Chapter 954: The Pentagonal Pit

"Heh, City Lord Sun overestimates me. How could I have found all four other keys in such a short time in the Great Ruins? I do have keys, but only two." E Kuai smiled faintly, and with a flash of blood light in his hand, two blood-red keys appeared out of thin air.

Han Li's pupils contracted slightly as he looked at the two crystalline, blood-red keys in E Kuai's hand.

Chen Yang beside him also had a slight change in expression.

"That means there are only three keys in total. How do we open the door?" Sun Tu looked at Han Li, frowning.

Fu Jian and Qin Yuan exchanged glances and also looked at E Kuai.

"Everyone, don't worry. The keys have long been gathered. Fellow Daoist Chen, Fellow Daoist Li, since we're at the door, you might as well take out your keys." E Kuai laughed and said to Chen Yang and Han Li.

Hearing this, everyone present was startled and looked at Han Li and Chen Yang.

"Actually, even if City Lord E hadn't mentioned it, I was about to take out the keys." Han Li said calmly, but his mind was racing.

From E Kuai's sudden appearance earlier and his leading them here without a word, Han Li had already formed some conjectures.

E Kuai must have some means to know who had keys, perhaps related to the strange movement Han Li felt when he approached the second key.

As he thought, he took two blood-colored keys from his chest.

Chen Yang didn't seem surprised that Han Li had two keys; with a flash of blood light in his hand, he also produced a blood-red key.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, Fellow Daoist Li, so you had three keys. I said City Lord E is truly resourceful, everything as expected." Sun Tu shook his head and smiled.

"The matter of the keys is of great importance. For safety, Chen and Fellow Daoist Li have been keeping them." Chen Yang looked apologetically at Sun Tu, then cupped his hands to E Kuai.

"No matter. The people from Puppet City haven't appeared yet, so being cautious is normal." E Kuai waved his hand.

"Thank you for your understanding, City Lord E." Chen Yang's expression relaxed.

"Since the five keys are gathered, let's open the door quickly and not waste City Lord E's and everyone's time." Fu Jian snorted, seemingly disdainful of Chen Yang and Han Li, and spoke coldly.

"Wait, before opening the door, I have something to say." A voice sounded, and it was Han Li who suddenly spoke.

"Li Feiyu, you're just a lowly slave gladiator from Qingyang City. Just hand over the key; who do you think you are to speak here!" Fu Jian frowned and sneered.

"Heh, Fellow Daoist Li, please speak freely." E Kuai raised his hand to stop Fu Jian.

"Thank you for your tolerance, City Lord E. I don't mean to cause trouble; I just want to ask how we will distribute the treasures inside the forbidden land." Han Li touched his nose and smiled.

At these words, everyone fell silent.

"The city lord said earlier that everyone has a share of the treasures in the forbidden land. How about distributing them according to the number of people?" Fu Jian's eyes turned, and he spoke.

Han Li glanced at Fu Jian, a noncommittal smile on his lips.

"Fellow Daoist Fu Jian, you haven't exerted any effort along the way, yet you want to get as much as the city lord. That's quite a calculation." Shao Ying sneered.

"I didn't mean that! I was just proposing a method of distribution. If Fellow Daoist Shao finds it inappropriate, you can offer your suggestion." Fu Jian said with some anger and embarrassment.

"We were able to come here thanks to the city lord's guidance, and he also obtained two keys. He has the right to take half of the treasures first, and we'll distribute the rest." Shao Ying said sternly.

"Fellow Daoist Shao means to distribute the treasures according to each person's contribution? That's reasonable. The city lord guided the way and obtained two keys, indeed great merit. But Fellow Daoist Li also got two keys; how much should he get? I have one key; how much can I get?" Chen Yang looked at Shao Ying and asked.

"This..." Shao Ying was momentarily speechless.

"Ahem... Everyone gathered here has different contributions. Whether distributing by head count or by merit, absolute fairness is hard to achieve. In my opinion, since all five cities are present, let's keep it simple: divide the treasures into ten shares. Xuan City takes three, Qingyang City takes two, and the remaining five are split equally among our three cities. As for distribution within each city, let each city decide for itself." Qin Yuan, who had been mostly silent, spoke up.

At these words, everyone was taken aback and fell into thought.

"Fellow Daoist Qin's words are reasonable. Arguing further may not yield a better method. Let's do it this way." Chen Yang stroked his chin and agreed.

Shi Chuankong beside him frowned slightly.

