Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 350 Furnace

The ferocious beast on the stone pillar is still roaring, yearning for the smell of blood.

Gravel fell like rain.

"Tell me! What happened back then?"

"All I know is that all the extraordinary captives of Yue were taken to Jusai City. His Majesty personally ascended to this place, stood in the center of the blood pool, and opened the furnace."

At this point, Xun Yan calmed down considerably.

He recalled the magnificent scene from more than ten years ago: hordes of strange beings were herded into the furnace, countless children busied themselves, bringing out all sorts of rare treasures, and the blood vapor overflowing from the furnace entered His Majesty's body.

Compared to that, today's incident can only be considered a minor skirmish.

"It's a pity that the furnace was interrupted after only a short time of operation. Qiu Funan broke out of the furnace and wreaked havoc in Jusai City... After that, the refining stopped."

Pei Nian asked, "How did you stop?"

"I do not know."

"Then, how did Qiu Funan manage to fight her way out?"

Xun Yan sighed, "I don't know either."

"If you don't know this or that, I'll kill you."

"Please calm down, sir. I was taken away after preparing medicine for those strange people, so I really didn't know anything about it. But Qiu Funan's escape from the furnace is probably related to my oversight."

"What oversight?"

"When we were escorting the supernatural beings, we were worried that they would resist on the way, so we used drugs all the way. Qiu Funan is very strong, so we added more drugs. But when I was preparing the medicine, I took the wrong ingredient."

"what?"

"It was Xue Juju who poisoned Gu Jingnian with the Butterfly Incense. Once the poison enters the body, it circulates throughout the body via the bloodstream, causing death within a month. During the process, the poisoned person leaves a strange fragrance on their body, making them traceable. I only later learned that this poison also has another effect: it makes it difficult for the poisoned person's consciousness to dissipate."

After Xun Yan finished speaking, he sighed and said, "It was precisely because of this oversight that I was constantly anxious, worried that His Majesty would find out, which is why I retired early."

Pei Nian wanted to ask more, but he knew nothing about what happened after Xun Yan retired from office.

"Pei Jishi, quickly smear your blood on the fourth pillar," Xun Yan said. "Only then will the stone platform not collapse!"

"You still want to use me?"

“The stone platform is like the Central Plains! And these are the four pillars. When the four pillars rise and fall together, the Central Plains will be at peace. Once the balance is lost, the world will collapse and the people will suffer.”

Pei Nian wasn't buying it, saying, "Zhongzhou is Zhongzhou, and Shitai is Shitai. Do you think you can fool me by mixing them up?"

"If the fourth stone pillar is not uprooted today, the earth's veins will crack again, and another gap will be added between this boundary and the Central Plains."

Pei Nian didn't have time to continue talking to him. She turned around and looked for Gu Jingnian. She saw that the huge furnace was trembling slightly, and one after another strange beasts were being sucked into it. Gu Jingnian was indeed still trying his best to survive.

Gu Jingnian had given up using his superpowers; the fire wings on his back had completely extinguished. He imitated Pei Nian's earlier actions, stepping on one strange beast after another, leaping and tumbling in the air.

Even so, his actions still seemed to defy fate, and after delaying for a while, he was still sucked to the edge of the furnace.

Pei Nian dared not linger any longer and turned to leave, but when she caught a glimpse of A-Wan out of the corner of her eye, she quickly pondered.

If A-Wan is left alive, Xun Yan will surely harm her again and smear her blood on the last stone pillar.

If Ah Wan dies by then, it will be even more difficult to stop the furnace, and then it will be even more impossible to save Gu Jingnian.

With that thought in mind, Pei Nian made a decision in a split second. She bent down and picked up Xun Yan.

"Officer, hurry and wipe away the blood..."

Xun Yan continued speaking.

Every time this old man says something, it seems like he's telling the truth, but he's always hiding his true intentions and has ulterior motives.

Since that was the case, Pei Nian didn't stand on ceremony. He raised his hand and tossed Xun Yan down below the stone platform.

This height might not kill him from the fall, but it would prevent him from secretly engaging in any more shady dealings.

After dropping him, Pei Nian didn't look at Xun Yan again and ran straight towards Gu Jingnian.

During the process, she caught a glimpse of Wei Chan standing in front of the stone platform out of the corner of her eye.

Wei Chan was taking off her shoe and sock on her other foot and stepping on the remaining stone spike.

After a brief moment of pain, Wei Chan steadied herself and stood firm. Finally no longer afraid, she looked at Pei Nian rushing towards her and said proudly, "Pei Nian, you can't hurt me!"

