novelraw Chapter 1388 2191: I Don't Believe You Can Escape This Time
Chapter 1388 2191: I Don't Believe You Can Escape This Time
Zhu Qilue's eyes immediately brightened up, both excited and thrilled, his body couldn't help but tremble.
"Rea...Really?!"
His excited demeanor startled even the Divine Phoenix, who blinked in surprise at him.
"It's true. But what's your relationship with Lin Fan, why do you care about his life or death?"
Since the Divine Phoenix had always stayed in Mystic Iron Mountain, it didn't know what happened outside, nor did it know Zhu Qilue, hence it found it a bit strange that Zhu Qilue cared about Lin Fan's life so much.
"Lin Fan... Lin Fan is my friend... I'm Zhu Qilue, you can ask him if you don't believe me."
"Hmm... I can understand that you're Lin Fan's friend." The Divine Phoenix said thoughtfully, shifting its gaze from Zhu Qilue to Zhu Ruoling. "Then who is she, and why is she so excited?"
Zhu Qilue was stunned, turning to look at Zhu Ruoling.
He realized the Divine Phoenix was not wrong; Zhu Ruoling's expression seemed even more excited and joyful than his, with tears swirling in her eyes.
Zhu Ruoling just then snapped back to reality, suddenly noticing a pair of surprised and a pair of hostile eyes staring at her, her heart skipping a beat.
"Wh... What is it?"
A sudden blush appeared on her face, burning hot like fire. It was embarrassing to have her expression noticed by Zhu Qilue and the Divine Phoenix.
"Why are you so excited? Didn't you always dislike Lin Fan?"
"..."
Faced with Zhu Qilue's questioning, Zhu Ruoling didn't know what to say. The news of Lin Fan being alive indeed made her too happy, forgetting to hide her true emotions, which inadvertently showed.
"I... I'm just happy for my brother..."
She reluctantly found an excuse, but this excuse wasn't convincing even to herself, let alone to Zhu Qilue and the Divine Phoenix.
Especially the Divine Phoenix, its eyes always filled with hostility, staring fiercely at Zhu Ruoling, making her quite uncomfortable.
"Um... she's my sister... she's not a bad person, she doesn't mean anything else, she's just purely happy for me."
If this continued to develop, it might be hard to manage.
Zhu Qilue quickly attempted to smooth things over, laughingly explaining to the Divine Phoenix. Even though he was a very careless person, he could still feel the hostility emanating from the Divine Phoenix towards Zhu Ruoling.
He himself was weak, incapable of even killing a chicken, and Zhu Ruoling was clearly scared stiff. If the opposite party decided to do something, Zhu Ruoling's life would definitely be at risk.
"Sigh..."
The Divine Phoenix sighed helplessly, shaking its head.
"Forget it, he's just like that, always making me jealous. But who can blame him? Isn't it my fault for liking him, there's no way around it."
"I... I..." Zhu Ruoling immediately became both annoyed and embarrassed upon hearing this, feeling flustered and agitated. Wasn't this clearly saying she liked Lin Fan!
How could she possibly like Lin Fan, it's absolutely impossible. She only ever liked her brother Zhengqing, how could she possibly like someone like Lin Fan, who was so unruly and practically a rogue.
However, before she could even argue, the Divine Phoenix waved its hand with an expression of resignation.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing. Whether you like him or not, you know yourself, we don't need to say more. But you must understand, Lin Fan isn't just your Lin Fan alone." The Divine Phoenix's eyes suddenly became sharp as knives, glaring coldly at Zhu Ruoling, making her goosebumps and hair stood on end.
Zhu Ruoling's face turned red with frustration, her cheeks puffed up, wanting to argue but unable to speak, and the Divine Phoenix had already turned away from her, ignoring her, making her feel as if the matter was already sealed as settled.
She truly didn't like Lin Fan at all!
Really!
She turned away in frustration, just about to explain to Zhu Qilue. But unexpectedly, Zhu Qilue was also looking at her with a strange gaze, making her immediately fume with rage.
"Brother!"
"Ling'er, I never thought you...sigh..."
Zhu Qilue shook his head and sighed, and Zhu Ruoling unceremoniously slapped him at the back of the head.
"What?!"
"Why did you say something like that, hmph!"
"You..."
The two were bickering when the Divine Phoenix's impatient voice came from the side.
"Hurry and come over to take a look, how do we deal with this thing, we have to quickly put out the fire, otherwise Mystic Iron Mountain will be melted."
Zhu Qilue and Zhu Ruoling had no choice but to end their squabbling and hurriedly walked over.
"Honestly, I've never seen this thing operate before. But I heard from my father, it was set up to torture the prisoners in the cage, making them suffer the heat of the Netherworld Ghost Fire, enduring pain worse than death."
"But how to turn it off...I didn't hear my father talk about that...let me see..."
Zhu Qilue, dragging his broken body, walked around the pillar.
"There must be some mechanism. I heard my father say, the people kept here won't die immediately, but will be tortured for countless years, constantly suffering the Netherworld Ghost Fire's punishment. So it should be able to be extinguished..."
He mumbled as he carefully observed the patterns on the pillar and the surrounding environment, suddenly spotting a mechanism.
"There! Right there!"
He shouted excitedly, pointing at a platform.
"That should be the platform specifically set to observe the painful expressions of the prisoners being burned, where the fire's intensity can be controlled, so the prisoners won't die but can still let out painful cries."
"Damn it, so cruel! Are you people all perverse!" The Divine Phoenix just hearing the description, already felt unhappy, cursing angrily.
"I... I never saw it myself... it's what I heard from my father..." Zhu Qilue said in a pitiful voice. "Anyway, the mechanism should be there, let's go over and take a look!"
The Divine Phoenix raised an eyebrow, taking the lead to rush over. Zhu Qilue also, assisted by Zhu Ruoling, walked step by step to the platform.
Before they had even taken a few steps, they saw the Divine Phoenix's body stand still not far ahead, not searching for the mechanism to control the fire.
"What's going on? Why aren't you turning off the fire?" Zhu Qilue curiously asked.
"I found the mechanism. But there's another guy here, we probably can't turn off the mechanism without killing him." The Divine Phoenix said casually.
Zhu Qilue and Zhu Ruoling were stunned, another person?! The two exchanged glances, an ominous premonition suddenly rising in their hearts.
They hurriedly quickened their pace, stepping onto the platform, and looked carefully.
Immediately!
They gasped, their breathing stopped, eyes wide open, dumbfounded!
How could they...have not thought of it!
Since Xu Tianrui appeared here, it meant there was another person here too. Although the person was facing away from them, from the clothes and aura, they could tell the person's identity.
High Priest, Gong Wenya!
"You're here."
Gong Wenya sat in the chair with calm composure, back to the three of them, words flowing out quietly.
"High Priest..." Zhu Qilue and Zhu Ruoling's voices trembled, shaking uncontrollably as they spoke in unison.
"Zhu Ruoling is quite skilled, you've improved greatly. Not only are you good with the Long Spear, but your archery has also improved substantially. However, Zhu Qilue, you really need to put in more effort, at this rate, you'll sooner or later be surpassed by Zhu Ruoling, and truly secure the position as Fire Clan's greatest failure."
Gong Wenya spoke slowly, as if he had been expecting the trio's arrival. He didn't even turn around, still watching the fiery cage with great interest, his eyes carrying immense murderous intent.