Chapter 616: then translation of chapter title

Li Qingluo reached for the sachet at her waist.

Before departing, Luo Fan gave Li Qingluo several wrapped anti-poison sachets.

Later he also gave her a box of anti-poison pills, as well as various detox and life-saving elixirs.

Luo Fan had been to the Western Regions several times, knowing that the poisons here were worse and more vicious than those in the Central Plains.

And also more sinister.

Moreover, Li Qingluo's group would surely fall victim if they were even slightly careless.

So, upon learning that Li Qingluo would go to the Western Regions, he immediately prepared a basket of treasures for her overnight.

Since arriving in the Western Regions, Li Qingluo's sachet has never left her side.

Just before entering this cave, she had already begun to suspect Liu Li.

So even while on the road, as a precaution, she had secretly taken an anti-poison pill in advance.

Each person carried one of these anti-poison pills as a backup; except for Liu Li, everyone had already taken the antidote beforehand.

Moreover, just now, after Sha Yi had gone back and forth several times on the iron cable, Liu Li seemed shocked that Sha Yi could still be unharmed.

Li Qingluo felt even more certain in her heart that her antidote pill was the right one.

But for now it seems Liu Li won't be poisoned either.

But his family don't have such good fortune.

Surely, when Liu Li's wife, children, and parents-in-law looked at each other and saw that their lips had indeed turned purple, they immediately burst into tears from fright.

"No, we don't want to die."

"Husband, quickly save us, think of a way!"

"Our child is only nine years old! Husband!!"

Liu Li couldn't speak, only able to stare blankly, tears streaming as he shook his head.

Liu Li's wife suddenly turned and knelt on the ground, continuously kowtowing toward that Shatuo Buddha.

"Please, please save us, save us——"

"Over these years our family has offered you many living and dead corpses; isn't that enough?"

"We don't want to die, we really don't want to die——"

Liu Li's son also began to cry.

Then the two elders also began to kowtow continuously.

Soon they were kowtowing until their heads were broken and bloody.

Yet no one pitied them.

Over these years, this family knows not how many wicked deeds they have done with Liu Li, how many lives they have harmed.

Thus, seeing them in such a state, Li Qingluo's group merely watched the scene silently.

And even at this extremely tense moment, nobody forgot to continue scanning the surroundings for anything unusual.

Zhui Yu: "Miss, we should probably leave this place first."

"Let's talk after we go out."

Anyway, leaving these people here, they shouldn't be able to escape.

Moreover, it's now certain that there are no pursuers outside, so going out is actually safer.

However, at that very moment, Liu Li's parents-in-law, wife, and children—four people—suddenly went mad.

"Get away—get away!"

"Don't, don't come over."

"Fire, there's fire here. Mother, there's fire here——"

"No, there's a monster here, it's a monster——"

"A python, it's a python!"

"So many people, they've come, they're all crawling up from below!"

"It's those people, they've come to take our lives——"

They began to rave, jumping up like madmen and continuously waving their arms around.

It seemed they were trying to block something.

And also trying to drive something away.

Li Qingluo was surrounded in the middle.

Everyone watching this scene felt a chill run down their spines.

Could it really be something unclean here?

Li Qingluo looked at the pervasive mist: "It's an illusion."

"Don't be nervous."

Even if there really is something, since Li Qingluo and they can't see it, it can't harm them.

As it turns out, Liu Li had been waiting for this very moment.

Was he waiting for them to go mad just like his family?

That's why he felt emboldened, thinking he could still turn things around.

Yet Li Qingluo's group showed no reaction for a long time, and even Li Yunchu remained perfectly clear-headed.

Only Liu Li's family saw what the others could not see.

Finally, Liu Li's parents-in-law could no longer bear it; the old couple, hand in hand, jumped together into the ten-thousand-foot abyss.

Liu Li's wife momentarily regained clarity.

Lying on the ground, she let out a heart-rending wail: "Father——Mother——"

Liu Li's son then began to keep scratching his own face, and in no time it was a bloody mess.

Liu Li's wife tightly embraced her son and let out a hysterical scream.

Liu Li also shook his head vigorously, struggling to lunge forward and collapse onto his wife and son.

But his wife suddenly opened her mouth and bit hard onto his ear.

The cloth wad in Liu Li's mouth finally popped out, and he let out a miserable cry.

Tasting the blood, Liu Li's wife seemed to finally regain a bit of clarity.

She tightly held her son, crying as she said, "We were wrong……"

"My husband, if I had not married you back then, it would have been better."

"These years, we have done everything wrong——"

"Let our son survive."

"I can't bear it either."

Liu Li: "No…… Xi Lin, no——"

"I have a way, I have a way!"

"Xi Lin——"

Watching his wife jump off the cliff before his very eyes, Liu Li became so agitated that his blood surged upward, he collapsed on the ground and vomited blood.

"I finally managed to have a home again……"

"Why did this happen, why?"

"Could it be that my repentance is still not enough?"

The son, held tight in her arms and pressed down, continued to struggle and writhe.

Seeing that he was about to lose his mind completely and do something foolish, Liu Li could only lift his head and pleadingly gaze at Li Qingluo.

"No matter how you managed to do it."

"I beg you, please save my son."

