Card Room

Chapter 386 - Origin

The six people walked for a while until a blood red pool appeared in front of them. It was already the 13th level, the hell of the blood pool.

In the large pool of blood, red bubbles appeared and corroded bones were faintly visible. If they fell into the blood pool then they would definitely be corroded into a pile of bones just like those. They could only pass this secret room by air.

There were no materials to build a bridge. Xiao Lou thought for a moment before speaking to Lu Jiuchuan, “This hell of the blood pool is relatively wide. Brother Jiu can fly over by riding the vermilion bird... by the way, how many people can the vermilion bird carry at a time?”

Lu Jiuchuan helplessly took out the vermilion bird card. “The vermilion bird recognizes its master and will only carry me. Other people won’t be able to ride on its back.”

Xiao Lou asked another question. “Then it doesn’t matter if you take someone else with you?”

Lu Jiuchuan was taken aback. “That is the case.”

Xiao Lou was overjoyed and glanced at Yu Hanjiang. “Hanjiang, where is the white silk?”

Yu Hanjiang took out the White Silk card and Xiao Lou handed it to Lu Jiuchuan while explaining, “Brother Jiu, the white silk of this card can be freely stretched and tie people together. Can I trouble you to ride the vermilion bird while carrying us separately with the white silk?”

Lu Jiuchuan, “......”

So this time, it was a high-altitude crane? Lu Jiuchuan found that Xiao Lou and the others truly had a lot of cards for everything! He nodded. “No problem.”

The vermilion bird was summoned again. Lu Jiuchuan jumped onto the vermilion bird’s back and tied the white silk around Xiao Lou’s waist. Once the vermilion bird took off, Xiao Lou was also lifted into the air. He gripped the white silk tightly, not daring to look down at the blood pool.

The vermilion bird flew very quickly and Xiao Lou reached the other side of the blood pool in the blink of an eye. Lu Jiuchuan put him down and went to pick up the other teammates. The next one was Old Mo and finally Yu Hanjiang.

Lu Jiuchuan took back the Vermilion Bird card and laughed. “My vermilion bird must be in a strange mood after being used as a temporary crane for you.”

Everyone, “......”

They really wronged the vermilion bird.

The 14th level was the hell of the wrongful dead. Those who were sent to the hell of the wrongful dead would never be able to live again.

There was no mechanism in this room but the environment was very depressing. After entering, they all felt like the air had been drawn away and there were heart-piercing screams all around them.

The six people covered their ears and quickly entered the 15th level, the hell of dismemberment.

The hell of dismemberment and the hell of the mountain of knives was similar. It was just that the pit of the hell of the mountain of knives was full of sharp knives. Old Mo used the marble to pave a path across. Meanwhile, the hell of dismemberment contained countless sharp knives flying back and forth in the air.

The densely packed knives which flew at all angles to cut the skin of the sinners meant there was nowhere to hide. The pain experienced after being cut by the knives was definitely comparable to death by a thousand cuts.

Fortunately, the flying knives were light and easy to deal with. Xiao Lou took a card out of his card pack—the hair dryer. The hair dryer was an A-grade card drawn a long time ago and it created a powerful wind to blow away all things in range. The thin blades could be blown away by the strong winds.

Xiao Lou started the hair dryer while shouting at his teammates, “Get ready to rush through as fast as possible!”

He raised the hair dryer and blew it to the left and right. A gust of wind immediately formed and the knives were quickly blown to the side, creating a safe passage without any flying knives! Lu Jiuchuan no longer wanted to evaluate Xiao Lou’s cards. A hair dryer should be used to blow hair but instead it was used to open a path. It was amazing.

The group followed Yu Hanjiang through the room. According to the setting of the 18 hells, there were three rooms remaining. They were namely the hell of the mountain of fire, the hell of mills and the hell of sawing.

The entire room of the hell of the mountain of fire was filled with fire. Everyone was almost scorched by the fire before they even entered the room and they hurriedly took a step back. Fire filled the whole room and they had to take protective measures to get through the flames.

Going directly into the fire was looking for death. Tang Ci’s heat-resistance armor was the best choice but unfortunately, it had already been used to get through the hell of steaming. They could extinguish the fire first if they had rain or water cards but unfortunately, they didn’t have any.

Xiao Lou came up with a method. Chief Shao’s Rich and Willful card could copy other cards. If he had Chief Shao copy Tang Ci’s mechanical armor card and then they returned here, wouldn’t they be able to use the armor to pass through?

Of course, it was impossible to walk back the original way to see Shao Qingge. Teleporting there directly using the Peach Blossom Spring was a good choice. He could use Li Qingzhao’s Stray Into the Depths of the Lotus Flowers to leave a teleportation mark at the hell of the mountain of fire. After Chief Shao copied the card, the six of them could instantly teleport back to this hell.

