Entering the meditation room, one encounters a complex array of outdated rules and customs.

"Thud!"

After falling for about ten seconds, Ye Xingyu heavily landed in a patch of gravel.

A huge damage number appeared above his head: "-5500!"

His health instantly dropped to around 30%.

Fortunately, he had invested in many attributes, so his maximum health was extremely high for an Archer.

Otherwise, that single impact would have ended his life.

But the danger was not over!

Ye Xingyu heard rustling sounds around him.

The sounds were faint but very dense!

Four towering Desert Giant Scorpions crawled out of the sand piles in front of him, to his left, and to his right!

They all wagged their tails and converged on Ye Xingyu, surrounding him!

Ye Xingyu quickly stood up from the gravel-covered ground.

"Quenched Fire Arrow!"

"Light Wind Technique!"

"Limit Frenzy!"

"Arrow Rain!"

"Chain Burst Arrow!"

"Rapid Fire!"

…He unleashed various skills in one breath, instantly creating a violent explosion.

The force of the explosion flung the four Desert Giant Scorpions violently outwards!

At the same time, a crimson cascade of bleeding damage—"-660!" "-660!"—floated up from above the Desert Giant Scorpions' heads!

…The Desert Giant Scorpions' health dropped at a visible rate.

They let out furious roars, all raising their tails and struggling to get closer to Ye Xingyu.

But Ye Xingyu quickly shot out more fiery arrows!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!"

After hitting the faces of the four Desert Giant Scorpions, he quickly wiped them out.

"Thump thump!"

"Thump thump!"

…All the Desert Giant Scorpions uniformly swayed, their long scorpion tails drooping powerlessly behind their butts.

They lay motionless on the gravel.

"Ding! Killed Desert Giant Scorpion, gained 404 experience points!"

"Ding!…"

…The situation had been critical just now.

Ye Xingyu hadn't looked closely.

Now, as he carefully examined the Desert Giant Scorpions' corpses, he realized they were all Level 24 monsters!

For average players, they would indeed be difficult to deal with!

After eliminating the recent danger, Ye Xingyu finally had time to carefully survey his surroundings.

He had fallen into a completely unfamiliar large cave!

Above his head was an extremely narrow opening.

It might be thousands of meters deep from the desert ground!

It was impossible to climb back up the way he came.

As Ye Xingyu fell, the original cave opening had even significantly shrunk by two feet.

It was now impossible for an adult to pass through.

Looking around him, he was completely enveloped by a thick yellow sand wall.

This cave was only a tiny oval space of 5 square meters.

Other than a strange large door directly opposite him, it seemed impossible to get out any other way.

But seeing this unfamiliar door, Ye Xingyu couldn't help but smile.

"Hahaha! It seems I haven't come to the wrong place! This door, if nothing unexpected happens, is the former entrance to the Fire Worship Cult!"

Ye Xingyu walked forward and pushed away the gravel buried at the entrance.

Countless yellow sands scattered.

As the sand piles near the door were cleared, this ancient door finally revealed its true appearance.

The door was made of hard giant stone blocks.

Visually, it weighed at least several thousand catties!

On its front was carved a mural depicting a sacrifice.

A devout saint held the sacred fire, symbolizing supreme power, in both hands—receiving a blessing from the former Holy Lord.

At the crucial position of the sacred fire on the mural, there was a large indentation.

It seemed to lack a key to open it.

The missing part of the fire-shaped indentation perfectly matched the shape of the "Fire Worship Cult Ruin Entrance Key" Ye Xingyu had obtained earlier—100% similar!

He immediately took out the "Fire Worship Cult Ruin Entrance Key" and completely embedded the palm-sized fire-shaped key into the indentation on the door.

Then he placed his entire palm on it and pushed inward with force!

"Click!!!"

The giant stone door emitted a series of loud mechanical sounds!

Then it slowly opened to both sides, revealing a narrow crack just wide enough for one person to barely squeeze through.

It then jammed there, unable to move further.

"Even the mechanisms here have decayed. This shows how ancient this cult is."

Ye Xingyu commented.

He had no choice but to stand straight, suck in his stomach, and squeeze sideways through the door crack, pressing against both sides.

"Creak creak creak!"

After entering, a rotten smell filled the air.

This was a meditation room, covering an area of over 100 square meters!

The space was very vast!

The ceiling was at least over ten meters high!

Inside the meditation room currently stood several rows of ancient Fire Worship Cultists statues.

They were all barefoot, dressed in elaborate Fire Worship Cult robes, completely covered in long, thick cloth cloaks.

Their expressions were devout, facing the candles, chains, and some special sacrificial objects on the front wall…bowing in reverence.

At the same time, everyone had their hands clasped together and their eyes cast downwards.

There were many cult members here.

Just the ten standing rows added up to over a hundred people.

Then Ye Xingyu also saw that in the front, beneath the sacrificial objects, two more rows of Fire Worship Cultists were kneeling in devout postures, adding about 20 more people.

According to Jian Ran Fanqiu's account in his previous life, the greatest purpose of this meditation room was to prove one's devotion to the Fire Worship Cult.

One needed to take three steps and kowtow once, five steps and recite a scripture once, and light all the torches, candles, and empty lampstands in the meditation room.

When all the fires in the meditation room were lit, the passage leading to the Hall of Fire Worship, to meet the Holy Lord, would automatically open to the believer!

It was said that Jian Ran Fanqiu in his previous life spent more than 5 hours on this step alone!

It took him most of a day!

It could be said that the cost was very high!

Ye Xingyu looked at the Fire Worship Cultists statues around him.

Occasionally, he would pick one out and cast a Detection Spell on it, finding no reaction at all.

Everything he saw before him seemed to be very old, expired items.

There was not a single sign of life.

Ye Xingyu calmly said, "Heh~ a meditation room of such a large space, and one has to honestly follow the actions of three steps and one kowtow, five steps and one scripture recitation here?"

"Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

"Besides, there's no one to supervise or see."

Ye Xingyu recalled Jian Ran Fanqiu's experience and immediately cast it aside like a worn-out shoe.

For him to honestly convert to the Fire Worship Cult here and act according to their rules, honestly, he'd rather die!

It was too much trouble!

Ye Xingyu walked around the path, observing the surroundings for a while.

He discovered that there was indeed a tightly closed stone door, about half a meter wide, blocking the way forward!

"Could it be that entering here requires following the rules?"

Ye Xingyu couldn't help but frown.

He hated following rules his entire life, especially such harsh and inconsiderate old customs!

"I'll just skip all the previous steps and directly light the fires in the meditation room!"

"Alright!"

No sooner said than done!

Ye Xingyu immediately drew his bow.

If it's fire, that's easy!

I have plenty of it here!