After entering the Jilin Void Realm, he had stayed in Qingyang City but was soon sent to Xuan City. It was hard to say which city he belonged to.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, don't worry. Although you didn't stay long in Qingyang City, you are still considered one of us." Chen Yang's voice suddenly sounded in Shi Chuankong's ear.

Shi Chuankong's expression relaxed, and he thanked him gratefully.

Fu Jian and Sun Tu were silent for a moment, then nodded in approval.

Shao Ying seemed still dissatisfied and was about to speak.

"Alright, Fellow Daoist Qin's distribution method is reasonable. Let's adopt it." E Kuai suddenly spoke.

Since E Kuai said so, Shao Ying said no more, and the matter was quickly settled.

Next, they discussed how to open the door. According to E Kuai, the method was simple: insert the five keys into the corresponding holes on the door simultaneously.

E Kuai handed one of his keys to Shao Ying, and Han Li handed one of his keys to Sun Tu.

Soon, E Kuai, Shao Ying, Chen Yang, Han Li, and Sun Tu each held a key and stood before the door.

"Now!" E Kuai said softly, inserting his key into the topmost hole marked "Yinghua."

Shao Ying inserted his key into the upper-left hole marked "Jingshen," and Chen Yang into the upper-right hole marked "Bilin."

Han Li inserted his into the lower-left hole marked "Yesha," and Sun Tu into the lower-right hole marked "Youming."

The five keys fully entered the stone door. The entire door rumbled, and the blood-colored patterns on it emitted bright blood light, shining on everyone outside, making them squint.

At that moment, a clicking sound came from within the door. The five keys suddenly sank into the holes and disappeared.

Then, from the five holes, thick blood light shot out, intertwining like ropes to form a huge blood-colored rune.

The next moment, the blood rune suddenly sank into the stone door.

All the prohibition patterns on the stone door flickered and then vanished completely.

The two doors creaked and slowly opened inward, revealing a dark, spacious passage.

"Let's go." E Kuai's eyes flickered, and he stepped through the door first.

The others exchanged glances and followed.

After a moment's hesitation, Han Li also stepped through the door with the crowd.

As they entered the stone door, a loud rumbling came from behind.

With a great grinding sound, the two stone doors slowly closed again.

Led by E Kuai, the group walked deeper into the passage and soon arrived at a square, surrounded by pitch darkness.

Then, on the dome above, huge pearls began to light up one after another, like stars in the night sky, densely covering the area above everyone.

Han Li looked up and saw stars shining brightly, as if a Milky Way hung across, making him feel as if he were standing in a wilderness at night, with star power surging like tides from above.

Next, a firelight lit up from the distant walls on both sides, forming two thick lines of fire that extended into the depths of the space, gradually revealing the surroundings.

The white stone square under their feet was not large, only about a hundred zhang forward, where it was separated by a railing.

Han Li and the others walked to the railing and saw that beyond it was a bottomless dark abyss, with thick mist churning and cold wind blowing up from below.

In the middle section of the railing, there were three white stone arch bridges, each over ten zhang wide and about a hundred zhang long, extending to a huge white circular altar in the center of the space.

The altar was enormous, a thousand zhang in circumference, also surrounded by white railings, standing like a circular solitary peak in the middle of the abyss.

E Kuai led the group across the central stone arch bridge and onto the altar.

As soon as they stepped onto the altar, everyone's expressions changed, and their eyes flashed with surprise, as they suddenly felt an incredibly powerful aura of flesh and blood.

It was then that Han Li noticed the altar was not a flat stone platform; in its center was a sunken pentagonal pit a hundred zhang in diameter, from which the unsettling aura of flesh and blood emanated.

At the five corners of the pentagonal pit stood five strange black stone sculptures of scaled beasts, shaped like toads, extremely fat, with wings on their backs as if about to take flight, necks disproportionately long, and heads like those of lizards hanging over the pit.

Han Li looked at the five black beast sculptures, over ten zhang tall, frowning slightly, his eyes full of vigilance, as if afraid they might suddenly come to life.

After a moment's hesitation, seeing E Kuai walk alone to the edge of the pentagonal pit, the others followed and stood behind the railing, looking down into the pit.

Han Li frowned deeply, seeing that the pit contained a huge sacrificial blood pool, with vast amounts of crimson blood rising and falling like tides, covered by a thick layer of blood mist and a thin layer of blood smoke.

Yet no matter how the blood waves surged below or the mist churned above, they always remained within the pit, never spilling out.

What surprised Han Li even more was that amid the surging blood waves, he could vaguely see sections of crystalline white bones, some like huge horns of strange beasts, others like their skulls, each containing an immensely powerful aura of flesh and blood.