Chapter Thirty-Five: The Fire Witch

  Yang Cangcang slapped Lao San's head and said: "You pig brain, it's all said that it only eats fire,"

  Lao San scratched his head in embarrassment and immediately said: "Then it must be trying to lure us over and burn us to death."

  Yang Cangcang rolled her eyes: "Big brother, why doesn't it just swallow the flames and be done with it? Isn't that tiring?"

  Lao San rolled his eyes and said: "Right, so why is it blocking our way?"

  "Although I couldn't fully understand its thoughts, I can be sure that it doesn't have any malicious intentions. It seems like it wants to lead the way for us," Fu Ma said to us.

  "Follow it and it can swallow all the flames on the road, otherwise we can't move an inch." Karamay said, looking at the whirlwind.

  "Xiao Lao said it's a hellhound? Where is it going to take us? It can't be..." I suddenly had an ominous premonition.

  "Now is the time for us to make a desperate attempt even if it's like going through the underworld." Old Three's tone was tinged with some helplessness.

  The whirlpool continued to lead the way in front, and we followed behind. I don't know if it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but the road ahead of the whirlpool always seemed vague and elusive, only stabilizing after it had passed through. After a while, the scenery in front of us suddenly changed - it was no longer a desert, but a wide, straight road that could accommodate all seven of us walking side by side. In the distance, everything was pitch black, and the road was filled with large patches of blood-red flowers that seemed to have been dyed with fresh blood. The flowers gave off a strange, pungent fragrance that made my head ache as soon as I smelled it.

  Yang Cangcang exclaimed: "Wow! So beautiful!" Then ran to the road, picked one off, put it on her head, and walked back and forth to Lao San's side and asked: "Isn't it beautiful?"

  Lao San's mouth watered all over the floor, and he lecherously said: "Beautiful, beautiful, really pretty!"

  Xiao Lao stared straight at the flower on Cang's head and said slowly, "Where have I seen this flower before? It seems to be... Manzhusha."

  "The name of this flower is quite romantic." I chimed in.

  "Adenium obesum, also known as the flower of the other shore, is said to be a guiding flower that grows on the road to the underworld. On that long road, large patches of this flower bloom, and legend has it that from afar, they look like a sea of fire. This Adenium obesum is the only color on the long road to the underworld, guiding the dead straight to the gates of hell... just like... just like... this... this... scene." Xiao Lao was still proudly showing off, but as he spoke, he felt more and more that the situation was similar, until his last sentence was almost incoherent.

  Lao San's face was filled with smiles just a moment ago, but now it turned solemn: "Hellhound, Manjusaka, and the Yellow Spring Road are all gone, only the underworld is left. It seems we really... What are we waiting for? Let's hurry back!" Lao San turned his head around, and suddenly froze - the road behind them had completely disappeared.

  Yang Cangcang hastily threw the flower on her head to the ground and scolded Goudou: "I said why this guy is so kind, it turns out that he led us to the underworld."

  Karamay raised his voice and said to us, "Everyone calm down! Whether the underworld is true or not remains to be verified. I'm afraid this is just an array method pretending to be mysterious, don't scare yourself."

  For now, I can only continue to follow Gu Dou, taking it one step at a time. The road ahead is still uncertain and hazy. As I walked, the strange flower fragrance made my head ache more and more. Suddenly, a white light appeared before my eyes. I was wearing strange clothes in a bright and spacious hall, holding a woman with a blue face in my arms. What's terrifying is that her eyes seemed to have been dug out, and blood tears flowed from the deep eye sockets. I don't know why, but instead of being scared, I felt a deep sense of sadness. The woman handed me a six-sided crystal-like stone and made a hissing sound with her mouth, as if she was talking to me.

  A female voice suddenly appeared in my head: "I'll go first, you have to take good care of it."

  I didn't want to cry, but tears flowed out of my eyes. I wiped them away with my hand and startled myself, not knowing when my hands had turned light blue. Suddenly, a group of blue-faced people rushed into the grand hall, looking like they were from Avatar. But these blue-faced people looked very human-like, except for their light blue skin. Among them, I seemed to see a familiar face. Upon closer inspection, it was Luocha Ghost Queen. Just as I was about to speak and explain, a huge hole suddenly appeared under my feet, and I fell in, sinking down, down, down, seemingly without end.

  Faintly I heard someone calling me: "Zhou Junyang - Zhou Junyang - it seems to be..." In my mouth, I silently recited: "Yang Cangcang -"

  I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying on the ground, surrounded by a large patch of mandrake flowers. Everyone was gathered around me, looking at me with concern. Gokudera was quietly crouching beside me. I slowly got up, patted my head and said, "What happened to me?"

  Yang Cangcang shouted loudly: "We still want to ask you what's going on, your mouth is making a hissing sound all the time, speaking as if it's an ancient Wu dialect, too vague I didn't understand, aren't you unable to speak ancient Wu dialect?"

