140: Chapter 140 This is the shortcut you were talking about? This must be a VIP line to the King of Hell!

"Um... Big Boss Su, look, the jade pendant has been given to you, and those beetles have all been... ahem, handled by your beloved pets."

"Can we go now?"

Wang Kai no longer had a shred of the arrogance of a young master from the capital; he was bowing and scraping like a newly arrived eunuch in the palace.

Right now, he just wanted to cling tightly to this golden thigh and leave this haunted place alive.

"Lead the way."

Su Yang toyed with the dragon-patterned jade pendant in his hand. The jade was warm and smooth, and to his surprise, it contained a faint Dragon Qi Seal; it was indeed a token capable of opening the Family treasury.

"Alrighty! Please, this way!"

As if granted amnesty, Wang Kai hurriedly signaled the remaining stragglers and scurried toward the southeast corner of the burial pit.

There stood an inconspicuous bronze terracotta warrior, its long spear broken in half.

"According to the intelligence I bought for five million, behind this warrior is a secret passage leading directly to the side door of the main hall!"

As Wang Kai spoke, he strained to turn the warrior's head.

Click, click, click... A teeth-gritting sound of gears echoed.

The warrior slowly moved aside, revealing a pitch-black opening.

However... not only was this opening so narrow that only one person could pass through by stooping, but it also kept emitting a pungent smell of sulfur and... the smell of barbecue?

"Is this the shortcut you mentioned?" Su Yang stood at the entrance, waving his hand in disgust.

"Why does it feel like it leads to the kitchen sewer?"

"Oh, Big Boss, don't worry about appearances at a time like this." Wang Kai said with an apologetic smile.

"Although this path is a bit difficult to walk, it has the advantage of being safe!"

"It's said that this path was an escape route left by the craftsmen who built the underground palace, and there are absolutely no traps!"

"Is that so?" Su Yang glanced at him with a half-smile.

"Fine, since you found the path, you go first."

"No problem! It's my honor to scout the path for you!"

To show his sincerity, Wang Kai didn't say another word and crawled in, taking Master Zhang and a few bodyguards with him.

Su Yang waved to the three women behind him and followed at a leisurely pace.

The passage was indeed very narrow, with rough rock walls on both sides, looking very much like it had been hastily excavated.

But the further they went inside, the deeper Su Yang furrowed his brows. The temperature here was too high.

It felt like walking on the edge of a volcanic crater.

"Ah! So hot!" Reba, who was walking in front, had already started sweating.

"Boss, something is wrong with this place." Mary also looked irritable; the vampire clan hated high temperatures the most, and this made her feel like she had been thrown into an oven.

"Of course something is wrong." Su Yang looked at the increasingly red end of the passage ahead, a cold smile curling on his lips.

"Craftsmen's escape route? Only a fool would believe such nonsense."

"In ancient times, to prevent secrets from leaking, all the craftsmen who built the tomb would eventually be..."

"Ah—!!!" Before Su Yang could finish his sentence, a pig-like scream from Wang Kai suddenly erupted from ahead.

Immediately following that was the sound of panicked footsteps.

"Fire! It's all fire! Help!"

Wang Kai and Master Zhang came scrambling back, half their hair singed off.

Master Zhang's taoist robe had been burned with several large holes, revealing his red underwear underneath.

"What's going on?" Su Yang stopped them.

"There's... there's no road ahead!" Wang Kai said with a miserable face, pointing behind him.

"It's a bridge! A bridge made entirely of fire!"

Su Yang pushed them aside and walked to the end of the passage. The view suddenly opened up.

But the sight made one's scalp tingle. It was a massive underground rift.

Below the rift, rolling magma roared like a red Dragon, and the terrifying heat wave hit them, distorting even the air.

And above the rift, only a thin chain bridge connected to the other side.

The chain was not an ordinary iron chain, but crimson all over, as if it were a red-hot branding iron.

What was even worse was that every few meters along the chain, a withered corpse hung.

Although these corpses had weathered, they still maintained extremely painful postures, as if they had suffered great torture before death.

"This is... the Purgatory Fire Bridge." Su Yang looked at the corpses, his gaze indifferent.

"It seems those craftsmen didn't escape; they were used as fuel for this Formation."

"Is this the shortcut you spent five million to buy?" Su Yang looked back at Wang Kai.

"Are you tired of living, wanting to experience what it's like to be thrown into a deep fryer ahead of time?"

"I... I didn't know either!" Wang Kai felt like dying at this moment.

"That grandson who sold me the intelligence scammed me! When I get back, I'm going to kill him!"

"What do we do now? Retreat?" Master Zhang asked, trembling.

