The sound of singing echoed faintly amidst the drifting joss papers.
The voice was cold and eerie just like this place.
Everything felt more like a ritual that had been going on for an unknown period of time.
In Xu Qing's eyes, the pentagon wooden hut seemed to be a different kind of altar.
This was because on the five corners of the wooden hut, where the chains were connected to, there were three terrifying corpses.
The first corpse was a corpse that was drenched from head to toe. It had rotted extremely severely and its appearance couldn't be seen clearly. Even its gender was unclear.
It knelt facing the wooden hut and wore a tattered black robe. It was as though it had experienced countless years and was riddled with holes.
However, the continuously falling corpse water seemed to have some unimaginable power that preserved the scene of its death in the past.
Even though time had passed until now, it was still the same.
It was a drowned corpse.
The second corpse was also wearing a tattered black robe. It was kneeling facing the wooden hut with its hands at its cut stomach.
Its stomach was revealed.
There were no internal organs inside. Clearly, they had been hollowed out. There seemed to be something else there, but it couldn't be seen clearly.
It was as though the pain it felt when it was alive forced it to lower its head and bend its back as though it was worshiping.
It was a dissected corpse.
The third corpse was slightly different from the previous two. There was a red vine wrapped around its neck, and those vines had sharp spikes that pierced deeply into its neck.
The vines wrapped tightly around its neck. As for the two ends of the vines, they were grabbed by the corpse's hands. It seemed to be pulling with all its might before it died, causing the ligature mark on its neck to be extremely deep.
This was a strangulated corpse.
Each of the three corpses exuded bizarreness. Hence, Xu Qing felt that this place was more like a ritual altar.
In addition, on the fourth corner of the five corners, although there were no corpses, there was a wordless tombstone.
Since there was a tombstone, there should be a grave.
Although there wasn't one here, the meaning of burial was very obvious.
Xu Qing suddenly looked at the dissected corpse and focused his attention on it.
Finally, he saw some soil and a small grave in the dissected corpse's stomach. In the grave, there was the corpse of a baby that hadn't been completely buried.
This might be the fourth corpse.
Xu Qing looked at all of this and noticed that on the last corner of the pentagon wooden hut, there were some traces of burning. It seemed that there had once been a corpse sitting there.
Xu Qing thought of the burning corpse earlier.
"Metal for dissecting, wood for hanging, water for drowning, fire for burning, and soil for burial."
Xu Qing didn't know what ritual this was but he was very clear that this wooden hut and the four corpses were extremely terrifying.
This was because he felt an intense pressure. What made his hair stand on end was the aura and anomalous substances emitted from the depths of the deep pit under the wooden hut.
This aura caused Xu Qing's mind to tremble. The last time he felt this was when the red moon breathed.
Xu Qing knew that there must be an unimaginable existence in the darkness below.
He also understood that the Dao Child definitely knew about these because the latter was here.
At that moment, the other party was on a mud wall thousands of feet away, cautiously crawling down.
It was as though he was afraid that if he moved too quickly, he would disturb the woman and the corpses in the wooden hut.
He was only a few hundred feet away from the iron chains.
Xu Qing looked at the Dao Child and a cold glint appeared in his eyes. He then lifted his right hand and took out a small mirror and a black wooden block. After that, he took out a storage bag that contained pills.
There were black pills in this storage bag. After self-destruction, they could absorb anomalous substances.
In this deep pit that was filled with cold air and anomalous substances, there were no pills more suitable for agitating this environment.
Xu Qing gently tilted the bag down toward the pentagon wooden hut that Dao Child Zhang Siyun wasn't willing to disturb.
Hundreds of black pills spilled out of the bag.
The Dao Child's expression suddenly changed. He abruptly lifted his head and saw Xu Qing as well as those pills.
He was shocked and was about to stop him when Xu Qing spoke softly.
"Burst!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the black pills exploded one after another. The sound wasn't very loud but the instant they exploded, a large number of anomalous substances rolled over from below and above.
The self-destruction of hundreds of black pills formed a huge suction force.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a tidal vortex, causing an earth-shattering whistling sound to ring out.
As for the surging anomalous substances, they were even more intense. If the anomalous substances were compared to seawater, then at this moment, they were surging like a tsunami.
Everything below became blurry and the surroundings distorted. The pentagon wooden hut shook and the singing paused.
The four corpses on the corners of the wooden hut opened their eyes at the same time, revealing madness and cruelty. They let out roars and looked at Zhang Siyun, who was the closest to them!
A monstrous fiendish aura erupted at this moment.
The expression of the Dao Child changed drastically and indescribable anger and horror rose in his heart.
He didn't expect Xu Qing to be able to escape the entanglement of the burning corpse. After all, even he couldn't do it.
However, not only did Xu Qing escape, but he even came to scheme against him.
All of this caused the Dao Child to be shocked and furious.
Not only was his plan destroyed, but he was also in great danger. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot as he performed a series of hand seals at Xu Qing, wanting to use the position swap technique again.
However, this time around, Xu Qing was prepared.
Xu Qing had experienced the other party's position swapping technique once. Since he had chosen to attack now, he naturally thought of a way to block it.
Hence, almost at the instant Zhang Siyun made his move, Xu Qing lifted the small mirror he had taken out earlier.
The flickering light of the mirror landed in Zhang Siyun's eyes.
Zhang Siyun's mind trembled. Under the effect of the mirror, his soul instantly froze and his casting was interrupted.
At the same time, Xu Qing activated the black wooden block as well.
At the next instant, the black wooden block transformed into the Mystic Spirit Perpetual Will Door and faced Zhang Siyun.
After it was opened, a rotting heart flew out.
