Chapter 232: Ding

Inside the winding, downward-sloping cave, everyone had fallen silent. They had been walking for quite a while and still hadn't reached the bottom. Perhaps this place had no bottom at all.

Fortunately, as they descended further, the cave began to widen, no longer feeling as oppressive as it had when they first entered.

"Wait, stop," Li Huowang said. With his keen senses, he knelt on one knee, his brow slightly furrowed as he examined the footprints on the ground.

"These aren't child's footprints," he noted, "but those of a normal adult. It looks like someone else has been in this cave, besides Sun Baolu when he was a child."

"It's nothing, let's keep going," Li Huowang said, standing up and continuing his descent into the cave. In truth, he was more wary of encountering people than evil spirits. If someone could move freely in a cave filled with evil spirits, it meant their strength was absolutely extraordinary.

The cave began to curve, and Sun Baolu stopped dead at the bend. He swallowed hard, visibly nervous, and said, "Back then, right after we turned this corner, one of my playmates suddenly disappeared."

Sun Baolu's fear began to spread, and everyone immediately became highly vigilant.

Li Huowang placed a hand on Sun Baolu's shoulder, pulled him back firmly, and was the first to walk around the bend. He stood there, hand on his sword hilt, surveying everything beyond. However, Li Huowang, who had already prepared himself, received no attack.

"Are you sure this is the spot?" Li Huowang asked. "There's nothing here but two long-dead sheep on the ground."

"Dead sheep?" Sun Baolu and the others cautiously moved behind Li Huowang, raising their glowing fluorite stones, and peered inside. In the dark expanse ahead, there really were just two dead sheep, nothing else. Their shriveled faces and dust-covered but otherwise intact bodies suggested they had wandered into the cave and died, trapped.

With a *clink*, Li Huowang's sword instantly sliced the two dried sheep carcasses on the ground in half, and dark, coal-like dried internal organs spilled out. Li Huowang didn't stop there; he immediately stepped on them. He had no intention of leaving these two dried corpses behind him; that would be too dangerous. It would be risky if they suddenly rose and ambushed him. Although this was overly cautious, Li Huowang felt that in this environment, he couldn't be too careful.

After thoroughly reducing these two sheep to dust, Li Huowang finally sheathed his longsword and continued deeper into the cave. As they ventured deeper into the cave, it became more vast and expansive, but Li Huowang couldn't see what lay in the pitch-black distance. The darkness here was deeper than anywhere else. The fluorite stones in their hands could only illuminate their immediate surroundings, and even with Li Huowang's vision, he could barely see any further.

Not long after, they found more sheep carcasses on the ground. This time, Li Huowang couldn't just slice them up, because the ground was covered with them. There were too many, packed together, easily eight hundred to a thousand.

"One or two might be lost," Li Huowang mused, looking at the sheep. "But this many clearly indicates human involvement. Someone herded a flock of sheep in here to die. Who would do that?"

Moreover, the sheep carcasses were perfectly intact, showing no signs of being gnawed or consumed. From this, it could be inferred that the Black Grand-Eunuch was likely not in the vicinity. Otherwise, the meat-eating Black Grand-Eunuch would not have easily overlooked such food.

Li Huowang pondered for a moment longer, then took out the Black Grand-Eunuch's dead skin from his pouch and placed it in front of Mantou once again. "Mantou," he instructed, "sniff. See if you can find where this scent is around here."

"Woof woof~" Mantou whimpered, then, after a quick lick, lifted a paw and, with some hesitation, moved forward.

With a wave of his hand, Li Huowang gestured for the others to follow. "Stay close, everyone," he cautioned. "Don't fall behind in this place."

"There's a short path ahead, it's fine," a very nervous Sun Baolu continued to remind them. "After walking for about half an incense stick's worth of time, we'll reach the spot where I encountered the brush. That was the furthest I reached."

The dead sheep on the ground still didn't disappear, continuing to spread densely deeper into the cave.

After walking for about two cups of tea, they finally saw something other than sheep. A new object appeared ahead: a massive bronze cauldron, appearing as tall as a single-story building. The massive bronze cauldron was covered in green rust and dust, indicating it had been there for a very long time.

"This... this wasn't here when I came last time," Sun Baolu stammered, making Li Huowang frown.

He first looked at the cauldron, then turned to look at the densely packed dead sheep behind them, sensing a connection between them. As far as he knew, cauldrons were important ritual vessels used for sacrificing to deities.

Li Huowang slowly circled the massive cauldron. When he saw the white jade plates behind it and the remains of three animals, decayed to just bones, he realized his judgment was correct. Someone had indeed performed sacrifices in this place.

"Isn't this supposed to be the territory of evil spirits?" Li Huowang wondered. "How can there be such a solemn ritual here? Could these rituals be performed by the evil spirits themselves? If so, what are they worshipping?"

Li Huowang cautiously approached the massive cauldron and peered inside. There was nothing but some ashes.

"Ah!!" A woman's scream instantly made Li Huowang's scalp tingle. He quickly turned to see a panicked Bai Lingmiao clutching tightly to the Two Gods, who were covered by a red veil.

"What's wrong? What did you see?" Li Huowang rushed over and asked urgently.

"Sheep! Sheep!" Bai Lingmiao stammered, pointing to the darkness on the left, her hands gripping the Two Gods even tighter.

As Li Huowang cautiously walked in that direction, his fluorite stone illuminated some objects in the darkness: sheep carcasses. But the sheep carcasses here were completely different from the previous ones. These dried corpses were all grotesque half-human, half-sheep deformities!

An old man lay at Li Huowang's feet, spiral sheep horns protruding from his cheeks. Before he died, he had desperately tried to touch his own face with his two hooves, but ultimately died in his final moments of struggle. Next to him was another sheep corpse, or rather, a human corpse. Its upper body was a skinned lamb, while its lower body was a deformed mass twisted multiple times. Curved hooves, with twisted kneecaps, faced both forward and backward, extending wildly like tree branches.

And this was just the beginning. As the light moved further, even more disgusting and terrifying corpses were everywhere. Given such a bizarre scene, it was no wonder Bai Lingmiao had been so frightened earlier.

As the light illuminated these half-human, half-sheep creatures, Li Huowang instinctively connected them to the previous sheep carcasses.

"No!" he suddenly realized. "Those weren't sheep carcasses; they were all human! They were transformed into sheep by others. They were all sacrifices for the ritual!"

Li Huowang rushed to the cauldron, his eyes wide with shock as he gazed at the rows of sheep corpses. When he realized these "sheep" were once human, the entire situation changed completely. Someone had killed thousands of people here, merely to offer them as sacrifices to something!