Xiao Lou thought up to here and asked Ye Qi through Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings, “Xiao Ye, how is your progress over there?”

Ye Qi replied, “Professor Xiao, I was just going to talk to you. We are back at the original point!”

Xiao Lou heard this and was stunned. “You’ve already gone through the path of the human realm?”

“Yes, we walked through it and returned to the room with the six paths of reincarnation that had the mark left on the door.” He paused before adding, “We returned to the original point after going through the gods’ realm and Senior Gui had us try the human realm. As a result, the path of the human realm was very strange. We entered a long curved passageway with murals on the walls on both sides.”

“The entire path of the human realm had no mechanisms. It was a very long, long road which almost made me think we encountered another ghost wall. However, the murals on both sides of the wall kept changing and seemed to be telling a story.”

The first time Ye Qi’s group entered the human realm path, they were mentally prepared to encounter various complicated mechanisms. The thing that surprised everyone was that there were no mechanisms at all. It was all murals.

They looked at the murals along the way and their brains were a bit confused. This path seemed to be never ending...

Gui Yuanzhang suddenly said, “Humanity? It is like we are walking through a person’s life.”

The team members finally reacted. The murals in this passage were messy but they seemed to be telling the story of the same person. It was from childhood to old age. Weren’t they walking through a person’s life?

Ye Qi explained it to Xiao Lou. “Senior Gui speculated that the story of the murals is probably related to the owner of this ancient tomb. We couldn’t quite understand these paintings but fortunately, Sister Huaying’s memory is very good. She noted down most of the murals on the walls.”

Xiao Lou was more confused after hearing this. “So you are back in the six-way reincarnation room?”

Ye Qi nodded. “Yes, I just wanted to discuss with you if we should continue to challenge the doors. By the way, are you still in the hell realm path?”

“Yes, I have to ask for Chief Shao’s help with something. I will open the Peach Blossom transmission so please have everyone accept it.”

Ye Qi immediately conveyed Xiao Lou’s words to his teammates. “Professor Xiao will open the transmission. Please accept it.”

Xiao Lou summoned Li Qingzhao to leave a teleportation mark at the location of the hell of the mountain of fire. Li Qingzhao’s teleportation was delayed and was only available after five minutes. This was just enough time for them to return from the Peach Blossom Spring.

He started the transmission and soon everyone gathered in the Peach Blossom Spring.

Time was urgent so Xiao Lou spoke quickly. “Chief Shao, please use the Rich and Willful card to copy Mr Tang’s mechanical armor. Senior Gui, I have a question to confirm with you. You have just walked the gods’ and human realm paths. After that, you returned to the original point which is the room with the six paths of reincarnation, right?”

Gui Yuanzhang nodded. “Yes, we will leave a mark every time we enter a door.”

Xiao Lou took out the map that Old Mo had drawn on the cloth. His speech was very fast but it was organized. “We walked for a while after entering the labyrinth from the stone door and found a fork in the road. Then we split up into two teams. We headed east while you headed west. We immediately found two rooms and got the compass and yin yang mirror. Then we encountered the spiral staircase that seemed like a ghost wall but was actually an illusion.”

Gui Yuanzhang nodded. “Yes. After passing the spiral staircase, we each entered a room with the six paths of reincarnation.”

Old Mo finally reacted when he heard this. “So after you walked through the gods’ realm, you returned to the six paths of reincarnation room. After walking through the human realm, you once again returned to that room. Then this labyrinth... is actually petal-shaped?”

Suppose the first stone gate could be regarded as the rhizome that was divided into two branches. The two rooms that provided the compass and yin yang mirror could be regarded as two leaves. Then going forward, the rooms with the six paths of reincarnation that the two teams met respectively were two flowers?

The central part was the six paths of reincarnation room while each petal was the path behind the six doors. Regardless of which door they walked through, they would go around and return to the center. In this petal structure, the six petals definitely weren’t the exit.

Xiao Lou’s face was serious. “Once we complete the hell path, we will most likely return to the center of the flower, which is the room with the six paths of reincarnation.”

He said, “If this speculation is confirmed then the exit of the labyrinth probably isn’t the six doors.”

At first, everyone entered the room with the six paths of reincarnation. They cracked the charms and medicinal hut mechanism and saw six doors on the six walls. They subconsciously felt that the exit was behind one of these doors so they tried out a route.

Yet in fact, the six paths of reincarnation was a flower-like labyrinth. No matter which door they went through, they would go back to square one in a big circle. Therefore, the exit wasn’t one of the paths. It was at the origin!

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Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Fictional Reality