Chapter 457: Nine-Layer Prison Tower

Knowing that the skull high platform in front of her was nine times out of ten the entrance to the Ghost Fire Well, Hua Changxi walked slowly around the skull high platform.

The entire rift valley was as dead as a tomb, and the surroundings of the high platform were desolate enough to make one's heart palpitate.

In many places on the ground, cracks were like spider webs, and dark green moss seeped out from the crevices, emitting a fishy smell mixed with decay and sulfur.

The ground that might have been paved with array-patterned jade bricks had long been ground into powder by the years, and covered by ash and bone debris accumulated over countless years, soft as mud when stepped on, yet cold and bone-chilling.

The four Zhu Que stone carvings guarded the four corners of southeast, northwest, and southwest. They should have been majestic and flapping their wings, but at this moment, they were covered with a thick layer of gray-black dust, as if forgotten and sealed by time.

Under the Transmission Hall of Ling Guang Hall, there was also a Zhu Que stone carving.

However, that Zhu Que stone carving "came alive" from silence after Hua Changxi made the "Zhu Que Vow."

Later, as more and more Zhu Que soldiers joined, the eyes of the Zhu Que stone carving seemed to be injected with a soul, becoming lifelike.

And these four Zhu Que stone carvings in front of her seemed to still be in a deep sleep and had not been awakened.

The skull high platform was also like this.

Except for the big mouth leaking ghost Qi, and the two eye sockets with eerie green flames flickering, other places were also in a state of silence.

The entire high platform was like an abandoned portal, neither guarded nor managed, nor patrolled by guards.

After patrolling the land under the high platform, Hua Changxi tapped her toes lightly, her figure drifted down like a red feather, and she flew onto the high platform, standing firmly on the edge of the skull's wide-open mouth.

As soon as her feet landed, a rich cold Qi drilled into her body like a poisonous snake, rushing straight to the top of her head.

At the same time, the ghost Qi surging from the skull's mouth suddenly boiled and twisted, turning into countless distorted faces, screaming and rushing toward Hua Changxi's face.

"Boom~"

Flames rose, blocking the ghost faces rushing toward her. Hua Changxi bathed in the flames, her expression becoming heavy and alert.

After the ghost faces dissipated, Hua Changxi, bathed in fire, poked her head into the skull's big mouth, trying to see everything inside.

Unfortunately, except for the pitch-black ghost Qi and the flickering green ghost fire, she gained nothing.

Seeing this, a fire lotus condensed into shape in Hua Changxi's hand again, and then, the fire lotus flew into the skull's big mouth.

As the fire lotus fell, the surging ghost Qi retreated like a tide.

Under the illumination of the fire lotus, a passage extending downward was slowly revealed—narrow, eerie, like a giant beast's throat, leading to an unknown abyss.

"En?!"

The fire lotus went out, less than a hundred meters down the passage.

Hua Changxi's heart shook at this.

You must know that from the ground where the mass grave was located, after dissipating the ghost Qi of the entire rift valley, the fire lotus had not gone out, but now, it had gone less than a hundred meters deep into the skull, and the fire lotus had gone out.

From this, one could imagine how astonishing the concentration of ghost Qi inside the skull was!

Afterwards, Hua Changxi condensed several more fire lotuses and waved them into the skull.

Although the distance the later fire lotuses could go deep was a bit more, the final result was still inevitable.

"Hu~"

Hua Changxi let out a breath. Since she couldn't go deep to investigate the situation inside while standing outside the skull, she could only enter it herself.

"Boom~"

Hua Changxi's fire light flourished, and then, a fire lotus bloomed quietly between her feet. The next moment, she, wrapped in the fire lotus, stepped into the skull.

The inside of the skull was completely shrouded in ghost Qi. The ghost Qi was as thick as ink, and taking a breath would make one feel the soul cold and the spiritual power disordered. If she wasn't burning with Nan Ming Li Fire, she wouldn't be able to stay here for long.

Walking in the passage, the sound of howling wind in her ears was like the wailing of wronged souls, and from time to time, she could hear the sound of chains rubbing against the ground.

The wailing and the rubbing of chains intertwined, forming an eerie and terrifying piece of music, echoing in every corner, making one's hair stand on end.