Pei Nian frowned, ignoring Wei Chan, and went straight to the edge of the cliff. Without pausing, she leaped off.

Wei Chan had already seen Gu Jingnian.

The image of him standing in front of her immediately flashed into her mind, and the feeling of her heart fluttering was still there.

Then, seeing Pei Nian leap off the platform, Wei Chan's lips curled into a smile.

“Pei Nian, what good will it do if you chase after him? He’s just a mortal. From today onwards, he’s mine, and I will possess his abilities.”

……

As rocks crashed down and blades of light rose, the wind swept past his ears. Pei Nian remained remarkably calm, unhurriedly stepping on the head of a three-headed serpent.

The three-headed serpent roared and shook its head.

Pei Nian was nearly thrown off, but managed to grab onto the edge of its blade and refused to let go. The three-headed serpent paid no heed to Pei Nian; it was being rapidly sucked toward the enormous furnace, which drew ever closer, gleaming with a golden halo.

The furnace body has many round holes like windows, through which strange beasts are sucked into the furnace.

A red light appeared before his eyes, and Pei Nian was already inside the furnace.

She saw beams of light dancing like vines, entangling each strange person and beast that fell into the furnace.

Then, painful screams rose and fell.

From a distance, it looks like a red tree bearing many fruits.

Pei Nian searched for Gu Jingnian among the fruits and finally saw him.

Gu Jingnian had already lost consciousness, bound by a beam of red light and floating in this huge space, his face contorted in pain.

Pei Nian leaped toward him, caught him in mid-air, and the two slowly sank to the bottom of the furnace.

"Wake up."

Pei Nian tried to untangle the light binding Gu Jingnian, only to find that it pierced through Gu Jingnian's blood vessels, and she couldn't touch it at all.

She had no choice but to keep pushing Gu Jingnian, slapping his face, and calling out to him.

Seeing that he remained unconscious, she simply bit his arm.

"You can't faint, wake up quickly."

"I'm so tired," Gu Jingnian finally murmured.

Pei Nian said, "Don't sleep, listen to me, I've found out about your mother..."

Gu Jingnian remained in a daze.

Pei Niansui cupped his face and said, "You said it yourself, it's not time to die yet."

"Ah."

He finally responded, his eyelids trembling slightly.

Pei Nian said, "There's a gap leading to Jusai City here. Do you know where it is?"

"exist……"

Gu Jingnian answered with great difficulty, his face contorted in pain.

He pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Down below."

"under?"

"The furnace in Jussai...is underground..."

Pei Nian listened intently and noticed that the strange beasts floating above had all fainted, while only Gu Jingnian remained awake.

This may be what Xun Yan meant when he said that the Butterfly Incense can keep one's consciousness from perishing.

"Let's look for it."

Pei Nian wanted to search the bottom of the furnace, but Gu Jingnian was bound by the light rope and could not move.

She then cut off their robes, tied them into ropes, bound them to each other's wrists, and went off alone to search.

They knocked on the bottom of the furnace, and a dull sound came from below, not like there was a passage.

"gap?"

Pei Nian had seen the gap between Zhongzhou and the boundary; that's how she crossed it. In her eyes, it was just an ordinary stone gate, or rather, a crack that resembled a stone gate.

But the bottom of this giant furnace doesn't look like it has a door or cracks at all.

Suddenly, she saw a pile of something ahead and was overjoyed, so she ran towards it.

As she got closer, she couldn't help but feel disappointed, for all she saw were piles of white bones, piled up into a small mountain by someone, as if to show off their war achievements.

Pei Nian suspected that the gap might be under the bones, so he went over and dug them up, only to find that there were still thick floor tiles underneath, which didn't look like anything useful at all.

She spent a lot of time on this, and then searched around the bottom of the stove, but still couldn't find any gaps.

Pei Nian was worried about Gu Jingnian's condition and dared not leave for too long. She returned to Gu Jingnian's side and told him everything she had seen. The two then discussed where the gap was.

"It can't be as simple as opening a mechanism to find a passage. This doesn't apply to the boundary." Gu Jingnian murmured to himself. "I wanted to try teleportation, but it didn't work. I can't use my special ability."

“Yes,” Pei Nian said. “I’ve only tried the methods from Zhongzhou. The methods from Jie should be used.”

She frowned and pondered, but couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly, dust began to fall, covering her head.

She looked up and saw that a strange beast had been refined; apart from its blood turning into red mist and dissipating, the rest had turned to ash.

"Then, where did the skeletons come from?"

As Pei Nian pondered this matter, a sudden inspiration struck her.

(End of this chapter)