"Retreat? Retreat where?" Su Yang pointed to the path they had come from.

Rumble... They saw that at the narrow passage entrance, a heavy stone block had fallen at some point, sealing off their retreat tight.

"It's over... completely over..." Wang Kai collapsed on the ground, his face ashen.

A sea of fire in front, no retreat behind. They were going to be roasted alive here!

"What are you panicking about?" Su Yang walked to the edge of the cliff, looked down at the magma below, and then looked at the red-hot chain.

"Isn't it just crossing a bridge? This temperature is only enough to roast a sweet potato."

"Roast... roast a sweet potato?" Everyone was stunned. Big Brother! That's magma at several thousand degrees! If you fall in, there won't even be ashes left, okay!

"Little White Strip." Su Yang woke up the Ice Chi, which was playing dead and cooling off on his wrist.

"Stop sleeping. It's hot here; come out and cool everyone down."

"...Boss, I am a Dragon, not an air conditioner!"

Although Little White Strip complained, it still obediently flew out. In such a scorching environment, the cold air it exuded was truly a lifesaver.

"Get bigger and act as a bridge deck."

"What?! You want to step on me to get across?!" Little White Strip was furious.

"A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated! This magma is too hot; it will curl my scales!"

"Oh? Is that so?" Su Yang pulled a bottle of [Ten-Thousand-Year Stalactite Milk] from his System space, opened the cap, and shook it.

"I was originally going to reward whoever performed well with this bottle of divine water that can purify the Bloodline..."

"Since you're afraid of the heat, then forget it; I'll give it to Mary to drink."

"I'll do it!!!" Before Mary could speak, Little White Strip instantly became as pumped up as if it had been injected with adrenaline.

"I'm not afraid of the heat! I love the heat the most! This is called fire therapy! It's good for the body!"

Roar—! For that bottle of divine water, Little White Strip went all out. It instantly transformed into its giant Dragon form, over ten meters long, spanning directly across the rift, its body pressing tightly against the red-hot chain.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle! Although its cold air could resist the high temperature, it was, after all, the fire poison from the Earth's core, and it burned it so much that it bared its teeth and grimaced, tears welling up in its eyes.

Su Yang was the first to jump onto the Dragon's back. "Although it's not first class, at least it's cool."

"This... this is also possible?!" Wang Kai and Master Zhang watched, dumbfounded. Using a half-step Demon King Ice Chi as a bridge? Is this the world of the big shots?!

"What are you still standing there for? Waiting for it to get roasted so you can feast?" Su Yang shouted back.

"Coming, coming!" Everyone finally reacted and hurriedly scrambled onto the Dragon's back.

Stepping on the icy Dragon scales, feeling the churning magma below, this experience of "ice and fire" was something they would probably never forget for the rest of their lives.

One minute later, everyone successfully arrived at the opposite bank.

Little White Strip quickly turned back to the size of a bracelet and burrowed into Su Yang's sleeve, blowing air frantically.

"I'm burned to death! I'm burned to death! Quick! The divine water! Give it to me quickly!"

Su Yang kept his promise and fed it the stalactite milk. After drinking it, the creature let out a comfortable burp, and its scales seemed to become even more crystalline.

"This is..." After crossing the bridge, everyone's gaze was drawn to the scene before them. It was a huge side hall.

Unlike the gloom and heat from before, this place was actually filled with a scholarly atmosphere?

All around were huge stone bookshelves, piled high with bamboo slips and animal skin scrolls.

In the center of the hall, there was a bronze table. Behind the table, someone was actually sitting!

A living dead person wearing Qin Dynasty official robes, with a withered face but wide-open eyes!

He held a huge judge's brush in his hand and was writing and drawing on an open bamboo slip.

Hearing the footsteps, he slowly raised his head. There were no pupils in those eyes, only two dancing white ghost fires.

"Those who trespass into the Wenyuan Pavilion..." His voice was dry and hoarse, as if it came from the depths of Hell.

"Answer one question wrong, and leave one soul behind."

"Answer three questions correctly, and you may pass."

"This is... an examiner?" Wang Kai's legs went weak. "It's over! I've been failing math since I was a kid!"

"Shut up, no one asked you to do advanced mathematics." Su Yang looked at the Qin Dynasty examiner, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.

"I didn't expect that in this Thunder God Temple, there would be a cultured person who likes to pose questions."

"Since we're having an exam..." Su Yang walked forward and pulled a copy of "Five Years of Gaokao, Three Years of Simulation" from his System space.

"Then let's have an exchange, shall we?"

"Let's see if your questions are harder, or if my question bank is deeper."