an itchy sensation on his palms, which made him suspect that the ashes contained toxins.

Shen Qingzhu covered the wounds on his waist and abdomen, sat down with his back against the mountain wall, his face extremely pale.

"What a hell of a place..." Shen Qingzhu cursed in a low voice.

He took out a cigarette from his arms, put it in his mouth and was about to light it, but then he glanced at the demons flying outside, sighed helplessly, and put the cigarette back.

The palms of his hands that were covering the wounds on his waist and abdomen loosened slightly, and blood gushed out. A hideous wound almost went through his entire waist, like the mark left by the bite of some giant beast. In severe pain, the corners of Shen Qingzhu's mouth twitched slightly.

With the amount of bleeding he's doing now, I'm afraid it won't be long before he dies from excessive blood loss.