Chapter 11 The Underground Prison

Lin Zhao only glanced at the two pythons before closing her eyes. Her left hand brought the cigarette to her lips, while her right hand clenched into a fist at her side.

In the next instant, she felt the iron python's head collide with the sole of her foot, and Xiao Qi behind her cried out in alarm.

However, the excruciating pain of having her foot swallowed by the snake that she had anticipated never came. Instead, she heard the sound of bricks being crushed.

Lin Zhao subconsciously opened her eyes and saw that the two pythons had bypassed her feet and collided with each other behind her and Xiao Qi.

Lin Zhao had just heard a click, like a lock snapping into place, when she felt the ground beneath her suddenly give way, and she fell through the air with Xiao Qi.

Fortunately, they landed in a patch of soft, loose soil, and neither of them was injured.

When they looked up, the bodies of the two pythons were covering the hole in the ground.

If someone didn't see them fall into the underground chamber and just looked at the Little Dragon Temple, their first reaction would be that the place was called Little Dragon because there were two snakes lying on the ground, and they would regard the Little Dragon Pagoda as a sacrificial tower for worshiping the snake deities.

Xiao Qi was the first to get up. "Sister Lin, we've fallen into a tomb. What do we do?"

Lin Zhao leaned on Xiao Qi's Wuji Staff and slowly stood up. "We've already fallen. What else can we do? Let's go in and take a look! I don't think it can be worse than outside, can it?"

Xiao Qi helped Lin Zhao walk into the tomb. Not far away, they saw an open iron cage and a skeleton chained to the wall.

Xiao Qi trembled. "This isn't a tomb. It's a prison!"

Lin Zhao swiped the ground twice with the Wuji Staff. "There are words on the ground. See what they say."

Xiao Qi quickly squatted down and brushed away the accumulated soil with her hands, revealing the writing left by the deceased before his death: "I, Li Jianghai, am imprisoned here by the Samsara Department…"

"Li Jianghai?" Lin Zhao exclaimed. "One of Li Po's masters is named Li Jianghe, known as the Snake King. Who is Li Jianghai?"

Xiao Qi whispered, "Could he be Li Jianghe's brother?"

Li Jianghai was indeed the Snake King's brother. Not only were they from the same master, but they were also blood brothers.

However, Li Jianghai rarely ventured into the martial world. The world only knew the Snake King Li Jianghe, but not that he had a brother named Li Jianghai.

Lin Zhao continued reading:

The general meaning of the message was that the Samsara Department originally intended to capture Li Jianghai's brother, but mistakenly imprisoned him as a notorious bandit under the pagoda. Li Jianghai himself had never admitted his true identity in order to protect his brother.

Li Jianghai's matter later led to a secret, which was something I had always wondered about – the origin of the Nine Devils.

When I was learning my craft, I knew that the Nine Devils were not people who roamed the martial world at the same time.

The youngest of the Nine Devils was at least sixty or seventy years older than my master. How could my master have known a group of notorious bandits who lived in different eras?

Later, I learned that my master met the Nine Devils in the prison of the Samsara Department.

Of course, I only learned about it a long time later. When I entered Tacheng, I didn't think so much in that direction!

The fact that Li Jianghai was imprisoned under the pagoda didn't shock Lin Zhao – the Samsara Department had always claimed to be righteous people, and it was normal for them to capture villains in the martial world.

Moreover, there were rumors in the martial world that the Samsara Department captured evil Taoists but didn't kill them, only forcing them to repent and start anew.

What really frightened Lin Zhao was the next passage from Li Jianghai:

The Samsara Department proclaims itself righteous, but its actions are like those of demons. The Samsara Department has captured nearly a hundred sorcerers, but only thirty are from the evil path. The rest are all from righteous and famous sects.

The Samsara Department imprisons us here to feed the ghosts and gods.

As far as I know, the Samsara Department raises two ghosts and gods here: Hundred Eyes and Thousand Hands.

Hundred Eyes and Thousand Hands can place their hands and eyes inside the sorcerers' bodies. The hands and eyes drain the sorcerers' lifespans, and the essence and energy will return to the main body.

If you want to fight the ghosts and gods, you must not come into contact with them, otherwise, you will be controlled by the ghosts and gods.

Lin Zhao couldn't help but gasp as she read this. "Were we touched by the ghosts and gods just now?"

Xiao Qi turned around and said, "Sister Lin, I was grabbed by the neck by the ghost and god just now. Can you help me take a look?"

When Lin Zhao looked at the back of Xiao Qi's neck, an eye with bloodshot veins suddenly opened.

Lin Zhao only met that eye for a second, but she felt a sudden twinge in her heart, and she took two steps back.

Xiao Qi reached out and touched her neck. "Sister Lin, what's wrong with my back? Can you help me take a look?"

Lin Zhao watched as Xiao Qi's palm swept over the eye again and again, but she couldn't touch it at all. She said calmly, "There's nothing behind you. Don't worry."

"See what else Li Jianghai wrote."

Xiao Qi swept the ground a few more times. "Another passage has appeared."

"Hahahaha…"

"The Samsara Department schemed and plotted, but was finally schemed against by someone else. All their plans have come to naught. How ridiculous…"

Lin Zhao couldn't help but frown. "Who schemed against the Samsara Department?"