"Tell me whatever you want to know, I will tell you."

"If you want my life, I will give it to you——"

Li Qingluo remained unmoved.

"I need nothing."

"This is your retribution and your fate."

Having said that, she turned around and prepared to leave.

Only then did Liu Li shout loudly: "The marriage-alliance princess!"

"That marriage-alliance princess, I deceived you about her."

"She is also in this cave secret realm, and she might still be alive."

"If you save my son, I will tell you where she is."

Li Qingluo swiftly turned, grabbed Liu Li by the collar, and demanded: "What did you say? Say it again!?"

"You really are deceiving me!"

"Damn it!"

Furious, she punched Liu Li hard in the face.

"Speak!"

"What else are you lying about!"

"And where exactly is the princess!"

Liu Li lay on the ground, enduring the blood filling his mouth, not daring to conceal anything further.

"I dare not deceive you any longer."

"Empress Dowager Ana'er indeed headed toward Loulan, after all I still dare not move her."

"As for that marriage-alliance princess, it was Ba Zha, Ba Tu'er and I who conspired to offer her as a living sacrifice to the Shatuo Buddha."

"Over a hundred people from DaLiang, just like you, were driven into this secret cave, and soon they all showed signs of poisoning."

"However, the princess also had guards with her, so they hid her in this cave."

"I know where they might be."

"But if we delay any longer, they will surely die without a doubt!"

"Save my son, and I will tell you what other places in here can be used for hiding!"

"Save him, I beg you to save him——"

Li Qingluo: "So Ba Zha and Ba Tu'er are indeed beasts."

"And you, too, are a beast."

"However, you are the lowest pawn in their hands."

"Speak, why are you not poisoned?"

Liu Li raised his head with a bitter smile: "I said before, I am the most devout follower of the Shatuo Buddha."

"I have drunk the holy water and joined the faith; naturally I will not lose my mind to these illusions."

"But they have not yet drunk the holy water, and I never intended to let them enter here……"

"Li Qingluo, if it were not for your people dragging them in, they would not have been killed!"

"It is you who owes us!"

Li Qingluo kicked him away with one foot: "Owe you a ghost!"

"We deserve to be harmed by you, right?"

"Liu Li, everything is your own fault."

"At this point, can your Shatuo Buddha save you and your whole family?"

Killing people and excising their hearts—nothing more.

Faced with Li Qingluo's cold smile, Liu Li let out a mad, painful cry.

Li Qingluo was then hastily pulled back by Zheng Mama and Que'er, who had rushed forward.

"Miss, my little ancestor! What if they all go mad and crash into you—what would we do then?"

Li Qingluo softly comforted them: "It's fine, I'll dodge."

She felt they were making too big a fuss.

Zhui Yu, meanwhile, kept her eyes on this scene.

Today, Zheng Mama seems to be especially protective of the miss?

Zhui Yu looked at Li Qingluo, but Li Qingluo was looking at the boy beneath Liu Li.

Knowing that if she saved him today, it would surely become a future disaster.

But if Nanping is really here… this secret realm is so vast—how could she find it?

If she delayed further, and Nanping were truly delayed, she would surely regret it even more.

"Give him medicine!"

Li Qingluo gave the order.

After repeatedly weighing the pros and cons, Li Qingluo still chose Nanping.

After taking the pill, the boy instantly fainted.

However, seeing his complexion also ease, Liu Li's face finally broke into a smile through tears.

"Great."

"Great!"

But soon his face turned ashen again.

"'Son, it's us parents who are sorry to you.'"

"'I know, I won't survive either.'"

"'I only beg you to show great mercy and spare his life.'"

"'Just let him live.'"

"'As for the other exits here, they lie straight ahead, within your sight.'"

Having said that, Liu Li rose decisively and rushed toward the cliff where his wife had jumped.

He said calmly: "Everyone must die one day."

"'I was born a slave to serve the gods.'"

"'I, Liu Li, will have merit in my next life; in this life I will have no regrets.'"

Then, leaping up, he too fell into this ten-thousand-zhang abyss.

Sha Yi and Zhui Yu went together and glanced downward.

Seeing Liu Li fall directly onto the stone pillars, his body pierced through.

Zhui Yu let out a cold snort: "Someone like you probably has no afterlife."

Que'er suddenly remembered: "Oh no! Miss, he still hasn't said where the Nanping Junzhu is!"

Li Qingluo: "He's already given the answer."

Straight ahead, within sight.

This damned place—isn't there just a pitch-black Shatuo Buddha, its so-called true form, and the wall behind it?

Everyone walked over together.

Soon, Sha Wu was the first to notice something amiss.

"'Miss, this seems movable!'"

Sha Wu, touching the stone behind the Shatuo Buddha, exclaimed in delight.

Everyone looked toward Sha Wu.

What luck does he have?

Every time, he's the one who finds the clues!?

Many of the Shas cast extremely envious glances at Sha Wu.

Sha Yi reached out to move that stone.

With a 'clang' sound.

The stone indeed moved!

With a 'rumbling' sound, the stone slowly opened a crack; soon, a damp, dark, narrow stone passage appeared before everyone's eyes.

They lit torches and shone them downward.

The stone passage twisted and stretched on, its end unknown…