At the same time, the temperature inside the skull was extremely low. This kind of cold was not ordinary cold, but a kind of Yin cold.

This cold could penetrate clothing, seep into the bone marrow, freeze the cultivator's spiritual power, and even freeze the soul. Even a cultivator with profound cultivation, if wrapped in this cold for a long time, would feel stiff and unable to move.

"This is indeed a good place to imprison cultivators who have made mistakes!" Being in this place is absolutely a kind of torture.

As she went deeper, the light became dimmer.

Hua Changxi felt that if she converged the fire lotus, the only light source inside the skull might be those flickering green ghost fires.

In here, it seemed that even sunlight and moonlight could not penetrate.

The light of the fire lotus was compressed by the ghost Qi and could not illuminate too far, only outlining a blurred outline in the darkness.

Finally, after going deep into the passage for nearly a thousand meters, an empty square appeared.

"Guard Station!" These three red characters were engraved on the stone wall on the edge of the square.

Walking to the left of the square was a row of black iron stone rooms, and walking to the right was a row of black iron cage rooms.

Hua Changxi looked at the black iron small rooms on the left, and then looked at the black iron cage rooms on the right.

The ones on the left were guard rooms, and the ones on the right were prisoner-guiding rooms.

Clearly, the guard room was the place for the garrison soldiers to be on duty, and the prisoner-guiding room was the transition place for prisoners before punishment.

Hua Changxi didn't look much, but stayed in the first guard room for a while.

For no other reason, a stone mirror was placed in the center of this room, and "Well Mirror" was engraved on the stone mirror.

Hua Changxi thought, if this stone mirror was activated, could it monitor the movement of the entire Ghost Fire Well?

On the side of the guard room, there was no passage going down. Hua Changxi followed the prisoner-guiding room and went deep, and when she reached the end, she saw the stairs extending downward.

"What is the layout inside the skull?"

"Where is the Ghost Fire Well?"

Hua Changxi went down the stairs, and at the end of the stairs was a circular corridor.

On both sides of the corridor were densely packed prison cells. The prison cells were all built of black stone, and two chains condensed from ghost Qi were hung inside. The chains were ink-black, and the surface was shining with eerie green luster.

"Well Prison First Layer."

Hua Changxi saw an iconic sign at the intersection of the corridor and the stairs.

Did this mean she was now in the first layer of the Ghost Fire Well prison?

The stairs continued downward, and soon, Hua Changxi came to the second layer corridor.

The layout of the second layer corridor was exactly the same as the first layer.

Continuing downward, it was the third layer corridor, and the layout remained the same.

By this point, the fire lotus burning on Hua Changxi was a bit withered. For no other reason, in some prison cells on the third layer, there were green ghost fires burning on the chains condensed from ghost Qi.

The erosion power of ghost fire was dozens of times stronger than ghost Qi.

By the time she reached the fourth layer corridor, the fire lotus could no longer be maintained.

On this layer, not only were there ghost fires burning on the chains in the prison cells, but ghost fires also appeared in the corridor.

Hua Changxi knew that she couldn't go deeper with the fire lotus. She stood on the corridor and looked down.

Although everything she could see was ghost Qi and ghost fire, at this moment, she had already figured out what the layout of the space inside the skull was—shaped like a tower, hollow in the middle, like a skylight connected to the skull's big mouth.

She didn't want to go down floor by floor.

"Boom!"

Red-gold flames exploded from Hua Changxi's body, the flames rose, and her figure began to blur, lengthen, and feather...

In an instant, the human figure dissipated, replaced by a Zhu Que fire bird bathed in fire—its feathers were like molten gold, its eyes like the sun, and its tail feathers dragged red flowing fire.

The fire bird looked up and let out a clear cry, shaking the four directions, and then, its wings flapped, like a fireball falling into the abyss, leaping down from the corridor.

At this moment, the inside of the skull was completely illuminated by the fire bird—this was a nine-layer prison tower.

Wherever the fire bird passed, the ghost Qi dissipated, and the ghost fire collapsed!

Finally, only in a black well at the bottom of the prison tower, green ghost fire was still burning. ===== CHAPTER 458 =====