As soon as the heart appeared, Zhang Siyun's body paused and confusion appeared in his eyes.
After two sacrificial refinements, the Mystic Spirit Perpetual Will Door could seal the level of life. At this moment… Zhang Siyun's life was frozen.
He couldn't continue casting his spell at all. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xu Qing rapidly retreated and rose into the air.
However, this wasn't enough to vent the killing intent in his heart. Hence, as he rushed up, Xu Qing controlled the shadow to descend and spread toward Zhang Siyun.
Taking advantage of the fact that Zhang Siyun's life level had been sealed, the shadow slapped him hard. With a bang, Zhang Siyun's body was sent flying toward the raging corpses beside the pentagon wooden hut.
The rule was that killing other participants wasn't allowed, so Xu Qing naturally wouldn't break them. He felt that since the Sword Holding Court had reminded him of this many times, they might have a way to check the situation here.
For example, the teleportation talisman they had distributed.
However, using someone else to kill was clearly not within the rules.
After doing all this, the shadow quickly returned. Xu Qing's speed erupted and he instantly moved 10,000 feet away.
At this height, the scene at the bottom of the deep pit could no longer be seen. However, waves of roars and Zhang Siyun's mournful cries after he recovered echoed from below.
"And his life lantern!"
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and stared below. He was prepared to wait for the other party to die and see if he had a chance to take his life lantern away.
However, the instant Xu Qing pondered over this, a sense of danger that caused his hair to stand on end suddenly erupted in his mind.
A shocking wave of emotions rose in his mind. All of this originated from a light that appeared at the bottom of the deep pit.
Xu Qing lowered his head and only took a glance before his mind rumbled intensely and the world spun.
It was as though the world was distorting and the surroundings were blurry. His soul and flesh seemed to be about to break into pieces at this moment.
This was because below him, not only did he see the wooden hut suspended in the air by the five chains, but he also saw that under the wooden hut, in the darkness of the endless pit, it had appeared…
One eye!
A gigantic golden eye!
This eye was too big, just like the deep pit.
It was as though an unimaginable existence was sleeping at the bottom of the deep pit. To it, the deep pit was just a hole above its eye.
At that moment, this existence woke up and opened its eye, looking at the hole.
The coldness in the eye was as though all lives were ants. The only way to coexist with it was to transform them from the source of life.
This was the suppression of life level!
With just a glance, Xu Qing's hair, eyes, fingers, and even his flesh and blood seemed to have an independent consciousness. They didn't belong to him and were about to split from his body.
The extremely dense anomalous substances erupted completely on his body. In fact, Xu Qing's body even began to undergo mutation. Indescribable pain and tearing spread throughout his entire body.
Xu Qing wanted to teleport, but it was difficult for him to crush the talisman at this moment. He could only rely on his will to forcefully keep himself together. The purple moon in his body shone and the Poison Restriction Pill erupted. As he suppressed and neutralized the anomalous substances, he forcefully rushed out and unleashed his full speed.
However, the aura from the golden eye was too terrifying. Even while Xu Qing struggled, his speed gradually slowed down.
Seeing this, Xu Qing was about to summon the shadow to cover his body.
At that moment, a centipede suddenly flew out from the mud wall at the side and instantly got close to Xu Qing.
The woman on the centipede grabbed Xu Qing's arm. With a sway of her body, the centipede rapidly sped toward the top of the deep pit, bringing Xu Qing along as it ran wildly.
Her cultivation base was inferior to Xu Qing's but her speed wasn't affected by the eye's gaze. At that moment, she moved for tens of thousands of feet. At the same time, the singing voice in the deep pit quavered and echoed again.
"The previous life is not here, but the afterlife is always here. I cut off the lovesickness and drew the mortal world…"
"Wandering in this life, buried for the rest of my life. Who is waiting in the cycle of reincarnation…"
The voice was poignant and continued to reverberate. The huge golden eye actually slowly closed again. It was as though this voice had a special meaning to it as it gradually fell asleep.
However, the anomalous substances here were already intense. A large number of deviant ghosts appeared in the surroundings and let out endless shrill and savage roars.
Xu Qing's mind shook. He looked down.
Everything in this ghost cave was filled with bizarreness.
From the looks of it, someone seemed to have specially arranged the wooden hut and ritual here to… make the existence in the deep pit fall into a deep sleep.
This centipede woman was also completely different from the bizarre entities Xu Qing had encountered.
She actually appeared at the critical moment and saved him. Although this was because Xu Qing had saved her before, Xu Qing had never seen such an act of repaying a debt of gratitude from a different species!
He looked at the centipede woman beside him with a complicated expression. The other party didn't look at him but ran at full speed. She only stopped when she sent Xu Qing another ten thousand feet away.
After nodding at Xu Qing, the centipede woman opened her mouth and spat out a large number of Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar fragments, about 170 to 180 of them.
After tossing them to Xu Qing, her body swayed and she directly burrowed into the soil, disappearing.
Xu Qing fell silent and looked at the deep pit that had become extremely dangerous and was filled with countless deviant ghosts. The teleportation talisman in his hand shone on its own at this moment.
The assessment was ending.
There was no need for Xu Qing to crush it. The teleportation power suddenly erupted.
Xu Qing hesitated for a moment but didn't throw away the teleportation talisman. He allowed the light to cover him and allowed the teleportation.
During the last moments before the teleportation, he glanced at the deep pit again.
"What secrets are contained here…"
"Who set up the altar?"
"Is the woman in the wooden hut dead or alive?"
"Why did her singing cause that god underground to fall into a deep sleep?"
This was the third god Xu Qing had come into contact with.
The first was the fragmented-face.
The second was the red moon.
