[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-first-iron-rice-bowl-of-great-jin":3,"chapter-the-first-iron-rice-bowl-of-great-jin-the-first-iron-rice-bowl-of-great-jin-chapter-456":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The First Iron Rice Bowl of Great Jin",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},152142,261,"Chapter 456: Ghostfire Well: Prison","the-first-iron-rice-bowl-of-great-jin-chapter-456",456,"\u003Cp>As Hua Changxi left, the Hua family courtyard fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All members of the Hua family were cultivators with exceptional hearing, so everyone in the Hua family heard the argument between Hua Changxi and Hua Sanlang in the courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi's words — not establishing the \"Hua Dynasty\" — completely extinguished the eager expectations of the Hua family, who adhered to the principle of \"family first.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire Hua family was silent; no one spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet in everyone's heart, a silent storm was raging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving the Xuanyuan Residence, Hua Changxi went directly back to Lingguang Hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as she returned, she began sending messages to Logistics Manager Yun You, asking her to find a way to procure materials for forging armor and weapons, then notify Die Wu of Wutong Forest to have Die Wu send the materials to Lihuo Cliff for the artifact smiths to forge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The demon race of the Ten Thousand Mountains, the sea demons of the ocean...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she heard more and more news of demon race incursions, Hua Changxi suddenly realized that aside from garrisoning Nanxiang City, the Vermilion Bird Army also bore the responsibility of protecting humanity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the Vermilion Bird Army needed training!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the current Vermilion Bird Army had not yet established a logistics supply system, and armor and weapons were not yet fully equipped — it was not the time to go out for training.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Afterwards, Hua Changxi also sent messages to managers of other departments, urging them to intensify training for the Vermilion Bird Army. After finishing her instructions, she did not pause for a moment; with a flicker of her figure, she transformed into a red shadow and sped toward the Mass Grave Mound to the southeast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason she left the Hua family in such a hurry was, first, she truly had nothing more to say to her family, and second, she sensed that the \"Fire Axe\" she had condensed in the heart of the Mass Grave Mound was vibrating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something had happened at the Mass Grave Mound!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half an hour later, Hua Changxi appeared alone at the edge of the Mass Grave Mound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment she arrived, her brows furrowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vibration of the \"Fire Axe\" was not because someone had intruded into the Mass Grave Mound, but because ghost qi was seeping out from underground the Mass Grave Mound again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>King Shou was already dead; how could ghost qi still be escaping?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi's expression darkened slightly. She couldn't wait any longer; she would investigate the Ghost Fire Well tonight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately, she lightly tapped the ground, leaped into the heart of the Mass Grave Mound, and appeared before the \"Fire Axe.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, the \"Fire Axe\" was buzzing incessantly, and the crimson flames on its axe body were noticeably weakened from desperately suppressing the ghost qi about to burst out from below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi poured spiritual power into the \"Fire Axe,\" and only after the \"Fire Axe\" became radiantly bright again did she turn her attention to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The imperial family had set up a concealment formation here. Hua Changxi was not skilled at breaking formations. She gathered fire spiritual power in her hand, quickly condensed a new \"Fire Axe,\" then gripped it and struck down fiercely with all her strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Boom~\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fire axe fell, and a spiritual barrier abruptly rose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately after, with a \"bang,\" the spiritual barrier shattered, and the fragments scattered in all directions as thousands of light spots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as the formation broke, the true face of the Mass Grave Mound's heart was revealed — a deep rift valley spanning a thousand zhang, filled with ghost qi, making it impossible to see the whole picture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi stood at the edge of the rift, watching the surging ghost qi in the valley, her brows tightly knit and her heart as heavy as iron.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rift was bottomless, and the ghost qi so thick it almost solidified; even probing with divine sense was like a clay ox entering the sea. She could only faintly see several crimson chains deep in the valley, slowly writhing in the darkness, coiling and tightening like living things, as if suppressing some indescribable entity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Jingsheng!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi's pupils slightly trembled. Those crimson chains were exactly the same as the bloodline chains of the Nether-Eyed boy, Jingsheng, and in her view, those blood-colored chains also seemed to be preventing the ghost qi from escaping outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jingsheng and the Ghost Fire Well must be connected in some way!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next moment, Hua Changxi took a deep breath. Fire light blazed from her right palm like rolling crimson clouds. Then, layers of ripples spread across the void, and a fire lotus rose slowly from her palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fire lotus soared into the air and slowly descended into the rift.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wherever it passed, the ghost qi scattered and evaporated like snow meeting boiling water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Darkness was torn apart, and light poured in like a tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the fire lotus sank deeper, the outline of the rift gradually became clear — the valley walls were jagged like bones, carved with many incomprehensible incantations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in the center of the valley floor stood a tremendous white platform — from above, it was clearly a white skull carved from a giant skeleton head!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, at the four corners of the skull — east, south, west, and north — stood four Vermilion Bird stone carvings made of fire crystal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, endless ghost qi was spewing from the skull's mouth, and deep in the two eye sockets of the skull, eerie and terrifying green flames could be seen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fire lotus eventually hovered above the skull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The flames spread like a canopy, weaving a barrier of crimson fire directly above the skull—the ghostly qi escaping from the skull's mouth was incinerated into nothingness before it could even rise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi descended gracefully, landing before the high platform made of skulls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In front of the platform, a black stele three zhang tall stood silently; its surface was like a mirror yet exuded a chilling cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Engraved upon it was a line of striking blood-red characters, as if written with the blood of countless lost souls: \"Better to suffer a thousand cuts than enter the Ghost Fire Well—Nanjing City Prison Department.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Prison Department...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hua Changxi murmured softly, suddenly realizing that the Ghost Fire Well was very likely a prison used to detain Vermilion Bird Army soldiers who had committed offenses.\u003C\u002Fp>",1084,"2026-05-29T04:11:04.856Z","2026-06-01T04:29:08.487Z",1,"deepseek-v4-flash","4d1fd489610364860f55335bcc4460e1f36ac20557a830b8be60a047ca364f5b","the-first-iron-rice-bowl-of-great-jin-chapter-457","the-first-iron-rice-bowl-of-great-jin-chapter-455",547,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-first-iron-rice-bowl-of-great-jin-cover.jpg"]