Chapter 231: Cauldron

Chapter 231 The Ding

Within the winding cave descending downwards, no one spoke. They had walked for quite a while without reaching the bottom; perhaps this place had no bottom at all. Or maybe it did.

Fortunately, as they descended, the cave expanded, no longer as oppressive as when they first entered.

"Wait, stop." These words came from Li Huowang. Keenly observant, he knelt on one knee, brows slightly furrowed as he examined the footprints on the ground.

"These are not a child's footprints, but those of a normal adult. It appears that besides young Sun Baolu, someone else has been in this cave."

"Nothing much, let's continue." Li Huowang stood up and continued burrowing down into the cave. In truth, compared to evil spirits, he was more wary of encountering people.

If someone could move freely within a cave teeming with evil spirits, it signified their strength was absolutely extraordinary.

The rock cave began to curve, but Sun Baolu halted at the bend. He swallowed hard, his throat tight with tension, and said, "Back then, right after turning this corner, one of my playmates suddenly vanished,"

Sun Baolu's fear began to seep into everyone's hearts. At this moment, everyone became fully alert.

Li Huowang placed his hand on Sun Baolu's shoulder, pulled him back with force, and led the way past the bend ahead.

Gripping the sword hilt, he stood there, surveying everything outside. Yet Li Huowang, who was already prepared, received no attack.

"Are you sure this is the place? Besides two sheep that died long ago on the ground, there is nothing else."

"Dead sheep?" Sun Baolu and the others carefully approached behind Li Huowang, holding high the glowing stones in their hands, peering inside.

In the pitch-black expanse ahead, there truly were only two dead sheep, nothing else.

Looking at their shriveled faces, and bodies covered in dust yet still intact, they must have become lost in this rock cave and died trapped.

With a "crack," the two dried sheep corpses on the ground were instantly torn in half by Li Huowang's sword, blackened, coal-like dried entrails spilling out.

Li Huowang did not rest easy; he directly lifted his foot and stepped upon them.

He did not intend to leave these two mummies behind him; that was too dangerous. If they suddenly rose to ambush him, it would be perilous.

Although this was overly cautious, Li Huowang felt that in such an environment, being too careful was never excessive.

Only after thoroughly crushing these two sheep to ash and scattering their bones did Li Huowang sheath the long sword in his hand and continue walking inward.

The deeper they ventured into the rock cave, the emptier it became, but Li Huowang could not discern what lay in the pitch-black distance.

The darkness here was deeper than elsewhere. The fluorescence in their hands could only illuminate the immediate vicinity; even with Li Huowang's eyesight, he could see only a little further.

After walking for not long, sheep corpses appeared on the ground again. This time Li Huowang could not chop them all, because the ground was full of them, too many, densely packed, if not a thousand, then eight hundred.

"One or two might be called lost, but so many clearly looks intentional. Someone drove a flock of sheep in here to die. Who did this?" Li Huowang pondered while gazing at these sheep.

Moreover, these sheep corpses were very complete, showing no signs of gnawing or consumption.

From this point, one could judge that the Black Tai Sui should not be nearby; otherwise, the meat-eating Black Tai Sui would not easily overlook this food.

Li Huowang pondered again for a while, retrieved the dead skin of the Black Tai Sui from his bosom, and placed it before Mantou once more.

"Mantou, sniff, go see where this scent lies nearby."

"Woof~" After licking it, Mantou lifted his foot and walked forward with some hesitation.

As Li Huowang waved his hand, the others quickly followed. "Stay close, do not fall behind in this place."

"There is a short stretch ahead, it's fine. Walk for half an incense stick's time, and we'll reach the place where I encountered the Brush that time. That was the last place I arrived at." The extremely nervous Sun Baolu continued to remind them from the side.

The dead sheep on the ground still did not disappear, spreading densely inward.

Finally, after walking for two cups of tea's time, it was finally no longer sheep. Something new appeared ahead, a huge bronze ding, appearing about one story high.

The huge bronze ding was covered entirely in green rust and dust; it seemed this object had existed for a long time.

"This... when I came here back then, there wasn't this thing." Sun Baolu's words made Li Huowang frown.

He first looked at the ding, then turned his head to look at the densely packed dead sheep behind him, sensing they were connected. As far as he knew, something like a ding should be an important ritual vessel for sacrificing to deities.

Li Huowang slowly circled around this giant ding. When he saw the white jade plates placed behind the ding, and the three animals rotted down to only bones, Li Huowang realized his judgment was correct. Someone truly performed sacrifices in this place.

"Didn't they say this place is all territory of evil spirits? How can there be such a solemn worship ceremony? Could all this be done by those evil spirits? If true, then what are they worshipping?"

Li Huowang cautiously approached the giant ding, peering inside. Inside, besides some ashes, there was nothing else.

"Ah!!" A woman's scream made Li Huowang's scalp instantly prickle. He quickly turned his head to look and saw panicked Bai Lingmiao clutching Er Shen, who wore a red bridal veil, desperately.

"What's wrong! What did you see?" Li Huowang rushed over and asked urgently.

"Sheep! Sheep!" Bai Lingmiao trembled, pointing at the darkness on the left. Her hands hugged Er Shen tighter.

As Li Huowang moved towards that side vigilantly, the fluorescent stone in his hand illuminated some things in the darkness. Some sheep corpses.

But the sheep corpses here were completely different from the previous ones. The mummies here were all half-human half-sheep deformities!

An old man lay under Li Huowang's feet, spiraling ram horns piercing out from his cheeks. Before dying, he desperately tried to touch his face with those two hooves, but ultimately he perished in the final moment of struggle.

Beside him was another sheep corpse, or perhaps a human corpse. The upper body was a skinned lamb, but the lower body was a twisted deformity coiled several times. Curved hooves carried twisted knee bones, one forward and one backward, extending wildly like tree branches.

And this was just the beginning. As the light shone over, corpses more disgusting and terrifying were everywhere. Such a bizarre scene, no wonder Bai Lingmiao was frightened like that before.

As the light illuminated these half-human half-sheep, Li Huowang subconsciously associated them with the sheep corpses before.

"No! Those aren't sheep corpses, those are humans! They were transformed into sheep by others, they are all sacrificial offerings for worship!"

Li Huowang quickly rushed to the front of the ding, eyes wide open, shocked looking at the rows of sheep corpses.

When realizing these sheep were all transformed from humans, the whole nature was completely different. Someone killed over a thousand people here, just to worship certain things!

(End of Chapter)