  My head is heavy, and I drowsily say: "I just dreamed of Rakshasa Queen."

  "Hmph..." Lao San spat it out, "Second Brother, so she's the one you've been thinking about day and night. I knew it back then when Wu Zihan said he'd play matchmaker for you, probably even that Raksha Queen wouldn't dare object."

  "Go to hell! If I married her, I'd eat you on the first night." I gave Lao San a white eye.

  Xiao Lao said with interest: "Jun Yang, my little friend, what else did you dream about?" I told everyone about the situation earlier, and Old Three snorted and said that I had watched too many movies.

  Xiao Lao fell silent for a long time, then said to me: "You don't know this, but the fragrance of Manjusaka has a wonderful effect - it can make people recall things from their past lives. It seems that you, Jun Yang, have seen your past self."

  "I murmured: 'Why was my face blue in my past life?'"

  Lao San said with envy: "You're content with what you have, it's really cool. I still think that in my past life, my face was green."

  Yang Cangcang hummed: "You're the same in this life and the last, shameless, don't have a face!" We several people chuckled, Old Three's face looked wronged but didn't speak.

  "Why did I see it and you guys didn't?" I asked as I stood up.

  "This Yellow Spring Road was originally for the spirits of the dead to walk on, only they can see their past lives, so we're all fine, but you being able to see it can only mean that the memory of your past life is too hard to forget and has become a bond for you." Xiao Lao explained.

  Karamay said heavily: "I hope it's not that people go in alive and come out as spirits."

  We continued to follow the whirlpool for a long time, and the road finally came to an end. On both sides of us appeared a river with deep yellow water, which gave off a strong fishy smell. There was a very narrow bridge on the river that could only allow one person to walk across at a time. We vaguely saw something in the river, so we leaned forward to take a look. Suddenly, our hearts skipped a beat. The river was filled with floating human faces of various expressions, but they were all extremely distorted and eerie, making our hair stand on end.

  Xiao Lao also broke out in a cold sweat and said: "This should be the Wangchuan River, which is the boundary between the underworld and the world of the living. That bridge is..."

  "Naihe Bridge!" Fu Ma added.

  The whirlpool walked onto the bridge, looked at us for a moment, and then disappeared. Lao San slumped to the ground: "It's all over, I'm going to cross Naihe Bridge, why didn't I see Meng Po? I want to drink the soup!"

  Suddenly in front of Naihe Bridge, a bell sound came, just now the front was still pitch black, suddenly a castle appeared, this castle only had one floor, with European-style architecture, round top and black walls, inside the castle it was dark and gloomy, making me think of foreign movies' haunted old houses.

  Outside the castle hung a large bell, and a black shadow was striking it. I felt my soul trembling with the bell. Xiao Lao's expression suddenly changed, and he shouted loudly: "Quickly cover your ears, this is a soul-calling bell."

  I hastily covered my ears, but I could still hear the sound clearly. The bell seemed to have struck deep into my soul. After a while, I felt dizzy and light-headed. Yang took out his flute from his waist with difficulty and put it to his mouth. At first, the flute sound was very soft and had no effect on me as it lingered around my ears. But gradually, the sound grew louder and the beautiful music drove away all the bell sounds in my head. Suddenly, I felt much calmer inside.

  "Are you human or ghost? How dare you toll the mourning bell here?"

  The black figure slowly turned around, his whole body was dressed in black, and his face was also covered with a black cloth, only his eyes could be seen, and it was impossible to distinguish between male and female. This dress was a bit like some women in some closed areas who had to cover their faces, revealing only their eyes. Puma made a gesture to us, I understood, this person was absolutely not a normal person.

  The black shadow bowed to us, and an old woman's voice said: "Noble guests come from afar, the old woman is sorry for not welcoming you in person, and can only use this bell sound to express her intention."

  Yang Cangcang suddenly became furious: "Damn you, you almost got yourself killed and sent to the other world, who are you?"

  Although I couldn't see her expression, I felt that she seemed to smile and say: "The old woman is the guardian of this castle, they all call me Huo Po. The few noble guests who broke through the first two arrays must have some skills, the Focused Tail Flute of the Xuan Clan is indeed famous, but unfortunately, the girl's flute sound is not yet mature."

  Yang Cangcang's face turned green with rage: "When did it become your turn to teach me? You're just a ghost, come over and take a punch from me!" As she spoke, Cangcang was about to charge over, but Kalamayi grabbed hold of her.

  Karamay respectfully nodded towards Huo Po and said: "I'm new to this place, I've caused a lot of trouble, please tell me the way to break this formation."

  The old woman looked him up and down and said, "I am not the array spirit, the array spirit is in this castle. The happiest thing in the world is to be oneself. It seems that you have not known happiness for thirty years." Kalamayi seemed to be exposed, hastily hiding behind us and no longer speaking.

  The old woman glanced at me and said: "Do you still remember me?"