Chapter 31 Chapter 31 Yes, Avici Hell. ...
Hualongtan got its name because it is said that a fish turned into a dragon here.
Nan Qiong Shuang looked up and saw a thick and crooked tree trunk twisted and stretched across the green pond, connecting the dense forests on both sides. A hill-like arc arched in the middle. The tree had deep veins, and it was unknown whether it was a tree hundreds of years old.
Li Xuanbai pointed casually. "This is called 'Dragon Gate.' It means the carp in this pond might even be able to 'leap over the Dragon Gate.'"
The edge of the pond is quiet and peaceful, with dense forests covering the sky and blocking out the sun. Only a gap is visible right above the water surface, and light golden sunlight filters down and falls on the surface of the pond, making the water crystal clear and visible to the bottom.
Changing the angle, I could see a mountain in the distance through the gaps between the leaves, and its shape surprisingly resembled the head of a giant python.
Nan Qiongshuang had learned a little about Feng Shui while in the sect, and knew that such a terrain must be extremely valuable in terms of Feng Shui. If there was a story about a fish turning into a dragon, it might be true.
When he turned around, Li Xuanbai had already rolled up his trouser legs.
Nan Qiong Shuang: "What are you doing?"
Li Xuanbai chuckled, "Why do you think I brought you here?"
Nan Qiongshuang looked him up and down coldly and sighed.
The only place she wanted to go on this mountain was the Star Pavilion, but the purple smoke had not yet dissipated, and she had no idea where to go.
Li Xuanbai: "I heard that the fish in this pond can transform into dragons. Do you have any other ideas?"
Nan Qiong Shuang lazily said, "Do you envy the dragon for having two?"
Li Xuanbai's face flushed red. "...Bullshit! How can a woman's mouth be so dirty!"
She chuckled and walked to Li Xuanbai's side, watching him busying around without even offering a hand to help:
"Catching fish?"
"Exactly."
He took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs, and stepped directly into the turquoise water. The transparent water spread out in a series of concentric circles from his ankles.
She bent down and looked carefully at the koi carp gathered in the pool of water.
Those koi, as big as buckets and all golden red in color, were spinning and swirling in the emerald green water, as if a handful of strangely soaked wolfberries were scattered around.
She felt a little nauseous and straightened up. "Why did you catch it? To eat it?"
Li Xuanbai stared at the water surface, "What else?"
Nan Qiong Shuang rubbed her brows. She had the same problem as Wu Dao, thinking about eating every day.
"The carp waiting to leap over the Dragon Gate are all spiritual creatures. Do you want to eat them?"
Li Xuanbai raised his head. He was usually so wicked, but when it came to food, he was actually a bit honest:
"You've never had it before? Let me grill it for you! I'm telling you, no one in this mountain grills fish better than I do!"
Nan Qiong Shuang held her forehead and sighed.
She was not interested and looked around boredly. She saw an ancient well hidden in the dense forest in the distance.
There was nothing unusual about having a well, but ancient wells always had some stories behind them. She was so bored that she planned to walk over and take a look.
Li Xuanbai dragged a wooden barrel from the edge of the pond and placed it on the rocks. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Be careful. There's something at the bottom of Hualong Pond."
One sentence made her stop in her tracks: "What is that?"
"There's a mechanism."
"What mechanism?"
I asked him again, but he didn't answer.
The water surface was as smooth as a mirror. The person in the pool was as tense as a fully drawn bow, holding his breath. Suddenly, like a leopard ready to pounce, he suddenly jumped to the surface of the water. When he straightened up again, he cried, "Hey, hey - hey, don't run, don't run -"
He held a big, shiny koi in his hand. After grabbing it with his left hand, he slid it with his right hand. After grabbing it with his right hand, he grabbed it with his left hand. The man and the fish were fighting fiercely.
In the sunlight, dust particles are blown away and water droplets are scattered.
Nan Qiongshuang sighed, ignored him, and walked straight towards the ancient well.
"Under the Hualong Pond is a very important mechanism in Tianshan." Li Xuanbai finally won a great victory. Standing in the koi's nest, holding the koi carcass, he gave her a thumbs-up from a distance. "The key to the Xingchen Pavilion is down here. Take a look!"
Nan Qiongshuang looked back at him in surprise.
Li Xuanbai thought she was surprised that he caught such a fat fish.
"This one, it's grown like this, it's almost a spirit if not a dragon. It's the biggest I've caught in all these years!" A burst of laughter followed. "Please, I'll give you a taste!"
Nan Qiong Shuang rolled her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
Under the pool, is the key to the Star Pavilion?
How do you put things under the pool?
She had heard from some tomb raiders that some princes and nobles had accumulated a lot of treasures in their lifetime and were afraid that they would be stolen after their death, so they built underwater tombs, sealed and waterproofed with layers of mechanisms to hide their treasures.
If the key to the Star Pavilion is underneath...
I can't go to the Star Pavilion for the time being. However, if I can get the key to the Star Pavilion, everything will probably be much faster.
She lowered her eyes and looked around the Hualongtan quietly.
The pond water is just pond water, and the surrounding trees are naturally grown, without any Bagua formation.
There are several huge rocks by the pond, which are round and complete. They look like they cannot be moved and have never been chiseled.
There are only a few reefs on the water surface.
If there is a mechanism to open this place, where is it?
Nan Qiongshuang lowered her eyes in thought, pacing as she continued walking towards the ancient well.
"Hey, don't go too far, especially into this wood. Have you ever heard of a mountain god in this forest?"
"Mountain God?"
"Yes. There are water ghosts in the water and mountain gods in the mountains." Li Xuanbai put another carp into the wooden barrel beside him. The fish's tail hit the barrel so hard that it almost overturned.
Somehow, she suddenly remembered that day when Gu Zhi was punished late at night and she had rowed a narrow boat to pick him up. In the dense forest under the moon, it seemed that...
Suddenly, someone blew on my neck.
At that time, she looked carefully for a week and there was no one.
I went back and asked Wu Dao, and he said that there was indeed no one there.
"What about the mountain god?"
"Mountain God," Li Xuanbai panted with exhaustion, his sleeves rolled up high, his strong arms wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I love good and hate evil, and I hate sin and killing the most."
Nan Qiong Shuang sneered in her heart, isn't this calling her name?
"If the mountain god sees someone with a bad heart—" Li Xuanbai's voice was deep and eerie across the pond, "the mountain—will capture them."
Nan Qiongshuang's heart tightened instantly.
Suddenly, she remembered the day she first entered the mountains, when Gu Zhi held her in his arms. Gu Zhi walked along the narrow mountain path, and she looked back from the side of his neck. The narrow mountain gate and the high sky seemed like a person imprisoned in a cage, with only a small hole carved out, giving her a last glimmer of hope.
At that time, she felt...
This mountain is weird.
A sense of horror came over her, as if a hairy centipede was crawling from the soles of her feet into her skin, drilling into her spine, and then struggling to crawl out from every pore of her body.
She smiled and asked, "Do I seem to be afraid of ghosts?"
Seeing he couldn't frighten her, Li Xuanbai felt frustrated and curled his lips, continuing to fish. "I brought spices with me today. Once we've caught enough, we'll fillet the fish, marinate them with spices, wrap them in lotus leaves, and roast them. Just wait and see! I guarantee you'll never forget it even after thirty years if you try it!"
Nan Qiong Shuang didn't bother to pay attention to him. She was only particularly interested in the well. As they walked, she asked, "What is this well?"
The small circle of the well mouth reflected the surging waves of trees above and behind Nan Qiong Shuang's head. Her snow-white face swayed on the water for a moment, and then became blurred by the wind.
Li Xuanbai looked up. "That well has a legend too. There are legends everywhere on Tianshan Mountain. That well is said to be able to reveal where people go after death."
"Where do you go after death?" Nan Qiong Shuang found it amusing. "Before you've even finished living, you've already been sentenced to death and banished to the Three Realms?"
Li Xuanbai did not answer, as if he had set his sights on another carp.
He is really hopeless. Nan Qiong Shuang couldn't stand it anymore. She shook her head in disgust.
She wanted to use Li Xuanbai as a chess piece, but this guy didn't seem very smart.
He sighed, put his hands on the edge of the well, and leaned over to look down.
Upon closer inspection, I discovered that there was an iron chain as thick as my forearm by the well. Because it had been there for so long, its color had become the same as the stones by the well.
The iron chain was tied to an iron nail the size of a grapefruit on the ground outside the well, extending downwards, all the way into the deepest part of the dark and silent place.
Are you tying something?
She looked down from the small circle of the wellhead. There was a fist-sized surface of water inside, and she had no idea how deep it was.
I threw a stone into the water and it took a while before I heard the sound of it falling into the water.
What is the purpose of placing a chain in such a deep well?
She reached out her hand and tried to touch it.
Finally, he retracted.
It's so dirty and disgusting.
If you really have to touch it, wait a moment and decide.
So he lay down beside the well again and looked down.
Li Xuanbai's voice echoed on the surface of the pond behind him, "Be careful, don't fall in." He said dissatisfiedly, "I say, why don't you come over and give me a hand?"
She clung to the edge of the well, holding her breath, staring without blinking at the deep water that was almost a small hole.
There was only her face, very blurry and distant.
But there was indeed only her shadow.
The leaves above my head were shaking. It had rained a few days ago, and a lot of water had accumulated on the leaves. When the wind blew, it flowed into the well.
A series of thin circles spread across her face, blurring it.
What? Nan Qiong Shuang sighed impatiently. She actually believed in such a thing.
The moment I turned my head, I saw a hint of red in my peripheral vision.
She frowned and looked into the well again.
It wasn't her face anymore.
That is...
Blazing flames, a sea of fire. The sky was a surging crimson, the earth was charred black, the sky and the ground merged into one, as if the sky had melted, or there was no sky at all. The whole world was one—an infernal hell.
Nan Qiong Shuang laughed out loud.
Avici Hell?
It is indeed the Avici Hell.
She had expected this; that was indeed where she should go.
However, my back was suddenly covered with a thick layer of cold sweat.
She didn't want to watch anymore, so she leaned against the edge of the well and planned to watch Li Xuanbai catch fish.
But suddenly, someone blew a breath softly and quietly at my neck.
*
After a while, Li Xuanbai finally finished his work. He proudly held his precious pure gold koi carp by its tail and held it in the air, laughing heartily, "That's enough! Let's grill the fish! Don't rest, what's the point of just sitting there—"
But no one answered him by the pond.
The ancient well, silently, innocently, and indifferently, was hidden under the woods.
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